Health Care Company Pleads Guilty and is Sentenced for Conspiring to Suppress Wages of School Nurses

VDA OC LLC (VDA), a health care staffing company, pleaded guilty and was sentenced today for entering into and engaging in a conspiracy with a competitor to allocate employee nurses and to fix the wages of those nurses.

During the conspiracy, from about October 2016 until July 2017, VDA, then known as Advantage On Call, LLC, was one of two primary providers of contract nursing services to the Clark County School District. According to the plea agreement it entered into with the government, VDA, through one of its employees, participated in a conspiracy with another contract health care staffing firm to suppress and eliminate competition by agreeing to allocate nurses and fix the wages of those nurses. At the same hearing during which VDA pleaded guilty, U.S. District Court Judge Richard F. Boulware II sentenced VDA to pay a criminal fine of $62,000 and restitution of $72,000 to victim nurses.

Free and open labor markets are a cornerstone of the American dream, said Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division. Todays guilty plea demonstrates our commitment to ensuring that workers receive competitive wages and a fair chance to pursue better work and that criminals who conspire to deprive them of those rights are held accountable. The courts sentence will compensate the hardworking health care workers who were victims of this crime.

Protecting workers from antitrust schemes  such as wage-fixing and employee allocation  remains a priority for the U.S. Attorneys Office, said U.S. Attorney Jason M. Frierson for the District of Nevada. We are committed to working with the Antitrust Division and FBI to prosecute anticompetitive conduct that affects opportunities for workers and the labor market.

The defendant conspired with a competitor to fix wages and undercut the salaries of school nurses, said Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBIs Criminal Investigative Division. Everyone, especially those responsible for keeping our children healthy and safe, deserves the opportunity to compete for employment in a fair marketplace.

Todays announcement is the result of a federal investigation being conducted by the Antitrust Divisions San Francisco Office and the FBI's International Corruption Unit, with assistance from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Nevada.

Anyone with information in connection with this investigation should contact the Antitrust Divisions Complaint Center at 888-647-3258, or visit http://www.justice.gov/atr/report-violations.

This story has been published on: 2022-10-30. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
By Trend

Minister of Economy of Azerbaijan Mikayil Jabbarov met up with Prime Minister of Qatar Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani, Trend reports citing Azerbaijani Minister of Economy Mikayil Jabbarov's Twitter page.

"During the reception by Prime Minister and Minister of Internal Affairs of Qatar Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani, we have highlighted the existing friendly relations between our countries, discussed the prospects of expanding the cooperation between Azerbaijan and Qatar in various fields of economy, including energy, transport-logistics, as well as mutual investments," he said.
Hyderabad: Expressing confidence that she would win the Munugode byelection with a huge majority, Congress candidate Palvai Sravanthi appealed to the voters to be watchful of the tactics adopted by her rivals. She felt that the TRS and the BJP would try to lure them with inducements in the last leg of the campaign.

Sravanthi who campaigned in Munugode constituency along with PCC chief A. Revanth Reddy, MLA D. Sridhar Babu and MLC T Jeevan Reddy said that people were witnessing how two political giants  Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao  had deployed a huge army of campaigners and invested massive resources to defeat an ordinary woman like her.

While I'm seeking votes on the promise of serving the people with honesty, the BJP and the TRS are trying to lure voters with cash, liquor and sops. They are misusing official machinery, intimidating Congress cadres and resorting to unethical means. I'm meeting the voters with empty, but folded, hands. These moments are historic and this battle will be remembered forever," Sravanthi said.

The Congress candidate said that the response to her campaign, especially from the women and youth, was tremendous. "Munugode voters have known me since I was a child. I used to campaign along with my father late Palvai Govardhan Reddy. I was badly missing my father when I started the campaign. I was a bit terrified when TRS and BJP started luring voters with cash and liquor. But the people gave me so much support and love that I never felt like an orphan. Every family treated me like its daughter. Therefore, the Munugode byelection is a fight between the 'Daughter of Munugode' versus the BJP-TRS combine," she said.
BOISE - The Idaho State Department of Agriculture says there has been significant interest in hemp and hemp-derived products in animal food.

However, officials say hemp or hemp-derived products, including CBD, are not recognized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or the Association of American Feed Control Officials as legal animal feed ingredients. Similarly, Idaho law does not recognize hemp as a feed or remedy ingredient.

Safe levels of hemp and hemp-derived products in animal feed have not yet been established under federal or state law, say officials. As such, the products are not approved feed ingredients and cannot lawfully be added to, or incorporated into commercial food for animals, including feeds, treats, and remedies intended for pets, livestock, or any other animal.

In 2021, the Idaho Legislature passed House Bill 126, which legalized the licensed production and handling of hemp in Idaho. However, the new law did not legalize hemp in every setting or product type. As hemp manufacturing begins to take place in Idaho, officials with the Idaho State Department of Agriculture say they are working with new hemp licensees and animal feed companies to understand what is legal in the state.

The Idaho State Department of Agriculture enforces animal feed laws across the state.

"Effective November 1, 2022, ISDA will be inspecting for hemp and hemp-derived animal feeds and remedies," read a release from ISDA. "These products are not legal in Idaho, and if found on or after November 1, 2022, will be subject to a stop sale and further action from the department."
BOISE - Idaho Secretary of State Lawerence Denney has launched a new web portal that will provide Idahoans a means to report election-based misinformation.

The site, which can be accessed by clicking HERE, encourages Idaho voters to be aware of election misinformation, and to report anything on social media that appears inaccurate or misleading.

Examples provided by the Secretary of State include dates of the election, mail ballot rules, ballot information, polling place hours, election night reporting, voting technology, and poll watchers.

Idahoans are paying close attention to the November 8 General Election, but so are those seeking to interfere with our elections by spreading misinformation, said Secretary of State Lawerence Denney. With this new web service, Idaho voters can report social media posts that appear to be misleading, either accidentally or by intent.

Secretary Denney continued Once misinformation has been reported, our cyber security team will evaluate the information. If it is determined that the social media post is trying to disenfranchise voters and undermine our democracy, the report will be passed to the Election Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EI-ISAC), who will verify the information and forward it to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for further action.

Denney says this new web service was created to provide Idaho voters with a single, nonpartisan location to report social media posts that seek to destroy the integrity of Idaho elections.
Hyderabad police on Saturday arrested the three accused  Ramachandra Bharathi, Kode Nanda Kumar and D.P.S.K.V.N. Simhayaji  in the alleged attempt to poach TRS MLAs. ( Representational image/DC)

HYDERABAD: Hyderabad police on Saturday arrested the three accused  Ramachandra Bharathi, Kode Nanda Kumar and D.P.S.K.V.N. Simhayaji  in the alleged attempt to poach TRS MLAs. The police shifted them to the Cyberabad police commissioners office, and said that they would be produced before the court within 24 hours.

Investigation officer and Rajendranagar ACP B. Gangadhar, said in the remand case diary that the three accused had planned to meet 50 MLAs of TRS and Congress to lure them to join BJP.

"The accused Nanda Kumar, a city-based businessman, has played a key role in luring MLAs. We conducted searches on a vehicle (TS 07 HM 2777) registered in the name of Dileep Gandavaram and was used by Nanda Kumar. In the car, we have found 27 papers containing information related to the Telangana politicos, names of 50 MLAs of TRS and Congress, information pertaining to Nanda Kumar social activities related to BJP," said the investigation officer in the remand report.

Another accused Ramachandra Bharathi, resident of Faridabad, had actively participated in the offence in luring TRS MLAs. He had chatted with senior leaders of BJP on WhatsApp. One diary of Bharathi that was seized mentions about his travels this month. His handwritten entry on October 26 reads "Delhi to Hyderabad; appointment and meeting as directed by Nandu, return to Delhi," police said.

The four TRS MLAs were offered Rs 50 crore each and the accused allegedly offered Rs 100 crore to Rohit Reddy for influencing other MLAs of TRS to join the BJP.

The police also seized voice recordings of accused from Rohit Reddy in which the accused is contacting one Tushar wherein the name Santosh and his importance in BJP is conveyed clearly.
A spokeswoman said under the Australian Consumer Law, businesses must not mislead or deceive consumers in their advertising or marketing, including about the quality, composition, benefits or performance characteristics of their products. Whether or not a particular claim is misleading requires consideration of the individual circumstances in each case, and the overall impression conveyed to consumers by the claim, she said. Chris Campbell from AWTA Product Testing said consumers should be told the products tested had a thread count of about 300 and not 1000 and more, as claimed. He said some manufacturers counted multiple fine synthetic filaments in a yarn instead of counting the yarn as a single thread. There is a lot of misleading marketing licence taken with this, Campbell said. The quality of the threads is more important than the quantity. Campbell said dishonest marketing had proliferated with the growth in online retailing.

Its become a marketing war. They are all trying to outdo each other and say I can give you the best value sheet with the highest thread count, he said. It has grown as online shopping has developed. Cotton sheets advertised with 1000 thread count for $79. Dr Stephen Michielsen, a professor in the school of fashion and textiles at RMIT University in Melbourne, who analysed the AWTA results said they showed that the three brands tested were being marketed as having much higher thread counts than counts using international standards. Dr Michielsen has more than 30 years of experience in the textiles industry and as an academic. They ended up with numbers that are unreasonably high because they did not follow the international standards on how they are supposed to be calculated, he said. Two class actions have been launched in the US by consumers alleging bedsheets bought from Ross Stores and from Macys had lower thread counts than promoted on the products. A class action lawsuit against Ross Stores taken to the US District Court for the Northern District of California was settled late last year after the plaintiff alleged that the bedsheets she bought from Ross were represented to have a higher thread count than they actually had.

Another class action lawsuit has been filed in Ohio federal court by consumers claiming that Macys Stores West Inc. misled them about the thread count of its cotton-polyester bedsheets. Consumer law expert Professor Jeannie Paterson from the University of Melbourne said the Australian Consumer Law includes provisions against misleading and deceptive conduct. It also provides guarantees for consumers which say goods must match their description, be fit for the promoted purpose and must be acceptable quality. When they are advertised as being of particular quality and dont meet that quality, they contravene multiple provisions in the Australian Consumer Law and will contravene some penalty provisions as well which means the ACCC could impose penalties on the providers. It is quite significant, she said. Paterson said the courts would consider the normal understanding of a reasonable consumer. [Some retailers] are saying you are getting a sheet that is good quality for a reduced price. But if the sheet isnt of that quality, then people are being misled because they think they are buying a premium product for a discount when in fact they are not buying the premium product. And that is misleading, she said.

If they are justifying the thread count by a different way of counting threads than people in the market normally understand and if they are still promoting the thread counts as being great sheets for a low price, it is still misleading consumers because it is not consistent with the expectation of those consumers. Goods have to meet their description, meet the purpose they are promoted for and be of acceptable quality. What is said in the marketing and the packaging really matters. If the overall message is that this is a good quality high thread count sheet when in fact they are using some other method of counting the thread, which means the sheet is a coarser quality than consumers would think, then that is problematic. You cant hide behind, Oh well, we do it a different way, we use a different measure. That is not how it works. The courts look at the impression that is reasonably created in the audience to whom the advertising is directed, and that is quite a different test to whether the consumer could have found something out somewhere else or the consumer should have understood there is a different measure. Loading Professor Justin Malbon from Griffith University law school said marketing claims that sheets have a higher thread count than they actually have, are potentially in breach of section 18 of the Australian Consumer Law.
For Congress, the campaign saw its state president A, Revanth Reddy stump for Palvai Sravanthi, along with several other senior party leaders.  DC Image

HYDERABAD: The residents of Munugode constituency on Saturday continued to get bombarded with pleas from political parties to vote for their candidates in the November 3 byelection. Leaders from the TRS, BJP, and the Congress, along with those from BSP, fanned out into every nook and corner of the constituency with an increased sense of urgency with just three days left for the campaign.

Even as the political parties had their leaders and cadres stomp through Munugode, the joint chief electoral officer, Ravi Kiran, toured the constituency and visited the command and control room in the collectors office.

Taking to the streets in addition to the candidates themselves, Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy from the BJP, Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy from the TRS and Palvai Sravanthi of Congress, were senior leaders from the three parties. The BJP pressed into service its general secretary and state affairs incharge Tarun Chugh who addressed a meeting of Dalits in Munugode even as the party released a fresh set of posters posing questions to the TRS. Also addressing meeting were state BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar, Union minister G. Kishan Reddy, Nizamabad MP Arvind Dharmapuri and campaign coordinator G. Vivek Venkatswamy.

For the TRS, in addition to several ministers including Vemula Prashant Reddy, Errabelli Dayakar Rao, Md Mahmood Ali, Gangula Kamalakar, was senior TRS leader and former MP Boinpalli Vinod Kumar, who, accompanied by leaders from the CPI and the CPM parties reached out to voters in Samsthan Narayanpur, Nampally, and Marriguda mandals. For Congress, the campaign saw its state president A, Revanth Reddy stump for Palvai Sravanthi, along with several other senior party leaders.
The percentage of year 9 boys reading at the minimum standard has fallen to a record low as new testing data reveals the spelling skills of students in that grade are also declining.

Students 2022 national NAPLAN results were mostly stable when compared with 2021  defying expectations of sharp falls after COVID-19 disruptions  but experts warn the rising number of boys who cannot read at a basic level just a few years before they finish school will widen the already stark gender literacy gap.

Long-term NAPLAN result trends since 2008 either show steady progress, particularly in primary years, or are stable. The exception is year 9 spelling. Credit:Getty

National data shows students lost ground in year 5 numeracy and year 9 spelling compared to last year despite steady long-term gains in reading and numeracy, especially in primary school.

NSW students improved in primary school reading as the focus shifted to phonics and evidence-based reading instruction and are ranked in the top three jurisdictions by mean scores in all domains, except in year 9 reading, in which NSW ranked fourth.
Finland was recently named the happiest country in the world in the World Happiness Report for the fifth year running. Its embassy in Washington, D.C. decided to hold a party to celebrate that fact, which is how I came to be standing in front of a poster which quite reasonably claimed to teach me 50 things you dont know about Finland.

The Finnish ambassador hypothesised that Finns are happy because they care for one another. Credit:Getty Images

What I dont know about Finland could fill volumes, and Ill assume you feel the same way, so here are some things I learnt: Finnish children start school at age seven; Finns are the worlds biggest coffee drinkers; there are more saunas than cars in Finland. If you didnt think Finland sounded like a nice place to live beforehand, and you werent seduced by the gorgeous brutalism of its glass-walled embassy, this information could surely sway you.

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The Finnish ambassador stood up to welcome guests at the evening with some dry humour. We are not the happiest because our largest land border is with Russia, he said. Nor are we happy because it can get to minus 50 degrees in winter. No  he hypothesised that Finns were happy because they cared for one another.
We posted earlier about the elections in Brazil. The defeat of far-right president Jair Bolsonaro and the election of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is big news  and not just in Brazil.

Brazil is of course home to the Amazon Rainforest, home to many indigenous tribes, an incredible reservoir of biodiversity, and a major source of the worlds oxygen. Protecting the worlds remaining tropical rainforests is essential for tackling climate change, and the Amazon is the biggest of them all.

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (blue shirt) celebrates with wife Rosangela Silva and running mate Geraldo Alckmin. Credit:AP

When it became clear that Brazils far-right populist leader had lost his presidency one of the worlds most famous climate scientists, Michael Mann, tweeted the note, So shines a good deed in a weary world.

Indeed, around the world climate scientists and activists breathed a sigh of relief.

While global climate action is a collective effort, the actions of a handful of singular actors are critical if the world is to have a hope of stabilising its climate  they include the United States, China, India and Brazil.

Bolsonaro was elected in October 2018 with an avowed hostility to efforts to curb the destruction of the worlds largest rainforest, the Amazon, and promises to dismantle Brazils environment ministry and leave the Paris Agreement.

Though he never kept that last promise, he filleted the agencies responsible for protecting Brazils forests and their indigenous owners and by 2019 his work could be observed from space.

Brazils space research agency, INPE, began tracking from its satellites a surge of deforestation as timber cutters, wildcat miners and farmers moved in. Last year INPE recorded 13,235 square kilometres were cleared, the highest level since 2006.

In 2020 the revered Brazilian indigenous leader, Raoni Metuktire, told The Guardian that Bolsonaro was the worst president he had seen in his near-100 year life.

Deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest is at a 15-year high. Credit:AP

I have seen many presidents come and go, but none spoke so badly of indigenous people or threatened us and the forest like this, he said. Since he [Bolsonaro] became president, he has been the worst for us.

The incoming president, usually known as Lula, has a mixed environmental track-record and has been criticised by some for his connections with agribusiness.

But in the lead up to the election environmentalists closed ranks around him, including the prominent environmentalist Marina Silva, who served as environment minister under him in his previous administration before breaking with his party over development plans in the Amazon.

Lula, 77, has promised to combat destruction of the Amazon rainforest, now at a 15-year high, and make Brazil a leader in global climate talks.

Lula was president from 2003 to 2010, but in 2018 faced a controversial trial for corruption and money laundering and spent 580 days in jail. He was barred from running last election because of this, but has since had all charges vacated, setting the stage for a comeback.

The president-elect has promised to boost spending on the poor, reestablish relationships with foreign governments and take bold action to eliminate illegal clear-cutting in the Amazon rainforest.

We will once again monitor and do surveillance in the Amazon. We will fight every illegal activity, Lula said in his acceptance speech. At the same time we will promote sustainable development of the communities of the Amazon.

Lula also invited international cooperation to preserve the Amazon rainforest and said he will seek fair global trade rather than trade deals that condemn our country to be an eternal exporter of raw materials.

He has also pledged to install a ministry for Brazils original peoples, which will be run by an indigenous person.

With Reuters, AP
Melbourne Cup racegoers could be contending with more than just soggy grass at Flemington tomorrow due to cold temperatures and hail predicted across the city on Tuesday afternoon.

The miserable weather forecast for the major race day comes after strong wind blew across Melbourne overnight, causing building damage and uprooting trees.

Crowds braved the rain on Derby Day but the conditions for the Melbourne Cup look like being much worse. Credit:Eddie Jim

At Fawkner, gusts of more than 128km/h were recorded just before 2am on Monday, while the weather station at Melbourne Airport recorded gusts of 89km/h.

Drivers on the West Gate Bridge had to reduce their speed to 60km/h due to the strong winds this morning.
If anybody wants to say that to me, what I would say first is, Explain what you mean by woke, and then we can have the conversation, she told the presenter. If you cant explain it, dont hand me that word. Dont use a word you cannot describe. Because you dont know what you mean. She went on to imply that some people might be uncomfortable with a black Welsh family on TV, and they used the word woke to explain away their objections. Woke, she suggests, might be a cover-all lip-curl for any social change that makes you uneasy for reasons you darent examine.

The word woke originates in African-American slang and goes back as far as the 1930s, when black people urged each other to stay woke to injustice. It even pops up in the lyrics of a Lead Belly song. Loading It was popularised during the Black Lives Matter movement and then went mainstream through internet meme culture, and is now widely used by white people. (This has led to charges of cultural appropriation from some, which is a pleasingly woke response.) Now the word is being held captive by people who wish to disparage the identity politics and social activism of the left. When it comes to cultural appropriation, I am solidly pro-freedom  people will use language how they like, and it evolves as people do. But it does seem that the people who throw around woke are often using it to obscure meaning rather than illuminate it.

You can say many things about the young art defacers, but they are not woke. They are hardly virtue-signalling keyboard warriors. They have planned and executed an attack, evading security and attracting world-wide publicity for their cause. They will suffer real consequences for their crimes, possibly the loss of liberty. Woke seems too weak a word for them. What their critics wont acknowledge is they follow in a proud tradition of art vandalism for political causes. The suffragettes were mad for it. In 1914, Mary Richardson, a suffragette and member of the Womens Social and Political Union, took a meat chopper to Velazquezs The Toilet of Venus, also known as the Rokeby Venus, and described memorably as one of the most famous bottoms of all time. Suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst is arrested outside Buckingham Palace in 1914. Credit:File Yes, I am a suffragette, Richardson reportedly cried as she was dragged from the crime scene. You can get another picture, but you cannot get a life, as they are killing Mrs Pankhurst. Emmeline Pankhurst, the famous militant suffragette, was enduring one of multiple jail terms at the time (many of the jailed suffragettes went on hunger strikes in prison and were force-fed).

Other suffragettes attacked other paintings to protest Pankhursts incarceration  they generally chose works depicting beautiful women, to attract maximum attention but also to protest the objectification of women (apparently men used to go to the National Gallery to gawp at Venuss lovely bottom; they didnt have the internet or Kim Kardashian then). In 1913, three women used hammers to smash the glass on 13 paintings in the Manchester Museum of Art, choosing works by the Pre-Raphaelite and Victorian masters. So, were the suffragettes woke? Certainly, they were subjected to contempt and mockery, directly proportional to the size of the threat they posed to existing power structures. But they were not pure, which is something the woke-critics most object to about the virtue-signalling, morally judgmental left: a totalitarian drive for moral purity. The suffragette movement was disrupted by the advent of World War I, which ended up advancing their cause overall. Many of them turned their energies to campaigning for conscription. Later, Mary Richardson joined the British Union of Fascists, led by Oswald Mosley. I was first attracted to the Blackshirts because I saw in them the courage, the action, the loyalty, the gift of service, and the ability to serve which I had known in the suffragette movement, she said.
A federal Labor MP and economist will make the financial case to reduce the countrys growing prison rates, a trend he says has more to do with stricter policing and sentencing than crime rates and is costing taxpayers billions of dollars each year.

In a speech to the Australian Institute of Criminology on Monday, Assistant Minister for Treasury, Dr Andrew Leigh, will say the incarceration rate has more than doubled since the mid-1980s while most crimes have fallen, in what hes previously dubbed the second convict age.

Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury, Dr Andrew Leigh, will make an economic case for reducing prison rates. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

In 1985, the incarceration rate in Australia was 96 prisoners per 100,000 adults. In 2022, the incarceration rate is 202 prisoners per 100,000 adults.

Rather than the crime rate, Leigh will say the issue has instead been with how we have chosen to handle complex social challenges.
British investigator Kevin Forrest, who helped jail Xie in England a decade ago, said Asian women at his brothels had their passports removed and were directed to perform extreme and degrading services, including rape fantasies.

The investigation exposes the misuse of migration agents and fixers running so-called visa farms that engage in wholesale rorting of visas, including protection visas reserved for humanitarian reasons.

His actions are laid bare in a major international journalism series, Trafficked, which uses leaked documents, undercover video and interviews with senior officials to expose weaknesses in Australias immigration system, the players who profit and the people who suffer as a result.

Binjun Xie, now a wealthy Sydney resident but previously identified by UK police as a Chinese triad boss nicknamed The Hammer, is one of several crime syndicate figures using migration system gaps.

The crime boss at the operations centre set up his Australian operation immediately after his release from jail in Britain, where he was implicated in a similar illegal sex ring.

A global human trafficking syndicate has exploited flaws in Australian border security and the immigration system that allowed it to run a national illegal sex racket moving exploited foreign women around the country like cattle.

A global human trafficking syndicate has exploited flaws in Australian border security and the immigration system. See all 15 stories .

Trafficked is a project led by The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, 60 Minutes and Stans Revealed documentary program which casts a light on visa rorting, human trafficking and foreign worker exploitation in Australia, including in a booming underground prostitution industry.

It seems that hes gone straight back to China, and then straight into Australia, and started again.

Absolutely flabbergasted. Im flabbergasted that hes able to get into Australia, bearing in mind that he was jailed here for five years with a condition that he was deported back to China upon his release, Forrest said.

The former detective said he was shocked that Australia had allowed Xie to enter the country and become involved in a criminal enterprise after his earlier ring was shut down in Europe.

He said the women were subjected to modern slavery-like conditions: You never come out. You never go into town. You never socialise. Youre never allowed to do anything else. You are there to perform the sex.

We think that this is an incredibly underreported crime.

The visa farms are used by organised crime syndicate bosses to gain repeated entry into Australia for syndicate members and those they exploit as indentured labour.

Law enforcement sources not authorised to talk publicly said investigators warned Commonwealth agencies that federal government-licensed migration agents  including one who has submitted visa applications linked to Xies network, Sydney migration agent Songtao Lu  were enabling visa farms.

Secret police intelligence, along with interviews with state and federal agencies and covert recordings, suggest many of these workers are exploited or involved in criminal activity.

The investigation looks at visa fixers and migration agents with federal government licences who have enabled the entry into Australia of thousands of foreign workers.

They really are being treated as the lowest of the low and people are making massive profits from this exploitation.

These are some of the most vulnerable people in our society: theyre in a foreign country, they dont speak our language, they have no control over the work theyre conducting, they have no control over their clients, theres no health and safety.

Sexual servitude, modern slavery are  synonymous with this type of activity, he said.

Senior Queensland Police organised crime investigator Detective Inspector Brad Phelps said vulnerable Asian women were being moved like cattle across Australia and being paid abysmally, if at all, by crime syndicates earning hundreds of millions of dollars.

With the exception of a few investigations, the police documents suggest the networks involved in the underground sex trade largely operate with impunity.

The investigations undercover footage corroborates these law enforcement warnings, capturing multiple agents offering to lodge false migration claims in return for money. While some agents appear to have falsified visa applications, there is no evidence to suggest they are personally aware of the syndicates crimes, including human trafficking and illegal prostitution, only that they are used by the syndicate to enable their operation.

We think that this is an incredibly underreported crime. I think we can do more to detect. We can do more to prevent. We can do more to educate those victims, she said, while calling for improvements in Australian law.

Federal police Superintendent Jayne Crossling, who oversees the AFPs human trafficking division, said the small number of prosecutions was frustrating and reflected the difficulty obtaining co-operation from fearful victims.

The AFP said it was likely the syndicate was still running.

In a rare interview from a victim, a South Korean woman spoke of her treatment at the hands of an Australian illegal brothel ring previously targeted by the federal police and which, this year, was the subject of fresh trafficking allegations and police raids.

Phelps described as reprehensible any migration agents who knew of the situation and facilitated visas for Asian sex workers his detectives believed were being exploited in a series of east coast motels.

Former Immigration Department deputy secretary Abul Rizvi, who worked closely with the Howard government, said the revelations, along with data suggesting visa rorting had been exploding since 2014, suggested the Department of Home Affairs and the former government had failed to take effective action.

He estimated there were at least 30,000 foreign workers remaining in Australia unlawfully, part of a rapidly expanding permanent underclass, constantly exploited in the sex industry, on farms and in other occupations.

"We don't ever want to become like the US or Europe from an immigration and border security perspective, but frankly we are now just like them in terms of the assault on our borders," he said.

Migration system under attack

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The suspected criminal networks that link to Binjun Xie have appeared on state and federal law enforcement radar for years.

South Australian police uncovered one as part of Operation Webpage. It found call centres  including a room with seven Chinese nationals and 190 mobile phones  and websites set up to sell the services of Asian sex workers.

Leaked, confidential Operation Webpage briefings from 2018 state the vast majority of the sex workers located by investigators cannot speak (or speak very little) English and routinely have no apparent ties to South Australia.

Two images of organised crime boss Mae Ja Kim, who was jailed in 2015 in Victoria for a minimum of two and a half years in connection to dealing with the proceeds of crime.

Investigators also documented links to Asian organised crime, child pornography and potential exploitation of young female Chinese students, human trafficking and money laundering across borders.

The likelihood of human trafficking occurring in SA and across Australia is high, investigators concluded in another report, noting how the women appeared to be controlled by Chinese-organised crime gangs.

The Adelaide officers made multiple arrests for illegal prostitution offences and money laundering but were stymied by jurisdiction and resourcing issues.

They urged the introduction of a multi-faceted task force of state investigators and the Department of Home Affairs, Australian Federal Police and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission.

State police sources said the recommendation was not acted upon and Operation Webpage was wound down by 2019.

Sex workers used as pawns

At this time, detectives in North Queensland, led by Detective Inspector Brad Phelps, were firing up.

Phelps, who also believes there is an urgent need for national action, led an investigation codenamed Ravens responding to complaints about illegal prostitution.

The police, though, were led to a much more sinister and bigger picture, he said.

[We] stopped looking at the sex workers themselves as offenders, but as victims, as pawns.

Phelps also revealed that some Asian women working in the sex industry were being controlled and manipulated and that this certainly led into [federal government-licensed] migration agents and money laundering and the whole organised crime overarching umbrella.

Ravens uncovered a hierarchal structure. Exploited sex workers occupied the lowest rung; they answered to district controllers co-ordinating with transportation and accommodation providers; at the top of the tree sat organised crime bosses.

[The women] were moved like cattle across the country into different motels, where they were being exploited by these organised crime syndicates, Phelps said.

He said these Asian women endured abysmal conditions, commonly working in debt bondage.

They were here to work off a debt and their families could potentially be harmed if they caused any angst amongst the syndicate.

Phelps said the national and international problem required multi-agency investigations into worker exploitation, dirty money trail and corrupting of the migration system.

We need to target the wealth and the profit being stimulated and generated and to really curb this activity, he said, warning the vast sums earned by Asian sex syndicates were laundered offshore only to find [their] way into [Australian] real estate and the Australian economy.

Motels used as illegal brothels

Phelps said some of the exploited women were working in a string of motels in regional centres, including Mackay, Townsville, Cairns and Mount Isa, as well as in NSW.

Theyre put into a motel in a location. They stay in that room, they live in that room, they work out of that room until they are moved to another location.

In 2020 and 2021, police working on Operation Ravens arrested and charged several motel owners and managers with running illegal brothels, but they received small fines and avoided criminal convictions.

Phelps said victims of exploitation were too fearful to co-operate with police and he suspected the syndicate was still operating motels as illegal brothels.

The joint media investigation used surveillance of suspect sites and undercover agents to inquire with motel managers and reception staff about the availability of sex workers.

The undercover operatives observed multiple Asian women living and working in cramped rooms, at motels previously linked by Phelps investigators to crime syndicates. On two occasions women had cooking facilities where they worked, suggesting they also live there.

In several cases, they disclosed they were working for bosses and that they would engage in unsafe sex.

Phone numbers and business records, along with the observations of the undercover operatives and court records, linked 17 motels in Queensland and NSW to the Asian crime sex syndicates targeted by Ravens.

They included motels in Mackay, Townsville, Cairns and Brisbane.

Some of the sex workers and mid-level syndicate suspects operating out of these motels are linked back to the Binjun Xie network.

The Mr Big of trafficking

Sydney-based Binjun Xie has built a lavish life in Australia on the back of the organised crime-controlled underground sex trade and the human misery it entails.

A key confidential source with deep knowledge of the underground sex industry and Xies business operations briefed this masthead about the Chinese-born crime boss financial and business records in Australia.

Binjun Xie. Credit:60 Minutes

Analysis of Xies business associates and financial records, along with court records and briefings from state and international police, suggests he sits at the apex of a national criminal syndicate moving Asian women across the country.

The records and briefings reveal that Xies business empire includes a Canberra-based woman previously investigated by the federal police for illegal prostitution offences and who has moved Asian women from Australias east coast to West Australia.

Another of his business associates was identified by Queensland Polices Operation Ravens as a mid-level Chinese recruiter of vulnerable sex workers and a money launderer.

This recruiter told Queensland detectives she was a victim of debt bondage and was paying off a $200,000 debt in China by working for the syndicate.

A casino high-roller who lives in a secure apartment tower in Burwood, Sydney, Xie was the subject of a major organised crime probe in Britain in 2012 and 2013.

Ex-detective Kevin Forrest investigated Xie for human trafficking, money laundering and illegal prostitution.

This is 100 per cent exploitation. This is 10 out of 10 for exploitation. These girls are not willing. British detective Kevin Forrest, who has investigated sex trafficking rings

He said the Asian women under the Xie syndicates control in Britain were effectively prisoners who were paid minimal amounts, if at all, to provide sexual services and had their passports removed from them.

While not physically imposing, Forrest believed Xie maintained control over Asian sex workers via fear, a belief he said was strengthened by his triad nickname: The Hammer.

This is 100 per cent exploitation. This is 10 out of 10 for exploitation. These girls are not willing, he said.

Forrest said some of the Asian women in Xies illegal brothels were being bought to perform rape, and rape was being specified in the text, and the messaging that I saw on the phones, I want to rape you. You know, How much for a rape? And they were being charged. I think it was 50 or 100 pounds for that. Unprotected sex was always being asked for. And that was being granted by the controller of the phone ... so, they had no choice.

Those girls have been abused every day behind those doors. Not just by the people who are paying for it, who they, I suppose see it as being a service, but they are being kept against their will. And being told thats what theyve got to do. They are victims of sexual assault. Theyre victims of rape every day.

Rape was being specified .. (in) the messaging that I saw on the phones, I want to rape you. You know, How much for a rape? Kevin Forrest on some of the horrific treatment the women faced

Xie entered the UK on a student visa and was also running a migration crime racket.

Forrest charged him with money laundering and illegal brothel offences, and he was jailed for five years in 2013. After an early release from prison he was deported to China.

Xie arrived in Australia in late 2014, also on a student visa.

Migration agents used to rort system

Members of Xies crime network are also working with a federal government licensed migration agent in Sydney, Songtao Lu, who official sources confirmed has for 10 years been flagged by federal government agencies as being used by the syndicate to lodge false visa claims for exploited foreign workers, including sex workers.

Lu first came to the attention of South Australian detectives in 2018 after they discovered dozens of women being controlled by a crime syndicate had obtained visas with his assistance. There is no evidence that Lu was aware of the syndicates activities or the womens circumstances, only that the syndicate used his services.

Migration agent Songtao Lu.

Lu was one of several federal government-licensed migration agents a South Australian police report warned were likely facilitating provision of foreign nationals, particularly Chinese nationals, for sex industry work in SA.

Three years after he was flagged, Lu remains licensed by the federal government to assist people obtain visas  and he is still being used for illegitimate visa applications.

In a covert recording, Lu is taped offering to lodge a false asylum protection visa application for $2500.

For cases like yours, what you could do is to apply for a protection visa. And then you can get a bridging visa. A bridging visa can be used for about three years. Our fee is $2500, he says on the recording.

The Home Affairs Department said it does not respond to questions about specific cases or individuals, but said there was a comprehensive suite of laws and programs in place to defend the integrity of the visa system and prevent worker exploitation.

A spokesperson also said there were penalties of up to 25 years imprisonment and specific protections for victims giving evidence in court in relation to human trafficking.

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America's top doctor accuses China of failing the world over COVID-19

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An Australian is among more than 150 mostly young people who died when they were trapped and crushed during Halloween festivities in South Korea on Saturday night, foreign affairs officials have confirmed.

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) spokesman said on Sunday night that the Australian Embassy in the South Korean capital of Seoul had been notified of the death of an Australian in the tragic incident.

Rescue workers and firefighters try to help injured people near the scene on Saturday night. Credit:AP

Consular officers are providing assistance to the individuals family in Australia. The officers were also helping a number of other Australians who were present at the event, the DFAT spokesman said.

The Australian government sends its condolences to the family and others affected by this tragic incident. We ask for the familys privacy to be respected during this difficult time, the spokesman said.
Sidik said he jumped into the water when the bridge began to crack and saw his friend being crushed by its metal carriageway. He survived the disaster by climbing on the bridge and holding onto its cables, but his friend couldnt make it. Everyone was crying for help, but one by one they all began disappearing in the water, Sidik said. Local news channels ran pictures of the missing shared by concerned relatives searching of their loved ones. Many family members raced to overcrowded hospitals looking for their kin. Prateek Vasava, who swam to the river bank after falling from the bridge, told 24 Hours Gujarati-language news channel that he witnessed several children drop into the river.

I wanted to pull some of them along with me but they had drowned or got swept away, he said. The bridge had collapsed in just a few seconds, he said. Rescuers on boats search in the Machchu river next to the collapsed cable bridge. Credit:AP Many children were enjoying holidays for Diwali and they came here as tourists. All of them fell one on top of another. The bridge collapsed due to overloading, said one witness, who gave his name as Sukram. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was in his home state of Gujarat on a three-day visit, said he was deeply saddened by the tragedy. His office announced compensation to the families of the dead and urged for speedy rescue efforts.

A Gujarats state government election is expected in the coming months and opposition parties have demanded an investigation into the collapse, saying that the bridge was reopened without having a safety clearance. The claim could not be independently verified, but the state government said it has formed a special team to investigate the disaster. Modi ruled Gujarat as its top elected official for 12 years before becoming Indias prime minister in 2014. Indias infrastructure has long been marred by safety concerns, sometimes leading to major disasters on its highways and bridges. Opposition party leaders alleged that the government had not conducted a thorough technical assessment and load bearing capacity before it was opened to the public.

Morbi is renowned as ceramic manufacturing centre. The incident also comes ahead of elections in Gujarat, which are expected to be held by the year-end with the current term of the Modis ruling partys term ending in February, 2023. The bridge collapse is Asias third major disaster involving large crowds in a month. On Saturday, a Halloween crowd surge killed more than 150 mostly young people who attended festivities in Itaewon, a neighbourhood in Seoul, South Korea. On October 1, police in Indonesia fired tear gas at a soccer match, causing a crush that killed 132 people as spectators tried to flee.

The worst accidents in India over the past decade: April 2012: At least 103 people drowned after an overloaded ferry carrying about 300 people sank at night in the Brahmaputra river in eastern Assam state. Feb 2013: A stampede at a railway station in northern India killed at least 36 Hindu pilgrims during the busiest day of the Kumbh Mela, the worlds largest religious festival at which some 30 million had gathered. April 2013: Some 72 people were killed after an illegal and half-constructed building in western Indias Thane, near the financial capital Mumbai, collapsed. Oct 2013: Devotees crossing a long, concrete bridge towards a temple in the central state of Madhya Pradesh panicked when some railings broke, triggering a stampede that killed 115 people.

July 2014: An 11-storey building under construction in southern Tamil Nadu state came down following heavy rains, leaving at least 47 people dead. Sept 2015: Illegally stored explosives that were accidentally detonated in the centre of a town in central Madhya Pradesh state killed at least 88 people. April 2016: A fire and explosions during a fireworks display killed 100 people and injured more than 380 at a temple in the southern state of Kerala. Nov 2016: Some 146 people were killed and more than 200 injured when an express train derailed in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Jan 2017: At least 41 people were killed after several coaches of a passenger train went off the rails in southern Andhra Pradesh state.

Nov 2017: An explosion of hot gas at a boiler at a power plant in northern Uttar Pradesh state operated by state-run NTPC Ltd killed 45 workers. Oct 2018: A commuter train ran through a crowd gathered on the tracks for a festival in northern Indias Amritsar city, killing at least 59 people and injuring 57. June 2019: At least 44 people were killed and 35 injured when a bus plunged off a road in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh December 2019: Forty three people died in New Delhi when a blaze engulfed a four-storey building in a residential part of the capital where more than 100 workers were sleeping. Feb 2021: Some 50 people were killed in central Madhya Pradesh state when a bus fell off a bridge into a canal and then sank into the water.
VIJAYAWADA: Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan has affirmed that his party would continue its fight on behalf of the people against the YSR Congress governments "corruption and illegalities." The JS would conduct the Janavani grievances programme in all 26 districts, he said here on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, the JS Political Affairs Committee meeting was held at its state party office in Mangalagiri. It decided to hold a social audit in Jagananna Colonies and TIDCO Housing Complexes on November 12, 13 and 14 in which Pawan Kalyan would participate.

Pawan met leaders who faced police cases in the recent Vizag incident and interacted with them. He said it was unfortunate the state is ruled by political terrorists, who made a mockery of the laws and alleged that the YSRC was doing destruction work in North Andhra.

He said the YSRC was trying to create controversies and cause disturbances. AP state should be freed from criminal politics, he said.

Pawan claimed that he has motherly love for north Andhra and that the Jana Sena flag should fly in Uttarandhra. He promised full support from the JS to leaders and activists who stand with the party in adverse times.

JS political affairs committee chairman Nadendla Manohar said Janavani programmes would be held by Pawan to receive grievances from the public on local and other issues in 26 district centres. A social audit would be held on November 12, 13 and 14 by the Jana Sena at Jagananna Colonies and Tidco houses across the state. Pawan Kalyan would participate in this programme.

Manohar said several key decisions were taken and resolutions passed in the party's political affairs committee meeting. JS would review the conditions at Janananna colonies and Tidco houses and conduct a social audit. Retired engineers and experts have come forward to help us in this programme.

He said, We are going to get reports from 175 constituencies and arrange to submit the report to Pawan Kalyan.
Singapore: Kim Hyun-jeong knew something wasnt right when she arrived with a group of friends at Itaewon subway station in Seoul about 7pm on Saturday.

The inside station was already so packed with people that it took five minutes for us to walk up the 20-metre stairway to exit the station, the 29-year-old office worker told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age on Sunday. Walking up the stairway, I was already feeling dizzy that I text-messaged my friends, I should have not come here.

Police officers work on Sunday at the scene of a fatal crowd surge in Seoul. Credit:AP

An estimated 100,000 revellers had massed in Itaewon, a vibrant area of bars and restaurants in the South Korean capital, many in costume to celebrate Halloween and let their hair down after the recent easing of COVID-19 restrictions.

Just a few hours later, however, the festivities took a tragic turn as partygoers collapsed and were trampled on in a crowded alleyway near an exit to the subway station.
In other words Rishi Sunaks arrival in Number 10 Downing Street reflects the reality of modern Britain. A nation in which it is normal for the faces of those occupying high office to be non-white, and where one in four children has an immigrant mother. The change in the capital has been even more stark. Between 1971 and 2011 the percentage of white British residents of London dropped from 86.2 per cent to 42.7 per cent. The huge change in the ethnic composition of Britain in such a short time has been just as remarkable as the rise of the new arrivals (or their children) to the top of the countrys institutions. That this has occurred at the same time as the Left has become obsessed with sniffing out white privilege and institutional racism is one of the ironies of our age.

It must also be confronting to the Left that all the aforementioned politicians bar the Mayor of London are members of the Conservative Party, as were all three of Britains female prime ministers. In 2020, Badenoch outraged the Left in a House of Commons debate on the higher rate of COVID deaths among black, Asian and minority ethnic communities  BAMEs  as theyre known in the UK, by declaring Britain is one of the best countries in the world to be a black person. Loading Earlier this year, finally recognising that the experiences of Britains many ethnic communities are now so different the government decided to stop using BAME as catch-all descriptor for the non-white population. Modern Britain is undoubtedly ethnically diverse, but how did it come to be that the politicians representing it mirror that diversity? If there is something all these successful politicians share in common  aside from determined parents  its a commitment to education.

Though Sunak is now extremely wealthy, having made a fortune as a merchant banker then married into one of Indias richest families, his parents were not. His GP father and pharmacist mother had to stretch to send him to Winchester, one of Britains poshest and most expensive schools. Similarly, Kwartengs parents paid for him to go to a private primary school from which he won a scholarship to an even posher one than Sunak, Eton. Kwasi Kwarteng, former UK chancellor. Credit:Bloomberg But of course there are plenty of well-educated ambitious children of migrants in every Western nation, including Australia. Yet there are comparatively few non-white faces in our Parliament.

So how did the British Conservatives do it? Loading The Conservative Party doesnt have quotas for gender or ethnic diversity as such. But it does have a list of potential candidates that constituencies are encouraged to pick from which skews towards women and ethnic minority groups. But these candidates cant be imposed on the preselectors, they still have to win the votes of local Conservative Party members. And having been picked, they then of course have to actually win the seats.

Sunak lost his first preselection. When he went for his now constituency of Richmond, in Yorkshire, the brown-skinned investment banker from the south of England had to win over local Tories, a group largely made up of North Yorkshire farmers. He was undoubtedly assisted by the retiring member endorsing him. The experience in the United Kingdom makes clear that a thriving multiracial and multifaith democracy is possible without quotas. But theres another ingredient: time. Large numbers of Indians, Pakistanis and West Indians began arriving in Britain 1950s, which continued for several decades.

In the 1950s, the Menzies government was making tentative steps towards ending the White Australia policy, but it wasnt until the second half of the 1960s that substantial numbers of non-European migrants began settling here. Loading Though we have just elected our most ethnically diverse Parliament in our history, we are clearly still miles behind Britain, in both the number of minority MPs elected and the diversity of the ministry. But if Britain shows us anything, its that we dont need to panic about the speed with which our institutions have absorbed the children of migrants. Thirty years ago it was remarkable if someone with a Greek or Italian surname was a leader of industry or a minister. Nowadays, we dont bat an eyelid. Before we know it, the same will be true of those from Indian, Asian or African backgrounds. Change takes time but it does come.
Washington: Elon Musk tweeted a link to an unfounded rumour about the attack on US House Speaker Nancy Pelosis husband, just days after Musks purchase of Twitter fuelled concerns that the social media platform would no longer seek to limit misinformation and hate speech.

Musks tweet, which he later deleted, linked to an article by a fringe website, the Santa Monica Observer, an outlet that has previously asserted that Hillary Clinton died on September 11 and was replaced with a body double.

Elon Musk has since deleted the tweet. Credit:Bloomberg

In this case, the article recycled a baseless claim that the personal life of Paul Pelosi, the speakers husband, somehow played a role in an intruders attack last week in the couples San Francisco home, even though there is no evidence to support that claim.

Musk did so in a reply to a tweet by Hillary Clinton. Her tweet had criticised Republicans for generally spreading hate and deranged conspiracy theories and said, It is shocking, but not surprising, that violence is the result.
THE RANSOMWARE HUNTING TEAM: A Band of Misfits Improbable Crusade to Save the World From

Author: Renee Dudley and Daniel Golden

Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux

Pages: 355

Price: $30

In May, the president of Costa Rica, Rodrigo Chaves, announced that the nation was at war with the Russia-based criminal gang Conti, which had infected 27 of the countrys government institutions with ransomware and demanded $20 million to restore the encrypted data and computer systems. If entire countries can be brought to their knees by ransomware, then so too can cities, hospitals, individuals and schools, among many other entities. And for all of Chavess rhetoric, the battles to defend these victims against ransomware are fought primarily by private companies and individuals, not by government agencies or militaries.

In The Ransomware Hunting Team, the ProPublica journalists Renee Dudley and Daniel Golden profile several of those individuals, describing an informal, invitation-only coalition of roughly one dozen malware experts who work to decrypt victims files and restore their computer systems so they dont have to succumb to extortion. The members of the self-titled Ransomware Hunting Team are spread out across the United States and Europe. They communicate and coordinate their efforts via a private Slack channel as they scour source code to try to reverse-engineer decryption keys and recover the victims data. Sometimes that turns out to be impossible, if the criminals have used strong enough algorithms and implemented them properly. But sometimes the perpetrators take shortcuts that enable the figures at the centre of Dudley and Goldens story  security researchers like Michael Gillespie and Fabian Wosar  to come to the rescue.

Doing that work (Or shall I call it a form of art? one ransomware hunter muses) comes with significant costs, many of them personal. Dudley and Golden dig deeply into the emotional and financial tolls on people like Gillespie, who insists on offering his services to victims at no charge, only to end up struggling to pay his bills and fighting with his wife over his round-the-clock obsession with generating ransomware decryption keys, a process that consumes so much computing power it slows down his wifes avatars while shes playing the Sims.

But the larger costs of reverse-engineering ransomware lie in providing cybercriminals with real-time feedback about how to make their programs harder to crack. Any attempt by the ransomware hunters to publicise their findings for the benefit of future victims inevitably alerts these bad actors to the flaws in their own designs.

Dudley and Golden do a brilliant job of tracing the back-and-forth between attackers and defenders, like the little taunts the criminals embed in their programs after earlier versions are thwarted. After Wosar decrypts one program, its authors (a group called Apocalypse) fix the vulnerability he identified in a new variant named Fabiansomware, encoded with a dare to Crack me. His other nemeses leave messages in their source code ranging from FWosar you are the man to If you crack this version then I will start taking heroin!

Even as they draw out these competitive and sometimes comical dynamics, Dudley and Golden are highly attuned to the havoc ransomware can wreak. They introduce us to a self-employed photographer in Manila who in 2019 lost access to hundreds of thousands of photos and videos hed kept over five years, and a sixth-grade teacher in Maryland who in 2020 had to read The Maze Runner aloud to her students because all of her lesson plans had been frozen. Most tragically, they tell the story of a woman whose newborn daughter suffered severe brain damage because a ransomware attack prevented hospital obstetricians from detecting fetal distress. The baby later died.

A recurring theme across the book is the indifference and incompetence of government, particularly in America. Dudley and Golden note that when the city of Baltimore was hit by a ransomware attack in 2019, the Department of Homeland Security couldnt decide if it was their job to respond. Comparing the FBI, unfavourably, to the Dutch High Tech Crime Unit (the police team of tech-savvy officers who fight cybercrime), the authors note that the American bureaus technical experts are often looked down upon by their co-workers, one of whom nicknames them dolphins because they are highly intelligent and cant communicate with humans.

But the book leaves other potential legal and regulatory defences against ransomware underexplored, such as systematic targeting of cryptocurrency exchanges, botnet operators, hosting providers and internet service providers that facilitate ransomware and could potentially be leveraged to disrupt these attacks.

The book begins with an epigraph from Rudyard Kipling: If once you have paid him the Dane-geld / You never get rid of the Dane. But Dudley and Golden stop short of criticising the victims who do pay ransoms, and the insurers who often cover those payments. The book is, however, openly critical of companies like Proven Data Recovery and MonsterCloud that purport to be able to retrieve victims data themselves, but often end up just paying the ransoms without telling their clients.

Instead of focusing on policy and institutional shortcomings, Dudley and Golden are most interested in the characters at the centre of this fight. Within the ranks of both hunters and hackers, they write, are self-taught, underemployed tech geeks who sometimes lack social graces, like video games and are familiar with some of the same movies. The book offers lively portraits of these people  invoking Gillespies bachelor party, where guests shot up worn-out computers with guns, and Wosars habit of watching sad, romantic movies while he works  as it traces the evolution of ransomware into a more professionalised business for organised cartels. Unfortunately, that professionalisation and its attendant resources are catapulting many strains of modern ransomware beyond the reach of The Ransomware Hunting Team.
To maintain higher capacity utilisation, exports are necessary for local steel players expanding their capacities, as demand is not directly proportional to production, according to a top industry executive.

"Since expansion happens... there will be a certain stage where you necessarily will have to export, if we have to be on high capacity utilisation," Dilip Oommen, CEO of Nippon Steel (AMNS) India told PTI.

His comments assume significance as steel players are looking up to the government for relief in the form of roll back of the duties levied on steel exports.

On May 21, the government hiked the duty on exports of iron ore by up to 50 per cent and for a few steel intermediaries to 15 per cent.

In line with the government's 300 MT steel making capacity target, other steel players like Tata Steel, JSW Steel, SAIL and JSPL are also expanding their capacities to meet the goal.

AMNS India on Friday commenced a Rs 60,000-crore expansion project to scale up its Hazira plant capacity to 15 million tonne (MT) from 9 MT at present.

The project will add another 6 MT capacity and suddenly one can not increase its market share proportionally, the CEO said.

"Till then you need to export. I imagine the government of India will take care of the export duty on steel," Oommen, who is also the President of the apex Indian Steel Association (ISA), 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.)
Four people, including a policeman, were killed and six injured after landslides struck near the under-construction Ratle power project in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district on Saturday, officials said.

An operation to find and rescue survivors trapped under the debris has concluded, they said.

Labourers were working on the construction of a link road near the Ratle power project site and a JCB machine was digging when a big boulder rolled down, trapping the workers, Kishtwar Deputy Commissioner (DC) Devansh Yadav told PTI.

As an operation team comprising six people rushed to the spot to rescue those trapped under the debris, another landslide hit the area, burying more people, the officials said.

Yadav said a rescue operation was launched immediately and six people, including an assistant sub-inspector of police, were pulled out from the debris and taken to the hospital.

Four people, including a policeman and the JCB operator, were killed in the incident. The JCB operator was identified as Manoj Kumar, he said.

Earlier, Yadav had said five people were trapped under the debris.

Of the six injured, the officials said, three were rushed to the Government Medical College in Doda, two to the Thathri hospital and one was sent to Jammu.

Jitendra Singh, Union minister and MP from Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur, said he spoke to Yadav after receiving a report on the landslide at the Ratle power project site.

"The JCB driver unfortunately died on the spot," he said.

"Further assistance, as required, (is) being provided. I am in constant touch with the district administration," he said.

Taking to Twitter, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha condoled the loss of lives in the incident.

"Deeply anguished by mishap at Drabshalla-Ratle hydroelectric project. My thoughts are with those who have lost their loved ones. Prayers for early recovery of injured," he said.

The district administration has been directed to provide all necessary assistance, 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 cabinet on Saturday gave its nod to a set of new rules related to the wood-based industries in the state and took a slew of measures for implementing the second phase of a flagship scheme.

The cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, promulgated the Wood Based Industries (Promotion and Development) Rules, 2022 to encourage various units related to the sector.

As per the cabinet decisions shared by Sarma on Twitter, the wood-based industries will be categorised as primary, secondary and composite industries for regulatory purposes.

For rolling out the second phase of 'Mission Basundhara', the state government approved various measures to ease the process of allotment of land to eligible people across the state, a Cabinet note said.

Mission Basundhara scheme provides land-related services like mutation, updating of records and delivery of these services to the people at their homes.

The government also approved an amendment of Land Policy, 2019 to boost the 'Mission Basundhara', it added.

For rolling out the second phase of the flagship scheme, the state government allocated Rs 328.19 crore, the note said.

Besides, the cabinet recognised the Bhujel community as the Sub-Caste of the Nepali community in the OBC list of .

(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 high-level team of the Union Health Ministry to take stock of the avian influenza outbreak here on Sunday held discussions with the district Collector.

A six-member team led by Senior Regional Director from the Office of Health and Family Welfare, Bangalore, Dr Rajesh Kademani, reached the state to investigate the outbreak in detail and submit a report with recommendations.

The team held discussions with district Collector V R Krishna Teja, who informed the delegation that 15,937 ducks were culled in connection with the avian influenza.

The Collector explained details of the culling and the precautionary steps taken by the district administration.

The high-level team will visit in the coming days, places from where the outbreak was reported.

District authorities informed the delegation that the Health and Animal Husbandry departments were closely monitoring the situation.

The central team comprises experts drawn from the Institute of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases, New Delhi, the Centre for Disease Control, New Delhi, the Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai, and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.

The team will also assist the state health departments in terms of public health measures, management guidelines and protocols to manage the increasing cases of avian influenza being reported by the state.

With the outbreak of avian influenza confirmed among ducks in Kerala's Alappuzha district, authorities on Thursday began operations to cull over 20,000 birds in Vazhuthanam ward in Haripad Municipality to check spread of the disease.

The presence of the infection was confirmed after the samples of dead birds were sent to the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases in Bhopal for examination.

A ban has already been imposed on transportation of birds within one kilometer radius of the disease outbreak.

In the wake of avian flu, the district Collector has banned the consumption and sale of eggs and meat of domestic birds including duck, hen, quail and so on in Haripad Municipality and various panchayats nearby.

Four-member "bird squads" have been formed to ensure that eggs and meat of domestic birds are not sold or consumed in these regions.

Authorities asked people to be vigilant in the wake of the outbreak of disease as there are chances of the spread of the infection among humans from birds.

Besides ducks, the infection can also affect hen, quail, goose and other ornamental birds and those who come in close contact with them should be extra cautious and take necessary precautionary measures as prescribed by the Health Department, they 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.)
As many as 120 enforcement teams of the Delhi government's transport department and the city police will implement restriction on plying of BS III petrol and BS IV diesel four-wheeler in the national capital if such curbs are imposed, officials said.

Amid worsening pollution levels in Delhi, the Centre's air quality panel Saturday directed authorities in the National Capital Region to implement curbs such as a ban on construction and demolition activities under the Graded Response Action Plan stage III.

The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) further said states might impose restrictions on the plying of BS III petrol and BS IV diesel four-wheelers in the NCR considering the worsening air quality. This direction is non-binding on authorities.

According to a Delhi Transport Department official, the 120 enforcement teams of the department will be implementing the restrictions along with Delhi Police.

"We check the vehicles by uploading their registration numbers in the Vahan database and checking their type and other specifics. All the 120 enforcement teams are busy in implementing the various pollution-related measures," the official said.

Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai will chair a high-level meeting on Sunday to discuss measures to be implemented under stage III of GRAP.

The national capital's 24-hour average air quality index stood at 397 at 4 pm, the worst since January. It was 354 on Thursday, 271 on Wednesday, 302 on Tuesday and 312 on Monday (Diwali).

(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 Centre on Sunday urged the to dismiss pleas challenging the validity of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), stressing that the law does not encourage illegal migration in Assam or any future influx of foreigners in the country.

It also vehemently defended the exclusion of certain areas of Assam and other Northeastern states from the application of the CAA, saying it has been done to protect the ethnic/linguistic rights of the natives and this was not discriminatory.

It is a focused law that grants citizenship only to members of six specified communities who came on or before December 31, 2014 and does not affect the legal, democratic or secular rights of any Indian, the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a detailed 150-page affidavit.

Also, the existing regime for obtaining citizenship by foreigners of any country continues to be untouched by the present law and they remain the same, it said ahead of the hearing of petitions on the contentious CAA that had sparked protests in various parts of the country in late 2019 and early 2020 over alleged discriminatory provisions.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and justices S Ravindra Bhat and Bela M Trivedi is scheduled to hear as many as 232 petitions, mostly PILs, on October 31 on the issue of CAA.

The affidavit said that the law is narrowly tailored and only those migrants belonging to the six specified communities from the three countries who had entered into India on or before December 31, 2014 will be covered by the provisions of this Amendment Act.

These migrants are already living in India. The Amendment Act does not have any provision which provides for the grant of citizenship to such migrants who would have come after December 31, till date or on any future date. It is respectfully submitted that the CAA, 2019 does not in any way encourage illegal migration into Assam, it said.

The MHA said Parliament is competent to make laws for the whole or any part of the territory of India as provided in Article 245 (1) of The Constitution and the issues of policy domain cannot be challenged in a court of law.

It is further submitted that this is a focused law that has a specific cut-off date of December 31, 2014. Therefore, only such migrants belonging to the six specified communities from the three countries who had entered into India on or before December 31, 2014 will be covered by the provisions of this Amendment Act, it said.

Seeking dismissal of the pleas, the affidavit, filed by Sumant Singh, a joint secretary in the MHA, said, There is no provision in CAA which would affect the distinct language, script or culture of citizens of Assam and other North-Eastern States.

The Centre said the Assamese people have full right to conserve their language, script or culture in accordance with the Constitution and the CAA only makes eligible a class of foreigners who had taken shelter in India on or before December 31, 2014 due to persecution faced by them in three specified countries over their religion.

It is submitted that CAA does not encourage any future influx of foreigners into India as it applies to past events and has no application in futuro.

"Therefore, CAA is not violative of ..the Constitution, it said.

The Centre said the CAA facilitates the grant of citizenship to migrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.

It said the law applied to those who have been exempted by the central government under the provisions of the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 and other relevant provisions and the rules made under the Foreigners Act, 1946.

It also said that these migrants are already living in India and the amended law does not have any provision which provides for the grant of citizenship to such migrants who would have come after the specified date or on any future date.

It is respectfully submitted that the CAA does not in any way encourage illegal migration into Assam and therefore the petition that it has the potential to encourage illegal migration into Assam is unfounded, it said.

It said the petitions are liable to be dismissed and reserved its right to file a more detailed affidavit at a later stage.

The MHA said the classification of tribal area of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram or Tripura as included in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution and the area covered under "The Inner Line" notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873 has been made on tangible material, historical reasons and the already prevalent classifications.

It is submitted that said classification of excluded areas is based on factors surrounding the fundamental differences in the population density, the constitutional obligation of protection of native culture, the economic and social inability/impact in case of mass migration and reasons concerning security..., it said.

Referring to the Assam Accord, the affidavit said that specific concerns with regard to Assam and the other Northeastern states have been taken into consideration while enacting the CAA in 2019.

It said the CAA is not limited to Assam and will be applicable throughout the country except tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura as included in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution and areas covered under Inner Line as notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873.

The top court had issued notice to the Centre and had sought its response by the second week of January 2020.

The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and others, including Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, RJD leader Manoj Jha, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra and AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi, have filed pleas on the issue.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The on Sunday set up 586 teams to ensure strict implementation of the ban on construction and demolition activities in the capital after the Commission for Air Quality Managements (CAQM) ordered on Saturday to impose the Stage III of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).

The CAQMs decision came when air quality in the national capital touched severe levels, with the overall air quality index (AQI) reaching 400 at 12:10 a.m. on Saturday

While there was some relief for the city on Sunday, with overall AQI coming down to 349, experts believe it is momentary. Drop in temperature, calm winds, and an increase in stubble burning in Punjab will bring back the pollution level in the city, experts say.

The government has prepared a strong monitoring system to ensure compliance of its directives. It has set up 586 teams comprising officials of various departments, Gopal Rai, environment minister, Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi said.

An AQI between 0-50 is considered good, 51-100 satisfactory, 101-200 'moderate, 201-300 poor, 301-400 very poor, and 401-500 severe. Above 500 is the severe-plus or emergency category.

According to air quality forecast agency System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR), the AQI will turn severe in the coming days with northwest winds from the neighbouring states of Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh picking up speed gradually, carrying smoke from stubble burning into Delhi.

An India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast says air quality is likely to deteriorate and remain 'Severe' from Monday. The outlook for the subsequent six days ranges from 'Very Poor' to 'Severe'.

IMD said calm winds prevailed at night, and that moderate wind speed (up to 8 kmph) is predicted during the day. In cold conditions, pollutants are trapped close to the ground because of low mixing height  the vertical height at which pollutants are suspended in the air.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the concentration of lung-damaging fine particles, known as PM2.5, was above 400 micrograms per cubic metre at 10 a.m.--seven times the safe limit of 60 micrograms, in many areas.

The CAQM has also ordered the Pollution Control Boards (PCBs) of NCR and the Control Committee for implementing strict measures under the GRAP.

Under GRAP Stage III, the industries, brick kilns, and hot mix plants which are not operating on fuels, as in the standard list of approved fuels for NCR will be closed.

Stone crushers, mining and associated activities in the NCR will be shut down. State Governments in NCR/ Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi may impose restrictions on Bharat Stage III (BS III) petrol and BS IV diesel Light Motor Vehicles (4-wheelers).

The stubble burning got postponed this season due to the delayed monsoon. But crop burning has picked up pace since Diwali and is expected to increase in the coming days.

Stubble-burning cases in the northern states have increased by 19 per cent from the previous year. A total of 15461 burning events were detected in the six states  Punjab (12112), Haryana (1813), Uttar Pradesh (705), Delhi (5), Rajasthan (227) and Madhya Pradesh (599)  from September 15 to October 29.

Residue-burning incidents saw an increase of 34 per cent in Punjab from the previous year.
Chief Minister on Saturday said there is a need to set up a cyber police station in every district of the state.

Adityanath held a high-level meeting with officials of the Home Department on Saturday, the state government said in a statement here.

There is a need to establish a cyber police station in every district of the state, the chief minister told the officials.

He said the campaign against illegal manufacturing, sales and trafficking of drugs should be intensified, according to the statement.

Vigilance should be increased on inter-state and international borders. Along with the Home Department, the Urban Development and Rural Development Department will also have to cooperate in this campaign, he said.

Strictest action should be ensured against drug mafia with better coordination, he added.

Adityanath also directed officials to ensure that eligible people must get the benefits of central and state government schemes in all border districts of the state.

The progress of the schemes in these districts should be reviewed separately, he said.

He said joint patrolling by personnel of Police and Sashastra Seema Bal should be conducted in border districts, and stressed on better coordination between the two forces.

(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.)
Police on Sunday banned use of drones by any individual or organisation till November 2 in view of President Droupadi Murmu and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's proposed visit to the city, an official statement said.

"The programme of seventh edition of the India Water Week is proposed in Gautam Buddh Nagar on November 1 in which the president is proposed to participate while the UP chief minister is also scheduled to visit on October 30 or 31," the statement read.

"Therefore, in view of the security of the president and the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, the operation of drones by any private person or organisation will be prohibited from October 29 to November 2," it said.

Police warned that violation of the order will be punishable under Indian Penal Code section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by government official).

Earlier, Police had banned use of drones in city skies in September for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit during World Dairy Summit.

Prior to that the drone ban was imposed from August 26 till August 31 in view of the demolition of Supertech's illegal twin towers in Sector 93A.

(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 top leaders including President and Prime Minister on Sunday expressed grief after a bridge collapsed in Gujarat's Morbi city on Sunday claiming at least 60 lives.

president Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi appealed to all party workers in the state to extend every possible assistance in the rescue work.

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar prayed for the safe rescue of all.

"Distressed to hear about the tragic incident in Morbi, . I pray for the safe rescue of all and the speedy recovery of those injured. My thoughts are with the affected families," the Vice President Secretariat said in a tweet quoting Dhankhar.

Prime Minister Modi announced an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh for the families of each of those who died in the incident, his office said.

Expressing sadness, Modi, in a tweet said he has spoken to Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and officials. "Relief and rescue operations are going on in full swing and all necessary assistance is being provided," the prime minister said.

President Murmu, in a tweet, said, "The tragedy in Morbi, has left me worried. My thoughts and prayers are with the affected people. Relief and rescue efforts will bring succour to the victims."



Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, whose Aam Aadmi Party is making an all-out effort to dislodge BJP from power in the poll-bound state, tweeted, "Very sad news coming from Gujarat. Many people are reported to have fallen into the river after a bridge collapsed in Morbi. I pray to god for everybody's life and well-being."



The nearly century-old suspension bridge on the Machchhu river collapsed around 6.30 pm owing to too many people standing on it following its reopening just four days ago after renovation.

A private operator had carried out the repair work of the bridge for nearly six months before it was reopened to the public on the Gujarati New Year day celebrated on October 26.

According to eyewitnesses, there were several women and children on the hanging bridge when it snapped. A fire department official said that boats were being used to rescue people from the river.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah also expressed sadness at the incident in Morbi. In a tweet, he said that he has spoken to the home minister of Gujarat, Harsh Sanghvi, and other officials in this matter.

"Local administration is fully engaged in relief work, Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is also reaching the spot soon. The administration has been directed to provide immediate treatment to the injured," Shah said.

The Disaster Response Force on Sunday rushed three teams to Gujarat's Morbi district where at least 32 people were killed after a suspension bridge over a river collapsed.

NDRF Director General (DG) Atul Karwal told PTI that the three teams have been moved from the state capital Gandhinagar and Vadodara.

Another team will be airlifted in some time and it will move via road from Rajkot to the accident site, he said.

Expressing condolences to families of those who lost their lives, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel announced Rs 4 lakh to the family of each deceased and Rs 50,000 to the injured.

CPI MP Binoy Viswam claimed that the bridge collapse incident points to the "gross negligence" of the BJP government.

"Cable bridge collapse in Gujarat points to the gross negligence of the BJP government. Its repair was said to be done five days back. Where from the contractors got this courage? The compensation needs to be increased. A reliable enquiry should take place to unveil political involvement," Viswam tweeted.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adiityanath too expressed grief over the deaths and said, "Very sad news of a bridge collapsing has been received from Morbi in Gujarat. Praying to Shri Ram to help all the affected."



President Kharge tweeted, "Deeply saddened by the tragedy that has struck us with the collapse of the suspension bridge in Morbi, Gujarat."



"I appeal to the @INCGujarat workers to extend every possible assistance in rescue work & helping the wounded. My condolences and prayers are with the bereaved families."



In a tweet in Hindi, Rahul Gandhi said the news of the bridge accident in Morbi, Gujarat is very saddening.

"I extend my deepest condolences to all the bereaved families in such difficult times," he said, adding, "I appeal to all workers to extend all possible assistance to the injured persons in the accident and also help in the search of the missing people.

(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.)
Prime Minister and Chief Minister will share the dais to pay tributes to tribal freedom fighters at Mangarh Dham in the state's Banswara district on November 1, an official said.

Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel will also be present on the occasion.

Mangarh is located at the border of Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat, and the visit by the leaders is being seen as an attempt to woo tribals ahead of the Assembly elections in the states.

During the freedom struggle, more than 1.5 lakh Bhils and other tribes engaged in a long stand-off with the British rallied at Mangarh Hill on November 17, 1913 under the leadership of Govind Guru.

It is believed that around 1,500 people were killed as the British opened fire at the gathering.

According to the official, Chief Minister will reach Mangarh Dham by a special aircraft at 9.30 am.

Gehlot is on a Gujarat tour right now, where the Assembly elections are to be held shortly. He is scheduled to return to on October 31, the official said.

Gehlot had earlier written twice to Modi demanding that Mangarh Dham be declared a monument of importance so that true tributes could be paid to Govind Guru.

Eight districts in Rajasthan--Banswara, Dungarpur, Chittorgarh, Udaipur, Rajsamand, Sirohi, Pratapgarh and Pali--come under this region. There are a total of 37 Assembly constituencies here.

The BJP holds 21 out of 37 seats while the Congress has 11, independents three and the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) two.

There are a total of 200 Assembly seats in Rajasthan and 71 are held by the BJP.

The influence of the BTP in the tribal belt of Rajasthan is a matter of concern for both the BJP and the Congress, hence, both major parties are trying to woo tribal votes.

(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 is scheduled to hear around 240 PILs, including a large batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), on Monday when it would reopen after a nine-day Diwali vacation.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and justices S Ravindra Bhat and Bela M Trivedi has listed for hearing as many as 232 petitions, mostly PILs, on October 31 on the issue of CAA alone.

Earlier, the bench headed by CJI Lalit, who is scheduled to demit office on November 8, had said that the pleas challenging the CAA will be referred to a three-judge bench.

The 2019 amended law, which seeks to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslim migrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian, Jain, and Parsi communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who have come to the country till 2014, has come in for stinging criticism by opposition parties, leaders and other entities over the exclusion of Muslims.

The lead plea on the issue was filed by the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML).

In January 2020, the apex court made it clear it will not stay the operation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act without hearing the Centre.

Seeking a response from the central government in four weeks to a batch of pleas challenging the CAA, the top court had also restrained high courts in the country from proceedings with pending petitions on the issue.

The IULML has claimed the Act violates the fundamental Right to Equality and intends to grant citizenship to a section of illegal immigrants by making an exclusion based on religion.

Several other petitions have been filed challenging the constitutional validity of the amended law, including by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, RJD leader Manoj Jha, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, and AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi.

Muslim body Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, All Assam Students Union (AASU), Peace Party, CPI, NGO 'Rihai Manch', advocate M L Sharma, and law students have also approached the apex court challenging the Act.

Besides the pleas on CAA, the apex court, according to the list of businesses uploaded on its website, is also scheduled to hear a PIL filed by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay.

It seeks directions to the Centre and the states to publish draft legislations prominently on government websites and in the public domain at least 60 days before they are introduced in Parliament and state assemblies.

The CJI-led bench would also hear another PIL seeking to establish special anti-corruption courts in every district to decide cases related to various economic offences like money laundering and tax evasion within one year.

The top court would also consider a PIL for a direction to the Centre to declare the Law Commission as a "statutory body" and appoint the chairperson and members to the panel.

A PIL seeking a direction to the Election Commission to remove party symbols from ballots and electronic voting machines (EVMs) and instead put age, educational qualification and photograph of candidates are listed for hearing on October 31.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
on Sunday received a consignment of from the Government of to be used for the Tamil workers in the hill plantation regions of the island nation's central province, according to the office of President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The consignment, which was coordinated by the trade union cum political party of the plantation Tamils of Indian-origin, Ceylon Workers Congress, was received by President Wickremesinghe.

Speaking on the occasion, Wickremesinghe said that the government will appoint a committee to seek how best to integrate the Tamils of Hill Country origin further into the Sri Lankan Society.

While some of the Tamils of Hill Country origin had integrated successfully into the Sri Lankan society, some have failed and measures would be taken to assist them to do so, he said.

The President recalled the Sirimalwatte-Shastri Pact between the then Indian and Sri Lankan leaders under which some of the Indian-origin plantation Tamils was repatriated.

Wickremesinghe recalled that it was the Ceylon Workers Congress founder the late Saumyamurthi Thondaman who had obtained citizenship for some people who should have gone under Srima-Shastri Pact but decided to stay back in .

The government is also encouraging building of houses and issuing lands to the people of Indian-origin in the Hill Country because they must have their own lands and a place to live in just like other groups in the hill country, he said.

Steps would be taken to review the plantation economy that could be affected by people leaving the plantation areas after being educated.

As people are being educated, more and more are leaving the plantation sector. The government has to find jobs for them as well as for other Sinhalese and Muslims who leave their areas to settle elsewhere, Wickremesinghe said.

He was hopeful of resolving the ethnic problem in the island.

The Sri Lankan government became aggressive against Tamilian groups following its war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The LTTE ran a military campaign for a separate Tamil homeland in the northern and eastern provinces of the island nation for nearly 30 years before its collapse in 2009 after the Sri Lankan Army killed its supreme leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

According to the Lankan government figures, over 20,000 people are missing due to various conflicts including the three-decade brutal war with Lankan Tamils in the north and east which claimed at least 100,000 lives.

International rights groups claim at least 40,000 ethnic Tamil civilians were killed in the final stages of the war, but the Sri Lankan government has disputed the figures.

(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.)
Prime Minister on Sunday said he could foresee that India would soon be manufacturing big that would proudly bear the words Made in India. He was speaking at the foundation stone ceremony of the Tata-Airbus C-295 aircraft manufacturing facility in Vadodara, Gujarat. The Rs 22,000-crore project is being seen as a win for Gujarat ahead of assembly elections.

Addressing the gathering, the PM said, India is moving forward with the mantra of Make in India, Make for the World.. The C-295 aircraft would bolster the logistical capability of the (IAF). While pointing out that India is making fighter jets, tanks, submarines, medicines, vaccines, electronic gadgets, mobile phones and cars that are popular in many countries, he said India would now become a huge manufacturer of transport aircraft.

The PM stressed that India would need more than 2,000 aircraft in the next 15 years. Today is a crucial step in this direction.

Speaking at the event, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran said, This is a historic moment not only for the Tata Group but for the country, as it embraces the Honble Prime Ministers vision of being truly Atmanirbhar. Airbus chief executive officer Guillaume Faury said, Our teams are committed to supporting the modernisation of the with the C-295 programme, which will also contribute to the development of the private defence manufacturing sector in the country.

Congratulating the two groups, the PM said more than 100 medium, small and micro enterprises (MSMEs) were associated with the project.

Highlighting that India is creating an unprecedented environment for manufacturing in the country, Modi cited the creation of a simplified, globally competitive, corporate tax structure, permitting 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) across sectors, opening up defence and space sectors for private companies, reforming 29 central labour laws into four codes, abolishing 33,000 compliances, and creating the Goods and Service Tax that put an end to a complex web of dozens of taxes.

He recalled a time when the dominant thought was to focus on the service sector as manufacturing was considered to be beyond reach. Today, we are improving both services and manufacturing sectors India is preparing to stay ahead of everyone in manufacturing, he said. While reiterating the investment-friendly policies, the PM urged India Inc to move aggressively on manufacturing without losing the current opportunity. Growth momentum of India has been maintained despite COVID-19 pandemic, war and supply-chain disruptions.

Modi said that over $3 billion has been invested in the aerospace sector alone. Post 2014, investment in this sector grew five times larger then what had been invested during 2000 to 2014. We aim to scale our defence manufacturing beyond $25 billion by 2025. Our defence exports will also exceed $5 billion, he added.

Today our policies are stable, predictable and futuristic, he said. A new saga of economic reforms is being written in India and the manufacturing sector is reaping the most benefits from this, apart from the states.

The PM lamented the makeshift approach of the previous government where the manufacturing sector was kept barely functional through subsidy.

Under the C295 project, a consortium of two Tata Group companies  Tata Advanced Systems Ltd (TASL) and Tata Consultancy Services, led by TASL  will assemble 40 Airbus transport aircraft with manufacturing technology supplied by Airbus Defence and Space. This is the first time a private firm has been entrusted with manufacturing an entire military aircraft.

The project will also involve Airbus supplying the first 16 transport aircraft ready-built in Seville, Spain. The aircraft can be used for both military and civilian purposes.

The first 16 fly-away-condition aircraft are scheduled to be received by the IAF between September 2023 and August 2025. The first C-295s assembled in Vadodra are expected to be delivered from September 2026.
Chief Minister Manik Saha heaped praise on Prime Minister for highlighting the country's first bio-village in in his monthly Mann Ki Baat' radio broadcast on Sunday.

Renewable Energy Development Authority (TREDA) in association with the Bio-Technology department has established the country's first bio-village at Daspara, in Sepahijala district, about 25 km from here.

I am very happy to see the Prime Minister highlighting and promoting the state's first bio-village on which work had started around two years ago. The concept of bio-village is environment-friendly. Water pumps for irrigation and lighting system are solar-powered, the chief minister told journalists.

Sixty-four families residing at Daspara meet their energy requirement from solar power.

The Bio-Technology department has extended help to the villagers, who were solely dependent on agriculture and fishery, by encouraging them to set up piggeries and take up goat-rearing as well.

The Prime Minister in the radio programme on Sunday made a special reference to the successful implementation of the concept of bio-village in the northeastern state and applauded the efforts by the authorities.

Non-renewable sources of energy can be beneficial for remote areas of the state as transporting electrical energy is costly and not economically viable, the chief minister said.

We will work more on solar energy in the future, he said.

Daspara is one of the first bio-villages that has been developed based on the bio-village 2.0 conceptualised in to attain sustainable development goals.

Work has started for setting up ten bio-village solar hamlets, especially in tribal-dominated areas, to promote solar energy in a big way, said an official of TREDA.

Former Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb also thanked the Prime Minister for acknowledging the state's successful implementation of the first bio-village.

Thank you PM Narendra Modiji for recognising a small village of Tripura which is India's first Bio-Village in today. The people of Tripura are thankful to your special attention towards Tripura, Deb said in a tweet.

(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.)
Riya* (45), a beautician with Urban Company, a home services business that operates in major cities in India, is talking about the time a client withheld payment of Rs 1,500 for her services.

The problem arose at the end of the session when it turned out that the client did not have cash at home and Riya had not set up a payment app on her phone. "I had no option but to come back for the money 10 days later," Riya told IndiaSpend.

A Delhi-based graduate, Riya was reluctant to avail banking services on her phone because she said people her age are not aware of these services and she was not comfortable using such applications. She bought her first smartphone only in 2020 when she joined Urban Company as a service provider. Her husband too does not own a smartphone, leave alone know how to use one, so she had to finally ask a trusted client to help her set up a payments app on her phone.

The Covid-19 pandemic reinforced the importance of access to mobile and mobile internet for information, healthcare, education as well as e-commerce, financial services and income-generation opportunities. But, finds the Mobile Gender Gap Report, 2022 by GSMA, a global organisation that promotes digital inclusion, the pandemic also "highlighted the stark digital divide" where those without access to mobile internet "are at risk of being left even further behind".

Over half of (53.9%) in India own mobile phones but amongst these only 22.5% reported using them for financial transactions, according to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5).

Given the lower mobile phone usage by women, "naturally there would be a gender gap in internet usage", said Sona Mitra, an economist at Initiative to What Works to Advance and Girls in the Economy (IWWAGE). NFHS-5 data show that about a third of Indian use the internet.

Further, use of the internet seems to reinforce existing inequalities. More than 72% of women with over 12 years of education have used the internet, compared to just 8% of women who had studied until grade V. Younger women were more likely to use the internet than older ones, and those in the highest wealth quintile were more likely to have used the internet than those in the lower quintiles, finds the NFHS-5.

Deprived of opportunities

India's digital gender gap is glaring--and it's showing.

The gap inevitably means that women are deprived of opportunities in a labour market where digital skills are in demand, according to a 2022 report by the Asian Development Bank and social networking platform LinkedIn. The Covid-19 pandemic made remote working more common, according to a survey by freelancing platform Upwork.

Unless India's women are able to catch up, and fast, to bridge the existing gap, it will continue to affect their prospects for entrepreneurship, restricting women-run businesses to low-tech, and low revenue-generating sectors such as food and handicrafts with few opportunities for growth.

Online and remote jobs offer women the freedom to work from their homes, finds this conference paper titled "Now we are independent: Female online freelancers in India and Sri Lanka", based on discussions with women in the two countries.

Women's employment in India was already in freefall when the pandemic arrived. An estimated 21 million women had fallen off the labour map between 2017 and 2020, according to private research firm, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).

The pandemic affected women's employment disproportionately. In percentage terms, more women lost jobs than men. By the end of 2020, labour force across India had shrunk by 13% for women and 2% for men, CMIE data found.

But earlier this year, the Periodic Labour Force Survey found women's labour force participation at 32.5% at its highest level in four years. But this, as our previous story analyses, was driven largely by a rise in rural women's labour force increase and the fact that economic distress was leading women to taking on even very low-paid work.

This story is part of our ongoing Women At Work 3.0 series of stories exploring the post-pandemic reality for women in India's labour force. Read the first four stories in this series here, here, here and here.

a distant reality for Indian women

India's digital gender gap is the result primarily of three factors. The first is a rural-urban divide; women in rural areas are less likely to own mobile phones than those who live in urban India, said Mitali Nikore of Nikore Associates, an economics research group.

Even amongst urban women, digital payments, a basic step toward digital adaptation, for instance, are more common among organised than unorganised women workers, she said. "The cost of data and services restricts wider usage among unorganised urban workers."

The second is an income-based divide. Accessing data can cost low-income households as much as 3% of their monthly income, said Nikore.

The third is social norms. In a society where mobile phones are viewed as a risk to women's reputation pre-marriage and an interruption to caregiving responsibilities post-marriage, "women's online activity is often governed by male relatives", said Nikore.

Explained Riya: "I bought my smartphone from my savings, I pay for data services from my earnings. Urban Company does not reimburse me for these expenses--nor did they provide any training beyond the basic features of their own app [which allows her to accept or decline services]."

As many as 82% of the 636 women who owned and managed their own businesses were not digitally literate, found a 2021 study of 10,000 rural and urban women from Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana, conducted by the Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF), a Delhi-based organisation that promotes digital literacy. Further, 80% of them said they had never used a payment system like PayTM, Google Pay or BHIM.

"However, digital penetration and adoption are increasing, and with it, so is the use of smartphones," said Sabina Dewan, president and executive director of Just Jobs Network, a global research organisation focused on employment solutions.

In India, smartphone ownership for men increased from 36% in 2019, 41% in 2020 to 49% in 2021, as per the Mobile Gender Gap 2022 report released by the GSMA. However, women's smartphone use is yet to catch up with men's: smartphone ownership was 14% in 2019, 25% in 2020 and 26% in 2021. Only 30% of adult women used mobile internet in 2020, a figure which did not change in the following year. Male users of mobile internet grew from 45% in 2020 to 51% in 2021, according to the report.

Hybrid work could have been a game-changer. It isn't

Padma Shri award-winning Phulkari artist 65-year-old Lajwanti Kaur still uses pen and paper to design her creations. She is aware that from designing to payments, the mobile phone can do it all, but said, "Mai to 5 class padhi hun. Isko kaise istemal karungi [I have studied only till grade V, how will I use it]?"





Kaur is also a teacher and sources embroidered clothes for her store in Delhi from her students, all of whom learn the craft without the help of any digital device. Her sales are made from the Delhi store or at exhibitions which requires her to travel--a task that is becoming increasingly difficult for her as she grows older. She is against expanding her business online because she fears middlemen will exploit her workers and pocket the bulk of her profits.

Online platforms like Amazon and Etsy that sell crafts provide women with benefits but their policies are not always transparent, said Dewan. "E-commerce provides some women the flexibility to generate an income while also tending to their domestic responsibilities. It can also enable them to reach a wider market. But how do these women drive traffic to their specific shop or products when there are so many competitors? And without exploitation?" she questioned.

Women's businesses remain confined to low-technology fields like food and garments, according to Nikore, and they are more likely to receive funding from self-help groups or the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM).

Hybrid work, which requires phones or laptops along with digital literacy, could have been a game changer for women. "From a social norms perspective, hybrid work is so suitable for women. If you can't let them go out of the house, they can still find a job and be a part of something. However, in such a scenario, if their digital skills are less-than-advanced, they will not be able to take those jobs," said Nikore.

With payments, inventory management and marketing going digital, new jobs were also created. However, women are slow to take up these jobs. "We have met students from universities in Delhi who cannot make powerpoint presentations, so one can only imagine the condition in rural areas," added Nikore.

The future of work

In the developed world, female workers in low-skill clerical, service and sales jobs are at the risk of being replaced by automation, according to the 2018 Gender, Technology and the Future of Work report by the International Monetary Fund.

Increasing use of automation will give rise to a new class of jobs that require a different set of skills, according to Mitra of IWWAGE. These new jobs will be skill-intensive. There will have to be proper skill development programmes targeted to women to be able to get these jobs, added Mitra.

"If not all women, at least those under the age of 30 need to become digitally native. It is difficult for them to acquire new skills on their own given the severe time poverty they face," said Nikore.

Women in India spend 299 minutes, or nearly five hours a day, on unpaid domestic work--more than thrice the 97 minutes, or just over an hour and half, by men--finds the 2019 Time-Use Survey. This leaves women with little time for learning on their own, and for paid work outside the home.

Digital literacy, Nikore stressed, needs to become one of the priorities of policymakers just like ending poverty and hunger.

But for digital literacy, there also has to be basic literacy. The literacy rate for men is higher than that for women: In 2011, 82% of Indian men were literate compared to 65% of women, as per the Census.

"Everyone needs basic education and digital literacy to be able to use the internet. For instance, even Facebook is difficult to use for a woman who can't read. Women's access to technology and digital literacy is more restricted than men," Dewan said.

To address the low level of digital literacy in India, the government launched the Pradhan Mantri Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PM-DISHA) in 2015 and the Pradhan Mantri Grameen Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA) in 2017. The programmes aim to provide basic digital literacy to one member of every household in the country.

More than 40 million candidates have been certified by PM-GDISHA and 11 million candidates have been trained under the National Digital Literacy Mission. But these programmes are not exclusively targeted at women, and the gap between male and female users of mobile internet was at 41% in 2021.

Private initiatives to promote digital literacy among women include IWWAGE's Haqdarshak programme, that has trained 25,576 women across 24 states on the use of mobile internet to assist with tasks such as applying for a PAN card, enrolling in government schemes like NRLM, Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Swastha Bima Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana and avail of food subsidies under the National Food Security Act (NFSA). The total financial worth of this access is around Rs 4000 crore, IWWAGE estimates.

How WhatsApp helps Puja run her business

Puja Devi from Khooti near Ranchi in Jharkhand goes against the predominant narrative. The 26-year-old is equally, if not more, involved in the functioning of her tent shop business as her husband Mahesh Kumar Mahto.

The tent shop has been stocking tents and orchestra instruments available on hire since 2017. In the beginning, Puja would personally trek to the houses of her customers to ensure that her tent shop was meeting their requirements. Each time she received an order, she would call her four employees to let them know what item was required and where it was to be delivered.

But in 2019, Puja joined a basic digital literacy course at DEF's Digital Sarthak programme, a project funded by USAID for increasing the digital capacity of women.

Ever since, Puja's customer outreach programme has been conducted over WhatsApp, Facebook and Telegram. When she receives an order, a WhatsApp group chat lets her employees know and they deliver the goods from the warehouse to the customer, leaving her free to scope out more business.

There was some reluctance initially amongst the villagers to allow the girls to join her training programme, said Sarita Devi, the DEF district coordinator for Khooti who trained Puja and others.

"During the Covid-19 lockdown, parents had to give their daughters phones to keep up with studies so now they will use it [for other things]," she told IndiaSpend, speaking in Hindi. The hope, she added, was for these newly digital-literate girls to train others who can then benefit from .

For Puja, digital literacy has translated into higher earnings, from Rs 1-2 lakh a year in the pre-digital era, to Rs 4 lakh, she said. With her savings, she recently bought a car.

Business has expanded all the way up to Ranchi, added Sarita who joined the call after Puja had to leave following a network disruption. The disruption is a problem they face all too frequently. Puja is yet to try out the payments apps but Sarita is happy with the progress she has made.

"She used to be shy and hardly ever spoke, now she is more confident," Sarita said.

*Name concealed on request
The Indian High Commission in the UK is opening a new visa processing facility in central London and initiating measures to facilitate group tours from November 1.

"The number of appointments we have been able to do has increased greatly to about 40,000 per month thanks to our partners at VFS," he said in the video message," High Commissioner Vikram Doraiswami said in a video message on Friday.

He said that a visa processing facility is being set up in central London to increase access, and a new process is being introduced for those travelling together to the same destination on the same flight. Tourists will also have the option of a visa at doorstep service for a fee.

These steps come following complaints of visa delays that have resulted in trip cancellations. According to local media reports, British citizens have been finding it difficult to secure visa appointments with fully booked slots at some of the centres until mid-November. There have also been complaints regarding changes in rules that require applicants to remain present in person at a visa application centre and not use the services of an agent. The High Commission, however, denied changing any rules.

The UK is one of the key source markets for Indian tourism, but its citizens are not eligible for e-visas. Over 160,000 British citizens visited India in 2021, accounting for 10.75 per cent of all tourist arrivals. UK was India's third largest source market after the US and Bangladesh.

In October, the Indian Association of Tour Operators wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking the restoration of e-visa facilities for British and Canadian citizens.

"Due to non-availability of e-tourist visa for UK, Canada and other source markets we are losing huge business as tourists from these countries are opting for alternative destinations," IATO had said.
The Ministry of will roll out projects worth Rs 90,000 crore in the months ahead to remove bottlenecks in the movement of freight, Union minister for said on Sunday.

By now, we have identified projects worth Rs 90,000 crore, or $10 billion, to remove all potential bottlenecks in the movement of freight. Some of these are small projects, some are bigger in scale. The projects will be sanctioned in the coming months, and will help us realise the aspiration of loading 3,000 million tonnes (mt) of goods, Vaishnaw said at the 17th Foundation Day of Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd (DFCC).

The minister did not get into the particulars of the new projects, which are being closely monitored for a rollout by Railway Board Chairman V K Tripathi. At the start of the financial year, the ministry had rolled out a Rs 1.5-trillion procurement plan to augment railway performance.

The prime minister sincerely believes that the only way to transform the Indian is to transform Indian . This shows that the support for railways is foremost in the minds of the top leadership of this country, the railways minister said.

Under Mission 3000, the national transporter intends to double its cargo loading from 1,418 mt in 2021-22 to 3,000 mt by 2027. It is widely understood that dedicated freight corridors (DFCs) will play a key role in this endeavour. So far, 56 per cent of the two DFCs of the railways are operational, with completion of a majority of the network expected by 2023.

With these infrastructure plans, the ministry would need extensive funding, especially through budgetary support, as previous public-private-partnership (PPP) efforts by railways did not elicit a strong response.

Through the support of the railway officials, we were able to get an additional Rs 12,000 crore from the Centre for this financial year. Now, we should aim to reach at least Rs 2 trillion as the capital support from the general budget for railways, Vaishnaw said, in context of the need for railways to execute more capital investment to achieve its modal logistics share aspirations of 40 per cent under the National Rail Plan. The ministry of railways was allocated Rs 1.37 trillion as budgetary support in the Union Budget for 2021-22

Addressing the ceremony, Managing Director R K Jain said a new state-of-the-art command centre for the western dedicated freight corridor (WDFC) will soon be launched at Ahmedabad, which will give a fillip to crucial industrial goods traffic of the country. WDFC connects to significant ports such as Mundra, Kandla, and Pipavav.

Meanwhile, the DFCC, which is already working on the project reports for three new DFCs  East Coast, East-West, and North-South  may have a different outlook in the future. The minister sought for the PSU to look at smaller focused freight corridors for short distances, where potential for revenue growth and goods loading is significant, such as corridors between ports and major mining areas.

Business Standard had previously reported that the Centre may axe the three new DFCs to enhance existing corridors and make smaller focused routes branching out of the existing eastern and western DFCs.
Public sector lender plans to raise up to Rs 2,500 crore in capital through additional tier-I bonds (AT1) bonds to support business growth.

The board of directors is meeting on November 4 to consider raising the capital in one or more tranches, BOI informed BSE.

There is investor interest in AT1 instruments of due to or attractive coupons. Last month, the country's largest lender State raised Indias largest lender Rs 6,872 crore at a cut-off of 7.75 per cent through .

As of June 30, 2022, BOIs capital adequacy stood at 15.61 per cent with tier-I of 13.27 per cent and tier-II of 2.34 per cent. The bank has a policy to maintain capital adequacy above the threshold of 14 per cent. In other words, it would not allow CAR to fall below 14 per cent.

Bank executives said with 14 per cent CAR as the floor, the buffer to support growth is 1.5 per cent. The credit demand remains robust and the bank will need more capital to support credit growth. Hence, the preparation to raise additional capital.

BOI's total advances grew by 15.20 per cent year on year (YoY) to Rs 4,77,746 crore till end of June 2022. Of this, domestic advances rose 9.72 per cent to Rs 4,01,210 crore. According to RBI data the banking system credit rose by 17.9 per cent YOY till early October 2022.

The bank has the option to raise capital through issuing fresh equity shares, but would increase floating stock of shares in the market and put pressure on stock price, executives said.

BOIs stock is already trading lower (Rs 58.65 on October 28, 2022) than the price of Rs 62.89 per share at which it raised Rs 2,550 crore in equity capital through Qualified Institutional Placement last August.
issuers saw significant erosion of their card base during the July-September quarter as the Reserve Bank of Indias (RBI) norms mandated deactivation of cards that have been inactive for a year.

The second quarter of the current financial year saw outstanding cards-in-force decline by 2.55 million to 77.7 million.

Prior to this, the industry, on an average, was witnessing a net addition of over 1.5 million a month as players became aggressive on the unsecured lending business after the pandemic.

In April this year, the came out with a master direction on credit and debit card issuance.

It said if a has not been used for more than one year, the process to close the card should be initiated after intimating the cardholder.

If no reply is received from the cardholder within 30 days, the card account has to be closed by the card issuer, subject to payment of all dues by the cardholder.

Subsequently, information regarding closure of the card account has to be updated with the Credit Information Company within a period of 30 days.

HDFC Bank, the largest issuer in the country, saw a net reduction of 1.62 million in Q2 of FY23, the highest by any card issuer.

Its cards-in-force dropped to 16.32 million at the end of September from a high of almost 18 million in July.

We have issued 1.2 million cards during the quarter. Total card base is now 16.3 million. During the quarter, we also closed 2.4 million cards, which have been inactive for a period of time, said Srinivasan Vaidyanathan, chief financial officer (CFO), HDFC Bank, in a post earnings call with analysts.

was second in the pecking order as it saw a net reduction of over 1.10 million during this period. This resulted in outstanding credits dropping to 8.82 million from almost 10 million in July.

On the other hand, lost 409,147 cards during this period (Q2). In September alone, saw a net reduction of over 620,000 cards.

Among other major players, Canara Bank saw a net reduction of 354,413 cards in Q2. YES Bank and Standard Chartered saw a net reduction of 40,567 cards and 104,432 cards, respectively.

SBI Card, however, gained during this period as it saw a net addition of 293,368 cards in Q2. The impact of norms on the bank was limited because 95 per cent of its portfolio is dominated by fee-based cards.

The management said all the guidelines issued by the regulator are progressive and will further develop the credit card culture as well as the industry.

Similarly, Kotak Mahindra Bank has seen a net addition of 247,813 cards during this period. IDFC First Bank, IndusInd Bank and RBL Bank saw a net addition of 161,443, 108,334 and 92,545 cards, respectively.

At the end of Q1, had a market share of 22.34 per cent in outstanding credit cards, followed by with 18.18 per cent, ICICI Card with 17.18 per cent and with 12.3 per cent.

While the pecking order has remained the same, HDFC Banks market share has dropped to 21.01 per cent, down 133-basis points from Q1.





On the other hand, has increased market share to 19.08 per cent, up 90 bps. has seen a marginal dip in market share while Axis Banks market share is down 95 bps during the same period.

There is some moderation in outstanding credit cards in the market.

However, analysts believe incremental sourcing of cards by major players will continue to remain strong even as card additions will see some divergence as various issuers comply with the norms.

Meanwhile, credit card spends have continued to be on an upward trajectory. They topped the Rs 1-trillion mark for six consecutive months. Spends touched a record high of Rs 1.22 trillion, buoyed by higher discretionary spendings during the festive season.
Russia said one of the drones launched on Saturday may have come from a grain ship that was part of the Black Sea initiative, without offering evidence. It also said underwater drones had been launched from Ukraines Odesa region, some 300 kilometers from Crimea.

US President Joe Biden warned that global hunger could increase because of Russias suspension of a UN-brokered deal to allow safe passage for ships carrying Ukrainian grain. It's really outrageous, said Biden speaking in Wilmington, Delaware, on Saturday. There's no merit to what theyre doing. The UN negotiated that deal and that should be the end of it.

In suspending this arrangement, Russia is again weaponizing food in the war it started, directly impacting low- and middle-income countries and global food prices, and exacerbating already dire humanitarian crises and food insecurity, Antony J. Blinken, US secretary of state said in a statement. We urge all parties to keep this essential, lifesaving initiative functioning. Kyivs allies were quick to condemn Russias decision to exit a UN-brokered deal allowing the the export of Ukrainian grain from three Black Sea ports. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell was among those urging Russia to reconsider, even as a Russian lawmaker said Moscow stood ready to completely replace Ukrainian grain on the world market.

A Turkish official said talks are under way with Moscow and that there are grounds for optimism. Vessels that have already arrived in the Istanbul area loaded with grain are still being inspected.

Meanwhile, Nato has called on Russia to reconsider its decison immediately, enabling food to reach the ones who need it the most.

UNs Guterres delays trip to focus on grain issue United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is deeply concerned about the Ukraine Black Sea grain deal and has delayed his travel to Algiers fsor the Arab League Summit. Guteress continues to engage in intense contacts aiming at the end of the Russian suspension of the deal.
Russia announced Saturday that it will immediately suspend its implementation of a U.N.-brokered grain deal that has seen more than 9 million tons of grain exported from Ukraine during the war and has brought down soaring .

The Russian Defense Ministry cited an alleged Ukrainian drone attack Saturday against Russia's Black Sea Fleet ships moored off the coast of occupied Crimea as the reason for the move. Ukraine has denied the attack, saying that the Russians mishandled their own weapons.

The Russian declaration came one day after U.N. chief Antonio Guterres urged Russia and Ukraine to renew the grain export deal, which was scheduled to expire on Nov. 19. Guterres also urged other countries, mainly in the West, to expedite the removal of obstacles blocking Russian grain and fertilizer exports.

The U.N. chief said the grain deal brokered by the and Turkey in July helps "to cushion the suffering that this global cost-of-living crisis is inflicting on billions of people, his spokesman said.

U.N. officials were in touch with Russian authorities over the announced suspension.

It is vital that all parties refrain from any action that would imperil the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which is a critical humanitarian effort that is clearly having a positive impact on access to food for millions of people, said the U.N. spokesman, Stephane Dujarric.

Russia's Foreign Ministry on Saturday accused British specialists of being involved in the alleged attack by drones on Russian ships in Crimea. Britain's Defense Ministry had no immediate comment on the claim.

In connection with the actions of Ukrainian armed forces, led by British specialists, directed, among other things, against Russian ships that ensure the functioning of the humanitarian corridor in question (which cannot be qualified otherwise than as a terrorist attack), the Russian side cannot guarantee the safety of civilian dry cargo ships participating in the Black Sea initiative, and suspends its implementation from today for an indefinite period,'' the Russian statement said.

Ukraine's Ministry of Infrastructure said that Ukraine has never threatened the Black Sea grain corridor which is exclusively humanitarian in nature, and would continue to try to keep shipments going. It said since the first ship left the port of Odesa on Aug. 1, more than 9 million tons of food have been exported, including more than 5 million tons to African and Asian countries. As part of the U.N. World Food Program, it said, 190 thousand tons of wheat have been sent to countries where there is hunger.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, accused Russia of playing hunger games by imperiling global food shipments.

We warned about Russia's plans to destroy the (grain agreement). Now, under false pretenses, Moscow is blocking the grain corridor that ensures food security for millions of people, he tweeted Saturday.

The head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Andriy Yermak, denounced the suspension as part of Russia's primitive blackmail.

Turkish officials said they haven't received any official notice yet of the deal's suspension.

Russia also requested a meeting of the U.N. Security Council for Monday because of the alleged attack on the Black Sea Fleet and the security of the grain corridor, said Dmitry Polyansky, Russia's first deputy representative to the U.N. It would be the fourth U.N. Security Council meeting on Ukraine-related issues that Russia has called since Tuesday.

Russia's agriculture minister said Moscow stands ready to fully replace Ukrainian grain and deliver supplies at affordable prices to all interested countries. In remarks carried by the state Rossiya 24 TV channel, Dmitry Patrushev said Moscow was prepared to supply up to 500,000 tons of grain to the poorest countries free of charge in the next four months, with the help of Turkey.

Earlier Saturday, Ukraine and Russia offered differing versions on the Crimea drone attack in which at least one Russian ship suffered damage in Sevastopol, the port on the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014.

The Russian Defense Ministry said a minesweeper had minor damage during an alleged pre-dawn Ukrainian attack on navy and civilian vessels docked in Sevastopol, which hosts the headquarters of Russia's Black Sea Fleet. The ministry claimed Russian forces had repelled 16 attacking drones.

The governor of the Sevastopol region, Mikhail Razvozhaev, claimed the port saw a massive attack by air and sea drones. He provided no evidence, saying all video from the area would be seized for security reasons.

But an adviser to Ukraine's Interior Ministry claimed that careless handling of explosives had caused blasts on four warships in Russia's Black Sea Fleet. Anton Gerashchenko wrote on Telegram that the vessels included a frigate, a landing ship and a ship that carried cruise missiles used in a deadly July attack on a western Ukrainian city.

In other developments on Saturday, Russian troops moved large numbers of sick and wounded comrades from hospitals in Ukraine's southern Kherson region and stripped the facilities of medical equipment, Ukrainian officials said as their forces fought to retake the province.

Kremlin-installed authorities in the mostly Russian-occupied region have urged civilians to leave the city of Kherson, the region's capital and reportedly joined the tens of thousands who fled to other Russia-held areas.

The so-called evacuation of invaders from the temporarily occupied territory of the Kherson region, including from medical institutions, continues," the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Russians were dismantling the entire health care system in Kherson and other occupied areas.

The occupiers have decided to close medical institutions in the cities, take away equipment, ambulances. just everything," Zelenskyy said.

Kherson is one of four regions in Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin illegally annexed last month and where he subsequently declared martial law. The others are Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia.

As Kyiv's forces sought gains in the south, Russia kept up its shelling and missile attacks in the country's east. Three more civilians died and eight more were wounded in the Donetsk region, a front-line hotspot as Russian soldiers try to capture the city of Bakhmut, an important target in Russia's stalled eastern offensive.

Russian shelling also hit an industrial building in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region. Around a quarter of the region including its capital remains under Ukrainian control.

In the latest prisoner exchange, 50 Ukrainian soldiers, including two former defenders of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, and two civilians were released Saturday as part of a swap with Russia, according to Yermak. Russia received 50 Russian soldiers.

(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 Secretary of State held a telephonic conversation with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and discussed the ongoing Ukraine war, counterterrorism and other regional and global issues.

Jaishankar thanked Blinken for his "strong and clear message" on counter-terrorism as well as his call for holding those responsible for the 26/11 Mumbai attacks accountable.

The two leaders spoke on Saturday.

The two discussed regional and global issues, including counterterrorism cooperation and Russia's continuing aggression against Ukraine, Ned Price, spokesperson of the State Department said in a readout of the call on Saturday.

"Good to speak to US Secretary of State @SecBlinken. Thanked him for his strong and clear message yesterday on counter-terrorism and 26/11 accountability. Discussed the Ukraine conflict and other regional issues," Jaishankar tweeted on Saturday.

Blinken, while addressing an informal session of the UN Security Council's Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) in Mumbai via video message on Friday, said allowing the architects of the Mumbai attacks to go unpunished will send wrong message.

"We have a responsibility to the victims and to people everywhere to bring to justice the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks, including their masterminds," Blinken 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.)
World leaders expressed sadness and condolences after at least 151 people were killed in a crowd surge Saturday night in Seoul, South Korea.

The tragedy occurred in Seoul's Itaewon district during Halloween festivities when a huge crowd surged into a narrow downhill alley. At least 82 others were injured in the South Korea's deadliest accident in years.

US President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden sent their deepest condolences to the families of the deceased.

We grieve with the people of the Republic of Korea and wish for a quick recovery to all those who were injured, said President Biden in a tweet. The United States stands with the Republic of Korea during this tragic time.

Similarly, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described the news from as horrific on Twitter.

All our thoughts are with those currently responding and all South Koreans at this very distressing time, Sunak wrote.

Itaewon's character was shaped by its proximity to a US military garrison nearby. The area is still home to restaurants, bars and other businesses catering to the American community in .

US Forces Korea, which commands the sizable American military presence in the country, expressed its condolences in a Facebook post.

The Itaewon community has opened its arms to us for many years and is part of the reason our Alliance is so strong, the command said, writing in English and Korean. During this time of grief, we will be there for you just as you have been there for us.

Leaders from countries including Japan, France, China and Singapore reacted with shock and sadness over the tragedy in .

I'm hugely shocked and deeply saddened by the extremely tragic accident in Itaewon, Seoul, that took many precious lives, including those of young people with their future ahead of them, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in a tweet.

In France, President Emmanuel Macron who tweeted in both French and in Korean offered support to Seoul residents and South Korea.

France is with you, he said.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau echoed similar sentiments on Twitter, sending his deepest condolences to the people of South Korea and wishing a fast and full recovery to those who were injured.

Chinese President Xi Jinping also sent condolences to South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, expressing condolences and shock over the accident in Seoul, according to a statement by the Chinese foreign ministry. He also expressed condolences to the victims of the accident and their families.

Hong Kong leader John Lee said in a statement on Facebook that he was saddened by the accident in Seoul.

I express profound sorrow over the passing of the victims, extend my deepest condolences to their families and wish for a speedy recovery to all those who were injured, said Lee.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that the tragic events in Seoul come as a shock to all of us.

Our thoughts are with the numerous victims and their families, Scholz said in a tweet. This is a sad day for South Korea. Germany stands by their side.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said she was heartbroken by the tragic news from Seoul.

They were looking for a night of lighthearted Halloween festivities but instead found real horror and death, said Baerbock. My thoughts are with the victims, their friends and families, and those who still fear for their loved ones.

Singapore's President Halimah Yacob described the loss of lives as tragic and said it was hard to imagine the trauma and grief experienced by the families, loved ones and friends of those affected.

My thoughts and prayers are with the people of South Korea during this difficult time, and I wish a quick and full recovery to all those who are injured, she said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
World Thrift Day is observed on October 30 every year in India and on October 31 worldwide to promote the habit of among people, primarily through thrifting. The day, also known as World Day, was established by the World Society of Banks almost a century ago, on October 31, 1924, at the first International Savings Bank Congress in Milan, Italy. The day also aims to educate people about the importance of putting their savings safely into a bank rather than their home. This year's message is "savings can make all the difference". It aims to raise awareness about how savings play a key role in building financial resilience and being prepared to face difficult times in the future.

According to the data released earlier this month by the Reserve Bank of India on Indian household savings for the fiscal year 2021-22, as of March 31, household gross financial savings stood at 10.8 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) at the current prices. This is a decline of over five percentage points from a year earlier when that figure peaked at 16 per cent of the GDP. RBI data also show that the savings of Indian families are held mainly in cash, bank deposits, mutual funds, insurance and retirement funds. Household savings help families cope with emergency requirements and for significant life events like higher education, marriages, and retirement.

Business Standard spoke with expert Avinash Luthria, a Sebi-registered investment advisor and founder of Fiduciaries, to know how salaried people can increase their savings easily and efficiently. Here are five tips that you can follow:

Try to save 50 per cent of your post-tax salary

For youngsters who have just started their career or those in the middle of their career, experts recommend that they aspire to save 50 per cent of their post-tax . "For example, if your CTC (Cost To Company) is Rs 100 per month, out of which Rs 20 is the tax, then out of the remaining Rs 80, target to keep Rs 40 aside for your savings. These savings may also include your provident funds, insurance and paying off loans such as education loans. Use the other Rs 40 for meeting your needs," said Luthria.

Experts also suggest that those who have just started earning should start with a smaller goal and gradually work towards achieving the target of 50 per cent.

Work backwards: Save first, then spend

When it comes to achieving saving goals, the best way is to save first and then spend. "Remember that the equation should be 'income minus savings equal to expenses' and not the other way round. Once you have identified your goal, figure out how much you need to put aside for achieving that goal and then manage your expenses with what is left. Work backwards," advised Luthria.

He asserted that focusing on saving first comes with its own challenges, as it requires one to be disciplined and not give in to their temptations. He said, "The sooner you accept that your savings will be your best friend on rainy days, the better. Adopt a frugal lifestyle. There is no shame in saying no to things your peers might be into and are ready to spend their money on. You'll be thanking yourself in the long run because the reverse story is scarier."

Have a budget or think more than twice while making each expense

According to experts, keeping track of where one's money goes is important. This exercise can be an eye-opener as usually, what one spends in a month is much higher than what they would have expected or intended to. They suggest making short-term and long-term budgetary plans. However, Luthria added that each day and each month are different for people, so the "one size fits all" approach can be impractical for personal savings. Those who are frugal by nature may benefit from thinking carefully while making each expense.

Set up an automated saving mechanism

Experts said that to save money from their salary, one can easily invest in a platform that automates savings and generates good returns. Luthria said, "I am a big fan of automating saving via mechanisms like SIPs (Systematic Investment Plans) for investment. It will help you stay disciplined because sometimes, it is difficult to make a conscious effort to put aside a proportion of your hard-earned money for a rainy day. Automation helps you save money without thinking about it."

Visualise yourself as an older person

Visualising oneself 20-30 years from now helps motivate one to identify savings goals and stick to them. "You can even try the easily available apps that show you how you will look in the next 30 years. It acts like a good reminder that you are going to get old and should prepare for it. It is your journey, and so you should not compare yourself with . Do not spend on giving gifts and or lend money to your friends/family members often. Avoid maintaining too much of liquidity at home. Put away the cash into FDs (Fixed deposits)."
The latest modified Russian Su-57 Felon, a modernized variant of the 5th generation, flew with a new powerplant for the first time. It flew on October 21, 2022, from the Zhukovsky flight test center near Moscow, according to United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) last October 25.

Modified Su-57 Felon Flies Without a Hitch

The UAC state the test was conducted by the pilot from the Sukhoi Experimental Design Bureau, Sergey Bogdan; it took 56 minutes overall without incident, reported EurAsian Times.

Press service revealed enhanced onboard equipment, AI crew support, and a variety of weapons testing for the platform. Add up the new engine intended for the fighter's second engine.

Innovative Pilot Support

It allows the plane's onboard computer to the copilot and lets the pilot focus on essential tasks. The aircraft will prep weapons, says Yuri Slyusar, Director General of the UAC;

On July 28, 2021, Nikita Dorofeev, chief of the cockpit department of the Sukhoi Design Bureau, said that in the future, a Felon pilot would be able to control the plane with eye movements or voice.

Despite the difficulty of such a scheme, because the human pupil is constantly shifting unthinkingly, its prototype now exists.

Furthermore, at the moment, the challenge is to instruct the system to fully comprehend not just learned phrases but their context so that under harsh conditions, the pilot does not have to know precisely which string of words he must declare.

Rafael Suleimanove, Sukhoi Design Bureau test pilot, said that the Intelligent Crew Capability allows the Su-57 Felon to "undertake every task in the air."

Read Also: Volodymyr Zelensky Net Worth 2022: How Wealthy Is the Ukraine President?

The system enables the pilot to perform all necessary tasks while in flight, maximizing the plane's performance day or night.

Suleimanov also stated how comparable the generations of Su airframes are. Pilots who've already flown the Su-35 will not have any difficulty trying to fly the fifth-generation fighter, says Airforce Technology.

Stage 2 Engine: New Powerplant

Even before it was initially envisioned, the Su-57 was powered by a new clean sheet layout engine, alluded to as Izdeliye (Product) 30, that would allow it to cruise at supersonic speed without using afterburners as its new powerplant.

Nonetheless, the aircraft was developed and tested with a temporary power plant NPO Saturn Product 117 engine based on the AL-41F-1S after-burning turbofans designed for the Su-35.

The Izdeliye 30 will enhance the fighter's thrust and fuel economy while lowering weight and maintenance costs, per The Avionist.

First tested on December 5, 2017, with more tests later. By October 2019, there were 16 flight tests on the modified Felon.

As of December 2019, Izvestia cited Yuri Slyusar, general director of the UAC, in December 2019 as declaring that the Stage 2 engine has undergone extensive testing.

The engine has already been thrust vectoring flight tested, and its oil system has been tested under adverse flight conditions. The engine was tested on the bench.

In September 2022, a Sukhoi Design Bureau representative told TASS that, more so than 4th-generation fighters, the Felon can sustain supersonic speeds for a large percentage of its mission profile, even when in combat.

The Russian stealth fighter is operated to fly at supersonic speeds, compared to 4th generation fighters. The modified Su-57 Felon of Russia passed tests, including its new powerplant, which gives it an edge over an interim Su-35 engine installed.

Related Article: Pakistan Soon To Receive Chinese Z-10ME Allegedly a US Apache AH-46 Derivative

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The will take out a massive ' Parivartan Sankalp Yatra' in five zones of the poll-bound state from Monday, during which 145 public meetings and 95 rallies will be held along the route covering more than 5,400 km.

The yatra will be launched from Vadgam, Bhuj, Somnath, Vadgam, Fagvel and Jambusar on October 31 to mark the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and the death anniversary of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, party leaders said.

Senior party leaders, including Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, his Chhattisgarh counterpart Bhupesh Baghel, former Madhya Pradesh chief ministers Digvijaya Singh and Kamal Nath, MLA Sachin Pilot, among others, will launch and join the yatra, they said.

"The Congress' 'Parivartan Sankalp Yatra' will be launched in five zones of Gujarat, and 145 public meetings and 95 rallies will be organised throughout the journey. The yatra, which will cover 5,432 km, aims to establish direct contact with 4.5 crore people," state president Jagdish Thakor said.

More than one million party workers will join the yatra and the opposition party will spread the message of 11 promises that it has said it will fulfil when voted to power, he said.

Digvijay Singh will launch the Bhuj-Rajkot leg of the yatra, while Karnataka leader B K Hariprasad will launch it from Somnath.

Gehlot will launch the yatra from Vadgam in Banaskantha district, Pilot from Fagvel in Kheda district and Pawan Khera from Jambusar in Bharuch district of south .

Senior Congress leader Siddharth Patel said the people of Gujarat were agitated by the "BJP's misrule, wrong policy and clumsy administration" for the past three decades.

The Congress has promised to provide free treatment of up to Rs 10 lakh, farmers' debt waiver of up to Rs 3 lakh, electricity bill waiver, 10 lakh government jobs to youth, unemployment allowance of Rs 3,000 per month, opening of 3,000 government English medium schools, Rs 4 lakh compensation for COVID-19 deaths, among other things.

(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.)
Delhi Environment Minister convened a high-level meeting on Sunday to discuss the issues related to the implementation of GRAP-3 in Delhi.

On October 30, at 12 noon, a meeting will be held in the Civil Lines Camp office of Minister .

Officers related to Environment Department and other departments will be present at the meeting.

With rising pollution levels, Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has issued instructions to implement GRAP-3 in today.

Earlier on Saturday, to address the deteriorating air quality of the Capital Region, the Sub-Committee for invoking actions under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) of the CAQM in NCR and adjoining areas held an emergency meeting.

While comprehensively reviewing the overall air quality parameters during the meeting, the Commission noted that due to unfavourable meteorological conditions with slower wind speed and sudden spike in farm fire incidents, it is considered necessary to implement Stage III of GRAP with immediate effect in the entire NCR.

"As per the dynamic model and weather/ meteorological forecast, the overall air quality over Delhi is likely to remain in the Very Poor to Severe category from 29.10.2022 to 30.10.2022. The air quality is likely to deteriorate and remain in a Severe category from 31.10.2022 to 01.11.2022 and for the subsequent 6 Days, the air quality is likely to fluctuate between the Severe to Very Poor category. The winds are forecasted to be CALM in the coming days and the wind direction is likely to change course frequently. Thus, there is a high likelihood of the pollutants getting trapped in the region and not getting dispersed effectively", the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said in a statement.

Ministry further said that the Sub-committee exhaustively reviewed the air quality scenario in the region and noted that the air quality parameters are likely to dip in the coming days and in an effort to address the AQI of Delhi-NCR, the sub-committee today has taken the call to invoke all actions as envisaged under Stage III of the GRAP - 'Severe' Air Quality (DELHI AQI ranging between 401-450), today with immediate effect in the entire NCR. This is in addition to the restrictive actions mentioned in Stage I and Stage II of GRAP. Various agencies responsible for implementing measures under GRAP and Pollution Control Boards (PCBs) of NCR and DPCC have also been advised to ensure strict implementation of actions of Stage III under GRAP during this period.

Further, the CAQM appealed to the citizens of NCR to cooperate in implementing GRAP and follow the steps mentioned in the Citizen Charter "Choose a cleaner commute - share a ride to work or use public transport or walk or cycle. People, whose positions allow working from home, may work from home. Do not use coal and wood for heating purpose. Individual house owners may provide electric heaters (during winters) to security staff to avoid open burning. Combine errands and reduce trips. Walk to errands wherever possible," the Ministry had said in a Statement.

(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 Election Commission is likely to announce schedule for the Assembly polls this week.

Citing convention followed in 2017, the poll panel had not announced the poll schedule when it came out with Himachal Pradesh election dates earlier this month.

While election in HP will be held in a single phase on November 12, the counting will take place on December 8.

By keeping the counting date for Himachal Pradesh nearly a month after polling, the Commission had given a clear hint that votes for would also be counted on December 8.

In 2017, the polls in the two state were announced on different dates but the counting took place together on December 18.

Floods in Gujarat had led the EC to hold polls in the state after Himachal poll schedule was announced.

According to the EC website, assembly polls in Gujarat and HP were held together at least in 1998, 2007 and 2012.

The term of the 182-member Gujarat legislative assembly ends on February 18, 2023.

(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.)
When the Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP-led) National Democratic Alliance (NDA) announced that Droupadi Murmu will be its presidential candidate, the political landscape in Bhopal saw a shift. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan emerged at public functions adorned in tribal attire to celebrate Murmus nomination, to the accompaniment of various kinds of tribal dance. Needless to say, the jubilation was based on the belief that this move might turn the tide in favour of the party in the tribal belt of the state.
On Friday, data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed that Indias further declined by $3.8 billion. The countrys have fallen by $108.2 billion to $524.5 billion since the beginning of the year (chart 1). However, India is not the only country to witness a decline in . A Business Standard analysis shows that until September-end, reserves for Bangladesh and Vietnam had declined more than Indias. Among the BRICS economies (excluding Russia), India suffered the maximum decline in reserves (chart 2).
Last Friday, two pranksters wanting to mislead journalists posed as if they were leaving the Twitter HQ in San Francisco. It was so stark that Elon Musk had to give his two cents on the joke after buying the platform.

Two Pranksters Pose as Fired Twitter Employees

Following Elon Musk's acquisition of sole ownership of the social media behemoth, the two individuals waited outside, acting as fired employees.

Immediately CNBC journalist Deirdre Bosa went to interview the fake duo with cardboard boxes in hand, reported Republic World. She asked their names; one said Daniel Johnson, and the other said Rahul Ligma, and the network was later mocked online.

The report added that the fired employees from Twitter included the two from the data engineer team. Daniel explained how he plans to use his Tesla and mentioned Bosa on social media.

Later, it emerged that the CNBC report had been played and made a fool of by the two pranksters. Netizens from both spectrums finally got the 'Ligma' term, which was a slur intended for liberals, according to Business Today.

Twitter CEO Elon Musk responded, "Ligma Johnson had it coming."

Read Also: Kim Jong-un Net Worth 2022: How Wealthy Is North Korea's Leader?

The flabbergasted CNBC network was dismayed when their reporter failed to identify that the two were posing as ex-Twitter workers. Bosa later stated, after getting hoodwinked by the two, that if they were employees in her defense.

Prank Infuriates Twitter Management

Twitter product manager Paul Lee gave his opinion on the prank and was upset that it was misinformation duping CNBC on the first day of Musk's takeover, citing One India.

Lee added that all they needed to see was the platform logo in the boxes to assume they were employees, causing shock. He also stated that employees don't use Zoom in conferences, which shows they were fake employees, costing the management face.

These bogus Twitter employees and their prank come as many platform employees fear losing their high-paying jobs due to the Tesla billionaire's 44-billion takeover bid, which will eliminate liberal censorship.

One article by the Washington Post stated that Musk would depopulate the old employees by 75%, though the new CEO did not verify the claim.

Other members of the press and media outfits have posted something about the two jokesters with alleged Twitter boxes that duped CNBC, mentioned Mashable.

The top post came from CNBC's Bosa, who approached "Ligma Johnson" thinking they were data engineers without verification. This a controversial note for those getting the joke's gist, which refers to the male anatomy part, to put it sneakily. The tone of 'Ligma Johnson' sounds like 'lick my...' which is a juvenile joke. But some pundits let the joke sink instead.

The Verge even tried to look for 'Ligma' on Twitter; sources say that Ligma showed a picture of Michelle Obama saying, "She wouldn't have happened if Elon Musk owned Twitter."

In the end, the two pranksters called 'Ligma Johnson' were revealed to be posing as fired Twitter employees, as fears of actual employees remain after Elon Musk got hold of the platform.

Related Article: Elon Musk Faces Threats from Biden Administration To Launch National Security Probe Concerning Starlink, Twitter

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Grain Export in Ukraine AA Images

Russia accuses UK of being involved in helping Ukraine plan drone attack on Moscows Black Sea Fleet; London rejects allegation

MOSCOW (AA) - Russia has suspended its participation in the deal to export Ukrainian grain, following attacks on its Black Sea Fleet, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday.

This came in the light of the recent events connected to the terrorist attacks against ships of the Black Sea Fleet," a ministry statement said.

In a separate statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry accused the Ukrainian armed forces of using the humanitarian corridor to carry out attacks at Russia's military base and the Black Sea Fleet.

In connection with the actions of the Ukrainian armed forces, led by British specialists, including against Russian ships that ensure the functioning of the relevant humanitarian corridor (which can only be classified as a terrorist attack), the Russian side cannot guarantee the safety of civilian dry cargo ships participating in the Black Sea initiative and is suspending its implementation indefinitely from today, the Russian statement said.

The Russian Embassy in Ankara said on Twitter: In view of the terrorist attack on the ships of the Black Sea Fleet and civilian vessels tasked with ensuring the security of Kyiv's grain corridor, Russia has suspended its participation in agreements on the export of agricultural products from Ukrainian ports.

Meanwhile, Ukraines Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba accused Russia of using "a false pretext to block the grain corridor which ensures food security for millions of people."

"We have warned of Russias plans to ruin the Black Sea Grain Initiative," Kuleba said in a Twitter post, urging countries "to demand Russia to stop its hunger games and recommit to its obligations."

On Saturday, Russia accused the UK of being involved in explosions on the Nord Stream gas pipelines as well as of helping Ukraine plan a drone attack on Moscows Black Sea Fleet in the Crimean port of Sevastopol.

The British Defense Ministry rejected the allegations, saying: "To detract from their disastrous handling of the illegal invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Ministry of Defence is resorting to peddling false claims of an epic scale."

Turkiye, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine signed an agreement on July 22 in Istanbul to resume grain exports from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports, which were paused after the Russia-Ukraine war began in February. A Joint Coordination Center with officials from the three countries and the UN has been set up in Istanbul to oversee the shipments.

By Elena Teslova/AA
Moscow indefinitely suspends grain trade amid allegations that Ukraine engineered a heinous terrorist attack on the Black Sea Fleet, accusing the United Kingdom of participating, which London denies.

Moscow Is Furious Over the Attack on Black Sea Fleet

In one of the conflict episodes, Russia says that London is assisting Kyiv in attacking its Baltic Fleet with a drone attack, as one of the conflict episodes noted by the Russian Defense Ministry last Saturday, reported Anadolu.

These combined assaults have not drawn any decisive strikes as of yet. The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that these recent events committed by foul state actors are pure terrorism against the Baltic Fleet.

Another remark by the Russian Ministry of Defense says the Nazi regime of Zelensky is instructing the Ukrainian armed forces to take advantage of the humanitarian corridor to conduct sneak attacks on military assets.

The totality of Russia's reaction is encapsulated in the statement released, stating about the attacks of the UAF, which is done with British specialists conducting warlike actions against the Black Sea Fleet that keeps the corridor open, they have been subjected to terrorists without provocation.

Because of these actions, Moscow is unable to maintain civilian dry cargo ships as part of the Black Sea initiative, which now comes to an end instead of the grain deal. The Russian Ministry of Defense stressed that it was the fault of Ukraine and the west for the failure of the initiative, noted YeniSafak.

Russia Suspends Grain Deal

According to the Russian embassy based in Ankara on Twitter, one of the victims of this unfortunate terrorist act is the stoppage of agricultural products that will have an impact.

Read Also: Russian Ambassador Oleg Ozerov Says Majority of African Leaders Set for Russia-Africa Summit in 2023

Ukraine's recklessness has once again frustrated the world at large due to its US-backed regime.

Kyiv's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba used this again as an excuse to lambast the Kremlin, claiming that it was Russia's fault that food security had been damaged for millions of people.

In a social media post, he again stressed that Russia is the main source of ruin in the Black Sea Grain Initiative. He then urged the western nations to stop the Kremlin's use of the deal to stay with the deal.

UK, US Allegedly Sabotaging EU Energy Security

Last Saturday, Russia accused the UK of being implicated in detonating the Nord Stream gas pipelines and helping Ukraine organize a drone strike on Moscow's Black Sea Fleet in the Crimean harbor of Sevastopol, citing NDTV.

The British Defense Ministry rejected the allegations and did not acknowledge them, instead stating that the Kremlin had botched up the allegedly illegal invasion of Ukraine, which, according to some, was because of NATO encroachment.

The Russian Ministry of Defense is making false accusations, not London, whose alleged imprint is marked in Kyiv. Former British PM Boris Johnson visited Kyiv during its critical moments.

The three parties, Turkey, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine, signed an agreement on July 22 in Istanbul to recommence grain exports from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports that were stopped after the Russia-Ukraine war started in February. A Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul has been created to monitor shipments with authorities from the three nations and the UN.

Moscow backed out of the grain deal due to a terrorist act against the Black Sea fleet allegedly by the UK and Ukraine.

Related Article: Vladimir Putin's Most Lethal Weapon, the 'Dead Hand' System, Assure Multiple Nukes Devastating the West

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A woman told police she was at the Fast Stop on on Wilcox Boulevard and her 2008 blue Scion was stolen while she was inside the store. Police observed video footage from the store and observed two black males standing at Avondale Rec Center across from the store. As the woman exits her vehicle, both men walk towards the vehicle and are able to see the keys inside. At that time, one of the men wearing a light color jacket with a white shirt and blue jeans shorts entered the driver's side of the vehicle. The second man, wearing a black and gray jacket, continued walking into the store and appeared to be a "lookout." The vehicle then appears to flee the parking lot, and was last seen turning west onto Wilcox Boulevard from the Fast Stop. The woman said she wished to prosecute. The vehicle has heavy front end damage and a bullet hole on the passenger side door. The vehicle was entered into NCIC.

* * *

A couple on Prosperity Lane were in a heated argument over petty things. Police asked the man to leave the residence for the night, which he did.

* * *

A woman working at the ER at CHI Memorial, 2525 De Sales Ave., told police that over a time span of about 20 minutes they were getting calls from an unknown man who would call repeatedly and either just breathe on the phone or breathe and say a few words. She said the man told her he wanted to kill her and one of her co-workers, calling both by their names. The woman was noticeably concerned about what was said. Police spoke with the co-worker and she did not seem worried. The woman told police she recorded the last message they received from the man. Police listened to the recording and heard the caller say that he would kill each of the women by name, and at one point he got mad and said he would kill another woman as well, but didn't seem to know her name. While listening to the audio recording it is reasonable to say that the voice came from a man, and that he had a foreign accent, or a fake one. After speaking with ER staff it seemed as though the caller called from a blocked number and possibly had a direct line to the registration office. Police asked the two women if they had any altercations with patients or staff and they said they had not. They both said they didn't recognize the voice. Police will attempt to obtain warrants for harassment if the suspect is identified, or possibly stalking if this situation escalates. The two women would like to prosecute on the matter.

* * *

A man was reported walking northbound on Mountain Creek Road. Police spoke with the man, who had no warrants. The man said he didn't know where he was heading. Police offered to give him a ride to the Citco at 5216 Dayton Blvd., which the man accepted. Police transported him without incident.

* * *

Police were called to a disorder at a residence on Cowart Street. One woman was in a verbal disorder with two other women. The women used to be in a relationship and one of the women was there with a 'new' woman. The two women who had been in a previous relationship were in a heated verbal altercation. All the women went their separate ways eventually.

* * *

A woman called police and said that she could see people walking on her property, Ted's Service Station at 2221 Rossville Blvd., through her security cameras. Police searched the entire property and located no one. Police also ensured that all the doors to the building were locked and secured. The woman then arrived on scene and unlocked the building so police could ensure that no one was inside. After police cleared the building it was determined that there was no damage to any property and that nothing had been taken. The woman was told to call police back if she sees anyone on her property again.

* * *

Officers were notified by East Ridge PD of a possible stolen vehicle in the area of 410 Friar Road. Officers located the vehicle unoccupied. The vehicle confirmed as stolen and was towed upon the owner's request. S&S Towing picked up the vehicle.

* * *

Hospital Staff at Parkridge Medical Center, 2333 McCallie Ave., called police because they wanted a woman to leave the property. The woman left before police arrival.

* * *

A disorder was reported at a residence on Stuart Street. Police spoke with a couple, who both said they were in a verbal disorder. The woman told police she just wanted her husband to leave for the night and he left.

* * *

A verbal disorder was reported outside a residence on Campbell Street. A woman told police she had been in a verbal disagreement with a man. Both said they were going to separate and go inside.

* * *

Police saw a vehicle parked in the dead end of Parker Lane with a man asleep behind the wheel. Police spoke with the man and he said that he has a storage unit in East Ridge and lives in Sewanee. He said that he had come down to get some items and did not have money for a hotel room, so he had pulled over to sleep before returning home. Shortly after speaking with the man, he was seen leaving the area headed towards Browns Ferry Road.

* * *

A man on Lee Highway told police that he was gone and his wife was home alone when she heard a man outside of her door. She looked out the window and saw a utility type white van backed up to her husband's truck with two black males, a shorter one and a taller one, around the truck. Police asked her if they were inside or outside of the van looking at the truck and she said they were standing, but couldn't give a clear answer where they were. She said that the taller man was looking at their truck with a flashlight and, when they saw her looking at them, they took off down Lee Highway towards Bonny Oaks. Nothing was taken and no damage was seen on the vehicle.
God Forbid: The Sex Scandal That Brought Down a Dynasty: 5 Things to Know About the Falwell Family Pool Scandal

The new Hulu documentary God Forbid: The Sex Scandal That Brought Down a Dynasty premieres on Nov. 1 and does a deep dive into the scandal surrounding the Falwell family and a Miami pool boy. God Forbid includes interviews with the pool boy himself, Giancarlo Granda, and it goes into the details surrounding the scandal. Here are a few key points to know about the situation before watching the documentary.

God Forbid: The Sex Scandal That Brought Down A Dynasty | (Courtesy of Hulu)

A quick summary of the Falwell family pool boy scandal

For those who dont know, Jerry Falwell Jr. is essentially evangelical royalty. His father, Jerry Falwell Sr., founded Liberty University, a private evangelical university in Lynchburg, Virginia. When Falwell Sr. died in 2007, Falwell Jr. took over as president of the college. The Falwells are known for their conservative political and religious views, and both Falwell Jr. and his wife, Becki, were very vocal in their support of Donald Trump.

In 2012, the Falwells vacationed in Miami and stayed at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach luxury hotel. During their stay, they met Granda, with whom Becki eventually had a years-long affair. While Falwell Jr. admitted he knew about the brief affair, he denied Grandas claims that he watched while Granda and Becki had sex.

The incident with Granda, along with some inappropriate photos posted by Falwell Jr, caused Liberty University to ask him to tender his resignation immediately. He officially resigned in 2021.

Becki Falwell and Jerry Falwell Jr. | Photo credit: AP Photo/Steve Helber

RELATED: Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story: Why Lionel Dahmer Is Considering Suing Netflix Over Both Series

The Falwells claimed Giancarlo Granda approached Becki first

Granda and the Falwells have conflicting statements on what started the affair between the younger man and Becki. The Falwells say that Granda first approached them to talk about a business venture. They also claim that before the conversation finished, Granda slipped his number to Becki without Falwell Jr.s knowledge.

Granda claims the opposite. He states that Becki came up to him and the hotel and struck up a conversation. She asked Granda to come back to her room, which he considered, but she made it clear she and Falwell Jr. had an agreement that it could only happen if he watched.

Giancarlo Granda and Jerry Falwell Jr. | Source: Giancarlo Granda

Jerry and Becki Falwell denied Grandas claims at first

While the Falwells admitted to Beckis affair with Granda, they both denied his claim that Falwell Jr. watched the two during their intimate moments. However, Granda stuck by his statement.

In a 2020 interview with Politico, Granda stated in an email, I met Jerry and Becki Falwell as a 20-year-old working my way through college at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach. Becki and I developed an intimate relationship that went on from 2012 and through 2019 in which Jerry enjoyed watching from the corner of the room.

Giancarlo Granda became close with the entire Falwell family

During the years of his affair with Becki, Granda became close with Falwell Jr. and Beckis children. They began to take him on vacations with them and entered into a business deal with him as well. Becki and Granda continued their illicit escapades right under her childrens noses.

Donald Trumps ties to the Falwell family pool boy scandal

One of the most surprising pieces of this scandalous puzzle is that former president Donald Trump has ties to the scandal, too. When a business deal involving Falwell Jr., Granda, and two other men went south, the two men threatened to blackmail Falwell Jr. with racy photos of Becki. Falwell Jr. called in notorious Trump fixer, Michael Cohen, to help him make the photos disappear.

To watch the full side of Grandas story unfold, tune into Hulu on Nov. 1, to watch God Forbid: The Sex Scandal That Brought Down a Dynasty.

RELATED: Sins of Our Mother: Expert Says Lori Vallows Signs of Classic Psychotic Beliefs Shouldve Been Caught Much Sooner
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South Korean emergency officials said that at least 149 people, mostly teens and young adults in their 20s, were crushed to death on Saturday night in the country's capital Seoul after a large group of people enjoying Halloween was pushed down an alley in a popular nightlife area.

Choi Sung-beom, chief of the Yongsan Fire Station, stated in a press briefing that 65 individuals suffered injuries in the Seoul Halloween tragedy in the Itaewon area, according to Reuters.

Officials said 19 of the injured are in critical condition and needing emergency care. Hence, the death toll could climb.

After three years, South Korea finally held a Halloween celebration again after removing COVID restrictions and social isolation.

Unruly Crowd

Some eyewitnesses said things were chaotic right before the stampede happened, and the police who had been stationed there in advance of the Halloween celebration had difficulty keeping the masses under control.

A report of the stampede was made to authorities at 10:20 p.m. local time. As a result of the overwhelming number of people, emergency workers were delayed in arriving at the scene.

According to Choi, many of the fatalities were young women in their twenties.

Read Also: US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Husband Attacked with a Hammer; Suspect Arrested

More than 100,000 people visited the area, which is well-known for its nightlife, specifically to celebrate Seoul Halloween. There are pubs along the side streets off of the main drag. According to eyewitnesses, some people became trapped in sloping and curving alleyways, as per a report from ABC News.

Videos uploaded online of the Seoul Halloween stampede showed rescue workers and police trying to extricate hundreds of people trapped in the small, steep alley.

FLASH: A massive stampede occurred in South Korea during a Halloween parade. At least 120 people have died. Watch as dozens receive CPR in the street:pic.twitter.com/NsJ0jFzKSb  Steve Hanke (@steve_hanke) October 29, 2022

Authorities have stated that they are looking into what caused the sudden influx of people.

World Leaders Express Thoughts and Prayers For Victims

CNN reported that World leaders have expressed condolences and solidarity with South Korea following the horrible tragedy.

United States President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill said: "We grieve with the people of the Republic of Korea and send our best wishes for a quick recovery to all those who were injured."

Jill and I send our deepest condolences to the families who lost loved ones in Seoul. We grieve with the people of the Republic of Korea and wish for a quick recovery to all those who were injured. The United States stands with the Republic of Korea during this tragic time.  President Biden (@POTUS) October 29, 2022

Philip Seth Goldberg, US ambassador to South Korea since 2022, sent his thoughts and condolences to the Korean people and families of the victims of the tragedy in Itaewon. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak posted on Twitter a solidarity message for the victims and the responders in the fatal incident.

Horrific news from Seoul tonight.



All our thoughts are with those currently responding and all South Koreans at this very distressing time.  Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) October 29, 2022



President Emmanuel Macron tweeted in French and Korean his message of solidarity for South Korean people amid the difficult situation.

Une pensee emue ce soir pour les habitants de Seoul et pour l'ensemble du peuple coreen apres le drame d'Itaewon. La France est a vos cotes.  Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) October 29, 2022

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed in a statement that the victims and their families are in included in their prayers and that"Germany stands by their side."

The tragic events in #Seoul come as a shock to all of us. Our thoughts are with the numerous victims and their families. This is a sad day for South Korea. Germany stands by their side.  Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz (@Bundeskanzler) October 29, 2022

Similarly, the Australian government has extended its condolences.

The nation's prime minister, Anthony Albanese, expressed his deepest sympathies to those who had lost loved ones in the tragedy via Twitter.

Australia's embassy in Seoul is "urgently" asking local authorities if any Australians were involved in the incident.

Related Article: Canada Slaps Russia with More Sanctions, Offers Extra Aid for Ukraine Amid War

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Americans are reading less than ever. And its no wonder, is it? Our world is rife with conflict. Historic floods and fires rage. Were facing housing and higher education crises. Workers are quitting their jobs en masse. In the wake of it all, its easy to see why many of us zone out with a few hours on our phones while only dedicating about 15 minutes to reading for pleasure.

Reaching for a screen often feels like the quickest way to take a break from the chaos, but excessive use can lead to increased depression and anxiety. And while reading may feel like it takes more effort, science tells us that those who escape to pages instead of pixels are some of the most relaxed among us. And the benefits dont stop there.

From building vocabulary in childhood to boosting adult mental health, regular reading improves the quality of life in critical ways like increased empathy, decreased muscle tension, and even a longer lifespan. Bookworms not only display greater cognitive intelligence but emotional intelligence as well. In an era marked by discord and division, it might just be the readers who find the wise words and hope for healing our communities crave.

This holiday season, give the gift of perspective and reflection, of mental acuity and better health. Give a book. And maybe slip a story into your own stocking as well.
South Koreas president declares weeklong national mourning after 153 killed at Halloween event

South Koreas President Yoon Suk-Yeol declared a weeklong period of national mourning on early Sunday, hours after at least 153 people, mostly in their teens and 20s, were killed and more than 100 were injured in a crowd surge during Halloween festivities in a nightlife district in Seoul.

Among those who died in Seouls Itaewon nightclub district Saturday night are at least 20 foreign nationals, including people from the United States, Norway, Australia, China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka and Iran, South Korea's Ministry of Interior and Safety said, adding that several people remain unidentified, according to Reuters.

While the cause of the crush is not known, reports say tens of thousands of people flooded into the narrow streets of the Itaewon neighborhood for Halloween festivities which created panic among the crowd.

When the crowd surge began in an alley near Hamilton Hotel, some people were bleeding from their noses and mouths and were being given CPR, but the others in their Halloween costumes continued to sing and dance in the area, not knowing the situation, The Associated Press reported, citing witnesses.

A survivor, identified as Lee Chang-kyu, was quoted as saying he saw about six men pushing others before one or two began falling one by one at the start of the surge, NBC News said, citing a report in the Seoul-based Hankyoreh newspaper.

The streets were so crowded with people and slow-moving vehicles that emergency workers and ambulances could not reach the alley, the newswire said.

According to the Itaewon Fire Station, at least 21 people were confirmed to have suffered cardiac arrest in the surge, NBC News added.

The bodies were being kept at 42 hospitals in Seoul and nearby Gyeonggi province.

On Sunday, President Yoon ordered flags at government buildings and public offices to fly at half-staff and addressed the nation through a televised speech.

He said the government would support the victims' families as its top priority.

This is really devastating. The tragedy and disaster that need not have happened took place in the heart of Seoul amid Halloween (celebrations), Yoon was quoted as saying during the speech. I feel heavy hearted and cannot contain my sadness as a president responsible for the peoples lives and safety.

However, South Koreas Minister of the Interior and Safety, Lee Sang-min, claimed the crowd surge was not a problem that could have been solved in advance.

He said a considerable number of police and security forces were deployed to the Gwanhwanmun area, where various disturbances and demonstrations had been reported Saturday. In Itaewon, he added, the crowd had not been unusually large, so only a normal level of security forces had been deployed.
Woman sentenced for beheading friend she met in church group

A 38-year-old woman has been convicted in the beheading of a 67-year-old friend she had met at a church group, becoming the first woman to be sentenced to life in prison live on television in England.

Jemma Mitchell, a former osteopath, assaulted Mee Keun Chong last June with a blunt object at the woman's home in northwest London before removing the victim's head. Chong was last seen alive in June 2021.

Mitchell was found guilty during a hearing on Thursday and sentenced on Friday to life imprisonment with a minimum of 34 years before she becomes eligible for parole.

The court was told how Mitchell met Chong, also known as Deborah, through a church group and were on friendly terms. Mitchell also served as a spiritual healer for Chong.

According to the Metropolitan Police, Mitchell and her mother were in the process of renovating their home but needed funding to finish the job.

Chong initially agreed to help fund the project, estimated at around $232,000, but changed her mind days before she went missing. The decision reportedly led to the friends falling out.

On the morning of June 11, 2021, investigators say Mitchell went to Chong's home in Wembley, where it was believed Mitchell carried out the murder. Mitchell was seen on surveillance footage leaving with two large, wheeled suitcases that appeared to be heavy. Authorities say she got a cab back to her home and likely kept the body on the property for about two weeks before driving to the seaside town of Salcombe in Devon over 200 miles away on June 26 to dump Chong's remains.

Police say Mitchell made a false report via email to a missing-persons charity and claimed that Chong went to spend time with her family for a year "somewhere close to the ocean."



Chong's body was discovered on June 27, with her head removed. Because of decomposition, authorities say the body was not identifiable for several days. Examiners ruled out the possibility that Chong's head was removed by animal activity. Police say Mitchell, with a degree in osteopathy and experience in human dissection, most likely removed Chong's head.

Investigators claim Mitchell also forged a copy of Chong's will, ensuring "95% of the estate was left in her name."

"This was found at Mitchell's property following her arrest, along with various possessions belonging to Deborah," a statement from the Metropolitan Police reads.

Mitchell, who received a first-class degree in human sciences from King's College London, had been unemployed for a long time and lived with her retired mother, The Times reports.

According to the newspaper, Chong was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and told Mitchell's mother she could give money for building a new floor on their home if they allowed the house to be used for "Christian worship."

After Chong changed her mind, prosecutors said Mitchell hit Chong in the head with a weapon, and two weeks later, she drove miles away to the seaside town and threw Chong's remains in the woods.

"Deborah's death was a shock to us all," the victim's sister said in a statement to the court. "I find it difficult to comprehend. It saddened me to think she had to go through this horrifying ordeal and tragic death," she said. "For the first month after Deborah's death I didn't leave my room; I found it impossible to take myself out."

Detective Jim Eastwood told the media that Mitchell refused to accept responsibility for the murder, which leaves many questions unanswered.

"Why she kept her body for a fortnight? Why she decapitated her? Why she deposited her remains in Salcombe?" he asked. "What we do know is that these were evil acts carried out by an evil woman and the only motive clearly was one of financial gain."
How does ESG stack up against biblically responsible investing?

Theres a lot of talk today about ESG (environmental, social and governance) investing. Millennials in particular are gravitating toward companies that match their values.

Millennials are nearly twice as likely to invest in companies or funds that target specific environmental or social outcomes, according to a recent Ernst & Young report. The survey also says that 29% of investors in their 20s and 30s seek a financial advisor that provides values-based investing.

Financial advisers are also discovering that even their nonreligious clients are embracing faith-based strategies. InvestmentNews describes it this way: [F]aith-based investing is the original impact investing, so its only natural that the rapidly expanding appeal of ESG and sustainable investing is also raising awareness of faith-based strategies.

Increasingly, more Americans realize that money isnt everything, but its still profoundly important. Jesus told us that where our treasure is, our heart is also. He also warned us not to place it above something even more critical: our relationship with God.

In the same vein, in 1994, I founded the Timothy Plan, which pioneered the concept of Biblically Responsible Investing (BRI).

At the time, BRI fell under the Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) umbrella. In the first few years of Timothy Plan, my daughter Cheryl Mumbert vividly remembers finding an online resource that listed specialty funds similar to ours.

In the early days of the internet, we felt like a fish out of water, Cheryl recalls. I was excited to find Social Investment Forum, established in 1997. My brother Steve Ally and I contacted them to request adding Timothy Plan. Unfortunately, abortion and pornography were not part of their screening database. Therefore, we never were listed. Then, a few years later, I found SocialFunds.com. After several communications, they added a new category, Religious Funds, and included Timothy Plan.

It felt like a victory, Cheryl added. Due to the lack of biblically screened investments in the marketplace, being categorized as a social fund was BRIs best option.

With the growing market of BRI, it is clear that faith-based investments are more than capable of standing on their own. Unfortunately, many feel that values-based investing focused on biblical principles can be squeezed into one of these categories: Socially Responsible, ESG, or Impact Investing. According to the Securities and Exchange Commissions Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Funds  Investor Bulletin article, faith-based issues fit under the S of ESG.

Over the last few years, ESG has grown in popularity. This has prompted several struggling mutual funds to add ESG to their name. They are signaling that they now consider ESG factors in their overall investment process, even though many leave their portfolios unchanged (WealthManagement.com).

So, how does ESG stack up against BRI? There is some overlap between the two philosophies, but there is one, huge difference. BRI adheres to the principles found in the Bible, a book over 3,400 years old and known by many as the unchanging, infallible Word of God. This biblical blueprint specifies seven building blocks  virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love  all of which constitute BRIs standard for a biblical worldview.

In contrast, ESG bases its criteria on a secular worldview created by man. As a result, ESG principles can be changed easily and re-interpreted. Without a solid, permanent foundation, a companys commitment to ESG can mean anything you want it to. The whole thing is very subjective, Mark Tinker, chief investment officer at Toscafund Hong Kong, said of ESG in a recent Reuters interview.

For a recent example of ESGs subjectiveness, we can look at Tesla. The largest manufacturer of electric vehicles globally, Tesla was recently removed from the S&P 500 ESG Index. A furious Elon Musk fired back on Twitter, saying, The ESG movement has been weaponized by phony social justice warriors (Fortune).

Meanwhile, Exxon Mobil, one of the worlds largest oil companies, remains a leading company in the index.

As I mentioned before, there is some overlap in many BRI, ESG and SRI investment strategies. Like BRI, many avoid investing in alcohol, tobacco or gambling. I believe this is where the inaccurate comparison lies. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, urged his followers to shun profiting at the expense of their neighbors. Consequently, they avoided partnering or investing with those who earned their money through alcohol, tobacco, weapons or gambling  essentially establishing social investment screens, wrote William Donovan in The Balance.com. Again, although there are some commonalities, BRI focuses on a biblical worldview, while ESG focuses on a secular worldview.

In addition to screening out companies like fossil fuel producers, ESG and SRI funds are also screening in companies pursuing causes like climate change and gun control, to name a few.

While there can be overwhelming ambiguity in ESG strategies, Biblically Responsible Investing has a clearly defined focus. It is about being obedient to God with the money He has entrusted to us. Christians, including millennials, can choose investments that do not profit from unbiblical cultural influences such as abortion or pornography. By contrast, ESG, SRI and Impact Investing emphasize environmental activism, health, safety, welfare, diversity, inclusion, and other social concerns. While some of these issues have merit, others can be abused to contradict Scripture.

If you are considering an ESG investment, take the time to look into its underlying philosophy. You might find it contradicts your core values. If you seek to invest in a way that honors biblical principles, seek out Biblically Responsible Investments.
Student's Bible torn to shreds by activists protesting Matt Walsh's 'What is a Woman' screening

Activists protesting conservative commentator Matt Walsh's college tour at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where his documentary film What is a Woman was being shown, grabbed a Bible from a young man who was reading it aloud and ripped out the pages. One protester used his teeth to shred the ripped-out pages and spat them on the cement ground.

Young Americas Foundation, which is hosting Walshs college tour, shade a video of the protesters desecrating the Bible, including a female with red-dyed hair who shoved pages from a torn-up Bible into her mouth.

Protestors have now shredded The Bible and one began eating pages pic.twitter.com/o5DACq64LP  YAF (@yaf) October 24, 2022

A young counter-protester was reading the Bible in support of the YAF event.

In another video, protesters can be seen using megaphones to call white people f------ racist and saying the protest was to collectively chase Nazis off the U-W campus, the New York Post reported Saturday.

Speaking to the crowd, a student protestor said white people needed to realize how hard it is every single f------ day for BIPOC people, especially at this institution, the Daily Mail reported.

Rayna Cordon, who was part of a pro-abortion group protesting Walsh, was quoted as saying, Its like a double standard to allow the Nazis and the transphobes and the self-proclaimed fascists to have the mic and not give it to the actual community members that are funding your school, that are attending your classes, that are teaching your classes.

Protesters had also vandalized Memorial Union and other locations around campus with spraypainted graffiti and messages opposing the event, according to NBC15.

Despite the loud protests, about 400 people attended the screening.

I want to thank also the leftist crybabies for the free advertising spray-painted all over campus, Walsh told attendees.

The Daily Wire commentator also addressed the heads of the school and quoted a message the university had sent out before the event warning students that the speaker is someone whose views we believe are harmful toward our trans community.

To the UW-Madison administration: you should be ashamed of yourselves, Walsh continued. You are disgraceful, self-debasing cowards, and you spineless, gutless clowns owe me an apology.

What is a Woman is a documentary about gender and trans activist movement presented by Walsh and produced and released by The Daily Wire.

The documentary features Walsh asking, What is a woman? and related questions to a variety of people, including politicians, a pediatrician, a gender studies professor, a psychiatrist, a gender-affirming family and marriage therapist, a trans opponent of medical transitions for minors and a surgeon who performs body mutilating surgeries.

In one part of the documentary, Scott (Kellie) Newgent, the trans founder of TReVoices, raises her arm to reveal her severed arm and says:

"We have five childrens hospitals in the United States telling girls that they can be boys at $70,000 a pop in a surgery that has a 67 percent complication rate that will kill me from infection  that I cant sue on. Were butchering a generation of children because no one is willing to talk about anything. I have three kids at the age theyre doing this to kids. Im not transphobic. I love my kids. And I love other peoples kids, and you should too. This is wrong on so many levels.  I get infections every three to four months.  Im probably not going to live very long."
Protestant pastor is first Christian clergy imprisoned on charges of sedition in Hong Kong

A judge in Hong Kong sentenced a 59-year-old Protestant pastor to more than one year in prison for sedition, making him the first Christian clergy in the city to be convicted under the draconian national security law that mainland China imposed two years ago.

You have lost your conscience, Pastor Garry Pang Moon-yuen reportedly told another judge during the hearing of activist Chow Hang-tung on Jan. 4, for which Magistrate Cheng Lim-chi at the West Kowloon Court on Thursday sentenced him to 10 months imprisonment for sedition and three months for seditious speech, UCA News reported.

In a separate case, a housewife identified as Chiu Mei-ying was also found guilty of sedition and sentenced to jail for clapping and criticizing magistrate Amy Chan during Chow's sentencing trial for encouraging people to participate in a vigil commemorating Tiananmen Massacre.

Pang and Chiu, who were attending the trial and applauded after Chow made an appeal for herself, were arrested in April for their comments and gestures during her trial and for the pastors videos and livestreams on his YouTube channel.

In one of his videos, Pang criticized magistrate Chan for threatening to silence people when she asked attendees who clapped during that trial to leave.

During sentencing, the judge said Pang had demeaned the magistrate and it was not a case of a slip of the tongue.

The pastor issued a warning at his trial last month, saying, Whats going on in the court right now is not only a legal battle over sedition but also a battle to defend human rights and freedoms, a battle of safeguarding conscience.

He added that peoples desire to change the legal system should not lead to a conviction for sedition, otherwise the citys rule of law would crumble.

The U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern quoted a Catholic clergyman from Hong Kong as saying that, out of the fear of being charged under the security law, people in the city no longer share or like anything on Facebook that might offend the government.

While Pangs case might have been widely discussed online before NSL, now there is little discussion about him, ICC said.

The pastors sentencing came days after the Roman Catholic Church renewed a scrutinized agreement with the Peoples Republic of China over the appointment of bishops despite the communist governments continued restrictions on religious freedom. The provisional agreement was initially approved in 2018 and was previously renewed in 2020, with the latest renewal scheduled to expire in 2024.

The Vatican  is committed to continuing a respectful and constructive dialogue with the Chinese Party for a productive implementation of the Accord and further development of bilateral relations, with a view to fostering the mission of the Catholic Church and the good of the Chinese people, stated the Holy See Press Office.

The trial of 90-year-old Cardinal Joseph Zen, who was arrested for his role in a now-defunct humanitarian relief organization that helped people who participated in the large-scale 2019 pro-democracy protests, also resumed this week.

The West Kowloon Magistrates Court has charged Cardinal Zen and five other pro-democracy activists for not registering the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund with the police between 2019 and 2021 despite its massive size and systematic mode of operation.

The defense has to make its arguments before Principal Magistrate Ada Yim Shun-yee on Oct. 31, National Catholic Register said.

Cardinal Zen, a former bishop of Hong Kong and critic of Chinas communist government, fled Shanghai for Hong Kong about seven decades ago after the communists took over China.

In 1997, China had agreed to a one country, two systems arrangement to allow certain freedoms for Hong Kong when it received the city back from British control. Critics contend the security law undercuts the promised autonomy.
Crime ring stole $1.5M in checks from church mailboxes in 14 states, sheriff's office says

Authorities in Georgia have reportedly brought down a ring of perpetrators accused of stealing approximately $1.5 million from churches in 14 states.

The Fayette County Sheriff's Office recently announced the arrested of three suspects from Houston, Texas, involved in a ring of as many as 17 individuals alleged to have stolen donations from church mailboxes.

According to Fox 5 Atlanta, the ring operated out of Texas, with 36 Fayette County churches being robbed of around $154,000 in checks combined. The checks were deposited at Houston-area ATMs.

The ring was known to have traveled across the country to steal donation checks from church mailboxes during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic when in-person worship would have been suspended or limited. The group robbed church mailboxes across the Midwest, Southeast and California.

Fayette County Sheriff Barry Babb said many people, especially the elderly, were mailing their checks to churches during the pandemic.

"Probably some of these churches might not have even been open during that time and these checks were piling up," he told Fox 5. "So they knew that when they hit a mailbox, which most of these cases these mailboxes were not secure mailboxes, they were able to take the mail."

Authorities are continuing to search for three additional suspects. Meanwhile, some local congregations have started locking their mailboxes.

Babb encouraged churches to offer online options for donations and tithes to minimize the risk of theft.

In recent years, police across the United States have busted groups in similar robberies.

Last year, Florida authorities arrested four individuals from a group of six who stole approximately $740,000 of donations from church mailboxes.

According to police, the group stole over 1,500 checks from 636 churches, operating out of Orlando and hitting congregations in Florida and elsewhere. They would then wire the money to Romania, their native country.

"This low-tech yet well-organized effort to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of mailed-in charitable donations  at a time when donations may have been most needed  has been stopped," Commissioner Rick Swearingen of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said in a statement last year.

Last November, Mateus Vaduva of Baltimore, Maryland, pled guilty to being one of seven individuals who, from 2018 to 2021, stole over 3,000 donation checks from religious institutions in Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina, totaling approximately $1.3 million.

Vaduva and his peers "conducted the thefts by driving to roadside mailboxes of churches and other religious institutions and removing the mail, specifically targeting donation checks," the U.S. Attorney's Office in Maryland announced in a statement.

"As part of the scheme to defraud, Vaduva and other co-conspirators fraudulently opened bank accounts at victim financial institutions under false identities," stated the U.S. Attorney's Office.

"Conspiracy members often opened fictitious bank accounts with the aid of a conspiracy member that was an employee at one of the victim financial institutions."
Hobby Lobby founder David Green: 'We truly believe that its God's business' (Part 2)

Its one thing to practice servant leadership in ministry, but for Hobby Lobby founder and CEO David Green, that calling is also very much one of his companys best practices.

In his new book,Leadership Not by the Book: 12 Unconventional Principles to Drive Incredible Results, Green lays out what his vision looks like for a thriving work environment, which he emphasizes never involves asking employees or prospective employees about their own deeply held beliefs.

We dont, we shouldn't, and we don't even want to, Green told The Christian Post.

Instead, Green said he strives to create a working environment that focuses on the people who have made Hobby Lobby what it is.

Hobby Lobby does a lot for our employees because we know theyre so important, he said, pointing to the companys minimum wage of $18.50 and closing stores on Sunday.

We were open [on Sundays] at one time, Green explained. That was the busiest day per hour.

Hobby Lobby also has chaplains available for any employees who request such services, something Green said is aimed at a higher calling.

We have people that are really fighting for us, and they know theyre not building my wealth, he said. Theyre doing things that are going to change the Kingdom, something thats more important than something that's temporal.

That heavenly orientation sometimes even leads to evangelism opportunities at Hobby Lobby.

Green said one employee  who he described as really an evangelist  will often share the Gospel with co-managers, who are brought into the Hobby Lobby corporate office from other retailers, and even give them little pieces of paper where they can say whether they have put their trust in Jesus.

Over the past several years of doing that, Green said about a hundred have received Christ for the first time, while another hundred have rededicated their lives to Him.

Green said its something they started about 15 years ago and continued even after his attorney warned about the potential cost of doing so.

I think we oughta risk, Green said. I dont think we should be pushy. But I think we have something that  we should tell them about. We have a Master, we have a Creator that loves us, that died for us and cares for us. Why should we not tell that story?

We want to make sure we do that and do it in the right way.

Doing things the right way also underscores what Green sees as the difference between inheritance and heritage, at least when it comes to his own family.

The heritage that I want to leave my children is the heritage of serving the Lord and knowing Him, and not billions or millions of dollars. I dont care to do that at all, he said. Some of my worst days are, What do I do with this value and how do I not put a curse on my family?

Acknowledging that wealthy people often have an awful lot of problems, Green said he wanted to do everything he could to ensure that doesnt happen with his family.

Earlier this month, Green revealed that 100% of Hobby Lobby's voting stock has been moved to a trust composed of all seven Green family members so stewardship of the company can continue into the future.

He shared a little more with CP about the motivation for that move, saying, "We truly believe that its God's business and run it in such a way that its His, so the profits do not belong to us."

Basically, we say that God owns the company. But we dont only just say it, then we say, what does it look like? And to make it look like that, we took all of our ownership and we put it into 1 percent, he explained.

So 100 percent is in 1 percent, and its in a trust that seven of us, seven family members all serving the Lord, come together. And thats what guides our company. 

When it comes to his children and the family business, Green said while the family has never made a dividend nor do we plan to, those who do the work earn a salary, just like everyone else.

Its real simple in our family  you get what you earn and no more, he said, adding that a committee decides what Green and his children who are in the business earn.

Everybody in our family gets a salary based on what they contribute, but no one earns anything in our family that has not come alongside with the family, cause thats not what God wants for all of them, he added.

He said he has seven grandchildren that are in some type of ministry, and thats OK.

God has a plan and we want them to find what God would have for them, he added.

Like most Christian parents, Green said his greatest hope for his children is to come into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

That's why, Green said, he and his wife, Barbara, have been very intentional about providing their children and grandchildren with a Christian education, either through homeschooling or at private institutions.

The most important thing to me is my children serve the Lord far beyond Hobby Lobby, he said. I would rather Hobby Lobby would never have even existed if I lost one of my children because of wealth.

And as for Hobby Lobbys future, Green said he hopes the retail giant will continue not just after hes gone, but until the very end of the age.

We have it set up to be here as long as we can, until Jesus returns, he said. We want to use it to tell as many people as we can about the Good News of Christ dying for us while we were yet sinners, so thats the mission we would like to continue.

Read Part 1 of David Green's interview with CP here and watch the video here.
The Left has made abortion sacred. Here's what we must do.

The Cambridge Dictionary of the English Language defines the term enshrine as meaning, to contain or keep something as if in a holy place.

The operative word here is holy. There is a distinctly religious connotation to the word enshrine. It implies something that merits reverence, something that might be incorporated into worship.

So, when President Biden spoke the other day about making abortion-on-demand the law of the land, the news media  probably without much thought, of course  used religious language to describe the presidents proposal. Heres a small sampling:

Bloomberg News: Biden Vows to Enshrine Roe With First Bill in New Congress.

CNBC: the first legislation Biden will send a new Democratic Congress would enshrine abortion rights protections.

Times of Israel: Biden vows to enshrine nationwide abortion rights if Democrats succeed in midterms.

CBN News: Biden Vows to Enshrine Abortion into Law if Democrats Win Majority in Congress.

ABC News: For the White House, it wont be enough just to keep control of both chambers of Congress, already an uphill battle, to be able to enshrine the protections of Roe v. Wade.

For the Left, abortion has become a kind of rite, something to be enshrined. Planned Parenthood, the nations largest abortion business, has even featured an article with the headline, Abortion is sacred. And the Supreme Court cant take that away from us.

Sacred. Enshrined. These are words of religious faith, involving devotion to a higher being. Its why, in a biting analysis of the philosophy of the pro-choice movement, Ben Shapiro calls abortion the most vital leftist sacrament, an action of holy import. He continues, For the Left, abortion represents the power to deny the objective value of human life; it represents willingness to engage in the highest form of self-serving moral relativism.

In this denial, abortionists and the women upon whom they prey engage in a theologically profound act. They dethrone God, the Author of life, and elevate themselves to His place of primacy. Abortion becomes a form of worship  self-worship, that is, through the sacrifice of another life.

Biden affirmed this evaluation, unintentionally, in his speech about making the right to abortion the law of the land. Saying he would offer legislation to this end on the first day of a new Congress  at least if Democrats kept both House and Senate  the president declared, We cannot allow an out-of-control Supreme Court, working in conjunction with the extremist elements of the Republican Party, to take away freedoms and our personal autonomy.

There it is: Personal autonomy, one of the premier idols of our time. Autonomy means, literally, self-rule or self-law. Of course, individual freedom is a great value. The Bill of Rights articulates many of the specific liberties to which each American is entitled, grounded in the belief that God is the Author of our rights. For the preservation of these rights, generations of Americans have fought and died. They are well worth cherishing.

However, when we deny that God is the one who is the author of personal rights, those rights become the means by which an individual can himself or herself exercise God-like power. It is in this way that personal autonomy has been radicalized, elevated to the place our Creator reserves for Himself.

Theres really nothing new here. Attaining radical personal autonomy was the reason Eve bit into the fruit offered by Satan. You will be like God, he said, and our first parents bought his lie.

Ironically, by seeking to evacuate God from His role as the giver and taker of life and thereby obtain ultimate freedom, we enslave ourselves to evil. Self-worship cannot be realized without making a pact with moral squalor. This, a cult of death, realized in the act of killing an unborn person, amounts to a seizure from the Lord of all authority He reserves for Himself alone.

Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. This is what Jesus told John the apostle (Revelation 1:17-18). He surrenders those keys to no one.

Yet He allows wickedness in our fallen, broken world. But only for a time. Those permitted to usurp His unique authority in the destruction of life in the womb, and those who celebrate this brutal act, merit compassion and the good news of repentance, faith, and forgiveness in Christ alone. If they do not receive it, they will find that their self-worship and its rite of death lead only to an eternal penalty from which, tragically, there will be no relief.

The Gospel is only good news if it gets there in time, said the late theologian Carl Henry. When it comes to the abortion cult, there is no time for Christians to lose.

Originally published at The Washington Stand.
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.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has sent a letter of condolences to Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol over the heavy loss of lives as a result of a stampede in the city of Seoul.

Dear Mr. President,

We were extremely saddened by the news of heavy casualties and injuries as a result of a stampede in the city of Seoul.

Due to this tragedy, on my own behalf and on behalf of the people of Azerbaijan, I offer my deep condolences to you, families and loved ones of those who died and the friendly people of Korea, and wish the injured recovery.
The chief of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards warned Saturday would be the final day of protests that have gripped the Islamic country for more than 40 days.

Hossein Salami, speaking at the funeral of ISIS onslaught victims in Shiraz on Wednesday, urged Iranian youth to stop protesting.

"Today is the last day of the riots. Do not come to the streets again. What do you want from this nation?" said Salami, as reported by CNN.

Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, died on September 16 after being seized by "morality police" and sent to a "re-education center," purportedly for not adhering to the country's conservative clothing code. Protests swept the Islamic Republic for weeks after her death.

Iran Protests Videos show protesters in Zahedan, Iran, being met with teargas and bullets after Friday prayers. Activist organization 1500tasvir shared a video of a 12-year-old boy being shot.

Iran Blames US, Israel for the Protests

Salami slammed the purported influence of American and Israeli officials on the uprisings, saying they "through their media they force you to face your society."

The administration in his country has been fighting against demonstrators, and Salami warned Saudi Arabia of this last week. While speaking in a military training last week, he cautioned trainees to be careful about being involved and susceptible.

Salami was alluding to the "media war" that has been waged against "the Iranian youth and nation" to provoke discontent in the country by lending support to protestors, as reported by the Iranian government.

According to recent research from the Netherlands-based Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes in Iran (GAMAAN), the majority of Iranians detest the Islamic regime and its hijab laws.

Read Also: Seoul Halloween Stampede Kills 149 People, Mostly Teenagers

Ammar Maleki, a political scientist who oversees the organization, told DW that only 15% of Iranians approve the laws that require women to cover up per the latest study.

He said that the findings show that people of all ages, backgrounds and educational levels are united in their opposition to the regime.

According to Maleki, "approximately 80% of the population is against the regime" when it comes to Islamic concepts like mandatory hijab. However, he thinks the Iranian government will not back down on the issue of women being required to wear hijabs since doing so could lead to more compromises.

Canadian PM Justin Trudeau Supports Iran Protests

In related news, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joined demonstrators in Ottawa on Saturday to show his support for the Iran Protests that have engulfed the Islamic Republic.

"The women in Iran, daughters and the grandmothers and the allies... they are not forgotten," Trudeau said during the rally, as per a report published by the Manila Bulletin.

We stand united  united in support of Iranian women, united against Irans heinous behaviour, and united in our resolve to hold this oppressive regime accountable. Today, that unity was on display in Ottawa. pic.twitter.com/2CLzWbfYez  Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) October 29, 2022

The Canadian leader told the protesters they have his support and "will continue to stand with this beautiful community."

Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, the wife of the Canadian prime minister, also joined the demonstration of solidarity with the Iran protests. She remarked that no "sister" will be left behind, and the suppression of the rights of one woman tantamounts to "disrespect for all women."

Related Article: Canada Slaps Russia with More Sanctions, Offers Extra Aid for Ukraine Amid War

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
By Caitlin Johnstone

October 30, 2022: Information Clearing House -- Mainstream punditry in the latter half of 2022 is rife with op-eds arguing that the US needs to vastly increase military spending because a world war is about to erupt, and they always frame it as though this would be something that happens to the US, as though its own actions would have nothing to do with it. As though it would not be the direct result of the US-centralized empire continually accelerating towards that horrific event while refusing every possible diplomatic off-ramp due to its inability to relinquish its goal of total unipolar planetary domination.

The latest example of this trend is an article titled Could America Win a New World War?  What It Would Take to Defeat Both China and Russia published by Foreign Affairs, a magazine that is owned and operated by the supremely influential think tank Council on Foreign Relations.

The United States and its allies must plan for how to simultaneously win wars in Asia and Europe, as unpalatable as the prospect may seem, writes the articles author Thomas G Mahnken, adding that in some ways the United States and its allies will have an advantage in any simultaneous war in those two continents.

But Mahnken doesnt claim a world war against Russia and China would be a walk in the park; he also argues that in order to win such a war the US will need to  you guessed it  drastically increase its military spending.

The United States clearly needs to increase its defense manufacturing capacity and speed, Mahnken writes. In the short term, that involves adding shifts to existing factories. With more time, it involves expanding factories and opening new production lines. To do both, Congress will have to act now to allocate more money to increase manufacturing.

But exploding US weapons spending is still inadequate, Mahnken argues, saying that the United States should work with its allies to increase their military production and the size of their weapons and munitions stockpiles as well.

Mahnken says this world war could be sparked if China initiated a military operation to take Taiwan, forcing the United States and its allies to respond, as though there would be no other options on the table besides launching into nuclear age World War Three to defend an island next to the Chinese mainland that calls itself the Republic of China. He writes that Moscow, meanwhile, could decide that with the United States bogged down in the western Pacific, it could get away with invading more of Europe, demonstrating the bizarre Schrodingers cat western propaganda paradox that Putin is always simultaneously (A) getting destroyed and humiliated in Ukraine and (B) on the cusp of waging hot war with NATO.

Again, this is just the latest in an increasingly common genre of mainstream western punditry.

In The skeptics are wrong: The U.S. can confront both China and Russia, The Washington Posts Josh Rogin wags his finger at Democrats who think aggressions against Russia should be prioritized and Republicans who think that military and financial attention should be devoted to China, arguing porque no los dos?

In Could The U.S. Military Fight Russia And China At The Same Time?, 19FortyFives Robert Farley answers in the affirmative, writing that the immense fighting power of the US armed forces would not be inordinately strained by the need to wage war in both theaters and concluding that the United States can fight both Russia and China at once for a while, and with the help of some friends.

In Can the US Take on China, Iran and Russia All at Once? Bloombergs Hal Brands answers that it would be very difficult and recommends escalating in Ukraine and Taiwan and selling Israel more advanced weaponry to get a step ahead of Russia, China and Iran respectively.

In International Relations Theory Suggests Great-Power War Is Coming, the Atlantic Councils Matthew Kroenig writes for Foreign Policy that a global democracies-versus-autocracies showdown is coming with the United States and its status quo-oriented democratic allies in NATO, Japan, South Korea, and Australia on one side and the revisionist autocracies of China, Russia, and Iran on the other, and that aspiring foreign policy experts should adjust their expectations accordingly.

When theyre not arguing that World War Three is coming and we must all prepare to fight it and win, theyre arguing that a global conflict is already upon us and we must begin acting like it, as in last months New Yorker piece What if Were Already Fighting the Third World War with Russia?

These Beltway swamp monster pontifications are directed not just at the general public but at government policymakers and strategists as well, and it should disturb us all that their audiences are being encouraged to view a global conflict of unspeakable horror like its some kind of natural disaster that people dont have any control over.

Every measure should be taken to avoid a world war in the nuclear age. If it looks like thats where were headed, the answer is not to ramp up weapons production and create entire industries dedicated to making it happen, the answer is diplomacy, de-escalation and detente. These pundits frame the rise of a multipolar world as something that must inevitably be accompanied by an explosion of violence and human suffering, when in reality wed only wind up there as a result of decisions that were made by thinking human beings on both sides.

It doesnt have to be this way. Theres no omnipotent deity decreeing from on high that we must live in a world where governments brandish armageddon weapons at each other and humanity must either submit to Washington or resign itself to cataclysmic violence of planetary consequence. We could just have a world where the peoples of all nations get along with each other and work together toward the common good rather than working to dominate and subjugate each other.

As Jeffrey Sachs recently put it, The single biggest mistake of president Biden was to say the greatest struggle of the world is between democracies and autocracies. The real struggle of the world is to live together and overcome our common crises of environment and inequality.

We could have a world where our energy and resources go toward increasing human thriving and learning to collaborate with this fragile biosphere we evolved in. Where all our scientific innovation is directed toward making this planet a better place to live instead of channeling it into getting rich and finding new ways to explode human bodies. Where our old models of competition and exploitation give way to systems of collaboration and care. Where poverty, toil and misery gradually move from accepted norms of human existence to dimly remembered historical record.

Instead were getting a world where were being hammered harder and harder with propaganda encouraging us to accept global conflict as an unavoidable reality, where politicians who voice even the mildest support for diplomacy are shouted down and demonized until they bow to the gods of war, where nuclear brinkmanship is framed as safety and de-escalation is branded as reckless endangerment.

We dont have to submit to this. We dont have to keep sleepwalking into dystopia and armageddon to the beat of manipulative sociopaths. There are a whole lot more of us than there are of them, and weve got a whole lot more at stake here than they do.

We can have a healthy world. Weve just got to want it badly enough. They work so hard to manufacture our consent because, ultimately, they absolutely do require it.

Caitlin's articles are entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking her on Facebook, following her antics on Twitter, checking out her podcast, throwing some money into her hat on Patreon or Paypal, or buying her book Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers. https://caitlinjohnstone.com
Termeni de referinta pentru selectarea unui expert/unei experte in elaborarea unui ghid de evaluare a studentilor Scolii de Jurnalism din Moldova
The 3% Plan to End Starvation

By World Beyond War

October 30, 2022: Information Clearing House -- " World Beyond War " - Heres a proposal that could end starvation around the globe. Never again need a human being lack the food to live. Never again need a single child or adult suffer the horrors of starvation. Hunger as a danger to anyone can be made a thing of the past. All that is required, apart from basic skills in distributing resources, is 3 percent of the military budget of the United States, or 1.5 percent of all the military budgets in the world.

In recent years, the U.S. military budget has been increased dramatically. This plan would scale it back to 97 percent of its current level, a difference far smaller than the amount that goes unaccounted for each year. U.S. military spending would remain over twice that of the most common enemies designated by the U.S. government  China, Russia, and Iran  combined.

But the change to the world would be tremendous if starvation were eliminated. The gratitude felt toward those who had done it would be powerful. Imagine what the world would think of the United States, if it were known as the country that ended world starvation. Imagine more friends worldwide, more respect and admiration, fewer enemies. The benefits to communities assisted would be transformational. The human lives rescued from misery and incapacitation would constitute an enormous gift to the world.

Heres how 3 percent of U.S. military spending could do it. In 2008, the United Nations said that $30 billion per year could end hunger on earth, as reported in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and many other outlets. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN FAO) tells us that number is still up to date.

As of 2019, the annual Pentagon base budget, plus war budget, plus nuclear weapons in the Department of Energy, plus military spending by the Department of Homeland Security, plus interest on deficit military spending, and other military spending totaled well over $1 trillion, in fact $1.25 trillion. Three percent of a trillion is 30 billion.

Global military spending is $1.8 trillion, as calculated by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which only includes $649 billion of U.S. military spending as of 2018, making the actual global total well over $2 trillion. One-and-a-half percent of 2 trillion is 30 billion. Every nation on earth that has a military can be asked to move its share to alleviate hunger.

The Math

3% x $1 trillion = $30 billion

1.5% x $2 trillion = $30 billion

What We Propose

Our proposal is that the U.S. Congress and a future U.S. administration, dedicated to the goal of eradicating hunger, begin by ending sanctions on other nations which increase starvation, and by enacting an annual reduction in military spending of at least $30 billion. A number of think tanks have proposed various ways in which military spending could be reduced by that amount or more. These savings should be specifically diverted to programs designed to reduce hunger worldwide, and the direct tradeoffs between military cuts and hunger eradication should be presented explicitly to U.S. taxpayers and to the world.

How these funds would be spent requires detailed analysis, and would likely change each year as specific food needs arise. First, the United States could increase its international assistance, both for immediate humanitarian relief and longer term agricultural development, to a per capita level comparable to other major donors, such as the UK, Germany, and a number of Scandinavian countries. In the immediate term, the United States should increase its contributions to the UN World Food Programs appeals for funds needed to respond to humanitarian crises worldwide (many of which are due to conflicts that are fueled by U.S. weapons sales and/or by the actions of the U.S. military).

Part of this funding also should be dedicated to longer term, sustainable improvement of agriculture and food market systems in vulnerable countries, through the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, as well as various research institutes and foundations specializing in these areas. Although the World Bank and other international financial institutions have a mixed record in terms of benefiting the neediest, consideration should be given to increasing U.S. contributions specifically tied to assisting the agriculture ministries of certain select countries, as a means of improving long term food security in these countries.

The only strings attached to these donations would be that the use of the funds needs to be completely transparent, with every expenditure publicly recorded, and that the funds be distributed purely on the basis of need, influenced in no way by politically driven agendas.

The steps outlined above could be undertaken with minimal new legislative authorities or reorganization of the U.S. Government. A future U.S. administration could put forward to Congress budget requests, and regardless Congress could enact budgets, that dramatically increase assistance programs administered by the State Department (not including those related to military assistance). This should also involve a change in assistance priorities, to focus on the neediest countries and turn away from politically motivated programs. Initiatives already in existence, such as the Feed the Future program, created during the Obama Administration but still continuing today, should be provided with increased funding. What is required is sufficient will to act.

FAQ

Doesnt the UN FAO say that $265 billion is needed to end hunger, not $30 billion?

No, it does not. In a 2015 report, the UN FAO estimated that $265 billion per year for 15 years would be necessary to permanently eliminate extreme poverty  a much broader project than just preventing starvation one year at a time. The FAOs spokesperson explained in an email to World BEYOND War: It would be incorrect to compare the two figures [$30 billion a year to end hunger vs. $265 billion over 15 years] as the 265 billion has been calculated taking into consideration a number of initiatives including social protection cash transfers aimed at extracting people from extreme poverty and not just hunger.

The U.S. government already spends $42 billion per year on aid. Why should it spend another $30 billion?

As a percentage of gross national income or per capita, the U.S. gives much less aid than other countries do. Plus, 40 percent of current U.S. aid is not actually aid in any ordinary sense; its deadly weapons (or money with which to buy deadly weapons from U.S. companies). In addition, U.S. aid is not targeted based purely on need but based largely on military interests. The biggest recipients are Afghanistan, Israel, Egypt, and Iraq, places the United States deems most in need of weapons, not places an independent institution deems most in need of food or other aid.

Individuals in the U.S. already give private charitable donations at high rates. Why do we need the U.S. government to provide aid?

Because children are starving to death in a world awash in wealth. There is no evidence that private charity decreases when public charity increases, but there is lots of evidence that private charity is not all its cracked up to be. Most U.S. charity goes to religious and educational institutions within the United States, and only a third goes to the poor. Only a small fraction goes abroad, only 5% to assist the poor abroad, only a fraction of that toward ending starvation, and much of that lost to overhead. The tax deduction for charitable giving in the United States appears to enrich the rich. Some like to count remittances, that is money sent home by migrants living and working in the United States, or the investment of any U.S. money abroad for any purpose, as foreign aid. But there is simply no reason that private charity, no matter what you believe it to consist of, could not remain the same or increase if U.S. public aid were brought closer to the level of international norms.

Isnt world starvation and malnourishment decreasing anyway?

No. Increases in conflicts around the world and climate-related factors have contributed to an increase of 40 million people malnourished in recent years. Although there has been slow progress in reducing malnourishment over the last 30 years, the trends are not encouraging and approximately 9 million people die each year from starvation.

What is the plan to do this?

Educate the public

Build a movement

Enlist support from key Congressional offices

Introduce supporting resolutions in the United Nations, U.S. Congress, governing bodies of other countries, U.S. state legislatures, city councils, and civic, charitable, and faith-based organizations

What You Can Do

Endorse the 3 Percent Plan to End Starvation on behalf of your organization.

Help us put up billboards in key locations around the United States and the globe by contributing here. Cant afford a billboard? Use business cards: Docx, PDF.

Join or start a chapter of World BEYOND War in your area that can hold educational events, lobby legislators, and spread the word.

Support World BEYOND War with a donation here.

Contact World BEYOND War to get involved in this campaign.

Write an op-ed or a letter to the editor using the information on this page, your own words, and these tips.

Print this flyer in black and white on colored paper: PDF, Docx. Or print this flyer.

Ask your local government to pass this resolution.

If you are from the United States, send this email to your Representative and Senators.

Views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House. in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House. Reader financed- No Advertising - No Government Grants - No Algorithm - This Is Independent

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Before you dive into the ins and outs of programmatic advertising, it's important to know what this method is and how it works. There are several types of programmatic media buying. In this guide, we'll discuss the different types and how programmatic has changed traditional ad buying. Then, we'll look at the role programmatic plays in online advertising.

What is programmatic advertising?

Programmatic advertising is a way to buy and sell advertising on websites or other digital media. This form of online marketing allows advertisers to control the cost of each impression. The system can place advertisements on a variety of media, including content platforms, radio stations, and television channels. Depending on audience data, these platforms can send ads to the most relevant publishers for a given campaign.

The key to programmatic advertising is personalisation. By automating media buys, brands can target specific segments and consumers with precise message messages. This helps them meet specific business goals. For example, a brand may want to target a demographic of 18 to 24-year-olds. For this type of advertising, the brand can use a data management platform to identify the best demographics.

The data generated by programmatic advertising allows advertisers to get real-time information on their ad campaigns. They can then use this information to gain even more information about their audience. For example, programmatic advertising lets marketers adopt contextual advertising, which derives data from user profiles and page content, and delivers ads in the most relevant places.

The concept of programmatic advertising is constantly evolving. While some people think of programmatic advertising as a digital ad platform that automatically purchases media, it is actually a more sophisticated form of advertising. It can include display ads, video ads, and digital out-of-home advertising. This method has changed the way people buy advertising in a variety of media. In addition to making it more efficient, it also allows advertisers to target their campaigns better.

How programmatic redefined traditional ad buying

Programmatic advertising combines data and automation to help marketers reach the right people at the right time. It allows marketers to move away from mass advertising and focus on user-centric marketing.

According to Sean Callahan, senior manager of content marketing at LinkedIn, programmatic advertising allows marketers to serve high-quality ads to their target audiences on a more personal level, increasing the chances of a click-through and inspiring users to take the next marketing step. If marketers do not make the most of this technology, they risk falling behind their competitors.

Programmatic advertising also provides advertisers with essential audience insights and valuable metrics. They can target their target audience more efficiently, earning a higher ROI. Many marketers are now turning to this technology to improve their advertising campaigns.

The role of programmatic in online advertising

Programmatic advertising is a way to buy ads online without having to personally contact publishers. This process involves using a supply-side platform to coordinate the buying and selling of ads. This helps advertisers and publishers make the best use of available ad inventory. In addition to its efficiencies, programmatic advertising helps advertisers reach targeted audiences. This process is also referred to as real-time bidding.

Programmatic Advertising has a great potential to increase conversion rates, especially for brands looking to increase their sales. It enables advertisers to target the right audience at the right time, resulting in meaningful engagement and measurable conversions. Though many marketers find the process confusing, it is actually very straightforward and scalable.

As the entire process is automated, programmatic advertising eliminates many of the problems associated with traditional media buying and selling. It can handle everything from targeting to bidding and transaction in milliseconds, making it a highly efficient process for advertisers. The use of AI and machine learning can greatly improve the efficiency of advertising campaigns.

The key to using programmatic advertising is to set goals early and build an effective strategy. Advertisers and publishers should also realize that programmatic advertising relies on computers and algorithms and is not a replacement for human interaction. Using a Demand-Side Platform (DSP) allows for the automated bidding of impressions.

Advantages of Programmatic Advertising

With programmatic advertising, your marketing team can focus on delivering targeted ads to the right audience with less waste. This technology utilizes algorithms to choose the most relevant ads for a certain audience. In addition to providing better audience targeting, programmatic advertising allows your organization to react quickly to market changes. This technology is highly effective in achieving high-impact advertising campaigns.

Programmatic advertising offers greater transparency, which is important for tracking and optimization. It also enables advertisers to see real-time insights about the performance of their ads, including impressions, clicks, and conversions. This allows advertisers to better allocate their budget. They can invest in the campaigns that are giving them the highest ROI and stop ad campaigns that aren't yielding results.

Another benefit of programmatic advertising is its flexibility. It offers flexible budget options, which allows any size business to make use of it. Additionally, programmatic advertising can extend your online presence and reach millions of active users. For instance, a programmatic platform will target your ad to users who are most likely to convert.

Key elements of the programmatic advertising

In order to run a successful programmatic advertising campaign, it is essential to have a clear understanding of the basic principles of this digital marketing method. The process involves an ecosystem of digital platforms and ad exchanges where buyers and sellers transact in real-time.

These tools help publishers and advertisers manage and optimize their campaigns. Programmatic advertising uses supply-side platforms, which are connected to demand-side platforms. These platforms allow publishers and advertisers to easily trade ad inventory and optimize campaigns by automating the process.

The programmatic advertising ecosystem is supported by data management platforms, which gather audience data, sort cookies, and signal SSPs when a customer enters a website. Without this data, advertisers would not be able to buy ad space in the most targeted way. This inefficient ad spending would lead to significant revenue losses. The advanced targeting options in programmatic advertising enable advertisers to optimize their ad spending.
Halloween is upon us and many have been getting into the spirit of the spooky, terror-filled holiday. Google is no exception to that and has even brought back an interactive Doodle from years back. It is not just any interactive Doodle as it is actually a game where you can join a team that needs to complete a goal in order to win.

Here is what you have to know about this year's Halloween Google Doodle:

Google's Great Ghoul Duel Doodle is Back

Yes, you read that right. Google has brought back 2018's Great Ghoul Duel Doodle inn time for Halloween. However, it is not exactly the same as the Doodle from years back.

Similar to the original version, the Great Ghoul Duel Doodle is a multiplayer interactive game. Anyone from around the world can join a team of four. As a team, your goal is to get the most number of wandering spirit flames before the moon disappears.

You are either Team Green or Team Purple. Characters under Team Green include Emerald, Jade, Kelly, Moss, Olive, and Sage. Characters under Team Purple include Amethyst, Iris, Mauve, Mulberry, Periwinkle, and Plum.

According to Google, what is different with this year's version is player's can expect new characters, game maps, and even special power-ups to add to the experience.

Things to Take Note of When Playing

A team only has two minutes to collect as many wandering spirit flames as they can. In order for it to count, a wandering spirit flame must be brought back to to the team's homebase.

However, it should be ntoed that players from the opposing team can intercept the spirit flame and take it as theirs.

While you can always play with random people around the world, you can also set up a game that can host up to seven of your family and friends. This can be done through a custom intivation link.

Read Also: Google Doodle Releases a Series of Mini-Games to Keep People Inside: Doodle the Coronavirus Away!

Previous Interactive Halloween Google Doodles

The Great Ghoul Duel Doodle and its sequel are not the only instances that Google opted for an interactive game as its Halloween Doodle. In 2015, Google introduced the Global Candy Cup where players joined a team and compete to collect the most candies before the end of Halloween.

In 2016, Google introduced the cat spell-casting game called Magic Cat Academy.

"This year's Halloween Doodle follows freshman feline Momo on her mission to rescue her school of magic," the Google Doodle's description reads. "Help her cast out mischievous spirits by swiping in the shape of the symbols above the ghosts' heads."

Other Halloween Google Doodles, however, are not games. Some are interactive still, while some are pretty much just animated gifs.

Related Article: Google Launches Spooky Halloween Doodle Game: Magic Cat Academy
Many things make me wonder whether Meghan Markle is bad for my mental health. One of them is the fact that having set herself up as a leader of women, an oracle of feminine power and a guide through the maze of prejudice that we  and, of course, she, too  find corralled against us, she then so staggeringly misses the point.

Her misreading of the world is so delusionary that it makes one gaslight oneself.

In her latest Archetype podcast, she addresses the issue of whether women can be allowed to be 'clear' and 'direct' and 'set boundaries' without being called difficult.

As a woman who was a boss (although I hate that word) for several decades, if there was one description of my time as Head Girl at Vogue that I heard repeatedly, it was that I was direct and decisive.

I don't think anyone has ever thought me a bully, as Harry and Meghan were claimed to be by some Royal staff they previously worked with. Claims they deny

People occasionally left my office in tears if I had to fire them or make them redundant  and, incidentally, I'd invariably had a sleepless night beforehand. Or, if I didn't like something my staff had produced, they would always be allowed to defend it, even if in the end they would rant afterwards at my bad judgment.

And there are others, even now that I have no office to lead, who find my inability to sugar-coat and people-please rather tiresome, or at times, abrasive. But I don't think anyone has ever thought me a bully, as Harry and Meghan were claimed to be by some Royal staff they previously worked with. Claims they deny.

Yes, sometimes people are thrown by a straight-talking woman in a way they aren't with men. But Meghan naturally fails to address the far more relevant issue of how you behave regardless of your gender. Of course, it's important to be clear with work colleagues so as to get your message across. And occasionally you have to criticise.

Yet that doesn't mean undermining and intimidating. It doesn't mean making others feel weakened as you demonstrate your strength. It doesn't mean that you shouldn't treat others exactly how you'd want to be treated yourself.

Meghan seems obsessed with what she sees as the twin disadvantages of being a woman and being mixed-race.

Her podcasts deliver a relentless California-style rant  soft-voiced whining  that is intended to bolster women's self-image. But all they do is give the impression that her reading of the world is utterly narcissistic as she doles out the poor advice and observations of a marshmallow.

In her latest Archetype podcast, Meghan addresses the issue of whether women can be allowed to be 'clear' and 'direct' and 'set boundaries' without being called difficult

Serve up visas to end hospitality hell

Fast-food entrepreneur Julian Metcalfe spoke last week of the critical shortages of staff in the hospitality business. His comments should be heeded by Home Secretary Suella Braverman.

Metcalfe, founder of Pret A Manger and Itsu, described how in the 1980s there were thousands of young, hard-working people from mainland Europe who came to experience life in the UK for a short time and then returned home. They didn't want to live here forever. And, really, why would they? Think of the weather. He suggested that instead of Ms Braverman's ludicrous clampdown on immigration, if two-year working visas were offered, young foreigners could come to live and work here for a short period.

Fast-food entrepreneur Julian Metcalfe spoke last week of the critical shortages of staff in the hospitality business

This would help solve the catastrophic staffing crisis affecting all pubs, restaurant and hotels.

Halloween's latest baddie? Suella de Vil

Incidentally, walking through London's Soho on Thursday, I noted huge queues of people outside fancy-dress shops who seemed to fit Suella Braverman's description of 'Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati' whom she blames for the recent spate of public protests. What's the betting that at this year's Halloween's parties, the traditional villain Cruella de Vil will have a new rival in Suella de Vil?

What's the betting that at this year's Halloween's parties, the traditional villain Cruella de Vil will have a new rival in Suella de Vil?

Incidentally, walking through London's Soho on Thursday, I noted huge queues of people outside fancy-dress shops who seemed to fit Suella Braverman's description of 'Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati'

Who cares if Rishi is stonkingly rich?

We must face facts. We have a stonkingly wealthy Prime Minister. The Sunaks' family money is self-made. It's wrong for us to encourage them to play-act that they're financially in the same boat as the rest of us, shunning pricey clothes or disguising the fact their daughters are privately educated.

We expected that of some previous rich PMs but it's time to accept that it's OK to look rich so long as you get the job done.

Since Rishi Sunak became PM, his wife has kept out of the spotlight. But when she is seen in public, she shouldn't feel she should appear head-to-toe in M&S or Zara  in the way wealthy Saudi women fling off their burka in the privacy of their home and put on Chanel and Valentino.

The Sunaks are multi-billionaire rich. Let's get over it.

We must face facts. We have a stonkingly wealthy Prime Minister. The Sunaks' family money is self-made

Two-strikes rule for the party poopers

Now that social life has returned post-Covid, so, too, has the infuriating habit of people cancelling at the last minute. It doesn't matter whether it's a black-tie dinner or pizza night at home, it's simply not all right to pull out of agreed engagements, other than for a really good reason  like death.

Not everyone agrees, though, especially privileged types who seem to believe in some half-baked, entitled fashion, that sticking to plans is for the little people or that it's boringly bourgeois to honour social commitments.

My question is this: how often should one accept someone flaking on you before you stop inviting them? Just for the record  in my house, it's two strikes and you're out.

I've high hoops for my exercise regime

I hate having to exercise. My parents' generation rarely did any regular exercise and they all seemed healthy. It was the 1980s that started us on this wretched course  flogging round parks, lifting weights, lunging this way and that.

Perhaps the whole exercise thing is simply a cunning device to make us buy all kind of kit and expensive gym memberships.

I speak as one who's just forked out on a weighted hula-hoop gizmo that is meant to take inches off my waist size in next to no time.

I'll keep you posted.
This week, Jessica Carroll asks the question: How sustainable is With Nothing Underneath (WNU)?

Weekend shirt, 100, withnothingunderneath.com.

What's The Story?

With Nothing Underneath (WNU) was founded in 2017 by former Vogue stylist Pip Durell who was inspired by the effortless and timeless appeal of men's classic shirts. Five years on, it's famed for its well-cut designs which come in an impressive array of styles, colourways and materials.

What's The Aim?

Sustainability plays a key role at WNU  it is always working on its eco credentials through new business practices and innovative materials. Its hemp collection, launched earlier this year, is the brand's most exciting addition.

The Extra Mile

It's a B Corp brand, which means it meets a high standard of environmental and social performance. This certification is hard to achieve and WNU is one of a handful of British fashion labels with the status.

Why Should I Buy?

The hemp plant requires very little water to grow, and its fabric, which feels similar to linen, is incredibly strong as well as biodegradable. Climate activist Livia Firth recommends buying items you know you'll get at least 30 wears out of  we think this shirt will give you many more.

Why Shouldn't I Buy?

While 97 per cent of WNUs fabric is sourced and woven in Europe, with 100% of the shirts being made in Portugal, its hemp comes from China which increases its carbon footprint.

Verdict

A classic shirt is a wardrobe staple so it's well worth spending a little more on a durable and eco-friendly style. While the brand could improve further by manufacturing the shirt closer to the UK, overall, we are impressed by its sustainable credentials.

Our rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
It's fair to say that Marie Kondo and I aren't soul mates. Kondo is the world queen of tidying, who's sold more than 13 million books, translated into 44 languages and garnered four million Instagram followers with her philosophy that we should chuck out everything that doesn't 'spark joy'.

I live surrounded by piles of dusty papers, make-up older than my teenage daughters and tangled cables I'm too frightened to bin in case I one day unearth the gadget they connect to. Kondo thinks we should own a maximum of 30 books; I possess about 1,000. She and her husband organise household chores on spreadsheets; my husband and I exchange insults about who forgot to buy dog food.

Kondo's 'ideal day' starts at 6am with 'Open window, diffuse aroma oil, do some stretches, water the plants' (while mine would go: 'Open eyes, groan, shut eyes again'). In the evening, she folds laundry and does crafting ('I like embroidery,' she says) and yoga, whereas I like to slump in front of Netflix with a pint of wine, feeling guilty because I haven't tidied. 'I try not to look at screens in the evenings,' Kondo remarks.

No wonder, overall, I find Kondo, who's tiny (4ft 7in) and serene, pretty intimidating. Now, in something like a scene from a nightmare, she's inspecting the 'corner of shame' on my bedroom chest of drawers, which I've meant  and failed  to purge for the past three years. Frowning slightly, she scans the explosion of half-used hair products, lonely pen lids, ancient magazines, tatty notebooks, broken jewellery and three  three!  aeroplane freebie sponge bags stuffed with broken Biros, tiny moisturiser samples and flimsy eyemasks.

Kondo's 'ideal day' starts at 6am with 'Open window, diffuse aroma oil, do some stretches, water the plants'

I'm mortified. 'For some reason, my clients always start by apologising,' replies Kondo, 38, her beatific smile intact. 'I think a lot of people are afraid to have me come to their place, but I love tidying and of course their place is going to be messy  that's why they've asked me! So there's no need to worry.'

For some reason, my clients always start by apologising

Kondo's talking via an interpreter over Zoom from her home in Tokyo, where she returned during the pandemic after six years in Los Angeles. She moved to the US after her debut book, 2010's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying, became an international bestseller. Later, she become a Netflix star with her show Tidying Up With Marie Kondo, and set up a network of KonMari declutterers, who pay $2,000 (1,805) to be trained in her methods.

Inspired, we all started folding our clothes in neat triangles, politely thanking and saying goodbye to objects that no longer 'sparked joy' and lugging bags of junk to the charity shops. Inevitably, there was a backlash. People complained her standards were unrealistic  especially for parents  and that she was making women feel inadequate. That was certainly my reaction to her latest, fifth book, Kurashi at Home: How to Organise Your Space and Achieve Your Ideal Life. Kurashi is the Japanese word for lifestyle, and the book contains guidance on how to live a Kondo-like existence full of essential oil burners, yoga and homemade miso soups.

The book is full of images of bathroom sinks bearing a vase and a lit candle, rather than a leaking toothpaste tube and manky soap bar. Hallways contain a bench, straw bag and plant, rather than 37 miscellaneous shoes, 13 coats and a Tesco shopping bag. Yet, to my relief, she says these pictures don't represent her current life as a mother of three children  two girls aged seven and six, and a one-year-old son.

With an estimated net worth of 7.2 million, Kondo (pictured) now only works around three hours a day

'When it was just the two of us, my house was pretty close to that ideal; now, those pictures are just the ideal I aim for. My own home really isn't completely tidy  I guess I could get to that point if I did a proper blitz for an hour or two. But I tell myself, 'You have different priorities and right now what sparks joy is playing with my children, spending fun time with them and it's OK if it's a little bit messy.' I don't want to waste time getting annoyed. Your children are only small once, so don't worry, enjoy that time.'

With shoulder-length black hair and a thick fringe, in a tasteful (natch) beige polo neck, Kondo is smiley and super-polite. Her background's blurry, so I can't see if her house is a tip or immaculate (despite her protestations, I suspect the latter), but she's certainly telling the truth about uncontrollable family life  a few times, we hear children yelling in the background; about half-an-hour in, she suddenly dashes off, reappearing with an adorable, black-haired baby.

'I'm so sorry, I need to change his diaper,' she gasps, then disappears. When she comes back, there's silence. What's the baby doing now? 'I don't do this very often, but he's watching cartoons,' she admits with an embarrassed smile.

Before long, though, he's squawking and sitting on her knee. He spills his water, briefly causing chaos, then he's joined by his two cute sisters waving into the camera. Kondo's eyes flash with panic as she looks for someone  presumably her husband, Takumi Kawahara  to take them away. When she lived in the US, she employed a nanny and cleaner, but now she only uses an ad-hoc babysitter.

With an estimated net worth of 7.2 million, Kondo now only works around three hours a day. 'My lifestyle has totally changed. When I started out, I was working really hard and that was my ideal. I was doing lots of [tidying] lessons, helping lots of people, getting loads of experience. But now I want to spend more time with my family.'

I was a strange kid. I doubt anyone in my class would remember me

That doesn't mean the Kondo empire is winding down. As well as still writing books, she has an online shop selling Kondo storage boxes (around 67 for a set of five), incense and a 'therapeutic tuning fork'. For someone who tells us to own as little as possible, selling all this clobber sounds pretty hypocritical  but Kondo insists she's been misunderstood.

'The aim of tidying isn't to have less stuff,' she says, jiggling the baby on her lap. 'It's to select the items that you love and to live true to yourself. A lot of people have asked me what I use myself and what I recommend, but I don't want people to buy more unnecessary things. And I hope people will only visit my shop once they have tidied. Tidy first, then welcome new things in.'

Kondo's philosophies can sound pretty woo-woo to Western ears. They have echoes of the Japanese Shinto philosophy, where inanimate objects have spirits. She urges us to say goodbye and thank things we don't want, to rub our hands over our clothes to imbue 'them with positive energy', and claims she wipes down the soles of her shoes every night.

MARIE'S MUSTS Vacuum or duster? Duster Sneakers or heels? Sneakers Tea or coffee? Tea Shower or bath? Bath Indoor or outdoor? Indoor Summer or winter? Winter Jeans or joggers? Joggers Night owl or early bird? Early bird Sun or shade? Shade Red or white? Red wine Bach or Beatles? Bach Netflix or night out? Netflix Book or podcast? Book WhatsApp or call? Text Mojito or mint tea? Mint tea Advertisement

'The shoes have been working hard all day and I feel like they bring  not the evils  but the tiredness in with them from outside, so I want them to be clean. But, since having my third child, I don't manage to do it every day.'

The middle child of three herself, Kondo grew up in Tokyo where her father was a doctor and her mother was a housewife. 'She really enjoyed housework. I read a lot of lifestyle magazines and they would always have these agony aunt sections and I'd read about the problems housewives faced and I would think: 'But it doesn't seem like hard work.'

By her own admission, she was 'a strange kid. I liked spending time by myself at home, I wasn't the kind of child who liked being the centre of attention or part of big groups of friends. I doubt anyone in my class would remember me; I wasn't particularly someone who left a strong impression.'

She chucked things out so obsessively that once, when the pressure overwhelmed her, she fainted. How did her parents react? 'They didn't notice. Every day when I came home from school, I would just hide away in my room. So they probably just thought, 'Oh, she's tidying.'

Has she ever been diagnosed with, or suspected herself of having, a condition such as obsessive compulsive disorder? 'When I'm focused on something, I'm really focused on it,' Kondo acknowledges. 'People sometimes say that I'm obsessed with cleanliness, but that really isn't the case because when I go to clients' homes, they're really messy  sometimes dirty  and I have no problem with that at all.'

After studying at Tokyo's Woman's Christian University, Kondo set up her tidying business. Visiting homes could often be emotional. 'Sometimes people would cry. Tidying helps people realise what is precious to them, maybe things they should have been treasuring, but hadn't. Often it shows them new directions in how they want to live their lives. Maybe they've been working too hard and they realise what they really want is to spend more time with their family. Maybe they hate their apartment and keep threatening to move, but tidying makes them realise that, actually, they're surrounded by things they love and they need to value what they have.'

Becoming world-famous was something super-shy Kondo struggled with. 'It was hard and, to be honest, I'm still not used to it. Writing books is something I can do by myself, so I really enjoy that. But I still get nervous when I have to go in front of a lot of people.'

She's been supported by her husband of 11 years, who was an engineer but is now CEO of the Kondo empire. The pair met when they were both students, but it was several years before they became an item. In her book, she likens their falling in love to how her clients feel about some of their older, less glamorous possessions. 'It's things like a spoon. You don't think 'I love this', it's not particularly pretty or decorative, but you find it pleasurable to use and suddenly realise you've been using it for 20 years.'

So she's comparing her husband to an old spoon? Kondo giggles: 'Well, they're similar in that the more time I spend with him, the more joy he sparks.' Initially, the couple divvied up household chores on a spreadsheet. 'We don't do that any more because it's become natural, but having that spreadsheet at the start helped us to understand what needed doing and who was good at what. But if I'm busy, I might ask him to do the washing up, or if I see he's busy, I might take out the bins.'

The couple decided to return to Japan during the pandemic. 'I couldn't go to people's homes to tidy, so my work went online and I could do it from anywhere. And my children had been living in the US since they were born. When they got to primary school age we thought that it was important for them to get a sense of their Japanese culture and identity. It was getting a bit weird  there were little things, like before they went to bed they would say, 'Mama, I love you' in English. Small things like that made me realise how different their upbringing was to my Japanese one.' Now, the family's planning to divide its time between Japan and LA.

As our time comes to an end, Kondo's attention returns to my dressing-table corner of shame. She has plenty of advice on how I can deal with it. 'You said that you don't have time to tidy. I really get that, but you need to set time aside, block it off in your diary. You could do it in an hour,' she says. Well, yes, but that's the hour I'd already reserved for watching Bake Off with a bag of Kettle Chips. As I said, Kondo couldn't be more delightful, but I fear we'll never be soul mates.

Marie's book Kurashi at Home: How to Organise Your Space and Achieve Your Ideal Life will be published on 15 November by Bluebird, 25*

*To order a copy for 21.25 until 13 November, with free UK delivery, go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3176 2937

START YOUR DAY THE KONDO WAY

FRESH AIR Firstly, open your windows. A blast of fresh air is 'the best way to start the day' because it cleanses the room of any 'lingering fogginess'. For added good vibes light some incense, which 'drives away misfortune' and smells nice. Win-win.

SAY YOUR HELLOS Once refreshed, Kondo cries out a cheery 'Good morning!' to her house. She started doing it when she was living on her own, but even though she now has a husband and three children to contend with, Kondo has kept up the niceties. I greet my house, she says, 'like I would greet my family'.

GARGLE Kondo practices Ayurvedic 'oil pulling'. It works like this: take a big sip of oil (Kondo likes white sesame), gargle it until your mouth feels clean, then spit. 'In the beginning, the taste made me gag,' she says. But after ten days she felt that her skin was more supple so has been oil pulling since.

KEEP IT LIGHT Don't eat breakfast until you're actually hungry. If you don't wake up automatically ravenous, pass the time 'doing some housework or finishing a work-related task'.

ATMOSPHERE When you do get round to eating, 'strive to make breakfast as positive an experience as possible'. It's all about atmosphere. Kondo likes having the entire family at the table, with classical piano music playing softly in the background. 'Family mornings,' she says, 'are like conducting a symphony.' Quite.
Two years ago, the writer and historian Sir Anthony Seldon was at an emotional crossroads. He had no home, no job, no wife.

He was also on the brink of a new long-term relationship, with a woman 15 years younger. But at nearly 70, did he deserve to be happy again?

After his beloved wife of 34 years, Joanna, 62, died of cancer in December 2016, Anthony threw himself into work (he's written more than 35 books, including award-winning biographies of Sir Tony Blair and David Cameron). Grief-stricken, he cleared out two wardrobes of Joanna's clothes, including her wedding dress. 'It was very hard, as it is for anyone who loses the rock of their life. Her death ripped me in two.'

Anthony and Joanna had met at Oxford ('I came across this spectacular dark-eyed, ferociously intelligent and beautiful girl'), married in 1982 and had three children, Jessica, Susannah and Adam, now adults. Anthony's career  as a headmaster  took precedence over Joanna's. 'She would probably have preferred a husband who wasn't a workaholic,' he says ruefully. 'It wasn't always easy but I loved her very deeply.'

She was his emotional sounding board, helping him regulate what he calls his 'inner weather'. He had only to look at her to know if he was talking or drinking too much.

Anthony with Joanna, whom he met at university - they married in 1982. After his beloved wife of 34 years, Joanna, 62, died of cancer in December 2016, Anthony threw himself into work

During the last five-and-a-half years of her life, Joanna spent a lot of time in hospital, in chronic pain. Anthony became her primary carer. Those years, he says, were like falling in love again. They had even talked about him remarrying: 'Not much, because it was too painful it was predicated on her dying. We danced around it but she wanted me to remarry. She didn't feel jealous.' Joanna was a hard act to follow. 'Everything pointed towards [remarrying] so I had to find someone who I could equally believe in  just as I believed in her.'

A handsome, sensitive man, Anthony is in demand everywhere from 10 Downing Street (he is their honorary historical adviser) to literary festivals. However, he says openly: 'I have always battled with depression and abandonment. Joanna's illness and loss stirred up a very deep sense of isolation. I'm not someone who thrives on their own.'

Friends would invite him for dinner parties with eligible women ('There would be couples and one spare person,' he says). He knew that a life partner would make him happy again, but dating seemed impossible. 'To find yourself back on a market you hadn't been at since university was weird.'

But then in the summer of 2017 he reconnected with Sarah Sayer, now 53, a teaching friend of his and Joanna's.

'Joanna and I first met Sarah at the boarding school Wellington College where I was then head, and she was an assiduous, dedicated French teacher. When she left we lost touch.' Sarah's 20-year marriage had broken up and she and Anthony started seeing each other. He found himself drawn to her warmth and vivacity. They went for long walks along the Thames. He says, 'We liked the same things  the sea, rivers, dogs, films. Faith is very important to Sarah, as it is to me. So that was another bond. Bit by bit, we became closer.

'Sarah met the children. The fact that she knew their mum, and they could talk about that when it came up, was really important.' Though, he adds, 'I knew I couldn't be happy if the children weren't; I couldn't prioritise my own happiness above them. It wouldn't have any meaning.'

He and Sarah took things gently but by 2019 both knew it was becoming serious. He talks delicately about how they didn't share a bedroom during their courtship. 'As the sort of Christian she is, it was very clear there would be no sleeping together until married. It was less fundamental to my own faith, but I respected that and, therefore, understood the added significance of marriage.'

At the same time as his relationship with Sarah blossomed, Anthony was going through a crisis. After nine years at Wellington he had become vice-chancellor at the University of Buckingham but found it hard to lead an organisation without Joanna at his side. After suffering from shingles and pneumonia, he knew things needed to change. He quit the role in October 2020, feeling a failure. He lost the comfortable grace-and-favour house that went with it.

'New waves of the realisation of losing Joanna hit home in the echoing chambers of the free time I now had,' he writes in his poignant new memoir. He also knew he owed Sarah the chance to be her own woman. He had effectively grown up with Joanna  'sometimes I didn't know where she ended and I began'  but love is different in later life.

Sarah and Anthony honeymooned on the Amalfi coast earlier this year. On Saturday 2 April 2022, he and Sarah married at St Michael's Church in Bray, Berkshire, by the Thames

'The new person can't be the old person,' he says. 'If one is honest, because we are such creatures of habit, one does unconsciously transpose the old relationship on to the new relationship. Part of learning to move on is to recognise this.'

Homeless and jobless, he needed a new project. So he took on a 1,000km walk from the French-Swiss border to the English Channel, tracing the route of The Western Front. This 35-day pilgrimage would, he hoped, enable him to reach clarity in his life and give him time to heal and think about Joanna. He felt deeply for Sarah. But was he taking things too quickly? After all, he hadn't lived alone since his 20s. The walk would be a chance to test his feelings. 'Could I move on from Joanna and find new love?'

His departure kept being pushed back because of Covid, but in August 2021, just after his 68th birthday, travel restrictions were eased. It was now or never.

Sarah joined him for the first nine days in Alsace-Lorraine. 'It made all the difference that she was there at the beginning. It was important for us that she was helping me on a project of such great importance.'

In the evenings he self-medicated with wine, and had troubling dreams  including one where Joanna, perched on a bar stool, told him: 'I'm still here.'

'I don't think death is final,' he says. 'That sense of Joanna being present is real, and sometimes that breaks through into sleep.'

Later in August he broke the walk for two days and headed to the Perigord village where his daughter Susie was getting married in the family home that Anthony had bought for Joanna a year before she died (they had honeymooned close by in 1982, and her ashes are scattered there).

Sarah stayed at a nearby pension, along with his old friends. It can't have been easy to be the 'new woman' at the wedding, but he watched as she helped his daughter with arrangements, tactfully working around complex family dynamics. Impressed by her 'loving warmth and graciousness' he realised how much he wanted to be with her.

He resumed the walk, finishing on 15 September last year, exhausted but exhilarated. It changed his life, he says. He had learnt he could be on his own. 'It showed I could do something without Joanna, but also how Sarah was integral to the new me. Who I am and who I need to be, would be affirmed by her.'

He realised that he and Sarah had needed time to grieve for their old relationships: 'To let them go, to meet the new person in no man's land out of the trenches.'

On Saturday 2 April 2022, he and Sarah married at St Michael's Church in Bray, Berkshire, by the Thames. His son was best man, his daughters bridesmaids. 'That was extraordinarily important.'

Today they live in a charming, book-filled house nearby in Slough, with their dog, Tallie. Sarah teaches at a local junior school. Anthony is still driven  his next book will be an account of Boris Johnson's time in office.

He insists the age gap isn't an issue: 'I believe this will be lifelong, until whichever of us dies first.' We talk about how mature love is so different  and yet similar  to youthful ardour. 'When we were younger, we thought only young people have loving relationships,' Anthony says. 'But many of the same imperatives are there whether one is 60 or 16. In a way, it's harder when you're 60 because one has to unlearn that earlier relationship and let it go. But part of the joy is discovering new life in the present moment. So it has many similarities to youthful love.'

Later he sends me an email, worried that he didn't sound romantic enough. 'I love Sarah; a different love, but every bit as deep as the love I had for Joanna.'

Anthonys new book, The Path of Peace: Walking The Western Front Way, will be published by Atlantic Books, 20, on 3 November*; thewesternfrontway.com

*To pre-order a copy for 17 until 13 November, go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3176 2937. Free UK delivery on orders over 20
Parents asked one of Gabriela's colleagues and a photographer to drive to them

In her job as an obstetrician, Gabriela Correria has been at the side of countless women giving birth.

But when it came to her own labour, the new mother's birthing plan went straight out of the window.

Earlier this month, Gabriela, 33, from Brazil, welcomed a baby boy with husband Rodrigo - in the car on the way to the hospital.

Speaking to Brazilian news outlet Globo, the mother-of-two explained how was 'surprised' by how quickly her labour progressed, realising she was nine centimetres dilated en route to the labour ward.

Gabriela Correria, 33, and her husband Rodrigo pulled over at a petrol station earlier this month when they realised the mother was already nine centimeters dilated

The couple called Gabriela's colleague Larissa Gomes for help delivering the baby. Gabriela pictured with baby Arthur moments after giving birth in her car

Aware that they weren't going to make it in time, the parents pulled over at a nearby petrol station and called Gabriela's colleague Larissa Gomes for help.

As well as also asking doula Joana Nunes to drive out to their location, the couple got in touch with birth photographer Deborah Ghelman to capture the special moment on camera.

Gabriela explained: 'It was something very fast and it surprised me a lot. When I saw that I was already nine centimeters, there was that fear, that anguish of the transport process and the fear of "Will I be able to make it on time or not?" There was no time, but I had very good support.'

Earlier this week, the photographer and new mother posted the video of Arthur being born, which has gone on to amass over 157,000 views on Instagram.

As well as also asking doula Joana Nunes to drive out to their location, the couple got in touch with birth photographer Deborah Ghelman to capture the special moment on camera.

The video of Arthur being born has racked up over 157,000 views on Instagram. The proud parents pictured minutes after Arthur's arrival

Photographer Deborah Ghelman later revealed that 'everyone was laughing and very happy' in the car as Gabriela gave birth. The new mum pictured with son Arthur moments after he entered the world

What's more, Deborah told the publication that she didn't fear for the mother and baby at all.

She said: 'I'm still getting over it. It's the first time I've photographed a birth outside of a hospital in my whole life. It was a mixture of feelings, but I didn't feel afraid at any moment. Everyone was in the car laughing and very happy.'

What's more, Gabriela revealed that her first son Dante wasn't born in hospital either - with the mother instead opting for a waterbirth at home.

She added: 'My first birth was very beautiful. I imagined that this one would be overcome with emotion, not all this madness, but it really was and I have two very good stories to tell.'
The pair have shared some of the tips and tricks they swear by at home

Many women have shown off astounding before and after photos since using it

She approached the two founders, who are both doctors, for help with melasma

An Australian model who struggled with pigmentation on her face has showed off what four months of using a customised prescription-grade skincare product did for her skin.

Madi Edwards, who lives in Los Angeles, approached the founders of The Secret Skincare four months ago to help with the discolouration of her face.

Skin clinic owner Dr Clara Hurst and GP Dr Deb Cohen-Jones met in 2019 and saw a gap in the market for 'highly effective solutions' for cosmetic skin conditions like acne, rosacea, fine lines, skin laxity and pigmentation.

They soon launched Australia's first prescription only skincare range and have since wowed customers through powerful custom-made products tailored to their specific concerns.

Madi Edwards, who lives in Los Angeles, approached the founders of The Secret Skincare four months ago to help with the discolouration of her face

Madi's incredible transformation, which was shared to Instagram, is a result of using the brand's The Secret Cellular Repair Night Cream and Day Brightening Elixir, which retail for $200 each

Madi's incredible transformation, which was shared to Instagram, is a result of using the brand's The Secret Cellular Repair Night Cream and Day Brightening Elixir, which retail for $200 each.

While expensive they are completely customised to Madi's skin desires and have helped to improve her skin tone, texture and overall brightness of her complexion.

The doctors behind the innovative online skincare brand have previously shared the secrets behind their pore-less complexions.

Skin clinic owner Dr Clara Hurst (right) and GP Dr Deb Cohen-Jones (left) met in 2019 and saw a gap in the market for 'highly effective solutions' for cosmetic skin conditions like acne, rosacea, fine lines, skin laxity and pigmentation

Astounding before and after photos have flooded in ever since, with medical strength ingredients like Tretinoin and Hydroquinone responsible for noticeable results in a matter of weeks

DR CLARA

Dr Clara told FEMAIL she keeps it 'super simple' and admits it's easy to get overwhelmed with all the products, fads and treatments in the beauty industry.

She describes her approach as 'very minimalist and science-based' and opts for products and brands she trusts instead of a '10-step skincare routine'.

'Over time I've found (and developed!) my own hero products that have allowed me to strip back my beauty routine,' she said.

Dr Clara told FEMAIL she keeps it 'super simple' and admits it's easy to get overwhelmed with all the products, fads and treatments in the beauty industry

'When it comes to beauty I've always loved that effortless and "untouched" look, not only in my approach to injectables, but in my personal style.'

Every day Dr Clara relies on a Medik8 Oil Cleanser, followed by The Secret Essentials Set and a tinted Mesoestetic sunscreen.

'Because I've invested heavily in the health of my skin, I have the luxury letting it breathe throughout the week and leaving makeup for special occasions,' she said.

'You can't imagine how much time this saves!'

She also makes sure to support her skin from the inside out and uses By Beth Collagen in a smoothie every morning.

How does Dr Clara Hurst look after her skin? Skincare Routine: - Medik8 Oil Cleanser ($52) - The Essentials Set from The Secret Skincare ($500): A day cream, night cream and eye treatment based on your own needs - Tinted Mesoestetic sunscreen ($89) Extra tips: - I let my skin breathe throughout the week and leave makeup for special occasions - I am big on supporting the skin from the inside out, so I incorporate the By Beth Collagen ($150) into a smoothie most mornings Advertisement

DR DEB

Dr Deb told FEMAIL in addition to a regular skincare routine she makes sure she is always well hydrated and tries to avoid too much alcohol.

She is also lactose and dairy-free, eats minimal sugar and is an advocate for wholegrains, whole goods, greens, collagen and Vitamin D supplements.

Every morning Dr Deb starts off with a Tatcha Cleansing Oil followed by The Secret Serum, Eye Serum and Day Brightening Elixir (alternating between sensitive and regular).

Dr Deb told FEMAIL in addition to a regular skincare routine she makes sure she is always well hydrated and tries to avoid too much alcohol

Dr Deb is also is also lactose and dairy-free and eats minimal sugar

She also uses the Rationale 50+ Tinted Serum and Ultra Violette suncreen as well as the Aspect Fruit Enzyme Mask two to three days per week.

At night she uses the Medik8 Lipid Balancing Cleanser, The Secret Cellular Repair Night Cream and the Cellular Repair Night Eye Cream.

Every third night she uses a Tatcha Face Oil and every second night she uses an Omnilux LED mask before her Cellular Repair.

In summer she uses an extra pump of serum, reapplies sunscreen if needed and uses Cellular Repair more often due to increased pigmentation

'The goal when creating The Secret has always been a flawless complexion without any makeup,' she said.

'My skin has never looked better than it does with my current regime and my regime literally takes three minutes.'
Prince Harry wrote his upcoming memoir 'for himself,' a source has claimed.

Spare, the Duke of Sussex's autobiography, which is due to be published on January 10, is expected to be a 'nuclear' read, highly critical of the Royal Family.

But speaking to The Telegraph, a source has claimed the Duke chose his 'own happiness' by writing the book, as he 'couldn't keep trying to make his family happy.'

It comes as royal experts have claimed Harry could travel to the UK to promote the autobiography, which could see retaliation from the palace, including stripping him and his wife Meghan of their Sussex titles.

Speaking anonymously, the source said: 'You can't kind of always live your life trying to make your family or your siblings happy. You have to choose your own happiness.'

Prince Harry wrote his upcoming memoir 'for himself,' because he 'couldn't keep trying to make his family happy' a source has claimed

Speaking to The Telegraph , a source has claimed the Duke chose his 'own happiness' by writing the book (pictured with the Prince of Wales, King Charles and the Princess Royal during the Queen's funeral in September)

Sources close to the matter have also claimed Spare will not be a 'takedown of his family,' but instead a 'beautiful read.'

This comes as reports last night claimed Harry may fly to Britain in the New Year to explain his 'intent' in writing the book  which is set to cast a shadow over the Royal Family's Christmas - the first since the Queen died.

Senior royals are said to be bracing themselves' for the publication of the 416-page title on January 10. Biographer Tom Bower has warned the memoir's reception will be a make-or-break moment for the Sussexes.

'Put it this way, it's not going to make for a relaxing family Christmas,' a source told the Mail on Sunday.

It has now been claimed that Prince Harry had to submit his book more than once before it was accepted by publishers, sparking fears that it was 'sexed up' with revelations about the Royal Family.

Royal commentators said the release of Prince Harry's book would be 'unhelpful' to King Charles and Camilla, the Queen Consort

A source told The Sun: 'The book has been back and forth between Harry and [ghost writer] JR Moehringer and the publishers a few times. They wanted more than was in the first draft, and then Harry wanted to refine things after the Queen passed away.

'But there has been extra to-ing and fro-ing that people don't know about. This is because the publishers wanted more areas covered and more detail on some things that were already included.

'There is a real concern that that means Harry has had to sex up the book and include revelations that even he might not even be that comfortable with.'

Prince William 'has barely spoken' to Harry since news broke of memoir title Prince William 'has barely spoken' to Prince Harry since news broke of his brother's memoir Spare, royal experts have said. The Royal Family are also apparently on 'tenterhooks' to read the memoir, which is to be released on January 10, and have lawyers ready. Prince William, 40, has barely spoken a word to his brother Harry, 38, since the news of the book broke. Billed as a work of 'raw, unflinching honesty', the controversial book will be called Spare  a 'loaded' reference to his position as the younger brother of the heir to the throne. Royal author Angela Levin said she thought the palace were on 'tenterhooks' for the book's release. 'They have lawyers ready to read it but they won't see it until it's out. If it's too bland it won't be worth the millions they've already paid him,' she told The Sun Online. Details of the bombshell book were revealed and publisher Penguin Random House's description read: 'With its raw, unflinching honesty, Spare is a landmark publication full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief. 'Spare takes readers immediately back to one of the most searing images of the twentieth century: two young boys, two princes, walking behind their mother's coffin as the world watched in sorrowand horror. 'As Diana, Princess of Wales, was laid to rest, billions wondered what the princes must be thinking and feeling - and how their lives would play out from that point on.' Family members were not informed of the title of the book before the announcement yesterday, while the Spanish language version is even more pointed, having been given the subtitle En La Sombra, or 'in the shadow'. The publishers of the delayed memoir have made it clear that Harry will not shy away from sensitive subjects, such as the family's decision to encourage him and his elder brother Prince William to walk behind their mother Diana's coffin. He could also reveal which member of the monarchy he claims made a racist comment about the potential skin colour of his then unborn son Archie, or shine a light on his strained relationship with his father and troubled times with William. The brothers have had a troubled relationship since Harry moved to the US with his wife Meghan Markle. Advertisement

It is now reportedly feared that Harry will expand upon a claim made to Oprah Winfrey that a family member questioned what the skin colour of his and Meghan's son Archie would be.

Publishers Penguin Random House say the book is written with 'raw unflinching honesty' and is expected to contain explosive new material addressing Harry's childhood and his rift with 'The Firm' after meeting Meghan.

A source added: 'The book is much worse than people think.'

Bower told The Sun: 'This book is really make or break. I imagine that King Charles has been warned that any retaliation won't be pretty.

'All that King Charles can really do is to withhold the titles for his grandchildren Archie and Lilibet. Ultimately, I suppose, he could take away Harry and Meghan's titles as well, but that's pretty drastic.

'I don't know what else he can do. If it is as bad as I think it is, then Harry and Meghan have gone fully rogue.'

He added that the best thing the royal family could do in this scenario would be to 'break ties' with the pair.

The title is presumed to refer to Harry being the 'spare' to Prince William's 'heir' but has been translated to sound more ominous in other languages.

In Spain it will be called In The Shadow, in Sweden The Other, and in Denmark, The Reservist.

Harry will narrate the audio version himself, but voice artist Emily Woo Zeller warned: 'To take words off a page and make them sound like dialogue is a skill. I don't know if Harry has that skill.'

Another source close to Prince Harry told the Telegraph last night that the Duke of Sussex wrote his controversial memoir for himself, rather than being a 'takedown of his family'.

It was described by those familiar with the manuscript as a 'beautiful read', that readers from all walks of life will identify with.

The experience of addressing his past struggles is said to have been cathartic for Prince Harry.

The source said: 'You can't always live your life trying to make your family or your siblings happy.

'You have to choose your own happiness.'

It comes after it was reported on Friday night that Prince Harry will not return to the UK to spend the first Christmas since Queen Elizabeth II died with his family amid the controversy.

Sources close to the couple told The Mirror relations between Harry and wife Meghan and the rest of the royal family are 'near rock bottom' and they could decline an invitation to spend the festive period with Harry's family.

It had been hoped that relations would thaw somewhat after the Queen's death, but sources told The Mirror that the couple have 'no plans' to travel to the UK for Christmas.

The rest of the royal family were reportedly surprised at the memoir's title.

Another source told The Mirror the book could spell 'the end' for any reconciliation efforts between the Sussexes and the royals: 'This book could spell the end for any relationship Harry wants to have with his family, it's desperately sad.'

An initial release date had been pencilled in for 'late 2022' to capitalise on the lucrative Christmas market, but the book will not be on the shelves until January 10  said to be as a mark of respect following the death of the Queen, and, it is rumoured, due to last-minute alterations requested by the duke.

A spokesman for the King declined to comment on the book. But it is understood that the Royal Household has already been warned that the 416-page, 28 book is 'critical of everyone and everything' and they are 'dreading' it.

The memoir has already topped Amazon charts in the UK and US, as well as reaching the second spot in Canada, despite publication still being several months away.
He is known for his friendship with Meghan Markle, but when it came to designing his new collection, Roland Mouret revealed it was the Princess of Wales he kept in mind.

The London-based French designer, 61, said Kate Middleton, 40, is a 'powerful' woman who has created a 'sense of equality' in hers' and the Prince of Wales' relationship.

Roland was behind the black and white dress the royal donned for the Top Gun Maverick premiere in London this May, in a bold look thought to be her most daring to date.

Now, speaking to The Sunday Times, the designer said he is proud that he is 'able to do things that can help her'.

'She represents the way a woman grows, the way a woman stands not behind but beside. That sense of equality she has created  she's powerful,' the designer said.

The London-based French designer Roland Mouret, 61, said Kate Middleton, 40, is a 'powerful' woman who has created a 'sense of equality' in hers and the Prince of Wales' relationship. Pictured in London in March 2020

He added that he had designed his newest collection for Spring 2023 with the Princess in mind, and referred to a new orange short-sleeve dress he designed as 'the Kate dress.'

Mouret, who is known for his seductive form-hugging numbers, added: 'To make things that she feels protected in at that moment when the world is looking at her, I've done a little part in protecting her.'

Kate had stolen the show at the time of the Top Gun sequel's premiere in the 2,700 Mouret evening dress, with her brunette locks swept back behind her ears so that her toned physique was front and centre.

The revealing number was thought to be a departure for Kate, who chose to wear more demure looks to movie premieres in the past.

Celebrity stylist Miranda Holder told Femail at the time that the dress was 'distinctively more sultry' than the looks we usually see on the mother-of-three.

The form-fitting dress highlighted the Duchess's shape, and her sling back hair and cleverly applied body shimmer brought the attention to her toned arms and chiselled shoulders.

The customised version of a form-hugging black and white dress from Mouret's 2022 collection the Princess of Wales picked to attend the London premiere of Top Gun Maverick in May was thought to be her most daring look to date

'It was a bold sartorial move, and the Duchess of Cambridge executed it to perfection,' Miranda said.

The fashion was shocked when it was announced last November that Mouret's brand was put in administration and that he had closed his Mayfair store.

The designer had to let go of his 80 workers in what was seen as an 'abrupt' collapse of his life's work.

The closure and the brand's dire financial situation were blamed on the Coronavirus crisis, which saw Mouret face cancellation after cancellation as the world shut down to see out the pandemic in 2020.

The label had previously survived fears of bankruptcy in 2010. The designer generated sales of 16million in 2019, but made a profit of just 950,000.

One former staffer, who declined to be named, explained: 'Yesterday was a very emotional day for everyone. Roland Mouret is a family. We were all very emotional.

'It happened yesterday. We were told in person, which was nice, but very painful to hear.

The dress the Duchess of Cambridge wore to the Top Gun: Maverick premiere in May, pictured, might have been her most daring look yet, a stylist has said

'It's a sad, sad story because it was lovely working here so people are very crushed.

'We knew it might be coming because of the coronavirus. It's nothing else but that.

'We basically lost 95 per cent of the customers and revenue went down.'

Nearly a year on, it looks like Mouret has bounced back, with the help of Chinese entrepreneur and designer Han Chong, who saved him from administration.

Chong was credited for the success of his own brand Self-Portrait, which enjoys sells off more than 130 million and hopes to the same with Mouret's label.

Jessica Chastain, Mila Kunis and Kate Hudson have all been seen in designs by the French-born designer at several premieres and events this year, proving that better days are ahead for Mouret's brand yet.

He also revealed he has revised the overall aesthetic of his brand, which now retails at lower prices than in the past.

The goal is to appeal to a younger audience and to recreate the buzz surrounding Mouret's Galaxy Dress, which was a fashion must-have in 2005, sported by everyone, from Victoria Beckham to Beyonce, and which sold out without months of being rolled out at Harvey Nichols.
Hana Bank CEO Park Sung-ho, right, poses with Lotte Engineering & Construction CEO Ha Suk-joo at the builder's headquarters in Seoul, Oct. 28, after signing a partnership on the launch of an asset management service for elderly customers. Courtesy of Hana Bank



By Lee Min-hyung



Hana Bank has teamed up with Lotte Engineering & Construction to launch a customized asset management service for senior customers, whose numbers are growing due to the nation's aging population, the lender said Sunday.



The two companies will provide a comprehensive asset management service for elderly people who will live in the premium senior residential facility, VL Le West, built by the construction firm in the Magok Industrial Complex in Seoul.



Hana Bank will offer special asset management programs for each resident. The service includes private asset management and consulting on the inheritance of their assets by their children.



Experts and skilled financial consultants working for the lender's Living Trust Center will provide one-on-one consulting services for the residents, encompassing a broad range of areas, such as tax, law, real estate and financial products.



The consultants will also focus on meeting the needs of customers when designing the customized programs for the Le West residents, the bank said.



"Hana Bank and Lotte Construction & Engineering will generate synergies as a partner for the launch of the differentiated service amid an aging society," Hana Bank CEO Park Sung-ho said. "We will continue making more efforts to diversify our service lineup for senior citizens and provide optimized financial solutions for them."



Hana Bank has expertise in its financial business targeting the elderly. In April 2010, the lender launched the Hana Living Trust asset management service for the first time among local financial firms here. It has since released a diverse set of financial trust products for senior citizens.


Making the most of the mild October temperatures, Lady Victoria Hervey made a splash at the beach yesterday.

The 46-year-old socialite was spotted enjoying a stroll by the blue waters of Malibu, with her adorable pooch Dartagnan in tow.

Victoria was well-equipped for her beach day, showing off her slim figure in a glittering bikini, which she paired with a white kaftan adorned with sequins.

The model looked relaxed during the outing, which also saw her don what looked like a sparkly Halloween costume.

She was pictured walking confidently by the waves, Dartagnan following her on a leash.

Lady Victoria Hervey made a splash in Malibu yesterday, where she was spotted enjoying a stroll on the beach with her adorable pooch Dartagnan

Victoria was well-equipped for her beach day, showing off her slim figure in a glittering bikini, which she paired with statement jewellery

The socialite picked a rose gold sequin bikini, which she paired with statement jewellery - a dangling gold chain with large feature pendant, diamond earrings, and beaded wrist cuffs.

She also donned a stylish pair of sunglasses as the sunbeams warmed up the sand of the Malibu beach.

Her blonde locks complimented the shimmer of her scant outfit as the gentle Malibu breeze ruffled them.

She sported a natural, sun-kissed makeup with a dash of bronzer and a glossy lip.

Lady Victoria dipped her toes in the water during her walk, which appeared to precede the model attending a fancy dress party, also on the beach.

Another picture, taken at the same location yesterday, showed the socialite with Dartagnan, this time sporting a very sparkly Cleopatra outfit.

She paired a teal sequin skirt with a black top, and completed the look with gold arm vambraces, a snake headpiece and a gold collar adorned with toy gems.

Another picture, taken on the same beach yesterday, showed the socialite with Dartagnan, this time sporting a very sparkly Cleopatra outfit

A pair of gold trainers were spotted by her side, as Dartagnan took great interest in his beloved owner's fancy getup.

The Malibu trip happens as Lady Victoria is thought to have moved back to London, after over two decades of living in the US.

Not one to mince her words, the beauty told The Daily Mail: 'All my friends in LA have left because it's a s***hole.'

She continued: 'It's really nice if you dont leave the house, but, as soon as you leave, you see the homeless, crackheads and half-naked women with no teeth throwing things at you.'

She added she didn't feel the Californian city is safe anymore.

Lady Victoria dipped her toes in the water during her walk, which seemed to have happened as the model prepared to join a fancy dress party for Halloween

London-born Victoria is the daughter of the 6th Marquess of Bristol, half-sister of the 7th Marquess, and sister of the 8th Marquess and Lady Isabella Hervey - and moved to Los Angeles back in 2004.

Victoria has been sharing a slew of snaps to her 443k Instagram followers upon returning to the UK, taking in all of the capital's landmarks once again.

And it seems moving wasn't the only big change that the socialite has considered, previously explaining how she was considering starting a family before the Covid-19 pandemic happened - but is glad now she didn't.

She admitted that pregnancy magazine Project Baby had also influenced her thinking  as she has a prospective sperm donor/father lined up, should she decide to start a family.

Six of her eggs were frozen and stored three years ago, at a cost of 11,000, and she spent the time afterwards looking for a donor.

'I had a friend who was going to be my sperm donor. He was going to be involved in my child's life, but as a friend, not a partner,' she explained.

'And I was supposed to be pregnant now. But then Covid happened, which was a big blow, but looking back I'm really grateful I didn't do it with that person. He just wasn't right.'
She is now planning on applying for a pupillage in the new year

Her achievement has been described as 'truly remarkable'

She is thought to be the first first blind and Black barrister in Britain

A woman has smashed through the 'triple-glazed glass ceiling' to become Britain's first blind and Black barrister, in an achievement that has been described as 'truly remarkable.

Jessikah Inaba, 23, qualified last week after studying for five years at university in London.

She completed her entire course using Braille and credits her friends and tutors for helping to fill in the gaps.

Jessikah, from Camden, north London, known as Jess, has now joined the Bar - likely as the nation's first blind and black barrister.

None of the UK's many legal organisations contacted - including the four Inns of Court, the Bar Council and the Bar Standards Board - could find another example.

Jessikah Inaba, 23, (pictured) from Camden, North London, qualified as a barrister earlier this month

The student was rushed to hospital in 2019 after she kept fainting - which she attributes to only having 'three hours sleep a night for two years'

Jess said: 'It's been crazy - I still can't really believe I've done it. One day I'll wake up and realise how amazing this is.

'It was hard and I often thought of giving up, but my supportive family gave me courage and strength.

'I always believed in myself from the start - there's nothing about me which means this isn't possible.

'I know I can do this job really well, and the more people like me who go through training the easier it will become.

'It's a really good feeling, I know I'm giving hope to others in similar situations to mine. There's a triple glazed glass ceiling.

'I'm not the most common gender or colour, and I have a disability, but by pushing through I'm easing the burden on the next person like me.'

Jess says that, because there are so few black barristers, no one has given thought to how hard it is to pop a wig over her hair - so she has to have it platted

The Braillenote Touch Plus machine (pictured) is one of the specialist items Jess used throughout her studies

Jess is completely blind and had to use Braille throughout her time at the University of Law - London Bloomsbury.

She started her accelerated law degree in September 2017 before starting a master's two years later alongside a professional training course.

Braille can be read on a special screen that usually gives one line at a time, or from specially printed books.

But Jess claims it took seven months for her university to obtain one of her two key study texts so she could read on her computer, and five months for the other.

And, because of pictures and tables in the books, her Braille screen missed huge chunks of material, she said.

She says she got through most of her studies by making her own Braille materials from her lecture notes, or from friends reading books to her.

In the new year, Jessica is planning to apply for a pupillage - where newly qualified barristers get their first placement in chambers .

And she added that the university organised one-on-one tuition to support her when the lack of books held her back.

Jess said: 'I was spending more time preparing my own learning materials than I was studying.

'I was hospitalised because I kept fainting in October 2019 because I'd been functioning on about three hours sleep a night for two years.

'I would sometimes get 45 minutes a day to eat, but often I ate while at my computer.

'The university had other visually impaired people who used text to speech, but I just can't work like that.

'I need to read it physically for myself or I can't remember it. Everyone is different and has a different work around for various situations.

'A lot of people registered blind have some vision, so they can sometimes use large print, or some blind people manage well just by listening to text.

'Braille is expensive to produce because you need a lot of special software and equipment.'

In court, Jess uses a tiny electronic machine with a Braille keyboard which has one key for each dot and a small screen where symbols pop up.

The Braillenote Apex machine that Jessikah Inaba uses to read. It has one key for each dot and a small screen where symbols pop up

In court Jess uses a tiny electronic machine with a Braille keyboard which has one key for each dot and a small screen where symbols pop up.

It means she can keep her ears free to listen and can read and edit easily just using her hands.

Jess is blind because of an eye condition called Bilateral microphthalmia, where babies are born with smaller than usual eyes.

She grew up in Lewisham, south-east London with her parents and siblings and now lives in Camden.

She went to local mainstream schools, and secondary school in Surrey, all of which had units to support pupils with visual impairment.

Jess says she now wears her gown and wig with pride - having worked so hard to earn them.

But she says that, because there are so few black barristers, no one has given thought to how hard it is to pop a wig over her hair - so she has to have it platted.

Jess (pictured at home) says she has to 'justify her need for her specialist equipment' to clients, as a person from a minority group

Jess is blind because of an eye condition called Bilateral microphthalmia, where babies are born with smaller than usual eyes.

Jess and her family and friends celebrated her achievement with a huge boat party after her ceremony.

She now plans to apply for a pupillage - where newly qualified barristers get their first placement in chambers - when applications open in January.

She said: 'I'm very proud but I do wish it had all gone smoothly.

'I feel because of disabled access problems my results aren't a true reflection of my ability.

'I reckon as a black person I have to work 10 times harder than others just to be accepted by society.

'Before I can see a client I have to prove I'm a lawyer and justify my need for my specialist equipment.

'If I was an older white man who can see my professional life would be so much easier.

'I have to accept I might never be competing on a level playing field - that's hard.

What is Bilateral microphthalmia? Microphthalmia and anophthalmia is where one or both of eyes don't grow properly in the womb. Sometimes, no eye grows at all (anophthalmia) or it may not grow to its full size and therefore be smaller than normal (microphthalmia). Affected eye or eyes will look smaller than normal and the front of the eye may look cloudy or completely white, or pupil might look an unusual shape. Most cases occur by chance and the cause isn't always known. Sometimes, it is caused by changes in genes which means eye don't form properly. Microphthalmia affects 1 in 10,000 babies. Source: NHS Advertisement

'People from minority groups training to do this will face discrimination, hopefully that will get easier with time.

'If it happens don't be too shocked, just carry on following your dreams - you'll get there.'

The University of Law said: 'Jess is the first black and blind student to study at The University of Law.

'As a university we were able to provide additional support to ensure Jess was able to succeed on the courses.

'There were challenges with sourcing materials in braille but we were pleased to be able to provide these eventually.

'We are extremely proud of Jess' achievements and we know she will be an inspiration to all students, showing that you can succeed in the face of physical challenges.

'We wish her the very best in her future career.'

Sam Mercer, head of diversity and inclusion at the Bar Council, said: 'Huge congratulations to Jessikah on joining the Bar.

'The Bar Council celebrates diversity in order to create a profession that is representative of all and for all.

'Role models, like Jessikah, within the profession have an important part to play in helping us to break down barriers to the Bar and encourage a more diverse profession.'

A Bar Standards Board spokesperson said: 'We are delighted to hear that Jessikah has been called to the Bar and we send her our congratulations.'

And Mrs Justice McGowan DBE, Treasurer, the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, said: 'Being called to the Bar is a remarkable achievement; being called to the Bar as a blind person is truly remarkable.

'We are proud to have been able to call Miss Jessika Inaba on October 13.

'We wish her every success for the future. The commitment and tenacity she has shown demonstrates that she will be a great success.'
Prince Harry asked his friends and old flames to feature in his controversial upcoming autobiography, a source has claimed.

It was revealed this week that the Duke of Sussex's highly anticipated book, titled Spare, will be published on January 10.

Royal experts believe he may return to the UK in order to promote the book, which is expected to be a 'nuclear' read and highly critical of the Royal Family, ahead of its release.

It is thought Harry reached out to former friends, and even ex-girlfriends, asking them to feature in its pages, with a source telling The Sun that the Prince asked his friends to speak to his ghost writer, JR Moehringer.

However, it reports, most of them were 'stunned' by the request - and politely declined.

Prince Harry asked his friends and old flames to feature in his controversial upcoming autobiography, Spare, a source has claimed

'Harry did reach out. Friends and girlfriends were polite and said they would think about it but ultimately most said No,' the unnamed source said.

'It was felt to be kind of ironic that Harry would hit the roof if he ever had an inkling they spoke to the media, but now he wants them to when he needs their help,' they added.

The Duke of Sussex, who tied the knot with Meghan Markle in 2018, had two high profile relationships before he met his current wife.

Cressida Bonas, whom he dated for two years until 2014, and his first public girlfriend Chelsy Davy, whom he dated from 2004 to 2010, have steered clear from ever speaking to the press about what dating the royal was like in the years since their respective break-ups.

It is not known if they were approached about the book.

Chelsy however admitted to The Times in 2016 that she had struggled with the media attention surrounding her relationship.

The Duke of Sussex dated Cressida Bonas for two years until 2014. She has steered cleared from ever making any declarations to the press

Harry's first public girlfriend was Chelsy Davy, whom he dated from 2004 to 2010. She admitted in 2016 that she found the media attention their relationship gathered 'uncomfortable' (pictured in 2010)

She said: 'Yes it was tough. It was so full-on: crazy scary and uncomfortable.

'I found it very difficult when it was bad. I couldnt cope. I was young, I was trying to be a normal kid and it was horrible,' she added.

Senior royals are said to be bracing themselves' for the publication of the 416-page title on January 10. Biographer Tom Bower has warned the memoir's reception will be a make-or-break moment for the Sussexes.

'Put it this way, it's not going to make for a relaxing family Christmas,' a source told the Mail on Sunday.

It has now been claimed that Prince Harry had to submit his book more than once before it was accepted by publishers, sparking fears that it was 'sexed up' with revelations about the Royal Family.

Prince Harry, pictured here with his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, had two prolific relationships before the couple tied the knot in 2018 (pictured here in September, following the death of the Queen)

A source told The Sun: 'The book has been back and forth between Harry and [ghost writer] JR Moehringer and the publishers a few times. They wanted more than was in the first draft, and then Harry wanted to refine things after the Queen passed away.

'But there has been extra to-ing and fro-ing that people don't know about. This is because the publishers wanted more areas covered and more detail on some things that were already included.

Prince William 'has barely spoken' to Harry since news broke of memoir title Prince William 'has barely spoken' to Prince Harry since news broke of his brother's memoir Spare, royal experts have said. The Royal Family are also apparently on 'tenterhooks' to read the memoir, which is to be released on January 10, and have lawyers ready. Prince William, 40, has barely spoken a word to his brother Harry, 38, since the news of the book broke. Billed as a work of 'raw, unflinching honesty', the controversial book will be called Spare  a 'loaded' reference to his position as the younger brother of the heir to the throne. Royal author Angela Levin said she thought the palace were on 'tenterhooks' for the book's release. 'They have lawyers ready to read it but they won't see it until it's out. If it's too bland it won't be worth the millions they've already paid him,' she told The Sun Online. Details of the bombshell book were revealed and publisher Penguin Random House's description read: 'With its raw, unflinching honesty, Spare is a landmark publication full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief. 'Spare takes readers immediately back to one of the most searing images of the twentieth century: two young boys, two princes, walking behind their mother's coffin as the world watched in sorrowand horror. 'As Diana, Princess of Wales, was laid to rest, billions wondered what the princes must be thinking and feeling - and how their lives would play out from that point on.' Family members were not informed of the title of the book before the announcement yesterday, while the Spanish language version is even more pointed, having been given the subtitle En La Sombra, or 'in the shadow'. The publishers of the delayed memoir have made it clear that Harry will not shy away from sensitive subjects, such as the family's decision to encourage him and his elder brother Prince William to walk behind their mother Diana's coffin. He could also reveal which member of the monarchy he claims made a racist comment about the potential skin colour of his then unborn son Archie, or shine a light on his strained relationship with his father and troubled times with William. The brothers have had a troubled relationship since Harry moved to the US with his wife Meghan Markle. Advertisement

'There is a real concern that that means Harry has had to sex up the book and include revelations that even he might not even be that comfortable with.'

It is now reportedly feared that Harry will expand upon a claim made to Oprah Winfrey that a family member questioned what the skin colour of his and Meghan's son Archie would be.

Publishers Penguin Random House say the book is written with 'raw unflinching honesty' and is expected to contain explosive new material addressing Harry's childhood and his rift with 'The Firm' after meeting Meghan.

A source added: 'The book is much worse than people think.'

Bower told The Sun: 'This book is really make or break. I imagine that King Charles has been warned that any retaliation won't be pretty.

'All that King Charles can really do is to withhold the titles for his grandchildren Archie and Lilibet. Ultimately, I suppose, he could take away Harry and Meghan's titles as well, but that's pretty drastic.

'I don't know what else he can do. If it is as bad as I think it is, then Harry and Meghan have gone fully rogue.'

He added that the best thing the royal family could do in this scenario would be to 'break ties' with the pair.

The title is presumed to refer to Harry being the 'spare' to Prince William's 'heir' but has been translated to sound more ominous in other languages.

In Spain it will be called In The Shadow, in Sweden The Other, and in Denmark, The Reservist.

Harry will narrate the audio version himself, but voice artist Emily Woo Zeller warned: 'To take words off a page and make them sound like dialogue is a skill. I don't know if Harry has that skill.'

Another source close to Prince Harry told the Telegraph last night that the Duke of Sussex wrote his controversial memoir for himself, rather than being a 'takedown of his family'.

It was described by those familiar with the manuscript as a 'beautiful read', that readers from all walks of life will identify with.

The experience of addressing his past struggles is said to have been cathartic for Prince Harry.

The source said: 'You can't always live your life trying to make your family or your siblings happy.

'You have to choose your own happiness.'

It comes after it was reported on Friday night that Prince Harry will not return to the UK to spend the first Christmas since Queen Elizabeth II died with his family amid the controversy.

Sources close to the couple told The Mirror relations between Harry and wife Meghan and the rest of the royal family are 'near rock bottom' and they could decline an invitation to spend the festive period with Harry's family.

It had been hoped that relations would thaw somewhat after the Queen's death, but sources told The Mirror that the couple have 'no plans' to travel to the UK for Christmas.

The rest of the royal family were reportedly surprised at the memoir's title.

Another source told The Mirror the book could spell 'the end' for any reconciliation efforts between the Sussexes and the royals: 'This book could spell the end for any relationship Harry wants to have with his family, it's desperately sad.'

An initial release date had been pencilled in for 'late 2022' to capitalise on the lucrative Christmas market, but the book will not be on the shelves until January 10  said to be as a mark of respect following the death of the Queen, and, it is rumoured, due to last-minute alterations requested by the duke.

A spokesman for the King declined to comment on the book. But it is understood that the Royal Household has already been warned that the 416-page, 28 book is 'critical of everyone and everything' and they are 'dreading' it.

The memoir has already topped Amazon charts in the UK and US, as well as reaching the second spot in Canada, despite publication still being several months away.
Jay Blades, 52, is a furniture restorer and TV presenter best known for fronting BBC1s The Repair Shop. He lives in Shropshire with his fiancee, Lisa, and has three children.

Seven years ago I hit a period of depression. My marriage and business both broke down and I didnt feel I could ask anyone for help.

As a community worker at the time, I thought I had to support those around me, not the other way round, so I kept all my emotions inside.

Jay Blades, 52, (pictured) says being vulnerable made me stronger. The TV presenter hit a period of depression seven years ago when his marriage and business broke down

It got so bad that one day I got in the car and just drove. I went off the radar for a week and stayed in a car park. The police found me because I had been reported as a missing person, and a friend came to pick me up.

He said, How are you? and I broke down. It was the first time Id ever cried in front of another man and it was a proper cry, running out of the nose.

At first it was scary, but it gave me so much relief. Years of emotions and tears were released, and that gave me power again. It made me realise that showing vulnerability gives you strength.

Before that moment, I hadnt cried since I was four or five years old. As my dad wasnt around, I was told to be the man of the house from a young age, but I didnt have a role model for that. The only ones I knew were outside the house and they were all tough guys; growing up in 1970s Hackney, you couldnt show weakness or youd become a victim.

But now everything I do is about being vulnerable, such as the BBC documentary I made earlier this year on learning to read at 51. Being on TV has given me a platform and I try to use that to inspire others. I can reach people Ive never even met, which is an incredible feeling.

I open up like you wouldnt believe with my male friends now  no one can go through life alone. Today I have a great support network around me.

I nearly wasnt going to be here seven years ago, and look what Ive achieved since then  I even welcomed King Charles into the Repair Shop to celebrate the BBCs centenary.

This is a geezer who cant read that well and who isnt what you would traditionally call TV material. But the reason I am where I am today is because Ive let other people in and asked them for help. When you do that, you can really fly.
A small businessowner has had orders for their acne-curing cream flooding in after Abbie Chatfield recommended the product live on radio.

The former Bachelor contestant said Sydney-based tbh Skincare's Acne Hack Cream helped fix her skin when she was having a cystic acne breakout.

The on-air shout out saw tbh Skincare cofounder Rachael Wilde, 26, inundated with more than 100 orders in just 12 hours and a sales come through every two minutes.

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Abbie Chatfield revealed she uses Sydney-based brans tbh skincare's $55 Acne Hack Cream to clear her skin on her national radio show

The $55 acne hack cream can be used as either a spot or full face treatment and can be added to any skincare routine after cleanser and before moisturiser

The $55 acne hack cream can be used as either a spot or full face treatment and can be added to any skincare routine after cleanser and before moisturiser.

According to the tbh Skincare website, the 'life changing' cream clears blemishes, removes congestion, targets ace-causing bacteria and prevents future breakouts.

Rachael said she was 'shocked' at the very public mention from Abbie who has been a 'loyal user' of the brand and partnered with them in 2020 after her appearance on The Bachelor.

According to the tbh Skincare website, the 'life changing' cream clears blemishes, removes congestion, targets ace-causing bacteria and prevents future breakouts

'We were honestly shocked when we heard it and couldn't believe she continued to recommend us more than a year on from when she officially worked with us - as a small business every mention like this means so much to a brand,' she said.

The Sydney businessowner posted a video to TikTok of herself reacting to Abbie's recommendation which went viral and brought even more orders in.

'I actually went to sleep and it was only when I woke up Thursday that I saw the amazing response on the video,' she said.

'There were all of these comments asking what exact product it was that she was recommending. I started answering people's comments, sharing that it was in fact our tbh Skincare Acne Hack Cream that she was recommending.'

tbh Skincare co-founder Rachael Wilde (pictured) said she was 'shocked' at the very public mention from Abbie who has been a 'loyal user' of the brand

The on-air shout out saw tbh Skincare cofounder Rachael Wilde, 26, inundated with more than 100 orders in just 12 hours and a sales come through every two minutes

Abbie also spoke about breaking down the stigma around acne after a study revealed Gen Z thinks bad skin is 'unprofessional' and the result of poor hygiene.

She said judgement of people with acne makes her 'sad' and that she had felt self conscious in the past because of her skin adding it has nothing to do with professionalism or cleanliness.

'The message that Abbie was sharing within the broader segment is so aligned to what we stand for as a brand - it was all about breaking down the stigma around acne,' Rachael said.

'We couldn't believe she continued to recommend us more than a year on from when she worked with us - as a small business every mention like this means so much,' Rachael said

'It is heartbreaking how often we receive a message or customer email explaining how someone's mental health has suffered because of their skin.'

A new survey of 2,000 Australians found staggering 41 per cent believed the under the age of 30 thought pimples and acne made them look 'unprofessional' and and 32 per cent wrongly believed acne is related to poor hygiene.

And almost half also believed they were 'judged' in the workplace because of an acne breakout. The survey also found 25 per cent kept their cameras off in virtual meetings because they were feeling self-conscious about their skin.

A new study that surveyed more than 2,000 Australians has revealed almost half of Gen Z workers think pimples and acne make a person look less professional

An earlier study by Dermatology and Therapy found respondents viewed those with clear skin more positively than those with acne scars and even thought those with blemishes were less likely to be hired for a job.

When those surveyed looked at pictures of the same person with digitally-superimposed acne scars or clear skin, people with acne were seen as less attractive, confident, healthy and successful.

Skincare blogger and acne sufferer Hayley Wester said she felt 'nervous' about people staring and judging her mental health because of her skin as she starts work in the medical field.

'I can't help to think that maybe people in the medical field consider acne to be unprofessional,' she said in a Instagram post.

'No one talks about how stressful it is to have acne and start a new career. It's a weird thing and topic because we have been conditioned to be ashamed of it and to hide it for the sake of being 'professional'. '

Acne sufferer Hayley Wester (pictured) said she felt 'nervous' about people staring and judging her mental health because of her skin but her followers were quick to quash the concern

However, hundreds of her followers were quick to slam the idea that acne and pimples could be considered unprofessional in the workplace as they are a 'normal' part of life.

'People will remember you for your personality and how you make them feel way more than your acne. It doesn't define you,' one woman said.

'There are a couple of beautiful girls at my work that come in with active acne.. and no one cares! They are much braver than me, but I hope I can get there someday,' a second wrote.

'If someone judges your professionalism based on the clarity of your skin, then their opinion is too stupid to have even an ounce of relevancy,' replied a third.

Skin guru Judy Cheung-Wood (pictured) assured youngsters blemishes are nothing to be ashamed of as two thirds of Aussies between 18 and 35 have experienced problems with acne

'When I started working as a secretary in a law firm I thought about such topics as well, and I also didn't want to wear makeup all day every day. So I didn't, and I don't think anyone cared,' a fourth explained.

Skin expert Judy Cheung-Wood, whose SkinB5 company conducted the survey in January 2022, said the results showed there were still 'damaging stigmas' held well into adulthood about acne.

'Acne has absolutely nothing to do with professionalism, your ability to perform a job, or your personal hygiene,' Judy said.

Judy, who suffered from acne herself, said breakouts needed to be 'normalised'.

'It's shocking that people hold misguided beliefs around what acne says about you as a person,' she said.

'The reality is, acne is no different to any other health issue that needs to be managed, and it is not your fault.'
Luxury Escapes is now offering Aussies the opportunity to book professional photographers from a range of countries around the world to snap their proposals or family portraits while on holiday.

The website recently acquired Travelshoot, a company founded in 2012 that connects travellers with trusted local photographers from Paris to Rome.

Anyone can now book a photographer under the 'Experiences' tab on the website for as little as $399 to create a memory that will last a lifetime - without the extortionate bill.

Jimmy Nicholson, of Bachelor fame, used the service to snap the moment he proposed to his long-time girlfriend Holly Kingston in Italy.

Jimmy Nicholson, of Bachelor fame, used the service to snap the moment he proposed to his long-time girlfriend Holly Kingston in Italy

'When Holly and I met on the red carpet of the Bachelor Australia our first conversation was about our mutual love for travel and desire to go back to Italy, so Italy was a no-brainer for a proposal location,' he told FEMAIL

'When Holly and I met on the red carpet of the Bachelor Australia our first conversation was about our mutual love for travel and desire to go back to Italy, so Italy was a no-brainer for a proposal location,' he told FEMAIL.

'Hols and I have been fortunate to travel a lot over the last year filming our travel series @100_Honeymoons. Italy, however, was somewhere that we had not yet been together.

'Holly had not been back to Europe since she was young so I wanted the trip to be extra special for both of us. Holidays are an excellent choice when it comes to proposal timing because you're not stressed and you have the rest of the trip to ride the post engagement high.'

While he admitted it was difficult to liaise with his photographer because Holly knows the passcode to his phone, emails and Instagram, he managed to keep it a secret right up until the moment.

While he admitted it was difficult to liaise with his photographer because Holly knows the passcode to his phone, emails and Instagram, he managed to keep it a secret right up until the moment

'I scouted the location whilst Hol was getting ready the evening prior, just to be sure I secured the best table away from busy crowds,' he said.

'I scouted the location whilst Hol was getting ready the evening prior, just to be sure I secured the best table away from busy crowds,' he said.

'Sorrento will forever be an extra special place for us. Hopefully one day we can take our kids back there and say to them, "Look, that's where nervous Daddy asked Mummy to be his forever person."'

Jimmy initially overlooked the idea of a photographer but was glad to have the heartwarming shots in the end.

'We now have a beautiful collection of photos that perfectly captured one of the best days of our life to date,' he said.

'I love that the photos are a mix of candid and non candid. It was an incredibly emotional day which was captured so perfectly. Is it too late to edit me in some non teary eyes?'

'We now have a beautiful collection of photos that perfectly captured one of the best days of our life to date,' he said

While it might seem easier to just ask someone around you to snap a shot, the logistics might mean that snap fails to deliver on quality.

'Apart from our wedding day and the birth of our children, this is probably one of the most precious moments of our lives,' Jimmy said.

'Travelshoot organised everything behind the scenes and kept the whole process very discreet which is obviously crucial. I was super impressed with the quality of the photos and the quick turnaround time.

'We had our incredible photo set edited and finalised within a matter of 24 hours.'
We might be living in financially challenging times, but it's not all bad news.

For those who top up their household income with interest payments from their bank or building society savings, the mood music is better than it has been for a while. Savings rates are on the up. Smiles all round.

This week, we are likely to see the Bank of England push up the base rate yet again  by anything between 0.5 and 1 per cent (it currently stands at 2.25 per cent).

>> You can check the latest savings rates using our independent best-buy tables.

Not all bad news: For those who top up their household income with interest payments from their bank or building society savings, the mood music is better than it has been for a while

This in turn should trigger a corresponding rise in savings rates, although many institutions will dilly and dally before pressing the 'increase' button in order to make more profits for their shareholders. Naughty, naughty.

As ever, I urge savers to ensure they are still getting a fair deal from their bank or building society.

Websites such as Savings Champion and Moneyfacts provide details of the best rates available, according to the amount of access you want to your money.

This is Money's independent and popular best buy savings tables are also a great source enabling savers to search out the best deals at any given time.

Our stats (below) also gives plenty of useful information.

A few days ago, NS&I, the Government-backed savings organisation, set the tone on rates by pushing up the interest on its range of variable rate accounts by between 0.6 and 0.85 percentage points.

It means the rate on both Direct Saver and Income Bonds (1.8 per cent) is now at its highest for more than a decade, although NS&I has reserved its best rate for Junior Isa savers (2.7 per cent).

For savers at least, things are looking up. Words that I haven't been able to write for quite a while.

Think about your pension

You may not know this, but an assortment of companies want you to take time out today  in between taking the dog out for a walk and reading this great newspaper  to think about your pension. For that matter, not just today, but in the coming days as well.

For starters, a number of leading lights in the financial services industry have deemed today to be National Pension Tracing Day.

A day when people should rack their financial brains and ask themselves a simple question: Do I have a pension fund with a former employer that I have forgotten about or lost contact with?

For many readers, the answer will be yes. According to which expert you talk to, there are between 1.6million and 3million pension pots currently unclaimed by their owners. Pots with a combined value of up to 26.6billion. Money that could make a big difference to many people's finances in later life.

So, if you believe you have a lost pension sitting in the long grass, do something about it. Visit nationalpensiontracingday.co.uk. It could make today a golden Sunday.

And if you still feel in a pension kind of mood after visiting that website, may I suggest that you also take a look at websites pensionattention.co.uk and pensionawarenessday.com. Both are designed to get you to think about your financial future.

Have we become inured to bank branch closures?

It seems so. So far this year, 486 branches have either been closed or put on notice of imminent closure  and the reaction from the public has (bar the odd exception) been muted.

For example, in my home town of Wokingham in Berkshire, the announcement that NatWest is shutting up shop has so far met with little resistance  not a placard or protest in sight.

Maybe it's because NatWest is not the last bank in town, but I suspect the public is no longer surprised when a branch closes. It has become the norm.

Such public disinterest in branch closures may partly explain why the banking industry is dragging its feet on supporting new-style banking hubs in towns which have lost all their banks.

Such hubs are community banks which customers of all the big banking brands can use.

Two hubs have been piloted and 25 new ones confirmed. But none of the 25 has yet to open.
Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday's ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket. Find out how to contact him below.

Ms A.S. writes: We booked villas in Turkey through Booking.com for our group of 19 people, but when we arrived, the owner told us to leave as we did not have a reservation. He then called the police.

We had paid 8,400 (about 7,300), but had to spend two days in emergency accommodation costing 2,000 (about 1,740) and a further 6,000 (about 5,200) on new villas. This was a very expensive nightmare holiday.

We have been asking Booking.com for a refund and hope you can help us.

Promise: Villas were in Kalkan, Turkey, but the owner called the police

Tony Hetherington replies: Your party of 19 people included four small children, and you paid in advance for three villas.

Just a few days before your holiday, you were given confirmation of the arrangements to transfer you from the airport to the villas at Kalkan. But when you landed, there was no transport waiting for you, and when you called the owner of the villas, he denied that you had a reservation and told you not to go to the villas.

You went anyway, and found the owner waiting there. He called the police to have you removed and you spent seven hours at the local police station.

The police were actually sympathetic and helpful. They found you hotel rooms for the next two nights and even gave you an online link through which you successfully found new villas, though this meant paying all over again.

Meanwhile, there was confusion and contradiction over why all this had happened. The owner of the original villas said he knew nothing about your booking, and suggested that a previous owner had scammed you. But he gave a slightly different explanation to Booking.com, saying you had been double-booked.

You contacted Booking.com and were assured that you would have a refund within a fortnight. But no refund arrived, and you have told me that Booking.com explained that you did not have 'documents in the correct currency', whatever that means. At this point, having spent a month trying to get your money back, you contacted me.

I asked Booking.com to comment, and was quickly told: 'We would like to apologise to the customer for their experience and the obvious inconvenience they faced. We will, of course, be refunding them for the original booking and relocation fees, while we investigate further to understand what happened.'

But in a message to you, Booking. com said: 'Booking.com does not own any rooms, apartments or other accommodation units, and we are not responsible for this situation.'

The company did refund all the money you paid originally, and it said it would pay you a further 819 'as a gesture of goodwill'.

The 819 was the cost of the two days you all spent in emergency hotel accommodation.

There was nothing to make up for the thousands of pounds you spent from your savings and holiday money in order to pay on the spot for the replacement villas. And nothing to make up for a ruined holiday when you had paid for a restful one.

And, of course, none of this explains what went wrong in the first place. Booking.com does not believe this was a scam, and it confirmed that the Turkish property company employed by the owner of the villas had accepted your booking. Booking.com has removed the villas from its website.

The final outcome is that although you have now received just over 8,000, you are still about 1,000 out of pocket. And your trip was hardly the holiday you expected.

Booking.com emphasised: 'To the extent permitted by mandatory consumer law, we will only be liable for costs you incur as a direct result of a failure on our behalf.'

It added that the 819 it paid on top of the refund 'is not an admission of responsibility'.

This is not reassuring.

My mortgage was rejected  over a 36 unpaid phone bill

S.M. writes: I sold my buy-to-let property, which had a Santander mortgage with three years left to run on a five-year fixed rate.

This incurred a 10,000 fee, but when I applied for another mortgage within the permitted three-month break period, I was turned down.

The reason was a bad debt connected to my property, which I bought from my late father's estate.

Santander reviewed the case and have now approved the mortgage application

Tony Hetherington replies: When you were told about the bad debt, you realised that this was actually just 36 which was owed to Virgin. Your father died before paying his phone bill, you bought the property and the 36 debt appeared under your name.

This was enough to mean an automatic refusal by Santander to transfer your buy-to-let loan to a fresh property, even though you paid Virgin.

I asked Santander to look into this, and a few days later the bank told me: 'We have reviewed Mr M's case as part of our routine appeals process and have approved the mortgage application, subject to a valuation.'

As a gesture of goodwill, Santander is also refunding its valuation fee.

If you believe you are the victim of financial wrongdoing, write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TS or email tony.hetherington@mailonsunday.co.uk. Because of the high volume of enquiries, personal replies cannot be given. Please send only copies of original documents, which we regret cannot be returned.
Good news: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak

As Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt set a new course for the economy, little remains from the mini-Budget of their predecessors just a month ago.

But one announcement that escaped the axe is the expansion of investment schemes that can prove rewarding for investors.

Three types of investment that afford investors big tax breaks for supporting start-up businesses have been extended  and made more generous.

They are Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs), Enterprise Investment Schemes (EIS) and Seed Enterprise Investment Schemes (SEIS). All exist to encourage investors to support new companies and entrepreneurs.

In exchange for backing fledgling businesses, investors enjoy generous tax breaks, including lower income, capital gains and inheritance tax.

But as economist Milton Friedman once observed: 'There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.' Attractive though the tax breaks are, the investments are high risk.

Used in the right way, they can generate huge rewards. And it is not just the ultra-wealthy who are able to benefit from them.

HOW THE SCHEMES WORK... AND SOME OF THE SUCCESS STORIES

Venture Capital Trusts, EIS and SEIS allow investors to put their money into companies that are privately owned.

The hope is that with sufficient investment behind them, these small companies will grow rapidly and in time either be bought by a rival or list on the London Stock Exchange, generating profits for investors.

Some of the schemes' greatest success stories include recipe box firm Gousto, which achieved returns of up to 27 times for EIS investors.

Flower delivery company Bloom & Wild delivered returns of up to 18 times the original investment that investors made, while DNA technology firm Oxgene produced returns of up to 20 times.

But not all the companies that VCTs, EIS and SEIS invest in are so successful. As a result, investors stand a chance of losing all of their money. The level of risk and volatility is far higher than for more traditional investment portfolios.

VCT and EIS schemes look set to continue thanks to last month's mini-Budget. Until then, there had been a so-called sunset clause which could have seen these two vehicles close in 2025.

The SEIS scheme was also extended. From April next year, individual investors will be able to put up to 200,000 into a SEIS scheme each tax year  the current annual limit is 100,000.

Mike Hodges, tax partner at accountant Saffery Champness, says: 'It's important that an investor isn't blinded by the prospective tax benefits of EIS, SEIS and VCTs at the expense of the risk that investments in companies qualifying for one of these reliefs bring.'

He adds: 'The fact that there are generous tax benefits available should serve as a warning that there are big investment risks. That said, for the 'glass half-full' investor, the prospect of an upfront income tax break and a capital gains tax free exit can be appealing.'

SOME VENTURES ARE MUCH RISKIER THAN OTHERS

Venture Capital Trusts, EIS and SEIS schemes all invest in UK start-ups, but they operate differently.

A VCT  the most popular  is a company listed on the stock market and behaves like an investment trust.

A fund manager puts together a portfolio, typically of around 30 to 70 companies, and investors buy shares in the VCT, rather than in the individual companies of which it is comprised.

The fund manager can raise money to buy new investments or top up existing holdings. They can only purchase companies that are either not listed, or listed on the smaller Alternative Investment Market (AIM).

Last tax year, a record 1.1billion was invested in VCTs  up from 685million the year before.

Annabel Brodie-Smith, a director of the Association of Investment Companies (AIC), says: 'Our research shows VCTs have invested 1.7billion in 530 companie

s since 2018 and these companies employ more than 14,000 people, with an average of 55 people per firm.'

EIS and SEIS schemes are much riskier. This is because you invest in a particular start-up company or a small portfolio of companies picked by a fund manager.

SEIS schemes can only invest in early-stage companies  those with less than two years trading history and fewer than 25 employees.

EIS schemes are still only available for start-ups, but can hold companies with up to seven years of trading history and less than 250 employees. The risky nature of EIS and SEIS means investors must seek professional advice when buying  or prove they are either a 'high net worth individual' or sophisticated investor.

SO WHAT ARE THE TAX BENEFITS FOR INVESTORS?

There are numerous tax breaks available. Depending on which scheme you opt for, you may be able to claim income tax relief on your investment, wipe out a capital gains tax bill and pay no inheritance tax on your investments.

VCTs: You can claim up to 30 per cent upfront income tax relief on the amount you invest in a new VCT (or new shares issued by an existing VCT). You must then keep the shares for at least five years. The maximum investment per tax year is 200,000.

So if you invest 10,000 in a VCT, 3,000 can be taken off your income tax bill. If you sell your VCT shares and make a profit, the proceeds will not be liable for capital gains tax.

Also, if your VCT pays dividends, they are tax-free. Big managers of VCTs include Albion Capital, Foresight Group, Gresham House (Baronsmead) and Mercia Asset Management (Northern).

EIS: You can invest up to 2million a tax year in new shares in EIS-qualifying companies to benefit from income tax relief at 30 per cent of the amount invested.

To retain this tax break, you must hold the shares for at least three years, starting from the date of the investment or, if later, the date the EIS begins trading.

After three years, you can benefit from capital gains tax relief on shares disposed of at a profit. You may also be able to offset any losses on disposal of the shares, either against capital gains or in some cases against income, net of any income tax relief.

You can also defer an existing capital gains tax charge if you reinvest the gain in EIS-qualifying shares.

SEIS: You can invest up to 100,000 per tax year  200,000 from next April  and receive 50 per cent income tax relief. You will also benefit from a capital gains tax exemption on any profits that arise from the sale of shares after three years.

With both SEIS and EIS, there is no inheritance tax to pay on shares held for at least two years.

WHO CAN BENEFIT MOST FROM THE SCHEMES?

There are other, simpler and lower-risk, tax-efficient investments that investors should utilise before considering VCTs, EIS or SEIS schemes.

Tasty: Joe Wicks backs Gousto

For example, everyone is entitled to put up to 20,000 into a stocks and shares Isa each tax year and benefit from investing free of tax.

Tax relief on pension contributions also allows investors to boost the money they put into a retirement fund.

But for those who maximise their use of Isas and pensions, the three schemes  VCTs in particular  are worth looking at.

After all, pension tax relief is only available on the first 40,000 saved each tax year  or 4,000 for the highest earners.

Alex Davies, founder and chief executive of Wealth Club  a company that specialises in tax-efficient investments  says: 'Pensions tax relief has become less generous over the years. It is also increasingly difficult to make a good return from investing in buy-to-let property as a result of recent tax changes. So investors are looking for alternatives.'

WHAT WILL IT COST TO INVEST IN ONE?

Using these schemes does not come cheap. When buying a conventional investment fund, annual fees tend to be around 1.5 per cent. But annual charges on VCTs are typically around two to three per cent. There are also initial charges, which can be up to 3.5 per cent.

Charges for EIS and SEIS schemes are even higher. Managers argue that investing in start-up companies requires considerable research and subsequent management hand-holding.

HOW DO YOU FIND THE BEST INVESTMENTS?

There is no substitute for good, solid research. Read up on the schemes before you commit any money  and if in doubt seek independent financial advice. These investments are not easy to sell in a hurry  and sometimes you are locked in  so don't commit money you may need to access in the next few years.

Bestinvest, part of wealth manager Evelyn Partners, monitors new VCTs and new share issues from existing VCTs.

The best trusts currently available include:

Mobeus Income & Growth: These four VCTs invest predominantly in unquoted growth companies, but have holdings in more mature businesses. Examples include MyTutor, a digital one-to-one tutoring platform; Andersen, a provider of premium electrical vehicle chargers, and the restaurant chain Tapas Revolution.

The Albion VCTs: A joint offer from six VCTs which collectively invest in 70 companies. They invest in high growth sectors such as fintech, software, technology and healthcare.

Investments include Quantexa, which helps banking, insurance and government clients detect financial crime  and pharmaceutical company Proveca which specialises in children's medicines.

Pembroke VCT 'B' shares: It focuses on five sectors: wellness, food and hospitality, education, design, media and digital services. Holdings include photobook creation app Popsa; fashion label Bella Freud; and Chucs Restaurants.

Evelyn's Jason Hollands says investors must remember that income tax relief is only available on new share issues and that despite investing in growth companies, VCTs should be primarily viewed as income-generating vehicles.

He adds: 'As VCTs can pay taxfree dividends, most optimise this feature. So when they sell a holding at a profit, they will usually distribute the gains to investors by way of a dividend.'

More information on VCTs from the AIC at theaic.co.uk/vcts; The Wealth Club (wealthclub.co.uk); and www.bestinvest.co.uk/vcts/current-launches.
Strategy: Boss Poppy Gustafsson has recruited an 'eccentric mix of talent'

Poppy Gustafsson could hardly be further from the old stereotype of a chief executive, being neither pompous, portly nor pinstriped. She only just turned 40 in the summer, but her zest and lack of pretension makes her seem even younger than that.

Darktrace, the cybersecurity company she leads, was founded in Cambridge nine years ago and is staffed by an eclectic gang of mathematicians, former spooks and artificial intelligence experts.

One of the original backers was Mike Lynch, the tech entrepreneur once hailed as the UK's answer to Bill Gates. His support, which in the beginning brought huge kudos, has proved a very mixed blessing. Earlier this year he lost Britain's biggest-ever fraud case and is now fighting extradition to the US  but more of him later.

Darktrace is an award-winning innovative firm in a fast-growing industry and Gustafsson has an array of supporters ready to sing her praises.

Directors and advisers include heavyweights such as former BT boss Sir Peter Bonfield; Tory party grandee Lord Willetts; ex-Home Secretary Amber Rudd; and former MI5 director general Lord Evans of Weardale.

The business ticks all sorts of boxes: a female CEO, innovative technology, a flag-flier for the UK and a rapidly expanding potential market.

Even so, not everyone is convinced. The company has been criticised by City analysts at Peel Hunt and has come under attack from a hedge fund whose founder, ominously, is nicknamed the Dark Destroyer.

Many of the misgivings stem from its links with Lynch.

The connection with the software tycoon dates back to the origins of the company, which was set up nine years ago in Cambridge by a group of former employees, including Gustafsson, from his former FTSE100 software business Autonomy.

Earlier this year, he lost the fraud case in which he was accused of inflating the value of Autonomy before it was sold to US tech giant Hewlett-Packard in 2011.

The tycoon stepped down from the Darktrace board in 2018 but he and his wife are still major shareholders. If he loses a fight against extradition, he could face a lengthy prison term in the States. He denies any wrongdoing.

Understandably, Lynch is not Gustafsson's favourite subject. She is far keener to expound on how tech is far too important to be left exclusively to technologists and how she has encouraged an 'eccentric mix of talent' at the company, which has 2,200 staff in 47 offices around the world.

The staff includes an immunologist and a theoretical linguist, who can spot signs of malicious activity such as shorter sentences, which are often used by criminals to create a false sense of urgency.

There is even a medieval historian on the payroll, Rosie Cooper, who tells me how her studies have given her 'interrogation skills' that have come in useful at Darktrace before we veer into an absorbing discussion on Edith of Wilton, a tenth century princess and saint.

Darktrace was one of a string of firms to float on the London stock market last year where its shares initially soared, though they have since fallen back along with those of other tech companies.

A common refrain in the British tech community is that the US is a more congenial market with larger pools of capital and investors who possess a superior grasp of the sector but Gustafsson demurs.

'We have a fantastic heritage in cybersecurity in the UK with GCHQ and Bletchley Park. As a country, we are really good at this. I am super proud to be a British tech company listed here,' she says. 'I want to see the UK being heralded as one of the big players in the world.'

The recent falls in sterling are weighing on the company's figures, because it reports its results in dollars. However, Gustafsson says she is focused on the long view, rather than fixating on the current state of the economy and the turmoil in Westminster.

'It's really important to see through that. At the moment it is hard to tell what is noise, versus what is reality.' One long-term issue for the UK is the dearth of tech companies on the listed markets because British firms have been rich pickings for foreign investors.

Recently, Micro Focus agreed a deal with Canadian software firm Open Text and NortonLifeLock of the US is taking over cybersecurity firm Avast. And, of course, the takeover of Lynch's Autonomy by Hewlett-Packard in 2011 is still making itself felt more than a decade on.

Over the summer, news leaked out that Darktrace itself was a takeover target for US private equity firm Thoma Bravo, which in the end backed off without tabling a bid. 'It was a conversation that leaked really early on,' says Gustafsson, 'a speculative opportunity that ultimately didn't have legs.'

'I am very proud and pleased to be a British company but my singular focus is on this business achieving everything it can.

'It is a big ball of potential energy and we are just desperate to unleash it on the world. So long as those bonkers ideas popping out of that R&D department in Cambridge have a chance to see the light of day, then that is the path we will take. Whatever happens, Britishness is embedded in our DNA.'

She claims Darktrace's approach is different from its rivals because it anticipates how a hacker might operate. The new Prevent products launched this summer use artificial intelligence to help pre-empt future attacks.

'It is proactive  it shows how an attacker would look at your business. Our team are not running to stand still or having to retool every time there is a new threat.'

Given the escalation of cyber attacks, can the good guys really hope to win? 'Yes, this is what we are doing', she says, banging the table for emphasis.

What, I wonder, given the endless capacity of hackers to come up with new strategies, is the most inventive attack she has seen?

'Oh, the parking meter one,' she laughs. 'Someone connected smart parking meters to a porn website. The parking meters had no screens so they couldn't display the pornography. There seemed no point. But you can never predict what people will do and why.'

Her enthusiasm is infectious, but she has faced some scepticism. Broker Peel Hunt last autumn said some customers had pointed to a 'gap between the promise and reality' in the marketing and argued Darktrace was underinvesting in R&D. 'A bit of scepticism is useful,' she counters. 'As long as we keep delivering, then it will dispel with time.'

Hedge fund ShadowFall, whose founder Matthew Earl is known as the Dark Destroyer, has also been critical, including over the R&D spend, the churn rate at which customers defect to rivals and the ties to Lynch.

Gustafsson sighs philosophically when asked about the beleaguered billionaire. 'Nine years ago he was a founding investor, but that has passed and we are a standalone business,' she says. 'He doesn't get involved, I don't see him.'

Whilst and Darktrace are no longer joined at the hip, they are not entirely separated either, since Lynch and his wife have a 12 percent stake and his ally Vanessa Colomar has a seat on the board. He remained a member of the company's science and technology advisory council until earlier this year.

There has been speculation Lynch might have to sell Darktrace shares to fund his legal bills, which have at some points been running at millions of pounds a month. Despite these complications, Gustafsson, who has two daughters aged six and two, gives off an air of thoroughly enjoying her job.

'I love it. It's like being a parent. There are tough times and it can feel relentless, but you care about it so much.'
A U.S. flag flies at half-mast in front of the U.S. Embassy in central Seoul, Sunday, as the foreign mission pays condolences to the victims of the tragic incident that killed at least 150 people in central Seoul's Itaewon area amid Halloween festivities Saturday night. Yonhap



By Kwon Mee-yoo



As more than 150 people were killed during a deadly crowd crush in central Seoul's Itaewon, Saturday night, leaders around the world sent messages of condolences showing support.



U.S. President Joe Biden was one of the first foreign heads of state to express condolences over the tragedy in Seoul.



"Jill and I send our deepest condolences to the families who lost loved ones in Seoul. We grieve with the people of the Republic of Korea and send our best wishes for a quick recovery to all those who were injured," Biden said in an official statement, mentioning first lady Jill Biden.



"The alliance between our two countries has never been more vibrant or more vital  and the ties between our people are stronger than ever. The United States stands with the Republic of Korea during this tragic time."



The Chinese Embassy in Korea conveyed a condolence message from Chinese President Xi Jinping, Sunday afternoon.



Xi expressed condolences to the victims on behalf of the Chinese government and people and asked for the Korean government to take care of the Chinese nationals among the victims.



"Unfortunately, some Chinese people were killed or injured during the incident and I hope for Korea to do its best to treat them and take proper measures afterwards," Xi wrote.






Hedge funds have built up a bet of almost 220million against fund manager Abrdn after it fell to a 320million loss.

More than 6.8 per cent of the FTSE250 firm's shares are on loan to short-sellers who will make money if its share price falls.

Bet: More than 6.8 per cent of the FTSE250 firm's shares are on loan to short-sellers who will make money if its share price falls

Citadel, GLG Partners and Millennium International Management are among the groups targeting Abrdn, which has already seen its share price tumble by more than a third this year.

In August, it reported a loss of 320million in the first half of the year  down from a 113million profit a year before  and the investment performance of its fund managers has fallen.

Earlier this month, its woes increased when chief executive Stephen Bird was accused of intimidating behaviour. Abrdn  created through the 11billion merger of Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management in 2017  is valued at 3.2 billion.

It bought online platform Interactive Investor for 1.5billion last year. Abrdn declined to comment.
The UK's largest mobile network EE could be offering travel and car insurance within the next two years as part of an ambitious expansion strategy.

The company is understood to be looking at providing cover for gadgets such as smartphones before eventually widening to other types of insurance.

It follows an announcement last week that EE, which is owned by BT, would start offering customers cyber and home security packages through a partnership with antivirus firm Norton and alarm system group Verisure.

Expansion plans: The company is understood to be looking at providing cover for gadgets such as smartphones before eventually widening to other types of insurance

A source said they 'wouldn't be surprised' if the firm began offering the products within the next year or two.

Paolo Pescatore, analyst at PP Foresight, said that such moves from EE were likely to be 'just the beginning' as UK telecoms firms seek out ways to generate new revenue streams.

He added that moving into new areas is 'paramount to future survival' for big telecoms firms.

Plans for EE's expansion come ahead of BT's half-year results this Thursday, with many investors looking to see how the FTSE100 firm is holding up amid fears the cost-of-living squeeze will cause customers to cut back on internet and phone plans.

There will also be interest in how the group is coping with a wave of strike action as workers walk off the job amid a bitter dispute over pay.
Heathrow has been accused of 'hitting a new low' and trying to rip off travellers and airlines in a long-running row over charges.

Willie Walsh, the director general of the International Air Transport Association, lashed out at the UK's flagship airport after its boss, John Holland-Kaye, said on a call with investors that the hub needs to hike charges in order to maintain an acceptable level of passenger service.

Holland-Kaye's remarks follow a summer move by industry regulator the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to slash the cap on Heathrow's average charge per passenger from 30.19 to 26.31 in 2026. Holland-Kaye wants the CAA to reverse its decision and allow it to levy higher fees.

Struggle: Heathrow is still reeling from Covid setbacks and travel disruption over recent months

But his stance has put him at loggerheads with Walsh  a former chief executive of British Airways' owner IAG  along with other airline bosses.

'Heathrow has hit a new low in hiding its incompetence,' Walsh said this weekend.

'It accused airlines of causing the summer travel fiasco for which it was responsible. And now it is blaming the CAA for seeing through its thinly veiled attempts to game the system and rip off passengers and airlines. If Heathrow had a mirror, the source of its problems would be clear.' Heathrow has challenged the CAA over alleged 'errors' in its proposal to reduce the charge cap.

The airport is still reeling from Covid setbacks and travel disruption over recent months. It has amassed debt of 15billion after shareholders failed to provide any financial backing during the pandemic.

Holland-Kaye said last week that the CAA plan 'really does not work,' adding that it 'does not generate enough cash and revenue for us to deliver the level of service that passengers expect.' He said the CAA had 'not got the balance right' between airport and airlines.

Heathrow was at the forefront of the summer travel disruption and introduced a daily limit of 100,000 passengers due to staff shortages.

It has since suggested further restrictions on passenger numbers over Christmas, an idea which led to criticism from Virgin Atlantic.

The airline accused the airport of downplaying the recovery in travel in order to further its own agenda with the CAA.

The CAA said: 'We believe our proposals to be in the best interest of consumers.'
The idea of Dr Charlie Teo as cold or calculating, or reckless, or waiting for money before agreeing to do surgery is as confusing as it is shocking to me.

It doesn't remotely resemble the person I came to know through one of the most frightening times of my life.

I was 23 and thought I was the perfect picture of health.

I had a great social life, worked full time and walked 10,000 steps each day.

Monica Lopresti flew to Spain to have a benign cystic tumour removed from the centre of her brain by Dr Charlie Teo (pictured Monica Lopresti, centre, with Dr Teo)

Monica was crying with nerves before the surgery and found Dr Teo so empathetic she now regards him as 'like family'

That all changed in July 2021. I became a person that nobody recognised - bed-ridden, pale, withdrawn. I had blackouts.

Monica Lopresti's ordeal and recovery Sydney woman Monica Lopresti was bedridden, pale, having blackouts and losing her memory after turning 24. She was diagnosed with a benign cystic brain tumour which because of its location was likely to lead to brain damage or death. But her family was told the tumour inoperable in Australia. The family contacted Dr Charlie Teo who agreed to operate - but in Spain as he isn't permitted to work here. He successfully removed Monica's tumour in late July, Ms Lopresti is healthy and back at work fulltime. Advertisement

An MRI scan revealed a benign cystic tumour in the middle of my brain.

While the tumour was benign, its location was blocking normal circulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).

We were devastated when we were told the pressure caused by too much CSF stops the brain from functioning properly and can result in brain damage and death.

By the time the neurosurgeons my mum had contacted - seven of them - told me they couldn't operate I was already losing my eyesight.

My father had died from brain cancer eight years earlier. I was extremely scared.

So who is Charlie Teo really? I can only describe him from my own experiences and I stand by those.

Let's get those horrible stories about money out of the way first.

I've heard the claims that Dr Teo demands $50,000 before a surgery. That never happened in our situation.

He never even mentioned money in any consultation.

Of course nothing is for free in life but this idea that Dr Teo gets a chunk of the money is just false.

They can't take someone into hospitals before making payment, so we did make payment prior to surgery.

We don't want to talk about the specifics of what it cost our family, other than to say it was worth it.

Monica was told a tumour blocking the flow of brain fluid in her brain (the scan at right) could give her brain damage or kill her. By the time she was told by seven neurosurgeons nothing could be done she was already losing her sight

Ms Lopresti maintains Charlie Teo is not 'money hungry' and never mentioned payment during consultations. The funds her family raised for her surgery mostly went to the private hospital where he operates in Madrid

People pay thousands of dollars for cosmetic surgery and cars and no one questions that.

When a patient spends thousands on life-saving surgery - how can you put a price on it?

But the money wasnt important to Dr Teo, what was important to him was that we knew the risks of the surgery.

People pay thousands of dollars for cosmetic surgery and cars and no one questions that, says Ms Lopresti (pictured, Monica and Christina Lopresti)

Within four days of having brain surgery from Dr Teo in Spain she was well enough to explore Madrid (pictured)

When you are going through a storm in life you want to meet someone who can guide you through, give you clear and honest information. It's even better if they are kind.

Monica Lopresti said Dr Teo was a far better listener than most medical experts she encountered

That is the Dr Teo my family knows.

But it's not the only thing that made him special to us, he also has a beautiful personality.

He was humble, down-to-earth, empathetic and sweet - a man who listened far more than most doctors I've come across.

For the 10 months before I had my surgery, I was at medical centres week after week trying to get some answers on my debilitating symptoms - but was treated like a number, not a person.

People would listen to me for about a minute before dismissing what I had to say or coming up with an answer. It was like no-one cared.

But when I met Dr Teo, I walked into his room and I felt like for the first time I was being heard. He had a lot of knowledge, he recognised all of my symptoms, he made me feel human.

When we were in Madrid before the surgery we had a very bad night. We had lost my father to brain cancer eight years ago and his wish had been to cease treatment. So emotions were running high.

Dr Teo had made it clear to us he was one call away. My mum, Christina, messaged him at 2am and within 15 minutes he was Facetiming me.

I sat there and cried and he just listened to me vent. I treated him like a therapist. And he listened to all of it. That's when he became like family to us.

He was also straightforward about the risks. He is not a man that trades in false hope as I've heard.

On the day of the surgery, he was there before, during and after and that was an amazing comfort.

We had a pre-op appointment in which we went through everything again and met with some of his team.

Dr Charlie Teo: a timeline 1957: born in Sydney on December 24 1981: graduated from UNSW with Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery 1982: started in paediatric surgery, then neurosurgery, then paediatric neurosurgery in Sydney 1989-1999: became the only Australian neurosurgeon certified by a US medical board, refining a minimally invasive keyhole surgical technique while there 2000: Begins to focus on so-called inoperable tumours, which creates friction with peers 2001: Established the Cure Brain Cancer Foundation in 2001 2004: Set up the Centre for Minimally Invasive Neurosurgery 2008: Complained 'I wouldn't send my dog to a public hospital' 2011: Named as a Member of the Order of Australia 2012: Gave the 2012 Australia Day speech 2012-14: Named the most dependable Australian 2013: Addressed the US Congress on the need for brain surgery funding 2017: Switched solely to operate privately 2019: Criticised over his high fees and behaviour in media article, as well as patients needing to publicly raise money by Professor Henry Woo 2020: Engaged to former patient and international model, Traci Griffiths 2021: NSW Medical Council bans him from performing types of brain surgery in Australia without independent approval, placed under investigation by Healthcare Complaints Commission 2022: Began to perform surgeries in South Africa and Spain Advertisement

After the surgery he waited in my room while I was in recovery and surprised my mum. He hugged her and told her how amazing I did.

How often does that happen?

My surgery was done on time and I was told that when I wake up my vision would be weird for a bit which is normal after brain surgery.

When I woke up the majority of my symptoms had left and within four days I was out of hospital and exploring Madrid.

I got lucky - but it's important to note it's not just me that has a kind opinion of Dr Teo.

The most common thing you hear from his patients is about his kind and caring nature.

Look at the photos of him with patients. In every photo he's got his arm around them, he's smiling.

This sense of him being cold, or egotistical, I dont understand where it comes from.

To me it seems crazy to say someone is cold when you haven't met them.

Today I am healthy but still in recovery. I'm working full-time in insurance as a claims assessor in Sydney.

My weekends look like coffee and walks with friends, or movie nights and like anyone, I spend my days at the beach and love swimming at Bondi.

I live a pretty normal life and I have Dr Teo to thank for that, I am convinced he was born to save lives.

I am forever grateful to him and because of that I will be forever in his corner.

If I am scared at all for the future, it is a fear that someone may be diagnosed with a tumour that is high risk and might be left to die because of that risk.

Will future surgeons not be innovative because they are afraid of being shunned by their peers?

It's hard to understand why patients are being denied the right to choose their surgeon.

If it's for your life, or the life of your child, what would you do?

This is the choice many families have faced and most of them have not regretted choosing Dr Teo.
Michelle Murrell said he was a miracle after miscarriages and failed IVF rounds

Blake was given multiple antibiotics but the swelling to his brain was too severe

The one-year-old was rushed to hospital after his mother noticed he looked 'stiff'

A family has been left reeling with the loss of their one-year-old 'miracle boy' Blake Murrell (pictured) after he tragically died of a mystery bout of meningitis

A family has told of their grief after mistaking their one-year-old 'miracle boy's' symptoms with teething issues or a daycare bug - when he was suffering from a case of bacterial meningitis.

Sydney mum Michelle Murrell, 40, noticed her one-year-old son Blake seemed a little under the weather when she picked him up from child care on July 28.

She assumed he had contracted just another everyday virus, with symptoms including a fever and some vomiting. Blake even seemed like he was bouncing back.

However, after 10 days Blake took a turn for the worse and on August 7 was rushed to the emergency department at Campbeltown Hospital, in the city's south-west.

His condition deteriorated - with the little boy suffering swelling to the brain - and doctors quickly approved a transfer to Sydney Children's Hospital.

He was placed an induced coma the next day to try and give his body a better chance to heal, but he sadly never woke up.

The heartbroken family was told Blake's brain swelling was too severe to fix, with the one-year-old succumbing to the illness on August 16.

Michelle said she had five miscarriages before managing to get pregnant through IVF to what she and her husband called their 'miracle boy' Blake

Michelle (left) said the family was staying strong as her other son, seven-year-old Lachlan (second from right), was seeking comfort in Blake's (second from left) toys

Little Blake Murrell (pictured right) with his seven-year-old brother Lachlan

Michelle spoke to Daily Mail Australia about what happened to Blake, who she called a 'miracle', because he was conceived after multiple miscarriages and failed IVF rounds.

Ms Murrell said when Blake first got sick, he was also having teething issues, leading her to believe his symptoms were a combination of things.

Never once did it cross her mind that what her son had was bacterial meningitis, she added.

'I first noticed Blake was sick when he started having a fever but we were not worried as he had been bringing home bugs from daycare constantly,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'He started with a bit of a fever but he was also teething at the time with about three or four teeth coming through at once.

'So we were keeping on top of that and he had some vomiting and fevers and that sort of thing but we weren't overly concerned.'

Ms Murrell said over the next 10 days, Blake started to look and feel better, before going downhill again.

'He would be all good and then suddenly be really, really lethargic, it was up and down throughout the week so I never felt the need to take him to hospital or anything, she said.

'I'm a nurse so I just kept him hydrated and managed the fever until one night I noticed he was holding his head funny and that caught my attention.

'He just looked really stiff and so I decided to take him to the hospital.'

Ms Murrell said doctors at Campbelltown Hospital tried to get his fluids up on August 7.

'He had a fever at the time and they took him straight in because he was quite dehydrated despite us keeping up his fluids,' she said.

'Then he started doing seizure like stuff, it was like jerkiness in his arm and his leg.

'They then took him to do blood work and after they got the results they could see that he had quite a bad infection.

'They covered him with four different antibiotics and I suppose meningitis was in the back of their mind but they never really gave a clear diagnosis of it at the time.'

The next day, Blake was transferred to Sydney Children's Hospital and admitted into their ICU department.

Michelle (left) spoke to Daily Mail Australia about what happened to Blake (centre, with his brother Lachlan right), who she called a 'miracle', because he was conceived after multiple miscarriages and failed rounds of IVF

Blake's mother Michelle Murrell, 40, said she noticed he was ill after picking him up from daycare but assumed it was just another virus but it turned out to be bacterial meningitis

'They gave him a breathing tube, sedated him and put him under, not because he was struggling to breathe but because of the swelling on his brain,' Ms Murrell said.

That day was the last time Blake was awake.

Ms Murrell said doctors officially diagnosed him with bacterial meningitis days later and told her 'there was nothing they could do'.

'They said the antibiotics he had been taking had started fighting the infection as they could see that but because of the swelling to his brain, it was too much trauma and they told me there is nothing we can do,' Ms Murrell said.

'We were told that on the Friday and so we had our other son come in and family as well to say what we needed to say.

'From there it was just a matter of when we were ready to make the decision to turn off his support.

'We knew we were never going to be ready but we didn't want to drag it out so after we all said what we needed, we let him pass.'

Blake died on August 16 and while Michelle said the family was staying strong, her other son, seven-year-old Lachlan, was seeking comfort in Blake's toys to get through the nights.

He was taken to Campbelltown Hospital on August 7 before being transferred to Sydney Children's Hospital the following day and put into ICU (pictured is Blake with his family, including brother Lachlan and mother Michelle)

'Lachlan is doing well during the day at school but he is just struggling at night,' Ms Murrell said.

'For the last few weeks he has been coming in at night and he cuddles his brothers toys, some of Blake's cuddly toys.'

Ms Murrell said she had five miscarriages before managing to get pregnant through IVF to what she and her husband called their 'miracle boy'.

'He was our little miracle, he was an IVF baby and we tried so many times,' she said.

'We call him our little miracle boy as we didn't know if it would happen, it just isn't fair. It's just really not fair.

'I had several miscarriages before him, Lachlan was natural but then I had multiple miscarriages and attempted IVF five times before we finally got Blake.'

Blake died on Tuesday, August 16 after doctors said the swelling on the brain was too much and told the family there is nothing they could do

Blake's ashes have been returned to the family, which Ms Murrell said gave the family some peace.

'It's good to have Blake back home with us,' she said.

'His ashes are just in our bedroom in a little heart box, it's like a memory box, a nice box with his stuff.

Ms Murrell said the donations from GoFundMe also helped her and the family financially through the tumultuous time.

'I haven't been able to go back to work yet and we wouldn't have managed financially if it wasn't for the outpouring of support and donations and we are truly grateful for the care and support,' she said.

'I dont know what we would have done if we didnt have that, we are just trying to move forward as best as we can.

'I know I need to go back to work financially, I just haven't felt able to yet.'
Shocking images of a street race on a Los Angeles residential intersection feature cars doing doughnuts and spectators equipped with lasers and a blowtorch in a video captured Thursday.

Three separate intersections in Los Angeles and Orange County hosted street races Thursday night. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department broke each up within 25 minutes, though it is unclear whether anyone was arrested.

Thursday's races follow a stream of protests in one Los Angeles neighborhood, which suggests the filming of the upcoming Fast and Furious movie has spurred ongoing street racing activities.

The video shows several cars swerving in doughnuts around a crowd of onlookers. One crowd is shown on the outside, while a smaller group stands inside.

Street racers took over three separate intersections across Los Angeles and Orange County on Thursday

Skid marks can be seen on the street from where the cars were performing doughnuts

Cars are seen on video doing doughnuts within inches of spectators - including one who fired a blowtorch into the air

The street takeovers took place at the intersections of Shoemaker Avenue and Excelsior Drive, Magnolia Crescent in Buena Park and Hoover Street and Trask Street in Westminster

There was the familiar sight of burning rubber, lasers, and cheering spectators

Cameras captured video of the takeover at the intersection of Shoemaker Avenue and Excelsior Drive

Cars doing doughnuts came within inches of the crowd who had gathered to watch

Los Angeles County sheriffs deputies broke up the takeover after about 25 minutes

The races follow a stream of protests in one Los Angeles neighborhood, which suggest the filming of the upcoming Fast and Furious movie has spurred ongoing street racing activities

Intersections that featured street races include Shoemaker Avenue and Excelsior Drive in Sante Fe Springs; Magnolia and Crescent in Buena Park; and Hoover Street and Trask Street in Westminster.

In the first eight months of the year, at least six people had died during or near street takeovers in Los Angeles, according to a motion filed by several councilmembers in August.

The county sheriff's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Angelino Heights, a neighborhood near downtown LA, is featured as the home of Vin Diesel's character in the Fast and Furious franchise.

Since the first film was released in 2001, locals have said the neighborhood has inspired copycat street races.

The movies depict the underground world of street racing, helping to popularize practices such as 'street takeovers' in which crowds gather - usually at night - to watch cars rev their engines and screech at high speeds around city streets.

Damian Kevitt, a local resident and founder of Streets Are For Everyone (SAFE), said the Hollywood film series 'glorifies an illegal activity' and as a result Angelino Heights had become 'a tourist destination for illegal street racing.'

Some people even decide to stand on traffic lights in an attempt to catch a better view

Tire smoke quickly filled the air. One passenger could be seen clinging onto the side of the car

The cars were center stage as those gathered to watch took out their cellphones to capture it

The doughnuts were performed in the middle of an intersection in the middle of the street

The crowd appeared to spur the antics of the drivers on as they continued to spin their cars

In the first eight months of the year, at least six people had died during or near street takeovers in Los Angeles, according to a motion filed by several councilmembers in August

The drivers perform street takeovers, spinouts and other activities that block traffic

Violent speeding and street takeovers have exploded over the past few years

Lasers could also be seen being used with the green beams being pointed directly at the cars

'Friday, Saturday, Sunday nights, there'll be three, four, five, six cars coming through here, doing burnouts, doing donuts,' said Kevitt.

'There was not street racing in this community before 'Fast and Furious' was filmed here,' he added.

Bella, another resident who declined to give her last name, said her children were traumatized from being constantly awoken by the sound of cars outside her home at night, and were now too scared to play outside the house.

'They've seen when the car spins out of control and practically hits the pedestrian that's standing right on the corner,' she said.

Local residents and supporters of the group Street Racing Kills protested the increase in street racing takeovers and the latest Fast and Furious movie being filmed

The protestors say the community has been blighted by a spate of illegal and dangerous street racing

Lili Trujillo Puckett, founder of Street Racing Kills, speaks alongside local residents and supporters of the group Street Racing Kills during a protest on the increase in street racing

Community members hold signs while protesting by the film set

Los Angeles has seen a 30 percent increase in fatalities and a 21 percent increase in serious injuries due to traffic violence over the last year, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

Bella called for Universal Pictures to move future filming elsewhere, while SAFE has asked the city to install speed humps and implement a zero-tolerance policy on street racing.

The group has also asked Universal to add a disclaimer to the Fast and Furious movies discouraging street racing.

The first installment, 'The Fast and the Furious,' was released by Universal Pictures in 2001, and the franchise has become the eighth-highest-grossing film series in history, taking over $6.6 billion worldwide across ten movies.

Fast X, the franchise's tenth film, is due to be released next May.
The Melbourne Cup is set for its coldest run in more than 25 years on Tuesday, with a meteorologist advising punters to dress warm and bring an umbrella.

East coast Australians have suffered through almost three years of soggy and chilly La Nina weather but the sun managed to poke its head out for the past few days, with horse race fans hoping the summer-type weather would stick around for next week.

But the Bureau of Meteorology told Daily Mail Australia on Sunday that this sadly wouldn't be the case.

'On Melbourne Cup day it will be a maximum of 14 degrees (in Melbourne), which will make it the coldest Cup day since 1995,' BoM meteorologist Jonathan How said.

The low in Melbourne on Tuesday will be a very chilly 9 degrees.

'We are expecting showers on and off through the day and they could be heavy, with small hail and thunder as well, including right around race time.

'It will be quite cold as well, with a wind chill, so we are certainly advising people to bring warm clothing to Flemington.'

The icy and wet blast that may dampen enthusiasm in Melbourne on Tuesday is already having an impact, with a cold front moving in from the west.

It will hit South Australia, Victoria, Queensland, NSW, ACT and Tasmania, bringing cold winds, rain, storms, flooding and even snow, with temperatures six to 16 degrees below average.

Guests are pictured braving the rain at the 2018 Melbourne Cup Carnival, with something very similar, but colder, expected for the 2022 event on Tuesday

Ducking for cover: This young lady needed an umbrella to keep her outfit dry at Flemington on Saturday, in a taste of what will be coming on Tuesday for the Melbourne Cup

'We'll see damaging winds which could bring down trees, as well as rain and thunderstorms through South Australia, including Adelaide on Sunday,' Mr How said.

'This will then push on to western NSW and western Victoria on Sunday night, then on Monday we will see rain and storms in much of southern Queensland, most of NSW, ACT, Victoria and Tasmania.'

The BoM said a severe weather warning would probably be issued for damaging winds on Sunday night around the Central Highlands, Grampians, Victorian Alps and parts of Melbourne's north and north-western suburbs.

The rain is forecast to continue into Tuesday for eastern NSW and eastern Queensland.

For most people it would be another wet couple of days, but for the flood-ravaged parts of NSW such as Moree, Narabri, Dubbo and down the western slopes, it is likely to cause renewed flooding.

'We are looking at the possibility of renewed minor to major flooding for some of those rivers in NSW,' Mr How said.

'Some of those rivers already have flood warnings, so it could just prolong those peaks and cause some flash flooding and thunderstorms as well.

The weather forecast for Tuesday shows a lot of rain and cold temperatures across southern and eastern Australia

The areas of Victoria that were hit by floods in recent weeks could also face further flooding in the coming days due to heavy rains.

Residents of Echuca and Echuca Village in Victoria's north were still being encouraged to evacuate over the weekend due to the flood threat from the Murray River.

The Murray peaked last Wednesday, reaching its highest point for more than 100 years, and is forecast to remain above major flood level until Wednesday.

Residents in nearby Kerang, Barmah and Lower Moira were advised it was not yet safe to return to their homes after flooding.

Pictured is the Weatherzone forecast for Australia's capital cities on Monday, October 31

Mr How said that although parts of Australia does 'tend to get cold snaps that can happen in the first half of November ... what we are seeing (in the coming days) is quite unusually cold'.

'We could see snow up to, potentially, the central tablelands of NSW in places such as Oberon, and some of the hills around Bathurst could see some flurries on Tuesday night and Wednesday,' he said.

The unseasonable cold meant maximum temperatures would be six to 16 degrees below average all the way from South Australia into NSW in the coming days.

There could be unseasonable snow in NSW and Victoria in the coming days. Pictured are visitors walking up closed roads to see the snow at Mount Macedon, a small town 64 kilometres north-west of Melbourne, on July 13, 2016

The coast of NSW will escape the worst of the weather, though.

'Most of the rain is expected west of the Great Divide. So Sydney won't see too much, it's mostly inland areas,' said Mr How.

'But still, we'll see some showers in Sydney on Monday and Tuesday, along with slightly cooler conditions.'

Say cheese: Racegoers were in high spirits as they enjoyed the Sydney sunshine on Golden Eagle Day

Off and racing: The sun was shining early on Saturday as Derby Day crowds flocked to Flemington

The cause of the weather pattern for late October and early November is cold air from the Antarctic.

The last time racegoers experienced a hot Melbourne Cup day was in 2014 when the temperature got just above 29 degrees.

In 2020, the temperature on Cup day was 30 degrees, but there were no crowds at Flemington due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Real estate agents are forcing desperate rental applicants to 'bid' on homes in the latest grim development in Australia's cutthroat rental market.

On average, rents have soared 10.3 per cent in Australia since the start of 2022 with a low supply of housing and the reopening of borders contributing to the squeeze.

But it's not a level playing field for all applicants - with landlords and agents in some regions now often deciding who gets a property based on 'rent-bidding' where hopefuls offer extra cash or pay rent months ahead to secure a home.

'There is a generally accepted principle of fair market value being the price that willing but not anxious participants in a deal would make,' Tenants Union of NSW CEO Leo Patterson Ross told 7News.

Hopeful renters are resorting to paying agents and landlords well above advertised prices in order to secure a property (stock image)

He said the principle was increasingly being challenged as renters 'faced with homelessness' were becoming worried about their ability not only to afford, but even be able to find a home where they want to rent.

Tenants have resorted to making calls to agents to offer extra incentives to get their application to the top of the pile including paying extra rent or paying months in advance.

'We're certainly seeing a lot more rental bidding,' Real Estate Institute NSW boss Tim McKibbin said.

'It does come up in periods of tighter vacancy rates but it's getting more intense. They might be offering more for the week or more in advance.'

Australia's rental market is more competitive than ever with hopeful tenants spotted queueing by the hundreds across the nation's capital cities.

The national rental vacancy rate is at a record low 0.9 per cent, according to Domain research data.

A recent photo taken in Bondi, in Sydney's east, showed applicants queuing outside a home to inspect it.

This photo of a crowded open inspection in Bondi (pictured) sums up Sydney's dire rental crisis, where desperate tenants are competing for properties

Sydneysiders have shared some of their experiences in the increasingly tough rental market (pictured: comments in a community Facebook group)

While Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania ban landlords and real estate agents from accepting bids outside of the advertised rental rate, other states and territories are more relaxed.

NSW Fair Trading advises that as long as property advertisers don't make any misleading statements, like falsely claiming another applicant has offered a higher price, then they can accept a better bid.

With the on-the-side deals being made, rent prices have likely surged more than officials figure in some competitive markets like Sydney and Perth.

According to research firm PropTrack at the start of 2020 there were 41.8 per cent of advertised rentals on realestate.com.au under $400-a-week across Australia.

But by September this year that figure had dropped to just 19.3 per cent.

Capital city rental listings under $400 per week was just 16.4 per cent in September compared to 36.1 per cent in March 2020.

In Sydney, weekly rental prices rose by an average of 10 per cent year-on-year in the September quarter, with the median house rent climbing to $640 and the median unit rent rising to $520 per week.

The peak NSW body for housing policy, Shelter NSW, previously told Daily Mail Australia that applying for rental properties has become 'like The Hunger Games' (pictured: Bondi)

A long line of would-be renters snakes down the side-path of a Sydney street waiting to see a $700 per week two-bedroom rental property in the eastern suburb of Clovelly

Cameron Kusher, PropTrack director economic research said the answer to the problem was to build more housing and get more supply into the market, thus easing pressure.

There are a number of large housing projects in the pipeline across the country but until they hit the market, Mr Kusher said he expects the market will get even more competitive.

The Albanese government will spend $350million on 20,000 affordable homes, co-investing with super funds and institutional investors and working with the states and territories in an effort to get more supply into the market.

A Housing Australia Future Fund would provide a further 30,000 social and affordable homes over five years.

Both are part of the government's larger plan to build one million 'well-located' homes by the end of the decade.
Annastacia Palaszczuk was chased by her weight-loss celebrity surgeon boyfriend before she finally agreed to going on a date with him with the pair quickly falling in love, an insider has claimed.

The Queensland premier met her partner Dr Reza Adib in 2021 with the couple's whirlwind romance quickly becoming one of the biggest talking points in the state's politics.

Dr Adib, a general and laparoscopic surgeon, began his career at the Royal Brisbane Hospital in 1994 before establishing the Brisbane Obesity Clinic in 2004, of which he remains CEO.

The couple have been inseparable ever since they met last year, attending red-carpet events and packing on the PDA during public outings.

Now colleagues of Ms Palaszczuk have lifted the lid on the couple's early days, explaining exactly how Dr Adib wooed the most powerful woman in Queensland.

Annastacia Palaszczuk was chased by her weight-loss celebrity surgeon boyfriend before she fell head over heels for him at a race day

The premier and her partner Dr Reza Adib and their whirlwind romance has become the latest fixture of Queensland politics

The premier met Dr Adib at a horse racing day in July 2021.

The pair kept their relationship under wraps for months, going public in September.

Sources claimed that Dr Adib had been chasing the premier for some time before finally meeting her at the race day.

'People in the (premier's) office are happy for her because normally she would go home to an empty house,' a source told Courier Mail.

'She has such a hectic schedule so it's good for her to take some time out.'

Ms Palaszczuk is no stranger to love having been married twice - once to journalist George Megalogenis from 1996 to 1998 and Simon Every between 2004 and 2009.

Dr Adib is her first serious partner since Ms Palaszczuk split with her long-time partner Shaun Drabsch in 2018.

Her new flame seems to be very promising and has even been given the seal of approval from her father Henry Palaszczuk.

The couple met in 2021 and have become inseparable ever since with the pair spotted attending red-carpet events and sharing a kiss during public outings (pictured, pair at Elvis premiere in June)

The successful surgeon has been absolutely smitten with Ms Palaszczuk and become a regular plus one to her outings (pictured, Ms Palaszczuk and Dr Adib at the State of Origin in July)

Dr Adib is successful in his own right as he is a renowned surgeon, the owner of a multi-million dollar property portfolio and the CEO of the Obesity Clinic.

He lives in a three-level, five-bedroom, five-bathroom riverfront mansion in Indooroopilly that he bought for $6.25million more than a decade ago.

The landmark house is 'inspired by the grandeur of traditional 14th Century Italian Villas' and features 'the finest materials from around the world.'

Dr Adib is a fan of luxury cars and has dated glamorous women, such as models, in the past.

The successful surgeon has been absolutely smitten with Ms Palaszczuk and become a regular plus one to her outings.

The pair went together to the Magic Millions Race Day in January and attended the premiere of Baz Luhrmann's Elvis biopic in June and shared a kiss in the stands at State of Origin in July

The pair went together to the Magic Millions Race Day in January and attended the premiere of Baz Luhrmann's Elvis biopic in June and shared a kiss in the stands at State of Origin in July.

Ms Palaszczuk sparked outrage after taking her partner to a meeting between Brisbane Olympic organisers and International Olympic Committee senior members in Sydney in May.

She then apologised before promising she would not be inviting him to further meetings.

'I am very lucky and very blessed to have someone that supports my role  it is a big role to run this state,' she said.

'My partner will be coming with me to different functions but he will not be coming to any meetings or catch-ups.'
Department stores are seeing sales of hot-water bottles more than triple as households across the nation turn down their thermostats in an attempt to avoid crippling energy bills this winter.

At John Lewis, sales are almost four times higher than a year ago as people prepare to warm their beds rather than switch on the central heating when winter finally comes.

The surge in sales suggests that people are finding money-wise ways of bracing themselves for a chilly winter  with sales of electric heat pads and electric blankets also on the rise.

Consumer finance expert Martin Lewis calculates that keeping warm with a hot-water bottle could be just one-fiftieth of the cost of putting on the central heating.

Department stores are seeing sales of hot-water bottles more than triple as households across the nation turn down their thermostats in an attempt to avoid crippling energy bills this winter. Stock image of woman cuddling hot water bottle

Energy experts recommend that households turn their thermostats down by just one degree to cut heating bills by ten per cent.

And by turning the dial down three degrees, households could potentially save up to 375 a year under the new energy price cap.

Gareth Kloet, of comparison website gocompare.com, told The Mail on Sunday: According to the Energy Saving Trust, dropping the room temperature by just one degree can help reduce your heating bill by roughly ten per cent a year.

Depending on how much of your energy bill is spent on heating, this could represent a significant saving. And in theory, by turning the heating down a few degrees more, you could make further savings.

Mr Lewis  who says we should heat the human not the home  sent out a special edition of his Money Saving Expert newsletter this month packed with practical advice on how to keep your body warm at home without putting on the heating. He said that a full inbox of emails from people worried about their bills had convinced him to take action.

At John Lewis, sales are almost four times higher than a year ago as people prepare to warm their beds rather than switch on the central heating when winter finally comes

The difference in cost between standard gas central heating and using a hot-water bottle is certainly a stark one.

Mr Lewiss team estimates that a hot-water bottle costs around 7p an hour in energy, a total of 56p for eight hours.

If you have a 33kW boiler  typical for an average three or four-bedroom house  it would cost a staggering 27.20 to have the heating blasting for eight hours.

That makes turning on the heating almost 50 times more expensive than cuddling up with a hot-water bottle.

A 1.5 -litre hot-water bottle will cost about 5.50, according to Money Saving Expert. Argos offers one for 4.25, its lowest price for the item in the stores history, and John Lewis sells hot-water bottles with covers for about 25.

But not everyone turning to hot-water bottles has the cost- of-living crisis uppermost in their minds. Just look at the eye-wateringly expensive deluxe ones on offer.

Harrods is offering a silk velvet hot-water bottle with removable lavender sachet for 130. The Royal Collection is selling a hot-water bottle with a cable-knit cashmere cover for 115.

Designer Anya Hindmarsh is selling three lambswool hot-water bottle covers on her website for 175 each  and that price tag does not include the hot-water bottle.

Theres a world of difference in the hot-water bottles keeping us all toasty this winter.
Rescuers attend to victims on a street in Seoul's Itaewon district, Oct. 30, after more than dozens of people were reported to be in cardiac arrest from a stampede during Halloween parties the previous day. (Yonhap)



At least 151 people have been killed and 82 others injured in a deadly stampede in Seoul's Itaewon district as huge crowds of partygoers, many in their late teens and 20s, converged in the entertainment district for late-night Halloween celebrations.



The deadliest stampede in Korea's history happened Saturday night in a narrow downhill alley near Hamilton Hotel in the famous nightlife district after tens of thousands of people visited the area for Halloween.





People pack a street in Itaewon in central Seoul, Oct. 29, as many come out to enjoy Halloween festivities before a deadly stampede during the celebration. Yonhap



As of 9 a.m. Sunday, a total of 151 people, including 19 foreigners, have been killed and 82 others injured, 19 of them seriously, according to Choi Seong-beom, head of the fire department in Yongsan, which includes Itaewon.



Of the deceased, 97 are female and 54 are male, Choi said.



The foreigners killed include those from Iran, Uzbekistan, China and Norway, he said.



The stampede marked the worst tragedy in Korea since the 2014 sinking of the ferry Sewol that killed 304 people, mostly high school students.



It was the first Halloween event in Seoul in three years after the country lifted many COVID-19 restrictions. Most of the people on the streets were wearing Halloween costumes.



Victims in their late teens and 20s accounted for the age group most affected by the accident, the authorities also said. It is not yet known whether the victims included minors.





Police investigators scrutinize an alley in Seoul's Itaewon district, Oct. 30, following a deadly stampede the previous day during Halloween celebrations. Yonhap



Video footage showed rescue workers and ordinary people conducting CPR on victims on the streets.



Fire authorities initially received dozens of reports from people in the Itaewon area about patients with breathing difficulties. The first report was made around 10:15 p.m.



Witnesses and survivors say a massive group of people surged into the downhill alley with a width of about 4 meters and were instantly pushed down by others.



"People kept pushing down into a downhill club alley, resulting in other people screaming and falling down like dominos," an unidentified witness wrote on Twitter. "I thought I would be crushed to death too as people kept pushing without realizing there were people falling down at the start of the stampede."











Medical workers attend to victims in Seoul's Itaewon district, Oct. 30, after a deadly stampede during Halloween celebrations the previous day. Yonhap



President Yoon Suk-yeol addressed the nation live from the presidential office, saying Saturday's "tragedy and disaster should never have happened."



The president also announced a period of national mourning over the stampede.





Police investigators scrutinize an alley in Seoul's Itaewon district, Oct. 30, following a deadly stampede the previous day during Halloween celebrations. Yonhap



Before addressing the nation, Yoon also presided over two successive emergency meetings, ordering officials to swiftly administer first aid and treat the injured, the presidential office said.



Yoon also ordered officials to deploy emergency medical officials to Itaewon and secure emergency beds.



After presiding over an emergency meeting on the stampede, Yoon instructed officials to thoroughly investigate the cause of the accident.





Rescuers move a patient in Seoul's Itaewon district, Oct. 30, after a deadly stampede during Halloween celebrations the previous day. Yonhap



Separately, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo instructed officials to make utmost efforts to minimize damages.



Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who is on a visit to Europe, decided to return home in the wake of the accident, city officials said.



As of early Sunday, 355 missing person reports had been made in connection with the accident, the Seoul city government said.



Police said they are making utmost efforts in confirming the identity of the victims and then making contacts with their family members.



Police plan to launch an investigation soon into whether bars and clubs in the area were in compliance with safety regulations.





Police officers inspect the scene where people died and were injured in Seoul, Korea, Sunday, Oct. 30. AP
Incensed MPs, watchdogs, customers and even post office owners last night backed The Mail on Sunday's call for a ban on old postage stamps to be delayed.

Stamps that don't feature a new barcode will not work after January 31  a move that few people are aware of.

It is thought as many as 100 million old stamps are tucked away in drawers and wallets.

To make matters worse, people cannot take them to a post office to swap them for new ones, as they can do when coins and notes are no longer legal tender.

Instead, they must fill in a complicated form  which cannot be picked up from post offices and must be downloaded  and send it off. They then get new barcode stamps sent to them.

With little awareness among the general public, and a long wait to get stamps swapped over, there are calls for:

Delaying the ban on old stamps for a year  giving two Christmases for Brits to use them up;

Ending the convoluted process to swap stamps for new ones. Instead, allow people to swap them over in person at a post office;

A fresh advertising blitz to warn customers of the changes.

Danielle Richardson, money expert at consumer champion Which?, said: 'Many people will have stamps lying around in drawers and cupboards at home, and now face potentially being out of pocket if they can't return them in time.

Tory MP Alexander Stafford, vice-chairman of Westminster's all-party philately group, said: 'This headlong rush to ban traditional stamps is both ridiculous and unjustified'

'Royal Mail should be making it as easy as possible for customers to exchange stamps in a reasonable period of time.'

Tory MP Alexander Stafford, vice-chairman of Westminster's all-party philately group, said: 'This headlong rush to ban traditional stamps is both ridiculous and unjustified.

'It should be delayed for a year and more sensible arrangements put in place.

'The convoluted system whereby people cannot exchange old stamps at the post office but have to download a form and post it off is clearly designed to put people off from bothering.

'That is inexcusable when many, many people will have traditional stamps that they paid for but suddenly couldn't use.'

Caroline Abrahams, from Age UK, said: 'With so much else going on it is easy to have missed the publicity about this change so I hope Royal Mail will redouble their efforts to put out information about it.'

Labour MP and former Minister Kevan Jones, vice-chairman of the all-party post offices group, said: 'The people in charge of this stamps fiasco must see sense and postpone the changeover for a year.'

'It does not feel fair on older people' Jean Teverson, 82, uses a lot of stamps to send letters and birthday cards to her friends and large family. The retired hairdresser from Ashford, Surrey, who does not use the internet or have a smartphone, said: 'I can't understand why I can't just use up the existing stamps I've got, or be able to swap my old stamps for new ones at the post office counter. 'Why are Royal Mail making older people like me jump through these ridiculous hoops when it was their decision to bring in these new stamps? 'It does not feel fair on older people like me. It feels like everything these days is going online. You always see 'for more information go to www ' It means I have to rely on my daughters for help with this type of thing, and I'd rather not do that. 'Royal Mail needs to have an urgent rethink and say people should be allowed to just to use the stamps they have got, or let them swap them over at the post office.' Jean Teverson, 82, uses a lot of stamps to send letters and birthday cards to her friends and large family Advertisement

Part of the confusion has come about because many people consider the Royal Mail and Post Office the same thing. They split in 2001.

The ban on old stamps does not include special pictorial stamps such as Christmas ones.

Customers and staff told of their frustrations. Peter Burnett, owner of Ferndown Post Office in Bournemouth, said: 'The scheme is ridiculously unfriendly to the elderly and anyone with difficulty accessing the internet. Every day we are asked at least 20 times to swap stamps.'

'A cynic might think that the way the swap is being rushed is a way of bolstering Royal Mail's profits by rendering a lot of stamps in circulation valueless.

'A sensible system where post offices were used to swap stamps and remunerated for providing the service by Royal Mail would be supported by most of us.'

Those who have sent off stamps face long delays. Tim Herlihy posted 55 stamps on October 11, after being told it would take seven days. He has still not had replacements. When the 58-year-old landlord from West London asked at his local post office how long it would take, he was told the wait had soared to four weeks. He said: 'I was taken aback that they couldn't just do it at the post office.'

Matt Hill, editor of Stamp Collector magazine, said: 'We have been inundated with comments, questions, and complaints about the scheme. For many people this is a huge amount of money. Postage stamps are legal tender, and there are concerns that the exchange is too complicated.'

Royal Mail says it has sent leaflets to 31 million homes and placed adverts in newspapers and on the radio and social media. The company said stamps must be checked to ensure they are not counterfeit and post offices are not equipped to do this.

The new barcode will allow the firm to track and trace every piece of post and cut lost items.

A Post Office spokesman said: 'Stamps are a Royal Mail product and Royal Mail is responsible for swapping non-barcoded stamps sold at post offices and other places.'

The move by Royal Mail, which last year made 758 million, comes as staff have 16 days of strikes planned in the run-up to Christmas  threatening deliveries.

Additional reporting: Laura Purkess and Calum Muirhead

Farce of 148 tick-boxes on exchange form

By Molly Clayton and Brendan Carlin

Swapping old stamps for new ones is a time-consuming and laborious process  and involves a very complicated form.

You have to download and print a form, then send off the unused stamps in the post and wait for replacement barcode versions to be returned.

Under the Stamp Swap Out scheme, there are two different types of application form  one for stamps whose total value is less than 200, and another for those whose value is more.

For the smaller amount, the form has to be downloaded, printed and filled with details.

Postage is free. If you don't have access to a printer, you can request a form to be posted to you by completing an online form  or they are available from Royal Mail delivery offices.

Swapping old stamps for new ones is a time-consuming and laborious process  and involves a very complicated form. Pictured: One of the new stamp which features a barcode

There is a helpline, but our reporter was on hold for more than 30 minutes, only to be urged to complete the process online.

It is more complicated for amounts valued at more than 200. The Royal Mail requests exact details of the returning stock  with 148 tick-box options.

Stamps must be batched in clear plastic bags, sorted by both value and colour, and have to be attached to their original backing or paper.

You are then encouraged to post everything using the Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed service, with costs starting from 6.85, to an address in Edinburgh.

These postage costs will be refunded  but only to an equivalent value in barcoded stamps.

There are fears forms are getting lost. Margaret Deans, 55, from Renfrewshire in Scotland, has been waiting three weeks after sending her form off.

She said: 'l'll just resign myself to the fact l've lost them.'

The system is much more complicated than a similar scheme employed when paper 20 and 50 banknotes no longer became legal tender for retail use.

The notes were withdrawn from service on September 30. Not only could the old notes be exchanged on the spot at post offices, with the equivalent amount deposited straight into people's bank accounts, but high street banks offered the same service.
The Government was accused of very bad taste last night for using taxpayers money to find whether respect for the British monarchy around the world had changed since Charles took the throne.

The Mail on Sunday can reveal that one week after the Queen died, the Government gave a 20,000, 12-month contract to a data research firm to keep it informed of global media coverage of the monarchy.

The contract, awarded to a firm chaired by a former Tory MP, asked for a media monitoring and sentiment analysis on reports related to the British monarchy. It added: This will include but not limited to the late Queen Elizabeth II and the new Monarch King Charles III.

The Government gave a 20,000, 12-month contract to a data research firm to keep it informed of global media coverage of the monarchy

But Tory MPs said the contract decision was humiliating for the King.

One former Minister said: This is precisely the sort of silly expenditure that needs to be cut. It is also impertinent to the new King.

Another ex-Minister said: There are more diplomatic ways of going about this research, even if it is needed for state visits and trade deals.

Government sources suggested the monitoring operation would combat global disinformation over the transition to a new sovereign.

It follows fears that the end of the Queens 70-year reign spelt uncertainty for the monarchy and the Commonwealth

It follows fears that the end of the Queens 70-year reign spelt uncertainty for the monarchy and the Commonwealth.

Some MPs said the contract  awarded to Signal AI, chaired by former Tory frontbencher Archie Norman  revealed that the Government shared those concerns.

But the Cabinet Office said: We routinely contract third parties to monitor the spread of global misinformation during moments of major national significance.

Buckingham Palace and Mr Norman did not comment, although it is understood that he has had nothing to do with the contract.

Meanwhile, Buckingham Palace denied reports that the King was still champing at the bit to attend next months Cop 27 climate summit in Egypt. Reports said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was upholding the ban by his predecessor, Liz Truss, on Charles attending the conference.

Buckingham Palace denied the King was disappointed. A source said the sovereign would instead mark Cop 27 by inviting Mr Sunak and other key decision-makers to a Buckingham Palace reception before the summit.
Nancy Pelosi on Saturday evening said she was 'heartbroken and traumatized' by the pre-dawn attack on her husband Paul inside their San Francisco home, but said his 'condition continues to improve.'

Paul Pelosi, the 82-year-old husband of the Speaker of the House, was violently assaulted by a hammer-wielding intruder in the early hours of Friday.

Nancy Pelosi was in Washington DC at the time and flew to California on Friday to be by his bedside.

On Saturday, she issued a statement thanking well-wishers for their support and praising the first responders who came to his aid.

'Yesterday morning, a violent man broke into our family home, demanded to confront me and brutally attacked my husband Paul,' she wrote, in a letter to her colleagues.

Nancy Pelosi is pictured in December 2019 at a dinner with her husband Paul. In the early hours of Friday an intruder broke into their home and attacked him with a hammer

'Our children, our grandchildren and I are heartbroken and traumatized by the life-threatening attack on our Pop.

'We are grateful for the quick response of law enforcement and emergency services, and for the life-saving medical care he is receiving.'

Pelosi said that her husband was grateful for the support he had received from politicians across the nation.

'Please know that the outpouring of prayers and warm wishes from so many in the Congress is a comfort to our family and is helping Paul make progress with his recovery. His condition continues to improve,' she wrote.

She concluded with a Biblical quotation, saying they had been 'comforted by the words of the Book of Isaiah: Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.'

Aerial footage showed broken panes and shatter glass at the backdoor of Pelosi's home

FBI agents work outside the home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi where her husband Paul Pelosi was 'violently assaulted' after a break-in at their house

David DePape, 42, was identified as the man who attacked Nancy Pelosi's husband Paul with a hammer at their San Francisco home in the early hours of Friday morning

Joe Biden on Saturday said that the attack appeared to have been 'intended for Nancy.' He spent Friday evening condemning the political rhetoric that whipped up frenzied, disturbed individuals to take extreme action.

Biden said Pelosi 'seems to be doing a lot better' after surgery.

Pelosi's attacker, 42-year-old David DePape, faces attempted murder charges. He is believed to have broken into the home around 2:30am, yelling: 'Where's Nancy?' - a cry held on January 6 as rioters stormed the Capitol.

Pelosi's son, Paul Jr, said on Saturday he was optimistic about his father's chances of making a recovery.

'So far so good, so far so good,' he told Fox News Digital outside Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital.

On Friday, Paul Jr was at the family home in San Francisco and thanked well-wishers for their support.

Joe Biden, seen on Saturday in Wilmington, Delaware with his granddaughter Natalie, said that he had heard Paul Pelosi 'seems to be doing a lot better' after surgery

Paul Pelosi Jr is seen on Saturday outside the San Francisco hospital where his father is recovering

Pelosi is seen on Friday near his parents' house, and thanked well-wishers for their support

Nancy Pelosi's spokesman on Friday said he had undergone surgery for his fractured skull and limbs, and was expected to make a full recovery.

'Earlier this morning, Paul Pelosi was attacked at home by an assailant who acted with force, and threatened his life while demanding to see the Speaker,' said Drew Hammill, spokesperson for Speaker Pelosi.

'Mr Pelosi was admitted to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital where he underwent successful surgery to repair a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands.

'His doctors expect a full recovery.'

Police are yet to ascribe a motive for DePape's attack, but online accounts illustrated a highly-disturbed and suicidal individual with hallucinations and far-Right fixations.

DePape's daughter said her father is 'consumed by darkness' and sexually abused her and her brothers when they were children.

Inti Gonzalez blogged about him on Friday, writing in the post, which has since been taken down, that her mother met DePape - whom she describes as her father - in Maui when she was pregnant with her. The couple moved to the Bay Area soon after Gonzalez was born.

Her mother Oxane 'Gypsy' Taub, 53, is in prison on 2021 child abuse charges.

Oxane 'Gypsy' Taub, who once protested naked in front of San Francisco City Hall (above), was convicted in 2021 for child abuse after stalking and harassing a 14-year-old boy

Taub (right, pictured with Paul Pelosi attacker David DePape in 2013) was accused of sending messages to a former friend of her son, telling the minor that she wanted to date him and trying to lure him to meet with her secretly

Taub, pictured at a naked wedding ceremony by San Francisco City Hall, was arrested in 2019 and convicted of her crimes against the 14-year-old boy in 2021

The daughter of the man who attacked Nancy Pelosi's husband Paul with a hammer early Friday morning says that he's 'consumed by darkness' and sexually abused both her and her brothers before their mother left him

Prosecutors said Taub, who once protested naked in front of San Francisco City Hall, had been stalking a 14-year-old boy, sending him emails and messages and trying to lure him to secretly meet with her.

DePape cut off contact with Taub and her children after he was he was kicked out of their home and living in a car, according to his online account.

On Saturday, The Washington Post reported on DePape's own blog, which was filled with delusional thoughts.

The website was registered under the name 'frenlyfriends.com' - a term that is sometimes written as an acronym for Far Right Ethno-Nationalist.

The week before the attack, he wrote that an invisible fairy attacked an acquaintance, and sometimes appeared to him in the form of a bird.

DePape filled the blog - which has now been taken down - with dark and disturbing imagery. He published a drawing of the Devil kneeling and asking a caricature of a Jewish person to teach him the arts of 'lying, deception, cheating and incitement.' The Post reported.

Several posts contained lifelike images of rotting human flesh and blood, including a zombified Bill Gates and Hillary Clinton.

Others depict headless bodies against unsettling landscapes.

DePape wrote about playing video games at a library and spending hours meditating.

He wrote condemnations of transgender people, and diatribes against feminists, who he called 'feminazis'. DePape said he was being targeted by law enforcement, and weighed in on the election.

'No evidence of election fraud. Any journalist saying that should be dragged straight out into the street and shot,' he wrote.

In another post, he shared an image of a fantasy miniature salamander he purchased on Etsy.

He wrote that he was looking to purchase a fairy house on Etsy but was frustrated that the doors were painted and so could not be used by a fairy.

'They have lots of fairy houses but NONE of them are MADE for fairies,' he wrote, according to the Post.

Four days before the attack, he shared images of a wooden birdhouse he said he had purchased for an invisible fairy he communicated with.
Police officers have increased their presence in an attempt to crackdown on anti-social behaviour last night

Spooky, hilarious and spectacular costumes were put on display in Leeds, Newcastle, Wigan and in the capital

Revellers have hit the streets across the UK showing off their costumes for this years Halloween celebrations

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Terrifying clowns, scary skeletons and runaway brides were just some of the costumes spotted on the streets across the UK overnight, as revellers headed out to make the most of this Halloween weekend.

From London to Wigan, partygoers in all different kinds of outfits headed out on Saturday night to celebrate the spooky season, and made the most of the extra hour.

Leeds saw the streets packed with youngsters dressed in weird and wonderful costumes, from ghosts and pumpkins to The Spice Girls and the Scooby-Doo gang as many took part in the city's renowned pub crawl - the Otley Run.

In the capital, many gathered for the second MCM London Comic Con event, with fans being seen on the underground dressed as Luke Skywalker and as cats.

Across the country police officers have increased their presence in an attempt to crackdown on anti-social behaviour over the Halloween weekend.

Cities up and down the country remained relatively calm, after two years of Halloween celebrations dampened by the Covid-19 pandemic.

As the night drew to a close in Newcastle, however, things started to get rowdier with partygoers seen falling over in the street and lying on the damp pavement.

A group of men in Newcastle dressed up in Hawaiian Lei's, flower bras and flower necklaces, while enjoying a night out celebrating Halloween

A pair on the Otley Run in Leeds dressed up in a blood-spattered nurse and patient costume

A group of women, appeared to be dressed as Peaky Blinders, laugh as their friends fall onto the pavement in Newcastle following Halloween celebrations

Someone dressed in a clown costume pops out from behind a pair dressed up as a corpse bride and groom outside Hyde Park Pub in Leeds last night

A woman dressed up as the Statue of Liberty and a bunch of revellers celebrate Halloween in Newcastle

A hilarious group of women in Newcastle head out dressed up as a set of orange traffic cons

Two revellers dressed as ghosts seen outside a pub on the Otley Run route - a renowned pub crawl in Leeds

A group of women in Leeds are seen dressed as video game characters Mario and Luigi, a devil and a princess

A group of friends dressed as a prison inmate, pirate, corpse bride, werewolf and Little Red Riding Hood are spotted in Leeds

A man spotted dressed as a ghostly nun during Halloween celebrations in London on Saturday night

Two women dressed as Velma and Daphne from the Scooby-Doo cartoon series in Leeds, Yorkshire

One partygoer in Leeds appears in a blood-spattered outfit with a pretend knife jammed through his head

A group of women in London dress up as the beloved 90's pop group, The Spice Girls: Posh Spice, Ginger Spice, Baby Spice, Sporty Spice and Scary Spice

Three women in Leeds sit on a bench dressed up as witches following Halloween celebrations in the city

Two women dress up as the Devil for Halloween celebrations in Wigan, Greater Manchester

A man in Newcastle dresses up in a green morph suit as he heads for a night out

Three people dressed as cats attend the MCM Comic Con event at the ExCel in east London this afternoon

Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Inc gang head out for Halloween celebrations in rainy Newcastle

Elsewhere in the world Halloween celebrations have continued, including in war-torn Ukraine.

Despite the ongoing invasion from Russia and the 11pm to 5am curfew in place, partygoers still headed out to celebrate in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

People were seen partying at the HVLV night club dressed in a range of outfits outside the club and on the dance floor.

People were seen partying at the HVLV night club in Kyiv dressed in a range of outfits outside the club and on the dance floor

Despite the ongoing invasion from Russia and the 11pm to 5am curfew in place, partygoers still headed out to celebrate in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv

A barman dressed up as a police officer serves customers in spooky club in Kyiv, Ukraine before curfew
A teenager dubbed the 'Jamie Oliver of Iran' has reportedly been beaten to death by security forces - triggering another wave of protests that were first sparked by the alleged killing of Mahsa Amini.

Mehrshad Shahidi, a 19-year-old celebrity chef, died on Wednesday while also allegedly in the custody of Iran's Revolutionary Guard.

It came as protests over the death of Ms Amini, a 22-year-old woman who reportedly died in custody after being tortured by Iranian morality police for not wearing a hijab properly on September 16, reached a 40th day.

Amini was initially arrested in Tehran for an alleged breach of Iran's strict dress rules for women based on Islamic sharia law.

Mr Shahidi, meanwhile, is said to have died after receiving injuries to his skull via batons while in custody after being arrested during protests in the city of Arak, human rights organisations have said.

His death is claimed to be the 253rd during the demonstrations.

The chef's family say they have been pushed by Iranian officials to announce he died from a heart attack, The Sunday Telegraph reports.

Mehrshad Shahidi, a 19-year-old celebrity chef, died on Wednesday while allegedly in the custody of Iran's Revolutionary Guard

Mahsa Amini died in custody on September 16 after she was detained in Tehran by Iranian morality police

An unveiled woman standing on top of a vehicle as thousands make their way towards Aichi cemetery in Saqez, Mahsa Amini's home town in the western Iranian province of Kurdistan

They told Iran International TV in London: 'Our son lost his life as a result of receiving baton blows to his head after his arrest, but we have been under pressure by the regime to say that he died of a heart attack.'

The claim is refuted by Iranian officials.

He had 25,000 followers on Instagram and had developed a following through sharing videos of his cooking on social media, with students describing him as popular, energetic and handsome.

Dr Reza Taghizadeh, an Iranian affairs commentator, has warned that his death could cause a 'second and even greater wave of national protests'.

His comments came as demonstrations erupted again last night as his funeral took place.

Security forces are alleged to have fired tear gas to break up crowds who reportedly chanted 'Death to the dictator' and 'everyone who is killed will be supported by thousands more'.

Norwegian-based Iran Human Rights claimed on Friday that at least 253 people have died in the 40 days of protests since Ms Amini's death.

Security forces are currently struggling to deal with the extent of the protests, which have now spread into a wider effort to end the Islamic republic.

It comes as a 17-year-old girl was also reportedly been beaten to death with a police riot bat while walking home from school during the protests earlier this week.

Local protesters say teenager Sadaf Movahedi was bludgeoned last Monday night 'by suppressive forces' trying to keep the public under control.

They allege her family 'is being threatened to stay silent' and would risk their own lives if they were to speak out about the tragedy.

Iran has been gripped by protests since the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police last month.

People protest following the death of Mahsa Amini in Iran, in London on Saturday

A protest took place in London yesterday in support of Mahsa Amini

Amini died in custody after her arrest in Tehran for an alleged breach of Iran's strict dress rules for women based on Islamic sharia law.

The commander of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards, Hossein Salami, warned protesters that Saturday would be their last day of taking to the streets.

But the Iranian regime is running out of prison space to house protesters after almost six weeks of riots, sources speaking with MailOnline have said.

Iranian police have been forced to release protesters back on to the street after running out of places to house them, with country-wide demonstrations leaving the Islamic republic thin on resources, according to Iranian residents.

Several demonstrators recently detained by Iranian police were immediately released, MailOnline understands.

Young women have led the charge in daily protests that have endured for more than a month, burning their hijab headscarves and confronting security forces.
A new strain of Covid starting to spread in Australia has not raised concerns among experts as it does not appear to be more 'virulent' than its predecessors.

The XBB strain, which recently emerged in Singapore, has been ripping through the country with cases rising tenfold in a matter of weeks.

Some international reports and experts have dubbed the strain as the 'nightmare variant' and fear it's the 'most vaccine-resistant yet'.

A new strain of Covid running rampant in Australia has not raised concerns among experts as it does not appear to be more 'virulent' than its predecessors (stock image)

The XBB strain, which recently emerged in Singapore, has been ripping through the country with cases rising tenfold in a matter of weeks (stock image)

The strain is also resistant to antibodies built up by previous infections.

Infectious diseases expert Professor Peter Collignon said there was no concern of the new strain yet as it did not appear to increase hospitalisations or deaths.

'We won't see the same high hospitalisation and high death numbers that we saw between December and July, because that's when all the variants were circulating and people were basically getting infected for the first time,' he said.

The World Health Organisation said there was no need for alarm as its virulence did not appear to 'diverge' from its Omicron predecessor.

The XBB strain, another spin-off from the Omicron variant, went from making up one fifth of Singapore's Covid cases to more than a half in just one week.

The strain has also been detected in several states across Australia including NSW and Victoria.

Victoria's chief health officer Professor Brett Sutton urged residents to take precautions to avoid becoming infected with the new strain.

Australians are encouraged by health authorities to still wear masks as a new Covid variant emerges (pictured, a woman at Sydney's Paddy's Markets this week)

'Surveillance shows the presence of multiple Omicron subvariants in Victoria including rapid growth of (the Omicron subvariant) BQ. 1 and XBB in the past month, with a combined prevalence of approximately 10 per cent in wastewater and clinical sample,' he said.

'With case numbers on the rise locally and internationally, particularly in Europe and in South-East Asia, Victorians are reminded that vaccination, masks, ventilation, testing, staying home when sick and COVID-19 treatments are highly effective at reducing transmission, illness and deaths and also protect the health system.'

Leading infectious disease experts estimate around 80 per cent of Australians have had Covid in the three years since the pandemic hit our shores in January 2020.

Deakin University infectious diseases expert Professor Catherine Bennett believes Australia has a much higher hybrid immunity to new variants than a year ago when Omicron first hit our shores, sparking an explosion of cases.

The XBB strain has been detected several states across the country including NSW and Victoria (pictured Sydneysiders in the CBD this week)

'More than half the population has been both vaccinated and had an infection, and that does put you in a more resilient position in when facing future waves,' Professor Bennett told NewsCorp.

In Singapore, XBB has overtaken BA.5 as the most dominant strain and accounted for more than 60 per cent of new cases.

Singaporean scientists estimate it is 30 per cent milder than the previously dominant BA.5 Omicron strain.

It was first detected in India back in August, authorities said, but did not spark a wave until this month.
Taxpayers could be facing a further 2.5 billion bill over the rescue of failed energy firm Bulb, it was claimed last night.

Octopus Energy this weekend agreed to take on Bulb's 1.5 million customers in a Government-approved deal.

But the collapsed supplier will continue to be propped up by the state over the winter.

Bulb had been in 'special administration' since its failure late last year, which has already led to billions of pounds in taxpayer losses.

Taxpayers could be facing a further 2.5 billion bill over the rescue of failed energy firm Bulb

Analysts are warning that, with the ongoing support, the bill to the taxpayer could rise even further.

Tony Jordan, senior partner at energy consultancy Auxilione, calculated that the cost could reach 2.5 billion over the next five months.

Bulb currently has no 'hedges' in place to protect it against further rises in wholesale energy prices, leaving it exposed to market volatility.

'A cold winter, a nuclear threat from Russia, you name it. Anything could easily push the price of gas back up very quickly,' Mr Jordan said.

'And then that 2.5 billion will look very small because it could go up to four, five or six billion. That is the risk the Government needs to think about.'

Octopus Energy this weekend agreed to take on Bulb's 1.5 million customers in a Government-approved deal. Pictured: Then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson with at the energy supplier's headquarters in 2020

Bulb's sale to Octopus ends a process in which the firm was effectively nationalised.

Following the deal, Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Secretary Grant Shapps said: 'This Government's overriding priority is to protect consumers and today's sale will bring vital reassurance and energy security to consumers across the country at a time when they need it most.'

Greg Jackson, founder and CEO of Octopus Energy, said his firm would serve as a 'stable home' to Bulb's customers.

The value of the deal has not been published but it is believed Octopus paid the government between 100m and 200m.

A plan has been put in place to repay the taxpayer's support.

The government will also benefit from a profit-share agreement for up to four years.

A Government spokesperson said: 'These figures are pure speculation. While we cannot comment on the specific financials of the commercial deal, due to high market volatility, the Government is making sure that we get the best possible outcome for Bulbs customers and the British taxpayer.'
A horror night of violence across Melbourne's CBD has left one man dead and two others fighting for life as police investigate whether two separate stabbings are related.

Seven men were hospitalised after three assault incidents unfolded hours apart in King St, Bourke St, and 1.3km away in Southbank during the early hours of Sunday.

Police set up separate crime scenes to examine the two stabbing incidents in the city's centre and spent the morning scouring for evidence as detectives work to identify the offenders.

In the fatal incident, emergency services were called to Bourke Street about 5.45am following reports of an assault.

Two men were found with stab wounds and were rushed to hospital in a critical condition, where one of the victims, who is yet to be formally identified, later died.

The second man, aged in his 20s, remains in hospital in a stable condition with upper body injuries.

CCTV footage showed the brawl breaking out in front of the McDonald's at the intersection into Hardware Lane as several men threw punches at each other.

One man in a white shirt falls to the ground and is kicked while he is down by two men before he jumps up and runs off.

Two men have been rushed to hospital after a stabbing in Melbourne's CBD. Pictured: Homicide Squad detectives on Bourke Street on Sunday morning

Pictured: Police taped off the crime seen as they scoured the scene for evidence on Sunday

Homicide Squad detectives launched an investigation, with the exact circumstances surrounding the incident yet to be determined.

No arrests over the homicide have been made at this stage but a man, 19, was taken into custody at the scene for affray and is assisting police with their inquiries.

Detectives taped off Bourke Street between Elizabeth Street and Queen Street on Sunday as they examined the scene.

Victoria Police Acting Superintendent Troy Papworth confirmed the man accused of the stabbing remained on the run.

'At the moment, the only description that we do have is a male of African appearance and wearing dark clothing at the moment,' he said.

'They came into the city, with the intent to cause this offence they then fled the scene, and our police are still looking for those things where any members of this group involved.'

Earlier on Sunday, two men were found injured about 300 metres away after a wild brawl broke out outside the Inflation nightclub.

Footage shows the fight breaking out in front of a McDonalds on Bourke Street around 5.45am on Sunday

Victoria Police are urging anyone with information about either of the incidents to come forward. Pictured: A police officer takes a photo of the pavement in Melbourne's CBD on Sunday

Police said the men were discovered with stab wounds 1.25am following a large affray at the intersection of Flinders Lane and King Street.

A 19-year-old male with suspected serious injuries and an unidentified man with life-threatening injuries have both been taken to hospital.

A crime scene has been set up and the area cordoned off while detectives examine the scene, with officers from the Major Crime Scene Unit also set to attend.

Police are looking at whether the two stabbings just hours apart are linked and CCTV footage from the council and local businesses are expected to play a major role in the investigation.

Photos taken at the scene showed blood smears on a car parked outside the nightclub.

Acting Superintendent Papworth said around eight people are believed to have been involved in the King Street assault.

'We have investigators working to identify a number of incidents that have caused a young man his life and left several other young men seriously injured,' he said.

'The separate incidents have not been linked at this stage.

Police are investigating if the two stabbings are related. Pictured: Inflation nightclub on King Street in Melbourne's CBD

Pictured: Emergency services personnel attend an assault in Southbank around 12.40am on Sunday

'I assure you that we will come down hard on people who continue to come into the city, and bring violence with them.'

In a third earlier incident, three men were left injured after an assault in Southbank.

Police have been told two groups of men appeared to argue as they were leaving a bar along Riverside Quay about 12.40am.

The argument allegedly spilled onto the promenade footpath, where three men were set upon by two other men.

A 25-year-old man from Springvale was struck heavily to the face before he fell and hit his head on the ground.

The two other men, aged 24 and 25-years from Keysborough and Cheltenham, received facial injuries.

The pair who police said appeared to be the aggressors fled the scene.

Anyone who witnessed any of the incidents, has video footage or further information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Amanda Knox and her former lover Raffaele Sollecito have reunited in Italy 15 years after they were arrested and wrongly convicted of the murder of Briton Meredith Kercher.

In a carefree photo the pair were seen smiling as they visited the historic town of Gubbio - the same place they had planned to visit on the day that Meredith's body was discovered in her room.

Almost 15 years to the day of Meredith's death, Mr Sollecito, 38, told The Mirror that it was 'the nicest' thing to reunite with Ms Knox, 35, after their lengthy ordeal, which saw them wrongly spend four years in prison.

Meredith, 21, was a Leeds university student who living in Peruga on exchange, and was found dead with her throat cut and signs of sexual assault on November 2, 2007.

Police were called by Mr Sollecito after he and Ms Knox, who was a flatmate of Meredith, discovered her body the day after she died.

American student Ms Knox, 20 at the time, and her Italian boyfriend Mr Sollecito, who was 23, were arrested four days later and went on to be convicted at trial twice.

Both convictions were overturned due to a startling lack of any evidence linking them to the crime. Also arrested was Rudy Guede, who ran a local bar. His bloody fingerprints and DNA found at the crime scene ensured his conviction for murder, and he served 14 years of his 30-year prison sentence behind bars.

Amanda Knox, 35 and from Seattle, was falsely convicted of Meredith's murder twice and served four years in prison

Raffaele Sollecito, 38, originally from Milan, was convicted alongside his former lover

Kercher, from Coulsdon, Surrey, was killed just three months after moving to Italy for a study abroad programme at Perugia's prestigious university (pictured: in an undated photo released in November 2007)

Mr Sollecito, now a computer engineer in Milan told The Mirror: 'There was also something very light about it, Ms Knox saying "Why don't we go back to Gubbio?"

'She was saying we can go after all this time with her family and I could see they were planning a lot to do there.

'It was bitter-sweet to go back as we were supposed to go there in such different circumstances, but it was just nice for us to be able to talk about something that wasn't the case.'

Meredith, of Coulsdon, South London, had only been in Perugia for three months when she was found dead with 47 stab wounds after the sex assault.

In 2011, the couple had their initial convictions quashed after experts told Italy's High Court there had been huge errors in the initial case.

Meredith Kercher's killer Rudy Guede (pictured waving from the window of a volunteer centre in 2016, file photo) was formally released from prison 14 years after the grisly murder

In 2013, a new trial began, and both were again found guilty - although Ms Knox remained in the US.

Two years later, they were acquitted for a second time by the Supreme Court.

Judges said there were stunning errors in the murder enquiry and a lack of any evidence the couple were involved in the attack.

Forensic blunders such as a contaminated glove were also highlighted during the court case.

Despite not having seen one another in 10 years, the two kept in touch using Whatsapp.

During the trip to Italy, Mr Sollecito met Ms Knox's baby daughter Eureka and husband Christopher.
An evacuation order has abruptly forced out residents of a 14-story Miami Beach building on the same avenue where the Surfside condominium collapse killed nearly 100 people last year.

The city posted an unsafe structure notice Thursday evening at the Port Royale condominium, Miami Beach spokesperson Melissa Berthier said in an email.

A structural engineering report prompted the evacuation of the 164-unit structure, which is in the process of undergoing required recertification.

An engineer discovered that the main support beam identified for repair 10 months ago had shifted and that a crack in the beam had expanded, and other structural supports may need repair as well, the report said.

One resident, renovation contractor Marash Markaj, who lived in the building for more than six years, said the damage extends beyond a single support beam.

Caution tape blocks off the Port Royale building at 6969 Collins Ave, after it was ordered evacuated Thursday due to concerns over its structural safety, in Miami Beach

An unsafe building notice marks the chained off beach entrance to the Port Royale building at 6969 Collins Ave

The city posted an unsafe structure notice Thursday evening at the Port Royale condominium, Miami Beach spokesperson Melissa Berthier said in an email

A few small cracks are seen in exterior concrete on the beachfront facade of the Port Royale building

'Ive seen the issues for many years,' Markaj said.

He added that he tried to report the issues - including cracks in a column and water standing in the garage area for weeks at a time - to the building management and to the citys building department.

'I was never able to get a response,' he said, adding that he was feeling 'unsafe' living in the building and with the way the buildings maintenance was handled.

Inspection Engineers Inc. said in a letter to the city that it's working to obtain a city permit so that 'comprehensive shoring' can be installed within 10 days. That will be followed by another inspection of the building, which was constructed in 1971.

During an inspection about 10 months ago, engineers found 'areas of concern that we designated as a priority to be repaired,' Arshad Vioar said in an email sent to the Miami Beach Building Department.

Inspection Engineers Inc. said in a letter to the city that it's working to obtain a city permit so that 'comprehensive shoring' can be installed within 10 days. That will be followed by another inspection of the building, which was constructed in 1971

During an inspection about 10 months ago, engineers found 'areas of concern that we designated as a priority to be repaired,' Arshad Vioar said in an email sent to the Miami Beach Building Department

The buildings association selected a contractor and the repairs started about four weeks ago.

The firm that inspected the building was asked to supervise the work and this week 'noticed that one of the main beams in the garage had experienced a structural deflection of approximately  inch and also the existing crack that was marked for repair had extended,' Vioar said in the email.

The handful of condo residents who returned to the site Friday morning to see what was happening included Felicia Flores, 71, who lived in the building for 15 years, and now has gone to stay with her daughter nearby. She swung by while walking her small dog.

She said work was being done on the building for a few weeks but that something changed Thursday.

'It appears there was something more serious, so we had to leave all of a sudden,' Flores said.

Coast Guard boats patrol in front of the partially collapsed Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside

Search and rescue personnel work atop the rubble at the Champlain Towers South condo building

Miami Beach officials said condo owners who rented out their units were on the hook under local laws to cover temporary housing for renters for up to three months or until the building was habitable again.

Samy Bosch, who lived in the building for nine years, said the residents were given very little time to move out. They were told at 5 p.m. Thursday that they had to be out by 7 p.m.

'We dont know exactly whats going on inside there but we cant stay. Thats it,' Bosch said, as he returned on a scooter to observe the scene on Friday morning.

The Port Royale is about 1.3 miles south of the Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside, Florida, also on Collins Avenue, where 98 people were killed in a June 2021 collapse.

The disaster at the 12-story oceanfront condo building in Surfside drew the largest non-hurricane emergency response in Florida history, including rescue crews from across the U.S. and as far away as Israel to help local teams search for victims.

Family members of the dead listed on a screen surrounding the vacant lot where the 12-story building collapsed said they want answers from authorities. It may be another year before they get answers

Rescue workers work in the rubble at the Champlain Towers South Condo in Surfside

Other buildings in South Florida have been evacuated amid similar safety concerns since the Surfside collapse.

The disaster focused scrutiny on the structural integrity of aging condominium towers throughout Florida, especially along its coastlines, and the state has since moved to strengthen laws requiring inspections and periodic recertification of buildings.

Miami-Dade County had required the first recertification only after 40 years and the Surfside building was undergoing that recertification process when it collapsed.

New state rules signed into law in May require buildings to have their first recertification after 30 years, or 25 if they are within 3 miles of the coast, and then every 10 years thereafter.

A 2018 engineering report detailed cracked and degraded concrete support beams in the underground parking garage and other problems that would cost nearly $10 million to fix.

The repairs did not happen, and the estimate grew to $15 million in 2021 as the owners of the building's 136 units and its governing condo board squabbled over the cost, especially after a Surfside town inspector told them the building was safe.

The 2018 engineering report found structural deficiencies that are now the focus of several inquiries, including a grand jury investigation.

A final conclusion on the cause is likely years away. The National Institute of Standards and Technology, which is leading the federal probe into the collapse, recently said invasive testing will begin soon on samples of material from the collapse site.

A woman adds flowers to the memorial on June 28

Workers pump water out of the foundation of the former Champlain Towers South building

Physical evidence from both the collapsed and imploded sections of Champlain Towers South is stored in a secure warehouse in Miami-Dade County, where it has been cataloged and evaluated by members of the National Construction Safety Team investigating the June 24, 2021, collapse

Andrea Langesfeld, center, and her husband Pablo, right rear, parents of Nicole 'Nicky' Langesfeld, who died in the Surfside, Fla., condo collapse, are hugged as they attend a ceremony to unveil a sign for 'Nicky Langesfeld Place,' Wednesday, June 22, 2022, in Doral, Fla. Langesfeld grew up in Doral before moving to Surfside

Neil Handler speaks about how his son Jonah was trapped inside a pocket of fallen concrete after the collapse

The tests will help investigators find potential flaws in structural elements of the building by looking into things such as the density of the materials, how porous they were and if there was corrosion, NIST said.

Florida will require statewide recertification of condominiums more than three stories tall under new legislation Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law last month in response to the disaster.

The death toll in the Champlain Towers collapse ranks among the highest in U.S. history among similar disasters.

The 1981 Hyatt Regency walkway collapse killed 114 people and a Massachusetts mill disaster in 1860 killed between 88 and 145 workers.
President Joe Biden arrives at St. Joseph on the Brandywine Catholic Church in Wilmington, Del., to attend Mass, Oct. 29. AP-Yonhap



U.S. President Joe Biden expressed "deepest condolences" over a deadly stampede in Seoul that killed at least 149 people.



"Jill and I send our deepest condolences to the families who lost loved ones in Seoul. We grieve with the people of the Republic of Korea and send our best wishes for a quick recovery to all those who were injured," Biden said in a statement, referring to first lady Jill Biden.






An international tourist has been fined and refused entry to Australia after trying to bring meat into the country as fears grow of the spread of foot and mouth disease.

The unnamed foreigner was fined $2,664 after trying to sneak six kilograms of meat through Perth Airport, in Western Australia, on October 18.

The traveller failed to declare 3.1kg of duck, 1.4kg of beef rendang, over 500grams of frozen beef and nearly 900grams of chicken concealed in his luggage.

He had declared on his incoming passenger card that he was not bringing any meat, poultry, or other food into the country.

Australia earlier this year stepped up protection against foot and mouth disease at its international airports following an outbreak in Indonesia.

An international traveller has been fined and refused entry to Australia after trying to bring meat into the country as fears grow of the spread of foot and mouth disease

Australia earlier this year stepped up protection against foot and mouth disease at its international airports following an outbreak in Indonesia (pictured, cattle in Indonesia)

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt and Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil said the traveller was referred to Australian Border Force Officers and his visa was cancelled.

Ms O'Neil described it as a 'significant breach' of biosecurity law in Australia.

'This is why legislation is in place to cancel the visa of any traveller who commits a significant biosecurity breach or repeatedly contravenes biosecurity laws,' she said.

Foot and mouth disease is highly transmissible and causes lesions and lameness in cattle, sheep, goats and other cloven-hoofed animals, but does not affect humans.

The types of meat found in the man's luggage posed a risk of carrying foot and mouth disease risk, and African swine fever.

'The actions of Biosecurity Officers and ABF at the border have once again protected the Australian community and our agricultural sector from harmful biosecurity risks that have the potential to do enormous damage,' Ms O'Neil said.

'Strictly enforcing our borders ensures a strong biosecurity system to protect our international trade reputation as a leading supplier of safe, healthy, high-quality food.'

In Indonesia, authorities have been working to get an outbreak under control that has infected hundreds of thousands of livestock and killed thousands of animals

The government has estimated a large outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Australia could see revenue losses of up to $A51.8 billion over ten years.

'This is why legislation is in place to cancel the visa of any traveller who commits a significant biosecurity breach or repeatedly contravenes biosecurity laws,' Ms O'Neil added.

Travellers who have their visas cancelled are deported from Australia on the first available flight.

In Indonesia, authorities have been working to get an outbreak under control that has infected hundreds of thousands of livestock and killed thousands of animals.
A French-Australian veterinarian has been kidnapped in Africa while working at a remote conservation park.

Dr Jerome Hugonot was abducted on Friday while working for the Sahara Conservation Fund (SCF) in Chad's Wadi Fara province, which borders Sudan.

Announcing the incident in a statement, Chadian government spokesman Aziz Mahamat Saleh described Dr Hugonot as an environmentalist who managed a wildlife park for oryx, a species of desert antelope, on behalf of the SCF.

Mr Saleh said the government had mobilised all its resources to find the dual-national, adding that the kidnappers were 'individuals not yet identified'.

Dr Jerome Hugonot has been kidnapped in Chad, where he was working for the Sahara Conservation Fund

Chad authorities say they are yet to identify the kidnappers but are mobilising resources for find Dr Hugonot. Pictured: A map showing the location of Wadi Fara Province

A number of armed groups operate along the Chad-Sudan border.

Dr Hugonot, who is understood to have a wife and daughter, moved to Australia from France in 2002.

He graduated from Murdoch University in 2010 then began working as a flying veterinarian in Katherine, in the Northern Territory, before spending the next few years in equine practice across South Australia, NSW's Hunter Valley, and Western Australia.

He then did a three-year stint in Central Africa working as an equine and wildlife vet as well as using his commercial pilot licence for anti-poaching aerial monitoring before returning to WA in 2019.

In his most recent role, he was helping the SCF as it works to reintroduce scimitar-horned oryx to the north-central African country.

Australian and French authorities are working with the Chad government to locate him.

'We are aware of the kidnapping of one of our compatriots in Chad and are in touch with his family, as well as with Chadian authorities, in order to obtain his release quickly,' the French foreign ministry said in a statement.

Dr Hugonot has enjoyed an illustrious career as a veterinarian, working in equine practice around Australia and doing wildlife care and conservation in Africa

The dual national was working to help reintroduce desert antelope (pictured) scimitar-horned oryx to Chad

A spokeswoman for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was aware of the reports and that the federal government was in contact with Chadian and French authorities.

'Due to our privacy obligations we are unable to provide further details,' she said.

Chad is a landlocked, semi-desert state grappling with domestic insecurity as well as security challenges associated with conflicts in bordering countries.

The country has been run by a military junta led by Mahamat Idriss Deby since his father, the former president, died in April last year during an operation against rebels.

Prior to his death, president Idriss Deby ruled Chad for three decades, with the nation now rocked by protests as citizens call for a quicker transition to democracy.

Last week, at least 50 people were killed and almost 300 were injured during demonstrations.

Protesters in Moundou, Chad, on October 20 as citizens call for a democracy
The federal government is scrambling to find out if any Australians were killed or injured in a stampede that has left at least 151 people dead and dozens more hurt in South Korea.

The disaster happened as a huge crowd celebrating Halloween on Saturday night surged into an alley in the capital city Seoul, in a nightlife area that is popular amongst young people, expatriates and travellers.

At least 151 people died in the crowd crush with 19 of those reported to be foreigners with details of their nationalities yet to be released by authorities.

The federal government is scrambling to find out if any Australians were killed or injured in a stampede that has left at least 151 people dead in South Korea

The disaster happened as a huge crowd celebrating Halloween surged into an alley in a nightlife area, which is popular amongst young people, expatriates and travellers, in the capital Seoul on Saturday night

The Australian embassy is urgently making enquiries with local authorities to find out if any Australians were involved.

Ambassador to the Republic of Korea Catherine Raper urged family back home to check in with any loved ones who had travelled to the country.

'We ask all Australians in Seoul to check in with friends and family to let them know your whereabouts,' she tweeted.

Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke said he was not aware of any Australians caught up in the incident.

'It's chilling to see this story as it has come across. Our embassy officials are highly professional and they will be working through and making contact,' he said.

'The death toll that we are looking at at the moment, it seems fairly inevitable that is likely to rise.'

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese shared his sympathies with South Korea in a tweet on Sunday.

The Australian embassy is urgently making enquiries with local authorities to find out if any Australians were involved

'Our sincere condolences for all affected by this terrible tragedy,' he wrote.

A further 82 people were injured, many seriously, in the melee around 10.30pm in Seoul's Itaewon district.

It was the first Halloween event in Seoul in three years after the country lifted Covid-19 restrictions and social distancing.

Many of the partygoers were wearing masks and Halloween costumes. Most were teenagers or in the early 20s going out after spending much of the past three years in lockdown.

Choi Sung-beom, head of the Yongsan Fire Station said many of the victims were women in their 20s, according to Reuters.

Australians concerned about the welfare of loved ones in Seoul can call the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Consular Emergency Centre on 1300 555 135. Those outside Australia can call +61 2 6261 3305
An Oklahoma mother has told how she watched in horror as neighbors pulled two parents out of their burning home, only to later learn that their six children were dead inside, in what is now believed to be a murder-suicide.

Brian Nelson, 34, and his wife Brittney, 32, died on Thursday at their Broken Arrow home.

Their six children, aged from one to 13, were found dead inside the burning home - but police do not believe they died from the fire.

Brian's father, Danny, who lives five miles from the house the Nelsons have rented for the last eight years, said on Saturday that the couple was troubled by massive debt, and Brian was unable to work due to splitting headaches from a work injury in his 20s.

The couple was declared bankrupt in December 2020: without work and living off benefits, they were $138,000 in debt - the vast majority, $127,081, in unpaid student loans.

Danny Nelson is seen with his wife Marilyn in their Tulsa home - five miles from the house in which their son Brian, 34, was found dead on Thursday with his wife and their six children in a suspected murder-suicide

Danny Nelson holds up a photo of five of his six grandchildren. All six died on Thursday in their Oklahoma home

Brian and Brittney Nelson rented this house in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, for the past eight years. On Thursday it was on fire, with their six children inside

Witness Shawna Chiles said she saw an unconscious woman being carried out of the house, followed by a dead man

Brian Nelson reported in the bankruptcy filing that he grossed $4,510 in income in 2019, while his wife had no income.

They had $8,803 in assets, including eight guns worth $1,850 in the home: five pistols valued at $1,600; a .22-caliber rifle worth $100, and two shotguns worth $150.

Shawna Chiles, 39, who lives in the next neighborhood, said she saw the smoke billowing from the house shortly after 4pm on Thursday and drove to the house to see what was going on - arriving even before the fire trucks reached the home.

'There were two guys there,' said Chiles. 'One of them had already gone into the house and pulled out the woman. She was face down.

'So she's laying there, and I was trying to see if she was alive. You could see her back moving, she was breathing.'

Chiles said she was told the two men were neighbors.

'Then I see the guy drag the father out. He had blood all over his shirt.

'The guy said the man was dead, but the woman wasn't going to make it.'

Chiles said that she had been shot in the head.

She said other neighbors told her they heard a loud boom before the fire - 'like a transformer,' Chiles said - but no gunshots.

Chiles said the immediate neighbors were baffled by events, and no one had noticed any rows or disturbances at the home.

Police said the incident was a 'once in a lifetime tragedy' and say the dead adults are suspects

The fire was reported at about 4pm Thursday in Broken Arrow, 13 miles southeast of Tulsa

Kris Welch, the couple's landlord, said the Nelsons had rented the home for the last eight years.

'I feel like I'm going to throw up, honestly,' said Welch.

She told Fox 23 that on Tuesday the couple informed her they wanted the gas turning off, as they suspected a leak.

'They thought there was a gas leak, so they had the gas shut off,' said Welch.

'Which was very odd to me because it's cold, and they have children.

'It's like they just wanted to be left alone. They didn't want me to do anything about it which I thought was really weird too.

'And then, two days later, this.'

Danny Nelson, Brian's father, told Tulsa World that he had been due to babysit the children that evening - Brian II, age 13; granddaughter Brantley, 9; grandsons Vegeta, 7, Ragnar, 5, and Kurgan, 2; and one-year-old granddaughter Britannica.

'Five came and went. Then it was 6. I texted them  no responses,' he told Tulsa World.

'I turned on the 6 o'clock news, and they said there had been a fire near Hickory and Galveston in Broken Arrow. That's where my son lives.'

Danny Nelson drove to the house, and came upon the devastating scene.

Danny Nelson is seen inside his home in Oklahoma, in an interview with Tulsa World

His wife Marilyn Nelson added: 'All night last night, I kept saying: `It's not real! It's not real! It's not real!'

'And I couldn't stop. But today, I know it's real  too real.

'I never dreamed this would happen.'

They told Tulsa World that their son and his wife had ongoing medical problems - Brian suffering lingering effects from a bad concussion, when he slipped and fell at work, and Brittney having gallstones and seizures.

'I think the stress was what got to them - trying to figure out how to make it from one month, to one month, to one month,' said Danny Nelson.

Marilyn added: 'Then every time one of those headaches came around, he just would lose it because it was so excruciating.'

Danny and Marilyn said their son was at school with Brittney, whose own single mother 'had issues' and died young.

She was raised by relatives who were 'mean' to her, the Nelsons said.

The pair married in November 2008.

Asked if there was ever any violence, both Nelsons replied: 'No'.

Marilyn then added: 'Well, the first couple years of marriage, when they just had a baby and they were very young, they struggled. They were just out of high school.'

Broken Arrow Police Chief Brandon Berryhill said the incident was a 'once in a lifetime tragedy'

The chief appeared visibly moved as he delivered an update on the suspected murder-suicide

The blaze was reported at around 4pm on Thursday in the suburb of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

They said Brian and Brittney sent their eldest son to school, but then pulled him out.

'His father didn't get along with what they were teaching,' Danny said.

Marilyn added: 'They wanted boys to dance like girls. That was the final thing.'

All their children were home schooled, and Brian repeatedly begun college courses, his parents said.

'I want people to know that at one time he had all his brain together,' said Marilyn.

'I just don't understand why they did what they did. I just don't understand why he ended up in that situation.

'I talk to God all the time  and I just don't understand.'

Brandon Berryhill, chief of Broken Arrow police, said on Friday the causes of death are still under investigation but it does not appear that anyone died because of the fire.

Chief Berryhill said: 'No one should have to face this tragedy.

'We have peer support teams set up, outside counseling for firefighters and families, and crews met with the chaplain team, addressing their health.

'This is a once in a lifetime tragedy.'

He added: 'To arrive on scene yesterday and to see the looks on our first responders' and firefighters' faces just absolutely broke my heart.'
A man arrested under suspicion of carrying out the Delphi murders that saw two teen girls slain in 2017 has at long last been pictured - roughly a day after he was arrested in connection with the gruesome killings.

The suspect, 50-year-old Richard Allen, was booked in Indiana around midnight Friday - though it remains unclear what exactly he has been charged with.

Local outlet FOX59 has since obtained a state-issued photo of the potential perpetrator, who has evaded law enforcement for the better part of six years.

The image shows a bearded, pale-face Allen peering straight ahead with a blank gaze and a shaved head - bearing some likeness to a 2017 sketch of the supposed killer released by police, which also showed a bearded, seemingly middle-aged man.

The suspect, 50-year-old Richard Allen, was booked in Indiana around midnight Friday - though it remains unclear what exactly he has been charged with.

Two sketches of the suspect in the Delphi murders. The state-issued photo bears some likeness to the 2017 sketch of the supposed killer released by police (at right), which also shows a bearded, seemingly middle-aged man

Initially booked into Carroll County Jail, the suspect within hours was moved to a state facility out of fears for his safety.

Cops said the arrest revolves around the murders of Abigail Williams, 13, and Libby German, 14, who went missing while going for a walk along an abandoned train line in Delphi, Indiana, on February 13, 2017.

The girls' savaged bodies were found the next day along a railroad bridge near Dear Creek, with police later saying the pair had been arranging to meet a man on the abandoned tracks.

Now, nearly six years later, the search has generated significant online speculation, thanks to puzzling pieces of evidence including a recording found on Libby Germans phone from just before her disappearance of a man seemingly ordering the girls to go 'down the hill.'

The pair's murders have since remained unsolved - with Allen's arrest serving the first time his name has been publicly associated with the case.

Abigail Williams, left, and Liberty German, right, were murdered in February 2017 after going for a walk. No one has ever been arrested for the 14-year-old girls' murders

This is the suspect Libby filmed on her Snapchat account before she was murdered. She also recorded a man saying 'down the hill'

A police reconstruction of the final snapchat images sent out by Libby German and Abigail Williams the day they died

Additional information about Allen's arrest, as well as his potential role in the long-unsolved case, is expected during a news conference Monday.

At that point, Indiana State Police are sure to shed more light on the case - but until then, lawmen have said that they wont provide any additional details about the investigation.

It comes as Delphi Police have been increasingly tight-lipped on crucial components of the investigation - including exactly how the girls died, and what kind of condition their bodies were in when they were discovered.

Since the start of their investigation nearly six years ago, the department held back that information - in an apparent effort to protect their investigation as they looked for the killer.

They have never revealed how the girls died, nor have they revealed the full contents of a video filmed by the girls on their phone in the moments before they were killed - footage that depicts a mysterious figure partially obscured by a hat and coat as he approaches the girls on the abandoned tracks.

A shot of the Monon High Bridge Trail that the girls posted on social media before their disappearance

The only, vital piece of detail that has emerged from the police's investigation stems from the video recorded off of German's phone in which the approaching figure whispers 'down the hill' to the pair as he lurches toward them.

Despite countless tips over the years and a number of suspects and persons of interest, police have so far been unable to solve the case.

They have not yet revealed what kind of evidence they have against Allen - with the Indiana resident's arrest potentially marking a major turning point in the investigation.

The families of the two girls have yet to react to news of Allen's arrest, which comes a little over a month after Indiana State Police officers, including a dive team, were seen searching the Wabash River 40 miles from where the two teens were last seen.

Officials did not reveal what exactly officers had been looking for - or if their search helped lead to Allen's arrest.

In May, it was reported that the man who owned the land where the teenage victims of the Delphi Bridge murders were found may have been the voice recorded by the girls in their final moments.

Logan was arrested in April 2017 after confessing to violating parole related to serial traffic violations. He was never named as a suspect in the killings of the girls and died in January

The FBI search warrant disclosed that Ron Logan couldn't be definitively ruled out as the man heard saying 'Down the hill,' to Abby Williams and Libby German shortly before they died, due to his voice not being a match

Logan died in 2020 and was never formally named as a suspect in the February 2017 murders.

It also emerged that Williams and German were found covered in blood - and their killer took a twisted souvenir, a search warrant has revealed.

Williams and German were found to have lost a large amount of blood when discovered dead close to an Indiana hiking trail in February 2017.

'A large amount of blood was lost by the victims at the crime scene,' an FBI search warrant read. It did not note how the girls had been wounded, but noted that there were no signs of a 'struggle or fight.'

The warrant, obtained by the Murder Sheet podcast and released to Indianapolis FOX59, offered no further information on a murder weapon or cause of death.

Police have never disclosed how the two friends died after being stalked by their killer on a hiking trail, with information on the bloody crime scene offering a gruesome new detail.

Their killer likely got his victims' blood on his clothes, the warrant also revealed, although no one has ever been charged with the double homicide.

Indiana State Police said in February they know who killed the girls, but say they have insufficient evidence to make an arrest.

Chillingly, FBI investigators believe the young friends' killer took a souvenir from their corpses to provide a warped memento of his appalling crimes.

The warrant offered no further detail on what the souvenir was, although it did say that 'the rest of (the girls') clothing was recovered,' implying that the killer had taken something they'd been wearing.

And sickeningly, the murderer 'staged' the girls' bodies in a particular way after killing them, although it remains unclear exactly how he did this.

Investigators believe photographs or videos were likely shot of the grotesque set-up to 'memorialize' the crime scene.

Ron Logan spoke with reporters on his property days after the girls' bodies were found. He told them he had no idea how they could have gotten to where they were found

The warrant further revealed that the FBI had probable cause to search the home and property of Logan. The girls were discovered about 1,400 feet from Logan's house.

Logan was arrested shortly after the killings, but was never charged, and died in 2020. He was a habitual traffic offender who served time behind bars for his crimes, but is not considered a suspect in the murders of Williams and German.

Lawmen are expected to shed more light on the investigation on Monday.
A doctor has slammed the public for questioning how a rural town is still unable to recruit a GP after offering a salary of $500,000 and a house to live in.

Dr Michael Mrozinski, who is originally from Scotland, was referring to Julia Creek in outback Queensland, which is offering a base salary of between $400,000 and $514,000.

The successful candidate will be paid by the North West Hospital and Health Service, but the local council is chipping in too, offering a brand-new four-bedroom home rent free and a promise to help find a job for the GP's partner.

Julia Creek, which has a population of just over 500 people, is 600km west of Townsville, with Dr Mrozinski saying the extreme remoteness was the major problem.

'Maybe it's not all about the money,' he said in a TikTok video to his 300,000 followers.

'Maybe doctors don't really care about money all that much... we're not robots.'

@dr_michael_says @abc why cant we recruit rural doctors in Australia, even for $500k a year? It might be that this type of work in isolation, as the only doctor around, Is a job that no doctor would do for ANY ammount of money! Money isnt the issue here. The issue is that, by the time doctors get to this stage in their career- 12/13 years from starting med school, they have put down roots- they have a fanily, kids, friends, a good social network. Uprooting would be difficult and not appealing to most. The job itself is hard. If anyone wants to come up to tural australia and follow me around ar work, you wont be sitting down much. I can only do bouts of 3-4 weeka before the loniless/remoteness/workload gets to me. Why? Because im human, im not a robot. You have no right to demand any doctor work away from their lovwd ones because you feel the wage is exessive- would you do it? Didnt think so. If ABC would like to know more about what these jobs are actually like, then feel free to message me. #austr#australiat#healtho#doctorst#shortagel#rurale#nurseso#doctorst#healthyi#hospitaly#moneyewsaustralia  Timelapse - Michael Logozar

The town of Julia Creek in northern Queensland is offering a half million dollars per year in salary to attract a doctor to work there. Pictured is a stock image of a doctor talking to a patient

He said there was much more to a doctor's life than how much money they earn.

'Maybe by the time they've got to this stage and they've done the rural generalist training, it's been 12 years since they graduated,' he said.

'They might have a family, they might have a few kids, they might have a house, they might have a good social network...

'Why would they want to move all of that and go to a remote area where they have nobody?'

Dr Mrozinski's frustration with the general public's expectations showed in the video when he called on people to understand that doctors were human.

'It's like people think doctors shouldn't really have a life and they should just work 24/7,' he said.

Tellingly, he said that was exactly what a doctor would be doing in a job such as the one in Julia Creek.

Dr Mrozinski regularly works in rural Australia but said after spending three or four weeks in the country he needs to take some time off to recover from the workload.

'It's not easy. I'm not sitting about all day, I'm doing lots of work during the day in clinic and then I'm covering the emergency department at night time,' he said.

Julia Creek in central-northern Queensland, 600km west of Townsville, is offering a base salary of between $400,000 and $514,000 for the right person and promises to help find a job for the GP's partner too

He said in any given week there would be at least two occasions where he would be up for several hours during the night and that it was very rare there would be someone to take over for him on the following day shift.

Dr Mrozinski went through the comments on a media story about the Julia Creek job and answered them.

He read out the suggestion that Australia should 'find local people and train them as doctors'.

His answer was that 'they do - they send them to the universities which are in the metropolitan areas and they end up meeting a partner there, starting a family and end up staying there. Can you blame them?'

Pictured is the ad from the North West Hospital and Health Service offering a huge salary to work in Julia Creek

Another commenter supported doctors, saying doctors in rural areas ended up 'working on call 24/7 with no schools for kids, no jobs for partners'.

'Absolutely,' Dr Mrozinski said.

'It can be a really lonely lifestyle when you're working away, and I can only do it for certain amounts of time.

'We're not robots, we're human beings and we need everything the same as everybody else.'

A commenter said Australia should bring in more doctors from abroad to work in rural areas, including those who may otherwise be based in third world countries.

But Dr Mrozinski quickly shut down this idea.

Dr Mrozinski said it was a 'really lonely lifestyle' to work in a rural area and doctors weren't 'robots, we're human beings and we need everything the same as everybody else'

'How ethical is it to steal doctors from other countries, from third world countries and bring them to Australia to work in our remote areas,' he said.

The doctor focused on the particular difficulties of being the only doctor in a town.

'It's 24/7. You could be called at any time. You could have a road traffic accident that you have to look after yourself, multiple traumas, horrible stuff,' he said.

'No support and no breaks.'

Finally he dealt with a commenter who said 'you don't become a doctor because you want to help people. I know you must be paid, but that's all it's about now'.

'It's not. They're offering $500k and nobody's taking it. How can you not understand that? There's more to life than money,' he clapped back.
The mum of an Indigenous schoolboy who died after allegedly being bashed with a metal pole has thanked Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for condemning the attack.

Mechelle Turvey - whose son Cassius, 15, died in hospital 10 days after the October 13 attack - was distraught as she gathered with hundreds of friends, family and supporters in Perth on Saturday.

She said Mr Albanese's comments were 'the words the whole country has been waiting to hear... they're just words but they mean so much to us'.

Mr Albanese offered his sympathy to the family on Friday and said the alleged attack was 'clearly racially motivated'.

'We are a better country than that, and my heart goes out to the family and the friends,' he added.

Mechelle Turvey and Cassius Turvey (pictured together). The 15-year-old died after he was bashed walking home from school

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (pictured) said the alleged attack was 'clearly racially motivated'

Ms Turvey said the comments showed the PM was 'on the same page as our hearts'.

'He (Cassius) is not just my loss, he's everyone's loss, even people that didn't know him,' she told 9News.

'This is the worst thing to happen but this (the gathering) is just amazing, it's just bringing community together. This is black and white, you can see the diversity of people here.'

She said she would like to hear similar comments from Western Australia Police Commissioner Col Blanch.

The state's top cop previously said that Cassius may have been 'in the wrong place at the wrong time', a comment that sparked outrage online.

Ms Turvey (pictured) said she was heartened by the show of support she received from the large crowd

Hundreds gathered in Perth on Saturday to remember Cassius Turvey (pictured)

He told 6PR radio earlier this week that the alleged attack was sparked by a 'damage incident' where windows had been broken.

Host Gareth Parker asked Cmr Blanch if police had any evidence to suggest Cassius and his friends had been involved in the damage incident.

'At this point in the investigation, we've got nothing to suggest that,' he said.

'It may be a case of mistaken identity. It may be a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but I wouldn't want anyone in the community to jump to any conclusions.'

Some social media users accused Cmr Blanch's of 'victim blaming' while others said police were refusing to see the incident for what is is - 'clear racism'.

Cassius Turvey (pictured) was allegedly bludgeoned with a metal pipe that could have been a shopping trolley handle when he and three friends were on their way home from school

But one commenter defended the top cop saying: 'He was saying the police were looking into whether it was mistaken identity, in trying to identify a motive'.

One of the alleged attackers was 21-year-old Jack Steven James Brearley, (pictured) who has been since been charged with murder

Commissioner Blanch insisted police were not 'operating on any principles of racism or motivations at this point,' and that investigations were ongoing.

Cassius was walking home from school with friends on October 13 in Perth when a group of men allegedly chased the boys with a machete and metal pipes.

While his friends took cover in a local TAFE, Cassius was caught by the group and was allegedly severely beaten, sustaining severe head injuries in the attack.

The girlfriend of Jack Brearley, the man accused of Cassius' murder, was the alleged driver of the group's getaway car.

Police allege she was also on bail for multiple assault charges.

The woman is understood to have been behind the wheel of the black utility when it pulled up beside the teenagers on Paterson Drive in Middle Swan.

The boys claimed she yelled racial slurs from the vehicle before her boyfriend Jack Brearley, 21, allegedly beat Cassius.

Mr Brearley has been charged with murder over the attack and his girlfriend is currently cooperating with WA Police, the West Australian reported.

She is set to appear in Perth Magistrates Court next month for unrelated charges including two counts of common assault, one count of possessing cocaine and one count of attempted aggravated robbery.
Qatar Airways' CEO has taken a cheeky dig at Qantas after the national carrier opposed the Middle Eastern airline's bid to double its flights to Australia to 21 a week.

Akbar Al Baker has been pushing for Qatar Airways to add more flights to Australia but his proposal has constantly been blocked by authorities.

Qantas again attempted to stop Qatar Airways in its latest expansion bid by submitting an application to the federal government on Tuesday.

The Qatar Airways CEO (pictured, Akbar Al Baker) has made a dig at Qantas after the national airline opposed its bid to increase the number of flights to Australia to 21 per week

Qantas has attempted to stop Qatar Airways in its latest bid by submitting an application to the federal government on Tuesday (pictured, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce)

Qantas claimed it would be unfair and lead to the loss of more Australian jobs if Qatar Airways was allowed to expand.

But our national carrier's attempt to stop the airline was met with a swift comeback from Mr Baker where he urged the federal government 'this time' to remember 'the commitment of Qatar Airlines at difficult times'.

He called out Qantas for cutting its number of flights, accusing it of raising ticket prices and only acting in the interest of its shareholders.

'The largest operator in Australia (Qantas) has cut its flight to 50 per cent of pre-Covid level, more than doubled the price of the fares to the Australian people in the benefit of the shareholders,' Mr Baker told Sky News on Friday.

'In addition, getting billions of dollars of state aid during the pandemic period in 20 and 21.

'And at the same time, even their large international partner has also cut flights to only 50 per cent to pre-Covid levels.'

Mr Baker said Qatar Airways had continued to play an important role during the pandemic.

'We connected Australian people to the world during the most difficult period in aviation history,' he said.

'We continued uninterrupted at the peak of the Covid, serving the three main points in Australia  Sydney, Perth and Melbourne. We also added during the pandemic Brisbane to the network.'

Mr Joyce said the issues plaguing Qantas would likely continue for the next 18 months due to aviation supply chain issues from plane manufacturers.

He explained at an American Chamber of Commerce Australia event in Sydney on October 24 that supply chain woes were still a major concern for aviation presently as the industry worked to recover from Covid.

Mr Joyce says the issues plaguing the airline will likely continue for the next 18 months due to aviation supply chain issues from plane manufacturers (stock image)

Plane manufacturers have been struggling to provide spare parts quickly enough for airlines trying to accommodate more passengers as operations and air flight returns to pre-pandemic levels.

'Aircraft windshelds are now a worldwide restricted item,' he said.

'We used to be able to replace a windshield in 12 hours, maybe 24.

'It took Jetstar nearly seven days to source last month.'

Mr Joyce admitted the company was just 11 weeks from going broke at the start of the Covid pandemic in March 2020.

Mr Joyce admitted the company was just 11 weeks from going broke at the start of the Covid pandemic in March 2020

However Qatar Airways is also not without its controveries.

The airline is being sued by five Australian women after they were allegedly strip searched at gunpoint at Doha Airport after a baby was found in a bathroom.

Hundreds of women were forcibly removed from aircraft at Doha on October 2, 2020 as officials searched for the mother of a newborn baby in a bathroom at the terminal.

The women were removed by armed guards and many say they were forced to conduct non-consensual gynaecological or intimate physical examinations.

Out of the 18 Australian women involved in the incident, five have now taken their action to the Federal Court after failing to gain compensation from the Qatari government through other channels.

One passenger was forced to undergo a strip search holding her five-month old son, the lawsuit claims. Another, who is elderly and legally blind, was directed out of the aircraft but was not subject to a search.
Kanye West went on a bizarre rant on Friday night in front of gathered paparazzi in which he apologized for falsely claiming George Floyd died from the narcotic drug fentanyl rather than the reality which saw a Minneapolis police officer suffocating him by placing a knee on his neck for nine minutes.

West, who now goes by Ye, engaged with photographers for a lengthy conversation in which he also said he did not realize he was being anti-Semitic in earlier comments.

While West didn't apologize while making his remarks, he did say that he had been 'humbled' with the furor costing him an estimated $1 billion in business deals, including his highly-successful Yeezy line of clothing sold by Adidas.

Kanye West apologized for falsely claiming George Floyd died from the narcotic drug fentanyl rather than at the hands of a police officer in May 2020

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was killed in Minneapolis, Minnesota during an arrest for allegedly using a counterfeit bill

West equated the experience akin to having a 'knee on my neck' in a direct comparison with Floyd's 2020 death under the hands of officer Derek Chauvin.

The conversation was both convoluted and confusing in which West would make statements before retracting them simultaneously.

'When I see that video as a black person, it hurts my feelings. And I know that police do attack and America is generally racist,' he said to waiting photographers. 'And I understand that when we got to say Black Lives Matter, that the idea of it made us feel good together as a people, right?

'So when I questioned the death of George Floyd, it hurt my people. I want to apologize. Because God has showed me by what Adidas is doing, by what the media is doing, I know how it feels to have a knee on my neck now,' he continued.

'So thank you God for humbling me and letting me know how it really felt. Because how could the richest black men ever be humbled other than to be made to not be a billionaire in front of everyone off of one comment.'

The family of George Floyd is currently in the midst of preparing a $250 million lawsuit against West for his unfounded claims made during a podcast earlier this month.

West spoke at length to gathered photographers but much of what he had to say made little sense

During the Drink Champs podcast, West alleged that Floyd died from a fentanyl overdose. In the same interview, which has since been taken down by YouTube, West also made anti-Semitic comments.

In May 2020, Floyds death sparked international outrage and sparked a global conversation about police brutality in the US after white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee against the neck of the unarmed black man for a total of nine minutes and 29 seconds during an arrest outside a Cup Foods grocery store.

In April 2021, Chauvin was found guilty of three murder and manslaughter charges and is now serving two prison sentences concurrently of more than 22 years. Three other officers involved in the incident received lighter sentences.

In May 2020, Floyds death sparked international outrage and sparked a global conversation about police brutality in the US after white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee against the neck of the unarmed black man for a total of nine minutes and 29 seconds during an arrest outside a Cup Foods grocery store

Furthermore, his anti-Semitic comment made on social media within the past week has proved costly and led to an exodus of brands and companies dropping the rapper, including talent agency CAA.

Other brands including fashion house Balenciaga, and banking giant JP Morgan Chase have also dropped him.

His total wealth plummeted as it fell from a reported $2 billion to around $500 million following Adidas severing ties with him.

West showed reporters and cameramen a list on Friday of Jewish executives at top media companies that the rapper believes are now targeting him

Last week, Hollywood super-agent Ari Emmanuel - who is Jewish - wrote a letter directed at members of his industry, encouraging them to disassociate from West and stop doing business with him.

Later on in the conversation, West said he believes God has been humbling him for bragging often about his wealth - much of which he has lost due to suspended brand deals.

West has famously declined to take any mood-stabilizing drugs - despite his diagnosis.

He said that if a doctor were to mix up a pill of his, he could end up like Prince - who died by accidental fentanyl overdose - or Michael Jackson - who died of anesthesia poisoning.

West has famously declined to take any mood-stabilizing drugs - despite his diagnosis

A host of high-profile brands have dropped Ye in recent days and weeks amid ongoing controversy over his social media posts and rants
A wannabe robber was thwarted by a group of residents of the Indiana apartment he attempted to steal from, before keeping him from getting away using their own firearms.

Marrell Tyler, 18, attempted to break into the Annex of Kokomo apartments in Kokomo, Indiana at about 3:25 a.m. on Thursday.

When police arrived shortly after, they discovered Tyler beaten up and being held at gunpoint by the three men who were inside the residence he broke into.

Police said the men told them that the 18-year-old had broken into the apartment wearing a ski mask and pointing a gun.

They thwarted Tyler's hopes of robbing them by jumping him and knocking the gun he was holding out of his hands before pinning him to the floor.

Marrell Tyler, 18, attempted to break into the Annex of Kokomo apartments in Kokomo, Indiana at about 3:25 a.m. on Thursday

When police arrived at the apartments (pictured) shortly after, they discovered Tyler beaten up and being held at gunpoint by the three men who were inside the residence he broke into

After he was hospitalized, the teenage bandit was sent to Howard County Criminal Justice Center

Tyler then attempted to pull out a second gun, according to Fox 59 and even fired it, but no one was injured.

One of the residents was able to grab his own gun, using it to stop Tyler and keep him there until the police showed up.

Both the victims and Tyler suffered multiple facial injuries. Tyler's were the only ones bad enough to require hospitalization.

After he was hospitalized, the teenage bandit was sent to Howard County Criminal Justice Center.

He was soon after arrested on a level two felony charge of burglary, which carries a sentence of three to seven years in prison in Indiana if convicted.

Police are still investigating and asking anyone who might have further information to come forward.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks with members of the media as he visits Croydon University Hospital, Oct. 28. Reuters-Yonhap



World leaders have sent messages of condolences and support to Korea after a deadly stampede in Seoul's Itaewon district killed at least 151 people during Halloween celebrations.



"We grieve with the people of the Republic of Korea and send our best wishes for a quick recovery to all those who were injured," U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement.



British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a tweet, "All our thoughts are with those currently responding and all Koreans at this very distressing time."



In a message written in French and Korean, French President Emmanuel Macron said, "I extend my condolences to the citizens of Seoul and the Korean people in the Itaewon disaster. France is by your side."





French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech in front of people involved in fighting wildfires last summer, at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Oct. 28. Reuters-Yonhap
A Perth man has been charged in North Macedonia with crimes the police allege makes him a major link in a transnational crime network.

It will be alleged Ilija Raftoski led the coordination, importation and distribution of illicit drugs and cash into Western Australia.

WA police seized about $7million in cash, three kilograms of methylamphetamine or ice, 28kg of heroin, six firearms and 3,000 rounds of ammunition in recent months.

A video of the operation to arrest Raftoski showed heavily armed police officers wearing riot gear and carrying shields in the early hours of the morning.

After one officer smashed the door of Raftoski's apartment in North Macedonia, the others rushed through to arrest him.

The bearded Raftoski, 27, was then shown put up against a wall as he was arrested and handcuffed.

Perth man Ilija Raftoski (pictured centre) is taken into custody in North Macedonia on information provided by WA police

Officers were then seen searching a bedroom and packing away evidence, before Raftoski, who was dressed in a tracksuit, is taken into custody.

Raftoski faces years in North Macedonia's notorious prison system if he is found guilty.

He appeared before a court in North Macedonia on Friday, it was revealed on Sunday.

The US Drug Enforcement Administration, which worked with Western Australia Police on the operations, praised their efforts.

'The Western Australia Police Force have proven again that they are prepared to go to the ends of the earth to keep the scourge of drugs from the shores of Australia and the streets of Western Australia,' the DEA's Australia Country Office attache Kevin Merkel said.

'The results ... speak for themselves.'

In related news, an East Victoria Park man, 61, has been charged with serious drug offences alongside two other Perth men aged 64 and 68.

The charges were laid after an operation in August stemming from a Serious and Organised Crime Division investigation into the 61-year-old, who is believed to have links to Balkan organised crime.

The operation is one of three conducted in Perth in the past few months related to the distribution of methylamphetamine and heroin, resulting in a total of 19 arrests and 52 charges.

Ilija Raftoski, 27, from Western Australia, is pictured being arrested in North Macedonia

The two other operations are believed to be linked to criminal networks operating internationally, nationally and within WA, in Kenwick and Midland.

WA Acting Commissioner Col Blanch said the seizures and arrests showed renewed efforts to target criminal networks were paying off.

'We continue to adapt to the business models used by criminal groups and are using innovative and unique investigative tactics to identify, infiltrate and disrupt those criminal networks,' he said on Sunday.

'Anyone in WA who thinks they are safe using encrypted communications to purchase drugs or facilitate their movement need to think again.

'Over a dozen people from several WA-based criminal networks all thought they were safe - and they were all wrong.'

North Macedonian police officers are pictured smashing in an apartment door to arrest Perth man Ilija Raftoski

Raftoski, who previously worked as a security guard in Perth, landed on police radar during last year's Operation Comstock, in which 13 West Australians were charged, The West Australian reported.

'It will be alleged the 27-year-old man, who resides in North Macedonia, led the co-ordination, importation and distribution of illicit drugs and cash into WA,' police said.

'Detectives from the serious and organised crime division with the assistance of Australian Federal Police travelled to North Macedonia earlier this month to work with local authorities, after an arrest warrant was issued at the request of WA Police.

'On Thursday, North Macedonia drug squad executed two search warrants linked to the man.'

Raftoski was charged with criminal association and the production and selling of illegal drugs.

WA detectives flew to North Macedonia to help police with the investigation.

Raftoski was banned from doing 'high-level security work' in WA in 2019.
Elon Musk fired four senior Twitter executives 'for cause', according to a report, in an apparent bid to avoid having to pay them multimillion-dollar severance packages.

Musk, 51, took control of Twitter on Thursday, on completion of a contentious $44 billion deal.

He immediately fired the CEO, chief financial officer, head of legal, and general counsel.

Twitter's securities filings show that senior executives are entitled to a year's pay and accelerated vesting of at least a portion of their unvested stock awards if they are fired for any reason - other than cause - within a year of a company changing hands.

Parag Agrawal, the CEO, who repeatedly clashed with Musk over the number of users Twitter has, was reported to be walking away from his job with $42 million, after being a chief executive officer for just under a year.

Twitter's former top lawyer Vijaya Gadde, who earned $17 million in 2021, was reportedly in tears in April when Musk's takeover first came to light. She was in line for a $12.5 million payout, Insider said.

Ex-CFO Ned Segal  who was the man behind Donald Trump's Twitter ban  was expected to receive $25.4 million after being fired by Musk on Thursday evening.

The payout for the general counsel, Sean Edgett, was unknown.

Musk's reason for firing the four 'for cause' was not known, The Information reported.

Musk posted a video of himself marching into Twitter's San Francisco headquarters carrying a porcelain sink on Wednesday

CEO Parag Agrawal (left) and head of legal policy Vijaya Gadde (right) were both in line for large payouts

Sean Edgett (left), the general counsel, and Ned Segal, chief financial officer for Twitter (right), have also reportedly been fired

Firing the four 'for cause' will likely lead to them challenging Musk in court.

It was also reported on Saturday that Musk will soon begin firing other members of staff - in part to avoid a November 1 distribution of stock grants to employees.

Musk has said multiple times that he plans on trimming down the company and making it profitable, and ever since his takeover was first raised in April staff have braced themselves for job losses.

In a securities filing on April 14, Musk said he did not have confidence in Twitter's management and initially vowed to sack 75 percent of the workforce when he formally bought the tech giant.

On Saturday, The New York Times said the losses could come immediately - in part to skirt the November 1 deadline.

Four sources told the paper that some managers are being asked to draw up lists of employees to cut, as Musk tries to whittle down the staff numbers from its current 7,500.

Musk on Saturday did not discuss his plans - instead tweeting about the delights of bread, pastry and carbohydrates.

'Finally, the truth that carbs are amazing can be said on this platform! #FreeSpeech,' he tweeted.

He added: '#SoBrave'

Elon Musk confirmed on Thursday that he has bought Twitter ahead of a court-imposed deadline to seal his $44billion takeover of the company

Musk is believed to have ordered the cuts across the company, with some teams to be harder hit than others, said three of the people.

It was not clear how many people would be let go.

Just a day before being fired by Musk, Twitter lawyer Vijaya Gadde was photographed glaring at her new boss in an awkward meet-up with other employees at the HQ coffee bar.

Gadde, widely considered the 'head of censorship' at Twitter, had been vocal in her criticism of Musk; she cried during a meeting in April after he first announced plans to buy the company. She was a well-known Democrat donor and was behind the decision to squash links to a New York Post story about Hunter Biden's incriminating laptop before the 2020 election.

Musk had publicly slammed her for the decision.

On Wednesday, she was spotted with Musk and others at the coffee bar at Twitter HQ. The next day, she was fired along with CEO Parag Agrawal and CFO Ned Segal.

But she walks away with a sizeable payout - a total of $72million in stocks that she owned, salary and benefits, and stocks that had not yet vested when she was in her position but which are now paid out as part of the deal.

MarketWatch reports that Gadde, Agrawal and Segal take a combined 'golden parachute' of $204million; Agrawal gets $66million and Segal takes $65million.

Musk has not yet publicly named their replacements but he is expected to act as interim CEO at least on a temporary basis.

Friday also marked the return of Musk's friend, Kanye West, to Twitter after the troubled rapper was suspended from the platform following a series of anti-Semitic rants on social media.

Elon Musk speaks with employees including fired top counsel Vijaya Gadde (left) on Wednesday after taking over at Twitter. She was responsible for permanently banning President Trump from the site - a move that Musk says he will reverse

Musk at the Twitter coffee bar yesterday. He has vowed to fire 75 percent of the staff - to the dismay of many senior employees

There's a new sheriff in town: Elon Musk tweets on Friday morning after taking over the company

TWITTER'S HEAD OF CENSORSHIP: LAWYER WHO BANNED TRUMP & DONATED $16,000 TO THE DEMOCRATS Vijaya Gadde's had been a low-key Silicon Valley power player for years, and at Twitter played a key role in the contentious decisions to ban Donald Trump and suppress news articles about Hunter Biden's laptop. After moving to the US from India with her family as a toddler, Gadde and her family faced racism as she grew up in Beaumont, Texas, where she has said her father had to seek approval from the Ku Klux Klan to sell insurance door-to-door. Federal records show that she has also donated regularly to Democratic candidates, contributing more than $18,000 over the past two decades, and most recently supporting Kamala Harris with a $2,700 check in 2019. As Twitter's chief legal officer and general counsel, Gadde exercises enormous power at the company, where she has long essentially had final say over who is allowed on the platform, and what they can tweet. In an interview with Bloomberg, Gadde once said that Twitter's former CEO Jack Dorsey left the creation and enforcement of content policies up to her. 'He rarely weighs in on an individual enforcement decision,' Gadde told the outlet. 'I can't even think of a time. I usually go to him and say, 'this is what's going to happen.'' Although she maintains a low profile, that power has put Gadde at the center of some of Twitter's most controversial moderation decisions, including the decision to permanently ban Trump after his supporters stormed the US Capitol in January 2021. She also signed off on Twitter's move to block the sharing of links to a New York Post article based on files from Hunter Biden's abandoned laptop soon before the 2020 election. Advertisement

As Musk ushered them out last night, he asked Tesla engineers to visit HQ today to start rewriting the website's code.

Among his plans is to open source algorithms to increase transparency for users about how their data is used to suggest content to them, and to add an 'edit' button for all.

He also plans to allow President Trump back on the site.

Trump welcomed his takeover on Friday, writing on his own social media site Truth Social: 'TRUTH SOCIAL has become somewhat of a phenomena.

'Last week it had bigger numbers than all other platforms, including TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, and the rest.

'It also looks and works better to my eye. I am very happy that Twitter is now in sane hands, and will no longer be run by Radical Left Lunatics and Maniacs that truly hate our country.

'Twitter must now work hard to rid itself of all of the bots and fake accounts that have hurt it so badly.

'It will be much smaller, but better. I LOVE TRUTH!'

Conservative figures who were banned from the platform now hope that his stated commitment to free speech will allow them to return.

The big names booted from Twitter include Donald Trump, Roger Stone, Alex Jones, Steve Bannon and US Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Among those who have decried his plans as dangerous is the former head of global public policy, Colin Crowell.

He left Twitter in 2019, long before Musk had designs on the site, but told The New York Times: 'It's a 'back-to-the-future' reversion to content rules circa 2010, but one that ignores the lived experience over the last decade.

'People eventually realize that the Wild West needs a sheriff, both for ensuring the safety of citizens but also for enhancing the prospects for commerce.'

Twitter shares have risen steadily throughout the week in anticipation of the takeover, but they will be halted on Friday on the NYSE.

Musk plans to take the company private - a move that will somewhat shield him from the regulation and bureaucracy he faces with a publicly traded company.

Twitter's former top lawyer Gadde, who earned $17 million in 2021, was reportedly in tears in April when Musk's takeover first came to light. She has now been paid out $12.5 million for her troubles, Insider said.

Ex-CFO Segal  who was the man behind Mr Trump's Twitter ban  also received the handsome sum of $25.4 million after being fired by Musk on Thursday evening.

And former CCO Sarah Personette was handed $11.2 million as part of Musk's house clearance.

Despite Musk's obvious delight with the astonishing deal which will go down in history, some experts have claimed that he has 'overpaid' for the platform.

Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, told the US Sun that the deal 'will go down as one of the most overpaid tech acquisitions in the history of M&A deals on the Street in our opinion'.

Ives, who works for an LA-based investment firm, estimates the value of the company to be closer to $25 billion rather than the $44 billion.

'With fair value that we would peg at roughly $25 billion, Musk buying Twitter remains a major head-scratcher that ultimately he could not get out of once the Delaware Courts got involved,' he said.

In the lead-up to the South African's buyout of the social media firm, the market positively reacted, with share prices visibly improving.

They went up by 7.23 percent in the last five days and were up about 1 percent at $53.94 in early trading on Wednesday.

The stock has surged nearly 65 percent from a four-month low hit in July.

However, after Musk's purchase, the New York Stock Exchange's website showed that Twitter shares would be suspended from trading.

The South African publicly criticized Twitter's existing leadership team - in particular, attacking their policies on content moderation and censorship. He has also sparred with them over data on how many accounts were bots or spam.

This deal completion comes at the eleventh hour - just one day before Musk was going to be dragged back into court after being sued by Twitter for a back-and-forth he had over whether he was going to buy the company.

On Wednesday, the billionaire changed his Twitter profile to identify himself as the 'Chief Twit' and posted a video of himself walking into the company's San Francisco headquarters carrying a porcelain sink.

This fueled rumors that Musk had closed the deal to buy Twitter in which he shared the clip with the caption: 'Entering Twitter HQ, let that sink in'.

Agrawal, who took over from founder Jack Dorsey almost a year ago, has been at loggerheads with Musk over the number of genuine Twitter users, with Musk responding to a thread of Agrawal's in May with a 'poop' emoji.

When Musk first made his takeover bid in April, he said he had not been given accurate data about spam accounts and bots.

Three months after launching his bid, Musk pulled out  insisting he had been misled about the size of the firm.

Twitter has for years said that bots make up less than 5 percent of its 'monetizable daily active users' (mDAU).
This is the terrifying moment that a plane's engine burst into flames during take-off with more than 180 passengers on board in India, sparking a mass evacuation of the flight.

India's aviation regulator has since launched a probe to find out what caused the IndiGo airlines engine to catch fire on Friday.

The flight was carrying 184 people from Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport to tech hub Bangalore - the capital of India's southern Karnataka state.

It had just begun its thrust on the runway when the fire was spotted, forcing its pilot to abort the take-off and evacuate the cabin.

Incredible footage filmed from passengers on board shows the moment where bright orange sparks and flames burst out of the side.

Incredible footage taken from within the plane showed orange sparks from under the wing as the plane tried to take-off

Passengers also reported hearing a loud bang before spotting the flames. Thankfully there were no injuries reported and officials said that the plane was emptied safely.

Travellers have recalled the fear felt on board as many 'wanted to undo the straps of their belt and just get up'.

'Everyone was jittery and had their doubts and were trying to understand the situation'' one passenger told the Indian Express.

She described the plane gaining full speed and was about to take off before witnessing 'a huge flash/blaze of fire'.

'I do not know how many actually saw it at the time since many elderly people and children were sitting in those rows. But, everyone was aware of the fire,' she added.

Passengers have recalled the fear felt on board as many 'wanted to undo the straps of their belt and just get up'

Arun Kumar, chief of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, said: 'The priority is to carry out a detailed investigation of the incident and ascertain the reasons for the fire in the engine.

'Fortunately, the fire was extinguished swiftly and the aircraft is now grounded.'

IndiGo said the aircraft experienced a technical issue, 'immediately after which the pilot aborted the take-off and the aircraft safely returned to the bay'.

'All passengers and crew are safe and an alternative aircraft was arranged to operate the flight, which took off at 12.16 am on Saturday,' the company said in a statement.

IndiGo is the country's largest private budget airline and controls almost 60 percent of the domestic market.

IndiGo said the aircraft experienced a technical issue, 'immediately after which the pilot aborted the take-off and the aircraft safely returned to the bay'. (File image)

India has recorded numerous air safety breaches this year including several alarming incidents by SpiceJet, the country's second-largest carrier.

Seventeen people were injured when a SpiceJet flight from Mumbai struck turbulence in May, while in July a Dubai-bound plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Pakistan due to a faulty cockpit light.

Last month, an Air India Express plane was forced to abort take-off when an engine caught fire at Muscat airport in Oman, injuring several passengers.
Police have set up a crime scene as fire fighters continued to put out spot fires

The body of an 85-year-old woman was located in the smouldering ruins

A woman has tragically died after a fire ripped through a home with flames flying out of the roof and windows, forcing fire crews to dodge falling debris.

The 85-year-old's body was discovered in the gutted remains of the inner-west Sydney house on Fitzroy Street in Burwood on Saturday afternoon.

Fire and Rescue NSW Superintendent Adam Dewberry told Daily Mail Australia firefighters arrived to confronting scenes with flames bursting from windows and through the roof and smoke billowing into the air.

A body was found at the home following a search of the ruins and is yet to be formally identified

Fire and Rescue NSW Superintendent Adam Dewberry told Daily Mail Australia firefighters arrived to confronting scenes with flames bursting from windows and through the roof and smoke billowing into the air

'We got there and there was a section of the house with heavy fire activity,' he said.

'It was a bit dangerous as the roof was collapsing and there were tiles coming in on the firefighters,' he said.

The falling debris forced firefighters to put the flames out mainly from the outside.

Firefighters tried to extinguish the blaze and prevent it from igniting other homes, before the home was destroyed by the fire, Nine News reported.

Emergency crews spent the rest of the afternoon at the scene dousing spot fires which continued to reignite.

A woman, 85, tragically died after the fire ripped through a home with flames flying out of the roof and windows, forcing fire crews to dodge falling debris

Police are calling on anyone who was nearby or may have CCTV or dashcam footage to contact police immediately

Fire crews and police are investigating the cause and origin of the blaze.

The property has been declared as a crime scene.

Police are calling on anyone who was nearby or may have CCTV or dashcam footage to contact police immediately.

The woman's body is yet to be formally identified.
A hairdresser has revealed the devastating texts she received from a young employee as she watched her 16-year-old brother suffer a fatal heart attack.

Prue Taylor, who owns the Lady and the Hair Salon in Melton, west Melbourne told Daily Mail Australia she was wondering why her apprentice Chelsea Goggin, 18, hadn't turned up to work by 9am on Friday, 'which was totally out of character'.

Then she saw a frantic string of texts from Chelsea, with the first one being sent 10 minutes before her shift was due to start.

'Call me asap,' the first message said.

This was immediately followed by: 'My brothers heart has stopped beating and his not breathing' (sic).

Pictured: The series of texts hairdressing salon owner Prue Taylor found on her phone from a young apprentice who hadn't shown to work

Pictured: Helen Stephens with her 18-year-old daughter Chelsea and 16-year-old son Nathan, who tragically passed away after a fatal heart attack

'I had to call 000,' the next one read, before the final text stated: 'Mums not here yet'.

Ms Taylor still has the texts on her phone and says every time she reads them her eyes 'fill with tears'.

She is now trying to raise money for the family to help give Nathan 'the farewell he deserves'.

When Ms Taylor rang Chelsea she was watching ambulance officers try to revive her brother Nathan.

Chelsea said Nathan was fine on Thursday night but on Friday morning at about 8am he complained about a pain that 'was everywhere in his back'.

'I turned around to get him a water, didn't even leave the room and he collapsed,' Chelsea told Ms Taylor.

Prue Taylor, the owner of Melbourne salon the Lady and the Hair, is raising money to give Nathan the farewell 'he deserves'

After she called Triple 0 the ambulance arrived quickly and paramedics spent two and a half for two hours trying to revive him at the family's west Melbourne home in Melton.

They eventually took Nathan to the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne while Chelsea waited for her mother Helen Stephens to get home from her early morning shift at a bakery.

When Chelsea and her mother arrived arrived at hospital they were met with the devastating news that Nathan wasn't going to make it.

'They told us they have to do an autopsy and investigation as they don't know what it was,' Chelsea said.

Doctors have told the family they believe a back spasm may have triggered Nathan's heart attack

Doctors believe Nathan may have suffered a back spasm, which activated the aneurysm in his heart.

Ms Taylor has now set up a GoFundMe page to give Nathan the farewell 'he deserves'.

She said the family were just finding their feet financially after Ms Stephens separated from her partner, which had made it hard to get together the money for a house the couple were buying together.

'I feel for her so badly because they really have been through so much,' Ms Taylor said.

'They got the house. They were really excited. They finally got the finance.'

'They don't have a lot. They work for so hard for what they do have.

'This was the start of their new life together.'

On the GoFundMe page Ms Taylor wrote the family 'were really starting to see the rainbow after the storm and now they have been struck with this unimaginable loss it's not fair'.

Chelsea watched as paramedics fought for two and a half hours to revive her brother Nathan

Ms Taylor said that Nathan was a video game player and history buff who was a really good kid.

'He was so excited to have his first job at Kmart Melton,' she said.

'He was kind of kid that loved school and was never in any trouble. He never complained about anything just a really kind kid with a big heart

'Nathan will be sadly missed by all who knew him.'

Everyone at Ms Taylor's salon cried as soon as they heard the news.

Ms Taylor said Ms Stephens wants to share the story of what happened to Nathan 'because it would make her happy to know that it gives people a better perspective on life and how temporary it can be'.

'She hopes it helps one person hug their kids tighter and realise not every day is passed.'
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Thousands of costumed youngsters hit the town last night for a night of boozy celebration as Halloween festivities continued across the UK.

Partygoers in Portsmouth took to the streets in a huge range of weird and wonderful costumes on Saturday, from cowboys and cheerleaders to pirates and dragons.

Some took the spooky brief a little more seriously, dressing as Ghostbusters, blood-covered Little Red Riding Hoods and zombie brides and grooms.

Nottingham and Leeds were also packed with people dressed in a range of scary and not-so-scary costumes as clubbers enjoyed Saturday night celebrations in the city ahead of Halloween on Monday.

Thousands of partygoers also took to the streets of Newcastle, where friends dressed in a wonderful array of group costumes - from Scoobydoo characters to a posse of eight giant traffic cones.

Revellers were able to leave their jackets at home as they enjoyed the unseasonably warm weather, although some had to dodge occasional heavy showers which are set to continue for the rest of the Halloween weekend.

Many clubbers were also able to enjoy an extra-long night of celebration as some nightclubs stayed open an hour later due to the clocks going back at 2am this morning.

Police were out in force to keep the peace, in one of the busiest weekends for many forces around the country.

Most cities up and down the country remained calm, although scenes became increasingly more chaotic as the night wore on as revellers joined in the fun.

Thousands of people hit the bars and clubs in Portsmouth last night for a night of costumed celebration ahead of Halloween on Monday

A group of women wearing creepy fake contact lenses enjoy a night out in Newcastle, as thousands of revellers took to the streets for a night of partying

A group of friends in Nottingham donned black tops, black boots and pink cowboy hats as they took to the town last night

Some revellers took the Halloween brief a little more seriously, donning creepy skeleton make-up as they enjoyed a night out in Leeds

A group of women dressed in fluffy cowboy hats were amongst the thousands of people to hit the bars and clubs in Portsmouth last night

Two ladies dressed as Playboy bunnies and another wearing a police hat and badge stand outside the the Astoria nightclub in Portsmouth, where 2,000 people packed-in for the Halloween party

A group of eight friends wearing giant orange traffic cone costumes seemed to be having a great night in Newcastle

Two women in police costumes, complete with handcuffs and holsters, walked down the street in Nottingham last night

A woman in a Harlequin cheerleader costume enjoys the unseasonably warm weather in Portsmouth as Halloween celebrations continued for another night in the city

Two women pose in their witch and devil costumes as they partied in Newcastle last night ahead of Halloween on Monday

A group of friends in Leeds embraced the scary costumes as they covered themselves in fake blood, dressing up as what appeared to be Little Red Riding Hood, a zombie Prom Queen, Dracula and a convict

A group of friends in Newcastle dressed as Scoobydoo characters appear to have been joined by a man wearing an Ali G costume

Two women dressed as a devil and a cat appear to be enjoying a night of partying in Leeds, as revellers got to spend an extra hour on the town due to the clocks going back

The winner for the scariest costume has to be this man in Leeds who donned a headband to make it look like he was being stabbed through the head with a knife and splattered himself with fake blood

Revellers in Newcastle donned a range of weird and wonderful costumes, with one man wearing a giant shark outfit

A man in Portsmouth dressed in a full-body dragon costume must have been hoping for slightly cooler temperatures last night, as it didn't drop below the mid teens in many places

Most cities up and down the country remained calm, although scenes became increasingly more chaotic as the night wore on in a number of places as revellers joined in the fun

A group of friends pose outside the Astoria nightclub in Portsmouth, where clubbers got to party for an extra hour due to the clocks going back

A group of men raised their arms in celebration as they hit the streets of Newcastle last night wearing Hawaiian leis and grass skirts

A group of smiley women wave to the camera in Leeds as they celebrate Halloween dressed as a devil and Mario and Luigi

A group of girls donned black police costumes while their male friends dressed as prisoners in orange jumpsuits in Newcastle yesterday evening
Lisa Wilkinson has taken aim at Elon Musk in his first week in charge of Twitter, declaring the billionaire businessman will have no choice but to backtrack on his promise to deregulate free speech on the platform.

The Tesla billionaire took control of the social media juggernaut Thursday on completion of a contentious $44billion buyout he claims is 'helping humanity' by slashing censorship.

But day one data reveals racial slurs and insults are already surging with use of the N-word increasing 500 per cent.

'Any idea that Twitter is currently over regulated is crazy. Its already a cesspit,' Wilkinson said on the Sunday Project.

'I think he must have had a really quick look at the books as soon as he arrived because his very first messages were to advertisers because he realised he needs that money bad.'

Musk posted a video of himself marching into Twitter's San Francisco headquarters carrying a porcelain sink on Wednesday

Co-host Rachel Corbett added that there's a consensus for 'any business' that advertisers do not want to be 'anywhere near the cesspit social media can become'.

'There is a real risk that Elon is going to step it back even worse than it was before.

Among Musk's plans is to open source algorithms to increase transparency for users about how their data is used to suggest content to them, and to add an 'edit' button for all.

He also plans to allow Donald Trump back on the site after the former President was booted off in the wake of the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol building.

'They cant bring Trump back on,' Corbett said.

'It just seems like a billionaire who says Ive got all this money I want to do something funny. How funny would it be to bring Trump back on without any real understanding of or consideration of those kinds of actions.'

Comedian Michael Hing said Twitter users should prepare themselves for more insults and transphobia on the platform.

'They talk about this as a freedom of speech situation and this utopia where everyone can have these intelligent debates but actually what it means is a 500 per cent increase in racial slurs,' Hing said.

'Its always like freedom of speech but it just ends up being insults and transphobia.'

Lisa Wilkinson has taken aim at Elon Musk in his first week in charge of Twitter, declaring the billionaire businessman will have no choice but to backtrack on his promise to deregulate free speech on the platform

He immediately fired the CEO, chief financial officer, head of legal, and general counsel.

Musk has said he plans on trimming down the company and making it profitable, and ever since his takeover was first raised in April staff have braced themselves for job losses.

In a securities filing on April 14, Musk said he did not have confidence in Twitter's management and initially vowed to sack 75 percent of the workforce when he formally bought the tech giant.

On Saturday, The New York Times said the losses could come immediately - in part to skirt the November 1 deadline.

On November 1, employees will be issued with stock - for many, a large part of their annual compensation package.

Musk could avoid making the grants if the staff are let go before then, the paper reported.

Four sources told the paper that some managers are being asked to draw up lists of employees to cut, as Musk tries to whittle down the staff numbers from its current 7,500.

Musk on Saturday did not discuss his plans - instead tweeting about the delights of bread, pastry and carbohydrates.

'Finally, the truth that carbs are amazing can be said on this platform! #FreeSpeech,' he tweeted.

He added: '#SoBrave'

Musk is believed to have ordered the cuts across the company, with some teams to be harder hit than others, said three of the people.

It was not clear how many people would be let go.

Just a day before being fired by Musk, Twitter lawyer Vijaya Gadde was photographed glaring at her new boss in an awkward meet-up with other employees at the HQ coffee bar.

Gadde, widely considered the 'head of censorship' at Twitter, had been vocal in her criticism of Musk; she cried during a meeting in April after he first announced plans to buy the company. She was a well-known Democrat donor and was behind the decision to squash links to a New York Post story about Hunter Biden's incriminating laptop before the 2020 election.

Musk had publicly slammed her for the decision.

On Wednesday, she was spotted with Musk and others at the coffee bar at Twitter HQ. The next day, she was fired along with CEO Parag Agrawal and CFO Ned Segal.

But she walks away with a sizeable payout - a total of $72million in stocks that she owned, salary and benefits, and stocks that had not yet vested when she was in her position but which are now paid out as part of the deal.

MarketWatch reports that Gadde, Agrawal and Segal take a combined 'golden parachute' of $204million; Agrawal gets $66million and Segal takes $65million.

Musk has not yet publicly named their replacements but he is expected to act as interim CEO at least on a temporary basis.

Friday also marked the return of Musk's friend, Kanye West, to Twitter after the troubled rapper was suspended from the platform following a series of anti-Semitic rants on social media.

Elon Musk speaks with employees including fired top counsel Vijaya Gadde (left) on Wednesday after taking over at Twitter. She was responsible for permanently banning President Trump from the site - a move that Musk says he will reverse

Musk at the Twitter coffee bar yesterday. He has vowed to fire 75 percent of the staff - to the dismay of many senior employees

TWITTER'S HEAD OF CENSORSHIP: LAWYER WHO BANNED TRUMP & DONATED $16,000 TO THE DEMOCRATS Vijaya Gadde's had been a low-key Silicon Valley power player for years, and at Twitter played a key role in the contentious decisions to ban Donald Trump and suppress news articles about Hunter Biden's laptop. After moving to the US from India with her family as a toddler, Gadde and her family faced racism as she grew up in Beaumont, Texas, where she has said her father had to seek approval from the Ku Klux Klan to sell insurance door-to-door. Federal records show that she has also donated regularly to Democratic candidates, contributing more than $18,000 over the past two decades, and most recently supporting Kamala Harris with a $2,700 check in 2019. As Twitter's chief legal officer and general counsel, Gadde exercises enormous power at the company, where she has long essentially had final say over who is allowed on the platform, and what they can tweet. In an interview with Bloomberg, Gadde once said that Twitter's former CEO Jack Dorsey left the creation and enforcement of content policies up to her. 'He rarely weighs in on an individual enforcement decision,' Gadde told the outlet. 'I can't even think of a time. I usually go to him and say, 'this is what's going to happen.'' Although she maintains a low profile, that power has put Gadde at the center of some of Twitter's most controversial moderation decisions, including the decision to permanently ban Trump after his supporters stormed the US Capitol in January 2021. She also signed off on Twitter's move to block the sharing of links to a New York Post article based on files from Hunter Biden's abandoned laptop soon before the 2020 election. Advertisement

As Musk ushered them out last night, he asked Tesla engineers to visit HQ today to start rewriting the website's code.

Among his plans is to open source algorithms to increase transparency for users about how their data is used to suggest content to them, and to add an 'edit' button for all.

Conservative figures who were banned from the platform now hope that his stated commitment to free speech will allow them to return.

The big names booted from Twitter include Donald Trump, Roger Stone, Alex Jones, Steve Bannon and US Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Among those who have decried his plans as dangerous is the former head of global public policy, Colin Crowell.

He left Twitter in 2019, long before Musk had designs on the site, but told The New York Times: 'Its a back-to-the-future reversion to content rules circa 2010, but one that ignores the lived experience over the last decade.

'People eventually realize that the Wild West needs a sheriff, both for ensuring the safety of citizens but also for enhancing the prospects for commerce.'

Twitter shares have risen steadily throughout the week in anticipation of the takeover, but they will be halted on Friday on the NYSE.

Musk plans to take the company private - a move that will somewhat shield him from the regulation and bureaucracy he faces with a publicly traded company.

Twitter's former top lawyer Gadde, who earned $17 million in 2021, was reportedly in tears in April when Musk's takeover first came to light. She has now been paid out $12.5 million for her troubles, Insider said.

Ex-CFO Segal  who was the man behind Mr Trump's Twitter ban  also received the handsome sum of $25.4 million after being fired by Musk on Thursday evening.

And former CCO Sarah Personette was handed $11.2 million as part of Musk's house clearance.

Despite Musk's obvious delight with the astonishing deal which will go down in history, some experts have claimed that he has 'overpaid' for the platform.

Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, told the US Sun that the deal 'will go down as one of the most overpaid tech acquisitions in the history of M&A deals on the Street in our opinion'.

Ives, who works for an LA-based investment firm, estimates the value of the company to be closer to $25billion rather than the $44billion.

'With fair value that we would peg at roughly $25billion, Musk buying Twitter remains a major head-scratcher that ultimately he could not get out of once the Delaware Courts got involved,' he said.

In the lead-up to the South African's buyout of the social media firm, the market positively reacted, with share prices visibly improving.

They went up by 7.23 per cent in the last five days and were up about 1 per cent at $53.94 in early trading on Wednesday.

Sean Edgett (left), the general counsel, and Ned Segal, chief financial officer for Twitter (right), have also reportedly been fired

Sarah Personette (left) tweeted on Wednesday that she was excited to work with Elon Musk  and was fired by him the next day

The stock has surged nearly 65 percent from a four-month low hit in July.

However, after Musk's purchase, the New York Stock Exchange's website showed that Twitter shares would be suspended from trading.

The South African publicly criticized Twitter's existing leadership team - in particular, attacking their policies on content moderation and censorship. He has also sparred with them over data on how many accounts were bots or spam.

This deal completion comes at the eleventh hour - just one day before Musk was going to be dragged back into court after being sued by Twitter for a back-and-forth he had over whether he was going to buy the company.

On Wednesday, the billionaire changed his Twitter profile to identify himself as the 'Chief Twit' and posted a video of himself walking into the company's San Francisco headquarters carrying a porcelain sink.

This fueled rumors that Musk had closed the deal to buy Twitter in which he shared the clip with the caption: 'Entering Twitter HQ, let that sink in'.

The platform's co-founder Biz Stone confirmed their departures last night

Agrawal, who took over from founder Jack Dorsey almost a year ago, has been at loggerheads with Musk over the number of genuine Twitter users, with Musk responding to a thread of Agrawal's in May with a 'poop' emoji.

When Musk first made his takeover bid in April, he said he had not been given accurate data about spam accounts and bots.

Three months after launching his bid, Musk pulled out  insisting he had been misled about the size of the firm.

Twitter has for years said that bots make up less than 5 percent of its 'monetizable daily active users' (mDAU).
Michael Gove insisted the UK has 'robust protocols' on cyber security today amid claims Liz Truss's personal mobile phone was hacked by agents suspected of working for the Kremlin.

The Cabinet minister said such issues were taken 'incredibly seriously' as he was grilled on the extraordinary revelations in the Mail on Sunday.

Cyber-spies are believed to have gained access to top-secret exchanges with key international partners as well as private conversations with her leading political ally, Kwasi Kwarteng.

One source told the newspaper the phone was so heavily compromised that it has now been placed in a locked safe inside a secure Government location.

Liz Truss's personal phone - including private messages she exchanged with Kwasi Kwarteng - was hacked by agents suspected of working for Russian President Vladimir Putin

Michael Gove insisted the UK has 'robust protocols' on cyber security today, saying that he was sure Ms Truss would have followed official advice

The hack was discovered during the summer's Tory leadership campaign, when Ms Truss was Foreign Secretary, but the details were suppressed by Boris Johnson, who was Prime Minister at the time, and the Cabinet Secretary, Simon Case.

The messages which fell into foreign hands are believed to have included criticisms Ms Truss and her future Chancellor Mr Kwarteng made of Mr Johnson, leading to the potential risk of blackmail. Sources said that up to a year's worth of messages were downloaded.

They are also thought to have included highly sensitive discussions with senior international foreign ministers about the war in Ukraine, including detailed discussions about arms shipments.

Mr Gove, who made a return to Cabinet this week as Levelling Up Secretary, told Sky News's Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme: 'I don't know the full details of what security breach, if any, took place.

'What I do know is that the Government has very robust protocols in place in order to make sure that individuals are protected, but also that Government security and national security are protected as well.'

Asked about reports the alleged breach was covered up by the Cabinet Secretary, Mr Gove said: 'I'm sure that Liz both as foreign secretary and as prime minister will have followed the advice that she was given by the intelligence and security communities.

'I think all of us have to be sensitive, particularly those of us in Government, to the fact that the more that we talk in detail about these things, the more that we risk giving information to people who wish this country and its citizens harm.

'We do take security issues incredibly seriously. That's why, again, I have to be cautious in responding to the point that you understandably made about Liz's phone.'

A former head of the British Army said the security breach shows 'ill discipline'.

Lord Dannatt told Times Radio: 'Our leaders must be sufficiently disciplined to only communicate through authorised means which themselves are encrypted and are secure.

'We've seen it with Suella Braverman, apparently sending messages that she shouldn't have done on a personal email, and now we get it with Liz Truss.

'This, frankly, is not good enough, if these people aspire to be in senior positions, positions of leadership, they've got to be disciplined, they've got to follow the rules, or, frankly, we'll put other people in their place.'

Asked if political leaders should be using certain messaging services, he added: 'If you want to communicate government business, use an encrypted handheld device, use a secure telephone line, use a secure means of communication.

'People in senior positions have got access to these secure means of communicating and they should use them, not doing so is ill discipline and, frankly, reflects very poorly on their judgment.'

The astonishing incident, disclosed by security sources, shed light on the mystery of why Ms Truss was forced to change the mobile number she had used for over a decade shortly before becoming Prime Minister.

The move caused anxiety among Cabinet Ministers and advisers who were suddenly unable to contact her.

A source with knowledge of the incident said yesterday that the security breach 'caused absolute pandemonium  Boris was told immediately, and it was agreed with the Cabinet Secretary that there should be a total news blackout.

'It is not a great look for the intelligence services if the Foreign Secretary's phone can be so easily plundered for embarrassing personal messages by agents presumed to be working for Vladimir Putin's Russia.'

Allies of Ms Truss said she was worried that if news of the hack leaked, it could derail her chance of claiming the Premiership, adding that she 'had trouble sleeping' until Mr Case imposed a news blackout.

A source with knowledge of the incident said yesterday that the security breach 'caused absolute pandemonium  Boris was told immediately, and it was agreed with the Cabinet Secretary that there should be a total news blackout

Former Conservative Party leader and leading Russia critic Iain Duncan Smith said: 'This is what we're up against. Russia does this all the time. This is their sole purpose  their way to get back at us. We are all far too casual about our phones in general. Ministers should be much more careful and should not be using their personal phones for anything. I assume my private phone is being hacked.'

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: 'This is extremely serious  it shows the severity of the threats from countries that would do us harm and why cyber-security needs to be taken so seriously by everyone in Government. We need to know that the Government recognises the gravity of this.'

A Government spokesman said last night: 'We do not comment on individuals' security arrangements. The Government has robust systems in place to protect against cyber threats. That includes regular security briefings for Ministers, and advice on protecting their personal data.'

It is believed agents, suspected to have been working for Russian President Vladimir Putin, gained access to top-secret details of negotiations with key international allies

Security expert Professor Antony Glees said he was 'gobsmacked' by The Mail on Sunday's revelations, adding: 'What has happened here is absolutely appalling and is indicative of a Government that was extremely lax when it came to matters of national security.

'We have Ministers using their private phones to conduct Government business over WhatsApp and their personal email, and this has to stop immediately. It is totally irresponsible. It is absolutely terrifying.

'What is doubly horrifying is Boris Johnson knew this had happened but chose not to communicate it. And I fear that Liz Truss may not be alone in having her phone compromised.

'The obvious suspects are Russia, China, North Korea and Iran who would have huge interest in knowing what the Foreign Secretary is communicating. The number one suspect, however, would be Russia.'

The security services have grown increasingly concerned about the threat posed by hackers working for hostile countries with mobile phones regarded as the 'soft underbelly' of the modern state.

An Israeli system called Pegasus, which gains access to phones without the owner knowing, was allegedly used by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to hack Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. The spyware can be launched on phones with a text message, which does not even have to be opened, just received. It then runs secretly in the background, gaining access to everything on the device and tracking its movements.

Former senior military intelligence officer Philip Ingram said: 'Ms Truss's phone will be in a secure Government location, which means a secure cage where the device can be forensically examined by experts but without the hackers knowing.'

Another security source said: 'It takes a while to track who is behind attacks like these, but Russia tends to top the list.'

An Israeli system called Pegasus, which gains access to phones without the owner knowing, was allegedly used by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to hack Amazon founder Jeff Bezos

Ms Truss took an uncompromising approach to Putin during her time as Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister while the UK has been one of the strongest supporters of Ukraine

Ms Truss took an uncompromising approach to Putin during her time as Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister while the UK has been one of the strongest supporters of Ukraine.

The Mail on Sunday also reveals today that during the final days of her Premiership, Ms Truss became fixated by the weather forecast in case Russia deployed a nuclear device in or near Ukraine  as she was concerned about a possible radioactive cloud heading for the UK. 'Liz was obsessed with the prevailing wind,' said a source.

The Mail on Sunday revealed earlier this month that Ms Truss's mobile phone number  the one that can now be revealed to have been hacked  was for sale on the internet, along with those of 25 Cabinet Ministers, for just 6.49.

Russia's embassy in London was approached for comment.
Tens of thousands of revelers packed into a narrow alleyway in the South Korean capital before the stampede

South Korea has declared a week of national mourning after more than 150 people died in a crowd crush

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The Prince and Princess of Wales have sent their 'love and prayers' to those affected by the tragic Halloween stampede in South Korea yesterday, after more than 150 people died.

Prince William and Kate tweeted from their official account: 'Catherine and I send all our love and prayers to the parents, families and loved ones of those tragically lost in Seoul yesterday evening. W & C.'

Their message follows Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's who said his thoughts were with 'those currently responding' and 'all South Koreans' following the horrific news.

South Korea has declared a week of mourning after the stampede at Halloween festivities in the capital last night - one of the nation's worst peacetime accidents.

People began to 'fall like dominoes' around 10:30pm during a fatal crush at the Halloween festival in Itaewon, where a 100,000-strong crowd had gathered in narrow streets.

Dozens reportedly suffered cardiac arrests and the current death toll stands at 153, including at least 19 foreign nationals, with many of the victims being women in their 20s.

South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol declared a week of national mourning and after visiting the site earlier today and said that the deadly stampede 'should not have happened'.

'In the centre of Seoul, a tragedy and disaster occurred that should not have happened,' Yoon said in a national address, vowing to 'thoroughly investigate' the incident and ensure it could never happen again.

Reports from last night also detail how some revellers continued to party in the neighbourhood after the crush - despite desperate pleas from the police to go home.

The fire department requested that the Halloween festival be suspended at 11:19 pm, nearly an hour after the first report of the crowd crush.

But partygoers continued to drink and enjoyed the Halloween festival late into the night, The Hankyoreh reported crowds in costumes were busy taking pictures in alleys near the accident site and that most bars were full.

An ambulance moving to the accident site was reportedly blocked by crowds of people while the police were heard using a loudspeaker saying: 'Please go home. That's what helps us. Please disband.'

South Korea has declared a week of national mourning after more than 150 people died in a crowd crush at a street Halloween festival in the capital Seoul (pictured: A woman places a bouquet of flowers to pay tribute for victims near the scene)

Prince William and Kate sent their love and prayers to those who lost someone in the tragic event in Seoul last night

One witness said that the streets in Itaewon were 'total chaos' and that people in the crowd began to 'fall like dominoes'

South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol said the crowd crush 'should not have happened' and that he will investigate the incident thoroughly

South Korean national flags are being flown at half-mast as the nation enters a week-long period of national mourning

Left: The alleyway is seen early on Sunday morning. It remained cordoned off as police continued their investigations into the tragedy. Right: The same alleyway is seen shortly before the crush. Hundreds of people are shown packed in

A man writes a funeral ode for victims at the scene of the October 29 Halloween stampede - one of South Korea's worst peacetime accidents

Somber crowds of people have been gathering at the police cordon surrounding the scene to look at the streets where the Halloween stampede occurred

The streets were so densely packed emergency workers were unable to reach or treat the huge number of patients quickly - so much so that paramedics were forced to ask pedestrians to perform CPR.

Emergency officials and doctors who later treated them in hospitals said most of the victims died of cardiac arrest as a result of asphyxiation, due to pressure from being trapped under other bodies.

One witness told the Hankook Ilbo that the streets were a scene of 'total chaos', he said: 'After some people slipped and fell, others fell like dominoes and no one seemed to be able to crawl out of it.'

President Yoon expressed condolences to the victims, mostly teenagers and people in their 20s, and his wishes for a speedy recovery to the many injured in one of the South Korea's worst disasters and the world's worst stampedes in decades.

'This is truly tragic,' he said in a statement. 'A tragedy and disaster that should not have happened took place in the heart of Seoul last night.'

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said: 'Following the president's directive, the government has decided to observe a national mourning period until midnight of November 5, during which the nation will mourn the perished.'

A joint altar for the victims will be set up at a location in Seoul that has yet to be decided, he added.

During the period, all government offices and overseas missions will lower their flags to half-mast and cancel or postpone nonessential public events.

Civil servants and employees of public institutions will wear ribbons to express their condolences, officials explained.

South Korea's South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol (front 2nd L) visited the scene of the Halloween stampede this morning

Emergency workers urgently tried to extricate those most in need of medical assistance from the crowd

South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol (centre) attends an emergency meeting after the tragic crowd crush in Seoul

Those caught in the crush were left shocked, checking their phones to try and contact missing loved ones or hugging one another

The incident on Saturday night led to 140 ambulances being deployed to help treat and evacuate the injured

According to local emergency responders, many of the victims were women in their 20s, and most were teenagers or in their early twenties. A makeshift morgue was set up in an adjacent building due to the sheer number of fatalities.

Officials added it was believed that people were crushed to death after a large crowd began pushing forward in a narrow alley near Hamilton Hotel, a major party spot in Seoul, upon hearing rumours a celebrity was nearby.

Dozens of people were given CPR on Itaewon's streets while many others have been taken to nearby hospitals.

One witness described the height of the crush: 'People were layered on top of others like a tomb. Some were gradually losing their consciousness while some looked dead by that point.'

Photographs and videos on social media show horrific scenes of panic in the aftermath of the crush, and people's desperate efforts to escape from the building tragedy.

One particularly distressing video showed dozens of people struggling to breathe and stay on their feet in the crowd as rescue workers attempted to extricate those most in need of medical assistance from the throng.

More than 1,700 emergency workers were deployed from across South Korea to respond to one of the deadliest crowd crushes in recent history. More footage overlooking the street showed dozens of emergency responders working desperately to administer CPR to victims lying on the street.

The scale of the emergency response in Seoul has seen emergency workers called from across the country, including 140 ambulances

Revelers dressed in Halloween costumes are seen leaving the scene after a crush killed at least 153 people in Seoul

Rescue workers and firefighters try to help injured people near the scene in Seoul, South Korea

Investigators expect the scene and leftover debris in the narrow alley in Itaewon in the early hours of Sunday morning local time

One man was pictured climbing an almost flat wall high above the crowd to escape the panic beneath him.

Video on social media showed dozens of motionless figures lying on the ground in the aftermath of the incident while dozens more emergency workers and members of the public worked intensely around them.

Most of the figures were being given CPR and are thought to have had cardiac arrests.

The deadly incident occurred when the densely packed crowd surged into a narrow alleyway.

Social media footage showed hundreds of people packed in the sloped alley, crushed and immobile as emergency officials and police tried to pull them to free.

A Reuters witness said a make-shift morgue was set up in a building adjacent to the scene. About four dozen bodies were carried out later on wheeled stretchers and moved to a government facility to identify the victims, according to the witness.

Choi Seong-beom, chief of Seoul's Yongsan fire department, said the death toll could rise as emergency workers were continuing to transport the injured to hospitals across Seoul following the stampede in the leisure district of Itaewon on Saturday night.

As well as the 1,700-strong emergency worker response, 15 'disaster' medical teams were also deployed from around South Korea to help in the aftermath of the crush.

But emergency services were initially vastly overstretched and overwhelmed, resulting in dozens of passers-by and eyewitnesses trying to assist those injured and dying.

Reports from local media suggest Seoul has set up a roster for those worried about loved ones to find information.
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Amanda Knox and her former lover Raffaele Sollecito have been pictured reuniting in Italy 15 years after they were arrested and wrongly convicted of the murder of Briton Meredith Kercher.

In a carefree photo the pair were seen smiling as they visited the historic town of Gubbio - the same place they had planned to visit on the day that Meredith's body was discovered in her room.

Almost 15 years to the day of Meredith's death, Mr Sollecito, 38, told The Mirror that it was 'the nicest' thing to reunite with Ms Knox, 35, after their lengthy ordeal, which saw them wrongly spend four years in prison.

Meredith, 21, was a Leeds university student who living in Peruga on exchange, and was found dead with her throat cut and signs of sexual assault on November 2, 2007.

Police were called by Mr Sollecito after he and Ms Knox, who was a flatmate of Meredith, discovered her body the day after she died.

American student Ms Knox, 20 at the time, and her Italian boyfriend Mr Sollecito, who was 23, were arrested four days later and went on to be convicted at trial twice.

Both convictions were overturned due to a startling lack of any evidence linking them to the crime. Also arrested was Rudy Guede, who ran a local bar. His bloody fingerprints and DNA found at the crime scene ensured his conviction for murder, and he served 14 years of his 30-year prison sentence behind bars.

Since the ordeal Ms Knox has had a baby girl Eureka Know Robinson with husband Christopher Robinson, after the pair married in 2018.

Amanda Knox and her former lover Raffaele Sollecito have been pictured reuniting in Italy 15 years after they were arrested and wrongly convicted of the murder of Briton Meredith Kercher

Amanda Knox, left, and her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, of Italy after they were named as suspects

Amanda Knox, 35 and from Seattle, was falsely convicted of Meredith's murder twice and served four years in prison

Raffaele Sollecito, 38, originally from Milan, was convicted alongside his former lover

Kercher, from Coulsdon, Surrey, was killed just three months after moving to Italy for a study abroad programme at Perugia's prestigious university (pictured: in an undated photo released in November 2007)

Mr Sollecito, now a computer engineer in Milan told The Mirror: 'There was also something very light about it, Ms Knox saying 'Why don't we go back to Gubbio?'

'She was saying we can go after all this time with her family and I could see they were planning a lot to do there.

'It was bitter-sweet to go back as we were supposed to go there in such different circumstances, but it was just nice for us to be able to talk about something that wasn't the case.'

Meredith, of Coulsdon, South London, had only been in Perugia for three months when she was found dead with 47 stab wounds after the sex assault.

In 2011, the couple had their initial convictions quashed after experts told Italy's High Court there had been huge errors in the initial case.

Meredith Kercher's killer Rudy Guede (pictured waving from the window of a volunteer centre in 2016, file photo) was formally released from prison 14 years after the grisly murder

In 2013, a new trial began, and both were again found guilty - although Ms Knox remained in the US.

Two years later, they were acquitted for a second time by the Supreme Court.

Judges said there were stunning errors in the murder enquiry and a lack of any evidence the couple were involved in the attack.

Forensic blunders such as a contaminated glove were also highlighted during the court case.

Despite not having seen one another in 10 years, the two kept in touch using Whatsapp.

During the trip to Italy, Mr Sollecito met Ms Knox's baby daughter Eureka and husband Christopher.

In June this year Amanda Knox said she became a 'magnet for hate' after she was wrongly accused of murdering Meredith Kercher.

She wrote an article - titled 'Patrolling the Trolls: The Sorry State of Reporting Online Abuse' - and recalled the horrific death threats she received just a few weeks after she was sent to prison.

Amanda Knox (pictured speaking in 2019, file photo) wrote an article titled 'Patrolling the Trolls: The Sorry State of Reporting Online Abuse' - recalling when she received death threats in prison

Amanda Knox (pictured in an Italian court in 2009) and her former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were jailed before eventually being released from prison in 2011 following an appeal against their conviction. She was fully exonerated in 2015

A local man, Rudy Guede (pictured being escorted by police in Italy in 2007), was convicted in a separate trial after his DNA was found on Kercher's body and in the room where she died. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2008, but was released in December 2020 and will spend the rest of his sentence doing community work

She wrote: 'From the moment I was first accused of murder and painted in the tabloids as a sex-crazed, drug-addicted psychopath, the death threats began rolling in. I had only been in prison for a few weeks.

'The authorities were still investigating the death of Meredith Kercher, and as a suspect, the police were holding me in a cell where I would remain for eight months before I was officially charged and my trial began. Long before the public saw any evidence, long before I had a chance to defend myself in court, I had become a magnet for hate.'

Knox - who became known as 'Foxy Knoxy' in the press as the court case in Italy drew international attention - lamented the fact that her name became synonymous with Meredith's killing, despite being acquitted by Italy's highest court.

Writing in New Thinking, she said: 'The first death threat wasn't even for me. It was for my mom. I read that letter in my cell, and at the end of a long screed, this stranger said he knew where my mother was staying in Perugia, and that he would kill herthat was what I deserved.

'I immediately told the prison guards. You have to do something! My mom needs protection! Just ignore it, they said. I did, until the next threat came, and the next.

'After four years in prison and eight years on trial, I was definitively acquitted by Italy's highest court, but I remained a magnet for hate. As I tried to rebuild a semblance of a normal life back home, the threats and harassment continued.

'They arrived in the mail at my mom's house, and in the comments on my blog. Amidst the kind messages from supporters, there were always the ones wishing me dead, the ones describing how it would happen, an unmarked van in the middle of broad daylight, Meredith's name carved into my body.

'I tried reporting this to the FBI. But, there was little they could do. As I ventured into the world of social media that had blossomed while I was locked away, I found a torrent of hate aimed in my direction.'

In September, Knox had a baby girl Eureka Know Robinson with husband, Christopher Robinson, who she married in 2018. Pictured: A pregnant Knox (file photo)

Knox - who had a baby girl Eureka Know Robinson with husband, Christopher Robinson after the pair married in 2018, believes it's more important than ever to name and shame trolls online.

She added: 'It's important that the abuse reporting systems don't get weaponised by bad actors themselves to get non-offenders booted off of platforms for benign behaviour.

'And for that reason, the social media platforms have an incentive to ignore potential abuse claims that they have no way of verifying. But the targets of harassment, like myself, often can predict in advance how they'll be targeted. I know that people will directly and indirectly call me a killer, hold me responsible for my friend's death, they will name her, or reference details about the case, or crime scene.

'If Twitter, Instagram, and other platforms empowered users to preemptively specify how they might be targeted and why, or if they learned from prior abuse reports to detect patterns, they would have good reason to believe that some later instance of specific harassment is legitimate.'
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 and the restoration of territorial integrity.

Chronicle of the 34-th day of the second Karabakh war:

- President Ilham Aliyev made a post on his official Twitter account that the Azerbaijani Army liberated several villages in Jabrayil, Zangilan and Gubadli districts from the occupiers.

- President Ilham Aliyev called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

- The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry released information on the latest situation in the frontline. The battles continued mainly in the direction of Aghdara, Khojavand and Gubadli. A list of destroyed military equipment of the Armenian Armed Forces was announced.

- A number of Azerbaijani settlements were shelled in the morning. A video of the destruction of Smerch, from which the Armenian Armed Forces shelled Barda, was released.

- Another high-ranking Armenian serviceman who committed a war crime was killed.

- Gubadli was subjected to artillery fire from the territory of Armenia.

- A video of the destruction of the missile-artillery depot of the Armenian Armed Forces was released.

- A video report from the liberated Khudafarin village of Jabrayil district was released.

- A video of the destruction of two more 'Smerch' missile systems, from which Armenian troops shelled the cities of Barda and Tartar, was released.

- Armenian armed forces launched 'Smerch' missile at Alasgarli village of Tartar.

- A video of exact strikes on the Armenian troops, as well as video of the destruction of another 'Osa' anti-aircraft missile system of Armenian troops were released.
A police line blocks entry to an alley in Itaewon district in Seoul where a stampede during Halloween parties killed at least 151 people and injured 82 others, Oct. 30. Yonhap



Witnesses and survivors on Sunday said an overnight stampede that killed at least 151 people occurred after a massive group of people celebrating Halloween surged into a narrow downhill alley and were instantly pushed down by others.



The deadliest stampede in Korea's history happened Saturday night in the alley near Hamilton Hotel in the famous nightlife district of Itaewon after tens of thousands of people visited the area for Halloween.



A total of 151 people, including 19 foreigners, have been killed and 82 others injured, fire authorities said, adding the death toll could rise further.



"People kept pushing down into a downhill club alley, resulting in other people screaming and falling down like dominos," an unidentified witness wrote on Twitter. "I thought I would be crushed to death too as people kept pushing without realizing there were people falling down at the start of the stampede."



A woman her 20s said the accident occurred after a massive crowd of people were pushed back and forth for some time, which then led her friend to be pinned down under the crowd.



Another female survivor in her 20s, surnamed Park, said the stampede erupted as people flocked into the small street in a short period of time.



"A short person like me could not even breathe," Park said. "(I) could survive as I was located on the sideline of the alley. It looks like people in the middle suffered the most."



Another survivor, who asked not to be named, said the rescue operation got behind as the streets were flooded with people in Halloween costumes, making it difficult for emergency workers to arrive at the alley.



Other survivors, meanwhile, blamed the owners of bars and clubs nearby, who allegedly blocked people from escaping from the overcrowded alley.



"It looks like the casualties were more severe as people attempted to escape to nearby stores but were kicked out back to the street because business hours were over," said the survivor who asked not to be named. (Yonhap)


More than 140 British holidaymakers have launched legal action after being struck down with severe illness at a luxury five-star resort in Turkey.

Dozens of families claim they contracted a sickness bug which ruined their holidays while staying at the Mukarnas Resort and Spa, in Antalya - a resort city on Turkey's Mediterranean coast.

Tourists reported being served lukewarm buffet food which was surrounded by flies, 'disgusting' toilets, a dirty pool and other unsanitary conditions throughout the hotel.

Now more than 140 people have instructed lawyers to investigate after suffering severe gastric illnesses during what should have been a dream holiday.

Among those affected were Julie O'Sullivan, 45, her partner Gary Hunt, 46, and her two children Harry, 16, and 15-year-old Hannah.

They travelled to the resort on May 29 through tour operator Jet2holidays - but within the first few days of their week-long trip, the family fell ill.

Ms O'Sullivan and Mr Hunt, who are both delivery drivers, and the two children all began suffering from stomach ache, vomiting and diarrhoea.

Julie O'Sullivan, 45, and her partner Gary Hunt, 46, (pictured) are among 140 families who have launched group legal action after being struck down by a sickness bug while staying at the Mukarnas Resort and Spa, in Antalya, Turkey

Ms O'Sullivan, of Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, said: 'We'd been looking forward to going away for such a long time, but just two days in, Harry and I fell ill.

'It came on all of a sudden and for the first 24 hours, the vomiting and diarrhoea was constant. Then Gary and Hannah got it.

'It was awful, as we spent most of our holiday in our room, unable to enjoy any day trips.

'The whole holiday was a complete disaster and it's still upsetting to think about it now.

'When I think back, there were flies in the restaurant area and a lot of the food at the buffet was left uncovered, which allowed flies to get to the food.

'I also noticed that when children were being sick outside, it was often left there for hours, or just swept into the drain or pool, meaning that guests were sometimes accidentally standing in it.

'The hand sanitiser in the machine on entry to the restaurant was often also empty.

'The toilets were also left in a disgusting state, and I complained about this several times, but I never saw them cleaned during the day even though people were being sick and having diarrhoea.

Tourists reported being served luke-warm buffet food which was surrounded by flies, 'disgusting' toilets, a dirty pool and other unsanitary conditions throughout the Mukarnas Resort and Spa (pictured)

'We feel this is totally unacceptable for a five-star resort.'

Hannah, who is still at school, fortunately began to feel better by the time the family arrived back in the UK on June 6, but the others continued to suffer, with Ms O'Sullivan contacting their GP on behalf of the family.

Upon returning to the UK, Harry, who was in his final year at senior school, had his GCSE exams, which were 'extremely difficult' to sit due to his ongoing gastric symptoms.

Ms O'Sullivan and Harry continue to suffer with ongoing issues, several months after their holiday.

They are undergoing various tests with their GP and have been prescribed medication to help ease their symptoms.

Julie added: 'We can't turn back the clock and change what we went through, but we want some answers and to know that something's being done to help stop it happening again in the future.'

Jennifer Hodgson, an international serious injury lawyer at Irwin Mitchell representing those affected, including Ms O'Sullivan and her family, said: 'Julie, Gary and their family are among a large number of holidaymakers who stayed at this resort and who were struck down by illness.

Law firm Irwin Mitchell are representing more than 140 people fell ill while staying at the Mukarnas Resort and Spa (pictured) this summer

'All cases of holiday illness are concerning; however, it's particularly worrying that such large numbers of people have reported falling ill, the majority of whom have reported similar symptoms.

'Gastric symptoms can lead to long-term health problems and their impact should never be downplayed

'We now represent more than 140 people who stayed at the Mukarnas Resort and Spa this summer and understandably have many questions about how they fell ill.

'We're now investigating their concerns and are determined to obtain the answers they deserve.

'If any issues are identified, we urge that lessons are learned to help prevent other holidaymakers falling ill in the future.'

Other families who also fell ill at the same resort include couple Lauren Scott, 27, and James Beard, 42, of Wigan, who reported seeing poo in the swimming pool.

The couple visited the resort with their daughters Maddison, 10, Georgia, eight, and six-year-old Olivia on July 9 and were all struck down by illness.

Lauren Scott, 27, and James Beard, 42, of Wigan, and their three daughters (pictured) were all struck with illness when they stayed at the resort in July

After being told they would have to pay nearly a thousand pounds for tests, the family returned home to the UK on July 24.

The couple continue to suffer gastric issues after their return, with Ms Scott also suffering from night sweats.

Mr Beard said: 'We were all really excited about going to Turkey. It was our first holiday away as a family and we'd been counting down the days.

'Sadly, the resort was a huge let down. We were shocked at the standards and the number of holidaymakers who were falling ill.

'The food served was never particularly hot and was served lukewarm. The pool was also dirty and we didn't see it being cleaned throughout our stay.

'On one occasion there was poo in the hotel pool, and I was shocked when the lifeguards tried to remove it with their hands and didn't close the pool or try to clean it.'

Another complainant was Mark Clifton, 38, an electrician from Yeovil, Somerset. He and his partner visited the same resort between July 15 and July 25 with her two children.

Just three days into their trip Mark was unable to get out of bed.

Another complainant was Mark Clifton (pictured), 38, from Yeovil, Somerset who said he started suffering from stomach cramps, diarrhoea, sweats and a fever just three days into his trip

After suffering from stomach cramps, diarrhoea, sweats and a fever he went to see the hotel doctor - who was unavailable.

He continued suffering from stomach cramps after he returned home.

Mr Clifton said in August: 'I was really shocked by the number of people I heard were ill at the resort. Some staff tried to say it was heatstroke, but I think it was more than that.

'I remember thinking the food at the hotel was lukewarm, and I didn't once see the pool being cleaned or tested while I was there.

'My partner and her children also fell ill, but their symptoms fortunately weren't as bad as mine. More than two weeks on I'm still not 100 per cent and I'm not sure how long this will go on for.

'While I can't turn back the clock, I just want to know why this happened.'

Mukarnas Resort and Spa has been contacted by MailOnline for comment.
Michael Gove today defended the decision to reappoint 'first-rate' Suella Braverman as Home Secretary despite rising pressure.

The Cabinet minister insisted Ms Braverman is 'absolutely' a politician with integrity despite the latest claims about her actions in government.

Mr Sunak reappointed Ms Braverman a week after she resigned from Liz Truss's administration for sharing a sensitive document with a Tory backbencher from a personal email.

Fresh allegations emerged this weekend including that she failed to act on legal warnings about an asylum processing centre in Kent, and was subject to a previous inquiry about details of Northern Ireland protocol policy leaking.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has demanded the Home Secretary's sacking, accusing Mr Sunak of brokering a 'grubby deal trading security for support' in the Tory leadership contest.

Michael Gove today defended the decision to reappoint 'first-rate' Suella Braverman (pictured) as Home Secretary despite rising pressure

Mr Gove insisted Ms Braverman is 'absolutely' a politician with integrity despite the latest claims about her actions in government

Mr Gove told Sky News' Ridge on Sunday: 'Suella is a first-rate, front-rank politician.

'She acknowledged that a mistake had been made. She is working hard in order to ensure that our borders can be made more secure, and that policing is more effective.

'She's a valued member of the Cabinet and someone whom I admire and like.'

On the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Mr Gove was asked whether Ms Braverman is a politician of integrity and responded: 'Absolutely.'

He said: 'I am satisfied, more than satisfied, that in resigning, accepting responsibility, apologising, and then in being assured by the Cabinet Secretary and the Prime Minister that Suella coming back into office was the right thing, that Suella is now in a position to do the work that she is dedicated to doing.'

Mr Sunak has said Ms Braverman 'learned from her mistake' and that he does not regret the appointment despite some Conservative MPs adding their voices to the backlash.

Labour will push ministers to share risk assessments of alleged leaks, as well as the information given to Mr Sunak before he reinstalled her at the Home Office, with a 'humble address' motion in Parliament this week.

Ms Braverman has so far refused to appear before MPs to explain what happened.

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: 'Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman cannot keep running away from these questions. It is far too serious for that, and raises serious doubts about the Prime Minister's judgment.

'People need to know they can trust the Home Secretary with highly sensitive information and our national security. Rishi Sunak's decision to reappoint Suella Braverman was deeply irresponsible.

'Labour will use every parliamentary mechanism open to force Government to come clean over her reappointment, to get answers and to require detailed documents to be released to the Intelligence & Security Committee.'

Caroline Nokes backed opposition calls for an inquiry and former Tory chairman Sir Jake Berry described the breach as 'really serious'.

Ms Braverman  dubbed 'Leaky Sue'  was reportedly previously investigated by Government officials after the leaking of a story involving the security services.
A fireman in South Korea appeared to tremble as he gave a press briefing

A video shows a fireman in South Korea trembling as he gives a press briefing about the Halloween stampede that killed over 150 people.

Last night 154 people died in a crush in Seoul, with another 82 injured, as huge crowds gathered in the popular nightlife area Itaewon for a Halloween festival.

Two of those killed are Americans, US officials in Seoul announced Sunday.

Footage of Chief of Yongsan Fire Department Choi Seong-beom informing the media in calm manner that the death toll of the crowd crush had risen has been shared widely online.

The 'heartbreaking' video, which was taken several hours after the deadly incident occurred, shows the exhausted emergency worker slightly shaking as he holds the microphone.

Online people responded to the video to share their sympathies with Choi Seong-beom and other emergency workers who attended the traumatic incident.

More than 1,700 emergency workers were deployed from across South Korea to respond to one of the deadliest crowd crushes in recent history - including about 520 firefighters, 1,100 police officers and 70 government workers.

More footage overlooking the street showed dozens of emergency responders working desperately to administer CPR to victims lying on the street.

South Korea's Chief of Yongsan Fire Department Choi Seong-beom appeared to shake as he gave the media a briefing on the stampede that killed at least 153 in Seoul

The fireman was delivering an update on the death toll from the crowd crush in the early hours of the morning

Online, people noticed Choi Seong-beom's hand was shaking as he held the microphone and suggested it may be due to the traumatic nature of the incident

Onlookers, police and paramedics gathered where dozens of people suffered cardiac arrest, in the popular nightlife district of Itaewon

The scale of the emergency response in Seoul saw emergency workers called from across the country, including 140 ambulances

Left: The alleyway is seen early on Sunday morning. It remained cordoned off as police continued their investigations into the tragedy. Right: The same alleyway is seen shortly before the crush. Hundreds of people are shown packed in

The account which shared the video online said: 'I am worried about the trauma of everyone who was at the scene. I hope that the country will take responsibility and support the trauma management after the accident of all the personnel who were put into the field today.'

Racheal said: 'You know its traumatic when the head of fire department has trembling hands.'

Another user tweeted: 'Being a first responder to an awful calamitous event amidst a celebration would impact even those accustomed to tragedy.'

Reid said: 'I feel for him-- can you imagine being him? I certainly pray for all the law enforcement, emergency workers, and others who responded to the tragedy.'

One Twitter user suggested his hands may be trembling from CPR, while another person said: 'This is heartbreaking. I hope they all receive free therapy sessions.'

Emergency workers struggled to treat the large number of victims due to the narrow and crowded streets

South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol (centre) attends an emergency meeting after the tragic crowd crush in Seoul

A man bows as he mourns at the street of a deadly stampede during a Halloween festival

Police gather at the scene a day after a deadly stampede which killed 153 and injured dozens

South Korea has now declared a week of mourning after people reportedly 'fell like dominoes' around 10:30pm during the fatal crush at the Halloween festival, where a 100,000-strong crowd had gathered in narrow streets.

Dozens reportedly suffered cardiac arrests and the current death toll stands at 153, including at least 19 foreign nationals, with many of the victims being women in their 20s.

South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol declared the week of national mourning and after visiting the site earlier today said that the deadly stampede 'should not have happened'.

'In the centre of Seoul, a tragedy and disaster occurred that should not have happened,' Yoon said in a national address, vowing to 'thoroughly investigate' the incident and ensure it could never happen again.

Reports from last night also detail how some revellers continued to party in the neighbourhood after the crush - despite desperate pleas from the police to go home.
Vulnerable sex workers are being forced to service clients day and night out of seedy hotel rooms as international sex traffickers operate with impunity in Australia by abusing the nation's weak visa rules.

The young women are being brought into Australia by so-called visa farms with no up-front costs which being are run by immigration agents working for Asian human trafficking rings.

An undercover investigation by 60 Minutes found most of the women are lied to by recruiters about what they would be doing in Australia - with the promise of earning big money.

But with little English, they are at the mercy of the gangsters who confiscate their passport on arrival and demand they repay the money spent to buy them their airfares and visas.

The young women's services are openly advertised online.

An undercover 'client' for the Nine program called such a number in the North Queensland city of Townsville, instantly receiving a text in reply advertising the rates for half-an-hour and an hour of sex with a hotel location and room number.

When the 'client' entered, he was greeted by a scantily clad Asian woman who recited the rates for sexual services.

Queensland Detective Inspector Brad Phelps, from the major crimes squad, said the women were 'moved like cattle across the country into different motels' and this was occurring up and down Australia's east coast.

He said they were being paid a pittance, or perhaps nothing at all, while making millions for the sex trafficking kingpins, who are believed to be Chinese nationals.

'They really are being treated as the lowest of the low and people are making massive profits from this exploitation,' he said.

An undercover investigator was welcomed by a scantily clad Asian woman when he rang a mobile advertising sex workers online

As an indication of the scale of such operations, leaked South Australian police briefings from 2018 found a hotel room crammed with seven Chinese sex workers and identified 190 mobile phones used to sell the operation's services.

One South Korean woman named Karen (not her real name) only knew two English words when she started working in illegal brothels in 2014 - 'Hi and hello'.

She was promised massive money and fair working conditions before she left but faced a grim reality after arriving in Melbourne.

Her passport as taken by her pimp and told it would only be returned once her 'debt' was paid.

'I would put on makeup and start at 8 am and work until 1 am,' she said adding that one shift lasted 25 hours.

International sex traffickers are using motel rooms as a base to sell the services of indentured sex workers

Detective Superintendent Jayne Crossling, who oversees the AFP's human trafficking division, said many of the women are deceptively recruited in their country of origin.

'They have no idea, necessarily, that they might be coming into the sex industry,' she said.

'Or maybe they knew coming into the sex industry then when they arrive in Australia they're effectively they discover they are effectively in a debt bondage situation or unreasonableness of what they are being asked to do is just way over the top.

'They are being asked to provide More services they ever would have agreed to.

Debt bondage arrangements all illegal under Australia's human trafficking laws.

As part of the investigation, undercover operatives posed as Asian sex workers wanting to get into Australia.

One was told to apply for a refugee visa but not in the expectation of getting one.

Rather, the purpose was to get a bridging visa which would allow them to work for three years while the main application was being considered.

Another was told that if they got a student visa they did not have to go class.

An undercover operative was told by an immigration agent that on a student visa she 'never needed to go to class'

'You don't have to go to school. You can go once a week. It doesn't matter if you don't go at all,' the agent told them.

'There are many schools like that on attendance rates literally visa schools.'

Former Immigration Department deputy secretary Abul Rizvi said that such rorting had grown tremendously since 2014 under the former Morrison government.

He estimated there were at least 30,000 foreigners working in Australia under false pretexts.

This figure would include sex workers but also farm labourers and in other occupations.
A chilling photograph shows the man arrested in connection with the Delphi murders posing with his wife while sat in front of a police sketch of the killer.

The eerie photo shows Richard Allen, 50, smiling with his wife Kathy, while over his shoulder a police drawing of the man suspected of the 2017 murders is pinned to the wall.

It is unclear when and where the photo was taken.

The sketch visible in the photograph was not released until April 2019 - more than two years after the February 2017 slayings of Libby German, 14, and her friend Abigail Williams, 13.

The image of Allen in front of the suspect drawing emerged hours after police announced the arrest of Allen in connection with the murders.

It remains unclear what let investigators to Allen, or how he could be charged in connection.

He's been booked into jail, but no details of any charges made against him have been shared.

A press conference is expected Monday morning.

Since Allen's arrest, it was also revealed that his home was less than two miles from the Delphi train bridge where Williams and German were last seen alive.

It would have taken Allen about five minutes to drive from his home to the bridge.

The girls' murders triggered a global sensation after they snapped a picture of their killer walking towards them, with the suspect since nicknamed 'Bridge guy.'

Cops also released a recording of his voice saying 'down the hill,' but few other details of the murders have been shared.

The photo shows Richard Allen, 50, smiling with his wife while over his shoulder a police sketch strongly resembling him is posted on the wall

Since Allen's arrest, it was also revealed that his home was less than two miles from the Delphi train bridge where Williams and German were last seen alive. It would have taken Allen about five minutes to drive from his home to the bridge

This is the sketch Allen was photographed sitting close to. It is one of several released following the February 2017 murders of

The suspect, 50-year-old Richard Allen, was booked in Indiana around midnight Friday - though it remains unclear what exactly he has been charged with

Two sketches of the suspect in the Delphi murders. The state-issued photo bears some likeness to the 2017 sketch of the supposed killer released by police (at right), which also shows a bearded, seemingly middle-aged man

Allen, was booked in Indiana around midnight Friday. Local outlet FOX59 has since obtained a state-issued photo of the potential perpetrator, who has evaded law enforcement for the better part of six years.

The image shows a bearded, pale-face Allen peering straight ahead with a blank gaze and a shaved head - bearing some likeness to a 2017 sketch of the supposed killer released by police, which also showed a bearded, seemingly middle-aged man.

Initially booked into Carroll County Jail, the suspect within hours was moved to a state facility out of fears for his safety.

Cops said the arrest revolves around the murders of Williams and German, who went missing while going for a walk along an abandoned train line in Delphi, Indiana, on February 13, 2017.

The girls' savaged bodies were found the next day along a railroad bridge near Dear Creek, with police later saying the pair had been arranging to meet a man on the abandoned tracks.

Now, nearly six years later, the search has generated significant online speculation, thanks to puzzling pieces of evidence including a recording found on Libby Germans phone from just before her disappearance of a man seemingly ordering the girls to go 'down the hill.'

The pair's murders have since remained unsolved - with Allen's arrest serving the first time his name has been publicly associated with the case.

Richard Allen and his wife Kathy. Allen was arrested on Friday in connection to the Delphi murders

Allen pictured alongside his wife. A press conference related to the arrest is expected Monday morning

Abigail Williams, left, and Liberty German, right, were murdered in February 2017 after going for a walk. No one has ever been arrested for the 14-year-old girls' murders

This is the suspect Libby filmed on her Snapchat account before she was murdered. She also recorded a man saying 'down the hill'

Additional information about Allen's arrest, as well as his potential role in the long-unsolved case, is expected during a news conference Monday.

At that point, Indiana State Police are sure to shed more light on the case - but until then, lawmen have said that they wont provide any additional details about the investigation.

It comes as Delphi Police have been increasingly tight-lipped on crucial components of the investigation - including exactly how the girls died, and what kind of condition their bodies were in when they were discovered.

Since the start of their investigation nearly six years ago, the department held back that information - in an apparent effort to protect their investigation as they looked for the killer.

They have never revealed how the girls died, nor have they revealed the full contents of a video filmed by the girls on their phone in the moments before they were killed - footage that depicts a mysterious figure partially obscured by a hat and coat as he approaches the girls on the abandoned tracks.

A police reconstruction of the final snapchat images sent out by Libby German and Abigail Williams the day they died

A shot of the Monon High Bridge Trail that the girls posted on social media before their disappearance

The only, vital piece of detail that has emerged from the police's investigation stems from the video recorded off of German's phone in which the approaching figure whispers 'down the hill' to the pair as he lurches toward them.

Despite countless tips over the years and a number of suspects and persons of interest, police have so far been unable to solve the case.

They have not yet revealed what kind of evidence they have against Allen - with the Indiana resident's arrest potentially marking a major turning point in the investigation.

The families of the two girls have yet to react to news of Allen's arrest, which comes a little over a month after Indiana State Police officers, including a dive team, were seen searching the Wabash River 40 miles from where the two teens were last seen.

Officials did not reveal what exactly officers had been looking for - or if their search helped lead to Allen's arrest.

In May, it was reported that the man who owned the land where the teenage victims of the Delphi Bridge murders were found may have been the voice recorded by the girls in their final moments.

Logan was arrested in April 2017 after confessing to violating parole related to serial traffic violations. He was never named as a suspect in the killings of the girls and died in January

The FBI search warrant disclosed that Ron Logan couldn't be definitively ruled out as the man heard saying 'Down the hill,' to Abby Williams and Libby German shortly before they died, due to his voice not being a match

Logan died in 2020 and was never formally named as a suspect in the February 2017 murders.

It also emerged that Williams and German were found covered in blood - and their killer took a twisted souvenir, a search warrant has revealed.

Williams and German were found to have lost a large amount of blood when discovered dead close to an Indiana hiking trail in February 2017.

'A large amount of blood was lost by the victims at the crime scene,' an FBI search warrant read. It did not note how the girls had been wounded, but noted that there were no signs of a 'struggle or fight.'

The warrant, obtained by the Murder Sheet podcast and released to Indianapolis FOX59, offered no further information on a murder weapon or cause of death.

Police have never disclosed how the two friends died after being stalked by their killer on a hiking trail, with information on the bloody crime scene offering a gruesome new detail.

Their killer likely got his victims' blood on his clothes, the warrant also revealed, although no one has ever been charged with the double homicide.

Indiana State Police said in February they know who killed the girls, but say they have insufficient evidence to make an arrest.

Chillingly, FBI investigators believe the young friends' killer took a souvenir from their corpses to provide a warped memento of his appalling crimes.

The warrant offered no further detail on what the souvenir was, although it did say that 'the rest of (the girls') clothing was recovered,' implying that the killer had taken something they'd been wearing.

And sickeningly, the murderer 'staged' the girls' bodies in a particular way after killing them, although it remains unclear exactly how he did this.

Investigators believe photographs or videos were likely shot of the grotesque set-up to 'memorialize' the crime scene.

Ron Logan spoke with reporters on his property days after the girls' bodies were found. He told them he had no idea how they could have gotten to where they were found

The warrant further revealed that the FBI had probable cause to search the home and property of Logan. The girls were discovered about 1,400 feet from Logan's house.

Logan was arrested shortly after the killings, but was never charged, and died in 2020. He was a habitual traffic offender who served time behind bars for his crimes, but is not considered a suspect in the murders of Williams and German.

Lawmen are expected to shed more light on the investigation on Monday.
Nathan Taverniti burst into tears during TikTok video about the horror tragedy

An Australian holidaymaker has described watching his travelmate from Sydney being crushed to death in the horrific Halloween stampede that claimed at least 153 lives on the streets of Seoul, South Korea.

Nathan Taverniti said he is now acting as guardian for the body of the dead woman, who was 12 days shy of her 24th birthday.

Two more of his Australian friends in the group of four who went out to enjoy the Halloween celebrations in the central Itaewon district were also caught up in the disaster, with one sill in intensive care.

The horror unfolded on Saturday night when a sea of mostly young people became jammed in a crowd crush believed to have been sparked by revellers flocking to see a local celebrity nearby.

Mr Taverniti said he tried to grab his friend out of the suffocating chaos but was unable to save her.

'I was there when she said she couldn't breathe and I grabbed one of my friend's hands,' he said in a TikTok post.

'There was no stampede, it was a slow and agonising crush.'

Nathan Taverniti who was holidaying in Seoul saw his travel companion from Sydney crushed to death in the Halloween disaster on Saturday night

Emergency workers urgently try to extricate those most in need of medical assistance from the crowd on Saturday night

He earlier told a South Korean newspaper that: 'All I could see was a wall of people  it was impossible (to save her).'

He later saw her taken away on a stretcher but couldn't find her.

Mr Taverniti said he was making the video after just arriving at his accommodation having located his friend's body, which he only did with the help of some 'kind-hearted reporters' from the American ABC network.

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson has confirmed an Australian died in the tragedy, which also cost the lives of 18 other foreigners.

'The Australian Government sends its condolences to the family and others affected by this tragic incident,' he said.

'We ask for the family's privacy to be respected during this difficult time.'

Consular officials were in contact with the deceased woman's family in Australia and were helping 'a number of other Australians who were present at the event'.

Mr Taverniti dressed up with four friends from Australia to take part in Seoul's Halloween celebrations

Mr Taverniti reacts while looking for his friend's name on the list of missing people at a community service centre after a stampede during Halloween festivities in Seoul, South Korea, October 30, 2022

Olivia Jacovic, a 27-year-old West Australian living in Seoul, told Channel Nine how she and her friends narrowly escaped the deadly crush after taking 40 minutes to get out of the subway stop at the site.

'It was really hard, I had bruises on my arms from trying to manoeuvre out but we got on the sidelines luckily and we were standing up on this brick wall and we could see above,' she said.

'It was just shoulder-to-shoulder, people couldn't breathe the shorter people were trying to look up in the air to get some air.'

Ms Jacovic said she had to struggle hard to free herself from the surging crowd.

'I just wanted to get out of there... I don't care that my clothes were getting ripped, she said.

Mr Taverniti blamed the lack of planning and police preparedness for the disaster.

'I watched as people filmed and sang and laughed while my friends were dying among with many other people,' he said.

'I was there trying to pull people out because there was not enough police officers and nobody was doing anything to make the crowd stop.

'We were yelling, saying 'you have to turn around, you have to go back, people are dying' but nobody was listening.

'I waited 30 minutes for the police to arrive where I was. It took over an hour for more police to arrive and even longer for emergency services.'

Olivia Jacovic told Channel Nine how she narrowly escaped the crush that claimed the lives of 153 people in Seoul

Those caught in the crush were left shocked, checking their phones to try and contact missing loved ones or hugging one another

He confirmed other reports that CPR was administered by volunteers.

'There were people lying on the ground getting CPR not by health professionals by random people, whoever could,' Mr Taverniti said.

'I am sad. I am devastated by this situation which could have been so easily avoided but nobody would listen.'

Sydney woman Julia Cho, was one of four friends with Mr Taverniti, has also shared her experience on TikTok.

Ms Cho said her sister was in intensive care, while the other friend had lost their life,

She also delivered a damning assessment of police and other services.

The incident on Saturday night led to 140 ambulances being deployed to help treat and evacuate the injured

'Local authorities were not on standby and left innocent people helpless, despite knowing there was an excessive amount of people in the streets with nowhere to go,' she said.

'This happened very early in the night. People were suffocating, toppling over one another and crushed.'

'The leaders and authorities hold sole responsibility and have failed their people.'

Revelers dressed in Halloween costumes are seen leaving the scene after a crush killed at least 146 people in Seoul

Seoul's emergency services had been overwhelmed by the fatal crush amongst a 100,000-strong crowd there to attend the city's 2022 Halloween Festival.

It was first time the festival had been held in full since Covid, with the crush occurring shortly after 10pm local time (8pm EADT).

Officials confirmed that dozens of people went into cardiac arrest and the number of deaths is still expected to rise. An unspecified number remain in a critical condition in hospital.

Photos from the scene showed at least 25 bodies lying on the ground in the streets of Seoul, concealed by yellow blankets. A separate line of bodies covered in blue blankets was also photographed.

As the full scale of the tragedy was still being realised, South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol said on Sunday morning that the deadly stampede 'should not have happened'.

An exhausted young woman is carried away from the scene to safety after becoming caught up in the night's events

'In the centre of Seoul, a tragedy and disaster occurred that should not have happened,' Yoon said in a national address, vowing to 'thoroughly investigate' the incident and ensure it could never happen again.

According to local emergency responders, many of the victims were women in their 20s, and most were teenagers or in their early twenties.

A makeshift morgue was set up in an adjacent building due to the sheer number of fatalities.

Officials added it was believed that people were crushed to death after a large crowd began pushing forward in a narrow alley near Hamilton Hotel, a major party spot in Seoul, upon hearing rumours a celebrity was nearby.

Dozens of people were given CPR on Itaewon's streets while many others have been taken to nearby hospitals.

One witness described the height of the crush: 'People were layered on top of others like a tomb. Some were gradually losing their consciousness while some looked dead by that point.'

Photographs and videos on social media show horrific scenes of panic in the aftermath of the crush, and people's desperate efforts to escape from the building tragedy.

Parts of costumes were scattered around the scene of the deadly crush hours after it occurred, as police began their investigation into the cause

One particularly distressing video showed dozens of people struggling to breathe and stay on their feet in the crowd as rescue workers attempted to extricate those most in need of medical assistance from the throng.

More than 1,700 emergency workers were deployed from across South Korea to respond to one of the deadliest crowd crushes in recent history.

More footage overlooking the street showed dozens of emergency responders working desperately to administer CPR to victims lying on the street.

Hundreds of police officers had been deployed to the area in advance of Saturday night in anticipation of the large crowds, but they were reportedly struggling to keep control in the minutes before the tragedy unfolded.
Donald Trump urged Brazilian voters on Sunday to re-elect President Jair Bolsonaro, as polls open for the fourth-largest democracy's contentious runoff election.

More than 120 million people are expected to cast ballots for either Bolsonaro, a right-wing populist, or former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a founding member of the left-wing Worker's Party.

The candidates advanced to a second electoral round after neither netted 50 percent of the vote in their initial race on October 2 - though da Silva came out ahead of Bolsonaro by four points.

Trump, a staunch ally of Bolsonaro's, wrote on his Truth Social app in the early hours of Sunday morning: 'To the People of Brazil, this is your big day, and also, a big day for the World.'

'Your GREAT and Highly Respected President, Jair Bolsonaro, needs you to get out and Vote, TODAY, so that your Country can continue on its incredible path of success,' the former US president went on.

'Dont let the Radical Left Lunatics & Maniacs destroy Brazil like they have so many other countries.

'President Bolsonaro has done a fantastic job, has my Complete and Total Endorsement, and deserves your VOTE. He will NEVER let you down!!!'

Donald Trump has waded into Brazil's contentious presidential race multiple times to bolster his ally, Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro rose to prominence in 2018 by embracing the label 'Trump of the Tropics'

Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social in the early hours of Sunday morning

During his rise to power in 2018, Bolsonaro embraced his label of 'Tropical Trump' for his brash and bombastic public stances, as well as his rise to power on a wave of anti-establishment anger.

Both made attacking the media as part of their brand, promoted similar fake remedies for COVID-19 and prized projecting a strongman image to the world.

And on Sunday, voters in Brazil are deciding between four more years of Bolsonaro's far-right governing or whether to vote for a former two-time president whose administration was plagued with corruption scandals.

Bolsonaro and da Silva are both polarizing figures in Brazil.

Bolsonaro, who has touted himself as a Christian nationalist, has presided over a surge of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest that environmentalists say could have harmful, irreversible impacts on climate change.

On his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, his country's Senate accused Bolsonaro of 'crimes against humanity.'

He urged Brazilians to vote against the left-wing candidate, popular former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (pictured casting his vote on October 30)

Bolsonaro's allies have espoused doubts about the electoral count, not dissimilar from Trump's circle in 2020, and it's not clear if the Brazilian president will accept the results if he loses

He's also openly expressed anti-LGBTQ views and promoted election fraud conspiracy theories not dissimilar to Trump's.

After the first round of elections earlier this month, Bolsonaro wrote on Twitter that he had a better turnout in 2022 than 2018, and that he had 'never lost an election' and that 'God' would not let him lose one now.

It's also not clear if Bolsonaro would accept the results of the election if he loses.

On Saturday night, the former military officer shared a video of Trump telling Brazilians to go vote.

'Other leaders I can tell you, including myself, respect him at the highest level,' Trump said. 'He's bringing it back like nobody could.'

Echoing themes he expressed to his own supporters of global status and 'respect,' Trump went on: 'Brazil is taking a whole new place in the world. You're being respected all over the world, because of your president.'

'Don't lose him, don't let that happen, it would not be good for your country, and I love your country, but it would not be good,' the ex-US president said.
Cops say there's no proof her aunt's death was a homicide

Reed alleged that her aunt was murdered and called for the worker to resign

She became involved in activism after the death of her aunt, Yvonne McDonald

Reed has caused controversy with comments that have been labeled 'anti-police'

A Washington State school board has filled a vacancy with a woke activist who last year was filmed outside the state capitol labelling police 'pigs' and said 'f**k the police.'

During the video Talauna Reed, 46, also told a crowd of people gathered for the demonstration to 'tear everything up in this f**king city,' referring to the state's capital city of Olympia.

Reed will be filling a position on the Olympia School Board that was made vacant in August and was sworn into her new position last Thursday.

Her engagement in local activism was prompted when in 2018 her aunt Yvonne McDonald was found dead on an Olympia street. Reed has alleged that McDonald was murdered and the city covered up the crime.

No arrests have been made in the case. Police said she died of blunt force trauma to her abdomen, with complications related to alcohol.

She ran for the city council last year but was unsuccessful, securing around 40 percent of the vote.

The school board said in a press release that it interviewed six candidates for the position, but ultimately awarded it to Reed.

During a demonstration outside the state capitol Talauna Reed, 46, told the crowd to 'tear everything up in this 'f**king city,' referring to Olympia, Washington, where she has been appointed to a school board

Reed was sworn onto the board last Thursday and will remain in the position until December 2023

During the controversial clip that has caused Reed to be labeled 'anti-police', she is seen standing under a canopy and addressing a crowd.

'It amazes me how those pigs can sit over there to watch us peacefully talk about what we want to change in this state,' she said.

Reed became involved in activism in 2018 after the mysterious death of her aunt Yvonne McDonald. In the controversial video Reed asks the crowd to chant her name

'It amazes me. And they don't pay attention until we tear s**t up. So, before I get started, tear everything up in this f**king city until they do what we want them to do.'

Earlier in the short clip Reed asks the crowd to say aloud the name of two women. First was Breonna Taylor, a black medical worker who was shot and killed by police officers in Kentucky in 2020, causing protests throughout the US.

The second woman was Yvonne McDonald - a black woman and Reed's aunt who was mysteriously found dead in 2018 by a street sweeper in west Olympia.

Activists have argued that the city's investigation of the 58-year-old McDonald was insufficient and improper, alleging that they are either 'incompetent or they are covering something up,' the group Justice for Yvonne McDonald said in a press release.

Reed has personally said she believes that the police 'know something' and they were 'protecting their employee'. She has alleged that the death of her aunt was a murder and called for the street sweeper, Henry Morales, who found her aunt dead to resign.

In a separate video Reed can be heard chanting: 'Fire Henry Morales'.

Reed was one of six candidates interviewed for the position by the school board. She also gave a presentation focused on an equity policy the school district is currently working on

Reed was described as 'an outspoken community organizer' by local news outlet KOMO News. According to a recent press release from the school board Reed has worked as an Advocacy Navigator at Interfaith Works, a group that helps homeless people.

'Reed facilitates training in Cultural Diversity, de-escalation, restorative justice models, anti-racism and trauma-informed care across multiple organizations and in collaboration with other Thurston County providers,' the statement says.

'There's a lot of classism in the school district and there's a lot of exclusion,' Reed said during a presentation to the board. Hers focused on an equity policy the school district is currently working on.

'I know students feel shut down and isolated,' she said. 'There's probably a lack of teachers from different ethnicities in the state of Washington but I know they're round - they're somewhere.'

She will serve a one-year term until December 2023.
Joe Biden defended Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman as 'my kind of guy' after a barrage of criticism and doubt ensued over his fitness for office after the effects of his stroke were put on full display during a debate with Republican opponent Dr. Mehmet Oz last week.

When visiting a polling station in Delaware on Saturday, Biden told members of the press gathered that Fetterman is 'just getting better and better.'

'I thought he knew what he was doing, I thought he was strong,' Biden said when reflecting on his rally with the Democratic candidate on Friday.

'Look, Fetterman is Pennsylvania. Fetterman is everything that he appears to be,' he added while taking off his sunglasses.

Biden participated in early voting at a polling place near his Wilmington, Delaware home on Saturday. He was joined by his granddaughter Natalie Biden, 18, the daughter of Beau and Hallie, who was voting for the first time.

'Fetterman is my kind of guy,' Biden said to press after casting his ballot. 'And I think he's going to be fine.'

When speaking about the upcoming election, the president said he is 'feeling good' so far about the campaign  but that comes after his latest gaffe when he claimed he campaigned in 54 states.

President Joe Biden defended Democratic Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman by claiming he is 'my kind of guy' and is 'just getting better and better'. Pictured: Biden cast an early voting ballot in Wilmington, Delaware for the 2022 midterms on Saturday with granddaughter Natalie, 18, (right) who was voting for the first time

'I may not say everything perfectly sometimes, but I'll always do the right thing if you send me to Washington, D.C.' Fetterman said at the Friday event.

Biden said Saturday of the 2022 midterms: 'This is not a referendum. It's a fundamental choice between two different people.'

For months, Dr. Oz was polling around 10 points behind Fetterman to take outgoing Republican Senator Pat Toomey's seat  but the gap narrowed to just 1 percentage point over the last month as the effects of the Democrat's stroke went on display.

Fetterman suffered a stroke in May, but said that he is recovering well and insists he is fit for office.

The downfall of his campaign started with an interview earlier this month where Fetterman used real-time closed captioning in order to fully understand the questions that were being asked.

The effects of Fetterman's stroke has been on full display recently, causing Dr. Mehmet Oz, his Republican challenger, to catch up in the polls ahead of Election Day. Biden appeared with Fetterman for a rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Friday

The NBC News correspondent Dasha Burns said on-air that in small talk before the cameras were rolling, Fetterman had a hard time understanding the conversation.

Fetterman's wife Gisele has demanded an apology from Burns and said the criticism against her husband is an assault on the disabled community.

The Democratic candidate faced criticism for his debate last week with Oz, who is backed by Trump.

Viewers noticed Fetterman struggled to get through his hour-long debate.

Fetterman's delivery was often halting and choppy, while Oz turned on the charm he honed over 13 seasons of TV.

At one point the Democratic Senate hopeful was asked to clarify his position on fracking, as moderators pointed to a 2018 interview , where the lieutenant governor expressed broad opposition to the practice, but not a ban.

'I do support fracking - I don't, I don't - I support fracking, and I do support fracking,' he fumbled.

In early mail-in voting, 780,546 Pennsylvania voters have already cast their ballot ahead of the November 8, 2022 midterm Election Day.

Biden fed into critics who claim he also isn't fit for office during a rally with Fetterman in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Friday where he claimed he had been to four more states than there are at a rally to drive support for the embattled Democrat.

The 79-year-old president gave garbled remarks on how his administration has improved healthcare and mistakenly said 'we went to 54 states' to stop pharmaceutical companies from driving drug prices.

The criticism stemmed from an interview with NBC News earlier this month where Fetterman used real-time closed captioning to better understand the conversation and questions being posed

An angle of the interview showed a large computer screen where the transcript appeared as he and interviewer Dasha Burns (left) spoke

'And, by the way, if they do, that means  not a joke, everybody; that's why we defeated it in 2018 when they tried to do it. We went to 54 states,' Biden said. 'The reason is people didn't realize that the only reason anybody who has a pre-existing condition can get healthcare is because of that Affordable Care Act.'

His addition of four non-existent states is the latest in a long line of gaffes that has continued to raise concerns about the health of Biden, who is the oldest president in US history.

Despite those worries, Biden has insisted he'll run for a second term in 2024.
He was also accused by his daughter of sexually assaulting his three kids

DePape is now facing attempted murder charges for breaking into Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco home and attacking her husband, Paul, 82

In recent weeks, he has written a series of anti-Semitic posts apparently in defense of rapper Kanye West's remarks

The man accused of breaking into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's home and beating her husband had previously shared his unhinged views in a series of blog posts.

David DePape, 42, ran the website frenlyfrens.com, where he discussed how he had an invisible fairy friend that sometimes appeared to him in the form of a bird and shared images of Hillary Clinton as a zombie.

During one post he even ranted about not being able to buy a fairy house with a working door.

Many of his posts were filled with tirades against Jewish people, black people, Democrats, the media and transgender people, under categories such as 'Trannies,' 'Da Jewbs' and 'Great Reset.'

In just the past month alone, the Boston Globe reports, DePape had published hundreds of blog posts promoting far-right conspiracy theories before he allegedly broke into Pelosi's San Francisco home on Friday and attacked her husband, Paul, with a hammer.

He is believed to have broken into the home around 2:30am, yelling: 'Where's Nancy?' - a cry held on January 6 as rioters stormed the Capitol.

The 82-year-old is now continuing to recover at a local hospital, the House Speaker announced on Saturday, as she thanked well-wishers for their support and expressed how she is 'heartbroken and traumatized by the life-threatening attack.'

DePape, meanwhile, faces attempted murder charges for the brutal assault. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday.

David DePape, 42, chronicled his far-right conspiracy theories on his website frenlyfrens.com before he allegedly attacked Paul Pelosi, 82, at his San Francisco home

DePape is accused of breaking into the home Friday at around 2.30am yelling: 'Where's Nancy? before he attacked Paul Pelosi with a hammer. The House Speaker and her husband are pictured here in April

DePape registered the website in August, just a few months before the attack. It has since been taken down, but an archived version of its homepage is pictured

On the blog, he railed against Democrats and shared a picture of Hillary Clinton as a zombie

DePape had created his blog just months before the attack, registering it in August.

His very first post on the now-deleted site was entitled Mary Poppins, amid Disney World's dispute with Florida Gov Ron DeSantis over his so-called Don't Say Gay bill.

It included a video depicting a SWAT team firing at the magical nanny.

In the months since, he filled the blog with hundreds of posts depicting anti-Semitic and dystopian images.

One such post featured the Devil kneeling and asking a caricature off a Jewish person to tach him the arts of 'lying, deception cheating and incitement.'

Several others contained images of rotting human flesh and blood, including zombified versions of Bill Gates and Hillary Clinton as he promoted his far-right conspiracy theories.

By late August, DePape seemed to become engrossed in Twitter's decision to ban Jordan Peterson for his posts about transgender people after the Canadian psychologist compared being transgender to 'satanic ritual abuse.'

DePape published six posts in support of Peterson, and then continued on his own tirade against transgender people  saying they should not be a protected group.

'They were not BORN a freak,' he wrote. 'They are not INHERENTLY a freak threw [sic] no fault of their own... They are CHOOSING to be FREAKS.'

And when the Justice Department filed a motion to compel former Trump adviser Peter Navarro to return government emails, DePape posted there is 'no evidence of election fraud.

'Any journalist saying that should be dragged straight out into the street and shot.'

More recently, amid backlash to rapper Kanye West's tweet declaring war on the Jewish people, DePape posted: 'We are ALL the Jews' slave race.

'Now the Jew media wants you to GLORIFY the blacks who SOLD you into slavery,' he wrote on October 19.

He also wrote that the Holocaust was a 'Holohaux' and said Nazis should have saved Zyklon B, a deadly gas, 'so we an kill them with Zyklon B.'

In recent weeks, after Kanye West faced backlash for a tweet declaring war on the Jews, DePape shared his own anti-Semitic views on his blog

DePape was also active on 4chan, positing memes and debating other anonymous users about his beliefs.

In an October 24 post on the website, the Globe reports, DePape complained he was being targeted by law enforcement officials he described as 'paid shills' trying to manipulate the message board.

'I would come in and lay out the facts, and so all the paid shills would jump on me,' he wrote. 'To try and suppress it.'

DePape would also share some photos from a construction site he worked at, one highlighting a jackhammer with the number 33 on it, an apparent reference to a conspiracy theory about Free Masons and world domination.

DePape also believed he had an invisible fairy friend that would appear to him as a bird

The Pelosi's San Francisco home, where DePape allegedly attacked Paul, is pictured

But other posts on his blog seemed to be more personal, offering a glance into his delusions.

DePape wrote in recent months how he was becoming suicidal as his relationship with Oxane 'Gypsy' Taub, 53, was falling apart.

'I was extremely suicidal,' he posted four days before the attack, writing in an apparent letter to Inti Gonzalez, who has identified DePape as her father: 'Mentally I would beg you guys daily to let me kill myself.'

He wrote that he cut off contact with Taub and her children after he was kicked out of their home and started living in a car, though it is unclear when that was.

DePape also shared an image of a 'fantasy miniature salamander' he bought from Etsy, writing that he wanted to buy a fairy house as well  but was frustrated that all the ones offered on Etsy had fake doors.

'They have lots of fairy houses, but NONE of them are MADE for fairies,' he wrote.

And in a post on October 24, just four days before the attack, DePape shared images of a wooden birdhouse he purchased for an invisible fairy he befriended, that he said had begun interfering with his life.

'He appears in a form that makes sense in my reality because I can't see fairies,' DePape wrote. 'He'll do things to let me know it's him and he often appears as a bird.'

Oxane 'Gypsy' Taub, who once protested naked in front of San Francisco City Hall (above), was convicted in 2021 for child abuse after stalking and harassing a 14-year-old boy

Taub (right, pictured with DePape in 2013) was accused of sending messages to a former friend of her son, telling the minor that she wanted to date him and trying to lure him to meet with her secretly

DePape has previously been accused by Gonzalez of sexually assaulting his three children when they were kids.

She wrote in a since-deleted blog post, how DePape slowly became 'toxic' until her mother, Taub, left him when she was 13-years-old

Her brother Nebosvod soon began to have memories of their father 'physically and sexually abusing me and my brothers, which started when we were very young and continued until around 2008, when [Gonzalez] was 7.'

After Nebosvod began to remember abuse, Gonzalez says she and her youngest brother Daniel also started to remember being abused by DePape.

Their mother filed a police report against DePape but 'the case was not managed properly so nothing was done about it,' according to Gonzalez.

She wrote that her father's alleged violent attack on Pelosi was 'not much' of a shock 'considering the kind of extreme abuse he had inflicted on me and my brothers.'

But, Gonzalez also described DePape as a 'quiet' man who was 'never violent, yelled or even swore.'

She said he was someone DePape who 'did genuinely try to be a good person' and added that she loves him, but 'the monster in him was always too strong for him to be safe to be around,' adding that he also suffered an abusive childhood.

Gonzalez said: 'He barely opened up about himself or his past but it was obvious that he grew up in hell and that we didnt know the worst of it.' She did know, however, that his mother 'would beat him almost to death.'

Gonzalez wrote that she still loves her father despite the 'extreme abuse' she recalls him inflicting.

He once even apologized for his behavior - according to Gonzalez, he took the siblings to a park and said he was sorry 'for everything I have done to you guys. I am more sorry than you will ever know.'

However, the most recent time Gonzalez spoke to DePape, he tried to get to her to admit that the abuse never happened.

Inti Gonzalez wrote in her own blog post that DePape is 'consumed by darkness' and sexually abused both her and her brothers before their mother left him

She wrote that her mother met DePape - whom she describes as her father - in Maui when she was pregnant with her and where Gonzalez was born. They moved to the Bay Area soon after her birth

Gonzalez's mother, meanwhile, had previously been convicted in 2021 for child abuse.

Prosecutors say Taub, 53, who once protested naked in front of San Francisco City Hall, had been stalking a 14-year-old boy, sending him emails and messages and trying to lure him to secretly meet with her.

Police said she had an 'obsession' with the child, a friend of her son's, once writing to him that it would legal for them to date in other states.

She once even allegedly drove past his house trying to talk to profess 'her love and desire' to be with him.

Authorities also claimed Taub had her son deliver a package to the boy, which included a letter pleading with him to meet with her without his phone.

'This is our last chance to help you,' the letter read. 'Leave your bag and your regular cell phone in the locker.'

Police showed up at the time and place of the meeting Taub had set up and arrested her as she wore a 'disguise.'

Along with stalking and endangering the boy, the court heard that he had suffered great 'mental anguish' over the repeated harassment.

Taub, pictured at a naked wedding ceremony by San Francisco City Hall, was arrested in 2019 and convicted of her crimes against the 14-year-old boy in 2021

Neighbors like Ryan La Coste (above), claimed Taub and DePape would try selling psychedelic drugs to them as medicine. La Coste said he's long complained about the nudity in front of minors from his neighbors

Meanwhile, neighbors have come forward in recent days to reveal they have long complained about the family's behavior and nudity while minors were around, claiming to Michael Shellenberger's Substack that the family keeps several sex dolls.

'Before Gypsy got locked up, there were sex dolls drying on the back of their porch that I'm assuming she bought for her sons,' La Coste said. 'They're off the wall.'

Along with worries over Taub's criminal record, neighbors told Shellenberger that she and DePape often used the psychedelic drug ibogaine.

One neighbor, who identified herself only as Tish, claimed the duo would buy the drugs from Mexico 'and then they bring it back here and treat peoples mental health illnesses.'

She alleged that Taub and DePape would abuse the pills themselves, wailing at night and sweating profusely from trips that appeared to last three days.

Laura Hayes, another neighbor, told CNN that she's seen similar odd behavior from the former couple. She said DePape once told her 'he talks to angels and there will be a hard time coming.'

While reports indicate that DePape was an unhinged, far-right conspiracy theorist, neighbors noted he and Taub's politics were much more muddied.

They told Shellenberger that the couple had Black Live Matter flags and an LGBT rainbow flag outside their home, but also said that any liberal leanings appeared to be shallow and performative.
Flowers are attached to the wall of a building in Seoul's Itaewon district, Oct. 30. Yonhap



An Australian national who survived a deadly stampede in Seoul's Itaewon district the previous day desperately searched for the body of his Australian friend on Sunday.



The 23-year-old female victim, whose identity was withheld, is believed to be one of 19 foreign nationals who died in a crush in a narrow downhill alley in the famous nightlife district on Saturday night after tens of thousands of people visited the area for Halloween.



At least 151 people were killed and 82 others were injured, according to local authorities. The foreigners killed also include those from Iran, Uzbekistan, China and Norway.



"I don't know where she is ... Next week's her birthday," Nathan Taverniti told Yonhap News Agency in front of Soonchunhyang University Hospital, where the bodies of some of the victims are located.






A British man who survived by eating seaweed and drinking rainwater after he capsized in the English Channel had been trying to kayak to Spain, according to the fisherman who rescued him.

Daniel Lewis, from Blackpool, clung on to a buoy after his inflatable kayak capsized in the middle of the Channel before he was spotted by Dutch fishermen on Thursday.

The 28-year-old nearly drowned and is understood to have told rescuers that he survived by eating raw mussels, crabs and seaweed during his maritime ordeal.

Dutch fisherman Tunis Van Luut said the kayaker told him he had been trying to paddle to Spain and that he also claimed he had been at sea since October 15 and on the buoy for four.

But the French coastguard dismissed the idea that he could have been at sea for as long as 12 days, saying it would be impossible to survive.

Daniel Lewis (pictured), 28, told his rescuers that he had been trying to kayak to Spain before his boat capsized in the English Channel

Dutch fisherman spotted the 28-year-old hanging on to a buoy and managed to pull him to safety

French Channel authorities said he was found by fishermen around halfway between Dover and France

Mr Van Lutt, 41, told The Mirror that Mr Lewis had been unable to stand when they managed to bring him onboard the French fishing vessel De Madelaine.

The skipper said: 'He needed water and he was drinking a lot, and I asked him who are you and how is it possible that you are here on this buoy without your clothes, just your swimming shorts - there was nothing else.

'We asked him, "what time did you depart" and he said it was October 15 from Dover in a kayak. We asked when he had the accident, but his condition was so bad and I could see that his eyes were very deep in his head and he had a lot of blue veins on his head and arms.

'He told me he wanted to go to Spain, but I said that is stupid because of the distance - it's too far. That's what he told us, he departed on Oct 15 from Dover and his plan was that he was going to Spain.'

Mr Van Lutt said the kayaker was just 79F (26C) and the crew immediately phoned the coastguard, who arrived just eight minutes later.

On Friday Mr Lewis's father Richard told MailOnline he was 'both relieved and concerned' when he saw pictures of his son, who was upset following a recent break-up, being rescued from the sea.

He was rescued by a group of fishermen from the Netherlands in the Channel before being airlifted to a French hospital by the French Coast Guard

After being taken aboard the exhausted British kayaker (pictured) was offered some water and a Snickers chocolate bar

He said: 'From the moment I saw the pictures of the lad being rescued from the sea I knew it was my Daniel.

'I'm so pleased that he is safe and well and being looked after in hospital. But I was really worried that he had almost been lost at sea. I had no idea he was planning anything like this. [Daniel] has had a lot of problems and he has been moving around a lot. He has been living between Liverpool, Wrexham and Birmingham.

'I try to keep tabs on him and I try to speak to him on the phone as often as I can. But the other day he just vanished. I later heard that he had split up with his girlfriend.

'I had no idea he had gone down south or that he was planning to paddle across the Channel.

'Daniel has never been into kayaking. He doesn't even own a canoe.'

Coastguards in France, where he was taken for emergency treatment, said he did not seem to have proper training in how to use a kayak and didn't appear to have any support or back-up for his attempt at such a dangerous crossing.

French authorities said he was found by fishermen holding onto the 'Colbart Nord' buoy (pictured)

Orlane Saliou, spokeswoman for the Maritime Gendarmerie, the French equivalent of the Coastguard, said it didn't appear that he was experienced.

She added that his good physical fitness and the timely rescue had 'saved his life'. But she rubbished some media reports that he could have been lost at sea for as long as 12 days - as this would have been impossible to survive.

Madame Saliou told MailOnline: 'His motives concerning this crossing are not very clear but it would seem that a sporting project should be discarded.

'The Maritime Gendarmerie is currently carrying out an investigation on this topic.

'The person suffered from hypothermia, general fatigue and dehydration but given his good physical resistance, his general state of health is quite good.

'The victim was taken care of by the French healthcare services as soon as they arrive in the territory.

'The responsiveness of the CROSS Griz-nez [maritime emergency station] and the rapid engagement of the French Navy helicopter Dauphin probably saved his life.'

She added that the Briton had attempted to cross the 'world's busiest water way' which 400 commercial ships pass through every day and endures 120 days per year of 'force seven gales'.
Shocking footage shows female Afghan students being whipped by a Taliban official after they were barred from entering their university campus because they were not wearing burkas.

The women, students at Badakhshan University in northeastern Afghanistan, said they were beaten by Taliban officials from the Ministry of Virtue and Vice for wearing hijabs - headscarves - instead of burkas.

In a video posted on social media today, one of the Taliban government's guards can be seen chasing after the students with a whip and lashing them to disperse them.

The footage shows dozens of women standing outside the university gates holding books and other school supplies as men are able to walk past them and get inside.

It comes nearly three months after the Taliban's religious police introduced stricter measures on how women dress in Badakhshan, particularly in the capital Faizabad which is where the university is located.

Female students at Badakhshan University in northeastern Afghanistan said they were beaten by Taliban officials from the Ministry of Virtue and Vice for wearing hijabs - headscarves - instead of burkas

One of the Taliban government's guards can be seen chasing after the students with a whip and lashing them to disperse them

According to the Directorate of Vice and Virtue, proper attire for women in public is either a niqab - a veil covering the head and face but not the eyes - or a burka - a veil that covers the entire body and face, with a mesh window across the eyes.

Mursal, a student at Badakhshan University, told Alive in Afghanistan that she has witnessed women being turned away for not wearing the proper dress code.

Another student, Samia, told the news website last month: 'We were stopped on the way to university today and they even checked our fingernails. They wanted to slap a student for wearing nail polish, but the girl ran away. They called ahead to the next checkpoint to apprehend and punish her.'

Public universities reopened for female students in February - nearly six months after the Taliban took control of the country - but with strict dress regulations and segregated teaching for men and women.

Female students crowd outside the gates of Badakhshan University. They claim they have been barred from entering because they were not wearing the right attire

Men can be seen walking straight past the Taliban guard and into the university while the female students are forced to wait outside

Secondary education for girls is still banned in the country, meaning that soon women will not have the qualifications needed to enrol in higher education.

Last month Taliban Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai called on the authorities to reopen schools for girls beyond the sixth year, arguing that there is no valid reason in Islam for the ban.

But a source with Taliban leadership ties told the Guardian that even if practical barriers to women entering higher education are removed, the authorities are considering limiting them to degrees in healthcare and education.

The Taliban is known for its extreme interpretation of the Sharia law - Islam's legal system which is based on the Quran and teachings from scholars.

It acts as a code of conduct for Muslims but some interpretations mean women can be treated harshly in terms of what they wear and what they are seen as being allowed to do.

Previously, under Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001, women weren't allowed to work or be educated.

They were banned from wearing certain items of clothing, such as shoes with high heels, and could not leave the house without a male chaperone.

The Taliban launched a 10-day takeover of Afghanistan in August last year as United States-led forces withdrew from the country.

This was despite billions of dollars being spent by the US and Nato over nearly two decades to build up Afghan security forces.

The takeover culminated in the fall of the capital Kabul on August 15 as president Ashraf Ghani fled to Abu Dhabi and admitted the Taliban had won.

Chaos ensued at Kabul's airport as people tried to flee, with refugees pictured clinging to planes as they tried to take off.
Democrat Senator Amy Klobuchar said Sunday that she is 'concerned' about billionaire Elon Musk's ownership of Twitter.

The Minnesota lawmaker even suggested his comparably lax views on content moderation could lead to more incidents like the break-in of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco home.

A man who espoused QAnon beliefs, anti-Semitism and other extremist views broke into Pelosi's house overnight Friday and assaulted her husband, Paul Pelosi, when he tried to confront the intruder. DailyMail.com revealed earlier that the attacker was also accused of sexual abuse by her step-father.

Klobuchar accused social media giants of profiting 'off of this violence.'

Speaking to NBC News' Meet The Press on Sunday, the moderate Democrat said she would unveil a 'bipartisan amendment' to the annual defense spending bill to remove lawmakers' private data off of the internet in response to the Pelosi attack.

Social media watchers were on high alert Friday. Musk formally completed his $44 billion purchase of Twitter and fired three of its top executives.

Asked if she trusts Musk's ownership, Klobuchar bluntly answered: 'No, I do not.'

Earlier in the interview, she blamed the internet for amplifying threats against Pelosi that led to the break-in.

Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar told Meet The Press that she was 'concerned' about what Elon Musk could do to Twitter's content moderation

WATCH: @SenAmyKlobuchar (D-Minn.) says tech companies are making money off of us. They are making money off of this violence."@chucktodd: "Now that Elon Musk runs Twitter, do you trust him?"



Klobuchar: "No, I do not." pic.twitter.com/GZK226g0QC  Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) October 30, 2022

'A vicious attack in which she has been villainized for years, and  big surprise  it's gone viral, and it went violent,' Klobuchar said.

When later explaining her concerns about Musk owning Twitter, she referenced the troubling and extremist online presence that David DePape had in the lead-up to his assault against Pelosi's family.

'I think you have to have some content moderation because when you look at what this guy was looking at, he was looking at just horrendous things you dont even want to talk about on your show,' Klobuchar said.

'He was posting anti-Semitic tropes. He was showing memes that showed violence and all of this election-denying, pro-Trump MAGA crowd rhetoric. Thats what were dealing with here.'

She added that Musk's intent to add a content moderation board 'was one good sign' but conceded she was still 'concerned.'

He formally acquired the company on Friday. This video grab taken from a video posted on the Twitter account of billionaire Tesla chief Musk on October 26, 2022 shows himself carrying a sink as he enters the Twitter headquarters in San Francisco

'I just dont think people should be making money off of passing on this stuff thats a bunch of lies,' the Minnesota senator said. 'They are making money off of us. They are making money off of this violence.'

When asked what could be done now to better protect lawmakers, Klobuchar said 'various levels of protection' that includes new law enforcement funding should be on the table when lawmakers return to session.

She also suggested legislation to enhance elected officials' privacy.

'I have a bipartisan amendment that will allow members to take their private information off of the internet,' Klobuchar said.

'There is a similar provision that has been put forth for judges, and this is part of the National Defense Reauthorization Act. So I'm very hopeful that finally I'll be able to get the support to get this done. And again, it's bipartisan.'

Klobuchar also condemned the break-in of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco home while she was not there. Her husband Paul Pelosi was badly injured in the attack

On Friday, hours after the break-in at Pelosi's home, the federal government issued a bulletin, obtained by CBS News, warning of increasing threats against public officials and election workers less than two weeks before the midterms.

''Potential targets of domestic violent extremism (DVE) violence include candidates running for public office, elected officials, election workers, political rallies, political party representatives, racial and religious minorities, or perceived ideological opponents,' the bulletin, which was published on Friday, states.

Pelosi's spokesman Drew Hammill revealed on Friday that Paul Pelosi required surgery to fix a skull fracture and 'serious injuries to his right arm and hands.'

The attack was condemned on both sides of the aisle. However, Democrats also accused Republicans of fomenting and endorsing hateful rhetoric that led to the incident.

DePape had promoted various election fraud and COVID-19 conspiracy theories associated with right-wing talking points on his social media channels.

President Joe Biden linked the attack to the violent events at the US Capitol on January 6.

During a speech on Friday, Biden the attacker's calls of 'Where's Nancy?' is 'that the same chant was used by this guy that they have in custody that was used on January 6, the attack on the U.S. Capitol.'

'This is despicable. Theres no place in America. Theres too much violence - political violence - too much hatred, too much vitriol,' the president said.

'And what makes us think one party can talk about stolen elections, COVID being a hoax, [that its] all a bunch of lies, and it not affect people who may not be so well balanced? What makes us think that its not going to alter the political climate? Enough is enough is enough.'
Elon Musk has now deleted a tweet suggesting Paul Pelosi's attacker was a gay prostitute he met during a boozy night out.

The tweet sharing a link to an article suggesting the House Speaker's husband left a San Francisco gay bar with David DePape prior to his assault no longer appears on the new Twitter CEO's page  just hours after it was posted.

He has now been accused of 'caving into the leftist mob.'

Musk had posted the theory in response to a tweet by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in which she claimed that the attack on the 82-year-old was the fault of Republican 'mouthpieces' spreading 'hate and deranged conspiracy theories.'

'There's a tiny possibility there may be more to this story than meets the eye,' the 51-year-old billionaire responded, sharing a link to a story published by an obscure outlet called the Santa Monica Observer.

It seemed to have crashed since the story was first highlighted by Musk, with would-be readers receiving an error page reading that the site's webserver, Cloudflare, was 'returning an unknown error' according to Axios.

According to the LA Times, the same outlet previously reported that Hillary Clinton died before the 2016 election, and that a body double had been sent to debate Donald Trump. It also claimed that sunlight could treat COVID, and that Kanye West had been appointed to the Trump administration.

The latest story, which can still be accessed in an online archive, was headlined: 'The Awful Truth: Paul Pelosi Was Drunk Again, And In a Dispute With a Male Prostitute Early Friday Morning.'

Elon Musk appears to have deleted a tweet suggesting Paul Pelosi's attacker was a gay prostitute he met during a boozy night out

New Twitter CEO Elon Musk shared a link to a now-deleted article suggesting Paul Pelosi left a gay bar with David DePape early Friday morning before he was allegedly attacked with a hammer. It came in response to

Musk shared a now-deleted Santa Monica Observer article written by Stan Greene

Author Stan Greene claimed 'in his honest opinion' that Paul Pelosi and DePape met at a gay bar earlier that night and went to the home together.

Greene offered no evidence to back up his claims, and police have not shared any information which confirms any of the claims made.

Pelosi was previously sentenced to five days in jail in August after he crashed his Porsche while drunk this year, but there's no suggestion that he's gay or an alcoholic.

Musk's decision to share such an outlandish theory sparked fury on Twitter, just days after he bought the site and vowed to make it a paragon of free speech.

He had written in a message to advertisers on Thursday that while he wants the social media giant to become a 'digital town square' it 'obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences.'

The Santa Monica Observer previously reported that Hillary Clinton died before the 2016 election, and that a body double had been sent to debate Donald Trump

Some of Musk's supporters accused him of 'caving to the leftist mob' by deleting the tweet

The theory seems to be predicated on a 911 call the 82-year-old victim made after DePape, 42, allegedly broke into his $6million home and attacked him with a hammer while shouting, 'Where's Nancy?' Authorities now say he had a bag containing multiple zip ties with him at the time, CNN reports.

'Welp, looks like you're obviously not going to do anything about disinformation on here since youre spreading it as well,' author Frederick Joseph tweeted.

DePape, 42, has been accused of breaking into the Pelosi's San Francisco home in his underwear at around 2.30am Friday after apparently penning a manifesto containing anti-government beliefs and a list of other politicians he planned to target.

He ran a blog filled with tirades against Jewish people, black people, Democrats, the media and transgender people, creating over 100 posts in just the past few weeks promoting far-right conspiracy theories.

DePape, 42. is accused of breaking into Pelosi's $6million home and attacking Paul Pelosi, 82, with a hammer as he shouted: 'Where's Nancy?'

Paul Pelosi, right, was able to call 911 alerting authorities to the situation as it was unfolding. He is pictured here with his wife, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in 2019

When cops arrived at the exclusive property (pictured), they said they saw DePape assaulting Pelosi with a hammer

In the article that Musk shared, Greene also cited an unnamed source claiming that DePape, who has previously spoken out against a proposal to ban nudity in the Castro district of the city, is part of a 'group of really radical gay male prostitutes that parade around naked with c*** rings.'

The unnamed source then goes on to claim that police were actually responding to a wellness check on the 82-year-old Friday morning, and 'when he didn't answer the phone, the cops broke the sliding glass door to get in.'

The theory therefore directly refutes authorities' claims that DePape broke into the house, noting that as the Speaker of the House, the Pelosi's should have 'amazing security.'

But even though Nancy Pelosi would have a full-time security detail with her as speaker of the house, her husband would not have federal protection.

As such, there is no evidence to suggest the source's theory is true.

Authorities have said DePape entered the Pelosi's house through a sliding glass door at the back of the house, with aerial footage showing broken panes of smashed glass at a door to the home

San Francisco police are still working out a motive for the attack. Authorities are pictured outside Pelosi's house on Friday

Authorities have said DePape entered the Pelosi's house through a sliding glass door at the back of the house, with aerial footage showing broken panes of smashed glass at a door to the home.

He had apparently been targeting the house speaker, authorities say, but instead found Paul Pelosi, whom he asked: 'Where is Nancy? Where is Nancy?'

DePape then allegedly tried to tie up Paul Pelosi 'until Nancy got home,' and by the time cops arrived at the property in the exclusive Pacific Heights neighborhood, he told the officers: 'We're waiting for Nancy.'

At that point, San Francisco Police Chief William Scott indicated, there was some type of confrontation between the two men involving a hammer. But it was unclear who the hammer belonged to - if DePape brought it with him or if Paul Pelosi had it for defensive reasons.

Scott said when his officers entered the home, they 'observed Mr. Pelosi and the suspect both holding a hammer. The suspect pulled the hammer away from Mr. Pelosi and violently assaulted him with it. Our officers immediately tackled the suspect, disarmed him, took him into custody, requested emergency backup and rendered medical aid.'

Scott noted 'the motive for this attack is still being determined.'

Pelosi is now recovering at a local hospital, the House Speaker announced on Saturday, as she thanked well-wishers for their support and expressed how she is 'heartbroken and traumatized by the life-threatening attack.'

DePape, meanwhile, faces attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, and additional charges. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday.

Paul Pelosi attacker wrote rambling blog about his invisible FAIRY friend, ranted about not being able to buy a fairy house with doors - and shared images of Hillary Clinton as a zombie

The man accused of breaking into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's home and beating her husband had previously shared his unhinged views in a series of blog posts.

David DePape, 42, ran the website frenlyfrens.com, where he discussed how he had an invisible fairy friend that sometimes appeared to him in the form of a bird and shared images of Hillary Clinton as a zombie.

During one post he even ranted about not being able to buy a fairy house with a working door.

Many of his posts were filled with tirades against Jewish people, black people, Democrats, the media and transgender people, under categories such as 'Trannies,' 'Da Jewbs' and 'Great Reset.'

In just the past month alone, the Boston Globe reports, DePape had published hundreds of blog posts promoting far-right conspiracy theories before he allegedly broke into Pelosi's San Francisco home on Friday and attacked her husband, Paul, with a hammer.

He is believed to have broken into the home around 2:30am, yelling: 'Where's Nancy?' - a cry held on January 6 as rioters stormed the Capitol.

The 82-year-old is now continuing to recover at a local hospital, the House Speaker announced on Saturday, as she thanked well-wishers for their support and expressed how she is 'heartbroken and traumatized by the life-threatening attack.'

DePape, meanwhile, faces attempted murder charges for the brutal assault. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday.

David DePape, 42, chronicled his far-right conspiracy theories on his website frenlyfrens.com before he allegedly attacked Paul Pelosi, 82, at his San Francisco home

DePape is accused of breaking into the home Friday at around 2.30am yelling: 'Where's Nancy? before he attacked Paul Pelosi with a hammer. The House Speaker and her husband are pictured here in April

DePape registered the website in August, just a few months before the attack. It has since been taken down, but an archived version of its homepage is pictured

On the blog, he railed against Democrats and shared a picture of Hillary Clinton as a zombie

DePape had created his blog just months before the attack, registering it in August.

His very first post on the now-deleted site was entitled Mary Poppins, amid Disney World's dispute with Florida Gov Ron DeSantis over his so-called Don't Say Gay bill.

It included a video depicting a SWAT team firing at the magical nanny.

In the months since, he filled the blog with hundreds of posts depicting anti-Semitic and dystopian images.

One such post featured the Devil kneeling and asking a caricature off a Jewish person to tach him the arts of 'lying, deception cheating and incitement.'

Several others contained images of rotting human flesh and blood, including zombified versions of Bill Gates and Hillary Clinton as he promoted his far-right conspiracy theories.

By late August, DePape seemed to become engrossed in Twitter's decision to ban Jordan Peterson for his posts about transgender people after the Canadian psychologist compared being transgender to 'satanic ritual abuse.'

DePape published six posts in support of Peterson, and then continued on his own tirade against transgender people  saying they should not be a protected group.

'They were not BORN a freak,' he wrote. 'They are not INHERENTLY a freak threw [sic] no fault of their own... They are CHOOSING to be FREAKS.'

And when the Justice Department filed a motion to compel former Trump adviser Peter Navarro to return government emails, DePape posted there is 'no evidence of election fraud.

'Any journalist saying that should be dragged straight out into the street and shot.'

More recently, amid backlash to rapper Kanye West's tweet declaring war on the Jewish people, DePape posted: 'We are ALL the Jews' slave race.

'Now the Jew media wants you to GLORIFY the blacks who SOLD you into slavery,' he wrote on October 19.

He also wrote that the Holocaust was a 'Holohaux' and said Nazis should have saved Zyklon B, a deadly gas, 'so we an kill them with Zyklon B.'

In recent weeks, after Kanye West faced backlash for a tweet declaring war on the Jews, DePape shared his own anti-Semitic views on his blog

DePape was also active on 4chan, positing memes and debating other anonymous users about his beliefs.

In an October 24 post on the website, the Globe reports, DePape complained he was being targeted by law enforcement officials he described as 'paid shills' trying to manipulate the message board.

'I would come in and lay out the facts, and so all the paid shills would jump on me,' he wrote. 'To try and suppress it.'

DePape would also share some photos from a construction site he worked at, one highlighting a jackhammer with the number 33 on it, an apparent reference to a conspiracy theory about Free Masons and world domination.

DePape also believed he had an invisible fairy friend that would appear to him as a bird

The Pelosi's San Francisco home, where DePape allegedly attacked Paul, is pictured

But other posts on his blog seemed to be more personal, offering a glance into his delusions.

DePape wrote in recent months how he was becoming suicidal as his relationship with Oxane 'Gypsy' Taub, 53, was falling apart he was becoming suicidal.

'I was extremely suicidal,' he posted four days before the attack, writing in an apparent letter to Inti Gonzalez, who has identified DePape as her father: 'Mentally I would beg you guys daily to let me kill myself.'

He wrote that he cut off contact with Taub and her children after he was kicked out of their home and started living in a car, though it is unclear when that was.

DePape also shared an image of a 'fantasy miniature salamander' he bought from Etsy, writing that he wanted to buy a fairy house as well  but was frustrated that all the ones offered on Etsy had fake doors.

'They have lots of fairy houses, but NONE of them are MADE for fairies,' he wrote.

And in a post on October 24, just four days before the attack, DePape shared images of a wooden birdhouse he purchased for an invisible fairy he befriended, that he said had begun interfering with his life.

'He appears in a form that makes sense in my reality because I can't see fairies,' DePape wrote. 'He'll do things to let me know it's him and he often appears as a bird.'

Oxane 'Gypsy' Taub, who once protested naked in front of San Francisco City Hall (above), was convicted in 2021 for child abuse after stalking and harassing a 14-year-old boy

Taub (right, pictured with DePape in 2013) was accused of sending messages to a former friend of her son, telling the minor that she wanted to date him and trying to lure him to meet with her secretly

DePape has previously been accused by Gonzalez of sexually assaulting his three children when they were kids.

She wrote in a since-deleted blog post, how DePape slowly became 'toxic' until her mother, Taub, left him when she was 13-years-old

Her brother Nebosvod soon began to have memories of their father 'physically and sexually abusing me and my brothers, which started when we were very young and continued until around 2008, when [Gonzalez] was 7.'

After Nebosvod began to remember abuse, Gonzalez says she and her youngest brother Daniel also started to remember being abused by DePape.

Their mother filed a police report against DePape but 'the case was not managed properly so nothing was done about it,' according to Gonzalez.

She wrote that her father's alleged violent attack on Pelosi was 'not much' of a shock 'considering the kind of extreme abuse he had inflicted on me and my brothers.'

But, Gonzalez also described DePape as a 'quiet' man who was 'never violent, yelled or even swore.'

She said he was someone DePape who 'did genuinely try to be a good person' and added that she loves him, but 'the monster in him was always too strong for him to be safe to be around,' adding that he also suffered an abusive childhood.

Gonzalez said: 'He barely opened up about himself or his past but it was obvious that he grew up in hell and that we didnt know the worst of it.' She did know, however, that his mother 'would beat him almost to death.'

Gonzalez wrote that she still loves her father despite the 'extreme abuse' she recalls him inflicting.

He once even apologized for his behavior - according to Gonzalez, he took the siblings to a park and said he was sorry 'for everything I have done to you guys. I am more sorry than you will ever know.'

However, the most recent time Gonzalez spoke to DePape, he tried to get to her to admit that the abuse never happened.

Inti Gonzalez wrote in her own blog post that DePape is 'consumed by darkness' and sexually abused both her and her brothers before their mother left him

She wrote that her mother met DePape - whom she describes as her father - in Maui when she was pregnant with her and where Gonzalez was born. They moved to the Bay Area soon after her birth

Gonzalez's mother, meanwhile, had previously been convicted in 2021 for child abuse.

Prosecutors say Taub, 53, who once protested naked in front of San Francisco City Hall, had been stalking a 14-year-old boy, sending him emails and messages and trying to lure him to secretly meet with her.

Police said she had an 'obsession' with the child, a friend of her son's, once writing to him that it would legal for them to date in other states.

She once even allegedly drove past his house trying to talk to profess 'her love and desire' to be with him.

Authorities also claimed Taub had her son deliver a package to the boy, which included a letter pleading with him to meet with her without his phone.

'This is our last chance to help you,' the letter read. 'Leave your bag and your regular cell phone in the locker.'

Police showed up at the time and place of the meeting Taub had set up and arrested her as she wore a 'disguise.'

Along with stalking and endangering the boy, the court heard that he had suffered great 'mental anguish' over the repeated harassment.

Taub, pictured at a naked wedding ceremony by San Francisco City Hall, was arrested in 2019 and convicted of her crimes against the 14-year-old boy in 2021

Neighbors like Ryan La Coste (above), claimed Taub and DePape would try selling psychedelic drugs to them as medicine. La Coste said he's long complained about the nudity in front of minors from his neighbors

Meanwhile, neighbors have come forward in recent days to reveal they have long complained about the family's behavior and nudity while minors were around, claiming to Michael Shellenberger's Substack that the family keeps several sex dolls.

'Before Gypsy got locked up, there were sex dolls drying on the back of their porch that I'm assuming she bought for her sons,' La Coste said. 'They're off the wall.'

Along with worries over Taub's criminal record, neighbors told Shellenberger that she and DePape often used the psychedelic drug ibogaine.

One neighbor, who identified herself only as Tish, claimed the duo would buy the drugs from Mexico 'and then they bring it back here and treat peoples mental health illnesses.'

She alleged that Taub and DePape would abuse the pills themselves, wailing at night and sweating profusely from trips that appeared to last three days.

Laura Hayes, another neighbor, told CNN that she's seen similar odd behavior from the former couple. She said DePape once told her 'he talks to angels and there will be a hard time coming.'

While reports indicate that DePape was an unhinged, far-right conspiracy theorist, neighbors noted he and Taub's politics were much more muddied.

They told Shellenberger that the couple had Black Live Matter flags and an LGBT rainbow flag outside their home, but also said that any liberal leanings appeared to be shallow and performative.
A Baltimore dad has begged prosecutors to keep his tearaway 15 year-old son behind bars - and says he was threatened with jail for neglect after telling the cops to keep the boy locked up after his latest car-jacking offense.

Santiago Garcia-Diaz says his son Bryce, 15, has been arrested multiple times for carjacking and thefts in both Baltimore and Washington, D.C., and that his hope was the law would back him up when it came to teaching Bryce a lesson.

But so far he's had no joy, with only one of 19 charges filed against Bryce pursued. The teenager hasn't been hit with any kind of custodial sentence, and his father is terrified that Bryce will end up dead if he doesn't get scared straight by a stint behind bars.

He says not only have they not helped to get his son under control, they've made the situation worse through inaction.

'He started breaking into cars to steal cigarettes and chains then you're stealing cars and running from the police,' the worried dad told Fox 45. 'He's not going to be alive, that's what I'm afraid of. It's progressively getting worse.'

Santiago Garcia-Diaz says his 15-year-old son Bryce is constantly smoking marijuana and stealing cars

The worried father spoke with a local news outlet in Baltimore to share his concerns over the inaction from law enforcement when it comes to his son's out of control behavior

The father says his son is out of control and the prosecutors in the area are not helping as his son has repeatedly been let off the hook.

Santiago shared his son's arrest record from earlier this year with Fox45 in Maryland.

The documents he gave to the outlet showed Bryce, then just 14-years-old, had been arrested alongside a friend for stealing two cars and going on a high-speed chase.

Bryce and his friend stole a Lexus and a Honda CRV and then led police officers through busy streets.

Santiago says his child almost killed two police officers who were attempting to stop him during that incident.

'They was trying to barricade my son in. Someone tried to stop and he took the gas and tried to drive right through 'em, knocked 'em out of his shoes,' he said.

Santiago claims not only are law enforcement not helping him out by teaching his son a lesson, but they have threatened to charge him for abandonment and neglect for not showing up to pick up his child.

After the high-speed chase with police, Santiago claims police told him he had three hours to get to the station or he would be arrested.

The dad says his son has had 18 charged dropped and only one misdemeanor conspiracy charge has remained, which resulted in probation which he has repeatedly broken the terms of

'I don't know what to do anymore,' he said. 'I've looked into boot camps and I just can't afford it.'

Santiago says he was threatened when he tried to teach his son a lesson.

He's a father who believes his son needs to be punished to be rescued.

'I want my son to get some help. I mean, if it's jail that what's is gonna take; then jail. What my son needs he needs some mental help.'

Santiago says he's now facing restitution fines for his son's crimes that are taking a heavy financial toll on his family, he's also set up a GoFundMe page in response.

The Garcia-Diaz family lives in Baltimore, which has recorded more than 600 instances of carjacking in 2022 alone

The dad says he has had petitions signed by judges in the area so Bryce could be committed for a psych evaluation.

The petitions resulted in nothing, however, as the hospitals wouldn't accept him without a record, Santiago claims.

After one incident, Bryce was allegedly sentenced to six months of probation.

His dad says he violated every term of his probation 'the first day.'

'Nothing ever happened,' he said.

15-year-old Bryce has had several run-ins with the law in Baltimore, pictured above, and also in Washington, D.C.

According to a GoFundMe set up by the Baltimore dad, Bryce is one of three children and has been diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyper Disorder, and Oppositional Defiant Disorder.

'I have three beautiful kids that I would lay down and die for but I have one son and I've tried everything in my power to get him help from himself,' the dad said.

The incidents began ramping up about two and a half years ago, he says. Before that, Bryce only had minor issues with 'stealing' and 'sneaking away.'

Now, he has been arrested more than five times, carjacked individuals, and is constantly smoking marijuana and 'popping pills.' Santiago says it's become an issue for their whole entire family.

The first month of 2022 saw 51 carjackings and 203 robberies. Those numbers have since ballooned to 533 and 2,400, respectively

Santiago says Bryce's story perfectly encapsulates the issues with the criminal justice system in Baltimore at the moment.

He believes cases like Bryce's are what's driving an uptick in juvenile crime.

'This isn't even about my son, this is about Baltimore City's kids, this is about all juvenile delinquents,' he said.

In all of the incidents, Santiago says 18 total charges against Bryce have been dropped and the one remaining was the one that ended with probation.

Baltimore's crime stats remain high with more than 330 homicides in 2021

Santiago claims Bryce has crashed a stolen vehicle through a house and run over a police officer with the car.

That arrest came with an assault and battery of an officer charge that was also dropped. Bryce faced one charge of conspiracy, which is a misdemeanor.

The dad says he has tried writing the mayor and the governor and that they helped by putting a GPS tracking device on him, but that he has already cut it off once.

Santiago says he feels he is out of ideas and he just doesn't know what to do at this point.

Baltimore has become a hot-spot for crime in recent years

Baltimore's streets no longer seem safe for many residents as shootings, carjackings, and thefts seemingly run rampant

Despite heavy police presence throughout the city, crime is still heavy in the Maryland city

'I'm so worried that my son is not going to see the age of 18,' he said.

Santiago says he's terrified his child will die in a chase involving police or he may kill someone in a chase.

He also says he's now been summoned to court over damage done by Bryce during one of his 'outings.'

Santiago has been 'advised to seek legal counsel as he says he believes the owner of the house Bryce crashed into during one incident and the owner of the stolen vehicle he was driving will want to sue.

The GoFundMe is to help cover expenses from legal fees and any restitution he may have to pay.

'Please say a prayer for me and please a very special prayer for my son,' Santiago wrote. 'Our whole family would be lost if something happens that takes him off this planet.'

Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby, in 2021 said that 'the era of "tough on crime" is over'

In 2021, Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced she make permanent a policy brought into effect during the pandemic to no longer prosecute drug possession, prostitution and nonviolent misdemeanors.

'The era of "tough on crime" is over,' she declared in an interview with the Washington Post, vowing instead to divert offenders into programs to combat addiction and mental health disorders.

According to the City of Baltimore, there have been more than 25,000 reported crimes this year alone.

With two months to go in 2022, there have been more than 4,600 aggravated assaults, 533 carjackings, 2,400 robberies, and 603 shootings.

As of October 30, there have also been 278 homicides in the city.
Three teenagers have been arrested after a 27-year-old man was injured 'by a machete' in Bradford this morning.

West Yorkshire Police have issued an appeal after a number of males were seen fighting in Sackville Street shortly before 5am on October 30.

The force said in a statement that the injured male was taken to hospital and his injuries - believed to have been caused by a machete - are not considered life threatening.

Two 17-year-olds and a 19-year-old have been arrested in connection with the incident and remain in police custody.

Footage of the affray, circulating on social media, shows a group of people - including one masked man who appears to be brandishing a large knife - brawling in the street.

Later in the footage, an unmasked man holds a blade in the air before getting into a car.

Footage of the affray, circulating on social media, shows a group of people - including one masked man who appears to be brandishing a large knife - brawling in the street

Later in the footage, an unmasked man hold a blade in the air before getting into a car

Police said that initial enquiries suggested suspects had left the scene in a vehicle, which was subsequently stopped a short time later in Keighley.

The three teenagers who were inside the vehicle were arrested in connection with the incident and remain in police custody.

A number of weapons were recovered from the vehicle, including a machete.

Detective Chief Inspector, Alan Weekes said: 'We are continuing with extensive enquiries following this incident to establish the full circumstances and are keen to hear from anyone who witnessed any part of the incident.

'I am particularly interested in any video footage captured during this incident, some of which we are aware is being circulated on social media.

West Yorkshire Police have issued an appeal after a number of males were seen fighting in Sackville Street shortly before 5am on October 30

'Thankfully, the injuries sustained are not considered life threatening but we know all too well how dangerous the use of weapons can be and the devastating consequences it can have.

'The rapid response of our officers following this incident has led to multiple arrests and resulted in offensive weapons being taken off the streets.

'Clearly serious violence involving weapons is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated and we will continue to support proactive operations to target those carrying weapons.'

Anyone with information is asked to contact Bradford CID via 101 quoting crime reference 13220598337 or online via www.westyorkshire.police.uk/101livechat

Information can also be given anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Celebrity physician Dr. Mehmet Oz has overtaken Pennsylvania Lt. Governor John Fetterman in multiple polls taken after their first and only debate in the Keystone State's hyper-competitive Senate race.

Their competition to replace retiring GOP Sen. Pat Toomey has been marked by caustic personal attacks and partisan vitriol.

Fetterman, who suffered a stroke in May, was grappling with auditory processing issues and minor speech problems during their high-profile head-to-head last week.

His repeated verbal stumbles, long pauses and repetition of phrases prompted some Democrats to worry about what they initially believed was a likely left-wing victory on November 8.

Now, after months of Fetterman's lead over Oz gradually shrinking, two polls taken after the debate show voters slightly favoring the Donald Trump-backed Republican.

But Republicans are still wary in the Keystone State, given how close the race is overall - National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Sen. Rick Scott suggested on Sunday that it's still a 'hard' battle.

'Were going to keep all 21 that we have up,' he told ABC News' This Week when asked for his predictions on how the Senate will fall in the midterms.

Dr. Mehmet Oz has slightly overtake John Fetterman in a poll taken after their high-profile Pennsylvania Senate debate last week

'I think the hardest has been Pennsylvania but Dr. Oz will win against Fetterman. But were going to pick up Georgia, well pick up Nevada. I think we have every reason to believe were going to pick up Arizona and probably New Hampshire.'

A survey conducted by Wick that polled 1,000 Pennsylvania voters - roughly split down the middle between Trump and President Joe Biden's 2020 supporters - found Oz leading Fetterman by almost 2 percent.

If the election were held today, the share of people who said they back Oz is 47.6 percent, compared to 45.9 percent who said they'd vote for Fetterman.

The figure falls within the poll's 3.2 percent margin of error. The survey was taken October 26 through 27.

In the same poll, Pennsylvania's Democratic Attorney General Josh Shapiro is leading Trump-backed Republican candidate Doug Mastriano in the state's gubernatorial race by about 7 percent.

Another poll taken by right-leaning firm co/efficient shows Oz leading Fetterman by 3 percent, with a margin of 48-percent support to 45.

That survey sampled 1,716 likely voters from October 26 through 28.

Fetterman's performance was marked with verbal stumbles and awkward pauses that show he is still dealing with the effects of a stroke he suffered in May. Oz, meanwhile, was hammered for saying he would support elected officials being in charge of abortion rights

President Biden defended Fetterman as 'my kind of guy' after a barrage of criticism and doubt ensued over his fitness for office after the debate.

When visiting a polling station in Delaware on Saturday, Biden told members of the press gathered that Fetterman is 'just getting better and better.'

'I thought he knew what he was doing, I thought he was strong,' Biden said when reflecting on his rally with the Democratic candidate on Friday.

'Look, Fetterman is Pennsylvania. Fetterman is everything that he appears to be,' he added while taking off his sunglasses.

Biden participated in early voting at a polling place near his Wilmington, Delaware home on Saturday. He was joined by his granddaughter Natalie Biden, 18, the daughter of Beau and Hallie, who was voting for the first time.

'Fetterman is my kind of guy,' Biden said to press after casting his ballot. 'And I think he's going to be fine.'

When speaking about the upcoming election, the president said he is 'feeling good' so far about the campaign  but that comes after his latest gaffe when he claimed he campaigned in 54 states.

President Joe Biden defended Democratic Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman by claiming he is 'my kind of guy' and is 'just getting better and better'. Pictured: Biden cast an early voting ballot in Wilmington, Delaware for the 2022 midterms on Saturday with granddaughter Natalie, 18, (right) who was voting for the first time

'I may not say everything perfectly sometimes, but I'll always do the right thing if you send me to Washington, D.C.' Fetterman said at the Friday event.

Biden said Saturday of the 2022 midterms: 'This is not a referendum. It's a fundamental choice between two different people.'

For months, Dr. Oz was polling around 10 points behind Fetterman to take outgoing Republican Senator Pat Toomey's seat  but the gap narrowed to just 1 percentage point over the last month as the effects of the Democrat's stroke went on display.

Fetterman suffered a stroke in May, but said that he is recovering well and insists he is fit for office.

The downfall of his campaign started with an interview earlier this month where Fetterman used real-time closed captioning in order to fully understand the questions that were being asked.

The effects of Fetterman's stroke has been on full display recently, causing Dr. Mehmet Oz, his Republican challenger, to catch up in the polls ahead of Election Day. Biden appeared with Fetterman for a rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Friday

The NBC News correspondent Dasha Burns said on-air that in small talk before the cameras were rolling, Fetterman had a hard time understanding the conversation.

Fetterman's wife Gisele has demanded an apology from Burns and said the criticism against her husband is an assault on the disabled community.

The Democratic candidate faced criticism for his debate last week with Oz, who is backed by Trump.

Viewers noticed Fetterman struggled to get through his hour-long debate.

Fetterman's delivery was often halting and choppy, while Oz turned on the charm he honed over 13 seasons of TV.

At one point the Democratic Senate hopeful was asked to clarify his position on fracking, as moderators pointed to a 2018 interview , where the lieutenant governor expressed broad opposition to the practice, but not a ban.

'I do support fracking - I don't, I don't - I support fracking, and I do support fracking,' he fumbled.

In early mail-in voting, 780,546 Pennsylvania voters have already cast their ballot ahead of the November 8, 2022 midterm Election Day.

The criticism stemmed from an interview with NBC News earlier this month where Fetterman used real-time closed captioning to better understand the conversation and questions being posed

An angle of the interview showed a large computer screen where the transcript appeared as he and interviewer Dasha Burns (left) spoke

Biden fed into critics who claim he also isn't fit for office during a rally with Fetterman in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Friday where he claimed he had been to four more states than there are at a rally to drive support for the embattled Democrat.

The 79-year-old president gave garbled remarks on how his administration has improved healthcare and mistakenly said 'we went to 54 states' to stop pharmaceutical companies from driving drug prices.

'And, by the way, if they do, that means  not a joke, everybody; that's why we defeated it in 2018 when they tried to do it. We went to 54 states,' Biden said. 'The reason is people didn't realize that the only reason anybody who has a pre-existing condition can get healthcare is because of that Affordable Care Act.'

His addition of four non-existent states is the latest in a long line of gaffes that has continued to raise concerns about the health of Biden, who is the oldest president in US history.

Despite those worries, Biden has insisted he'll run for a second term in 2024.
The suits were brought by Students for Fair Admissions founded by Edward Blum

It could mark the end of affirmative action - especially for college admission

The conservative Supreme Court is expected to rule against the universities

They allege that white and Asian students were discriminated against

Affirmative action admission policies used by universities to ostensibly improve diversity are expected to be struck down in Supreme Court cases due to be heard this week.

Oral arguments will be heard on Monday over whether Harvard and the University of North Carolina discriminated against white and Asian applicants during their admissions processes.

The Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 majority, is expected to quash these policies, many of which were introduced decades ago.

Its newest justice Ketanji Brown Jackson - the first black female justice, and one of the court's three liberals - will recuse herself from hearing this case.

She did so because she sits on Harvard's overseers governing board, having previously attended the college as an undergraduate and a law student.

The schools argue that affirmative action policies - that enable them to take race into account when considering applicants - help them to create diverse learning environments.

On Monday the Supreme Court will hear two cases - involving North Carolina and Harvard - that will challenge the legality and constitutionality of these so-called affirmative action schemes.

Cases against Harvard University and the University of Northern California will be heard in the Supreme Court starting on Monday

The current set of Supreme Court Judges, who are considered conservative by historic standards, are widely expected to rule against the universities

The schools are being sued by Students for Fair Admissions which was founded by Edward Blum, 70. He is a major proponent of eliminating affirmative action policies and has brought eight cases to the Supreme Court

Both cases were brought by a group called Students for Fair Admissions which was founded in 2005 by Edward Blum, 70, a former stockbroker.

Since 1996, Blum has orchestrated eight lawsuits that have made it to the Supreme Court.

'I'm a one-trick pony,' Blum said in an interview with Reuters. 'I hope and care about ending these racial classifications and preferences in our public policy.'

He added: 'An individual's race or ethnicity should not be used to help them or harm them in their life's endeavors.'

Harvard is accused of violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prevents the discrimination based on race, color or national origin under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance

Another case claims that the University of North Carolina breached the 14th Amendment that guarantees equal protection under law

Our President & Executive Director @johncyangdc reminds us that we have 40+ years of legal precedent on our side upholding #affirmativeaction.



We intend to not only fight for race-conscious admissions, but to envision a path forward where we demand equity in our education. pic.twitter.com/eWx8rJN8IU  Advancing Justice - AAJC (@AAAJ_AAJC) October 31, 2022

The term affirmative actions describes a set of policies designed to increase the representation of certain groups of people based on characteristics including race, gender and religion.

Such policies have been spoken about since the 1960s as a means of eliminating discrimination against marginalized groups by improving improving their employment or educational opportunities.

Affirmative action policies usually work by placing requirements on institutions to admit set quotas of individuals of specific background into their organizations - those institutions often include universities and employers.

In 2003 the Supreme Court ruled that Michigan Law School could consider race in admissions procedures in order to achieve a diverse student body. It was ruled in what were regarded as the most important affirmative action cases in 25 years.

But in recent decades affirmative action has become an increasingly unpopular approach to dealing with racial inequalities within institutions and in society.

Advocates of the approach argue that such policies reverse the historical impact of racism but skeptics argue that it is a form of 'reverse discrimination' that only benefits the most privileged in a minority group.

'The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race,' Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in a 2007 opinion about the use of race when assigning kids to public schools.

'The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race,' Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in a 2007 opinion

Most recently in 2016 Blum lost a case challenging student admissions considering race when the Supreme Court ruled 4-3 against a white woman who he recruited as a plaintiff suing the University of Texas.

He called the 2016 judgement a 'grave disappointment.'

One of the new lawsuits accuses Harvard of violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prevents the discrimination based on race, color or national origin under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.

The other brought against UNC alleges that the university breached the 14th Amendment that guarantees equal protection under law.

Rulings in both case are expected by the end of June.
A hotel in East Yorkshire has been told it can no longer house asylum seekers after a council was successful in securing an interim High Court injunction.

East Riding of Yorkshire Council today confirmed that it had gone to the High Court to prevent the Hull Humber View Hotel in North Ferriby from being used for asylum seekers temporarily.

The October 28 injunction, which was been seen by the BBC, and is attached to the front of the hotel, suspends any asylum seekers from staying there until a November 7 hearing.

The injunction also goes as far to prevent any other hotels in the East Riding of Yorkshire from being used to host asylum seekers.

The hotel, which has 95 rooms, a gym and a helipad, has come under enormous scrutiny in recent weeks, including from former cabinet minister and constituency MP David Davis who branded it 'entirely the wrong location for this kind of accommodation'.

East Riding of Yorkshire Council today confirmed that it had gone to the High Court to prevent the Hull Humber View Hotel (pictured) in North Ferriby from being used for asylum seekers temporarily

He added that it is 'lacking appropriate amenities to support migrants'.

Councillor of North Ferriby, Julie Abraham, confirmed that the council had served the hotel with an injunction.

Mr Davis also revealed that several constituents were concerned about the proposals.

'East Riding Council and I have been resisting the proposals since the Home Office first made us aware of them,' he added. He said the Home Office had been acting with 'frankly unacceptable and wholly inappropriate behaviour'.

Meanwhile, Councillor Margaret Corless, whose South Hunsley ward includes North Ferriby, also believed the remote nature of the hotel makes it unsuitable to house asylum seekers.

Councillor Corless, who spoke before the injunction was issued, said she had received no 'official confirmation' the hotel was to be used.

However, she claimed that if the combination of rumours circulation around the village and on social media were true, then 'residents should have been informed'.

She told the BBC: 'It's a substantial walking distance to the nearest village. It's a small village with three or four stores.

'It's substantially further to reach Hessle, and they'd have to cross a dual carriageway. These asylum seekers have very little money and they certainly don't have any transport.

'It would be very difficult to fill their time. They are not allowed to work, so they would be idle. There is nothing of interest.'

Meanwhile, Councillor Margaret Corless, whose South Hunsley ward includes North Ferriby, also believed the remote nature of the hotel makes it unsuitable to house asylum seekers

Concern began to arise about the hotel when the website stopped taking bookings and a couple was told on October 27 that their wedding reception was being cancelled due to a government contract.

Dean Turner and Charlotte Townend are due to get married in two weeks' time.

Hull residents also expressed their worries, with one telling Hull Live: 'Earlier this year, the hotel told us that they were keen to get residents more involved with the business.

'Now this has happened completely in secret and it is upsetting that nobody apart from the hotel and Home Office have had a say.

"I feel like there are a lot better places and hotels that asylum seekers could be housed. North Ferriby is a village without many shops or transport links, so it doesn't make much sense.'

The Home Office said it does not comment on individual sites used for asylum accommodation.

It added that hotels are being used as a short-term solution to the global migration crisis and all accommodation is appropriate, safe and secure.

But it said in a statement: 'The number of people arriving in the UK who require accommodation has reached record levels and has put our asylum system under incredible strain.

'The use of hotels to house asylum seekers is unacceptable - there are currently more than 37,000 asylum seekers in hotels costing the UK taxpayer 5.6 million a day.

'The use of hotels is a short-term solution and we are working hard with local authorities to find appropriate accommodation.'
A man looking for Pelosi herself broke into her home early Friday morning and ended up attacking her octogenarian husband with a hammer

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy said Sunday that he had spoken with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the hours after her husband Paul was violently assaulted by an intruder who broke into their San Francisco home.

McCarthy told Fox News' Sunday Morning Futures that he exchanged text messages with the Democratic leader on Friday, after the incident occurred overnight.

The attacker, 42-year-old David DePape, apparently repeated 'Where's Nancy?' after he illegally entered the property, suggesting he was looking for the speaker herself - who was not at home. DailyMail.com previously reported alarming details on DePape's life before the attack.

McCarthy, who like Pelosi is part of California's Congressional delegation, condemned the violence and called DePape 'deranged.'

It comes after progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez publicly blasted McCarthy for not speaking out against the violent attack on Saturday morning.

'Let me perfectly clear - violence or threat of violence has no place in our society,' the Republican leader said on Sunday.

'What happened to Paul Pelosi is wrong. Having heard it, I reached out and called the Speaker. She was on a plane back for her husband, though, so we were able to communicate by text.'

He said Pelosi told him her husband's surgery for a skull fracture and arm injuries 'went well.'

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy spoke out publicly to condemn the attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband during an appearance on Fox News' Sunday Morning Futures

The intruder had attacked Paul Pelosi with a hammer after police arrived at the scene.

'I wanted to convey that our thoughts and prayers were with her and her family, with Paul, and we hope him- for him, a speedy recovery, and that we're able to stop this crime across our country,' McCarthy said.

'Of course, this person seems deranged.'

His Sunday show comments are the first public statements McCarthy has made on the incident, though his spokesman Mark Bednar told Voice of America on Friday that the leader spoke with Pelosi privately to 'check in.'

Ocasio-Cortez on Saturday compared McCarthy's lack of a public statement to his defense of GOP Rep. Paul Gosar, who was censured for sharing a cartoon video depicting himself violently attacking the New York congresswoman.

'Last year, a GOP Congressman shared a depiction of himself killing me. When the House rose to censure, [GOP Leader McCarthy] defended him,' the firebrand progressive wrote on Twitter.

The House Speaker's home in San Francisco was broken into while she was not home by an intruder who was asking, 'Where's Nancy?'

'Yesterday, a man sharing that members rhetoric tried to assassinate the Speaker and her spouse. What has [McCarthy] said? Nothing. This is who he is.'

The attack was condemned on both sides of the aisle. However, Democrats also accused Republicans of fomenting and endorsing hateful rhetoric that led to the incident.

DePape had promoted various election fraud and COVID-19 conspiracy theories associated with far-right talking points on his social media channels, as well as anti-Semitic content.

President Joe Biden linked the attack to the violent events at the US Capitol on January 6.

During a speech on Friday, Biden said of the attacker's calls of 'Where's Nancy?,' 'the same chant was used by this guy that they have in custody that was used on January 6, the attack on the U.S. Capitol.'

New York progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized McCarthy on Saturday morning for a lack of a public response and compared the incident to GOP Rep. Paul Gosar sharing a cartoon video of himself attacking her

'This is despicable. Theres no place in America. Theres too much violence - political violence - too much hatred, too much vitriol,' the president said.

'And what makes us think one party can talk about stolen elections, COVID being a hoax, [that its] all a bunch of lies, and it not affect people who may not be so well balanced? What makes us think that its not going to alter the political climate? Enough is enough is enough.'

Pelosi wrote a letter to House colleagues on Saturday night thanking everyone for their well-wishes and stating that her family was 'traumatized' by the ordeal.

'Our children, our grandchildren and I are heartbroken and traumatized by the life-threatening attack on our Pop,' the speaker wrote.

'We are grateful for the quick response of law enforcement and emergency services, and for the life-saving medical care he is receiving.'

She added, 'Please know that the outpouring of prayers and warm wishes from so many in the Congress is a comfort to our family and is helping Paul make progress with his recovery.'
Bodies are laid in the street and covered in sheets after people celebrating Halloween in central Seoul's Itaewon were caught in a deadly crowd crush in a narrow, sloped alley, Saturday. Yonhap



Collapsed victims 'stuck together like rock' as rescuers tried to pull them free



By Ko Dong-hwan



The hip alleys of Itaewon were once considered one of the main destinations in Korea to celebrate Halloween, as people gathered there to enjoy the annual event before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the nation three years ago. With nightclubs, bars and restaurants packed tightly together, Itaewon was a popular place for culturally curious Koreans to easily mingle with people from different cultures and ethnic backgrounds.



The emergency calls started coming in at 10:24 p.m. on Saturday, reporting the tragedy which happened in a narrow, sloped alley immediately west of the Hamilton Hotel . The alley, 41 meters long and only four meters wide, barely enough room for six adults to stand side by side, runs between Itaewon's main thoroughfare and another busy alley called Itaewon World Food Street running behind the hotel.



A popular nightlife area for foreigners and Koreans in Seoul's central Yongsan District, Itaewon has often seen huge crowds, especially around every Halloween when costume-wearing revelers fill the alleys throughout the area. But this latest Halloween saw even larger crowds than ever before.



According to one witness at the scene who survived, the crowd density reached the point where people were completely stuck in place.





According to one rumor, people were rushing to see a celebrity at one of the establishments in the area. Shortly before the incident, one survivor reported hearing people screaming.



The situation turned fatal when some people in the middle of the crowd tripped and fell, pushing over others next to them and triggering a domino effect. Witnesses said the collapse seemed to have happened "abruptly at once."



One of the survivors said he felt a sudden weight on his back as the crowd surged forward. "The push knocked some people down, which initiated the fiasco," he said. "I saw one male seriously injured and bleeding all over."



Due to the incline of the road, the crowd pressed more heavily on those downhill, and people piled on top of others, as many as five to six people deep. The pressure caused many lower down to have difficulty breathing and lose consciousness.





A TV news reporter stands in front of the entrance to an alley in Seoul's Itaewon, Sunday morning, where hundreds of people celebrating Halloween were crushed together the night before. The personal belongings of victims are seen lining the edges of the alley. Korea Times photo by Ko Dong-hwan



Witnesses said that onlookers shouted at those on top to "pull back!" to save the people underneath. But some in the crowd misunderstood it as "push" and did what they heard, prolonging the predicament.



Early reports claimed that a crowd had trampled one person. Emergency workers and ambulances from Yongsan Fire Station and other nearby fire stations arrived at the scene much later than usual because of all the vehicular and foot traffic in the area.



Rescuers and police officers attempted to free people trapped in the pile but the accumulated weight of bodies made their attempts futile for a while. A video shot by an eyewitness from higher up in a nearby building shows a policeman struggling unsuccessfully with the arms of one of the trapped victims. The woman recording the video can be heard sobbing and saying, "Oh my god, (the bodies) not moving at all."



"All the employees from the shops nearby came out and helped rescue people," another witness said. "It was truly chaos."



Almost 300 people ended up suffering breathing problems after the victims were finally freed. The streets and alleys around Hamilton Hotel and in the vicinity of the scene were packed with rescue workers performing CPR on dozens of unconscious victims. But the victims outnumbered the emergency workers available at the scene. Workers and bystanders who decided to help out carried the bodies of those they couldn't resuscitate to ambulances. "Firefighters ran around the area giving CPR to people," one of the survivors said. "It was like a war zone."





Police attempt to control the crowd early Sunday morning, as victims are rushed to hospital while pedestrians continue to pack the sides of the road. Yonhap
Islamic extremism in the UK is 'a bigger issue than we are willing to accept' a Home Office source has warned after it was revealed that the counter-terror strategy will be reviewed following a report which found that it focuses on protecting terrorists over the public.

Suella Braverman is re-evaluating the country's response to terrorism after an inquiry into the Prevent programme found that it no longer focused on the 'core mission' of stopping people becoming terrorists.

The assessment, which was commissioned three years ago, also warned that the programme disproportionately focuses on far-right extremism and not the 'lethal threat from Islamism'.

The strategy, which runs under the codename CONTEST, has stopped more than 30 terrorism plots in six years, but ministers have said that it should do more to keep Brits safe.

There are concerns that it is not doing enough to stop radical Islamic terror threats, and other emerging threats.

Yesterday a source in the Home Office warned that Islamic extremism in UK is 'a bigger issue than we are willing to accept'.

Suella Braverman is re-evaluating the country's response to terrorism after an inquiry into the Prevent programme found that it was no longer focused on the 'core mission' of stopping people become terrorists

Sir David Amess's killer Ali Harbi Ali (left) and London Bridge attacker Usman Khan were both referred to Prevent

'Until we accept it, we're leaving ourselves seriously exposed because we are tolerating extremist ideology. It creates an environment in which terrorist mentalities are more acceptable,' they told The Telegraph.

The country's head of counter-terror policing, Matt Jukes, told the newspaper that other challenges facing the country include 'self-initiated terrorism', with fragmented ideologies and online hate reaching young people.

Tom Tugendhat, security minister, said that the Government must evolve as the face of terrorism changes.

'We will ensure that our response to the terror threat continues to be world-leading and ensure we have a strategy that allows people to go about their lives freely and with confidence,' he told the newspaper.

The Home Office review will also look at findings from the Manchester Arena Inquiry, the second part of which is being released next week.

Tom Tugendhat, security minister, said that the Government must evolve as the face of terrorism changes

Number of troops referred to counter-terrorism programme DOUBLES in a year Top brass in the military are referring more troops than ever before to a terrorism prevention programme over fears they could be recruited by the far right. Freedom of Information Act disclosures show a total of 40 soldiers, air force personnel and sailors have been probed over extremist concerns since 2019. Half of them were referred to Prevent  part of the government's counter-terror strategy  over alleged extreme right-wing activity. Four serving members of the army were arrested in 2017 under anti-terror laws on suspicion of being members of banned neo-Nazi group National Action. The statistics, obtained by the Times, showed the right-wing extremism referrals in the armed forces had increased from five in 2019 to ten between January 2021 and April 2022. It comes after a report by the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) in July found that extreme right-wing groups were targeting military personnel as potential recruits. Advertisement

The findings of the Prevent report caused concern within the Government, The Telegraph reported last month.

The official inquiry concluded Prevent, which was originally established by Tony Blair, is no longer fulfilling its 'core mission' of stopping people from becoming terrorists.

Instead the programme is allegedly 'protecting those referred into Prevent from harm' instead of 'protecting the public' from potential terrorists.

The assessment, written by former Charity Commission chairman William Shawcross, argued Prevent must 'return to its overarching objective: to stop individuals from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.'

'Prevent is a crucial pillar of the UK's counter-terrorism architecture, yet it has increasingly come to be seen as synonymous with safeguarding (i.e. an emphasis on protecting those referred into Prevent from harm and addressing their personal vulnerabilities).

'Prevent too often bestows a status of victimhood on all who come into contact with it, confusing practitioners and officials as to Prevent's fundamental purpose.'

The report also claims some taxpayer funds being distributed by Prevent are at risk of being handed to groups that promote extremist views.

Mr Shawcross reportedly examined hundreds of millions of pounds of funding distributed by the programme.

He alleged Prevent was 'too often' putting money towards 'generic' projects and in some instances risked the funds going to organisations that 'promoted extremist narratives.'

He claimed one piece of internal research at Prevent 'listed a prominent Conservative politician and member of the Government as being among figures 'associated with far-right sympathetic audiences, and Brexit.''

In another example he claimed officials involved with the programme are focusing on right-wing extremism 'above and beyond the actual threat it posed' to 'try and fend off accusations' that the organizations was 'stigmatising minority communities'.

The assessment, written by former Charity Commission chairman William Shawcross (pictured in 2011), argues Prevent must 'return to its overarching objective: to stop individuals from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism'

'Prevent's first objective  to tackle the causes of radicalisation and respond to the ideological challenge of terrorism  is not being sufficiently met,' Mr Shawcross aid. 'Prevent is not doing enough to counter non-violent Islamist extremism.'

He did applaud he programme's current 'Prevent duty,' which requires public officials to prevent people from being drawn to extremism. He said the duty 'works well' and is 'especially effective in schools.'

He was also 'greatly encouraged by the dedication and diligence' of the programme's current 'early intervention' mechanism.

A Home Office spokesman told the Telegraph at the time: 'Prevent is a vital tool for safeguarding against radicalisation. We will not allow extremists or terrorists to spread hate or sow division, and Prevent provides crucial interventions that divert people away from dangerous ideologies.

'The Independent Review of Prevent will ensure we continue to improve our counter-terrorism response, and stop people from being drawn into terrorism.'

An updated version of CONTEST is expected to be released next year. The strategy includes Prevent, Protect, Prepare and Pursue.

Prevent anti-terror scheme is too vague about people 'vulnerable to extremism' including those with 'mental health issues, learning disabilities and religious converts' - leading to thousands of unnecessary referrals

ByRory Tingle, Home Affairs Correspondentand Duncan Gardham For Mailonline

The government's flagship anti-terror strategy is so vague it leads to thousands of unnecessary referrals from teachers and healthcare professionals, according to a report.

The study found the categories of people who may be 'vulnerable to extremism' under the Prevent programme were ill defined and 'lacked clear connections to violent radicalisation'.

They included 'people with mental health issues or learning disabilities', 'young offenders and people vulnerable to offending' and religious converts who were 'less well-informed about their faith'.

The lack of clarity may explain the high number of Prevent referrals referred to the Channel phase which are not taken up. Of the 6,287 referrals made to Channel - in 2019-20, just 697 were taken up.

'This suggests that Prevent is casting a very wide net, and may not be working as efficiently as it can,' the report says.

A very small minority of referrals to the Prevent Channel phase - which is reserved for the most serious cases - are taken up as Channel cases

The most common sources of Prevent referrals are police officers and teachers

The scheme works by local council-appointed Prevent coordinators taking referrals from public servants like teachers and social workers, with each individual of concern categorised by their ideology.

Less serious cases are dealt with by councils, who can offer services like mentoring or parenting support, while the more serious ones go to Channel, where a panel of local officials, including police, will recommend the next steps.

Despite the report's criticisms, the report found many of the attacks on the programme were misguided and relied largely on 'speculation and unproven assumptions' by scholars and 'anti-Prevent activists'.

How does the controversial Prevent scheme work? Under the Prevent programme, local authority staff and other professionals such as doctors, teachers and social workers have a duty to flag concerns about an individual being radicalised or drawn into a terrorism. This report is then be passed to a local official charged with deciding whether the tip-off merits a formal referral. Prevent referrals are handled by expert officers in the local police force. Cases are then categorised depending on the nature of the individual's alleged beliefs - based on evidence ranging from comments they have been overheard saying to their social media history. People who are not viewed as either far-right or Islamist are categorised as having a 'mixed, unstable or unclear ideology. Less serious reports may be sent to council services, which could include parenting support for families whose children have been watching inappropriate videos online. Serious reports are forwarded on to Prevent's Channel stage, at which a panel of local police, healthcare specialists and social workers meeting monthly will consider the case. At this stage - which remains voluntary - counter-terror police will be involved and will receive information from counsellors, social workers or theological mentors working with the individual concerned. Advertisement

Many critics were motivated by a 'conspiratorial view of both government and academic work on terrorism and counterterrorism' and a belief that Prevent 'criminalises' Muslims, wrote its author, Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens.

He said polling suggests most Muslims had not heard of Prevent but supported its underlying premise, while university staff felt it was a 'proportionate response' to the terror threat - even if they were unsure of its focus on British values.

Suella Braverman, the home secretary, is believed to be planning a major overhaul of Prevent following the publication of the Shawcross Review, which scrutinises the programme and is expected to be released by the end of the year.

Six of the 11 most significant recent terror attacks were carried out by individuals who have gone through Prevent.

The MP Sir David Amess's killer Ali Harbi Ali - who was sentenced last month to a whole life order - had been referred to the programme in 2014 but a year later it was concluded he no longer posed a threat.

Usman Khan, 28, who stabbed two young graduates to death after a prisoner rehabilitation event on London Bridge, had come into contact with Prevent officers who had 'no specific training' in handling terrorists, an inquest heard.

Another terrorist referred to Prevent was Sudesh Amman, who stabbed two people in Streatham, south London, in February 2019. However, a panel decided his case did not require intervention.

Meanwhile, Parsons Green bomber Ahmed Hassan was also referred to the anti-terror scheme 20 months before he planted a device on the Tube that injured 50 people during rush hour in 2017.

Earlier this year it emerged the number of military personnel referred to Prevent had doubled in a year amid fears the far right are actively targeting soldiers.

Freedom of Information Act disclosures show a total of 40 soldiers, air force personnel and sailors have been probed over extremist concerns since 2019.

Half of them were referred to Prevent over alleged extreme right-wing activity.

Four serving members of the army were arrested in 2017 under anti-terror laws on suspicion of being members of banned neo-Nazi group National Action.

The court heard Afghanistan veteran Lance Corporal Mikko Vehvilainen had been trying to recruit fellow soldiers for National Action to 'cleanse our lands'.

Sickening bunting proudly displaying swastikas was found in his possession.

A Home Office spokesperson said: 'We are committed to doing everything possible to protect our communities from the threat of terrorism and the UK has one of the most robust counter-terrorism frameworks in the world.

'Prevent has changed and saved the lives of individuals from all walks of life, with over 3,000 people led away from radicalisation and supported through the programme.
A born-again Christian who tried to blackmail Sky out of more than 40,000 worth of Bitcoin after he was sacked by the broadcaster has been jailed for two years and four months.

Imoudu Chaba, 37, worked as a customer service rep for the channel from 2011 to 2015.

The 37-year-old tried to get his hand' on 44,286 by hacking a former colleague's hard-drive to steal over 11,000 customers details.

Imoudu Chaba (pictured), 37, worked as a customer service rep for the channel from 2011 to 2015

He then threatened to post sensitive data containing names and addresses on the dark web where criminals trawl for potential fraud victims.

The man from Baguley, Manchester, sent an anonymous letter to a senior member of staff in January 2018 outlining his demands.

The letter claimed that he had seized more than one million customer records from a company database and threatened to publish them on the dark web unless he was paid within the month.

He said he took the records after a manager left their computer unlocked and unattended.

Chaba demanded the money on the basis he had been unfairly dismissed back in 2015.

The cryptocurrency wallet he instructed to send the money to was set up using an email address that began with 'cjack8102', police said.

In October 2019, detectives became aware of an individual who was using the alias 'CJACK8102' on the dark web, leading them to link the email address and username to Chaba.

He was arrested in 2020 and pleaded guilty at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court to four counts of blackmail.

The 37-year-old tried to get his hand' on 44,286 by hacking a former colleague's hard-drive to steal over 11,000 customers details

During his police interview Chaba answered 'no comment' to all questions put to him be investigators.

He was sentenced to two years and four months in prison on Wednesday.

When raiding Chaba's house, officers found a USB stick with a spreadsheet of names and addresses of 11,400 customers, as well as a copy of the letter given to the senior member of staff.

They also found six other letters addressed to customers from the spreadsheet on his laptop.

Chaba threatened to post sensitive data containing names and addresses on the dark web where criminals trawl for potential fraud victims (Pictured: Sky building)

Each one stated that there had been a data breach at the company and demanded 500 to stop their personal details being leaked further.

In total, Chaba attempted to blackmail a total of 47,286 out of staff and customers.

Detective Constable Daniel Dankoff, from the City of London Police's Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit, said: 'Chaba executed a shameless plot for his own financial gain.

'When his attempts to blackmail a senior member of staff proved unsuccessful, he began to target customers to exert pressure on the company.

'While Chaba used a variety of software to conceal his identity, this sentencing sends a clear message that we have the ability and tools to find criminals and stop their illicit activity.'
A murder victim who was stabbed following an altercation between two groups of men outside a restaurant in London has been named, the Metropolitan Police said.

Adrian Keise, 32, from Lambeth, died after a confrontation near the Cubana close to Waterloo Station on Saturday, according to the force.

Officers had been called at 2.15am to reports of a stabbing and some 15 minutes later he was found near a block of flats in Frazier Street.

London Ambulance Service paramedics treated him at the scene and he was rushed to hospital, but died a short time later, the Met said.

Adrian Keise, 32, from Lambeth, died after a confrontation near the Cubana close to Waterloo Station on Saturday, according to the force

Several crime scenes were still in place on Saturday evening while forensic inquiries are carried out, and no-one has yet been arrested.

Detectives are urging anyone with information to come forward as their inquiries continue.

The Met said Mr Keise's family are being supported by specially trained officers and a post mortem will take place in the coming days.

Detective Chief Inspector Brian Howie, from the Met's Specialist Crime Command, said: 'Our investigation is moving at pace and we have been carrying out a number of inquiries, including a review of CCTV from the area and a forensic examination of the scene.

'We now believe Adrian was involved in an altercation which started near to the Cubana Restaurant before moving down Lower Marsh Street.

Several crime scenes were still in place on Saturday evening while forensic inquiries are carried out, and no-one has yet been arrested

'I am sure that there were people who witnessed what happened who haven't yet spoken to us about what they saw.

'You may have thought it was insignificant at the time, but it could be vital in helping us to identify those responsible.'

Mr Howie added: 'Adrian had the rest of his life ahead of him and my thoughts are with his family and friends as they come to terms with his tragic death.

'I would urge anyone with information to do the right thing by them and contact us today.'
Dog lovers in Nepal honoured them by putting bright orange garlands around their necks and indulging them with treats to celebrate a Hindu festival highlighting the loyalty of dogs to humans.

Tourists, local residents and volunteers at one dog shelter outside the capital Kathmandu took part in the special ceremony of Kukur Tihar.

The ceremony takes place on the second day of a five-day Hindu festival devoted to animals associated with Yamaraj, the god of death and justice.

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Tourists, local residents and volunteers at one dog shelter outside the capital Kathmandu took part in the special ceremony of Kukur Tihar

'On the day of the Festival of Dogs, I want to convey the message that humans should show compassion and love to dogs and feed them as much as we can,' Lalitpur Mayor Chiri Babu Maharjan said after honouring paralysed dogs at the Sneha Care animal shelter.

The tradition originates in Nepal, where street dogs are prevalent and dog welfare is struggling.

The Sneha Care shelter has around 170 dogs, some of which have been abandoned.

'Today they are worshipped, but the next day they are being left. If they get sick, people leave them,' , owner Sneha Shrestha said.

During the festive period, it is considered a sin to act disrespectfully to dogs and other animals that are honoured.

'It is fun when we make garlands, wear them, and feed the dogs during the Festival of Dogs,' local resident Tirtha Bahadur Khatri said.

Beyond the celebrations, dog welfare is starting to receive more widespread attention in Nepal.

There are an estimated 20,000 stray dogs in the Kathmandu Valley alone, according to media reports.

The tradition originates in Nepal, where street dogs are prevalent and dog welfare is struggling. The Sneha Care shelter has around 170 dogs, some of which have been abandoned

During the festive period, it is considered a sin to act disrespectfully to dogs and other animals that are honoured. 'It is fun when we make garlands, wear them, and feed the dogs during the Festival of Dogs,' local resident Tirtha Bahadur Khatri said

The ceremony takes place on the second day of a five-day Hindu festival devoted to animals associated with Yamaraj, the god of death and justice

Beyond the celebrations, dog welfare is starting to receive more widespread attention in Nepal. There are an estimated 20,000 stray dogs in the Kathmandu Valley alone, according to media reports
A chilling picture shows the daughter of the man arrested in connection to the Delphi bridge murders posing in the same spot where the teenage victims were last seen alive.

The photo shows Brittany Zapanta, 28 - the daughter of Richard Allen, 50, on the Manon high bridge in the woods outside Delphi, Indiana.

It was posted to Facebook by Allen's wife Kathy, 50, in 2018 - just over a year after the girls disappeared in February 2017, although it's unclear when the photo was taken. There is also no indication as to who took the snap on the Monon High Bridge Trail.

That is the exact location where Libby German, 14, and Abigail Williams, 13, filmed an unidentified man approaching them on the day of their February 2017 deaths

He has long been presumed to be their killer.

Neither Brittany nor Kathy is suspected of having any connection to the killings, and there's no suggestion either woman knew of Allen's alleged links to the murders.

Allen has been booked into jail, but no details of any charges made against him have been shared. A press conference is expected Monday morning.

Libby also shared a snap of herself walking along the same railroad tracks on the day of her murder, with the Snapchat updates causing a sensation that made the case one of the United States' most notorious unsolved murders.

The girls' bloodied bodies were found about a half mile from the bridge. Allen was arrested on Friday in connection to the murders - the first big break in the case.

The photo of Allen's daughter, 28-year-old Brittany, was posted to Facebook by his wife Kathy, 50, in 2018 - just over a year after the girls disappeared in February, 2017

Libby German was filmed by her friend and fellow victim Abigail Williams in February, 2017, moments before they were murdered -

The suspect, 50-year-old Richard Allen, was booked in Indiana around midnight Friday - though it remains unclear what exactly he has been charged with

Abigail Williams, left, and Liberty German, right, were murdered in February 2017 after going for a walk. No one has ever been arrested for the 14-year-old girls' murders

After news of Allen's arrest broke on Friday, another disturbing photo of the possible perp emerged and began to circulate online.

The shot showed Allen smiling with his wife, while in the background over his shoulder - mere feet away - a police sketch of of the Delphi murder suspect could be seen posted by a notice board on the wall.

It is unclear when and where the photo was taken. The version of the suspect sketch in the image was not released until April 2019, so the photo would have been taken at least two years after the murders.

Since Allen's arrest, it was also revealed that his home was less than two miles from the Delphi train bridge where Williams and German were last seen alive.

Indiana State Police said in February they knew who killed the girls, but that they had insufficient evidence to make an arrest. It is unclear whether they were referring to Allen or not.

The arrest of Allen could be the end of a years-long investigation during which numerous possible leads have led nowhere, and police have remained tight-lipped about details of the case.

Exactly how the girls died remains unknown to the public, and the state their bodies were discovered in also remains shrouded in mystery.

Over the summer, the details of a search warrant revealed that Libby and Abigail were found covered in blood, and that their killer appeared to have taken a souvenir of some sort from the murder site.

The warrant, obtained by the Murder Sheet podcast and released to Indianapolis FOX59, offered no further detail on what the souvenir was, although it did say that 'the rest of [the girls'] clothing was recovered,' implying that the killer had taken something they'd been wearing.

And sickeningly, the murderer 'staged' the girls' bodies in a particular way after killing them, although it remains unclear exactly how he did this.

Investigators also believed photographs or videos were likely shot of the grotesque set-up to 'memorialize' the crime scene.

The photo shows Richard Allen, 50, smiling with his wife while over his shoulder a police sketch strongly resembling him is posted on the wall

This is the sketch Allen was photographed sitting close to. It is one of several released following the February 2017 murders of

Since Allen's arrest, it was also revealed that his home was less than two miles from the Delphi train bridge where Williams and German were last seen alive. It would have taken Allen about five minutes to drive from his home to the bridge

The 2017 murder of Abby and Libby became notorious after investigators released chilling footage the girls recorded of a man following and approaching them across the Manon High Bridge.

A heavily-built man in jeans and a blue jacket could be seen approaching the girls, and in a brief snippet of audio that was released the man could be heard saying 'Down the hill' to the girls.

The full clip is reportedly 43 seconds long, but its contents are believed to be too disturbing to share in full.

The voice in the clip was described as being 'not inconsistent' with that of Logan, the FBI investigation concluded. A brief clip of the man walking towards the girls on the Monon High Bridge Trail was released too.

The man Libby and Abigail filmed approaching them who has long been presumed to be their killer

Richard Allen and his wife Kathy. Allen was arrested on Friday in connection to the Delphi murders

Allen pictured alongside his wife. A press conference related to the arrest is expected Monday morning

Over the years numerous people have have been put forth as possible suspects in the case.

Ron Logan, who died in 2020, had long been put forward as a prime suspect. The girls bodies were discovered on his property - just 1,400 from his house - and it was revealed over the summer that his alibi for the day of the murder did not line up.

His home was searched and he was arrested shortly after the killings, but he was released and never charged.

Kegan Kline, 27, of Peru, Indiana, was also named as a suspect in the murders.

He is said to have admitted talking to Libby German using a fake Instagram profile called Anthony_shots.

Kline - who is heavy-set and pasty-faced - used an image of a ripped and muscular young man to trick underage girls into speaking to him.

Kline is said to have arranged to meet with Libby on the Delphi High Bridge the day before she was murdered while walking along it.

But he is also said to have shared his Anthony_shots password with others - including his father - and said his dad could be a prime suspect in the killings.

Kline is being held in jail after being arrested on separate child porn charges in 2020. Neither he nor his father have been arrested over the Delphi Bridge killings.
A further 133 people were injured with officials stating most of the victims were young women in their 20s

President Yoon Suk-Yeol has begun an official investigation into one of the country's worst-ever disasters

The tragic accident happened in the city's Itaewon district during Halloween celebrations yesterday evening

Flowers have been laid at the scene of a deadly crowd crush that killed 154 in Seoul, South Korea on Saturday

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Flowers have been laid at the scene where more than 150 people were killed in a tragic Halloween stampede in South Korea yesterday.

The heartbreaking disaster happened in the country's capital Seoul as thousands of people, mainly in their teens and 20s, headed to the Itaewon district for Halloween celebrations on Saturday night.

Today the country enters a period of national mourning to grieve the 154 people who were killed in the tragedy.

The country's President, Yoon Suk-Yeol vowed a thorough investigation into what is one of the country's worst-ever disasters.

South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo also promised a thorough investigation into the Halloween crush over the weekend that killed more than 150 people in the capital, Seoul.

The government would make necessary changes to prevent such an accident from happening again, Han said in remarks during the opening part of a meeting that was broadcast live.

Scores of mostly young people were crushed to death when a crowd surged in alleyways in Seoul's Itaewon district during Halloween festivities on Saturday night, prompting national mourning and a search for answers.

Mourners were seen in the city leaving flowers, notes, candles and photo frames at the site of the deadly incident. Others were seen leaving funeral ode's to the dead and praying on the narrow streets.

Flowers have been laid at the scene where 154 people were killed in a tragic Halloween stampede in Seoul, South Korea on Saturday night. It is estimated that as many as 100,000 people descended into the capital's popular Itaewon district, known for its nightlife, leading the area's narrow alleyways and winding streets to become clogged

Speaking in a televised address to the nation, the country's president said the horrific incident was a 'tragedy and disaster that should not have happened'.

He added that the government 'will thoroughly investigate the cause of the incident and make fundamental improvements to ensure the same accident does not occur again'.

It is estimated that as many as 100,000 people descended into the capital's popular district, known for its nightlife, leading the area's narrow alleyways and winding streets to become clogged.

Witnesses who survived the crush described being trapped in narrow, sloping alleyways, scrambling to get out of the suffocating crowd as people piled on top of one another.

The interior ministry said that 20 foreigners were among those killed in the stampede which occurred around 10pm local time. A further 133 people were injured.

Today those grieving those killed, laid flowers at the scene of the horrific stampede. The country has now entered a period of national mourning to remember those killed. Officials have said most of the victims were young women in their 20s

The United States embassy in Seoul confirmed that two US nationals had died, and Russia said three of its citizens were killed. China also confirmed that four of its nationals had died, with President Xi Jinping sending 'deep condolences' to Seoul.

Most of the victims were young women in their 20s. Officials from the defence ministry said that three military personnel were among the dead, with authorities saying that they had received reports of more than 2,600 people missing.

Foreigners from Uzbekistan, Austria, Norway, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Iran, and Sri Lanka are also reported to be among those killed.

Paramedics who arrived at the scene became quickly overwhelmed by the number of victims and were begging passers-by to administer first aid, including CPR.

Officers guard the site of the deadly stampede in Itaewon, Seoul, as he country's President, Yoon Suk-Yeol vowed a thorough investigation into what is one of the country's worst-ever disasters

In an interview with local broadcaster YTN, Lee Beom-suk, a doctor at the event, described the chaos.

He said: 'So many victims' faces were pale. I could not catch their pulse or breathing and many of them had a bloody nose. When I tried CPR, I also drew blood out of their mouths.'

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said: 'Following the president's directive, the government has decided to observe a national mourning period until midnight of November 5, during which the nation will mourn the perished.'

Seoul's mayor, Oh Se-hoon, who rushed back to the country from a work trip in Europe, said his office would set up a memorial alter on Monday morning so the public could pay their respects to the victims.

A man writes a funeral ode for victims at the scene of the October 29 Halloween stampede - one of South Korea's worst peacetime accidents

South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol said the crowd crush 'should not have happened' and that he will investigate the incident thoroughly

South Korea has declared a week of national mourning after more than 150 people died in a crowd crush at a street Halloween festival in the capital Seoul (pictured: A woman places a bouquet of flowers to pay tribute for victims near the scene)

Speaking following a visit to the site of the disaster he said: 'Most of the casualties are young people like our sons and daughters, which makes it even more sad.'

It is still not entirely clear what caused the deadly crush. Early rumours, reported by Sky, suggested that people had flocked down the narrow streets after hearing a celebrity was in the popular party area.

Others have said that too many people could clog up the street after using it as a cut through to get through the main street with bars and nightclubs.

Due to strict pandemic restrictions and the fact South Korea was one of the slowest countries in the world to ease rules on socialising, it is the first Halloween in three years that youngsters in Seoul have been able to enjoy out.

Left: The alleyway is seen early on Sunday morning. It remained cordoned off as police continued their investigations into the tragedy. Right: The same alleyway is seen shortly before the crush. Hundreds of people are shown packed in

Emergency workers urgently tried to extricate those most in need of medical assistance from the crowd

Witnesses have said there were early signs that the crowds had become too big after people were waiting 20 to 30 minutes to exit an underground station just two hours before the fatal accident.

One person who had been in the area told Sky that when they first saw emergency services arriving, they thought it was to finally manage the crowds, before later discovering what had actually happened.

An ambulance moving to the accident site was reportedly blocked by crowds of people while the police were heard using a loudspeaker saying: 'Please go home. That's what helps us. Please disband.'

Officials on Sunday said they had no clear idea of what caused the crush as witnesses described scenes of chaos in the moments leading to the stampeded.

Those caught in the crush were left shocked, checking their phones to try and contact missing loved ones or hugging one another

The incident on Saturday night led to 140 ambulances being deployed to help treat and evacuate the injured

Revelers dressed in Halloween costumes are seen leaving the scene after a crush killed at least 154 people in Seoul

Local shopkeepers in the party district told AFP the number of people at the Halloween celebration was 'unprecedently large' this year.

Questions have now been raised over the lack of the security at the event with interior minister Lee Sang-min telling a briefing that the police force had been preoccupied on the other side of the town.

He said: 'A considerable number had been deployed at Gwanghwamun where a large crowd was expected for a protest.'

Ken Fallas, a Costa Rican architect who has worked in Seoul for the past eight years, witnessed the horrific tragedy on Saturday night.

Attending the Halloween party in the city's nightlife district, the 32-year-old became a front-row witness to the disaster.

South Korea's South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol (front 2nd L) visited the scene of the Halloween stampede this morning

Somber crowds of people have been gathering at the police cordon surrounding the scene to look at the streets where the Halloween stampede occurred

Mr Fallas and his friends were among the thousands of people pushing toward the alleyway. Recalling what he saw, he said: 'We were we were unable to move back. The music was loud. Nobody knew what was happening.

'People were still partying with the emergency happening in front of us. We were like, "Whats going on from here, where we can go?" There was no exit.'

He recorded the deadly crowd surge which showed groups of Halloween partygoers carrying out their unconscious friends, while others were seen administrating CPR to the injured as music blared out.

He added: 'I saw a lot of people laughing, but I don't think they were (really) laughing because, you know, whats funny?

Rescue workers and firefighters try to help injured people near the scene in Seoul, South Korea

South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol (centre) attends an emergency meeting after the tragic crowd crush in Seoul

The scale of the emergency response in Seoul has seen emergency workers called from across the country, including 140 ambulances

'They were laughing because they were too scared. Because to be in front of a thing like that is not easy. Not everyone knows how to process that.'

Messages of condolence have flooded into South Korea from around the world. This afternoon the Prince and Princess of Wales sent their 'love and prayers' to all those affected by the tragic Halloween stampeded.

Prince William and Princess Kate tweeted from their official account: 'Catherine and I send all our love and prayers to the parents, families and loved ones of those tragically lost in Seoul yesterday evening. W & C.'

Their message follows Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who said his thoughts were with 'those currently responding' to 'all South Koreans' following the horrific news.
GOP head Ronna McDaniel did not apologize for mocking Democratic candidate John Fetterman for not being able to 'get a full sentence out'  and claimed he and Joe Biden are hiding their 'issues'

Ronna McDaniel doubled down on her criticism of John Fetterman's speaking abilities, claiming she isn't making fun of the effects of his stroke but pointing out the deception of his fitness for office.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) chairwoman conflated President Joe Biden and the Democratic Pennsylvania Senate Candidate during an interview with Fox News Sunday because she claims they have similar campaigning tactics.

'Well, I certainly want Joe Fetterman  John Fetterman to get better and I would never make fun of somebody who has a stroke,' McDaniel said Sunday morning.

'But I will say, they should be getting in front of the press and they're not and they're hiding,' she continued.

RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said she wasn't making fun of John Fetterman's speech abilities when claiming that if he, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are together 'maybe they can get a full sentence out'

Many critics have claimed that Fetterman is trying to hide the fact that he has not fully recovered from his stroke in May and have raised questions over his fitness for office.

McDaniel said last week ahead of a rally in Pennsylvania Friday that if Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Fetterman are together, 'maybe they can get a full sentence out.'

The RNC head was agreeing with radio host Hugh Hewitt suggesting that the president and VP coming in to campaign for a candidate at this point is a sign that a candidate is drowning.

She also said that Fetterman 'drew the short straw', suggesting all the Democratic candidates came together to question who would have to host President Biden for their campaign events.

President Joe Biden went to Pennsylvania a few times to campaign with Fetterman  most recently on Friday. McDaniel said Fetterman 'drew the short stick' from Democratic candidates by having to campaign with the president

'So Biden said, 'Between the two of us, we may be able to finish a full sentence,' she added during her interview with Hewitt last week.

McDaniel faced some criticism for her comments attacking the speaking abilities of Biden, who grew up with a stutter, and Fetterman, who struggles with speech comprehension after his stroke in the spring.

But she insists that her comments were not aimed at their issues, but the fact that Fetterman is trying to hide his from voters because it could impact his electability.

'Joe  John Fetterman is following in the steps of Joe Biden,' McDaniel told Fox News' Shannon Bream.

'I know I'm conflating the names,' she continued before listing their similarities in campaigning. 'But they're sitting in the basement. They're not getting in front of the voters and they're not being honest about their issues and  about their issues.'

She accused Fetterman of 'lying' about wanting to ban fracking and putting 'one-third of criminals back on the streets.'

'And so, they do need to get in front of the media and answer these tough questions, instead of hiding,' she said. 'So, I hope they do that.'
Vladimir Putin has unleashed his 'angels of deaths' - newly graduated women military pilots now in the Russian air force.

The pilots were seen at a weekend passing out parade in Krasnodar after they had qualified from Serov Higher Military Aviation School.

The newly mobilised women are trained in using strategic nuclear bomber and transport planes.

Putin's defence minister Sergei Shoigu said the female pilots were 'gloriously' continuing a tradition.

He said: 'You are a reference point and an example for those girls who will follow you.'

The leader's 'angels of death' were seen at a weekend passing out parade in Krasnodar after they had qualified from Serov Higher Military Aviation School

The newly mobilised women are trained in using strategic nuclear bomber and transport planes

Putin's defence minister Sergei Shoigu said the female pilots were 'gloriously' continuing a tradition (Pictured: a graduation ceremony)

Joseph Stalin allowed women to fly and fight throughout the Second World War - with 23 becoming Heroes of the USSR

'All these girls will soon get married and go to 'serve' on maternity leave,' stormed one critic.

Joseph Stalin allowed women to fly and fight throughout the Second World War - with 23 becoming Heroes of the USSR.

This year Mr Shoigu selected one female applicant Anna Shcherbakova, from Perm, who had initially been refused.

She was among 400 pilots, 16 of them female, to graduate.

The first women air force pilots to qualify since the Second World War were seen throwing petals and coins in the air in their passing out parade.

In 2017 when they rebottled for their five year course Colonel Oleg Pchela told the female applicants: 'Girls are usually very romantic.

'They have good motivation that will allow them to learn how to fly our military airplanes and to perform the tasks of their commanders.

'It is a highly responsible job to become a military pilot. It is a hard occupation, it demands high moral values too.'
The alleged victim, said to be a British tourist, said that he attacked her in a flat

A British sailor has been arrested over the alleged rape of a 16-year-old girl in Cyprus.

The arrest comes after allegations of bullying, misogyny and sexual harassment against women within the Submarine Service prompted the Royal Navy to launch an urgent investigation.

The alleged assault reportedly happened following a military drill on the Mediterranean island which involved marines and troops.

Cyprus Police arrested a 19-year-old Royal Navy rating after the girl reported him.

The alleged assault reportedly happened following a military drill on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. File image

The alleged victim, said to be a British tourist, told the force that the sailor was 'known to her' and attacked her in an apartment, The Sun reported.

They had met at a bar in Paphos after sending messages to each other, the news site reported.

The sailor, who is not permanently stationed in Cyprus, was remanded in custody after police issued an arrest warrant.

The sailor, who is not permanently stationed in Cyprus, was remanded in custody after police issued an arrest warrant. File image of the Royal Navy's aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth

The 19-year-old denies the charges, and is expected to be tried privately, because the alleged victim is a minor.

The age of consent in Cyprus is 17.

The MOD told MailOnline: 'We can confirm that a member of the British Armed Forces has been arrested by the Republic of Cyprus Police.

'As it is the topic of an ongoing investigation it is not appropriate to comment further at this time.'
A family of eight who were forced to move out of their home are living in two houses separated by a dual carriageway after the council failed to find a property big enough to squeeze them all in.

Mother Rebecca Fenner and four of her children are living in a one-bed home in Yardley, Birmingham, on the A45 with a double bed and bunk bed but no space for cots.

Meanwhile, her husband Yassin Amrani stays on the other side of the busy road with their two eldest daughters.

Mother Rebecca Fenner (far left) lives with four of her children in a one-bed home on the A45 in Yardley, Birmingham, with a double bed and a bunk bed but no space for cots

Meanwhile her husband Yassin Amrani (back right) stays on the other side of a dual carriageway with their two eldest daughters

The mother of six said the family were kicked out of their old home when their landlord returned from Egypt. Pictured: The A45

The school girls have had to stay and sleep in the property alone at times while their father is out working.

Ms Fenner has said her cramped and noisy accommodation has been called a prison by one of her boys.

The mother of six said the family were kicked out of their old home when their landlord returned from Egypt.

She told BirminghamLive the city council is taking no notice and that she is being 'ignored'.

The school girls have had to stay and sleep in the property alone at times while their father is out working

Ms Fenner told BirminghamLive: 'My support worker knows about this and has raised it, but no one at the council is taking any notice. I've sent 50 emails and no one has come back to me.

'What do I do? I'm being ignored. I'm asking to be put in something which is self-contained. I hope we can move as soon as possible.'

The council offered the desperate mother an upstairs room but she rejected it and claimed it was not right because of the stairs.

'It's an awful situation. I can't handle it anymore and neither can my husband.'

Ms Fenner (left) has said her cramped and noisy accommodation has been called a prison by one of her boys

A Birmingham City Council spokesman said: 'Like all councils dealing with a national housing crisis, we would prefer not to have to place homeless people in temporary accommodation.

'We have offered this family alternative accommodation, including rooms within the same building in their current accommodation as well as rooms in a purpose built homeless centre, however they have refused both offers.

'We will continue to look for more suitable accommodation for this household and will ensure that they are contacted by one of our outreach team who can provide support and advice regarding housing options including renting in the private sector.

'However, Birmingham has a high demand on our waiting list and all offers of permanent accommodation will be made in line with our housing allocation policy.'
Families of missing people wait for news of their loved ones at Hannam-dong Community Service Center, Seoul, Sunday. Yonhap



Itaewon incident indicative of generational divide



By Lee Yeon-woo



The vast majority of the hundreds of people who were caught up in the fatal crowd crush incident that occurred in central Seoul's Itaewon during Halloween celebrations on Saturday night were Koreans in their teens or 20s. As such, some consider the tragedy a representation of the generational divide between older and younger Koreans.



While many older Koreans are simply uninterested in the celebration of Halloween, younger Koreans, particularly those of Generation Z, are used to celebrating the annual holiday.



But the tragedy has already put a dampener on younger Koreans' enthusiasm for Halloween.



"I think I won't be able to enjoy the festive mood of Halloween for some time for the sake of the people who died in Itaewon," Han Si-ha, 26, said.



Han said that she has celebrated Halloween every year since she was a college freshman. Before COVID-19 discouraged in-person activities, she visited Itaewon several times to enjoy the party atmosphere, and had her face painted.



"I found the culture attractive because you can put on makeup and costumes that you wouldn't usually dared to wear. It's also exciting that you can share a similar experience with people in the streets whom you barely know," Han said.



Regarding how Halloween started to interest younger Koreans, there are two common explanations. One centers around the nation's English education boom, while the other is that younger Koreans' Westernization in their cultural pursuit has been impacted by hallyu-driven migration that has been evident since the 1990s.



Koreans became familiar with Halloween in the 1990s when several bars, nightclubs and hotels located around Itaewon started to host Halloween parties. Many media called the events "weird" and accused them of "cultural toadyism" due to the costumes and atmosphere, as well as the fact it originates from Western countries.



Koo Jeong-woo, a professor of sociology at Sungkyunkwan University, pointed out that the 1990s was the time when foreign nationals  mostly youth  started to come to Korea. Those foreign nationals played a role in promoting Halloween among youths, but events were held on a smaller scale compared to now, according to the sociologist.



Koo said Generation Z contributed to creating the huge festive atmosphere as seen in a handful of nightlife areas, including Itaewon. Generation Z refers to those born between 1996 and 2005.



"Generation Z is the group that has the biggest desire to express themselves. Before, a lot of people didn't dare to wear costumes and hit the streets. However, the culture has transformed (since Generation Z started to reach adulthood)."





People wearing Halloween costumes pass by ambulances in Itaewon, Seoul, Saturday. Yonhap



Lee Taek-gwang, a professor of English literature at Kyung Hee University, said the nation's English craze has partly contributed to younger Koreans' celebration of Western culture annually.



According to him, Korean teens and those in their 20s were the generations who learned English at kindergarten or private institutes as part of their preschool language education, and celebrating Halloween was part of the curriculum they were taught.



"So, those who were exposed to Halloween during their childhood years naturally take it as part of their culture and keep celebrating it even after they became adults," he said in a media interview.



Lee also said companies have taken advantage of Halloween as part of their marketing strategy, noting that along with childhood English education, corporate marketing contributed to the holiday's spread.



The media has also played a role in glamorizing Itaewon streets, too.



Some say younger Koreans' celebration of Halloween is a media-driven phenomenon.



In JTBC's hit TV series "Itaewon Class," there's a scene where the protagonist likens festivals to freedom. As the scene portrays multinational visitors enjoying food and drinks while strolling happily through Itaewon, she says, "Everybody seems so free."



Kim Jae-jeong, 24, said the media has largely affected her interest in Halloween, too. "I have been on social media since high school. I believed Halloween is for the 'cool, popular, hotshot' adults as it's mainly celebrated at night, and people wear fancy costumes," she said.



"I think I wanted to present myself as the 'cool, popular, hotshot' adult by posting myself on social media enjoying the Halloween vibe in Itaewon."



Visiting Itaewon during Halloween had been on her wish list for a long time.





Police cordon off an area by Itaewon Station for emergency services after a crowd surge killed at least 151 people in an alley beside the Hamilton Hotel, Itaewon. Yonhap
A Qantas pilot who advocated for gender equality at the airline is now suing the company, claiming she was sexually harassed and discriminated against.

Davida Forshaw, who has been with Qantas for 23 years and is still employed as a first officer, alleges she was sexually harassed by some of her male colleagues during her career in a statement of claim she filed to the Federal Court on Wednesday.

In the court documents, Ms Forshaw alleges she was told to dye her hair and wear a push-up bra, received a poor performance review after rejecting sexual advances and fetched coffee for pilots.

Ms Forshaw also made five complaints to human resources in the space of three months alleging three senior pilots discriminated against her because of her gender.

The veteran pilot has been the face of gender equality for the airline and mentored women pilots and pushed for more females to join the workforce.

A Qantas pilot who helped bring gender equality to the airline is suing the company for sexual harassment

Davida Forshaw alleges she was discriminated throughout her 23 year long career for Qantas and filed a statement of claim to the Federal Court last Wednesday

Ms Forshaw claimed she was told by Qantas she would do 'a lot better' if she decided to dye her hair blonde and wear a push-up bra, The Australian reported.

She claimed she also rejected the sexual advances of a superior at a hotel in Bangkok, Thailand, before she received a poor performance review.

In court documents, Ms Forshaw alleged she was also told to fetch coffee for male pilots while she was attending an engineering briefing.

Ms Forshaw alleged two male pilots complained about International Women's Day and said they couldn't wait for 'this s***' to be over in 2018.

She also claimed she shared an exchange with a captain who made a sexually explicit joke by asking her if she was 'one of these "O" women' during a flight in 2019.

Ms Forshaw asked what he meant before he allegedly responded, 'Women who are O-ffended at everything'.

Ms Forshaw claimed another captain appeared shocked when he found out she was a woman pilot during a separate flight to Rome in 2022.

She also approached human resources and made five complaints about three senior pilots in the space of three months.

Ms Forshaw claimed she was completing modules to become a captain when other pilots stood in her way and allegedly acted 'rude and disrespectful' towards her.

Ms Forshaw (pictured centre) said in her claim she was told she would do 'a lot better' if she decided to dye her hair blonde and wear a push-up bra

She is seeking monetary compensation from Qantas and is also demanding the airline increase its number of female pilots by introducing a quota.

A Qantas spokesperson said the airline took Ms Forshaw's allegations 'extremely seriously'.

'We took immediate action when Ms Forshaw made her complaint after being unsuccessful in a module required to be promoted to a captain,' they said.

'The employees she accused of discrimination or misconduct were stood down from work while we investigated. The claims of discrimination were not substantiated.

'Ms Forshaw has recently made additional allegations about other historical incidents.

'We were not previously aware of these incidents and have asked Ms Forshaw for further information so we can investigate'.

Qantas said 16 per cent of its female pilots are captains - an increase of around 10 per cent over the past five years.

Some 10 women first officers have attempted to become captain since 2019 with Ms Forshaw bring the only unsuccessful one, according to the airline.
Donald Trump called for Democrats to be shunned from 'conservative media' in a post on Truth Social on Sunday

Donald Trump is lashing out at Fox News yet again on Sunday, this time to criticize his once-favorite network for hosting an interview with Texas Democratic Rep. Al Green.

The veteran lawmaker joined Fox News Live on Sunday to discuss his party's midterm strategy, and was particularly pressed on Democrats' answers to rising crime and the high cost of living.

But Trump took issue with the media giant inviting Green at all - and suggested that no 'Conservative' outlets should be giving Democrats a platform.

'Why would Fox News have SleazeBall Congressman Al Green on to spew his stupidity?' the ex-president wrote on his Truth Social platform.

'Its time to get back to basics. Let him, and other Slime like him, continue to ruin MSDNC & CNN, which are dying.'

'MSDNC' has been Trump's favorite monicker for left-wing network MSNBC.

'Keep them off Conservative Media, if thats an accurate definition of what Fox has become?' he finished.

It's not clear why Trump targeted Green - a member of the House Financial Services Committee, Homeland Security Committee and Congressional Black Caucus - specifically.

He was not the only Democrat appearing on the network today - Senator Chris Coons also joined Fox News Sunday before Green's interview.

The animosity could stem from Green's three impeachment attempts of Trump while the former president was still in office.

Green was the first House Democrat to endorse the idea of impeaching him, introducing the articles in 2017 when Republicans still controlled the chamber.

He in particular attacked Texas Democratic Rep. Al Green's interview on Fox News Live

All three of his efforts failed.

During his Sunday interview, Green only mentioned Trump once, when disputing Republican accusations that Democrat-run areas have higher crime rates.

'According to statistical information in 2020, the per capita murder rates were 40 percent higher instates won by Donald Trump than those won by Joe Biden,' the lawmaker said.

Fox News' Sunday daytime content is generally more objective than its evening opinion programming, and it's common for those shows to have at least one Democratic lawmaker or pundit.

But this Sunday's attack is not the first time Trump rebuked the network over its weekend daytime coverage.

'Wow! Fox News is really pushing the Democrats and the Democrat agenda. Gets worse every single day,' he wrote on Truth Social on Sunday, September 4.

Trump accused Green of 'spewing stupidity' on the network. Green filed articles of impeachment against Trump three times

'So many Dems interviewed with only softball questions, then Republican counterparts get creamed.'

In late June, Trump criticized the network's flagship morning show, Fox & Friends, for discussing polls that show Florida Governor Ron DeSantis overtaking him in a potential 2024 vote while covering another survey where Trump himself came out on top.

'That show has been terrible  gone to the 'dark side,'' Trump wrote on Truth Social at the time.

'They quickly quote the big Turning Point Poll victory of almost 60 points over the number two Republican, and then hammer me with outliers,' he added, refusing to use DeSantis' name.

Despite the network's hesitance to criticize Trump outright, CNN reported in August that Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch, son of media empire founder Rupert Murdoch, openly disparaged the former president internally.

Murdoch reportedly even said another Trump campaign would be bad for the United States.
Two other University of Kentucky students are still in South Korea but have been accounted for, according to university representatives

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Two American students who were studying abroad have been named as victims of the horrific stampede that occurred in South Korea on Saturday night during a Halloween celebration.

Anne Gieske, 20, who just celebrated her birthday on Friday, was a junior who attended the University of Kentucky's nursing program, was killed during the crush, officials confirmed.

Hours after her tragic passing was reported, the family of Steven Blesi, also 20, said that that they had been notified that he was also among the 156 who perished. He was a junior at Kennesaw State University in Georgia.

Both Gieske and Blesi were taking part in study abroad programs at their respective schools.

The incident happened as the crowd at the Halloween event became unruly and surged, which triggered a deadly stampede.

Roughly 100,000 people were present for the South Korean event.

Anne Gieske, a junior at the University of Kentucky, was killed in the stampede Saturday evening in South Korea

Representatives from the University of Kentucky, two other students were also studying abroad in South Korea. Both other students have been accounted for.

The University's President. Eli Capilouto, confirmed Sunday that the two others are safe at this time.

'We have been in contact with Anne's family and will provide whatever support we can now and in the days ahead as they cope with this indescribable loss,' said Capilouto.

'We will be there for those in our community who knew and loved Anne. We also have nearly 80 students from South Korea at UK, members of our community, who will need our support,' the University's president continued.

In August, Gieske set up an Instagram account dedicated to detailing her adventures in South Korea.

Gieske, who was from Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, graduated from Beechwood High School in 2020, she was a member of Beechwood's marching band from 2015 to 2020.

Her parents, Dan and Madonna, said in a brief statement that their daughter was a devout Catholic. The family added: 'We are completely devastated and heartbroken over the loss of Anne Marie. She was a bright light loved by all.'

Steve Blesi's father posted this photo of his son on Twitter as their family frantically sought information about his whereabouts as news of the stampede emerged

Blesi's father, Steven Blesi, 62, of Marietta, Georgia, told the New York Times that their family was contacted on Saturday night by the United States Embassy in Seoul and told the tragic news.

Earlier, Steven Blesi had sent out a tweet that featured a picture of his son as the family pleaded for information. Following the confirmation, he tweeted: 'Thank you for the outpouring of love. We need time to grieve.'

In his interview with the Times, Steven Blesi described the pain of his son's death. He said: 'It was like it stabbed like a hundred million times simultaneously. It was like your world just collapsing. It was numb and devastating all at the same time.'

He said that his son was studying at Hanyang University at the time of his death. Steven Blesi added that his son wanted to pursue business in eastern Asia after graduation.

He joked in his interview with the Times: 'My wife is Latin, but he did not want to go to Latin America. He was actually learning Korean in addition to Spanish. He wanted to speak more languages than my wife.'

In addition to his father, Steve Blesi is survived by his mother, Maria, and his brother, Joey. Heartbreakingly, his father told the Times: 'I texted him maybe a half-hour before all this happened, and I said, "I know youre out and about. Be safe." I never got a reply to that.'

Kennesaw State University said in a statement: 'Kennesaw State University officials were deeply saddened to learn that KSU student Steven Blesi was among the more than 150 people tragically killed in this weekends Halloween incident in Seoul, South Korea.'

The school added that a total of 11 students from Kennesaw State University at currently studying in Seoul. The statement said that all of the other students are safe and have been accounted for.

The school's president Kathy Schwaig said: 'On behalf of the entire Kennesaw State community, our thoughts and prayers go out to Stevens family and friends as they mourn this incomprehensible loss. We have been in contact with Stevens family and have offered all available resources of the University to them.'

Gieske was one of three students from the University of Kentucky who were studying abroad in Seoul, South Korea, according to representatives from the school

Some reports indicate that the majority of the victims from the incident were teens and individuals in their twenties.

The party took place in central Seoul and came to a head when the massive crowd attempted to tush through narrow corridors, trampling over others.

Horrifying video from after the incident shows a fireman in South Korea trembling as he gives a press briefing about the Halloween stampede that killed over 150 people.

An additional 82 were injured during the stampede, the group announced Sunday.

South Korea's Chief of Yongsan Fire Department Choi Seong-beom appeared to shake as he gave the media a briefing on the stampede that killed at least 153 in Seoul

Onlookers, police and paramedics gathered where dozens of people suffered cardiac arrest in the popular nightlife district of Itaewon

The 'heartbreaking' video, which was taken several hours after the deadly incident occurred, shows the exhausted emergency worker slightly shaking as he holds the microphone.

Online, people responded to the video to share their sympathies with Choi Seong-beom and other emergency workers who attended the traumatic incident.

More than 1,700 emergency workers were deployed from across South Korea to respond to one of the deadliest crowd crushes in recent history - including about 520 firefighters, 1,100 police officers and 70 government workers.

More footage overlooking the street showed dozens of emergency responders working desperately to administer CPR to victims lying on the street.

Left: The alleyway is seen early on Sunday morning. It remained cordoned off as police continued their investigations into the tragedy. Right: The same alleyway is seen shortly before the crush. Hundreds of people are shown packed in

Dozens of those who were injured or killed reportedly suffered cardiac arrests.

At least 19 of those are foreign nationals.

South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol declared a week of national mourning and after visiting the site earlier today said that the deadly stampede 'should not have happened'.

'In the center of Seoul, a tragedy and disaster occurred that should not have happened,' Yoon said in a national address, vowing to 'thoroughly investigate' the incident and ensure it could never happen again.

Reports from last night also detail how some revelers continued to party in the neighborhood after the crush - despite desperate pleas from the police to go home.
Two environmental activists glued themselves to an exhibition of a dinosaur skeleton at Berlin's Natural History Museum on Sunday to protest against the German government's climate policies.

In Berlin, two women wearing orange vests stuck themselves to metal poles supporting a dinosaur skeleton that was over 60 million years old, holding a banner that read: 'What if the government doesn't have it under control?'

They did not touch or do any damage to the skeleton itself.

It was the latest such stunt by climate campaigners at a museum in a spate of incidents in which eco-warriors have targeted high-profile artworks across Europe.

The women were removed by the police after security guards at the museum alerted them to the incident.

The protest was the latest effort to force governments around the world to take swift action to reduce emissions over the damage global warming is doing to the planet.

One of the women, Caris Connell, said she was scared of 'forest fires, water shortages, famines, and war.

'Dinosaurs died out, because they could not withstand massive changes to the climate. That is also threatening us,' added the 34-year-old.

The two women glued themselves to the poles supporting the dinosaur skeleton and it took around an hour to remove them

The two women held a banner which said 'What if the government doesn't have it under control?'

From behind, it was clear the activists had only glued themselves to the poles underneath the skeleton, and took care not to damage it

The protesters said they were afraid of the impacts of climate change, which include extinction, famine and natural disasters

The other activist, Solvig Schinkoethe, said as a mother of four she feared the consequences of climate change.

'Peaceful resistance is the way we have chosen to protect our children from the deadly ignorance of governments,' said the 42-year-old.

They called on the government in Berlin to take quick steps to cut emissions, such as by setting a speed limit on motorways and introducing more affordable public transport.

Climate change is having a vast impact on the planet as temperatures rise and more extreme weather becomes normalised.

Thousands of species are at risk of extinction due to the warming, caused by humans' reliance on fossil fuels.

The Poles are melting at the fastest pace on record, leaving many communities around the world facing displacement due to rising sea levels.

Meanwhile climate change related events such as huge forest fires and prolonged heatwaves are becoming more common, and were particularly noticeable across Europe this summer.

The UN warned before COP26 in Glasgow that the Earth is facing a last-chance saloon, and governments must take action now.

Despite this, new UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has demoted the Minister for the Environment from his Cabinet and said he will not attend COP27, which starts next Sunday.

The Berlin museum said police brought the incident to an end in under an hour. There was property damage, and criminal charges have been filed, it added in a statement.

The activists were from the group Letzte Generaton (Last Generation), which earlier this month splashed mashed potatoes on Claude Monet's $111-million Les Meules (Haystacks) at the Museum Barberini in Potsdam, Germany.

It came on the same day that a separate group of German activists glued themselves to a brand new BMW M8 in Munich.

Those involved were from Scientist Rebellion, an offshoot of Extinction Rebellion.

At least 14 people were involved in the stunt and around 40 police officers were called to unglue and arrest them.

In recent days eco-groups in Germany have also blocked major roads.

There has been a rise in protests targeting works of art in recent weeks. Climate activists glued themselves to Johannes Vermeer's 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' at a Dutch museum, and threw soup at Vincent van Gogh's 'Sunflowers' at the National Gallery in London.

Activists for Just Stop Oil have blocked roads on every day of October in the capital, as well as spraying luxury brands and fossil fuel-linked buildings with orange paint.
Julie Bishop has divided opinion after she appeared in a striking hot pink leather dress at a fashion event in London to give a speech about clothing and feminism.

The former federal foreign minister, 66, turned heads in an eye-catching buttoned mini dress and sparkly heels as she took to the stage to speak at the Sherman Centre for Cultural Ideas Fashion Hub event at London's Design Museum on Saturday.

However, some attendees were said to be 'privately furious' she was named as a speaker at the prestigious event, because she once rejected being called a 'feminist' altogether, according to Nine newspapers' CBD column.

Julie Bishop has divided opinions appearing in a striking hot pink leather dress at a fashion event in London

The former foreign minister, 66, spoke on fashion diplomacy and claimed her cabinet colleagues disapproved of her fashion sense and wanted her to wear a cardigan instead

During the speech, Ms Bishop talked up her contribution to equality and talked about how she was looked down upon by some colleagues for being more fashionable than other ministers.

But during her time in Parliament, Ms Bishop said: 'I don't find the need to self-describe in that way [as a feminist]' and said she did not find the term useful.

Respected Australian activist and photographer Juno Gemes reportedly noted Ms Bishop was 'a strange choice'.

Ms Bishop reportedly told the crowd her cabinet colleagues had disapproved of her fashion sense during her time in parliament and revealed she was told to wear 'more cardigans' when she was appointed aged care minister - an anecdote she has regularly told since leaving politics.

Ms Bishop also spoke about the power of fashion in diplomacy, noting that she learned to wear colours to reflect the place she was dealing with. That meant white in The White House, red for China.

Ms Bishop spoke on the politics of dress and talked about how she was looked down on for being fashionable by other ministers and told to wear more conservative clothing

The Sherman Centre for Culture and Ideas promoted Ms Bishop's keynote speech with photos of her in a two-toned pink dress - but some were not happy at her involvement

The centre promoted the event with more photos of Ms Bishop in another pink dress, this time an extraordinary two-toned ruffled gown.

One of the images had Ms Bishop standing next to a giant mining dump truck.

'The intriguing intersection of politics and fashion - delighted to speak at the Sherman Centre for Culture and Ideas in London,' Ms Bishop wrote in an Instagram post after her speech.

She also thanked Bradley Lauten, David Jones personal styling suite manager, in a social media post featuring photos of herself in the dress. Designed by Leo Lin, it retails for $899 at David Jones.

Leo Lin said it designs for 'the new era of femininity is laced with strength, fearlessness, and confidence'.

Ms Bishop retired from Australian politics in 2019, recently splitting with her long-term boyfriend, David Panton.

David Panton and Julie Bishop at the 2021 AFL Brownlow Medal at Crown Perth in September, 2021

In August, Ms Bishop said she was the 'last person to give advice' to anybody about breakups but that she was 'content' and 'fulfilled' with her life in Perth.

'My life post politics has been very fulfilling,' she said.

Ms Bishop has been keeping distracted from the recent breakup by chairing several charities and speaking at engagements around Australia.
Organisation is believed to be linked to the Comanchero bikie gang

They warned Sydney dealers they'll come after their families in an ominous text

A shadowy cartel known as 'The Commission' has warned drug dealers their families will be targeted if they continue selling cocaine at a discount price.

The standover group sent an ominous WhatsApp message to Sydney dealers recently warning them to 'play ball and keep prices high and don't make mistake (sic) and ruin lifes'.

The text - blasted out in capital letters - was unmistakably serious in tone and comes amidst a spate of shootings, kidnappings and assaults in the city's underworld this year.

Standover drug cartel group 'The Commission' has threatened Sydney cocaine dealers that their families will be targeted if they sell cocaine at a lower price in an ominous text message

The Commission was established by senior members of the Comanchero Outlaw Motor cycle gang (stock image)

'To everyone works in NSW. We have wrote a text in (the) past due to prices droping (sic),' said the message, which was first published by The Daily Telegraph.

'This is (a) warning to everyone landing work and screwing prices in Aus(tralia).'

'The Commission will go after families, drivers, storoages (sic), tt (transfers), legit business.'

It concluded: 'Play ball and keep prices high and don't make mistakes and ruin lifes (sic). Thank You.'

The Commission is believed to have been established by senior members of the Comanchero Outlaw Motor cycle gang

Sydney drug traffickers had reportedly been offering discounted prices for cocaine (stock image)

Early last year the price of drugs began to rise after The Commission enforced a tax for drug shipments arriving into Sydney.

A text message was sent last year that said: 'To ALL Main Players in Aus and Abooad who land work in Sydney/NSW.

'As of 2021, there will be a Sydney commission that will be formed'.

The message went on to complain that the price had meth had dropped 'because there is NO STRUCTURE, no rules, no reasoning ... NO SENSE'.

NSW Police claimed cocaine had jumped by $50 a gram to $300 at the time - which they suspect was because of the tax.
Just last month Italy's most right-wing government since WWII was elected

The march led to Mussolini's crypt 100 years after the despot claimed power

Raising their hands in a fascist salute, thousands of marchers sang in praise of Benito Mussolini to mark 100 years since the beginning of his dictatorship.

In chilling scenes, as many as 4,000 fascist sympathisers marched to the despot's crypt in the town of Predappio, northern Italy, yesterday morning.

With shouts of 'Duce, Duce, Duce'  Mussolini's honorific  the crowd descended on the dictator's birthplace with fascist flags and black shirts.

Addressing the crowd, Mussolini's great-granddaughter Orsola said: 'After 100 years, we are still here to pay homage to the man this state wanted and whom we will never stop admiring.'

The march marked 100 years since black-shirted fascists entered Rome and launched a coup d'etat which saw Mussolini rule for 21 years.

Last month, Italy elected its most Right-wing government since the Second World War. New premier, Giorgia Meloni, has tried to distance herself from her party's neo-fascist roots, calling them 'a low point'.

The 4,000-strong crowd were pictured making fascist salutes and heard a speech from Mussolini's great-granddaughter

Most of those in attendance wore black and many carried Italian flags or similarly-themed items

People march in the hometown of former dictator Benito Mussolini to mark the 100th anniversary of the coup d'etat by which he sized power in 1922

Anti-fascist campaigners held a march in Predappio on Friday, to mark the anniversary of the liberation of the town and to prevent the fascists marching on the exact anniversary of the March on Rome.

Inside the cemetery on Sunday, admirers of the Duce lined up to enter his crypt tucked in a back corner, a handful at a time.

Each was given a memory card signed by his great-grandaughters with a photo of a smiling Mussolini holding his leather-gloved hand high in a Roman salute.

'History will prove me right,' the card reads. Italy's failure to fully come to terms with its fascist past has never been more stark than now, as Ms Meloni seeks to distance her far-right Brothers of Italy part from its neo-fascist roots.

This week, she decried fascism's anti-democratic nature and called its racial laws, which sent thousands of Italian Jews to Nazi death camps, 'a low point'.

Historians would also add Mussolini's alliance with Nazi Germany and Japan in the Second World War and his disastrous colonial campaign in Africa to its devastating legacies.

Some of those at the rally said they wanted the government to ditch laws which ban incitement to violence based on someone's religion or identity

Nazi and fascist flags sold in a shop selling souvenirs from the fascist and Nazi period, as Italians mark one hundred years after Mussolini's March on Rome

Now in power, Ms Meloni is seeking a moderate course for a new centre-right government including Matteo Salvini's League and Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia.

But her victory gives far-right activists a sense of vindication even if they see themselves even further to the right.

'I would have voted for Lucifer if he could beat the left,' said organiser Mirko Santarelli, who heads the Ravenna chapter of the Arditi, an organisation that began as a First World War veterans group and has evolved to include caretaking Mussolini's memory.

'I am happy there is a Meloni government, because if there is nothing worse than the Italian left.

'It is not the government that reflects my ideas, but it is better than nothing.'

He said he would like to see the new government do away with the laws that prosecute incitement to hatred and violence motivated by race, ethnicity, religion and nationality.

It includes use of emblems and symbols - many of which were present in Sunday's march.

Mr Santarelli said the law punishes 'the crime of opinion'. 'It is used as castor oil by the left to make us keep quiet. When I am asked my opinion of Mussolini, and it is clear I speak well of him, I risk being denounced,' Mr Santarelli said.

Lawyer Francesco Munitillo, a far-right activist who represents the organisers, said Italy's high court established that manifestations are permissible as long as they are commemorative 'and don't meet the criteria that risks the reconstitution of the fascist party'.

Still, he said, magistrates in recent years have opened investigations into similar manifestations in Predappio and elsewhere to make sure they do not violate the law. One such case was closed without charges last week.

To avoid having their message misrepresented, Mr Santarelli asked the rank and file present not to speak to journalists. Most complied.

Rachele Massimi travelled with a group four hours from Rome on Sunday to participate in the event, bringing her three-year-old who watched the march from a pushchair. 'It's historic,' Ms Massimi said. 'It's a memory.'
Chris Cuomo is demanding bosses at NewsNation give him a different time slot after viewing figures for his new show, reports claim.

Cuomo started at NewsNation on October 3 following his firing from CNN last year after it emerged he was not open about his involvement in helping his older brother Andrew Cuomo navigate a slew of sex scandals.

Now, Cuomo is said to have met with NewsNation's president of news, Michael Corn in the hope of convincing him to switch him from his 8pm time slot, possibly with Dan Abrams who takes to the airwaves at 9pm on weeknights.

When Cuomo was at CNN, his show Prime Time would air during the network's 9 o'clock hour and averaged 774,000 viewers by the time of his axing.

NewsNation slapped down the claim its anchor was looking for a swap, claiming the source briefing reporters was '100 percent untrue'.

Chris Cuomo's viewing figures are plummeting despite only being back on-air for a matter of weeks on NewsNation

'Cuomo is getting nasty about the ratings and he's starting to blame everyone but himself,' an insider told the New York Post.

'He's blaming the network, staff that he personally hired, his lead-in, the promo department and even the press department!'

Cuomo's beef appears to be with NewsNation's press and marketing teams for not hyping his show enough.

At one stage, the press team is said to have urged other employees at the network to promote Cuomo's show by placing information about his broadcast in their email signatures.

Cuomo's debut pulled in 147,000 but it has been on a downward spiral ever since with 119,000 viewers tuning in during the week of October 17 and even his interview with Kanye West generating just 129,000 viewers.

Even Newsmax, a conservative network that is way behind Fox News, MSNBC and CNN - but was managing to beat NewsNation when Cuomo was on.

Nielsen ratings estimate that Newsmax's anchor Eric Bolling pulls in between 150,000 and over 200,000 viewers a night.

NewsNation disputed the claims, first reported by the New York Post, arguing they were 'untrue'.

NewsNation is a relatively new broadcaster which bills itself as offering neutral reporting on current events - a marked departure for Cuomo, who enjoyed inserting his opinions into stories while on CNN.

Cuomo, seen in October 2018, was fired by CNN in December last year

Cuomo issued a tweet acknowledging his axing last year in a public statement expressing regret for his part of the scandal - but asserted that he was only helping his brother

'Chris was going around screaming that Newsmax is beating him,' said a source to The Post. 'He's a Cuomo. He doesn't blame himself. His entire life he's been told he's special,' the source added. 'No one is talking about his show. Chris has zero patience, This isn't going to end well.'

Cuomo is shifting the blame to others on his network, suggesting that the 7pm lead-in show, On Balance with Leland Vitter, is only bringing in 30,000 viewers a night.

Traditionally, the lead-in show will often generate a viewership that carries on to subsequent hours.

'We have talked to numerous people in our newsroom and on Chris' staff and they are all very happy with the growth we're seeing,' a NewsNation rep said in response to the claims.

Cuomo is reportedly earning $1 million the hosting gig - a fraction of his former $6 million-a-year paycheck at CNN.

Chris Cuomo on set at his new NewsNation show, which has been airing for the last four weeks

Cuomo was canned by CNN executives for violating journalistic ethics by advising his disgraced brother - former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo - through sexual misconduct allegations in 2021.

Cuomo has since maintained he did nothing wrong in advising his older brother and is currently suing CNN for $125million for lost wages, with the lawsuit claiming the firing left his reputation so marred that it would be 'difficult if not impossible for Cuomo to find similar work in the future.'

During a promotional interview for the new show earlier this month, Cuomo appeared to try to distance himself from the partisan reporting of his past.

'Everything's gotta be context, and balance,' he said in an interview with NewsNation. 'It can't just be that everything is wrong, everything is bad, and I see that now having been outside of it for while, and I hope to bring that perspective in.

'NewsNation is just getting going, the idea of developing an audience, growing something, that's really important to me. Cause I'm really trying to speak to a group, which the good news is it's the biggest group, which is regular people who don't identify with either extreme of a party,' he said.

'I was helping him in ways that I thought were reasonable,' said Chris Cuomo, right, of helping his brother Andrew, left, defend himself against sexual harassment allegations

Despite his hiatus from the broadcaster's chair, Cuomo has remained in the headlines since his departure from CNN.

Many have speculated Cuomo may have sparked the shakeup currently rocking CNN by ratting on former CEO Jeff Zucker over a consensual relationship with the network's Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Allison Gollus, which led directly to the executive's firing.

Cuomo has described Zucker as 'one of the best makers of television' and the relationship being revealed gave him 'no joy,' adding that Zucker 'gave me tremendous opportunities.'

Despite the kind words for his former boss, Cuomo bitterly lamented that he was 'recognized in Malawi as much as I would be in Milwaukee' before his firing.

Former CNN boss Jeff Zucker was terminated from his position when he didn't disclose a relationship with CNN executive Allison Gollust, though Cuomo denies exposing them

Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Allison Gollust, who resigned along with Zucker, is thought to have engaged in the relationship with him for years

Cuomo continues to maintain he doesn't see anything wrong with his actions, and says because he wasn't covering his brother's allegations, he was free to help him.

'I was helping him in ways that I thought were reasonable,' said Cuomo in an interview earlier in October.

'I don't know how it hurt the audience. I've never heard that it hurt the audience,' he said of his helping shape his brother's defense against sexual harassment allegations.

At the time he issued an on-air apology on CNN, Cuomo said that he 'knows where the line is'.

He addressed the conflict of interest again in his podcast, saying: 'I really do regret how everything ended, but I will never regret helping my family.'

Andrew Cuomo's career collapsed as a politician after he was accused of inappropriate sexual behavior towards 11 women.

He resigned in August 2021 after months of pushback and eventually all criminal charges were dropped against him.

Cuomo was found to have helped his brother, ex-New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (pictured here), defend himself from sexual harassment allegations from 11 women

The charges against Cuomo were based on allegations by Brittany Commisso, who said Cuomo reached up her blouse and grabbed her breast in late 2020 while they were alone in his Executive Mansion office, where shed been summoned to help with his cellphone.

He insisted he did no such thing, saying 'it would be an act of insanity.'

Commisso's testimony was among the most damning in a report released in August 2021 by Democratic state Attorney General Letitia James that concluded Cuomo sexually harassed 11 women.

Chris Cuomo maintains that he was not 'the main guy' in helping his brother overcome the allegations and was merely a 'side piece' in the efforts.

This notion is backed up by notes from his brother's top aide Melissa DeRosa, who noted 'Chris sends me a lot of things a lot of the time. Half of it I don't engage in. He gives unsolicited advice.'

The former governor was also blamed for many of New York's 15,000 nursing home COVID deaths after forcing the facilities to accept COVID-positive patients at the start of the pandemic.

Chris chummily interviewed his brother on his CNN show during the time and has admitted he knew having his brother on his show was a conflict of interest 'all day long.'
It's what mums have told children for generations. Now a leading nutrition expert has said their advice not to eat between meals is backed up by scientific fact.

Professor Tim Spector insisted one of the simplest ways to lose weight is a blanket ban on all food outside meal times.

He said evidence suggests that snacking between meals does not ruin your appetite for dinner  as mothers warn  but ultra-processed snacks like biscuits and crisps make you hungrier overall so inclined to eat more food.

It's what mums have told children for generations. Now a leading nutrition expert has said their advice not to eat between meals is backed up by scientific fact [File photo]

Professor Spector, a genetic epidemiology expert at Kings College London, said: If people are concerned about their health and weight they are better off avoiding eating between meals.

It is very notable that people in Mediterranean countries, who do not have the same level of obesity problem we see in Britain, do not typically snack between meals. The concept that people will suffer if they do not eat something at 11am and 4pm is odd and recent.

Professor Spector reviewed the evidence on snacking for his book Food For Life: The New Science of Eating Well, which was serialised in the Daily Mail.

Professor Tim Spector insisted one of the simplest ways to lose weight is a blanket ban on all food outside meal times [File photo]

He said: Most snacks British people eat are ultra-processed foods like biscuits, snack bars, chocolate and crisps, and should be avoided.

There is good evidence that these make us hungrier, with people eating about 10 per cent more than if they had a filling meal or chose normal food as a snack.

Professor Spector, who is co-founder of the personalised nutrition company Zoe, added: The absolute worst time of day for snacking is in the evening, when many people have an extra supper of crisps, cake, ice cream or sugary hot chocolate.

He advised that if youre hungry, eating fresh fruit and nuts together was the healthiest choice of snack.
A former sailor has revealed how she reported being raped by a fellow submariner  only to face a horrific bullying campaign while her 'attacker' was allowed to stay in the Royal Navy.

The woman is one of three new whistleblowers to come forward after the Daily Mail exposed allegations of abuse, misogyny and sexual harassment in the secretive Submarine Service.

The Navy has already begun an investigation and last night said it would reopen and reinvestigate previous complaints, including the latest allegations.

All the whistleblowers said women in the service are too afraid to report abuse for fear of being ostracised. They called for an independent inquiry.

The former sailor described how she was violently raped by a fellow submariner. The woman said she was physically and verbally abused by crewmates for reporting the attack.

This included having a cigarette put out on her, being pushed in front of a moving car and being threatened with rape.

Sophie Brook (pictured) spoke out about the sexual and physical abuse she suffered during her time in the navy in Saturday's Mail

The victim of the alleged rape cannot be named for legal reasons but said she was pushed in front of a moving car after reporting it

Miss Brook's story has led to multiple other female whistleblowers within the Royal Navy coming forward

She was also assaulted in her bed by a higher ranking submariner who rubbed his genitals on her face as she slept.

All the whistleblowers said that  like former Lieutenant Sophie Brook, who spoke out about her ordeal in Saturday's Mail  they had their underwear stolen while on patrol.

Miss Brook told how she was also physically and mentally abused.

The alleged rape victim cannot be named for legal reasons. The former junior naval rating said the attack left her covered in bruises.

Her alleged assailant had previously told her that she was one of the few women on their Vanguard class nuclear-powered submarine who he planned to have sex with.

'He started sending me inappropriate messages on social media and started harassing me. I reported it to my divisional chain,' she said.

'They said they would separate us on the watches so I wouldn't have to spend time with him.'

She was attacked by the man when their patrol came to an end and the crew stopped over in a foreign port.

She was in her early 20s at the time and the only female in a hostel with around 50 male crewmates. She returned to her room early during a night out after a day off, having felt sick after having too much to drink.

'I thought I had locked my door but I didn't shut it properly... he came into my room and I tried to lock myself in the bathroom,' she said.

'I remember him dragging me out and putting me on the bed. I was saying, 'leave me alone' but he didn't stop and my head hit something and I blacked out.'

She said she woke to the horrific realisation she had been raped and felt sick. 'I was having panic attacks and I had marks all over my body and bruises. I felt disgusting and he texted one of my friends, another sailor, saying that he had 'done something really bad' to me.'

The details of the location and timing of the alleged attack have been withheld to protect the victim's identity.

She said she had not initially wanted to report the incident, but heard that the man had been accused of similar assaults by other women.

As soon as she made a formal complaint to the Royal Navy Police and her alleged attacker was removed from their base, she was subjected to a horrific campaign of bullying by male crewmates at Faslane, the Navy's submarine base in Scotland.

'They would call me a slut and tell me to kill myself,' she said. 'They would say I was a liar.'

The situation was made worse when her alleged attacker was allowed to return to base after her case was dropped.

'He was just randomly there one day as if nothing had happened,' she said. 'When I questioned my bosses they said my letter from the naval police saying they couldn't take it any further had got lost in the post.

Tory MP Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the Commons defence committee, said the allegations raise questions over whether the Navy is able to police itself

'It got worse then, he had all his friends and they would all bully me. I hid away,' she said. Left feeling suicidal, she was forced to quit the Navy and abandon her dream career.

'The hardest part was wondering when I might bump into him. I felt like he was protected,' she said. 'I couldn't go on training courses because he was on them, so he got promoted and I was held back.

'The Navy just let me down, the whole thing destroyed me.'

Tory MP Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the Commons defence committee, said the allegations raise questions over whether the Navy is able to police itself, adding: 'There should be a trusted process for complaints.'

The head of the Navy, First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Ben Key, has said he is 'deeply disturbed' by the allegations. He said in a statement: 'Sexual assault and harassment has no place in the Royal Navy and will not be tolerated. Anyone who is found culpable will be held accountable regardless of their rank or status.'

The Ministry of Defence said: 'We continue to improve the ways to report an allegation, including ensuring that service complaints are no longer dealt with by the chain of command, but are instead processed by a separate team.'

A Navy rating has been arrested over the alleged rape of a 16-year-old girl in Cyprus.

The alleged victim, said to be a British tourist, told local police that the 19-year-old sailor, who denies the charge, was 'known to her' and attacked her in an apartment after they met at a bar in Paphos, The Sun reported.

It's typical of military to undermine victims. The system is designed to destroy people, writes former security officer PHILIP INGRAM

By Philip Ingram

On an almost daily basis, victims of sexual harassment approach me from the RAF, the Royal Navy and the Army with horrifying stories, ranging from groping and pestering to allegations of rape.

The sad fact is that the sexual misconduct on nuclear submarines, exposed by the Daily Mail at the weekend, is endemic across all three services of Britain's armed forces.

And today the paper reports of yet another whistleblower  a sailor who claims she was raped and then viciously harassed by her fellow crew after she reported it.

Most of the courageous people who complain about sexual harassment in the forces are female. And there is a common theme: when they reported their allegations, a cover-up ensued. In many cases of sexual assault and misconduct, the perpetrators are more senior, using their position to bully and harass juniors.

In many other cases, the senior officers don't want to know, because their own careers might suffer as a result. They look for the quickest solution, which usually means redeploying or even ousting the person making the complaint  a system known in military slang as 'posting the problem on'.

It is nothing short of horrific. As cofounder of the Independent Defence Authority, which lobbies Parliament on behalf of service personnel and veterans, I am dealing with one ongoing case where a young female officer in the Red Arrows reported serious harassment. She has been threatened with being booted out.

Because she has not dropped her complaint, her character is being smeared, her career attacked and her motivation for making the complaint questioned. This is typical of the tactics used by the military to smother allegations. The credibility of the complainant is undermined in a hideous pattern of obfuscation, denial, bullying and counter-charges.

A senior source has admitted the Navy was aware some women had been affected by 'inappropriate sexualised behaviour'. Pictured: The Royal Navy's Trident-class nuclear submarine Vanguard

The victims are painted as bitter or unstable, and sidelined, sacked or court-martialled. It not only silences those who do complain, it deters others who might be thinking about it.

The message is simple: keep your mouth shut. Those who speak out are set apart from others in their unit. Bullied, despised and isolated, many give up in despair and leave the forces. Some even have mental breakdowns. Suicides are tragically common  over 70 former service personnel take their own lives each year and, though records are not kept on how many of them have made complaints, sexual harassment is one factor.

I served in the Army for 26 years, having commanded at every level including that of a battalion. I was the senior military human resources officer within defence intelligence and I know first-hand that these problems have become particularly widespread in recent years  while the services have not evolved to cope with this. The process of complaints in the military is designed to destroy people, not to help them.

Too many people, from second lieutenants to generals, are concerned with protecting their own careers. They are active bystanders when complaints are made and, by walking past when they hear or witness inappropriate behaviour or 'banter', they effectively condone and enable it.

Often, serious behaviour is not reported because victims fear their chain of command. Any complaint, sexual or not, has to be submitted to a senior officer. That's how the system is set up.

But there is virtually no professional training for any officers in complex human resource issues, such as sexual harassment or mental health.

As a result, there is often no one in the chain of command who has the faintest idea how to proceed when they hear a complaint  except to try to brush it under the carpet. Allegations that would be dealt with swiftly and efficiently in private business are left to fester for years in the forces.

A n RAF officer told me she was subjected to constant sexual innuendos and threats on WhatsApp, including demands to meet senior officers. Her abuse escalated so much that one night, her senior officer hammered on the door of her room, demanding to be allowed in when she was in bed.

In such a frightening situation, it is almost impossible for people to carry out their duties. And let me be clear: this has a serious effect on Britain's ability to defend itself, at a time when European peace faces the greatest danger since the Second World War.

The sexual harassment crisis in our forces goes all the way to the top. The top brass are very good at making the right noises and insisting that all misconduct will be robustly dealt with.

But the truth is that cases now coming to light have been brewing for years. We have to act to end this appalling scandal  not only for those whose lives are made so wretched, but for the security of our nation.

Philip Ingram MBE is a former senior intelligence and security officer, and co-founder of the Independent Defence Authority
Debris including a shoe are seen, Sunday, near the scene where over 150 people died and dozens more were injured the night before, after a mass of mostly young people celebrating Halloween became trapped and crushed as the crowd surged in a narrow alley. Yonhap



Yoon declares period of national mourning; 26 foreign nationals from 14 countries among dead



By Jung Min-ho



A festive night in Itaewon, a popular nightlife district in Seoul, suddenly turned deadly, Saturday, in one of Korea's worst peacetime disasters.



The tragedy occurred among people crammed into a narrow, inclined alley next to Hamilton Hotel. As of 10 p.m., officials have confirmed that 154 people have died and 133 others were injured. Most of the victims were in their late teens and 20s. Given that some of the injured were in serious condition, the death toll could rise further.



Except one, all the other 153 deceased victims have been identified, including 26 foreign nationals from China, Iran, Russia, the United States, France, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, Norway, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Austria and two other countries, police said.



Fire authorities received the first reports of the incident at around 10:15 p.m. Witnesses said people "fell like dominoes" abruptly and started screaming for help.



"After some people slipped and fell, others fell like dominoes and no one seemed to be able to crawl out of it," a witness told the Hankook Ilbo, the sister paper of The Korea Times. "It was total chaos."





Police officers stand guard at the entrance to an alley, Sunday, where a deadly accident took place the night before in Seoul's Itaewon. AP-Yonhap



With the streets so densely packed and noisy with huge crowds, emergency workers were unable to treat the patients quickly. Overwhelmed by the large number of victims, paramedics asked pedestrians to perform CPR. Emergency officials and doctors who later treated them in hospitals said most of the victims died of cardiac arrest as a result of asphyxiation due to pressure from being trapped under other bodies.



An estimated 100,000 people gathered in the area for the first Halloween since the lifting of remaining COVID-19 restrictions. Many of the partygoers were wearing Halloween costumes.



President Yoon Suk-yeol declared a period of national mourning the following day in a live address to the nation from his office. Yongsan District was designated as a special disaster zone.





President Yoon Suk-yeol visits the scene where over 150 people died in Seoul's Itaewon, Sunday. AP-Yonhap



"It's truly devastating," Yoon said. "The tragedy, which shouldn't have happened, took place in the middle of Seoul amid Halloween (weekend)  As a president responsible for the lives and safety of the people, I feel heavy-hearted and cannot contain my sadness."



Yoon said he will instruct the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and other relevant government agencies to carry out an emergency review of all big events planned for the coming months in an effort to prevent similar tragedies from ever occurring again. He then ordered a thorough investigation of the incident.



After his speech, Yoon visited the scene of the incident before presiding over an emergency meeting at the government complex in Seoul.



The Supreme Prosecutors' Office immediately launched an investigation team into the case. Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon instructed prosecutors to cooperate closely with the police to find the cause of the incident.



Some witnesses claim that several young men deliberately shoved very hard people downhill from them while shouting "Push!" Others say some nearby stores refused to accept people who were trying to escape the crush at the last moment.





Emergency workers move the body of a victim of the crowd crush in Seoul, Saturday. Newsis
Spy chiefs have ordered ministers to stop using their personal phones to conduct government business following a suspected Kremlin hack on Liz Trusss mobile.

A Whitehall source said all ministers involved in national security would be expected to attend fresh training with the security services this week to ensure everyone is aware how this material should be handled.

Ministers will be warned they should never use their personal mobile phones to conduct Government business as they are likely to be the target of hostile states such as Russia, China, North Korea and Iran.

Pauline Neville-Jones, former chairman of Britains joint intelligence committee, yesterday said she was not at all tolerant of the notion that its OK for ministers to use private mobile phones.

The warnings follow astonishing revelations in yesterdays Mail on Sunday that Miss Trusss personal mobile was spied on by hackers thought to be working for Moscow while she was foreign secretary.

Spy chiefs have ordered ministers to stop using their personal phones to conduct government business following a suspected Kremlin hack on Liz Trusss mobile

The hack was discovered during the Tory leadership contest in the summer, but a news blackout was ordered by Boris Johnson and Cabinet Secretary Simon Case. Even MPs and officials with top level security clearance were kept in the dark.

Miss Truss is said to have been so worried about the potential damage to her leadership bid that she had trouble sleeping until the news was suppressed.

Messages dating back up to a year are thought to have been downloaded, including highly sensitive discussions with fellow foreign ministers about issues such as arms shipments to Ukraine.

Hacked messages are said to have included private criticisms of Mr Johnson by Miss Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng, potentially opening them up to blackmail attempts at a time when they were both senior ministers in his government.

Parliamentary sources yesterday said the shocking incident was now likely to be investigated by the Intelligence and Security Committee, which oversees the work of the security services.

One source on the committee said: On the face of it, it looks extremely serious. The protocols around using secure lines have been in place for years  why on earth was the foreign secretary using her personal mobile? Frankly, it beggars belief.

Baroness Neville-Jones, a former security minister, told Times Radio it was extremely unhealthy for ministers to be conducting official business through private channels, particularly when using personal phones that are vulnerable to hacking.

Its common sense to know that your mobile is potentially vulnerable, and it is the rule that you dont use it, she said. This is what got Hillary Clinton into trouble.

Pauline Neville-Jones (pictured), former chairman of Britains joint intelligence committee, yesterday said she was not at all tolerant of the notion that its OK for ministers to use private mobile phones

Former Army chief Lord Dannatt said the hacking incident suggested ill discipline among ministers  and said it added to concerns about the forwarding of sensitive information by Home Secretary Suella Braverman, for which she resigned this month before being reinstated by Rishi Sunak.

He said the behaviour was not good enough.

If you want to communicate government business, use an encrypted handheld device, use a secure telephone line, use a secure means of communication, he said.

People in senior positions have got access to these secure means of communicating and they should use them. Not doing so is ill discipline and, frankly, reflects very poorly on their judgment.

Michael Gove did not dispute the report that Miss Trusss phone had been hacked, saying the Mail on Sunday was a trusted newspaper, so I dont want in any way to cast doubt on its report.

But the Levelling Up Secretary said ministers were told to take cybersecurity incredibly seriously, and that the Government had very robust protocols in place to prevent hacking.

However, one security source said some ministers did not like using clunky Government-issued encrypted mobiles. Another added: Properly encrypted mobiles are available but they are less convenient, so not so popular.

Sir Richard Dearlove, former head of MI6, said senior government ministers were obvious targets for the security services of hostile powers.

He told BBC Radio 4s The World This Weekend show that the likelihood was that Miss Trusss phone had been targeted by Russia, which he said had significant capabilities for hacking.

Professor Alan Woodward, cyber security specialist at the University of Surrey, said Miss Trusss phone was most likely infected with spyware, which would have posted details of all her messages back to the hackers.

This is a security fiasco. We need an inquiry NOW, writes intelligence expert Professor ANTHONY GLEES

Commentary by Professor Anthony Glees

The implications are horrifying. We now know a foreign power hacked the personal mobile phone of the talkative Liz Truss. The severity of this security breach can hardly be overstated.

As a former prime minister, ex-foreign secretary and ex-international trade secretary, Miss Truss was the chief custodian of our national security secrets and the recipient of invaluable MI6 intelligence.

We need an immediate judicial inquiry, led by a High Court judge, to establish how this happened, who was responsible and precisely what information was compromised.

Truss was in charge of delivering national security: The most sacred duty of any government.

We are deeply  and rightly  involved in a major war in our neighbourhood, as the European leader of a western coalition against Russian aggression in Ukraine.

Our closest allies trust in us will have been greatly threatened by this fiasco.

I believe Boris Johnson, who was prime minister at the time, should not have suppressed the news, although it is possible there were sound security reasons why this had to be done.

If the media had been able to report the story, Liz Truss would have had no choice but to resign. It goes without saying that her ambitions to lead the country would have been over.

ANTHONY GLEES: The most likely culprits are the Russians  though we also cannot discount China, Iran, North Korea or, conceivably, Israel, which has invested vast sums into electronic surveillance

The most likely culprits are the Russians  though we also cannot discount China, Iran, North Korea or, conceivably, Israel, which has invested vast sums into electronic surveillance.

Analysts at GCHQ are trying to work out who hacked her, and how much damage has been done.

I suspect the Kremlin, not just because Britain  and especially under Boris  has been such an influential ally to Ukraine, but because of the way Liz Truss was treated in Moscow last February, when she met Russian foreign secretary Sergey Lavrov.

The rudeness and disdain shown to her during that visit might have stemmed from the fact that Lavrov perhaps knew almost as much about Truss as she knew herself.

Its almost impossible to overestimate how much private information, and how many government secrets, might have been betrayed. The hackers could read her emails and WhatsApp messages and listen to her phone calls, of course.

But the latest surveillance software is far more sophisticated than that.

Even when a phone is switched off, a spy operator can switch it back on again and activate the microphone. This enables the phone to be used as a listening device. It is conceivable that the camera was used, too. Certainly, the phones GPS device would have transmitted her location at all times  a chilling threat to her personal security.

Cabinet ministers are not supposed to take their personal phones into No10, the Foreign Office or other sensitive zones. We dont know if Liz Truss complied with this rule  another reason why a judicial inquiry is imperative.

We do know she routinely used her personal phone instead of her government-issued device, which has much more robust anti-hacking protection. Now we need to find out the true cost of this behaviour.

Professor Anthony Glees is a security and intelligence expert at the University of Buckingham.
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With binoculars raised, Im scanning the hillsides for bears. The tranquil lilt of late summer birdsong and the clink of cowbells seep through the open window.

Its not what I had expected of Transylvania, in central Romania  much loved by King Charles III. My assumptions about this enigmatic land were way off-beam. For its not a place of hidden intrigue and crumbling gothic castles, sliced off from the rest of Romania by the Carpathian mountains.

Thats Bram Stokers fault. When he wrote Dracula in 1897, using the 15th-century Wallachian nobleman Vlad Dracula and a big slosh of superstition as inspiration for his Count, he gave Transylvania a spooky reputation that it has struggled to shift.

Medieval: Lizzie Pook visits Transylvania and finds her 'assumptions about this enigmatic land were way off-beam'. Pictured is the village of Biertan and its Unesco-listed fortified church, around 30km from where Lizzie stayed

But peel back that eerie facade and youll find a pleasingly crowd-free corner of Europe full of natural beauty: biodiverse countryside, horse-and-cart villages, and the misty Carpathians, home to wolves, lynx, eagles and brown bears.

Forward-thinking matters are afoot, too  one of these being Bethlen Estates in Cris, my base and where Im scouring the landscape for bears and other creatures.

The tiny hamlet of Cris is the ancestral home of Count Miklos Bethlen, who was forced to flee Transylvania in 1948 as communist forces moved in. But he never abandoned his childhood village and was committed to supporting the community and restoring its historic buildings.

When he died in 2001, his wife Gladys and their son Nikolaus pledged to continue his legacy, ploughing savings into buying derelict and abandoned houses with the aim of turning them into chic guesthouses.

The resulting Bethlen Estates is already a cult place to stay, luring the cool crowd to Transylvania year-round as a pioneer of historic design mixed with wilderness-luxe. Until now, though, rooms were only available on an exclusive basis (you would have to book them all).

But with the opening of the new Corner Barn, a four-bedroomed guesthouse, they can now be booked individually.

Lizzie bases herself at Bethlen Estates in Cris (pictured), which blends historic design with wilderness-luxe

Bethlen has opened a new four-bedroomed guesthouse called Corner Barn. Above is one of the twin rooms

'This is a home where guests are expected to make themselves comfortable,' says Lizzie. Above is Corner Barn's living area

Inviting: The Corner Barn exterior

This is a home where guests are expected to make themselves comfortable, though youll often find Countess Bethlen pottering around the estate chatting with the guests.

Chef Robert Tordai ensures no one goes hungry, serving up hearty Romanian and Hungarian fare from the Kitchen Barn. Expect beef goulash cooked over an open fire, pressed duck, beef cheek with baked beetroot salad and traditional fluffy papanasi doughnuts.

The estate provides an ideal base from which to explore the Transylvanian countryside, with guests heading out on foot, on horseback or via snowshoe. Temperatures can plummet to a bone-numbing minus 20 degrees in the winter.

Bethlen's Kitchen Barn (pictured) serves 'hearty' Romanian and Hungarian fare such as beef goulash

One evening, I beg the Countess to allow us to go out in search of bears. In typically laid-back fashion she obliges, calling a local contact to drive us in his old Land Rover through the valley to where the animals are sometimes spotted.

We park and we wait, and wait, visited only by loofah-tailed red foxes, swooping lesser-spotted eagles and grazing red deer, their antlers mighty and impressive. The sun sinks, bathing the thick forest and wildflower fields in a hazy amber glow. Then its gone. We feel bears in the air but weve seen none.

Transylvania has kept its secrets. This is one of Europes greatest wildernesses, after all.
Bridgerton's Adjoa Andoh has opened up about loving her androgynous style as it makes her feel 'comfortable'.

The actress, 59, who plays Lady Agatha Danbury on the hit Netflix show, appeared on the Amanda Wakeley: Style DNA podcast to discuss her fashion sense as well as her characters.

The star said: 'I love a sort of androgyny  I do like that. For me I feel quite comfortable in gender neutral clothes.'

'I feel comfortable in general neutral clothes': Bridgerton's Adjoa Andoh has opened up about loving her androgynous style

Androgynous fashion describes mixed-gender clothes and accessories to avoid constructing a visual distinction between masculine and feminine physical characteristics and, therefore, express non-binary gender identity.

Adjoa continued: 'Im interested in people being who they are as a person, not conforming to any particular stereotypes we have about what a gendered person should be.'

Speaking about her characters style, she explained: 'She wears hats like the regency men would. She has the cane, and you can say yes, thats because shes an older woman but for me its also about stature.

'I requested that all the cuts for her  shes very tailored. The jackets fit just so. The collar is up. The sleeves are long, and theyre buttoned and theyre always just above the knuckle. So theres all these frankly obsessive details that for me have become part of her armour.

Opening up: The actress, 59, who plays Lady Agatha Danbury on the hit Netflix show, appeared on the Amanda Wakeley: Style DNA podcast to discuss her fashion sense as well as her characters

Adjoa's character, Lady Danbury, is a woman of immense wealth and influence who was responsible for picking up the pieces of a shattered young Simon (Rege-Jean Page) in season one and raising him to be the Duke.

Season two was no different as she took in the Sharma family from India  sisters Kate (Simon Ashley), Edwina, (Charithra Chandran) and their mother Lady Mary, (Shelley Conn).

The actress admitted once she's on the set and reading her lines she instantly becomes Lady Danbury.

Adjoa said: 'Thats a really good question because I dont really know anymore. When Im at work, Im probably a more Danbury side of Adjoa than I am when Im walking the dog. She comes to work with me. And once Im on set and Im in my own space and Im with my lines, Im straight into her.

The star said: 'I love a sort of androgyny  I do like that. For me I feel quite comfortable in gender neutral clothes.'

'I think that was one of the things when I got sent the original sides to go and read for her, I just read it and though  oh I can do something with her! I recognise [the character]  thats my mum, thats my aunty, my grandmothers.'

Based on a series of books of the same name by Julia Quinn, Bridgerton follows the eight siblings of the Bridgerton family as they attempt to find love in Regency-era England.

It was announced last year that spin-off series Queen Charlotte, charting the younger years of the flamboyant and gossip-hungry monarch would be in the works, with the show written and produced by Bridgerton creator Shonda Rhimes.

A description of the series read: 'Centered on Queen Charlotte's rise to prominence and power, this Bridgerton-verse prequel tells the story of how the young Queen's marriage to King George sparked both a great love story and a societal shift, creating the world of the Ton inherited by the characters in Bridgerton.'

Speaking on the highly-anticipated prequel, Adjoa said: 'For me, I was very clear when I went into the show. She [Lady Danbury] is an anomaly in that society. []

'Theres a prequel that Shona has written and were filming at the moment. And you get to see the backstories of her, Queen Charlotte and Violet Bridgerton. And I was really interested in who she was, how she came to be there.'

She admitted that since finding fame she hasn't always enjoyed hitting the red carpet: 'I just dont like it. Theres a little bit of the West Country in me thinking Oh look at you, thinking youre better than you ought to be.

'I think what it is is Im much happier being a character. Im sort of a bit of a cliche like that. Its the acting cliche. But the other thing for me is Im dyspraxic. [] If Im in a pair of high heels on the red carpet, its like a dice with death. Am I going to go over on it tonight?'
Its just months since Lottie Moss opened up about being in rehab for a really bad cocaine addiction but Im happy to say that it seems shes cleaned up her act.

The model looked fresh-faced after treating herself to a pampering session at a nail salon in London last week.

Maybe the 24-year-old half-sister of supermodel Kate Moss is looking to give her image a makeover, after the backlash she faced for joining OnlyFans.

The website has a reputation for pornography and Lottie said she felt exiled from the fashion business when she started posting erotic content to subscribers with Californian clothing line PacSun severing its ties with her.

All smiles: Its just months since Lottie Moss opened up about being in rehab for a really bad cocaine addiction but Im happy to say that it seems shes cleaned up her act

Poser: The model looked fresh-faced after treating herself to a pampering session at a nail salon in London last week

However, she was unapologetic when she was a guest on the Wednesdays We Drink Wine podcast last week, saying: Its a career and should be taken seriously.

Rather appropriately, Lottie will be sitting on a web summit panel in Lisbon next month, also attended by heavyweights such as advertising tycoon Sir Martin Sorrell and Queen Rania of Jordan.

And the name of the panel? Owning your niche: monetise your fans attention.
Andrew Garfield and Laura Dern met up for a low-key dinner in Santa Monica on Friday night.

Garfield, 39, looked relaxed in a dark blue T-shirt which he wore under a matching button-down shirt.

He added beige trousers to the ensemble. A thick beard covered his strong jawline, and his long hair looked blown back, off his face.

Night out: Andrew Garfield and Laura Dern met up for a low-key dinner in Santa Monica on Friday night

Dern, 55, donned a fuzzy white sweater and a pair of pressed black slacks. She added a matching leather handbag.

Her golden locks were swept off to the left and fell in soft curls to the top of her back.

The pair seemed to share a laugh after their dinner, with Dern bent over and clutching on to Garfield's powerful arm.

Casual chic: Garfield, 39, looked relaxed in a dark blue t-shirt which he wore under a matching button-down shirt

Having a chat: The two stars stood outside the restaurant and gabbed for a time together

Bundled up: Dern, 55, donned a fuzzy white sweater and a pair of pressed black slacks

Long locks: Her golden locks were swept off to the left and fell in soft curls to the top of her back

Heading off: They crossed the street to grab their cars at the end of the evening after their meal at Capo, an Italian restaurant

They crossed the street to grab their cars at the end of the evening after their meal at Capo, an Italian restaurant.

Garfield and Dern have been friends for almost a decade, after first performing together in the movie 99 Homes.

The film follows 'a recently unemployed single father (Garfield) struggles to get back his foreclosed home by working for the real estate broker (Michael Shannon) who is the source of his frustration,' according to its IMDb page.

Co-stars: Garfield and Dern have been friends for almost a decade after first performing together in the movie 99 Homes

More on the way: While they don't have another project together coming out soon, the duo each have a number of projects coming out soon

New series: Garfield has two miniseries that he's been announced to star in coming soon. He's set to play a part in Brideshead Revisited, centered on an aristocratic family

Playing a billionaire: He's also set to play Richard Branson, the British billionaire, in a series centered on him titled Hot Air

While they don't have another project together coming out, the duo each have individual projects coming out soon.

Garfield has two miniseries that he's been announced to star in coming soon. He's set to play a part in Brideshead Revisited, centered on an aristocratic family.

He's also set to play Richard Branson, the British billionaire, in a series centered on him titled Hot Air.

Doing her own work: Dern, meanwhile, is currently filming two movies. She will voice Ozi's Mother in the film Ozi  Voice of the Forest

Working with another star: She will also star opposite Liam Hemsworth in the movie Lonely Planet though the plot has yet to be revealed

More in pre-production: Her television series Mrs. American Pie and Morning are both still in pre-production

Dern, meanwhile, is currently filming two movies. She will voice Ozi's Mother in the film Ozi  Voice of the Forest.

Donald Sutherland, Amandla Stenberg and RuPaul are all set to star alongside her in the film.

She will also star opposite Liam Hemsworth in the movie Lonely Planet, though the plot has yet to be revealed.

Her television series Mrs. American Pie and Morning are both still in pre-production.
Radio announcer Andrew 'Cosi' Costello has been dumped from Hit Network's SAFM breakfast show Bec, Cosi & Lehmo, days after he slammed Australian netball players over their Gina Rinehart sponsorship deal saga.

Andrew confirmed on his Facebook page this week he will not return to the show after it was confirmed on-air on Friday.

Andrew's co-hosts Rebecca Morse and Anthony 'Lehmo' Lehmann, will return to the airwaves on November 4 without him.

Radio announcer Andrew 'Cosi' Costello (pictured) has been dumped from Hit Network's SAFM breakfast show Bec, Cosi & Lehmo, days after he slammed Australian netball players over their Gina Rinehart sponsorship deal saga

'I've just been told SAFM has decided to push on in 2023 without the Bec, Cosi and Lehmo breakfast show,' he wrote on the page.

'I've loved SAFM so much since I first walked in the doors as a pig farmer from Kadina 23 years ago. They gave me my start in the media and it's been a wonderful run since then. I wish them well.'

Speaking to the Adelaide Advertiser on Saturday, Andrew claimed he wasn't give any explanation for getting the boot.

'I've loved SAFM so much since I first walked in the doors as a pig farmer from Kadina 23-years-ago. They gave me my start in the media and it's been a wonderful run since then. I wish them well'. (Pictured with Rebecca Morse and Anthony 'Lehmo' Lehmann)

He also noted that it wasn't the first time he's been axed from a radio show by SAFM.

Back in 2011, he was also dropped from his radio show with Amber Petty, Dave 'Rabbit' Rabbetts and Dale 'Louie' Lewis.

'Eleven years ago  they sat me down and they sacked me. I was mortified. I walked out onto Greenhill Rd and just bawled my eyes out,' he recalled.

Andrew joined the show back in 2020, but it has been struggling to perform against its rivals. A shake-up has been speculated for some time

'I said, OK, I'll never get in that position again; I'll never fall victim to a station dictating my future like that,' he continued.

'Fast forward to yesterday and they've done it again, but I'm not sad this time. Because I've got so much else going on.'

Andrew joined Bec, Cosi & Lehmo back in 2020, but it has been struggling to perform against its rivals.

He also noted that it wasn't the first time he's been axed from a radio show by SAFM. Back in 2011, he was also dropped from his radio show with Amber Petty, Dave 'Rabbit' Rabbetts and Dale 'Louie' Lewis

A shake-up has been speculated for some time.

Andrew made headlines last week after slamming Australian netballers for 'spitting in the face' of mining magnate Gina Rinehart for rejecting her $15million sponsorship deal through her company, Hancock Prospecting.

The Diamonds refused to wear the company logo in support of Indigenous player Donnell Wallam, over racist comments made by Ms Rinehart's father, Lang Hancock, about Aboriginal people four-decades-ago.

Mining magnate Gina Rinehart pulled her $15million sponsorship deal from Netball Australia after players decided not to wear the uniform (pictured, Team Australia celebrates after winning the Constellation Cup netball match)

Andrew blasted the netballers' decision in a furious post to social media.

'You'd think a group of ladies would embrace and welcome a successful business woman like Gina. Instead they spat in her face,' he wrote.

Costello recalled how Ms Rinehart had generously supported his charity, Cows for Cambodia, because of her 'love for the cattle industry'.

Costello claimed that the billionaire heiress would now find someone 'more grateful to accept her money' and that he felt sympathy for her as she only 'wanted to help'

'She helped us to no end. Never once asking for anything in return,' he said.

'She was kind enough to spend $15 million sponsoring this netball team. She didn't have to. She chose to help them.'

Costello claimed that the billionaire heiress would now find someone 'more grateful to accept her money' and that he felt sympathy for her as she only 'wanted to help'.

'To the team members that got the s***s. You've won.

'You've lost the sponsor. But at what cost to the rest of the team or the sport???? Time will tell,' he continued.
Bradley Cooper and his five-year-old daughter Lea had lunch with Brooke Shields and her family in New York City on Saturday.

Shields, 57, looked youthful as she donned lightly-tinted sunglasses and wore her dark brown tresses styled long and flowing over her shoulders and down her back.

The Silver Linings Playbook star, 47, looked fit in a blue and white sweatsuit with a pair of black shades as he enjoyed his time with Lea holding his and Rowan Shield's hands on their way to lunch at Cafe Cluny.

Bradley Cooper and his 5-year-old daughter Lea had lunch with Brooke Shields and her family in New York City on Saturday

Brooke wore a black and white Christian Dior pullover, stonewashed jeans and white kicks.

The Blue Lagoon actress and husband of 21-years, Chris Henchy, are the proud parents of two daughters: Rowan, 19, and Grier, 16.

Henchy walked in the back of the group wearing a grey V-neck, khaki pants and dark glasses.

19-year-old Rowan wore a beige turtleneck, jeans, and red and white sneakers.

Cute: Lea Cooper, 5, held her daddy's hand as they walked to enjoy lunch together

Happy group: The Blue Lagoon actress and husband of 21-years, Chris Henchy, are the proud parents of their two daughters Rowan, and Grier

Brooke's other daughter, Grier, 16, held her mothers hand and wore a white peanuts sweatshirt, dark blue plants and black sunglasses.

Shields grew up in front of the camera after making her debut as a model when she was just 11-months old in 1966.

She would go on to become a household name after her controversial role as a prostitute in the historical drama film Pretty Baby when she was 12-years-old.

The little girl walks with her mom too: Earlier this week, Cooper's ex, Irina Shayk took a stroll with Lea Cooper on Friday through the West Village

Earlier this week, Cooper's ex, Irina Shayk took a stroll with Lea Cooper on Friday when she rocked an all-black look for a stroll through the West Village.

Rumors of a reconciliation between her and Cooper continue to gain steam.

The supermodel and the movie star have been amicably co-parenting their daughter Lea De Seine ever since they officially split in 2019 after four years of dating.

The ultimate New Yorker: Irina Shayk, 36, looked like the ultimate New Yorker on Friday when she rocked an all-black look for a stroll with her daughter Lea

The friendly exes were spotted with their daughter for a family outing in Manhattan.

The adorable little girl was dressed in a devil costume for the occasion and her famous parents looked happy to be in each other's company.

Shayk and the Nightmare Alley star vacationed together over the summer in the Bahamas and they are reportedly considering having more children in the future.

'It was a real family getaway and they are considering getting back together,' said a source close to the couple who spoke to Page Six. The insider went on to assert that Irina and Bradley would like their daughter to have a sibling.
Cara Delevingne has made her way back to the US after spending time in France, where she attended the presentation of the Planet Sex program at MIPCOM 2022 in Cannes.

The top model and actress, who reportedly has been struggling with a combination of mental health and substance abuse issues lately, was spotted moments after touching down at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City on Saturday.

Looking wide-eyed when she took off her dark sunglasses, the Paper Towns star came prepared for the chilly fall weather by donning powder blue furry coat and a brown furry hat.

Wide-eyed: Cara Delevingne, 30, looked startled when she was spotted moments after touching down at JFK Airport in New York City on Saturday

For added warmth, the London native  who just celebrated her milestone 30th birthday in August  also wore a black hoodie underneath her jacket.

She added to her casual-cool look with black pants and a pair of bulky black leather boots.

While she sported that furry hat the entire time, Delevingne's brown tresses flowed out the sides in a stringy and messy style.

Bundled up: Delevingne came prepared for the chilly fall weather in a furry coat and hat

Delevingne appeared to be getting assistance from a man as she made her way through the airport turnstiles towards the baggage claim.

During the walk, after taking notice of an admiring photographer, she put her stylish sunglasses back on until they arrived at the area where she retrieved her bags.

From there, the catwalk queen headed out the exit doors, where she got into a car and seemingly made the drive into Manhattan.

On the go: The top model and actress appeared to get assistance in retrieving her bags from a man before making her way outside to catch her ride seemingly to Manhattan

Just weeks ago, Delevingne sparked concern for her mental health with a string of erratic public appearances, according to a number of publications, including Page Six.

At one point, her friend and Suicide Squad co-star, Margot Robbie, was seen leaving her Los Angeles home looking distressed and teary-eyed. The Australian actress is reportedly among her loved ones that are advocating for Delevingne to enter a treatment program.

There have been reports of the fashionista acting 'really drunk' at a party in New York earlier this year, while more recently she's looked disheveled and acted erratically at an airport in the Van Nuys section of Los Angeles.

So far, Delevingne has not publicly confirmed whether she's battling addiction issues but she has confessed to dabbling with drugs in the past.
Anh Do's son Xavier Do is kick starting his career as a model.

The 18-year-old signed up to Chadwick Models last month after a friend suggested he try modelling.

Xavier told The Daily Telegraph on Sunday he never planned to become a model but is looking forward to the challenge.

Anh Do's son Xavier Do, 18, (both pictured) has kicked off his modelling career after signing with prestigious agency Chadwick Models last month

'To be honest, modelling was never a life goal or anything,' he admitted.

'I was just chatting to some friends one day, and they said you should try modelling, you'd be good at it.'

'So I did and I got in and I'm super excited,' he added.

The 18-year-old signed up to Chadwick Models last month after a friend suggested he try modelling

Xavier told The Daily Telegraph on Sunday he never planned to become a model but is looking forward to the challenge

It comes after Anh's successful book series was banned by American schools until US students rallied to have the ban lifted, his agent recently revealed.

A school board in the US state of Pennsylvania decided Anh's hit WeirDo series 'leaned toward indoctrination material' in November 2020.

The 17 books aimed at younger children, filled with gastric laughs, cartoons and anecdotes from his experience as an immigrant going to school, were deemed 'too activist in nature' by the Central York Board of School Directors.

'I was just chatting to some friends one day, and they said you should try modelling, you'd be good at it. So I did and I got in and I'm super excited' he said

It comes after Anh's successful book series was banned by American schools until US students rallied to have the ban lifted, his agent recently revealed

But Australia's 'happiest refugee' had no clue about the ban, his agent Andrew Laing told The Australian, until the ban was lifted in January following a protest by students for their reinstatement.

'It's amazing. Just incredible. Good on those kids who had it overturned,' Mr Laing said.

Anh came to Australia as a three-year-old on a boat from Vietnam and steadily worked his way into the spotlight through his creative talents as a painter - he's a four-time Archibald Prize finalist - comedian, author and TV host.
Booby Tape founder Bianca Roccisano flaunted her sensational figure in a very racy Halloween outfit on Saturday night.

The business powerhouse looked nothing short of incredible as she strolled the streets of Beverly Hills ahead of attending a star-studded party.

Bianca opted to go as the nurse from American Horror Story, which included a plunging corset and matching miniskirt.

Booby Tape founder Bianca Roccisano (pictured) attended a Halloween party in Los Angeles dressed as a sexy nurse from American Horror Story on Saturday night

The stylish star finished her look with thigh-high boots, arm cuffs and a small handbag styled as a doctor's bag.

The entrepreneur highlighted her eyes with faux lashes and winged eyeliner, while pulling her raven locks up into a high ponytail.

She was later seen at a glamorous party in LA, where she posed with a number of social media influencer pals.

Bianca opted to go as the nurse from American Horror Story, which included a plunging corset and matching miniskirt. The stylish star finished her look with thigh-high boots

The entrepreneur highlighted her eyes with faux lashes and winged eyeliner, while pulling her raven locks up into a high ponytail

Bianca and sister Bridgett are known for hosting lavish parties for their brands in LA, which attract a slew of A-list Hollywood celebrities.

The sisters recently collaborated with influencer Stassie Karanikolaou, to help launch their Stas x Booby Tape Illuminating Bronzer.

The party was attended by the likes of Alessandra Ambrosio and Charli D'Amelio, and featured performances by YG and Bia.

Bianca (pictured) recently gave an insight into her enormous success after starting clothing line Bianca and Bridgett and then Booby Tape

Bianca recently gave an insight into her enormous success after starting clothing line Bianca and Bridgett and then Booby Tape.

The business dynamos just sealed deals for Booby Tape across America, Germany and South Africa, as they prove the sky is the limit.

'We're going into a lot of the major stores in the United States, so Booby Tape is going to have a rapid expansion in the next year,' Bianca told Daily Mail.

'We have just done a major deal for all of Germany. So there's about 7,000 stores that Booby Tape is going into there as we speak.

'We've also done Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Middle East, and we did 1,000 stores in South Africa today.'
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon speaks to reporters on Sunday in the city's central area of Itaewon on his government's response to a deadly stampede accident that claimed at least 153 lives during Halloween celebrations the previous day. Yonhap



Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said Sunday he will discuss with the central government on designating the entire capital area as a special disaster zone eligible for various support schemes following a deadly crush in Seoul's Itaewon district that killed over 150 people.



Oh announced the plan during a visit to the site of the accident in central Seoul, where he arrived after cutting short his European trip in the wake of the tragic accident that occurred during late-night Halloween celebrations a day earlier.



"We will have to discuss further, but we should be able to produce ways to support even non-Seoul residents when the entire capital is designated as a special disaster zone," Oh said.



Earlier in the day, President Yoon Suk-yeol designated Seoul's central ward of Yongsan, where Itaewon is located, as a special disaster zone entitled to financial and other support from the central government.






Ben Affleck played the role of dotting dad when he spent some one-on-one time with the youngest of his two daughters, Seraphina.

While out and about, the actor and director and the 13-year-old made a pitstop at a PetSmart store in the West Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles on Saturday.

The father of three looked to throughly engaged with the teenager as they chatted with each other during the short walk from their car into the pet store.

Ben Affleck, 50, played the role of dotting dad when he spent some one-on-one time with the youngest of his two daughters, Seraphina, 13, on a trip to PetSmart

With a chill in the air earlier in the morning, Affleck, 50, decided to wear a gray coat over a matching dress shirt, along with faded black khakis.

He also donned a pair of blue, red and white Nike sneakers, and had his dark hair closely cut.

The Tender Bar star also sported dark sunglasses to help with the glaring sun for the walk to and from his car.

Mix and match: With a chill in the air earlier in the morning, Affleck, decided to wear a gray coat over a matching dress shirt, along with faded black khakis

Looking cool: Seraphina went with more of a sporty casual look in the fashion department in green sweatpants and a pink sweater over a vintage Rolling Stones T-shirt

Seraphina went with more of a sporty casual look in the fashion department in green sweatpants and a pink sweater over a vintage Rolling Stones T-shirt.

She also donned a pair of white Adidas sneakers, and had her shoulder-length brown tresses in a bob cut with a part in the middle.

It appears they were just browsing inside the store because by the time they left they didn't appear to buy anything.

They likely shed their coat and sweater by the time the temperature jumped up to the mid-70s later in the afternoon.

Just looking: It appears they were just browsing inside the store because by the time they left they didn't appear to buy anything

Considering the big smile on his face during their time out together, the quality family time with his daughter appeared to agree with Affleck.

While leaving the store empty-handed and making their way back to their parked vehicle, Affleck could be seen deep in conversation with his daughter.

Along with Seraphina, the Good will Hunting screenwriter and star also has a daughter Violet, 16, and son Samuel, 10, whom he shares with ex-wife Jennifer Garner.

He's also been playing the step-dad role to his new wife Jennifer Lopez's 14-year-old twins Emme and Max, from her marriage to ex-Marc Anthony.
After spending time visiting the flood-ravaged waters in Pakistan as Special Envoy for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, Angelina Jolie has been back home in Los Angeles spending time with her children.

And on Saturday, the acclaimed actress and director got in some one-on-one time with 14-year-old daughter Vivienne, which included a stop to get groceries at a Gelson's Market in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles.

The Academy Award winner looked to be taking care of business on her cellphone during the short walk from their parked vehicle into the store.

Family time: Angelina Jolie, 47, and daughter Vivienne, 14, made a stop to get groceries in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles on Saturday

Jolie, 47, stepped out dressed in baggy gray-patterned pants, a matching top and long black overcoat.

She also wore black platform sandals, dark sunglasses and had her dark brown tresses styled long and straight, well past her shoulders, with a part in the middle.

Vivienne, who has a twin brother Knox, along with four other brothers and sisters, looked like the typical teenager in bleached out jeans, a gray sweatshirt and black Converse sneakers.

She had her long light brown locks pulled back into a ponytail while wearing a mask.

Along with Knox, missing from the outing was sister Shiloh, 16; older brothers Maddox, 21; Pax, 18; and sister Zahara, 17, who's currently a student at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia.

Classy: The actress and director looked classy in a black overcoat over a gray ensemble when she carried three bags of groceries out of the market and back to their parked car

Los Feliz Angelina Jolie looks classy in a long black coat as she goes shopping for groceries with her daughter at Gelson's

Just weeks ago, Jolie got an up-close look at the devastating floods waters in Pakistan, which included meeting some of people affected by the catastrophe.

One week later, she took to her Instagram page and shared a few photos that were taken during her time visiting disaster areas with @rescueorg and local organizations.

After sharing how 'severe flooding has submerged 1/3 of the country's land', Jolie revealed some more of the heartbreaking statistics.

Making a difference: After visiting the flood-ravaged regions of Pakistan in September, Jolie urged her followers to be aware of the situation and to push their governments to 'understand the lack of fair trade, rising emissions and failure to address conflicts are causing more death and suffering to millions of families around the world'

'33 million people are affected, and over 6 million need emergency humanitarian assistance.,' she wrote, before adding, 'Pakistan also still hosts over a million Afghan refugees who are unable to return safely due to the current situation. Those I was able to reach were still in shock from having fled the Taliban, and now knowing the country they have fled to is in an emergency.'

She went on to plead with her 13.8 million Instagram fans and followers to 'please follow what is happening', and urged them to 'push governments to understand that rising emissions, failure to address conflicts and lack of fair trade are causing more death and suffering to millions of families around the world.'

After years of dedicated service as a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, Jolie was appointed Special Envoy in April 2012. In her expanded role, she was given authority to represent Guterres and UNHCR at the diplomatic level, with a focus on major refugee crises.

Assessing disaster: As Special Envoy for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, Jolie met with people affected by the floods in Dadu, Sindh province, Pakistan on September 20

Harrowing statistics: Jolie maintains 33. million people are affected by the floods in Pakistan, and over 6 million need emergency humanitarian assistance
Jackie 'O' Henderson has thanked her ex-husband 'Ugly' Phil O'Neil during an emotional speech at the Australian Commercial Radio Awards on Saturday night.

The star, who has been divorced from Phil for more than 20 years, gave him a shout-out after she and her KIIS FM radio co-host Kyle Sandilands were inducted into the Hall of Fame.

'Ugly Phil. I do have to acknowledge Ugly Phil,' Jackie said, to a rousing applause.

Jackie 'O' Henderson thanked her ex-husband 'Ugly' Phil O'Neil as she was inducted into the Commercial Radio Awards Hall of Fame on Saturday night. Henderson is pictured at the event with co-host Kyle Sandilands

'Ugly Phil is an absolute class act and I wouldn't be where I am now [If it wasn't for him],' she added.

The star went on to say she was thankful for the 'opportunities' he gave her and the advice he had given her.

'I'll always be thankful for the opportunities that you have given me and shown me,' she said of Phil.

'Ugly Phil is an absolute class act and I wouldn't be where I am now [If it wasn't for him],' she added. The star went on to say she was thankful for the 'opportunities' he gave her and the advice he had given her. The couple are pictured with a Michael Jackson impersonator

'The passion and the need for hard work in radio has stayed with me until this day. So I'm not sure where you are but thank you,' she finished.

Phil and Jackie previously worked together co-hosting the Hot30 Countdown in the 1990s.

They met when an 18-year-old Jackie called into the radio show Phil was hosting at the time to enter a competition, and were married just a year later.

Jackie went on to marry Lee Henderson with whom she shares daughter, Kitty, 11. The pair separated in 2018 after 15 years of marriage. (All pictured)

Their split in 1999 led to their radio show ending and Phil returning to the UK.

Jackie went on to marry Lee Henderson with whom she shares daughter, Kitty, 11.

The Hendersons separated in 2018 after 15 years of marriage.

The Hendersons separated in 2018 after 15 years of marriage

'It's a funny thing what we miss. It can be the littlest things, you know, and for me it's having that family time at the dinner table; that used to be my favourite part of the day,' she said

Jackie has not publicly dated anyone since the split, but British photographer Lee has moved on with jujitsu instructor Gabriella Motta.

The single mother choked back tears on The Jess Rowe Big Talk Show as she admitted the thing she missed most about her 'old life' was having dinner with someone each night.

'I'd just love to sit at the dinner table with someone and have dinner. That's what I yearn for and that's the thing that I miss most about my old life,' she said.

'It's a funny thing what we miss. It can be the littlest things, you know, and for me it's having that family time at the dinner table; that used to be my favourite part of the day.

'So I don't have that now and I think I will get that back, but as I said I want to wait, you know, a little bit longer. And then maybe down the track I will fall in love. That would be nice.'
Jack Harlow pulled double duty on the latest episode of Saturday Night Live, serving as both first-time host and the evening's musical guest.

The Churchill Downs rapper, 24, took the stage for his opening monologue and joked about rumors surrounding him and Lil Nas X. One skit also poked fun at rapper Kanye West's attempt to get into Skechers headquarters.

The iconic comedy show also welcomed back actor Tom Hanks, 66, who returned for two cameos, one of which saw him reprise his famous David Pumpkins character, which he first debuted back in 2016. Survivor's Jeff Probst, 60, also made a cameo.

Double duty: Jack Harlow, 24, pulled double duty on the latest episode of Saturday Night Live, serving as both first-time host and the evening's musical guest

The show started out with the curly haired musician stepping out onto the stage to perform his opening monologue in an oversized grey suit over a dapper black turtleneck, which he paired with wire-rim eyeglasses.

He the cracked a joke about his relationship with Lil Nas X, 23, with whom he recorded the song Industry Baby.

'I've heard people try to romantically link me and Lil Nas X as an item. I'm going to tell you right now, no. Everything that happened between him and I was casual and consensual and one of the best nights of my entire life... Working with him, working with him.'

He's back! The iconic comedy show also welcomed back actor Tom Hanks, 66, who returned for two cameos, one of which saw him reprise his famous David Pumpkins character

And another one: Hanks was also featured in another sketch that saw him attending an AA meeting and being cast for a movie role

In his self-deprecating monologue Harlow also compared himself to a goat: 'A lot of people have been saying, like, I'm the GOAT. But, you know, they don't mean greatest of all time. They mean that one from Narnia.'

The Kentucky-born star continued on, remarking that fans like to poke fun at him: 'People on the internet like to roast me. And I don't mind. I think it's funny. I saw one guy say, I don't know why y'all think Jack Harlow is so special. You can find anyone that looks like him at any local gas station.'

'I've heard them say I look like if you tried to draw Justin Timberlake from memory,' he added.

Funny guy: The Churchill Downs rapper took the stage for his opening monologue and joked about rumors surrounding him and Lil Nas X

No romance: 'Everything that happened between him and I was casual and consensual and one of the best nights of my entire life... Working with him, working with him,' he joked

'I think my favorite one is jack Harlow looks like the guy who rips the tickets in half at the movie theater.'

'There's also a strange amount of rumors about me. Some people think I'm only 5'10", stop it. Other people think I was created by the CIA. No telling,' he added.

Harlow then joked that he didn't want any kids dressing up as him for Halloween: 'Some people have even gone as far as accusing me of being white. And I've seen a lot of kids running around dressed as me for Halloween, and I want to say, cut it out. My culture is not a costume.'

Goat: In his monologue Harlow also jokingly compared himself to a goat: 'A lot of people have been saying I'm the GOAT. But, they don't mean greatest of all time. They mean that one from Narnia'

Humorous: The Kentucky-born star continued on, remarking that fans like to poke fun at him: 'I've heard them say I look like if you tried to draw Justin Timberlake from memory'

Hanks stepped back into his David Pumpkins character in a sketch that featured a group of friends going for a scary prison-themed ride for Halloween.

'Cell block 666 is supposed to be the scariest ride in fright night's history. There's all these TikToks of people passing out and puking. If I pass out, don't help me, film it, and post it, please,' Harlow told his friends.

The friends then sat down for a ride, and the first cell door opened up to Michael Myers. The second to Annabelle, while the third door opened up to Tom Hanks as David Pumpkins.

Scary! Hanks stepped back into his David Pumpkins character in a sketch that featured a group of friends going for a scary prison-themed ride for Halloween

Horror: The friends sat down for a ride, with the cells opening up to different horror movie characters including Annabelle and Pennywise

And then there's David! However, when the third door opened up to Hanks as David Pumpkins and his skeletons, the group was confused

The group were a little confused, not knowing which film the character comes from, but continued on.

The next door opened up to Pennywise, followed by yet another appearance by David Pumpkins, which proceeded to confuse the guests.

One of them began questioning Pumpkins about 'his deal' asking: 'Annabelle is a possessed doll. David Pumpkins is?'

'Taking it one day at a time,' Pumpkins quipped, before the door closed again.

Questioning: One of them began questioning Pumpkins about 'his deal' asking: 'Annabelle is a possessed doll. David Pumpkins is?'

Clever: 'Taking it one day at a time,' Pumpkins quipped, before the door closed again

Back at it: The next cell featured Freddy Kruger, as he introduced David Pumpkins yet again, much to the dismay of the guests

The next cell featured Freddy Kruger, as he introduced David Pumpkins yet again, much to the dismay of the guests.

'What's my name?' he asked.

'David S. Pumpkins,' his two skeletons replied.

'And where am I from?'

'Ibiza,' the skeletons replied.

'Pregunta?' Hanks added.

From Ibiza: 'What's my name?' he asked. 'David S. Pumpkins,' his two skeletons replied. 'And where am I from?' 'Ibiza,' the skeletons replied

Don't worry: When the door opened to just the two skeletons, the friends were surprised. 'Why is it just you guys now?' they asked. 'Don't worry about it. Happy Halloween from us'

Jump scare: 'And me!' Pumpkins replied from behind the guests, frightening them

'Sir, why is there so much David Pumpkins in this?' the frustrated guests asked the host of the ride.

'We spent a lot of money on Pennywise and Freddie Kreuger. There wasn't a lot of room in the budget. Now, we're here. The infamous cell 666,' he replied.

The door opened to just the two skeletons, which took the friends by surprise.

'Why is it just you guys now?' they asked the skeletons.

'Don't worry about it. Happy Halloween from us.'

'And me!' Pumpkins replied from behind the guests, frightening them.

AA: Harlow - who is next set to make his acting debut in a remake of the 1992 film White Men Can't Jump - continued to keep the jokes coming as a recovering alcoholic at an AA meeting, with another Hanks cameo

A movie idea: Instead of talking about his recovery, he shared his idea for a movie, sidetracking the entire meeting

Harlow  who is next set to make his acting debut in a remake of the 1992 film White Men Can't Jump  continued to keep the jokes coming as a recovering alcoholic at an AA meeting, with another Hanks cameo.

Instead of talking about his recovery, he shared his idea for a movie, sidetracking the entire meeting.

'I have the perfect idea for a Pixar movie. A concept for a touching computer animated film that's about lost luggage trying to find its way home.'

'All right. Let's just stay on the topic of recovery. Does anyone else want to share? Jackie?' the host replied, switching the attention to another speaker.

Pixar movie: 'I have the perfect idea for a Pixar movie. A concept for a touching computer animated film that's about lost luggage trying to find its way home'

Brainstorming: Harlow continued to discuss his movie idea as the rest of the group got involved in the brainstorming

'On Tuesday, I drove to a liquor store, and I -- I'm sorry. So the suitcases all have personalities?' she asked, curious about Harlow's movie idea.

'Yeah. And the zippers are their mouths. I actually marked up some artwork. So this guy is the main character. He's like a regular everyday suitcase, and then you got the briefcase guy. He's a little uptight, but he's funny.'

'That's Jason Bateman,' she replied, getting into the idea of the movie.

'I literally wrote that.'

Harlow continued to discuss his movie idea as the rest of the group got involved in the brainstorming.

Important question: 'I guess the last question is who's going to play the main suitcase? Our every man, our Woody?' one person asked

Cameo: Suddenly Hanks showed up to the meeting: 'Is this AA? I'm Tom H. I'm here to research a role and also I may be an alcoholic'

Quirky: 'Yo, Tom. If you were a suitcase, what would your catch phrase be?' someone asked the actor, to which he replied: 'That really snags my zipper!'

Happy ending: The group them embraced and broke into a song after accepting that Tom would play the lead

'I guess the last question is who's going to play the main suitcase? Our every man, our Woody?' one person asked.

Suddenly Hanks showed up to the meeting: 'Is this AA? I'm Tom H. I'm here to research a role and also I may be an alcoholic.'

'Yo, Tom. If you were a suitcase, what would your catch phrase be?' someone asked the actor.

'Huh. A suitcase. Well, I guess it would be something like, "That really snags my zipper!"' he replied.

Survivor: There was also a cameo from Survivor's Jeff Probst in the first skit, which started out with Heidi Gardner playing beautiful bride Dooney, during her wedding ceremony to Harlow inside of a church

There was also a cameo from Survivor's Jeff Probst in the first skit, which started out with Heidi Gardner playing beautiful bride Dooney, during her wedding ceremony to Harlow inside of a church.

However, at one point Harlow notices that Dooney is unhappy, when the camera pans to Harlow's best man, Clint, who is dressed as the Joker.

'Just saying I don't know if I feel like marrying you no more on account of your best man came to our wedding dressed like joker,' she tells Harlow.

Unhappy: However, at one point Harlow notices that Dooney is unhappy, when the camera pans to Harlow's best man, Clint, who is dressed as the Joker

Not feeling it: 'Just saying I don't know if I feel like marrying you no more on account of your best man came to our wedding dressed like joker,' she tells Harlow

'I don't like it. I know we're getting married on Halloween night, but I don't like you being dressed like Joker,' she goes on.

The family then takes a vote on whether it's okay fro Clint to be dresses as the Joker, and decides that he should be allowed to wear the costume.

Probst then shows up to put out Dooney's torch. 'Dooney, the tribe has spoken. Clint gets to be Joker,' he says.

It's decided: The family then takes a vote on whether it's okay fro Clint to be dresses as the Joker, and decides that he should be allowed to wear the costume

Bummer! Probst then shows up to put out Dooney's torch

The tribe has spoken: 'Dooney, the tribe has spoken. Clint gets to be Joker,' he says

The laughs kept on coming in the next skit, which poked fun of Kanye West going to the Sketchers headquarters and being turned away due to his recent anti-Semitic remarks.

'Here at Sketchers, we pride ourselves on two things, making stylish comfortable shoes at an affordable price,' a worker at the store was seen saying.

'That's why earlier this week, when Kanye west showed up at our corporate office asking to work with us, we said no. No way. No thank you.'

And though the workers prided themselves on turning Ye away, they also boasted that out of all the companies he chose theirs.

No Kanye: The laughs kept on coming in the next skit, which poked fun of Kanye West going to the Sketchers headquarters and being turned away due to his recent anti-Semitic remarks

No thank you: 'When Kanye west showed up at our corporate office asking to work with us, we said no. No way. No thank you'

'We immediately escorted him out of the building. Like the rest of the country, we were appalled by Kanye's horrific comments, and we vowed to never work with him in any capacity. But can we also point out that of all the companies he could have approached and been rejected by, he chose Skechers.'

'We have always been a hip company. Of course he came to us first. Kanye came to Skechers, and we said no. Do you realize how insanely satisfying that is? I guess you could say Skechers employees are heroes,' the employees went on.

They then poked fun at how things turned out in just a span of two years: 'Could you have imagined that line two years ago, Skechers too good for Kanye?'

'Corporate was like, we can't work with Kanye West, he's crazy now. I was like, now? It took Adidas some days to decide not to work with him. He walked in and we were like, bye, bye bye, door. And of course, he would have been a perfect partnership.'

How the tables have turned: And though the workers prided themselves on turning Ye away, they also boasted that he chose their company: 'Could you have imagined that line two years ago, Skechers too good for Kanye?'

The Skeezy: 'Besides, what would you even call a Kanye Skechers shoe any way? The Skeezy? That's not bad,' another employee added

Scary thought: 'And to think, Kanye West could have been my boss. That is terrifying,' someone else chipped in

'Besides, what would you even call a Kanye Skechers shoe any way? The Skeezy? That's not bad.'

'And to think, Kanye West could have been my boss. That is terrifying,' another employee added.

In the next skit, the audience was treated to a Halloween red carpet, where the Nail Tech rapper dressed up as a frat boy wearing a tampon costume.

Before Harlow showed up, the host spotted a guy wearing a shirt that claimed he is the 'scariest thing in the world.'

Best costume: In the next skit, the audience was treated to a Halloween red carpet, where the Nail Tech rapper dressed up as a frat boy wearing a tampon costume

Disgusted: When the host asked how his costume had gone over so far, Harlow replied: 'Women who are smart are like disgusted by me'

'And what is that?' the host asked.

The guy then showed the back of his shirt which had the word 'Patriarchy' written on it.

'And I see it's spelled wrong. You clearly hoped this costume would get you laid. Has it worked?' the interviewer inquired.

'No. But the night is young,' he replied, as she appeared grossed out.

Harlow then stumbled into the view as a 'guy dressed as a giant tampon.'

Dora: Another character dressed as a drunk Dora the explorer

No Uber: Yet another was a drunk girl who couldn't find her Uber

When the host asked how his costume had gone over so far, Harlow replied: 'I mean, the vibe I'm getting is people were chill, laughed their asses off. Women who are smart are like disgusted by me.'

'And what's next for you tonight?'

'I'll probably get in some legal trouble or something, but my dad will handle that for me. You know where I can score some coke?' Harlow asked the surprised host.

'Sorry, I don't,' she replied, noting it probably won't be the last time she is asked that question.

Election: The next skit featured a horror-like political trailer that saw a group of Democrat friends try to figure out who the best Presidential candidate would be for 2024

Running again: It starts off with a couple, who begin to worry after a commercial on TV announces that Joe Biden will run for re-election, as they remark that he may be too old

The next skit featured a horror-like political trailer that saw a group of Democrat friends try to figure out who the best Presidential candidate would be for 2024.

It starts off with a couple, who begin to worry after a commercial on TV announces that Joe Biden will run for re-election, as they remark that he may be too old.

'I know he's a little old, but he can still win, right? He beat Trump.'

Too old? The next scene sees a woman on her computer trying to do the math and figure out how old Biden will be in 2024, and freaking out when she realizes he will be 81

Terrifying: The friends then begin to discuss other potential candidates, realizing they are all even worse

'But can he beat DeSantis?'

'I don't know. I don't know!'

The next scene sees a woman on her computer trying to do the math and figure out how old Biden will be in 2024, and freaking out when she realizes he will be 81.

'According to this article, he's not actually going to run in 2024, he's just saying he is to present a united front before the midterms,' one of the friends says.

Bernie: The word Bernie then appears on the walls written in blood, referring to United States Senator Bernie Sanders

Scream: 'Cory Booker?' another one asks. 'He's corny!' her friend replies. They all unanimously scream when they get a flier for Beto O'Rourke

'What a relief,' another replies, before a new, more frightening thought strikes them - the other potential candidates.

When one of them mentions the possibility of Kamala Harris, his female friend slaps him in the face for even thinking it. 'Wake up!' she screams.

'Cory Booker?' another one asks. 'He's corny!' her friend replies. They all unanimously scream when they get a flier for Beto O'Rourke.

The word Bernie then appears on the walls written in blood, referring to United States Senator Bernie Sanders.

Not fans: The worst is saved for last, as they present a 'superstar who can go all the way' - Hillary Clinton, which makes all the friends scream in fear

The worst is saved for last, as they present a 'superstar who can go all the way' - Hillary Clinton, which makes all the friends scream in fear.

They all continue to scream while hearing the 'I'm with her' chants in their head - which was Clinton's 2016 campaign slogan.

After going through all the other potential candidates, they quickly come to realize that after all he is still their best option.

Worst waiters: The hip hop star continued to amuse the audience as a sassy waiter who couldn't make one cocktail correctly

The hip hop star continued to amuse the audience as a sassy waiter who couldn't make one cocktail correctly.

The sketch started out with four friends sitting at a restaurant. Harlow and his fellow waiter refuse to serve the guests any solid food, and instead proceeds to dance provocatively while making them alcoholic beverages.

When the guests get fed up with all the spilled drinks, the waiters fess up that they have actually served them back in 2017, and that their harsh criticism made them better at their job.

A good time: Harlow and his fellow waiter refused to serve the guests any solid food, and instead proceeded to dance provocatively while making them alcoholic beverages

The truth: When the guests get fed up with all the spilled drinks, the waiters fess up that they have actually served them back in 2017, and that their harsh criticism made them better at their job

'We trained for five years to come back here and prove to you that we are the best bartenders in the world.'

The last skit featured the woman of The View with Harlow as a guest who continued to hit on co-host Whoopi Goldberg.

'Hello, I'm Whoopi Goldberg, and I'm technically not the star of the view, but I am the only one here who has ever been asked for an autograph,' she started out the segment.

'As always, I'm joined by the Pippen to my Jordan, Joy Bayhart.'

'Come on, I'm Rodman. Tell me I'm not Rodman,' Bayhart replies.

Awkward: The last skit featured the woman of The View with Harlow as a guest who continued to hit on co-host Whoopi Goldberg

Star: 'Hello, I'm Whoopi Goldberg, and I'm technically not the star of the view, but I am the only one here who has ever been asked for an autograph,' she started out the segment

Sweet: 'Hey, ladies, thanks for having me. Can I just say, Whoopi. It's an honor. You are an icon,' Jack said

'I know you've ruined some hotel rooms in Vegas, that's for sure. We're also here with a couple members of the B team,' Goldberg said of the other two co-hosts.

'Hey, ladies, thanks for having me. Can I just say, Whoopi. It's an honor. You are an icon,' Jack said.

'Don't compliment me all quiet like that, Jack. I have been closed for business since before you were born,' she replied.

'I guess I'll just say there's a lot of beautiful girls in my videos. Right now, what I need most is a woman,' Jack continued to flirt with Whoopi.

Closed: 'Don't compliment me all quiet like that, Jack. I have been closed for business since before you were born,' she replied

A flirt: 'I guess I'll just say there's a lot of beautiful girls in my videos. Right now, what I need most is a woman,' Jack continued to flirt with Whoopi

'Okay. I don't know what you're trying to do to me. But it is working. I'm feeling like Indiana Jones just stepped on a boobie trap, because my whole dusty cave has started to rumble,' she replied, flustered.

'I like that movie. Maybe we should watch it together sometime. I hope you're not afraid of snakes,' he quipped back.

'Okay, Jack. Am I sensing a metaphor?'

'Whoopi, I've met a lot of fours, but today, I've met a ten,' he replied, before walking over to her and having her jump in his arms.

Performing: Harlow then took to the stage for his musical performance, sporting a fuzzy white scarf over a white suit and white turtleneck

Rocking out: He rocked the audience with a performance of his song, Lil Secret, from his second studio album Come Home the Kids Miss You

Harlow then took to the stage for his musical performance, sporting a fuzzy white scarf over a white suit and white turtleneck.

He rocked the audience with a performance of his song, Lil Secret, from his second studio album Come Home the Kids Miss You.

Later on he returned in a green hoodie, oversized pants, and a black vest as he performed 'State Fair.'
Scott Disick was spotted enjoying a Saturday night out in Malibu with a mystery brunette in a plunging crop top.

The 39-year-old reality star, who shares three children with his ex Kourtney Kardashian, was swinging by one of the KardashianJenner clan's favorite hot spots, Nobu Malibu.

He was California casual in a cozy-looking black hoodie with a pair of shorts, slinging a pair of aviators from his neckline.

Out and about: Scott Disick was spotted enjoying a Saturday night out in Malibu with a mystery brunette in a plunging crop top

Scott sported his now typical dashing beard and wore his hair elegantly gelled for his latest evening out.

Meanwhile the leggy lady accompanying him was modeling a full-sleeved cut-off top that showed off her cleavage.

She teamed the top with a pair of high-waisted leggings, matching the relaxed vibe of Scott's outfit.

During the evening she was seen seated comfortably in the passenger seat of Scott's silver Porsche whilst he drove.

What a location: The 39-year-old reality star, who shares three children with his ex Kourtney Kardashian, was swinging by her family's longtime hot spot Nobu Malibu

Bombshell: The leggy lady accompanying him was modeling a full-sleeved cut-off top that showed off her cleavage

Scott and Kourtney have been broken up 2015 but are still co-parents two three young children: Mason, 12; Penelope, 10; and Reign, seven.

The father-of-three's appearance came after he reportedly told friends he was 'done' with Kanye West because of the 45-year-old's anti-Semitic remarks.

Sources close to the Flip It Like Disick star told HollywoodLife that he was 'very disappointed' with the Donda rapper.

'Scott and Kanye had gotten really close over the years,' one insider revealed. 'And although theyve since grown apart, Scott is very disappointed over Kanyes recent remarks about Jewish people.

Hunky: He was California casual in a cozy-looking black hoodie with a pair of shorts, slinging a pair of aviators from his neckline

Stepping out: Scott sported his now typical dashing beard and wore his hair elegantly gelled for his latest evening out

'Even though Scott isnt super religious, he takes Judaism seriously and even made a special trip to Israel a few years ago where he was blessed by a rabbi.'

Despite how disappointed Scott is, the source revealed he hasn't reached out to West because he 'really doesnt see a point.'

'He doesnt think anything good would come out of it because Kanye has clearly made up his mind. Now that Kanye and Kim [Kardashian] are nearly divorced, and Kourtney [Kardashian] and Scott have broken up for good, theres really no reason for them to hang out.'

Another source confirmed the news and said Disick started to become frustrated with West after the rapper went on tirades about Kim's former beau Pete Davidson.

Vroom vroom: During the evening she was seen seated comfortably in the passenger seat of Scott's silver Porsche whilst he drove

'He thought that Kanye showed his true colors then,' the insider elaborated. 'And now, after all of this, Scott is done with Kanye. He has nothing to say to him ever again and he does not want his kids to associate with him either. His actions are unjustifiable, and Scott does not understand why he would purposely hurt so many people. It makes no sense to Scott.'

Earlier this month, West made several comments on social media targeting Jewish people including saying he would go 'death con 3 on Jewish people.'

He added, 'You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone who opposes your agenda.' He's since been dropped by Adidas and Balenciaga for his statements, and Vogue reportedly will no longer work with the once beloved rapper.

While Disick has ben dealing with quite a bit in his own personal life, his ex Kourtney bought a Santa Barbara home for $14.5 million with her new husband Travis Barker. The ocean front home used to belong to talk show host Conan O'Brien.

Details: Scott and Kourtney have been broken up 2015 but are still co-parents two three young children: Mason, 12; Penelope, 10; and Reign, seven

The property is technically located in Carpinteria, which is very close to the tony Santa Barbara area where several celebrities live.

The gray and white home is situated so close to the beach it only takes a few steps down a short staircase to get to the shore.

There is also a large porch that has a view of the Pacific Ocean. It was made for entertaining as it fits a dining room table and also has a built in barbecue. Below is an outdoor shower.

Claims: The father-of-three's appearance out came after he reportedly told friends he was 'done' with Kanye West because of the 45-year-old's anti-Semitic remarks

Inside there it is big enough for their brood  she has three kids, like him  as it is more than 2,100 square feet. There are two bedrooms with a guest house that has another two bedrooms.

They have some fancy neighbors too, including Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis.

TV personality Conan has made a nice profit on the home. He purchased it in 2015 for $8 million and put some money into it, only to get $14.5 million out of the Barkers.

'Grown apart': Sources close to the Flip It Like Disick star told HollywoodLife that he was 'very disappointed' with the Donda rapper

Kourtney and Travis do not live together yet, but rather go between their mansions in Calabasas, California. Their homes are within walking distance.

Kourtney and Disick aren't on the best of terms at the moment with Kardashian complaining earlier this year about how her 'toxic' ex stole a 'fairy tale moment' from her in the first season of The Kardashians.

'While shooting our show, we are all executive producers, so we get to see cuts of the show and give notes on episodes and make sure that our stories are being told. I am in one of the best places that Ive ever been in my life, and its time for our show to catch up,' she said in a confession in an episode that aired in June.

'Its enabling this old narrative and buying into something that just doesnt really exist. It should be an empowering episode about me getting out of toxic relationships and really having this, like, fairy-tale love story that is my reality,' she added, referring to how Disick's storyline overshadowed her engagement.

No association: One insider also said Disick doesn't want 'his kids to associate with [West] either' (pictured 2020)
They're both known for their daring outfits.

And Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly put on another raunchy display as they dressed up for Halloween on Saturday at Vas Morgan's Party in West Hollywood.

The actress, 37, looked incredible as she pushed boundaries in a bondage-style black PVC bra from Agent Provocateur and wore a chain leash around her neck.

Daring: Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly put on another raunchy display as they dressed up for Halloween on Saturday at Vas Morgan's Party in West Hollywood

Megan's fiance MGK held the leash as they walked out of the bash together.

The Jennifer's Body star wore it with a pair of Wolford fishnet tights that showed off her black underwear underneath for added sex appeal.

She wrapped up in a set of grey robes and sported black thigh-high boots.

Her raven tresses were covered up as she donned a white-haired wig for an added spooky feel.

Looking good: The 36-year-old actress looked incredible in a black PVC bra, that showed off her ample cleavage

Revealing: She wore it with a pair of fishnet tights that showed off her black underwear underneath for added sex appeal

Spooky season: Keeping the cold at bay, she wrapped up in a set of grey robes and sported black thigh-high boots

Megan finished off her look with a full face of makeup, including pink lipstick and a slick of black eyeliner.

But the element of the Transformers star's outfit that drew all eyes to her was a chain around her neck, the end of which was held by her beau MGK.

He complemented his bride-to-be in a red and black priest's outfit, decorated with embroidered crosses.

Incredible: Her raven tresses were covered up as she donned a white-haired wig for an added spooky feel

Stunning: Megan finished off her look with a full face of makeup, including pink lipstick and a slick of black eyeliner

His platinum blonde locks were worn down and messy, hiding his face, which he decorated with a red cross.

The creepily dressed couple held tightly onto each other's hands as they made their way into the star-studded party.

Megan and her husband-to-be , who co-starred together in Midnight in the Switchgrass back in 2019, began dating in the spring of 2020.

BDSM: But the element of the Jennifer's Body star's outfit that drew all eyes to her was a chain leash around her neck, the end of which was held by her beau MGK

Matching: He complemented his bride-to-be in a red and black priest's outfit, decorated with embroidered crosses

Unholy: His platinum blonde locks were worn down and messy, hiding his face, which he decorated with a red cross

The couple who loves to showcase their PDA revealed their engagement back in January.

Megan shared a video of the moment MGK got down on one knee with the caption: 'In July of 2020 we sat under this banyan tree. We asked for magic. We were oblivious to the pain we would face together in such a short, frenetic period of time.'

MGK has never been married before but does co-parent a 13-year-old daughter named Casie with his ex-girlfriend Emma Cannon.

Megan meanwhile shares three sons of her own - Noah, 10, Bodhi, eight, and Journey, six - with her ex-husband Brian Austin Green.

Till death do us part: The creepily dressed couple held tightly onto each other's hands as they made their way into the star-studded party

Later on Sunday, Megan shared a provocative Instagram of MGK feeding her what looked like a communion wafer while raising a glass of wine as part of the black mass.

'On Sundays we take communion,' she captioned the photos.

The two were still bound by a chain leashed around the Jennifer's Body star.

A final medium shot highlighted Megan on her own while putting the spotlight on her skimpy costume and stunning curves.

Ritual: Later on Sunday, Megan shared a provocative Instagram of MGK feeding her what looked like a communion wafer while raising a glass of wine as part of the black mass

'On Sundays we take communion,' she captioned the photos, which featured the same costumes
Paris Hilton dressed to impress as she transformed into a sexy FBI agent at Vas J Morgan's The Shining Halloween themed Party in West Hollywood on Saturday.

The socialite, 41, left little to the imagination in the costume as she flashed her toned midriff in a plunging zip up black crop top and tiny mini skirt.

The TV personality turned up the heat adding sheer suspenders and a pair of towering black thigh high boots.

Incredible: Paris Hilton dressed to impress as she transformed into a sexy FBI agent at Vas Morgan's The Shining Halloween themed Party in West Hollywood on Saturday

Paris accessorised with a chunky black choker, finger-less leather gloves and strapped a large belt with hand cuffs around her waist.

The beauty slicked her long blonde tresses up in a high ponytail which cascaded over her one shoulder and hid behind a large pair of black sunglasses.

Paris was joined at the party by her husband Carter Reum who coordinated in an all black ensemble, a leather FBI bomber jacket and hid behind sunglasses and a cap.

Loved-up: Paris was joined at the party by her husband Carter Reum as the couple made sure all eyes were on them as they packed on the PDA with a passionate kiss

Racy: The socialite left little to the imagination in the costume as she flashed her toned midriff in a plunging zip up black crop top and tiny mini skirt

The couple made sure all eyes were on them as they packed on the PDA with a passionate kiss.

The happy couple tied the knot in November of last year and initially met in their twenties but did not begin seeing each other romantically until November of 2019.

Hilton was previously connected to figures such as Nick Carter and Benji Madden, and she was formerly engaged to both Paris Latsis and Chris Zylka.

The now-married pair were spotted while publicly locking lips in January of 2020, and they went Instagram official that April.

Eye catching: She turned up the heat adding sheer suspenders and a pair of towering black thigh high boots

Dressed to impress: The beauty slicked her long blonde tresses up in a high ponytail which cascaded over her one shoulder

The two later announced that they had become engaged in February of last year.

Hilton and Reum went on to tie the knot during a wedding ceremony that took place at her late grandfather's home in Bel Air in November.

Guests at the lavish event included Kim Kardashian, Ashley Benson and Paula Abdul, among numerous others.

Wow: The blonde beauty hid behind a large pair of black sunglasses as she kept in character

Halloween: Paris accessorised with a chunky black choker, finger-less leather gloves and strapped a large belt with hand cuffs around her waist

The happy couple subsequently went on a multi-country honeymoon that saw them traveling all around the world.

The pair are currently looking to start a family, and Hilton discussed her plans during an episode of Daily Pop where she noted via People that she 'cannot wait' to welcome 'two or three' children into her life.

The reality television personality made a point of remarking that she 'would want twins first.'
He's been in the UK in recent months while filming scenes for Mission: Impossible 8.

And Tom Cruise looked in great spirits after flying himself to London via helicopter on Sunday to seemingly continue filming in the UK.

The action man actor, 60, was ever the gentleman as he helped his co-star Pom Klementieff out of the helicopter.

Flying high: Tom Cruise looked in great spirits after flying himself to London via helicopter on Sunday to seemingly continue filming Mission: Impossible 8 in the UK

Tom reached out an arm to assist the 36-year-old actress out of the passenger seat and onto the tarmac.

Tom, who plays Mission Impossible team leader Ethan Hunt, piloted the chopper himself to film studios in Chertsey, Surrey.

He has had his pilot's license since 1994 and owns several aircrafts and was seen at the helm as he landed.

Helpful: The actor, 60, was ever the gentleman as he helped his co-star Pom Klementieff (pictured) out of the helicopter

Gentleman: Tom reached out an arm to assist the 36-year-old actress out of the passenger seat and onto the tarmac

He looked effortlessly cool in a black zip-up jumper, with dark wash jeans and black boots.

While Pom cut a typically stylish figure in a pair of black figure-hugging leggings and a graphic T-shirt.

Keeping the cold at bay, she wrapped up in a fashionable leather bomber jacket and wore black boots, while carrying a black bag.

Daredevil: Tom, who plays Mission Impossible team leader Ethan Hunt, piloted the chopper himself to film studios in Chertsey, Surrey

Skilled: He has had his pilot's license since 1994 and owns several aircrafts and was seen at the helm as he landed

Her blonde tresses were left down to flutter in the breeze as she seemed to go makeup free for the trip.

They have both been busy filming tense scenes for Mission: Impossible 8, which is scheduled for release on July 7 next year.

In recent weeks, Tom has been seen shooting daredevil stunts in the Lake District, including showing off his skills as a parachutist as he swooped to the ground while performing sky acrobatics in scenes filmed earlier this month.

Casual: He looked effortlessly cool in a black zip-up jumper, with dark wash jeans and black boots

Looking good: While Pom cut a typically stylish figure in a pair of black figure-hugging leggings and a graphic T-shirt

Stunning: Keeping the cold at bay, she wrapped up in a fashionable leather bomber jacket and wore black boots, while carrying a black bag

Beauty: Her blonde tresses were left down to flutter in the breeze as she seemed to go makeup free for the trip

The actor has been taking flying lessons at Teeside Airport in preparation for the exhilarating scenes in the new film.

The Hollywood hunk recently told how he loves spending time in Britain because 'everyone is pleasant' and no one tries to 'crowd' him.

Tom said he enjoys relaxing here and has found everyone he has met to be 'well-mannered'.

Hard at work: They have both been busy filming tense scenes for Mission: Impossible 8, which is scheduled for release on July 7 next year.

Stunts: In recent weeks, Tom has been seen shooting daredevil stunts in the Lake District, including showing off his skills as a parachutist as he swooped to the ground while performing sky acrobatics in scenes filmed earlier this month

Flying lessons: The actor has been taking flying lessons at Teeside Airport in preparation for the exhilarating scenes in the new film

Big fan: The Hollywood hunk recently told how he loves spending time in Britain because 'everyone is pleasant' and no one tries to 'crowd' him

Speaking to Derbyshire Live, he said: 'Everyone is pleasant and will give you a nod or say hello without crowding you. I was brought up to be well-mannered and you really get that in Britain.

'I also like the fact that I am walking the same streets as Shakespeare, Dickens, and even The Beatles. That is really cool.'

Tom added: 'I guess I am an Anglophile. I spend a lot of time in Britain and that's not just for work reasons. I just love being here.'

The actor spent a lot of time in the UK over the summer and was spotted attending the Queen's jubilee, a ladies' final in Wimbledon and concerts by The Rolling Stones and Adele in Hyde Park.

Polite: Tom said he enjoys relaxing here and has found everyone he has met to be 'well-mannered'

Speaking to Derbyshire Live, he said: 'Everyone is pleasant and will give you a nod or say hello without crowding you. I was brought up to be well-mannered and you really get that in Britain.

He added: 'I also like the fact that I am walking the same streets as Shakespeare, Dickens, and even The Beatles. That is really cool'

Tom added: 'I guess I am an Anglophile. I spend a lot of time in Britain and that's not just for work reasons. I just love being here'
Simon Cowell has admitted he had his first drink and smoked his first cigarette at just eight years old as he revealed he was a 'nightmare' child.

The music mogul, 62, told how he got bored of school and would rebel against his parents which even lead to him getting arrested.

Simon revealed that the arrest took place after he pointed a pea-shooting gun at a terrified bus driver in an attempt to hijack the bus.

Wild child: Simon Cowell has admitted he had his first drink and smoked his first cigarette at just eight years old as he revealed he was a 'nightmare' child

Speaking to The Sun Simon told them about how bad he was when he was his current son Eric's age, who is now eight.

'I was so bad when I was Eric's age. I was a nightmare.'

'I was drinking and smoking at eight, and I once nearly burned the house down'

He also claimed: 'I was trying to prove to my brother that Father Christmas wasn't real, so I found the costume and set fire to the beard.'

Rebel: During his early years Simon claimed that he was once a wild child and often rebelled easily

He went on to continue the story with how he set his house on fire, claiming that he dropped the beard on the sofa, and then the whole room went up in flames.

He also admitted that during his time as a child he once stole his dad's car at the age of ten and managed to crash it.

However, even though Simon crashed his dad's car he claimed that his father was always more of the 'softer' parent.

He went on talk about how his mother was more of the disciplinary kind, whereas his father was the softer one out of the two.

Father and son: Speaking to The Sun Simon told them about how bad he was when he was his current son Eric's age, who is now eight. 'I was so bad when I was Eric's age. I was a nightmare.' 'I was drinking and smoking at eight, and I once nearly burned the house down'

He also admitted that he can't remember his father ever raising his voice at him, even though he rebelled a lot as a child.

Simon recently admitted that since becoming a dad, the shoe is now on the other foot, and confessed that he has an overprotective nature towards his son Eric claiming that it is 'borderline ridiculous.'

He also added that his son is never allowed to leave and that he will 'live with him forever'.

Protective: Simon recently admitted that since becoming a dad, the shoe is now on the other foot, and confessed that he has an overprotective nature towards his son Eric claiming that it is 'borderline ridiculous.'

He claims that his protectiveness over his son is only happening because of his own worries, as he recalls what he was like when he was his son's age.

And it's not just Simon's troublesome past that has come as a shock, he also admitted that he was unbelievably shy as a child.

He said 'the funny thing is that, for all the trouble I caused, I was actually unbelievably shy as a kid. I was OK as long as I was in my own house or with my friends.'

Caring father: He claims that his protectiveness over his son is only happening because of his own worries, as he recalls what he was like when he was his son's age

'When I went into the music industry, I got asked to the Brit Awards and my stomach would be in knots beforehand, and then it was like torture. Especially when you didn't win!'

'But, weirdly, doing my job helps me on a social level. The ice was broken, as people knew me'

And although he was once a wild shy child, at the end of the interview Simon admitted for the last time that he has finally adjusted and is 'happier than ever' with his life now.
Frankie Essex has detailed her son Logan's 'terrifying' emergency surgery ordeal after a routine vaccination caused an abscess on his leg.

The former TOWIE star, 34, revealed the five-month-old was rushed to hospital three times last week to cure the infection.

She wrote in her OK! column: 'So on Monday morning we went to the doctors and by Monday night, something didn't feel right so we took him to A&E.

Shocking: Frankie Essex has detailed her son Logan's 'terrifying' emergency surgery ordeal after a routine vaccination caused an abscess on his leg

'He ended up being put in an ambulance to another hospital. Then the next day he had a scan so they could confirm that it was an abscess. He then had to go to the Royal London hospital  so the third hospital  to have it removed.'

She went on to reveal the little one had to stay in hospital for give days to have the abscess removed, after being told by doctors it was the only option.

The reality star has now filed a complaint at her local GP practice, writing: 'I presumed it was a bit common because babies have vaccinations every single day and they have to have three lots  but every doctor and nurse I spoke to said they'd never seen it in a baby.'

Oh no! The former TOWIE star, 34, revealed the five-month-old (right) was rushed to hospital three times last week to cure the infection

She welcomed her bundles of joy - twins Luella and Logal - with her boyfriend Luke Love on June 1.

On Tuesday, the star shared an update on Instagram as she explained how she rushed her baby boy into A&E.

Sharing a video of Logan cuddling up to his dad in hospital, Frankie explained how her partner stayed with their baby all night while she rushed home to pick up some essentials.

'Our Little Logan. Last night we ended up in a&e baby has an infection in his leg' Frankie wrote.

'Our little Logan': On Tuesday, the star shared an update on Instagram as she explained how she rushed her baby boy into A&E

'Doing well, his daddy didn't leave his side all night so mummy could take our little girl home [to] get the bottles [and] blankets'.

She also added a photo of Logan's twin sister Luella as she revealed that her daughter was being looked after by friends and family.

A representative for Frankie was contacted by MailOnline for comment at the time.

Frankie joyfully announced the happy news she had given birth to Ok! magazine, telling the publication: 'Double the love. Our baby bears have arrived'.

Family: Frankie, 34, and her partner of three years Luke Love welcomed their twins Logan and Luella on June 1

The reality star, who has been in a relationship with Luke for three years, announced she was pregnant with twins, which came as a huge 'shock', in February.

Revealing how they discovered the news, she said: 'The lady scanning me was focusing on one baby and was then like, "What else do we have here then?" and I was so shocked and asked, "Are we having twins?" I burst out crying, tears of happiness. It was just so beautiful. It was lovely.

'We had an early scan as we were so excited. There are no twins in the family and we conceived naturally. They're not identical.

Loved: She also added a photo of Logan's twin sister Luella as she revealed that her daughter was being looked after by friends and family

'It was such a shock, but it's a blessing and we are so over the moon.

'It's amazing. As soon as we told the family, I asked if twins run on either side and as far as we all know, they don't.'

A month later, Frankie shared the news that she was having a baby boy and a baby girl during a gender reveal party, with her famous family in attendance.
PPP chief Chung Jin-suk attends a meeting at the National Assembly, Oct. 30. Yonhap



The ruling and opposition parties are set to hold emergency meetings on Sunday to discuss a deadly stampede at Seoul's Itaewon district that killed at least 149 people during Halloween celebrations.



The ruling People Power Party (PPP) said it has canceled scheduled meetings and will instead convene a meeting at the National Assembly to discuss emergency response plans.



"It is an unprecedented, massive safety accident," PPP chief Chung Jin-suk wrote on Facebook. "We need to closely look into the cause of the accident."



The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) said its leadership will gather for an emergency meeting to look into the cause of the deadly crush and come up with response plans.





Rescue workers and firefighters try to help injured people near the scene in Seoul, Oct. 30. AP
P. Diddy slayed Halloween on Saturday night when he ran through the streets of Hollywood as the Joker after attending a Halloween party.

The 52-year-old rapper nailed the DC villain's iconic look from top to bottom for his wild night out, donning terrifying makeup and a green-purple suit.

Flanked by masked henchman and with a fake machine gun in his hand, Puffy fully embraced the Joker's psychotic persona, acting out for the cameras.

No joke: P. Diddy, 52, slayed Halloween on Saturday night when he ran through the streets of Hollywood as the Joker after attending a Halloween party

The mogul's three-piece suit included a green vest over a patterned shirt and tie. A long purple coat matched a pair of baggy striped trousers that sported a chain.

A thick mask of white makeup covered Diddy's entire face, making his blackened eyes and crimson grimace pop with each one of his manic expressions.

The multi-platinum hitmaker's dress shoes were made to look worn-out while a greasy, lime-colored wig crowned his head.

Purple leather gloves covered his hands which grasped a fake machine gun. The elaborate costume brought out Diddy's inner anarchist as he tore through the town.

The inspirational Grammy winner documented his crazy Saturday night from start to finish, posting videos and pictures on Instagram.

Before the madness: 'Have a very safe Halloween weekend,' Diddy told his 19.1 million Instagram followers from the throne of his makeup chair

Ghoulish from Gotham: A thick mask of white makeup covered Diddy's entire face, making his blackened eyes and crimson grimace pop with each one of his manic expressions

'Have a very safe Halloween weekend,' Diddy told his 19.1 million Instagram followers from the throne of his makeup chair.

The founder of Bad Boy Records told everyone to 'be nice, be kind and drink responsibly' before telling people to 'vibrate higher' and 'move with love.'

Diddy ultimately declared that everyone should have some 'f**kin fun' and then went on to cause fake mayhem as the Joker, having an absolute blast as he dropped a prop grenade in the street and danced around cackling.

The Sean John designer uncannily imitated the Joker's maniacal laugh throughout the night, causing such a scene that Tyler, the Creator, 31, stopped his black truck to marvel at Diddy's spectacle.

'This is top tier,' said Tyler, awestruck in his seat as Diddy seized the random moment and played it up big on the street.

Dapper DC villain: The mogul's three-piece suit included a green vest over a patterned shirt and tie. His long purple coat matched a pair of baggy striped trousers that sported a chain

Give him an Oscar: Puffy fully embraced the Joker's psychotic persona, acting out for the cameras

Tired of law and order: The elaborate costume brought out Diddy's inner anarchist as he tore through the town

Grammy-winning gawker: Tyler, the Creator, 31, stopped his black truck to marvel at Diddy's spectacle

'This is a glorious night when you bump into Tyler, the Creator,' Diddy said to the camera after the Who Dat Boy rapper drove away in his truck.

Diddy's rampage continued as cameras captured him at one point mounting a fire engine with what appeared to be a bottle of the mogul's top-shelf tequila after playing around with an actual flamethrower.

The serial entrepreneur's latest liquor venture is called DeLeon and currently sells five variants of tequila, ranging from $120 to $1,000 per bottle.

Near the end of his night, Diddy sniffed into the camera and told whoever was behind it that she smelled like Kim Kardashian, 42, implying that the megastar was his mystery recorder.

'Dead,' she giggled, blown away by the rapper's magnetic performance as they made their way into Club Love  Diddy's exclusive venue of 'visionary fashion, elevated community, black excellence at the highest level, and unabashed and unadulterated sex appeal.'

Starting fires: The founder of Bad Boy Records had a blast with an actual flamethrower

Putting out the flames with tequila: The mogul's rampage continued as cameras captured him at one point mounting a fire engine with what appeared to be a bottle of his top-shelf tequila

Illegal amounts of success and charisma: The serial entrepreneur's latest liquor venture is called DeLeon and currently sells five variants of tequila, ranging from $120 to $1,000 per bottle
Kylie Jenner turned up the heat Saturday as she headed to a Halloween party in Los Angeles Saturday.

The 25-year-old Kylie Cosmetics founder dressed as a super-sexy Bride of Frankenstein in a low cut Marilyn Monroe style white halter dress.

The entrepreneur gave a preview of her look in a TikTok video lip syncing 'you want me to be a bad guy' as she and sister Kendall, 26, were being driven to the festivities.

Sexy costumes: Kylie Jenner turned up the heat as a sexy Bride of Frankenstein Halloween costume

The party dress seemed to be an updated version of the look worn in a pictorial The Kardashians star shared on social media Saturday as the legendary corpse brought to life.

The costume draws heavily from the 1935 black and white classic starring Elsa Lancaster as the title character.

For her going out ensemble, she kept the shocks of white to her long dark hair and added more.

Marilyn Monroe: The Kylie Cosmetics opted for a low cut Marilyn Monroe style white halter dress. The model's full lips were lined in a brick red tone over a lighter pink shade

Theme: Kylie kept with her Bride of Frankenstein theme after posing in a pictorial based on the 1935 Horror classic. She let her hair down as she headed out to party

Inspiration: Both of Kylie's Halloween costumes were inspired by the 1935 horror classic The Bride of Frankenstein starring Elsa Lancaster as the title character

The model's full lips were lined in a brick red tone over a lighter pink shade.

The Kylie Skin chief lip-synced to 'you want me to be a bad guy' in a TikTok video recorded as she and Kendall grooved to the beat while being driven to a Halloween party.

Many of the reality star's fans commented their approval of the sultry monster.

Groove: The Kylie Cosmetics founder lip-synced to 'you want me to be a bad guy' in a TikTok video recorded as she and Kendall grooved to the beat while being driven to a Halloween celebration

Seal of approval! Many of the reality star's fans commented their approval of the sultry monster

Later on Sunday, Kylie tried out a less spooky, sultrier costume when she dressed up as Elvira: Mistress of the Dark.

She wore the character's iconic beehive hairdo, with bangs covering her forehead and long strands draped down her shoulders.

Kylie showcased her stunningly toned midriff in the revealing costume, which included a skimpy sequin fringe skirt and a sultry bra with tassels.

The other snap saw her laying on her side in a plunging black dress that put her ample cleavage on display

Stunner: Later on Sunday, Kylie tried out a less spooky, sultrier costume when she dressed up as Elvira: Mistress of the Dark

Elvira: Mistress of the Dark is a 1988 American comedy horror film directed by James Signorelli, that stars Cassandra Peterson as the eccentric horror hostess.

The Kardashians star accessorized her first look with black stockings, black fingerless gloves and sparkly tassel earrings.

The mom-of-two was seen posing in front of a giant black spiderweb, with a purple background behind her.

The makeup princess sported picture-perfect glam for the snap, which she captioned 'kyvira', wearing smokey eyeshadow and a matte red lip.

Travis Scott's girlfriend accessorized the look with long black nails.

In the other snap Kylie was seen wearing a pair of black heels as she posed in front of a misty background.

Back in black: She wore the character's iconic beehive hairdo, along with a revealing sequined bra and fringed thong, as well as a plunging black dress

Inspiration: Elvira: Mistress of the Dark is a 1988 American comedy horror film directed by James Signorelli, that stars Cassandra Peterson as the eccentric horror hostess

'kyvira': The makeup princess sported picture-perfect glam for the snap, which she captioned 'kyvira', wearing smokey eyeshadow and a matte red lip

Coordinated look: Kylie also showed off her very long black fingernails as she posed
Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker absolutely nailed a Bride of Chucky couples costume that saw the newlyweds transform into the pair of murderous dolls.

Kourtney, 43, and Barker, 46, each donned spot-on looks while attending a party at Khloe Kardashian's house on Sunday.

Khloe, 38, featured the couple in her Instagram story, treating her 278 million followers to her insane Halloween decorations.

Kourtney Kardashian, 43, and Travis Barker, 46, nailed a Bride of Chucky couples costume when they attended a Halloween party at Khloe Kardashian's house on Sunday

Halloween maven: Khloe Kardashian, 38  who shares four-year-old daughter True (pictured) and a newborn son with ex Tristan Thompson, 31  featured Kourtney and Travis in her Instagram story when she treated her 278 million followers to her insane Halloween decorations

Despite Halloween being Khloe's 'least favorite holiday,' the Kardashians star clearly went all out when it came to decorating her L.A. mansion.

The mother of two  who shares four-year-old daughter True and a newborn son with ex Tristan Thompson, 31  took her fans on a tour of her fabulous home.

Ghoulish white wrappings lavished every inch of her main entrance as mummies guarded every corner, with one even hanging down from the ceiling.

Decorations ranged from classic white skulls and pumpkins to an enormous pink rabbit and the party was certainly a family affair as costumed children appeared throughout Khloe's story.

But no costume could beat Kourtney and Travis's serial-killer-possessed pair of married dolls.

Mummified mansion: Ghoulish white wrappings lavished every inch of Khloe's main entrance as mummies guarded every corner

Family fun: The party was certainly a family affair as costumed children appeared throughout Khloe's story

The aliens have landed: Even though gravestones and aliens filled Khloe's backyard, nothing could frighten the Kardashian kids

The couple strolled around Khloe's party holding hands, making themselves the highlight of the elaborate afternoon.

Kourtney sported a black leather biker jacket, black ribbon choker and goth makeup. A veil crowned her blonde wig while a simple wedding dress formed the bulk of her matrimonial look.

The Blink-182 drummer rocked a pair of creepy overalls with a multi-colored sweater emblazoned with childish stripes.

A red mane of frizzy hair flamed out from behind Travis's chilling mask as he carried a large kitchen knife in the hand that wasn't holding onto his wife.

The two have been virtually inseparable after tying the knot in an extravagant Italian wedding in May.

Vampire in training: Chicago West  the four-year-old daughter of Kim Kardashian, 42, and Kanye West, 45  grinned for her aunt's camera with fake blood painted on her mouth

Cuteness overload: Khloe posted a picture to her story of a toddler's adorable Sketcher-clad foot

Prior to their glamorous wedding in Portofino, Kourtney and Travis exchanged vows in Vegas in front of an Elvis impersonator on April Fool's Day  only to discover the marriage was not legally binding.

The bombshell and her drummer had neglected to obtain the requisite paperwork before dashing off to the wedding chapel, so they obtained a civil marriage in Santa Barbara the following month and then jetted off to Italy with friends and family.

Even though gravestones and aliens filled Khloe's backyard, nothing could frighten her daughter True Thompson.

The Good American founder shared candid photos of her daughter over the weekend and recently took True and her niece Dream to 'Haunt O' Ween' in Los Angeles.

Complete with fuzzy black cat ears and painted on whiskers, the trio looked fabulous as a trio of cats for their spooky night out.
Rescuers move injured people in Seoul's Itaewon district on Oct. 30, 2022, after people were reported to be in cardiac arrest from a stampede during Halloween parties. Yonhap
A doctor claims of the 20 patients he sees every day, 2-3 are victims of cyberchondria, all in the 25-35 age group (Representational image: Twitter)

HYDERABAD: Doctors have reported an increase in cyberchondria, a phenomenon in which healthy people believe they have serious health problems due to repeated or excessive online searches for medical-related information.

As a result, these patients become anxious and stressed, undergo unnecessary tests, and struggle to overcome the belief that something is wrong with them. They also tend to double-check the doctors' diagnoses using Google search, which doctors discourage.

Symptoms for chest pain is one of the most common online searches, according to Dr A. Sharath Reddy, Director, CTO and Complex Coronary Interventions, Medicover Hospitals. He claims that when patients conduct online searches to determine the causes of chest pain, the results show heart ailments, even though other, minor causes could exist.

"And once the idea is planted in their heads, they enter a cycle of thought and end up undergoing unnecessary investigations, despite doctors telling them there is nothing wrong with them. Many patients request that I prescribe medical investigations to rule out heart problems or blockages.

Dr Reddy says such patients have increased due to a rise in incidents of sudden heart attacks among the young people. Out of 20 patients he sees every day, 2-3 are victims of cyberchondria, and they are all in the 25-35 age group, he said.

According to paediatrician Dr Sivaranjani Santosh, the phenomenon is also common among parents who conduct excessive online searches with regard to the health of their children. "They have a tendency to imagine the worst. For example, when a child coughed, the parents conducted a Google search with keywords cough causes, and concluded that their child had pneumonia, and rushed to see me. Also, after we diagnose something, parents may re-search it on Google and draw their own conclusions. Such patients are referred to as "Google doctors," according to Dr Santosh.

According to general physician Dr K. Shivaraj, patients often search for medical-related information on symptoms such as hyperventilation and stomach problems, which often leads to cyberchondria. "Their symptoms may be genuine, but they are not caused by a disease. The underlying cause of their symptoms could be anxiety or stress, but they waste a lot of time and money on consultations and medical tests," he explained.
ISRO plans to develop the Next-Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV), which will be a reusable rocket capable of carrying heavier payloads into orbit. (Image: PTI/Representational Image)

NEW DELHI: As India eyes setting up its own space station by 2035, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has proposed to the industry to collaborate with it in developing a reusable rocket capable of carrying heavier payloads into orbit.

Dubbed as the Next-Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV), ISRO Chairman S Somanath said the space agency was working on the design of the rocket and would like the industry to collaborate with it in the development.

The intent is to bring industry along in the development process. All the money need not be invested by us. We want the industry to invest to create this rocket for all of us, Somanath told PTI here.

He said the rocket is planned to carry a 10 tonne payload in the Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) or 20 tonnes to the low earth orbit.

Another ISRO official said the new rocket would be helpful as India plans to have its own space station by 2035 and was also eyeing deep space missions, human space flights, cargo missions and putting multiple communication satellites into orbit at the same time.

The NGLV is envisioned as a simple, robust machine designed for bulk manufacturing that will make space transportation more cost effective.

Somanath said the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), ISRO's warhorse rocket, was based on the technology developed in the 1980s and cannot be used to launch rockets in the future.

ISRO plans to have the design of the NGLV ready within a year and offer it to the industry for production, with the first launch tentatively scheduled for 2030.

The NGLV could be a three-stage rocket powered by green fuel combinations such as methane and liquid oxygen or kerosene and liquid oxygen.

According to a presentation made by Somanath at a conference earlier this month, the NGLV could offer launch costs of $1,900 per kg of payload in the reusable form and $3,000 per kg in the expendable format.

India's space economy was pegged at $9.6 billion in 2020 and is expected to touch $12.8 billion by 2025, according to the ISpA-E&Y report titled 'Developing the Space Ecosystem in India: Focusing on Inclusive Growth'.

In dollar terms, the satellite services and applications segment would be the largest with a turnover of $4.6 billion by 2025, followed by ground segment at $4 billion, satellite manufacturing at $3.2 billion and launch services at $1 billion.

India's share in the launch services segment was pegged at $600 million in 2020 and is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 13 per cent to reach $1 billion by 2025, the report said.
NEW DELHI: Taking a thinly-veiled potshot at Pakistan at the UN Security Council counter-terrorism committee meeting in New Delhi on Saturday, where he referred to terrorism as one of the gravest threats to humanity, external affairs minister Dr S. Jaishankar said the sanctions regime architecture has been very effective in putting those countries on notice that had turned terrorism into a state-funded enterprise.

He announced that India would contribute half-a-million dollars to the UN Trust Fund for Counter Terrorism this year, to augment the efforts of UN Office of Counter Terrorism (UNOCT) in providing capacity building support to member states in preventing and countering the threat of terrorism.

Highlighting the increasing global use of technologies such as drones by terrorists, the EAM said these terrorist groups have been using unmanned aerial platforms, such as drones and quadcopters for cross border trafficking of drugs and arms and for carrying out terrorist attacks even as he pointed to the Mumbai terror attacks 14 years ago where even a benign technology of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) could be used for organising and directing such a barbaric terrorist attack from beyond our borders.

Pointing out that the possibilities of using weaponised drones for terrorist purposes against strategic, infrastructure and commercial assets call for serious attention by the Member States, the EAM said, Internet and social media platforms have turned into potent instruments in the toolkit of terrorist and militant groups for spreading propaganda, radicalisation and conspiracy theories aimed at destabilising societies.

British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (foreign minister) James Cleverlycurrently on a visit to Delhi who also participated and spoke at the UNSC meeting in the Capital---drew attention to the growing use of drones and other advanced technologies by terrorists, even as he called for starving terrorists of finances.

The EAM meanwhile said, Terrorism remains one of the gravest threats to humanity. The UN Security Council, in the past two decades, has evolved an important architecture, built primarily around the counter terrorism sanctions regime, to combat this menace. This has been very effective in putting those countries on notice that had turned terrorism into a State-funded enterprise. Despite this, the threat of terrorism is only growing and expanding, particularly in Asia and Africa, as successive reports of the 1267 Sanctions Committee Monitoring Reports have highlighted.

Pointing out that this is the first time that the UN Security Council is holding a meeting, in any format, in India, Mr. Jaishankar said, That the Council is holding this Special Meeting of its Counter Terrorism Committee in India, is also product of the fact that counter terrorism has become one of the top priorities during our ongoing tenure in the Security Council.

Talking about advanced technologies being misused by terrorists, he said, These new and emerging technologies  from virtual private networks, and encrypted messaging services to blockchain and virtual currencies  offer a very promising future for a wide array of economic and social benefits for humankind. However, there is a flip side especially where terrorism is concerned. These very technologies have also thrown up new challenges for the governments and regulatory bodies due to their potential vulnerability for misuse by non-state actors, given the very nature of some of these technologies and the nascent regulatory environment.

The EAM further said, In recent years, terrorist groups, their ideological fellow-travelers, particularly in open and liberal societies and lone wolf attackers have significantly enhanced their capabilities by gaining access to these technologies.  Another add-on to the existing worries for governments around the world is the use of unmanned aerial systems by terrorist groups and organized criminal networks. Being a relatively low-cost option and with an increasing ease of accessibility, misuse of these unmanned aerial platforms for nefarious purposes by terrorist groups such as weapons and explosives delivery and targeted attacks have become an imminent danger. They are, therefore, a challenge for security agencies worldwide.

He added, A few months ago, terrorists launched cross-border drone attacks on the UAE and Saudi Arabia targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, which led to loss of lives and injuries, including to Indian nationals there. India has strongly condemned these cross-border drone attacks both in UAE and Saudi Arabia.

The EAM said, One of the key points I had advocated was for Member States to increase funding for UN organs such as the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, the UNOCT. We have with us, Ambassador Vladimir Voronkov, Under-Secretary-General for Counter-Terrorism. Excellency, I am happy to announce that India will be making a voluntary contribution of half a million dollars in the UN Trust Fund for Counter Terrorism this year, to augment the efforts of UNOCT in providing capacity building support to Member States in preventing and countering the threat of terrorism.

He further said, I would like to conclude by reaffirming Indias commitment to strengthen international efforts to combat terrorism, including combating the use of new and emerging technologies. The Delhi Declaration which is to be adopted at this Special Meeting of the CTC will exemplify the commitment of the international community in dealing the threat of use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes.
The price for cotton with 812 percent moisture has fallen to 7,300 per quintal today from 8,300 offered on October 14 (Photo: AFP)

ADILABAD: Cotton farmers of Adilabad district are a disappointed lot with prices of cotton falling in the Adilabad Market Yard in the past 15 days.

The price for cotton with 812 percent moisture has fallen to 7,300 per quintal today from 8,300 offered on October 14, the first day when commercial purchases began in Adilabad. At the Bhainsa market in neighbouring Nirmal district, the price had been higher at 10,000 per quintal.

Fall in prices began soon after purchases picked up during the last four days. As a result, farmers have started holding their produce. Only 2,200 quintals of cotton have been purchased at the Adilabad Market Yard. Farmers are hoping prices of cotton will pick up in the coming days.

Farmers are complaining that cotton traders are cutting the price being offered for cotton at the Adilabad market yard, saying it has high moisture content. They maintain that moisture percent will naturally be high because of weather being cold and foggy. Still they are drying their cotton in the sun before taking it to the market yard.

Central government has declared 6,379 as minimum statutory price (MSP) per quintal of cotton. Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) has not entered into commercial purchases saying private traders are offering a better price than MSP.

According to Adilabad Market Committee (AMC), 7,510 had been the price offered per quintal on cotton on October 27, 7,430 on October 28, and 7,330 on Saturday. These are the prices for cotton with 812 percent moisture.

AMC secretary M. Venkanna said prices of cotton bales and gatans have come down in the national market. This is reflecting on cotton prices at the local level. He observed that prices will continue to be similar during the next 1015 days.

The general practice of private cotton traders is that they purchase the commodity at cheap prices from farmers when they know that the produce is abundant. They hike the price only when there is less cotton in the hands of farmers.

There are allegations that market committee officials are helping private cotton traders purchase cotton at cheaper prices from farmers.
HYDERABAD: Begumpet Medicover Hospitals said it is offering a free stroke screening package worth Rs 7,000 on World Brain Stroke Day from Saturday.

The package was released by the Indian Medical Association-Hyderabad city president Dr Dayal Singh. It includes CT scan brain (screening only) and neurologist consultation. This offer is valid from Saturday till November 10. Dr Singh said families were affected a lot due to strokes.

Worldwide 1.7 crore people suffer from stroke yearly, and one in six people will encounter a stroke in their lifetime. As per reports, every six seconds, a person dies due to a stroke. Every moment is precious to save a stroke victims life, Dr Singh said.

Dr Ranadheer, chief neurosurgeon, said hospital admission within first hour of detecting the symptoms of stoke could prevent death and disability.

Brain strokes occur due to unhealthy lifestyle habits. Stroke problems were common above the age of 50, but now the condition is being observed in patients in their 30s too,he said.Dr Ranadheer said those with high blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol and those who smoke and drink liquor should take control of their health. More than one in every 10 stroke cases is due to smoking, he said.
Tens of thousands took part in the e Rayalaseema Atma Gourava Maha Pradarshana on Saturday in Tirupati. (Photo by arrangement)

NELLORE: Close on the heels of Visakha Garjanas success came the rally at Tirupati for mobilising support to YSRC governments proposal for having three capitals for Andhra Pradesh.

Tens of thousands of people mobilised themselves for the Rayalaseema Atma Gourava Maha Pradarshana on Saturday. Their procession, starting from Krishnapuram, turned out to be huge, passing through Gandhi and Tilak roads before culminating at the Tirupati Municipal Corporation office.

NGOs, lawyers, public associations, intellectual forums, writers and student associations, along with general public, participated in the three-kilometre-long procession.

Many displayed placards thanking Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy for honouring the decades old Sri Bagh Pact, which states that a capital must be established in the Rayalaseema region.

Lawyers too carried posters asserting that Kurnool as the judicial capital will aptly stand as a pillar of self-respect.

The march in Tirupati had been supported by Tirupati MLA Bhumana Karunakar Reddy and Tirupati MP Dr. M. Gurumoorthy. Karunakar Reddy carried a placard reading Mana Atmagauravam Kapadukundam, Nyaya Rajadhani Sadhiddham (Let us protect our self-respect and establish a judicial capital).

Overwhelmed by the turnout, the Tirupati MLA said, This mahagarjana reflects the aspirations of the Rayalaseema people. This is just the beginning. Development is possible only with the establishment of a capital in Rayalaseema.

Karunakar Reddy maintained that while CM Jagan is fulfilling the wish of people to establish a judicial capital in Kurnool, TD chief Chandrababu Naidu is spreading false propaganda on decentralisation of administration.

The huge rally in Visakhapatnam and now in Rayalaseema is proof enough of people's support for the Chief Ministers decision to establish three capitals, the Tirupati MLA remarked.

Tirupati MP Gurumoorthy appealed to opposition parties to end the politics over establishment of the capitals and heed to demands of the public. This rally puts an end to plans of selfish politicians, who want to satisfy the real estate mafia and establish only a single capital, he remarked.

TTD chairman Y.V. Subba Reddy thanked the public for turning out in huge numbers. Over a lakh people joined the rally today. This in itself means a lot to us. YSRCP is a party of the people, for the people, and by the people. We promise to realise their aspirations, he declared.

Tirupati mayor Dr. Sirisha and Rayalaseema Intellectuals Forum president M Purushottam Reddy also spoke in support of the three capitals proposal.
JADCHERLA/MAHABUBNAGAR: Going a step further, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday announced that the Congress, upon coming to power, would return the GST amount being collected from the handloom sector, and compensate weavers.

"It is not difficult to compensate the weavers as they have been forced to pay 12 per cent GST," he said, at a public meeting at Jadchela crossroads on the 53rd day of his Bharat Jodo Yatra. He had set off from Manyamkonda in the morning.

Rahul Gandhi said the policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had adversely affected the people. He said the BJP and the TRS were business houses and alleged that Modi and Rao were working together. The Congress leader pointed out that India has both the biggest population of the poor and also the largest number of rich persons in the world. Unemployment had reached 35 per cent and children of farmers, workers and petty traders were unable to pursue higher education as the BJP and TRS governments were not bothered about education, he said.

He gave the example of a youth who met him during the padayatra, who, Rahul Gandhi said. was unable to pursue his dream of doing his mechanical engineering.

Along the way, Rahul Gandhi danced the Kommu Koya in Mahbubnagar along with Adivasi women who were in their traditional green saris and wore flowers. The Congress leader wore a headgear designed by Adivasi Koyas.

Congress Legislature Party leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, MLA Dr Seethakka also took part in the dance. A few leaders and film star Punam Kaur met Rahul Gandhi.

The Bilkis Bano case, where the rapists of a woman had been released from jail and womens safety came up during the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Parvati Sahu of Chhattisgarh, who has been with the yatra from the start at Kanyakumari, said, "As we were walking, I explained to Rahul ji how unsafe women were now. The rapists and murderers are moving free, without being punished.

She saw in the padayatra a platform to seek justice for women. She said there was no reply to her concerns from the Prime Ministers Office.

Priya Gerwal from Haryana said, We women want to support this walk. It will bring out the real picture of India, where atrocities on women are on the rise each day.
Bengaluru: Following allegations that his office tried to bribe some journalists by sending Rs 1 lakh cash gifts to them on Deepavali, along with sweet boxes, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday denying his role, called it a "lie" and part of the "Congress' toolkit".

The Chief Minister said someone has filed a complaint before the Lokayukta on the issue, and let the investigation happen and truth come out.

The Congress on Saturday alleged that Bommai tried to bribe journalists by sending Rs 1 lakh cash gifts to them on Deepavali and demanded the registration of a graft case as well as his resignation. It also sought for judicial inquiry into allegations.

"This is the result of Congress' tool kit, they are trying to create a lie. I have not given any instructions to anyone (to give cash gifts)," Bommai said in response to a question regarding Deepavali cash gifts to journalists from his office, Congress' tweets in this regard and journalists in general are being looked at like "thieves" because of this.

Speaking to reporters here, he said when the Congress was in power, what gifts were given by various people are "clearly known", and the media had reported it, whether it was iPhones or laptops or gold coins.

"What morality do they (Congress) have? Above all, someone has filed a complaint in this regard to Lokayukta and Lokayukta will investigate. It is not right to interpret that the gifts were given or all journalists have taken it. Yesterday, a Congress spokesperson interpreted it very wrongly. I condemn it," he added.

Reiterating that he had given no instructions to send out any gifts for journalists, Bommai further in response to a question, whether he will order for any inquiry as his own office is facing an allegation, said, "The matter is before the Lokayukta, it has a police agency, let the truth come out from the inquiry."

A non-government organisation 'Janaadhikara Sanghasha Parishath' has lodged a complaint with the Karnataka Lokayukta against the Chief Minister alleging that he paid a bribe to the journalists in the guise of Deepavali gift.

The complainants R Adarsh Iyer, Prakash Babu B K and Vishwanath V B of the JSP said chief reporters of several media houses were paid bribes by the Chief Minister through his close aide, and some of them informed their higher-ups in their organisations and returned the money.
VIJAYAWADA: Former minister and YSR Congress MLA Vellampalli Srinivasa Rao on Saturday challenged Jana Sena founder K. Pawan Kalyan to contest from Vijayawada West assembly constituency.

The ex-minister declared that he will definitely trounce the film actor in the election with public support.

Conducting the Gadapa Gadapaku Mana Prabhutvam mass contact programme in the 47th Division of Vijayawada city, Srinivasa Rao said Pawan is letting his Jana Sena drown to make Telugu Desams win and enable N. Chandrababu Naidu become the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh once again.

The Vijayawada West MLA maintained that YSRC will win the 2024 elections with public support, as people are happy with the administration of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Srinivasa Rao described as drama the hunger strike launched by Telugu Desam leader Buddha Venkanna demanding that TD leaders be allowed to check demolitions being carried out on the Rushikonda Hill in Visakhapatnam. He said Venkanna is a zero who indulges in dramas to draw attention from the public




By Lee Min-young, Kim Kang-min

A day after the deadly accident in Itaewon, the area has been cordoned off by police tape, and personal belongings of victims were scattered along the edges of an alley in Seoul's Itaewon on Sunday afternoon, where hundreds of people celebrating Halloween were crushed together the night before.

This 4-meter wide alley was packed with thousands of people who came to celebrate Halloween last night, leaving at least 153 people dead and 133 injured, as of 6 p.m. Sunday.

The death toll could rise further, as 37 people sustained serious injuries, officials said.

An estimated 100,000 gathered in the area for the first Halloween since the lifting of remaining COVID-19 restrictions.

The government has declared the district of Yongsan-gu, where Itaewon is located, a special disaster area.

Joint memorial altars will be set up at Seoul Plaza and Itaewon Monday morning.
MANGALURU: The Sri Rama Sene, a Hindu organisation headed by controversial Pramod Muthalik, has decided to field pro-Hindutva activists, including five seers, in 25 constituencies in the forthcoming Karnataka assembly election in 2023.

I have decided to contest the election as an independent candidate in one of the constituencies where our organization has a strong base. Five seers with strong Hindutva ideology will also contest the election. We will finalize the constituencies by December, Pramod Muthalik told Deccan Chronicle.

All his candidates, he said, will contest the elections as independents.

The Sri Rama Sene's move may affect prospects of the BJP in the 25 constituencies.

He said Sri Rama Sene workers are surveying Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Dharwad, Belagavi, and Bagalkot districts to finalize the constituency for him.



The BJP had come to power in the name of Hindutva. But the party has neglected Hindutva after coming to power. While several Hindu leaders and workers were murdered during the Congress rule in the state, the attack and murder continue even now. The Hindutva activists still face cases under various laws including the Goonda Act which was unnecessarily imposed on them. There is nobody to listen to their voices, Muthalik alleged.

He also asserted that some of the legislations, passed by the state legislature to protect the interest of Hindus, have remained just in the books.

The state government has passed legislations banning cow slaughter and religious conversion. But even today theft and illegal slaughter of cattle are rampant. Efforts to convert Hindus are continuing. The state government has failed to implement these legislations, he added.

There is neither development nor support for Hindutva in the state. This is why we have decided to field candidates in the 25 constituencies, he said.

Muthalik, however, clarified that he would always support Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Despite unease in New Delhi over criticism from Washington DC over alleged backsliding of human rights and religious freedom in India, the countrys Election Commission is set to follow up on the Summit for Democracy that the United States President Joe Biden had hosted in December 2021.

The commission will host an international conference in New Delhi on Monday and Tuesday. The representatives of India, the United States and several other nations will attend the two-day conclave to discuss the Role, Framework and Capacity of Election Management Bodies (EMBs).

Also Read | UNSC committee stresses on protecting human rights while trying to combat digital terror

The conference is being held as a follow-on to the Summit for Democracy that the US President had hosted on December 9 and 10 last year, with participation of many Heads of States and Heads of Governments from around the world  including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had addressed it virtually.

The Biden Administration has been subtly but consistently nudging the Modi Government to protect democratic principles in India. It emerged as an irritant in the relations between New Delhi and Washington DC, with the Modi Government insisting that it required no certificate from other nations on the quality of democracy in India. Even the prime minister, himself, in his Independence Day speech on August 15, called upon people to stop relying on certificates from the foreign individuals and entities to assess the state of human rights, tolerance and freedom of expression and religion in India.

Indias poll watchdog, however, agreed to lead the cohort on Election Integrity  one of the many initiatives launched to strengthen democracies around the world as part of the Year of Action following the summit hosted by the US president.

Nearly 50 participants representing the EMBs of India, the USA and 10 other countries  Armenia, Mauritius, Nepal, Cabo Verde, Australia, Chile, Federal States of Micronesia, Greece, Philippines and Sao Tome and Principe  will participate in the conference. The representatives of International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IIDEA) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are also expected to attend the conference, in addition to representation from the diplomatic missions of many other foreign nations in New Delhi, according to a press-release issued by he EC. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar will inaugurate the conference on Monday, while Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey will chair the concluding session on Tuesday.

The Biden Administration has been tacitly conveying to New Delhi concerns in the US over the perception that India was backsliding on human rights, freedom of speech and religion and democratic principles. The US president, himself, as well as Vice President Kamala Harris had subtly nudged the prime minister to protect democratic principles of India, when they had hosted him in Washington D.C. on September 24, 2021.

The think-tanks and the non-profit entities as well as international organizations too have been expressing concerns on alleged erosion in democratic values in India.

After New Delhis relations with Washington DC came under stress over Indias refusal to join the US and the other western nations in condemning Russias military aggression against Ukraine, the Biden Administration earlier this year sharpened its criticism over alleged rise of religious intolerance and human rights abuse.

Blinken on April 12 this year said that the US was monitoring some recent concerning developments in India, including a rise in human rights abuses by some government, police, and prison officials. He followed it up on June 2, stating that India, the worlds largest democracy and home to a great diversity of faiths, had seen rising attacks on people and places of worship.

The US State Departments 2021 Report on International Religious Freedom itself also highlighted purported rise in intolerance in India.

New Delhi strongly reacted not only to the report but also the comments made by the US officials, accusing the Biden Administration of practising vote bank politics in international relations. It also turned the table on Washington DC, expressing concern over racially and ethnically motivated attacks, hate crimes and gun violence in the US.
China's top diplomat in Bangladesh Li Jiming said on Wednesday that his country does not have any "strategic rivalry" with India and does not want to see a "heavily armed" Bay of Bengal.

Li also said that India and China can closely work together to resolve any economic, geopolitical and other issues in this region and beyond.

Also Read: Bonhomie ebbs, Modi has not yet congratulated Xi on re-election, unlike 2017

"We never view India as a strategic rival or strategic competitor of China," Ambassador Li said during an interaction with diplomatic correspondents based here.

"Personally, Im a big fan of India. We can work together more closely to solve economic and geopolitical issues," he added.

He said Beijing "does not want to see the Bay of Bengal as heavily armed."

In an apparent reference to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, he said Beijing expected all stakeholders in South Asia to play a positive role and it also wanted them not to act the way some countries are doing (currently) in Europe".

The diplomat's comments comes on a day when External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar conveyed to outgoing Chinese Ambassador in New Delhi Sun Weidong that peace and tranquillity in the border areas are essential for normal ties between India and China.

Also Read: 1962: The fog of espionage

India and China are locked in a lingering border standoff in eastern Ladakh for over 29 months. The bilateral relationship came under severe strain following the deadly clash in Galwan Valley in Eastern Ladakh in June, 2020.

The envoy said that China's basic intention was to resolve all regional disputes in an "Asian way" instead of heeding western suggestions.

"We (China) believe, we should solve our regional problems in Asian way, not by (following) standard practice in Europe or South America," he said.

The envoy said Beijing was keen to work closely with Bangladesh as well to ensure development, peace and stability in the region.

He said being an economic powerhouse accounting for 18.5 per cent of world economy China was always committed to joint development with neighboring countries, including Bangladesh.

On the Rohingya crisis, Li said China is putting in efforts for early repatriation of the Rohingyas to their homeland Myanmar.

The envoy also talked about debt management, global development initiative, trade and investment issues.

"There is no Chinese debt trap in Bangladesh. There is no Chinese debt trap globally, the ambassador asserted.
Mounting a joint offensive against Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi for his statements on 'sanatana dharma' and secularism, the ruling DMK and its allies on Sunday asked him to resign from the post before making controversial remarks to please the BJP leadership that are in complete contradiction with the Constitution.

In a joint statement, leaders of 11 political parties, including DMKs T R Baalu, K S Alagiri of Congress and Thol. Thirumavalavan of VCK, took strong objection to the Governors latest statement that every country is dependent on one religion and India was no exception to the rule and asked him to stop talking like he was the countrys emperor.

Ravi, who took charge as Tamil Nadu Governor in September 2021, has come under the fire of political parties for his controversial statements on sanatan dharma, Thirukkural, and Colonialism. He has also been involved in a running battle with the DMK on a host of issues, including NEET and appointment of Vice-Chancellors to state-funded universities.

Almost all alliance partners of the DMK took objection to Ravis appointment last year and saw the move as part of BJPs political plans in Tamil Nadu. In the Sundays statement, the leaders said Ravis statements on sanatan dharma, Aryanism, Dravidianism, people from Scheduled Castes (SC), and Thirukkural are absurd and dangerous.

Read | TN Guv speaking like 'RSS man': DMK on former's Dravidian identity comment

The Governor has also been saying that sanatan dharma has been guiding the country for a very long time, despite objections from several political parties.

The leaders wondered whether the Governor realises that he is talking against the very Constitution on which he swore while taking oath. We think that the Governor, while making such statements, imagines himself as the Indian Parliament, or Supreme Court, or the President of India. It wont even be an exaggeration to say that the Governor imagines himself as Indias emperor, the leaders said in the joint statement.

Referring to Ravis statement on India being dependent on one religion like the rest of the world, the leaders said such utterances make it clear that the Tamil Nadu Governor neither understand world history nor the Constitution of India. Reminding that the Constitution grants equal rights to citizens who profess different faiths, the leaders of 11 political parties also accused the Governor of speaking against the Supreme Court verdict in the S R Bommai versus Union of India which reiterated Indias secular principles.

The Governor should stop talking against the Preamble of the Indian Constitution, the leaders said, implying that the document stresses that the country is democratic and secular, the leaders said, adding that they are openly accusing Ravi of making controversial statements despite knowing that he is wrong.

We are forced to give importance to his speech just because he is the Governor. If Ravi is making such statements only to please the (BJP) leadership with an aim to land in a bigger position of power, he should resign as Governor before making controversial remarks, the leaders added.
On October 30, Gujaratis would get to see Narendra Modi for a third time this month, in continuation of a trend that the prime minister began in March this year.

Modi is likely to make use of the three-day visit to announce more projects for his home state, before the Assembly poll dates for the state are announced and the model code of conduct kicks in.

The poll-bound state has seen lavished attention by Modi, and for good reason.

A saffron fort, the BJP has been in power in the state for 25 years. The state supplies the BJP its confidence; being in power matters enormously to the BJP.

Hence the shower of prestige projects.

Modi started jet-setting to Gujarat from March when the Assembly poll results of five states brought cheer to the saffron camp. The BJP, against all odds, held onto the key state of Uttar Pradesh. Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa also voted to stay with the BJP.

A day later, Modi arrived in Ahmedabad and held a roadshow while also attending "Adijati Maha Sammelan", a gathering of tribals, in Dahod, where he inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of development projects worth around Rs 22,000 crore.

By October 20, Modi had already inaugurated and laid foundation stones of government projects to the tune of Rs 1.10 lakh crore in as many as 18 out of 33 districts. He would be laying foundation stones for another Rs 8,000-crore projects during the latest visit between October 30 and November 1.

Some of these projects included the inauguration of Phase-I of Ahmedabad Metro project, flagging off the Gandhinagar-Mumbai Central Vande Bharat Express, foundation stone of worlds first CNG terminal at Bhavnagar among others.

According to political observers, this is a classic tactic from the BJP playbook since 2002: mix "development, Hindutva and Gujarati asmita (pride)" to retain its hold.

In many of his visits, he also attended party events and addressed party workers, blurring the line between being a prime minister and a BJP leader.

In the middle of these visits, the Gujarat government bagged two key projects that led to a political storm in neighbouring Maharashtra.

First was the Vedanta-Foxconn groups semiconductor project worth Rs 1.54 lakh crore. It was rumoured that Maharashtra had almost been finalised for the project, but then it mysteriously went to Gujarat.

On October 27, Gujarat got another bonanza: a manufacturing unit to build military transport aircraft for the IAF in Vadodara (Modi will lay the foundation stone on Sunday). A consortium of Tata and Airbus is behind the venture, which is a first-of-its-kind attempt by the private sector in the country.

Amid these announcements, the BJP has also been reminding the voters of previous Congress rule when Hindu-Muslim riots and curfews were commonplace, a tactic that it successfully deployed in the recent Uttar Pradesh polls as well.

And in what appears to be a sign of desperation and a signal to its Hindutva constituency, the Gujarat government also announced that it would form a committee to implement the contentious Uniform Civil Code in the state.

"Since Gujarat is central to the BJP's rise, the party can't take any chance as far as Gujarat is concerned, said an academician working with a prestigious institution in Ahmedabad. The stakes here have always been very high. If the BJP loses Gujarat, it will lose India. It is as simple as that. And that's the reason why the party uses all its might to retain power.

Currently, the state BJP is busy screening the names of probable candidates who will be contesting for the 182 Assembly seats. As of today, party workers are quietly staking claim for their favourite candidates and also lodging protest against certain names.

Party sources have maintained that various senior leaders, who were part of previous Vijay Rupani government, are being shown the door since their ouster was aimed at beating the anti-incumbency.

The only thing the BJP is spooked about is the AAP, whose maverick supremo, Arvind Kejriwal, unburdened by dynasty and minority appeasement allegations that haunt the Congress, is looking to upend the saffron apple cart with his own brand of politics.

Interestingly, just like Modi, Kejriwal also started focusing on Gujarat soon after winning Punjab, visiting Gujarat multiple times every month, including four visits in October alone.

Political analysts believe that the AAP is not only cutting into Congress vote share in the hinterland, it is also threatening the BJP in its strongholds  urban centres  with its poll promises.

But whether this will actually translate into votes is something that remains to be seen.

The AAP is giving a tough contest when it comes to driving narratives in its favour. Among the voters on the ground, however, it is still seen as a political newbie, said another academician tracking the election mood in the state.
Accusing state BJP chief K Annamalai, a former Karnataka police officer, of trying to defame Tamil Nadu police on the October 23 Coimbatore car blast case, the state police on Saturday issued a strong statement alleging that he was trying to divert the probe into the October 23 incident.

In a two-page statement, the Tamil Nadu Police also rejected Annamalais charge that there was a delay in transferring the blast case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The statement tore into the ex-IPS officer for defaming the police continuously by levelling false allegations against them with regard to the October 23 car blast in Coimbatore that killed Jameesha Mubin, the occupant of the vehicle, instantly,

The state police also said the claim about Union Government issuing a specific input about a terror attack (in TN) is absurd because the alert that Annamalai mentions is a routine one sent to all states and Union Territories, the statement said.

There is no specific mention of Coimbatore anywhere in the alert. He (Annamalai) is trying to create a false impression that the police did not act on specific information about the incident. The police would have arrested the suspects and recovered explosives immediately if there was a specific alert about a blast in Coimbatore as Annamalai claims.

We request the former Karnataka police officer (Annamalai) not to defame the Tamil Nadu police by spreading exaggerated false information, the statement, which had a political connotation, said. Annamalai, a former Karnataka-cadre IPS officer, joined the BJP in 2020, a year after he sought voluntary retirement from service.

Also Read | BJP 'temporarily postpones' Coimbatore bandh called on October 31

The statement came as Annamalai continues to train his guns on the TN Police and the DMK government on the issue of the blast by terming it as a suicide attack even as the NIA hasnt categorised the incident as a terror attack as yet.

In his response to the statement, Annamalai said a point-by-point rebuttal will be given soon and accused Director General of Police C Sylendra Babu and ADGP (Intelligence) Davidson Devasirvatham of behaving like an extension of the ruling DMK.

Our complaint was especially against the two top officers for failing their basic duties, and no wonder they gave a press release in the name of the TN Police force to protect themselves. Instead of blaming us for bringing down the morale of the force, they should do a proper soul-searching to see where the failure has happened, Annamalai said.

The police statement accused Annamalai of trying to divert the probe by talking in detail about the cylinder that exploded in the car and about materials found inside the vehicle even as the probe is underway. It said the local police usually launch a probe into such incidents immediately after their occurrence.

If Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) or some clauses of the NIA Act is invoked during investigation, the officer concerned sends a detailed report to the state government, which in turn, informs the Union Government. Based on the nature or magnitude of the case, the Union Government will order an inquiry by the NIA within 15 days, it said.

But, the statement added, sometimes it takes even a month to transfer the case to NIA, and till then, it is the state police that continues the probe.

In the Coimbatore LPG cylinder blast case, the procedure was followed thoroughly and without any delay, the state government recommended a probe by the NIA. In some important cases, the Union Home Ministry will sue motu transfer the case to NIA. But in the case of the Coimbatore incident, the state government recommended the transfer of the case to NIA even before the Union Government released an order, the TN police said.
Opposition unity is a favourite buzzword of Indias political commentariat. The argument is that all the opposition parties across states should unite and present a national front for voters, which will be a more potent force against the ruling BJP in the 2024 general elections. In electoral parlance, these commentators claim that pre-poll alliances across all parties to present one united opposition party on the ballot against the BJP has a much better chance of victory. To judge this claim, it is important to understand why there are so many different political parties in India in the first place, the depth of such political diversity, and then the potential to unite voters across these diverse parties.

In the 2019 election, across all of Indias states and territories, there were 27 political parties that got more than 10% of votes in at least one state. To put this in context, most large democracies in the world have only two political parties. Germany is the most diverse, with four political parties that got more than 10% of votes in at least one province in the 2021 election. By this measure, Indias political landscape is seven times more diverse than the next most diverse democracy in the world.

Perhaps more surprising is the fact that Indias political diversity has only increased over the years, not reduced. In the 2004 election, there were six parties that got more than 10 million (one crore) votes; in 2019, there were 11. Similarly, 24 parties got more than 10% of votes in at least one state in 2004, which increased to 27 parties in 2019. The first-past-the-post electoral system leads to a much larger share of seats for a smaller share of votes, which gives the illusion of one-party dominance in Indian politics. Contrary to this perception, the truth is, more Indians vote for more parties now than they did a decade ago.

Indias staggering and increasing political diversity is evidently a reflection of its underlying plurality, disenchantment with established parties, and a yearning for better representation through newer parties. When 10 million Indians vote for a party in a general election or a significant 10% of voters in a particular state choose one party among all the other choices, there is a more profound reason for it than revealed by a mere vote-share number. Ten million people dont vote for a political party just flippantly or randomly. When voters demonstrate a clear desire for more political diversity, then how can the same set of voters be bunched up in the garb of opposition unity and expected to vote similarly in unison? The notion that the choices of such a large number of voters are fungible enough to be transferred easily to another party arithmetically is a big leap of faith. The expectation of seamless vote-transfer when parties enter into pre-election alliances rests on the false belief that vote shares are just random numbers without meaning. The idea of Opposition unity belies the reality of Indias growing political diversity.

The other important supposition behind the idea of Opposition unity is that a national united Opposition and a leader will influence voters across state boundaries to vote cohesively. The implicit assumption among its proponents seems to be that an alliance between, say, the Samajwadi party, the BSP and the Congress in Uttar Pradesh will somehow persuade a BJP voter in Karnataka to vote for the Congress. This, too, calls for a big leap of faith in the backdrop of extreme cultural, linguistic, social and economic differences among Indias states. When the average voter in Madikeri in Karnataka has almost nothing in common with the average voter in Madhubhan in UP, why would a pre-poll alliance among three parties in UP influence her vote in Karnataka? Indias political history shows that it is very difficult for political parties to transcend the tall walls of diversity of voters across Indias states, which also explains the mushrooming of a plethora of political parties.

The call for a One nation, one Opposition is as glib and fallacious as the BJPs dogma of a One nation, one language, or one identity or one festival. Ironically, the proponents of Opposition unity (One nation, one Opposition) are also the ones who cry hoarse about the ruling partys One nation, one policy push for uniformity across Indias diverse states. If one policy or one culture or one identity is not viable for a plural India, then it follows logically that a one united national political front is also a conceptual aberration. For politics is nothing but a manifestation of peoples culture, identity, aspirations and choices.

Opposition unity is not a robust political strategy but an opportunistic, clever-by-half electoral strategy. Its success hinges on two risky bets  one, luring a disgruntled BJP voter to a united Opposition ticket, and two, hoping that the existing non-BJP voter will seamlessly transfer her vote to a united opposition, even if the party of her choice is not on the ballot. Political scientists that cite the example of the 1989 elections of a United Front miss that uniting voters across 26 different political parties now is much more difficult than uniting voters across 10 parties in 1989.

Of course, one can reasonably argue that in the absence of any other electoral strategy for 2024, a One nation, one Opposition arithmetic hope is worth the risks. Then, one has to be clear that it is not some sanjeevani for the Opposition as it is made out to be by commentators but more a bet that rests on hope and a prayer. But as the aphorism goes, Hope is not a strategy.

(Praveen Chakravarty is a Congressman curious about correlations, causes & consequences.)
Immediately after the 20th Party Congress, Xi Jinping, now Chinas President for a third term, took his new team of Politburo Standing Committee members  all the Presidents men, and yes, all seven are men -- on a pilgrimage to Yanan. The trip was symbolic and meant to be a powerful message, as is every move by Chinas ruling elite, for those who can read it. In the conducted tour of the caves in Yanan, Xi is reported to have lectured to his entourage at length about the 7th Party Congress, the passing of the 1945 Resolution, and the fight to finish led by Chairman Mao. The bottom line was apparently what Mao said about the Party  that the people supervise the Party. To this, Xi is said to have added his own comment: It signalled that the Party had marched toward maturity in its politics, its ideology, and its organisation.

Every year thousands of Chinese, and quite a few foreign tourists, visit the caves of Yanan. For the Chinese, it is mostly part of a tour organised by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as part of Red Tourism. The tourists resolve to consolidate their faith in pursuing the road to socialism with Chinese characteristics and realising the great rejuvenation of the nation under the leadership of the Communist Party.

So, the signal here was for the members of the Politburo Standing Committee, the highest decision-making body in China, and the Party that as its General Secretary, President of the country and head of the Central Military Commission, Xi Jinping is the new Mao, who should be revered as much, if not more.

Xi is a dictator. All dictators need a base and a ladder to rise to the top. After that, they dont need the party as they consider themselves to have risen above it. They are no longer merely first among equals, they have no equals. Lenin and Stalin rose through the labour unions and party system to end capitalism; Mussolini rose through the fascist party in Italy; Portugals Antonio Salazar promised Estado Novo and proceeded to liquidate all political opposition; the less said about Hitler and his Nazi Party the better; and now, Xi has risen through the CCP.

Dictators tend to create new leadership in the party to break the nexus of the established elites and old leadership moulds. But they gloss over their guilt by pontificating on the need for a strong party with dedicated cadre. This is what Xi did in Yanan.

The visuals of Chinas former President Hu Jintao, who was seated next to Xi, being escorted out of the final session of the 20th Party Congress reveal the picture. Hu is one of the two surviving former presidents, the other being the 96-year-old Jiang Zemin who did not attend the Party Congress. His unceremonious removal in full public view was perhaps meant as a warning to others in the gathering and outside of zero tolerance toward any challenge to Xis authority. It was also possibly aimed at the West  a message that Xi now has total and unrestricted control of the Party, PLA and the country. Now, other than Xi, the Politburo and the Politburo Standing Committee have no leader from the post-Mao era or is strong enough to challenge Xi. Thus, the arrival of a New China has been announced.

Another signal that Xi has sought to send out is that no matter how junior or inexperienced his team may be, he can achieve his objectives on the strength of his own dictatorial powers. There is an ongoing debate on a new world order, especially after the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war. How China fares in this new order will depend on how Xi manages Chinas slowing economy and its foreign affairs.

Xis best economic bet is not a continued reliance on a low-wage workforce but to develop and deliver high technology products and services. The US knows this, and it has forbid, among other things, federal agencies from using technologies or services provided by five Chinese companies Huawei, ZTE, Hikvision, Dahua and Hytera  or working with contractors that use equipment from these firms. But the US and Europe need alternative supply chains. India is their best bet. Xi knows this. Little wonder then that he made it a point to mention a slogan written by a PLA soldier killed in the Galwan Valley clash in June 2020 and to warn of dangerous storms on Chinas horizon. New Delhi must learn to read the tea leaves better.

(Seshadri Chari reads between the lines on big national and international developments from his vantage point in the BJP and the RSS.)
On a 16-day backpacking trip across Sri Lanka, I reached a nondescript coastal town, Mannar, in the northern part of the country. It wasnt the best-connected place. I had changed two buses to get here from Anuradhapura via Medawachiya in Central Sri Lanka.

Mannar was a windswept town. It had an arid, wild west landscape with isolated patches of sandy shoreline dotted with palmyra trees and empty fishing boats. The entire town carried the smell of fish. It wasnt the kind of place to offer picture-postcard shots, like the rest of Sri Lanka was known for. But I had my reasons to be here.

I was just 30 kilometres away from India, making it the closest I would be to home from Sri Lankan soil. This small coastal quarter on the northwest edge of Sri Lanka is separated from Dhanushkodi in Tamil Nadu by the Palk Strait. Studies suggest that there was a bridge here, popularly called Adams Bridge  a chain of sandbanks that, until the 15th century, connected the two countries. However, storms deepened the channel over centuries and made the bridge inaccessible. And it doesnt end here. According to legends, this bridge is mentioned in the Hindu epic Ramayana as the place Lord Rama pointed to with the tip of his bow, and Lord Hanuman built a bridge (Setu) to cross the sea to reach Lanka and rescue Sita from Ravan, hence lending the name Ram Setu.

Torn by its past

As I walked around Mannar, it felt like I had travelled to the eighties! There were no fancy restaurants and shops, no supermarkets, no traffic lights, and not even traffic! My red rucksack invited a few curious stares from locals who wondered what I was doing in their non-eventful town. Mannar was reeling from a tense past where the rebel group LTTE had set up base here during the 26-year-long Sri Lankan Civil War. Although the war ended over a decade back, tourism was yet to pick up in this region. A handful of visitors from surrounding districts drop by to see the greater flamingos during the migratory season between December and April. Among newer tourism initiatives to lure the intrepid traveller is the promotion of kite surfing due to its windy location.

But things were not always like this! Mannar had seen better times. It once served as the administrative centre for the Jaffna Kingdom in North Sri Lanka before the Portuguese occupied the region, followed by British colonisation. As the closest border to India, Mannar thrived as an important port city for moving goods and people between India and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). The town was also known for its lucrative pearl fishing industry until its resources were depleted, killing its pearling industry, however, fishing remains an important source of income for the locals.

An abode in a deserted land

Upon reaching my homestay, after a 15-minute walk from the bus stand, I was welcomed by Jude, my twenty-something host. For a large part, we conversed in broken English about our backgrounds. He then suggested some places I could visit  there was a large irrigation tank with an artificial lake, a cluster of giant baobab trees, and a 400-year-old Catholic shrine that acted as a refugee camp during the Civil War. He graciously offered me his bicycle to ride, and I humbly obliged.

As I pedalled around the quiet neighbourhood, it was deserted, except for the sight of a few wild ponies. I wasnt sure if this was siesta time or the way of life here. Wary of not venturing too far away, I stopped to grab a lunch of fish curry rice at a nearby no-frills restaurant before returning to my homestay.

Later that evening, I took the bus to Talaimannar  home of the fabled Ram Setu bridge  and the reason I was here. The public bus had stuffed passengers like chickens and the roads got progressively worse on the forty-five-minute journey. After getting off at the last stop, I hailed a rickshaw to the quayside.

Close, yet so far

The view at Talaimannar was a sight to behold. There was a wooden pier, inaccessible and beyond disrepair. I stood facing the pier surrounded by the Indian Ocean on three sides. Somewhere on the hazy horizon was India, near but not in clear sight!

At one point, the Talaimannar pier served as a ferry service between Dhanushkodi and Mannar for more than fifty years until a cyclone hit the Andaman Sea in 1964, destroying the coasts in both countries. The service briefly started from Talaimmanar to Rameshwaram island in Tamil Nadu, but due to political tensions triggered by LTTE, it was terminated and never resumed.

What remains today of Talaimannar is an abandoned lighthouse  its whitewashed tower once guided passing boatmen and ferries stopping here. Adjacent is the dead-end of the railway track and the Talaimannar station that operates a train service to Medawachiya connecting to the rest of Sri Lanka. There is a strong presence of the Sri Lankan navy across the area, not surprisingly because of the close border proximity it shares with India.

I spent a good 45 minutes here under the watchful eye of the navy, observing the sea and sights around me. Angry waves crashed into the pier, and I couldnt help but think about the magnitude of destruction the cyclone might have caused on that fateful night on both sides of the region. It was a moment to reflect on the power of nature to uproot life and wipe off cities.

My evening excursion had ended on that sombre note as I bid goodbye to Talaimannar, and it dawned on me that Mannar was not so much about the beauty of its landscape, but the resilience of its people.

This humbling visit to an overlooked town brought a refreshing sense of reality to my backpacking adventure in Sri Lanka.
Infrastructure Minister John ODowd has welcomed progress on the All Island Rail Review which is due to complete by the end of this year.

Minister ODowd said: I recently received an update from my officials working on the All Island Rail Review who confirmed that work on the Report is continuing and is due to be finalised at the end of this year.

"I want to keep the momentum of this vitally important work and to reaffirm my commitment to it.

As we seek to connect communities and tackle the climate emergency, this Review will be vital in providing a vision of how our rail network can support our strategic objectives. With that in mind, I have asked my officials to continue to progress this work with their counterparts in the South.

In addition - and without pre-empting the results of the All Island Rail Review - I have also asked my officials to explore funding opportunities for feasibility studies into the following areas:

 A new rail line between Derry and Portadown;

 Reopening the Knockmore line with a connection to Belfast International Airport;

 Electrification of Belfast to Newry line; and

 Better connections between the rail halt to Belfast City airport.

I am keen that we continue to be ambitious around our rail network and look forward to a future where people across this island, in particular those in rural areas, have greater access to rail travel.
By Erin Kim





I am surprised, shocked and confused. But most of all, I am scared for our future. For most of my relatively young life, I grew up and learned to take for granted that the world lived in harmony. And that the world's problems are there to be solved, eventually.



From a very young age, I enthusiastically learned the Mandarin language with assurances from my teachers that China is embracing the rest of the world in global trade, democracy and fair play. I also took a keen interest in modern history with confidence that dictators like Hitler are historical aberrations that will not be repeated, ever. I entered debating competitions with the absolute confidence that any notions of dictatorships are bound to fail in due course.



Even our neighbor North Korea and its dictator Kim Jong-un seemed like just a freakish accident in a long history of improving global harmony and globalization. My interest in refugees began with the desire to help North Korean defectors, very confident that it is a problem soon to be deleted from our collective "do to list." For my generation, climate change seemed to be an issue that posed a rare challenge due to the serious threat to our future. Then with COVID-19, everything I took for granted was flipped over on its head.



The pandemic showed the ugly side of nationalism with prejudice and racism still being widespread problems. The reports of anti-Asian incidents are deeply disturbing for a young person like me, who has only experienced them through books and movies. To see the rising discrimination against any race or color is hard to fathom, as we were taught that racism and refugees are issues that are getting better every year.



Also hard to fathom is the U.S. trade war with China. China's trade war with the U.S. continues to flip the notion of the globalization ideal that I learned all my life. China's zero-COVID policy seemed at first like a noble effort to ensure the safety of its people, but recently it dawned that the reasons seemed more political than humanitarian. Not to mention China's treatment of Uighurs, which seems not that different from North Korea's treatment of many of its people.



Finally, I read about the Chinese government banning certain books from Hong Kong schools, which is so different from what I remember when I was attending school there not so long ago. This month, Chinese President Xi Jinping is changing China's constitution to extend his term in office indefinitely, ending its promise of embracing and respecting the democratic process. The pride I had for being fluent in Chinese does not have the same feeling anymore.



Most shocking is Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which to me is frighteningly similar to what I read about in the early days of World War Two. The plight of the Ukraine people, especially the innocent young ones, was unfathomable just a few years ago.



North Korean refugees now do not seem like an anomaly but a part of a greater trend. The idea of war, such as the one Russia is waging against Ukraine, is something I only read about in history books. But that is now shown every day in the media. Most disappointing is the lack of action taken by the United Nations or the United States, whom we took for granted as the ultimate world police to prevent such incursions on any sovereign nation. Coincidentally or not, Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un all seem to have been empowered since the COVID-19 outbreak.



Yet, we should not give up hope. My experience with countless volunteers helping refugees proved to me that there are far more people ready to protect human rights and refugees than those causing them distress or harm. The support for the Ukrainians from the global public is an inspiring foundation for us to build awareness for refugees. With the easing of the COVID-19 lockdowns and global travel largely resuming, the world will get back to its normal way of life. We also hope with the growing support from the public, we will take on the challenges that are facing us.





Erin Kim is a high school senior at Geelong Grammar School and an Australian state debating champion team member.


Statement by Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney on Mogadishu

Statement

I am horrified and saddened by the bombings in Mogadishu yesterday in which hundreds of people were killed and injured. I condemn this cowardly attack on civilians, responsibility for which has been claimed by Al-Shabaab.

I offer my condolences to President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and the people of Somalia for their grievous loss and pray for the swift recovery of those injured.

Ireland stands in solidarity with the people and Government of Somalia as they continue the work of building peace and development for all in Somalia, challenging those who would seek to cling to power through violence and terror.

ENDS

Press Office

30 October 2022

 Previous Item |
Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Saturday while speaking on the amendments to the IT intermediary Rules 2021 said protection of Constitutional rights of Indian citizens is a must, adding India is a trustee of rights of its citizens and Digital Nagriks.

In a major push towards an Open, Safe and Trusted and Accountable Internet, the Ministry of Electronics and IT notified these amendments aimed at protecting the rights of "Digital Nagriks".

It also enhances due diligence requirements and ensuring accountability of social media and other intermediaries. They have been notified against the backdrop of complaints regarding the action/inaction on the part of the intermediaries on user grievances regarding objectionable content or suspension of their accounts.

The intermediaries now will be expected to ensure that there is no uploading of content that intentionally communicates any misinformation or information that is patently false or untrue hence entrusting an important responsibility on intermediaries.

The rules also have made it explicit for the intermediary to respect the rights accorded to the citizens of India under the Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution.

Elaborating on the new sets of rules, Chandrasekhar said these amendments have been made to ensure that internet is open, safe and trusted and accountable for our "digital nagriks".

The amendments were notified after the Ministry followed an exhaustive public consultation process involving all stakeholders.

Sharing the government's vision and intent to work along with intermediaries for achieving the common goal of keeping the internet safe and trusted, the Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship affirmed that "these rules marks new partnership between the government and intermediaries in making and keeping our internet safe, trusted and accountable".

Currently, intermediaries are only required to inform users about not uploading certain categories of harmful/unlawful content.

These amendments impose a legal obligation on intermediaries to take reasonable efforts to prevent users from uploading such content.

The new provision will ensure that the intermediary's obligation is not a mere formality.

(Except for the headline and cover image, the rest of this IANS article is un-edited)

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in.
Earlier this month, Google released two flagship smartphones, the Pixel 7 and the Pixel 7 Pro. The devices come with Google's latest Tensor G2 chipset, have a versatile camera system and provide a mostly stock Android experience to users. However, those following the Pixel series know that Google also releases a toned-down version of its flagship series as an A-series smartphone. This year, that phone could be called Pixel 7a.

The purported Pixel 7a is codenamed Lynx

Pixel 7 series image used for representational purpose.

In the past, we have seen the Pixel 4a, Pixel 5a and earlier this year, Pixel 6a, the first Google smartphone to come out in India after a long time. Now, 9To5Google has learnt about a Google device with the codename "Lynx", and it could be the unreleased Pixel 7a.

As per the publication, a public conversation in Android code reveals that Pixel 7a is "in the works." Usually, the A-series smartphones follow Google's flagship next year, and Pixel 7a appears to be no different, implying that Google will release the smartphone in 2023. However, all the information leaked about the smartphone "points to something far more premium" than what enthusiasts or users would typically expect from a Pixel A-series device.

Pixel 7a leaked details

Pixel 7 image used for representational purpose.

For instance, known leaker Digital Chat Station claimed earlier this year that Google is manufacturing a smartphone in China with the Tensor G2 chipset, also used in the Pixel 7 series, with a ceramic body. Since ceramic is considered a premium material, using it on an A-series smartphone could benefit the company.

The main highlight of the Pixel 7a could be its camera system. On the rear panel, the device could come with a triple camera system, a first for Pixel A-series. Lynx might feature the Samsung GN1 50MP as its primary sensor, a Sony IMX787 64MP for telephoto and a Sony IMX712 13MP sensor for clicking ultrawide shots. At first glance, these look like the camera specifications of a Pro Pixel device, as telephoto lenses haven't been featured on an A-series device yet.

Apart from this, the Pixel 7a also appears to support wireless charging, another feature that Google saves for its premium smartphones. As spotted by Kuba Wojciechowski, an Android researcher, the Pixel 7a "is set to include the P9222 chip" for wireless charging. However, the Pixel 7a's wireless charging capabilities seem limited to 5W and are best suited for charging the Pixel Buds with the smartphone.

While that is the level of information available about the unreleased Lynx smartphone by Google, none of the details mentioned here is confirmed. Hence, readers should take them with a pinch of salt.

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in.
Page Content

On 10 October 2022, the ACRPS Iranian Studies Unit (ISU) hosted Shirin Saeidi, Assistant Professor of Political Science and Director of the King Fahd Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Arkansas, for a lecture titled Historicizing Iranian Womens Activism in Post-1979 Iran. The lecture was moderated by Mehran Kamrava, Director of the ISU and Professor of Government at Georgetown University Qatar. In light of the recent protests over the killing of Mahsa Amini by the Morality Police, Saeidi provided a much-needed historical context on non-elite womens activism in Iran, a social group she has engaged with through ethnographic fieldwork since 2007.

Saeidi began by briefly discussing the September 2022 protests, noting that the initial protests were against mandatory hijab, the policing of womens bodies and the governments refusal to accept any kind of reform. Protests, on the other hand, quickly evolved into a critique of the state. Young Iranian women are leading the current protests, which are centered on the slogan Women, Life, Freedom.

Saeidi then emphasized the dominance of liberal feminism in post-1979 womens rights activism. Liberal feminism, according to Saeidi, remains state-centric and depends on advocacy, raising awareness, and lobbying to end laws that discriminate against women. Saeidi claimed that women in the streets of Iran today have not been incorporated into the political vision of the government and womens rights activists. Both the state and external actors have little influence on the aspirations of non-elite Iranian women.

She discussed how transnational gender activism is disconnected from local objectives and may endanger activists inside Iran. A good research practice, according to Saeidi, is to avoid categorizing and labeling women and attempting to predict their aspirations. Years of research on this specific social group have taught me how much they despise categories, labels, orders, boundaries, and academic jargon, Saeidi said. The September 2022 protests grew out of a long history of non-elite womens acts of citizenship that challenge the state and its discriminatory laws. Most importantly, the non-elite women who participated in these protests are not supporters of imperial feminism abroad, as Iranian leaders or the opposition may suggest, nor are they extensions of United States inhumane policies toward Iran or other parts of the region.

Saeidi also focused on the political and spatial consequences of legal inequality and gender discrimination. The suppression of womens rights activists in Iran have led to the emergence of informal spaces for feminist activism, on which most non-elite women rely for their needs and survival. By using examples from her fieldwork in Iran, she further clarified the concept of informal spaces, highlighting womens ongoing attempts to express their concerns about the governments disregard for their rights. On the active role of female university students in feminist activism, Saeidi stated that the university dormitory and the lecture halls are spaces where feminist politics is formally not welcomed by the state, yet they can easily transform into informal spaces for feminist activism with a single spark.

Lastly, Saeidi argued that intergenerational and intercommunal solidarity are dominant themes in post-2009 gender politics in Iran and are also bolstered by womens activism in informal feminist spaces. To conclude, Saeidi stated that acts of citizenship emerging in informal spaces are not state-centric, linear, or necessarily forward-thinking; these acts are about taking what one believes they are owed in a context where civil society is suppressed, and legal reform is not possible.


Thousands of Brazilians living in Ireland have cast their votes in the election for their countrys next president.

A long queue formed early on Sunday at Croke Park in Dublin, where the polls opened at 8am.

Some 12,000 Brazilians are registered in Ireland.

Around 8,000 in Ireland voted in the first round of the race between Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Jair Bolsonaro.

Some in the queue were wearing red in support of Mr da Silva, known mononymously as Lula, while others were expressing their support for Mr Bolsonaro.

Brazils ambassador to Ireland, Marcel Biato, said they expected to see a good turnout on Sunday.

They have to be Brazilian citizens and they have to be registered to vote in Ireland, he told the PA news agency.

With electronic voting being used, results are expected around three hours after the closing of the polls.

Mr Biato said there around 156 million people are eligible to vote in Brazil and 500,000 overseas.

Its all tallied electronically; we have a very secure system which has been in use for about 35 years, he said.

Its a very secure system, which means people can be very comfortable and know that their vote counts.

Geneci da Cruz iu Fhatharta travelled from Galway to cast her ballot.

We do need to make that effort to travel long hours to come and vote for Lula, she said.

Alberto dos Santos, who lives in Dublin, turned out to vote for Mr Bolsonaro.

He said he feels there are more Lula supporters in Dublin, but more who support Mr Bolsonaro in Brazil.
The proposed Cloghercor Wind Farm is a co-development project that is being led by rsted and FuturEnergy Ireland in the Clogherachullion and Cloghercor areas of County Donegal.

Our project team combines renewable energy experts with community liaison officers who are local to County Donegal. Over the past 18 months the team has been pleased to meet with many members of the local community as this project has progressed.

Community feedback is a vital part of our approach. Informed by the findings of our on-site studies and feedback received at numerous consultation events, we are now ready to share a final design proposal with the community that has a reduced number of turbines and changes to turbine placement.

We are developing the Cloghercor Wind Farm project as one that will also be an asset for the local community: ensuring opportunities for people to enjoy recreation around the site, as well as providing long-term local investment through a substantial community benefit fund and a near neighbour scheme.

Climate change remains one of the biggest risks facing our planet. To reach Irelands energy security and climate change goals, we need to transition our energy systems away from fossil fuel combustion towards cleaner, greener electricity generation.

The proposal for Cloghercor Wind Farm will help Ireland get there. We hope many of you will join us at our upcoming community exhibition events, to help us shape our final proposal:



- Gweebarra Bar, Meenagowan, Lettermacaward

Wednesday, November 2, 2pm-8pm



- Teach Gleann Ceo, Main Street, Doochary

Thursday, November 3, 2pm-8pm



View the updated proposal for Cloghercor Wind Farm at the upcoming community exhibition events or in our virtual village hall at www.cloghercorwindfarm.com from Wednesday 2 November.



These events were rescheduled in respect to those affected by the Creeslough tragedy. The team send their deepest sympathies to those affected.

Our dedicated Community Liaison Officers are available to answer any queries you have, and we welcome your feedback. To speak with our team, get in touch at info@cloghercorwindfarm.com or 086 0664577.
By Azernews

By Sabina Mammadli

Turkiye's ex-Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has thanked President Ilham Aliyev for his special attention after the car accident he had in Azerbaijan, Azernews reports.

"We survived a serious accident. From the accident venue, we were immediately taken by helicopter to the hospital. I express my gratitude to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who was constantly interested in our condition throughout the past period. I also express my gratitude to our President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who kept the treatment process under control," Yildirim said.

To recap, Y?ld?r?m, who is a deputy chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party); MP ?amil Ayr?m, and bodyguard O?uzhan Demirci, were involved in a road accident during their visit to Azerbaijan's Jabrayil District.

After a while, they were sent to Turkiye to continue their medical treatment at a local hospital and have since then been discharged from the hospital.


By Eugene Lee





Observing the events in the world and in the country while building my opinion on them is obviously one thing, and running a monthly opinion column in the newspaper is another. All attempts to run my articles thematically, had to be left at the door, as the kaleidoscope of the events of the last month somewhat reminds me of a rollercoaster, so buckle up. Whatever event took place, to me, the message is one: South Korean democracy doesn't have enough balances and checks in its system to counter the desire for power and the greed of some.



At the start of the month, the media dazzled with news of the first lady flashing luxury broaches and necklaces while claiming they were "borrowed." Well, in today's developed world, that type of "borrowing" may well constitute bribery. But going beyond the riches, in today's world of plenty, luxury is not fashionable anymore. Humility and moderation are among the true virtues that leaders strive to portray in today's global leadership. However, here we have to witness a behavior that is an expose of plain immaturity.



And then there was yet another sign of it a few weeks back in the decision of President Yoon Suk-yeol to eliminate the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. On the face of it, it all looks like a heroic act. Yoon followed through on his promises. During his election campaign, he said the ministry would go, so it did. A round of applause, everyone. But, let's think carefully about what actually has happened.



First of all, a major institution, a branch of government, has been dispersed. And it all happened at a time when the country needed it the most when the national birth rate is declining. Some have blamed the ministry for being feminist and focusing way too much on empowering just women, thus jeopardizing the government's efforts to equalize the genders. But that could have been easily changed by appointing a new minister and making the ministry work for the country.



By eliminating the ministry, the administration is refusing to acknowledge that there are problems that need to be addressed. And those problems didn't go away, they were just swept under the carpet. The problem also is that these people were educated and organized to research and design policies to support families, but instead the administration has chosen to close its eyes to those problems. Plus, paired with the drive to reduce subsidies for afterschool programs, it is the families who are set to suffer the most. In my view, at the end of it all, it is simply bad for the country.



It would have been much better to have another person appointed to run the ministry who could have changed the discourse in the desired direction. The problem may have been not in the ministry but in the employees, who were simply misled. The people who allegedly propped up the feminist ideas did not go away  they remained in the government. They have become less visible. Instead of solving the problem, the administration has earned itself a bureaucratic army of resistance.



In the end, the administration didn't explain why it was eliminating the ministry. It did so because it could with a simple exercise of power. But by doing so, it showed its weakness in resorting to power while confirming its inability to lead and persuade.



Globalized South Korea is much better off than it was a decade ago. However, it is just half of the story. There are big issues on the horizon. With ongoing democratization (the last regional elections were important!), power and money are going to the regional governments.



What is worrisome is that local administrations are yet to learn how to properly manage those processes. Gangwon Province has chronically suffered from those issues. First, it was Gangwon Land, and today it is Legoland. Another example is Gyeonggi Province, with its infamous Daejang-dong land development scandal. At the moment of writing, I hear news of insolvency in major construction companies. In other words, something big is coming and we need to get a grasp of it as soon as possible.



Another piece of news a week ago was half a world away  the U.K. financial crisis. But, while analyzing it I saw an eerie de-ja-vu and all the tell-tale signs of the 1997 crisis here in South Korea. The crisis in the U.K. is more or less a self-made one, and the administration here is repeating the mistake by running a pseudo-fight against corruption and trying to catch people on relatively small irregularities while missing two things on a much larger scale  primarily, the issues of labor and capital.?



Today, people in South Korea do not want to go through the suffering of previous generations. The 1997 crisis, also called the IMF crisis, was very much one of self-creation, meaning that the government itself was way too slow and incompetent to deal with the issues and that eventually led it to skid into the crisis.



The administration today needs to quickly get a grasp of those issues and act in order to avoid an economic catastrophe. Otherwise, people may find it unbearable to tolerate further, and we will have candlelight demonstrations everywhere. So, instead of the ongoing political witch-hunt and mockery of South Korean democracy, I would call on the administration to come to its senses and truly start running the country before it is too late.





Eugene Lee (mreulee@gmail.com) is a lecturing professor at the Graduate School of Governance at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul. Specializing in international relations and governance, his research and teaching focus on national and regional security, international development, government policies and Northeast and Central Asia.


The Irish Farmers Association (IFA) is calling for an increase in Garda numbers to tackle rural crime.

The group wants the Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee, to commit to bolstering numbers due to what they say is a recurring problem with gangs of men and "lurcher" dogs threatening livestock on private lands.

According to the IFA, during a recent incident in Tipperary, a farmer close to his home encountered men with dogs "lamping on his land".

Their vehicle was blocking the lane and when he engaged with them, he was badly beaten and left concussed. His injuries included facial lacerations and fractured ribs.

According to the IFA, community meetings have been called around the country due to these types of incidents and hundreds of people have attended to express fears for their safety.

Over 250 farmers attended a meeting in Adare, Co Limerick this week.

IFA Deputy President Brian Rushe said the laws in relation to trespass must be changed and tied into the owners and occupiers liability insurance.

He said, "The meetings hear calls for additional Garda patrols and the need for more of visibility of Gardai.

"Despite assurances that recruitment is ongoing, the failure to get enough replacements for those retiring is leading to gaps in resources."
Take bolder action to prevent recurrence



An unprecedented deadly crowd crush has sent shockwaves throughout the country. The tragedy occurred in Itaewon, a popular Seoul nightlife district, on Saturday night when huge crowds of partygoers gathered for Halloween celebrations. It killed at least 154 people, mostly in their late teens and 20s. Twenty-six foreign nationals from 14 countries including China, Iran, Russia, the U.S., France, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Thailand are among the victims.



The disaster is South Korea's deadliest since the 2014 ferry Sewol sinking that killed 304 people, mostly high school students who were on a field trip to Jeju Island. It was the first major Halloween in Seoul since November 2019. It came after the country lifted most COVID-19 social distancing rules and other restrictions including the outdoor mask requirements.



The crowd crush became deadly particularly as hundreds of people packed into a narrow, inclined alley next to Hamilton Hotel. The festive scene turned into mayhem suddenly as people fell and toppled into one another "like dominos." The death toll is likely to rise further as many of the 133 injured are in critical condition.



President Yoon Suk-yeol declared a period of national mourning lasting until Nov. 5. He extended his condolences over the deaths and wished for a speedy recovery for the injured. Our hearts go out to the bereaved families. We also hope that the nation will soon recover from the shock, pain and sorrow of the tragic accident.



The government designated Itaewon as a special disaster zone. Thus, it should mobilize all possible means, including emergency medical services, to treat the injured and help the victims' families heal their trauma. It is also urgent to identify over 3,500 people who are still reported missing. Most of all, the authorities should pull out all the stops to minimize the aftermath of the accident.



The tragedy is a clear reminder that the nation is ill-prepared to prevent such deadly incidents. It is shameful to see that the authorities have failed to protect people's lives and ensure their safety following repeated deadly accidents. The Sewol sinking showed how vulnerable the country was to safety-related mishaps.



Many people can still vividly remember the 1995 collapse of Sampoong Department Store in southern Seoul which claimed 502 lives. A segment of Seongsu Bridge over the Han River collapsed in 1994, killing 32 people. Whenever such accidents took place, the authorities vowed to take all possible measures to prevent further tragedies. Yet critics complain that nothing has changed and that a better system has not yet been put in place to strengthen safety rules.



A question is raised over whether the authorities had taken proper precautions for the Halloween event, which drew as many as 130,000 people. The government and law enforce agencies should conduct a thorough investigation of the case to find its exact cause. And then it must work out comprehensive and fundamental measures to prevent such a thing from happening again. Policymakers and local officials need to keep in mind that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Invest more in training and education programs to prevent further tragedies.










By Kim Hyun-bin



Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun met with Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger to request support to host the World Expo 2030 in Busan, according to the company Sunday.



Chung met with Heger Friday, asking for support in the Korean port city's bid to host the World Expo and discussing ways to cooperate in expanding eco-friendly mobility.



Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun shakes hands with Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger after requesting support to host the World Expo 2030 in Busan at the PM office Bratislava, Slovakia, Friday. Courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group
A Corkman who pleaded guilty to charges of dangerous driving which caused serious harm to a female garda, had his case adjourned at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

Martin Keohane pleaded guilty before Judge Helen Boyle to driving at speed in order to evade gardai in Creagh, Baltimore, Cork, on April 8, 2021, while knowing that a member of An Garda Siochana, Detective Garda Catherine McCarthy, was at the time being physically dragged by said vehicle.

It was stated in Court documents that this created a substantial risk of death or serious harm to another.

Mr Keohane, who gave an address of Derrygareen, Skibbereen, was charged with dangerous driving contrary to Section 53 of the Road Traffic Act at the same location.

Mr Keohane pleaded guilty to obstructing a garda during the course of her duties. He further pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of cannabis for the purposes of sale and supply, and to unlawful possession of cannabis, on the same date, at Derrygareen, Skibbereen.

Judge Boyle adjourned all matters to November 21 next.
Description

Over the last years, the European Investment Bank Group has shown that fighting COVID-19, financing the recovery, and investing in climate action and environmental sustainability are mutually supportive goals. Innovation, development and green finance are the cornerstones of our approach to creating a more sustainable economy. In 2021, the coronavirus pandemic continued to disrupt lives and businesses around the globe. At the same time, it became clear that the climate and environment crises had reached emergency levels. Urgent action is required if we are to meet the Paris Agreements commitments and avoid biodiversity loss. The European investment Bank Group is ready to tackle these challenges, the biggest of our time. This report shows how we delivered a record 94.9 billion in financing in 2021, supporting sustainable and inclusive growth in Europe and beyond.

The Sustainability report should be read in conjunction with its two annexes, the GRI and SASB disclosures, as well as with the Groups 2021 TCFD report.
In this file photo taken on Aug. 14, the first UN-chartered vessel MV Brave Commander loads more than 23,000 tons of grain to export to Ethiopia, in Yuzhne, east of Odessa on the Black Sea coast. AFP-Yonhap



Russia on Saturday suspended participation in a U.N.-brokered Black Sea grain deal after what it said was a major Ukrainian drone attack on its fleet in Crimea, dealing a blow to attempts to ease the global food crisis.



U.S. President Joe Biden denounced the move as "purely outrageous" and said it would increase starvation.



Russia's defense ministry said Ukraine attacked the Black Sea Fleet near Sevastopol on the annexed Crimean peninsula with 16 drones early on Saturday, and that British navy "specialists" had helped coordinate the "terrorist" attack.



The suspension will cut Ukrainian grain exports from its crucial Black Sea ports.



"There's no merit to what they're doing. The U.N. negotiated that deal and that should be the end of it," Biden told reporters in his home state of Delaware.



The deal allows shipments of grain from Ukraine, one of the world's largest exporters, that the Russian invasion had halted.



Russia told U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres in a letter, seen by Reuters, that it was suspending the deal for an "indefinite term" because it could not "guarantee safety of civilian ships" travelling under the pact.



Russia has also asked the U.N. Security Council to meet on Monday on the attack, Russia's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy wrote on Twitter.



The U.N. coordinator for the Istanbul-based Black Sea grain deal coordination centre  made up of U.N., Russian, Ukrainian and Turkish officials  said five outbound and four inbound vessels had safely passed through the humanitarian corridor.



"There are more than 10 vessels both outbound and inbound waiting to enter the corridor," Amir Abdulla said in a statement, adding there was no agreement between the parties for the movement of vessels on Sunday.



Britain on Saturday said Russia's claims, including that British navy personnel blew up the Nord Stream pipelines last month, were false and aimed at distracting attention from Russian military failures.



Russia said it had repelled the attack but that the ships targeted were involved in ensuring the grain corridor out of Ukraine's Black Sea ports.



Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiyy said what he called Russia's nonsensical move required a strong international response from the U.N. and the Group of 20 major economies.



"This is a completely transparent attempt by Russia to return to the threat of large-scale famine for Africa, for Asia," Zelenskiyy said in a video address, adding that Russia should be kicked out of the G20.



Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Moscow was using a false pretext to sink the deal.



"I call on all states to demand Russia to stop its hunger games and recommit to its obligations," Kuleba said.



In a statement, the European Union said "all parties must refrain from any unilateral action that would imperil" a deal it described as a critical humanitarian effort.



'Hunger games'



Since Russia and Ukraine signed the U.N.-backed Black Sea Grain Initiative in Turkey on July 22, more than 9 million tons of corn, wheat, sunflower products, barley, rapeseed and soya have been exported.



But ahead of the Nov. 19 expiry of the deal, Russia had repeatedly said that there are serious problems with it. Ukraine complained Moscow had blocked almost 200 ships from picking up grain cargoes.



The United Nations is in contact with Russian authorities about the situation, a U.N. spokesman said.



Although the prices in the Western markets were reduced, Russia did not gain anything from this agreement," said Turan Oguz, a Turkish defence analyst. "I think the main reason for Russia's withdrawal is Western indifference towards Russia."



Just 24 hours before Russia's move, a spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had appealed to the parties to renew the pact.



Russian Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev said Russia was ready to supply up to 500,000 tonnes of grain to poor countries in the next four months for free, with assistance from Turkey, and supplant supplies of Ukrainian grains. (Reuters)




Responding to the cholera outbreak in Syria, WHO delivered a 60-tonne shipment of cholera kits, oral rehydration solutions, rapid diagnostic tests, and medical supplies for intravenous (IV) rehydration treatment, in addition to chlorine for water purification4 October 2022, Damascus  Funding from Norway has enabled WHO to immediately respond to the cholera outbreak declared by the Syrian Ministry of Health on 10 September 2022 and ensure the delivery of supplies for thousands of people who are infected or at risk.

Syrias health system has been repeatedly strained through multiple concurrent emergencies and challenges that continue to affect the availability and quality of health services across the country. More than half of the health facilities in Syria remain partially functional or destroyed, said Dr Iman Shankiti, WHO Representative in Syria. This support from Norway is a critical contribution to WHO's work and plays a key role in strengthening our response to the current outbreak while addressing wider health needs, Dr Shankiti added.

Using flexible funds from Norway that allow WHO to meet the urgent needs as they arise, WHO was able to procure the needed life-saving treatments from the local market in the first days of the cholera outbreak and deliver a 60-tonne shipment of cholera kits, oral rehydration solutions, rapid diagnostic tests, and medical supplies for intravenous (IV) rehydration treatment, in addition to chlorine for water purification.

The shipments, airlifted from WHOs logistics hub in Dubai, will enable health authorities and partners to provide treatment for 2000 severe cholera cases and almost 190 000 cases of diarrhoea with mild symptoms. In Aleppo governorate, WHO distributed more than 250 000 chlorine tablets, and trained around 100 health care workers on surveillance, infection, prevention and control measures, as well as case management. WHO is also working on expanding the capacity of cholera treatment units by delivering 30 patient beds and needed accessories.

After a decade of zero cholera cases in Syria, on 1 October 2022, the Ministry of Health reported a cholera outbreak in 11 governorates (Aleppo, Hassakeh, Deir Ez-Zor, Ar-Raqqa-Latakia, Homs, Hama, As-Sweida, Daraa, Qunitera, and Damascus) with a total of 36 deaths and 524 confirmed cases.

The situation is evolving alarmingly in affected governorates and expanding to new areas. WHO is following up closely with all health partners to contain the outbreak and prevent further spread of infection through enhancing cholera surveillance in high-risk areas at health facilities and community levels, promoting community awareness, including access to sanitation and personal hygiene practices, providing chlorination for drinking-water sources, securing rapid diagnostic tests, and providing needed treatments.

Norway has been a long-standing partner of WHO, continuously working to strengthen emergency response activities to meet the needs of the most vulnerable populations in Syria.




Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday sent a message of condolence to President Yoon Suk-yeol over a deadly stampede in Seoul, the Chinese embassy in Seoul said.







"I heard the news of mass casualties from a deadly stampede in the South Korean capital city of Seoul," Xi wrote in the message. "I express deep condolences to the victims on behalf of the Chinese government and people, and send heartfelt sympathy to the bereaved families and the injured."







Xi addressed the casualties of some Chinese nationals and called for the Korean government's appropriate measures.







"Unfortunately, some Chinese people were killed or injured," Xi wrote. "I hope South Korea will make all-out efforts to treat them and deal with the aftermath."







At least 151 people have been killed and 82 others injured, with four of them identified as Chinese nationals, according to fire authorities. (Yonhap)


Body found in search for missing woman

Police have confirmed the body of a missing woman has been found on a beach.

The body was found on Groudle Beach following an extensive search in the early hours of this morning.

The Coastguard were involved in the search along with the emergency services.

In a statement, Isle of Man Constabulary said: "We are sorry to now report that the body of a deceased female has been recovered in relation to that search.

The family have thanked all those involved in the search. We will not be releasing any further information and would ask that the privacy of the family is respected at this time."
Sunday, October 30, 2022

Commentary From Crisis Management Expert Edward Segal, Bestselling Author of the Award-Winning Book "Crisis Ahead: 101 Ways to Prepare for and Bounce Back from Disasters, Scandals, and Other Emergencies" (Nicholas Brealey, 2020)









Some crises strike companies quickly, are addressed by corporate executives, and soon fade from the spotlight.

Other crises capture the public's attention but are eventually placed on the back burner, unresolved. But they can get moved to the front at any time.

Consider the case of the online data and privacy crisis, which made international headlines a year ago when whistleblower Frances Haugen told Congress that Facebook and Instagram negatively impacted the mental health of teenagers,

Not surprisingly, there were several rounds of accusations and finger-pointing over who was to blame for the crisis, the extent of the impact of social media on mental health, and what had or should be done about it. The crisis has been simmering in the background ever since.

Senators Seek New Reforms

That crisis could be back on the front burner again, thanks to U.S. Senator Edward Markey (D-Mass.), who is leading a group of Senate colleagues in asking the Federal Trade Commission to update the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act .

Markey said in a press release that he wants the government agency to:

Expand the definition of "personal information" that is covered under the Act.

Require that social media platforms protect the confidentiality, security, and integrity of children's data.

Implement regulatory protections that reflect the increased use of online platforms for educational purposes.

Limit the data a child needs to share when participating in online activities.

"Experts agree that we have reached a crisis point for children and teens online, as the rates of mental health challenges for them soar, and the U.S. Surgeon General has called on technology and social media companies to address these threats to young people," the lawmakers wrote to the FTC.

"In countries around the world, government entities have begun to take action by enacting policies that combat pernicious online threats to kids. The United States must now do the same," they said.

'On The Right Track'

"Markey's proposed changes are on the right track, and it's encouraging to see lawmakers take a closer look at the best way to protect children," Eve Maler, chief technology officer of ForgeRock, and an expert in digital identity and cybersecurity, said via email.

'Going One Step Further'

"To make meaningful changes, I recommend going one step further by broadening current regulatory requirements to encompass 'smarter'consent: more powerful permissions around data collection, use and sharing," Maler noted.

"Many of today's requirements for compliant online consent don't factor in smart devices or mobile apps, which often operate in ecosystems such as smart homes and can remember preferences for a long time," she pointed out.

"I also recommend strengthening parents' and guardians' ability to retain appropriate control and oversight of their child's modern digital experiences until they become old enough to understand and manage their own online data."

'A Great Example'

"One great example of a company that has done things right is the BBC, which serves content to people of all ages," Maler observed.

"The broadcasting company has a website called BBC Bitesize that offers parents and young students quizzes and learning guides. It has had to adhere to both historical (Article 8 of GDPR) and new (Children's Code) regulations around age-appropriate personal data handling and design."

The BBC is "enabling kids to have online experiences that are not only age-appropriate but also compliant by routing them to voice-first methods of authentication. Contextually sensitive and adaptive verification of kids' identity is an important prerequisite for handling personal data safely and simply," she commented.

What Companies Are Doing Wrong

"Businesses with a casual attitude about age data accuracy are doing it wrong," Maler claimed.

" To protect children, businesses must understand when they're interacting with a child. Given today's regulatory environment and the decreasing tolerance for abusive or inappropriate online experiences for children, it's fair to say that services that do not verify a user's age are doing things very wrong.

'Immense Pressure To Change'

"There's immense pressure to change the current widespread practice of accepting users' self-asserted age since children can easily submit false information to access age-restricted content," she noted.

"In fact, a recent study by Ofcom, an agency that regulates telecommunications in the U.K., discovered that about one-third of children ages 8-17 create fake profiles to register an adult account, and nearly half of children ages 8-15 have accounts claiming they are 16 or older," Maler concluded.


Air Serbia is set to take delivery of its second Airbus A330-200 aircraft in the coming weeks after it was painted in Arizona in the carriers livery. The eleven-year-old jet, now registered YU-ARC, will be deployed on flights to New York, as well as Tianjin, with the latter set to launch in December. The aircraft will temporarily replace the airlines other A330-200 which is due to go into regular maintenance, after which both will be utilised. Air Serbia has previously said the incoming wide-body jet will have a short entry into service, which would prevent the carrier from installing its own cabins, meaning it will temporarily feature those from its previous operator. Air Serbia is set to take delivery of its second Airbus A330-200 aircraft in the coming weeks after it was painted in Arizona in the carriers livery. The eleven-year-old jet, now registered YU-ARC, will be deployed on flights to New York, as well as Tianjin, with the latter set to launch in December. The aircraft will temporarily replace the airlines other A330-200 which is due to go into regular maintenance, after which both will be utilised. Air Serbia has previously said the incoming wide-body jet will have a short entry into service, which would prevent the carrier from installing its own cabins, meaning it will temporarily feature those from its previous operator.





The second A330-200 features a special livery and is named after the Serbian physicist and physical chemist Mihajlo Pupin, with the jet bearing his image on the tail. Based in the United States for much of his life, Mihajlo Pupin was also the Honorary Consul of Serbia in the United States from 1912 to 1920 and played a role in determining the borders of the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Notably, Mihajlo Pupin was one of the twelve people to have attended the first meeting of the National Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), which would later transform into NASA. In addition to being involved in its establishment, Pupin was also the first Chairman of the subcommittee on Aviation Communications in the United States.





Commenting on its long haul fleet, Air Serbias CEO, Jiri Marek, said, The new addition will be vital to our further expansion, launching new routes and increasing the frequency of flights in our existing network of destinations. In addition to serving future flights to China, this plane will also be deployed on services to important European destinations that are in high demand. Our New York JFK operation is profitable and, combined with the new opportunities in China and expansion in the US, it was a simple decision to go for the second aircraft. He added, Today it is not easy to launch services to China, due to ongoing Covid restrictions, it is only possible to start one frequency per week. In order for the incoming aircraft to be utilised, we will also launch flights to Chicago. There is a strong Balkan community there. A third long haul aircraft is planned if the Chinese market completely opens up. However, that will take some time.








TRIP REPORT



Written by George Papathanasiou





Croatia Airlines seasonal flights (end in October) from Dubrovnik to Athens gave me the possibility to connect from Frankfurt to Athens. I have visited lovely Dubrovnik but never been at the airport. Buying the ticket through their site was easy and during the process you can select your business seat.





24 hours before departure I received a message that check-in was open, and I could get my boarding passes. I did as instructed (even though I knew my seats) because I wanted to get a print screen of the boarding card. Before getting my boarding pass, they informed me that only the FRA-DBV flight could be issued.





Arriving at the airport, all the handling is done by Lufthansa. Business customers are handled at Terminal A. I went to the counter to give them my suitcase. The person at the counter informed me that they could not issue me the boarding pass from DBV-ATH but could send the suitcase all the way to Athens (that was great).





Croatia Airlines uses the Lufthansa Lounge at Frankfurt. You can select the lounge which is closest to your gate (there are two). The lounge is spacious but there is no view of the tarmac.









There are plenty of drinks but limited selection of food (omelet and sausages) and fruit salad.





I arrived at the departure gate for flight OU419 at the appropriate time but there I realized that there was a 20-minute delay due to the late arrival of the aircraft. Boarding was done by bus. It was raining and I had to take out my raincoat.





Boarding began, first for families, then for people needing assistance and then Business / gold customers, etc. There was no point because everyone ended up on the same bus.





The aircraft was at a remote stand (a little further and you could reach the fence of the airport). The bus was riding for a long time.





We climbed the stairs and were greeted by the crew, typically no smiles bt friendly atmosphere and very professional.





Typically, business class on the A319 on Croatia Airline are the first three rows. However, in this particular aircraft there were five rows. There were 10 of us in business class, economy class was almost full.





The condition of the seats was not great. They were a little overused.





Legroom was typical with no extra space, typical Eurobusiness, with only a vacant seat between each two seats.









During taxi the captain apologized for the delay and wished us a pleasant flight. Safety procedures were done through the drop-down screens, but ours in the first row did not work.





About half an hour after departure, in-flight service commenced. A tray with a box was served with local produce from Slavonia and Baranya.









The male crew member was friendly offering drinks (there was sparkling wine) and extra bread if needed.





Food was tasty, especially the Slavonian kulen. Coffee was not great (made with couple of spoons of grains and water).





Before disembarking, I told the crew that I had a connection and I had no boarding pass. He assured me that it would take me a minute to reach the terminal (little did I know).









We disembarked by stairs and all together (business and economy class) arrived at the terminal





At the terminal, there was an arrivals advisor. I told her that I had a connection and she told me that I had to go through passport control then print my boarding pass and then go to departures. Lovely customer care!? I should not complain because it happened to me at Heraklion (HER) Airport as well, again arriving from Germany.





At the departure area, the security screening line was long and I waited in line for a while, there was no Fast Lane. There was a sign for the Fast Lane but everyone was going through there. The airport was busy, with a lot of vacationers returning home.





There is a Business Lounge on the second floor.





Access to the Lounge is only for Business customers. It is small but with great views of the tarmac.





The selection of food is limited, with refrigerated sandwiches.





Time passed quickly and departure time arrived.





Again, families were given priority for boarding, and then people needing assistance, after which Business / gold customers could board. Again, it made no difference as everyone was put on the same bus.





The DH4 was awaiting us to fly us to Athens as OU300. There were not a lot of people. I counted 25 passengers and I was the only business passenger.





The flight supposedly originated from Zagreb but I did not see any passengers on the plane. Do they disembark them and then board them with us?





Cabin is typical of a turboprop. What else could one expect of a small plane?





We departed on time, safety procedures were done physically, and very soon in-flight service started. Crew was very friendly; serving me the same box of goodies as the previous flight and asked if I needed something more. When I finished my sparkling wine, the crew member asked me if I needed a refill. Finally, when she collected the tray, I asked for coffee which she brought to me.





She was a friendly person and I thanked her for her assistance. Arrived in Athens on time, flying over Athens, I saw the Acropolis then Faliron bay and then we turned at Aegina island for final approach.





All good, well done. Till next flight!




Almost 3 million tonnes of edible food  valued at 1.8 billion  goes to waste on UK farms each year, a new report estimates.

Combatting this food waste could boost farm profits and bolster UK food security, the report, released by WWF and Tesco, explains.

It also details the environmental footprint of on-farm food waste, which accounts for around 10% of emissions from UK farming.

In terms of wasted natural resources, producing this food requires an area of land nearly half the size of Wales, according to the report.

The scale of estimated food waste on UK farms has historically been excluded from industry and government data.

Because of this, food campaigners are calling for more action from the government and food firms to ensure greater transparency around on-farm food waste and to support farmers in tackling the issue.

Mandatory reporting of on-farm food waste, specifically for medium and large farms, must begin, the report says, to establish the full scale of the problem and to make it possible to track.

It also sets out how this data can be used to inform changes to retailer and government policies, which often drive on-farm food waste.

For example, crops can be lost before they are harvested due to labour shortages, or because late notice changes to orders mean there is a risk a harvested crop will remain unsold, which would leave farmers out of pocket. To avoid this risk, crops are sometimes left in the ground.

The report sets a target of halving on-farm food waste by 2030, and highlights the potential benefits such as improving UK food security and boosting farmers profits.

Recent analysis from food charity WRAP has shown a potential 20% increase in profits for farms if food surplus and waste is reduced to the minimum reported rates.

Kate Norgrove, executive director of advocacy and campaigns at the charity WWF, called for urgent action to fix this 'hidden crisis'.

UK government and businesses across the food sector must take urgent action to support farmers in slashing food loss and waste on farms, as part of wider efforts to drive down waste across the food system.

At the same time, ministers must reaffirm the governments commitment to incentives that will drive a UK-wide shift to nature friendly farming, helping to futureproof our food system and bring our world back to life.
Cambodias gross domestic product (GDP) is anticipated to go up by 6.6 per cent in 2023, bolstered by external demands and the recovery of the domestic economy, as per the draft of the 2023 budget law approved at a recent plenary weekly cabinet meeting of the Cambodian government.

The countrys economy in 2022 is projected to continue its growth at 5.4 per cent regardless of the effects of the Russia-Ukraine war crisis, according to the minister attached to the Prime Minister and chairman of royal government spokesperson unit Phay Siphan.

Thanks to external demands and the return to normal of domestic economy, the Cambodian economic growth in 2023 is projected to be at 6.6 percent, said Siphan in a Facebook post. Cambodias economic growth in 2023 will be supported by key economic sectors, including industry, services, and agriculture.

Cambodia's GDP is anticipated to go up by 6.6 per cent in 2023, bolstered by external demands and the recovery of the domestic economy, as per the draft of the 2023 budget law approved at a recent plenary weekly cabinet meeting. The country's economy in 2022 is projected to continue its growth at 5.4 per cent despite the Russia-Ukraine war crisis.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (NB)
Chinas road freight volume saw a decrease of 4.4 per cent year-on-year (YoY) from January to September 2022, according to the countrys ministry of transport.

Around 27.65 billion tons of road cargo was transferred during the first nine months of 2022. The East Asian nations road freight volume for September 2022 reached 3.37 billion tons, Chinas official media reported.

Qinghai, which is Chinas north-western province, however showed the highest rise in road freight volume after it surged by 11.9 per cent YoY.

China's road freight volume saw a decrease of 4.4 per cent year-on-year (YoY) from January to September 2022, according to the country's ministry of transport. Around 27.65 billion tons of road cargo was transferred during the first nine months of 2022. The East Asian nation's road freight volume for September 2022 reached 3.37 billion tons.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (NB)
Scottsdale, Arizona--(Newsfile Corp. - October 29, 2022) - FirstLine Financial announces the initiation of their W.R.A.P. (Written Retirement Action Plan) method to help members of the baby boomer generation retire.





Will Murray

FirstLine's plan has proven to successfully guide diverse sets of individuals through this complex process. Just as the name would imply, this unique method "wraps" investing, tax reduction, legacy planning, healthcare planning, and income all into one effective approach.

The W.R.A.P. methodology involves four steps: discovery, strategy, implementation and completion. The method is custom-tailored to each individual's specific financial situation, goals and values. With these key components in mind, it is FirstLine Financial's aim to alleviate financial stress in the retirement process.

"Folks should not be worrying about the economy and their assets on a daily basis," said Will Murray, Wealth Advisor at FirstLine Financial. "Too many people turn a blind eye for decades on their portfolios and retirement plans, then once they retire it becomes their focus."

The focus of their W.R.A.P method remains on the importance of a seamless shift from wealth accumulation to long-term distribution planning as retirement approaches. This reduces overall risk on their investment portfolio.

FirstLine Financial's plan emphasizes the idea that assets must be allocated differently in retirement than they are during wealth accumulation. Time and time again, it has been proven to be extremely difficult to bounce back from losses when a person is making withdrawals from investing accounts.

"The biggest threat to retirement plans is not knowing when to make the transition from accumulation planning to distribution planning," said Murray. "Unfortunately, the ones who are hit the hardest during down markets are the ones in retirement. They need to look at a different approach than they've been taking for decades in their working years."

For more information on FirstLine Financial's retirement planning services, visit https://firstlinefin.com

About:

FirstLine Financial connects individuals who want to grow and protect their capital with offerings that, until now, only ultra-wealthy investors had access to. The team specializes in retirement planning and provides hard-working individuals with data-driven strategies for portfolio managing and comprehensive financial planning.

Media Contact:

Will Murray

Wealth Advisor

will@firstlinefin.com

https://firstlinefin.com

Advisory services are offered through FirstLine Financial LLC, a Registered Investment Advisor in the State of Arizona. Insurance products and services are offered through FirstLine Wealth Management LLC, an affiliated company.

The views expressed are those of the author and are not intended as investment advice, or a forecast or guarantee of future results. All investments involve risk, including the loss of principal and cannot be guaranteed against loss by a bank, custodian, or any other financial institution. Advisory services are offered through FirstLine Financial LLC, a Registered Investment Advisor in the State of Arizona. Insurance products and services are offered through FirstLine Wealth Management LLC, an affiliated company.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/142247
Irvine, California--(Newsfile Corp. - October 29, 2022) - SHAL MLS, LLC, the driving force behind real estate innovation in the Middle East, has announced an agreement with CoreLogic to create the first-ever multiple listing service in Egypt. Powered by a suite of connected solutions from CoreLogic, the new nation-wide MLS will unify the fractured Egyptian real estate industry, modernizing the homebuying process for more than 100 million Egyptian citizens.

The agreement also grants SHAL MLS exclusive rights to deploy CoreLogic multiple listing technology in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar-other Arab nations where organized MLS systems do not yet exist. The new Egyptian MLS system will leverage CoreLogic Matrix, a leading multiple listing platform used by more than a million real estate professionals in the U.S., Canada, and around the globe. SHAL MLS will implement CoreLogic OneHome as its search and client collaboration portal for homebuyers, and CoreLogic Trestle to distribute listing data to SHAL MLS partners.

"The structure and organization that SHAL MLS brings to the region's real estate market including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates will have a profoundly favorable effect on the local economies," said SHAL MLS CEO Ahmed Elbatrawy. "It will digitally put Egypt, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates on the global real estate map and open their real estate markets to the entire world at the click of a button. We plan to make the Egyptian, Saudi and UAE MLS listings available to U.S. real estate agents, which could help boost foreign investment to record levels. We anticipate this venture will generate billions of dollars in sales and improve the ROI for real estate developers and brokers throughout the region."

"The agreement to leverage CoreLogic real estate technology solutions in the middle east is a testament to our overall experience in this space and our commitment to global expansion. We welcome the opportunity to help centralize and modernize the multiple listing landscape in Egypt and beyond," said Devi Mateti, president, Enterprise Digital Solutions for CoreLogic.

About CoreLogic

CoreLogic is a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider. The company's combined data from public, contributory and proprietary sources includes over 4.5 billion records spanning more than 50 years, providing detailed coverage of property, mortgages and other encumbrances, consumer credit, tenancy, location, hazard risk and related performance information. The markets CoreLogic serves include real estate and mortgage finance, insurance, capital markets, and the public sector. CoreLogic delivers value to clients through unique data, analytics, workflow technology, advisory and managed services. Clients rely on CoreLogic to help identify and manage growth opportunities, improve performance and mitigate risk. Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., CoreLogic operates in North America, Western Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit www.corelogic.com.

CORELOGIC, MATRIX, ONEHOME, and TRESTLE are trademarks of CoreLogic, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.

###

Media Contact:

Robin Wachner

Corporate Communications

newsmedia@corelogic.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/142348
Cost of living crisis drives demand for addiction services

OXFORD, England, Oct. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ADAPT, the charity providing free essential support services to recovering addicts, announces that it has seen a 75% increase in demand for its services over the last twelve months. This worrying trend is set against a backdrop of a significant reduction in nationwide funding for the support of those rebuilding their lives without illicit substances, and the Centre for Social Justice labelling the UK as the "addiction capital of Europe".

ADAPT (Addicts are People Too) provides indispensable housing and a structured therapy programme for those battling with addiction issues, as well as nationwide support for families affected by addiction of all types. With 1 in 9 recovering addicts struggling to find adequate housing, the need for ADAPT has never been greater.

Commenting on the current crisis, Edwina Cobb, Founder and MD of ADAPT, said:

"At the start of Addiction Awareness Week, it is essential that we highlight how the cost of living crisis is driving a huge rise in addiction issues across the UK. Many of the places where people may have historically been able to turn to get help are no longer available due to a lack of funding support.

"This is a perfect storm and risks seeing more and more vulnerable people being left behind by society. ADAPT, is unique in that we are providing a mix of safe, independent, housing and access to a proven treatment programme. However, there is a long waiting list for what we offer and we are currently only able to support a fraction of those who are reaching out for help. Up and down the country, as a result of the funding cuts and increasing demand, the best way to get clean is in prison, sadly. In the immediate term we need access to more housing and financial support, whilst an urgent review of national and local funding structures and support for organisations like ADAPT is essential."

Edwina is available for media interviews

For further information:

info@adaptoxford.org.uk

Edwina Cobb

+44 (0)778-655-7104

www.adaptoxford.org.uk

About: ADAPT offers a safe, supportive, and non-judgemental environment to those wanting to rebuild their lives without the use of illicit substances. Our organisation is available to those who have completed primary or secondary care in rehabilitation units; or those who are looking for an abstinence-based environment. ADAPT offers a bespoke day programme which operates five days a week, facilitated by a team of experienced and qualified Addictions Counsellors. The treatment model at ADAPT integrates the principals of 12 step fellowships such as Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous with that of an Interpersonal Therapy Model, offering a holistic approach to recovery, including 12 Step Facilitation, Psycho-educational Workshops, Interpersonal Group Therapy & Weekly 1-1 Therapy sessions. Our purpose is to offer an alternative to regular Supported Housing, with the view to our residents accessing the 'best of both worlds' to offer them the best possible outcomes in their individual journeys. ADAPT uses only evidence-based treatment models and see's each resident as an individual, meaning their treatment plan can be tailored to them.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/addiction-support-crisis-as-charity-sees-a-catastrophic-increase-in-demand-for-its-services-301661565.html
The Open Letter, Published in Sunday's New York Times, Calls for the Immediate Expulsion of the Islamic Republic of Iran from the UN Commission on the Status of Women

WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 30, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The world's preeminent women leaders in business, politics, advocacy and the arts published an open letter in Sunday's New York Times calling for the immediate removal of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).

Signatories of the letter include Sec. Hillary Clinton, Canada's Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland, Media Leader & Philanthropist Oprah Winfrey, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate & Education Activist Malala Yousafzai, Economic & Political Leader Christine Lagarde, former First Lady of the United States & Advocate of Girls Education Michelle Obama, former Executive Director of UN Women Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, former head of UN Climate Change Convention Christiana Figueres DBE, former First Lady of the United States & Education Advocate Laura Bush, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate & Human Rights Activist Nadia Murad and women in leadership positions from 14 countries (and counting).

This global effort-a partnership between Vital Voices, For Freedoms and a coalition of Iranian women leaders-comes amid more than 40 days of worldwide protests launched and led by Iranian women and girls after the tragic death of 22-year-old Mahsa Jina Amini. The protestors are demanding justice after Amini died on September 16, 2022 while in police custody. Amini was arrested by the Islamic Republic of Iran's "morality police" for allegedly not complying with mandatory hijab laws.

Reports of extreme punishments and harsh crackdowns against protestors by Iranian authorities have flooded international headlines and social media feeds in the weeks since Amini's death, gaining worldwide attention and scrutiny.

The group of women leaders who signed on to the letter came together in solidarity with Iranian women and girls with a clear call to action: the immediate removal of the Islamic Republic of Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women.

Within the first few days of going live, the letter received more than 21,000 signatures and growing. Additionally, more than 130,000 petitioners have also signed a letter asking for the same outcome on Change.org.

The open letter states: "We condemn the brutal violence of security forces against peaceful protesters  Earlier this year, to the dismay of women's rights advocates around the world, Iran began a four-year term on the UN's 45-member Commission on the Status of Women. This preeminent global body is exclusively dedicated to promoting gender equality and women's empowerment. The Islamic Republic of Iran's long-standing, systematic oppression of women should have disqualified them from election to the CSW."

The letter also laments the Islamic Republic of Iran's record on women's rights, citing gender inequality and legalized discrimination against women regarding marriage, divorce, inheritance, child custody cases and attire. These restrictions include the mandate that requires women to wear head coverings at the onset of puberty.

The signatories of the letter warn that the violence and loss of life will continue without global intervention at the highest levels, and that the Commission on the Status of Women will lose credibility each day the Islamic Republic of Iran remains a member.

"This is a critical moment for leaders in the international community to vocally and unequivocally demonstrate their support for women's rights by standing in solidarity with Iranian women and girls," states the letter.

Members of the public are invited to read the full letter here. To join the movement, sign on here.



###

About Vital Voices Global Partnership

Now celebrating 25 years, Vital Voices Global Partnership has directly invested in more than 20,000 women leaders across 184 countries and territories since its inception in 1997. Driven by the universal truth that women are the key to progress in their communities and nations cannot move forward without women in leadership positions, Vital Voices has provided early support for leaders who went on to become Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, U.S. Youth Poet Laureates, prime ministers, award-winning innovators, pioneering human rights defenders, and breakthrough social entrepreneurs, including Amanda Gorman and Malala Yousafzai. In an effort to advance and expand this work, in 2022 Vital Voices opened the doors to the world's first global embassy for women, the Vital Voices Global Headquarters for Women's Leadership. It is a first-of-its-kind space that allows for convening, innovation, planning, and action-all in the pursuit of serving women leaders who are taking on the world's greatest challenges.

www.vitalvoices.org

About For Freedoms

For Freedoms is an artist collective that centers art and creativity as a catalyst for transformative connection and collective liberation.

By wielding the power of art, we aim to deepen and expand our capacity to interrogate what is and imagine what could be.

Together, we seek infinite expansion.

www.forfreedoms.com

Attachments
LONDON, Oct. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- At the 20th CPC Congress in Beijing, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping outlined what he called a "new journey of national rejuvenation through a Chinese path to modernization."





On this special one-hour show, China Media Group Europe examines China's move from high speed to high quality growth, its green transition and the very real opportunities that has created for Europe to engage with a rejuvenated and fully modernized China. Its anchor Juliet Mann is joined by China's Ambassador to the UK, Zheng Zeguang, and a host of experts from across the world to consider exactly what that new journey will look like, and how it will impact relations with the UK and Europe.

In an exclusive conversation, CMG Europe finds out what the idea that China cannot develop in isolation from the world and that the world needs China for its development really means in practice. His Excellency Mr Zheng also shares his thoughts on how China and Europe can work together to tackle global problems. He told Juliet Mann: "China will respond to external uncertainties with its own certainty, and inject positive energy into world development with its high-quality development and high standard opening up."

A New Journey then moves on to consider the miracles of fast economic growth and long-term social stability. Stephen Perry, Chair of The 48 Group Club tells Juliet that we can expect to see a similar transformation in China in the next 40 years to that we've seen over the last 40. David Fergusson, who has edited four volumes of Xi Jinping's work on the governance of China, echoes that, pointing out that continuity of purpose is what has made China successful. Marc Ostwald, Chief Economist and Global Strategist at ADM Investor Services International points out the very necessary modernizing reforms now in place to facilitate China's growth towards a $20 trillion economy, and Wang Huiyao, Founder and President of the Center for China and Globalization celebrates the hybrid economy China has been able to create through extensive reforms is what is central to China's Success.

The final part of CMG Europe's special program considers China's green revolution. Author and business expert Tim Clissold points out that China is leading the world in terms of the transition to renewable energy and electric cars, a thought echoed by Dr Christoph Nedopil, Director of the Green Finance & Development Center at the Fanhai International School of Finance. Yin Zhiguang, Professor at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Fudan University tells Juliet how China's vision of a green world actually entails a much bigger vision for a fairer and more accessible world order. And Stephen Lynch, Managing Director of the British Chamber of Commerce in Beijing explains how a greener China is an incredible opportunity for British and European businesses to collaborate with their Chinese counterparts.

Tune in from 16GMT on 31 October 2022 on CGTN, YouTube, Facebook and Dailymotion to watch the special show and catch all the stories and videos at https://www.cgtn.com/europe.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1933081/CGTN__Europe.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1933082/CMG_Europe_CMG_Europe.jpg





View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/cmg-europe-launches-a-new-journey--a-special-program-to-examine-chinas-global-relations-301662953.html
BAD HOMBURG VOR DER HOEHE (dpa-AFX) - Fresenius Medical Care (FMS) reported that it now expects 2022 net income attributable to shareholders of the company to decline in the high teens to mid-twenties percentage range. Fresenius Medical Care specified that it continues to operate in a challenging environment, the impacts of the Company's focused efforts to improve North American Health Care Services operations are delayed against previous assumptions. Therefore, Fresenius Medical Care now assumes lower contributions in the financial year 2022. But, the company still sees revenue to grow at a low-single digit percentage range in 2022. The Group noted that revenue and net income guidance are both on a constant currency basis and before special items. 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.
(ASX:C29)

Today were looking at C29 Metals. The company announced this morning that it has secured an option agreement with AIS Resources to acquire 80 per cent of two highly prospective lithium-bearing salars within the world renowned Lithium Triangle of South America, for a total of US$2.38 million.The two exploration licences, Pocitos 7 and Pocitos 9, are located within Argentinas Salta Province, and both are drill-ready, with previous exploration indicating highly prospective layers of lithium-bearing brine potential.C29 plans to drill-test these geophysical targets in the short term before commencing a program of lithium extraction process testing.The company has begun due diligence processes, including collating and reviewing historical exploration data, while a drill rig and a local team have been secured for drilling the maiden reconnaissance exploration wells.The option agreement with AIS Resources, a Canadian company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, involves a total option fee of US$430,000 for a 9-month exploration licence.AIS Resources has undertaken a similar agreement with their Pocitos 1 and Pocitos 2 projects, which have been optioned to Recharge Resources and Spey Resources, respectively. AIS has outlined they will retain a 7.5 per cent royalty on lithium carbonate sales for both projects.C29s Pocitos 7 and 8 projects are located in the presence of existing infrastructure with road, rail, and power all passing through the area. This includes the Salta-Antofagasta railway, which runs within 20km of the project and has a station at the nearby town of Pocitos. This provides a direct link for the project to the major Chilean port city of Antofagasta on the Pacific coast, allowing an easy route to market for the refined lithium carbonate that the project can produce.The projects are situated at over 3,600m above ground level, and the concessions are surrounded by land held by other lithium brine explorers, including major players such as the dual-listed Argentina Lithium & Energy (TSX-V:LIT), Power Minerals, Spey Resources (CSE:SPEY) and Recharge Resources (CSE:RR), who all hold an interest in land at the Salar de Pocitos.In response to the news, C29s Executive Director Mark Major commented, We now have an opportunity to establish ourselves in this demand driven market within the world-renowned lithium triangle of South America, a place with suitably established infrastructure in place. Most of the initial groundwork has been done, with the TEM geophysical surveys highlighting areas of prospectivity. We caught up with Mark earlier today.C29 has also signed a non-exclusive IP Licence agreement with Ekosolve, which has a direct lithium extraction (DLE) process that has demonstrated positive battery grade extraction and lithium recovery results from similar brines.DLE will be a fundamental part of the success of the project. High-quality brine extraction technology currently serves as a key feature of many brine projects.We have previously seen success of lithium miners partnering with high quality technological partners in the DLE space.Miner Lake Resourcespartnered with Lilac Solutions to adopt a DLE method that takes just three hours to extract lithium via brines. This compares with some methods of direct lithium extraction from brines that take between nine months and two years. This technological benefit currently serves as a competitive advantage for Lake Resources.Although C29 has signed with Ekosolve, the company is also in talks with DLE technological companies Lilac Solutions and Sunresin New Materials group.Lithium is currently the key ingredient in the lithium ion battery -- the current gold standard for EV batteries. This move now puts the company in a great position to capitalise on the inevitable shift toward clean, renewable energy. The company can provide car manufactures with this highly valued commodity, capitalising on the projected growth in electric vehicle markets worldwide.Shares in C29 Metalsare currently trading 93.3 per cent higher at $0.29.
Reclaim.ai, a Portland, Oregon-based intelligent calendar app and time management platform for Google Calendar, raised $9.5m in total funding to date.

This comes following their recent $3.2m pre-Series A round from new and existing investors including Yummy Ventures, Character.vc, Flying Fish, Operator Partners, Grafana CEO Raj Dutt, and others.

Led by Patrick Lightbody, CEO, and Adrian Osman, COO, Reclaim.ai is an intelligent calendar assistant and time management platform for Google Calendar used by over 14,000 companies worldwide including Grafana, Shape Therapeutics, Postman, Mr. Yum, Calendly, and more. In addition to helping busy professionals make time for their important work, Reclaim issues quarterly productivity trends reports that highlight how teams are optimizing their workweeks in the modern workplace.

The company additionally launched a new Scheduling Links feature into private beta, supported by the findings from their Meeting Scheduling Trends Report, which surveyed over 800 busy professionals on how they use scheduling links and the different issues they face across roles and meeting types when orchestrating their meetings via scheduling links. This launch consolidates smart time blocking with meeting scheduling automation to provide a unified suite for enterprise time orchestration.

The company also released recent findings of their Workplace Burnout Trends Report, which surveyed over 700 professionals on burnout levels and the factors contributing to quiet quitting. This data, in combination with the Scheduling Trends report, illustrates a clear linkage between time management and employee attrition.

FinSMEs

30/10/2022
On October 27, 2022, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi had a phone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Wang Yi said that the 20th CPC National Congress was a united, victorious and future-oriented meeting; Comrade Xi Jinping was unanimously re-elected General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, which fully reflects the common will of the whole Party and people across the country. Wang pointed out that the establishment of Comrade Xi Jinping's core position on the Party Central Committee and in the Party as a whole and the establishment of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the guiding ideology to be adhered to over the long term will provide the most fundamental political guarantee for China to successfully advance Chinese modernization and realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Wang pointed out that General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed at the Congress that it is imperative that all of us in the Party never forget our original aspiration and founding mission, that we always stay modest, prudent, and hard-working, and that we have the courage and ability to carry on our fight -- this is the most important inspiration gained from the historical experience of China's revolution and construction; it is not only a requirement for the more than 96 million Party members, but also a call to the people across the country.

Wang Yi said that the fact that President Vladimir Putin sent a congratulatory message to General Secretary Xi Jinping right after the 20th CPC National Congress has reflected the high-level mutual trust and firm mutual support between China and Russia. China will also firmly support Russia in rallying and leading the Russian people under the leadership of President Putin to achieve strategic development goals against all the odds and disturbance, and to further establish Russia's status as a major country on the international stage. Wang noted that both China and Russia are fully entitled to seeking its own development and revitalization, and this is fully consistent with the trend of the times. Any attempt to hold back the progress of China and Russia will end up in failure. China is ready to further deepen exchanges with Russia at all levels, and take China-Russia relations and cooperation in various fields to a higher level, so as to bring more benefits to the two countries and peoples, and contribute more elements of stability to the unstable world.

Lavrov extended warm congratulations on the complete success of the 20th CPC National Congress and General Secretary Xi Jinping's re-election. He said that the 20th CPC National Congress is an important event for the world, and will surely lead China to the successful attainment of the goal of national rejuvenation. Russia is ready to increase engagements with China at all levels, and deepen cooperation in multilateral settings, to jointly safeguard peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific and the world at large.

The two sides also exchanged views on the Ukraine issue and international and regional issues of mutual interest and concern.
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While we knew this years race for Linn County Sheriff would be interesting, as its the first general election in 26 years that offers the voters a choice between two candidates, we could have never anticipated it being this spicy.

The race between current Sheriff Michelle Duncan and Deputy Jon Raymond may be the most contentious local election in Linn and Benton counties this year.

The acrimony cant be chalked up to a red-blue political divide. For one thing, the office is nonpartisan. For another, both candidates are conservative Republicans, although Deputy Raymond wears his political affiliations a little more loudly on his sleeve. Youll find his signage and appearances side-by-side with other Republicans running for office.

Duncan acknowledges she shies away from truly partisan displays. She wants to make sure she communicates that she is the peoples sheriff, that no one should be afraid to call 911 when they need help.

That statement alone endears her to us, but is it enough? Not yet.

Raymonds candidacy appears to have vast support from the union, the Linn County Deputy Sheriff's Association. Setting aside that when asked how his campaign differs from teachers unions backing candidates to elect their own boss to school boards  a practice traditional conservatives disdain  and he unsatisfactorily responded, it just is, we have to stop and ask:

Whats driving all this discontent? Its a worthy question.

Sure, there are a lot of former employees backing him, and theyre often a disgruntled group. But on-staff employees seem to back Raymond too, and that is sending a message. They say theyre tired of the good ole boys club (yes, we see the irony) that allows management to hand-pick their successors. They say they feel not trusted and not included. They say Raymond will be a difference-maker on this front. Were inclined to believe that.

Is that enough to endear Raymond to us? Not yet.

Duncan admitted there is a morale problem at the department. It was evident when she took the office after the Board of Commissioners appointed her in January. Its been at the top of her to-do list, but deep-seated problems do take a while to untangle.

We trust Duncan to do just that. More importantly, we trust her to do it in a responsible way, in a manner that will keep the county out of lawsuits, state and federal regulators from fining the department and away from legislators who might want to tighten their grip on the agencys purse strings.

Those are some fairly big consequences, but we fear Raymond could take us down that exact pathway. Heres why:

At an Oct. 1 debate, Raymond talked about reopening the jails to full capacity, possibly in spite of COVID-19 safety measures. He said, The sheriff has to run the jail.  If the sheriff has to fight a few lawsuits here and there  I hope we dont have to  but we need to stand up and fight or well be overrun."

In that sentence, he lost us. The sheriff may be an elected official, but the sheriff is also the publics servant. Subjecting the citizens of Linn County to potential lawsuits  plural!  is not sound leadership, even if it makes him a hero to the rank and file. Raymond would counter (we know, because we asked) that as an elected official, its OK for him to get political.

We say someone who is in charge of enforcing the laws should not be breaking them. Linn County needs reliable, responsible law enforcement, not a sheriff whose antics get highlighted on cable TV talk shows.

The comparison has been made that heading the Linn County Sheriffs Office is like running a business, and the people at the top need to be cognizant of that. Raymond said he will fill leadership positions with experts in human resources, bean counting and the like.

To be able to interact with those experts and make smart decisions, a sheriff  like a CEO  needs to be conversant in those areas, along with understanding liability exposure and how the latest legal precedents impact those in the field.

Duncan is already doing that, and were confident she can rise to the myriad challenges the job will continue to bring.

Is that endearing enough? As taxpayers and as residents of this community, we say absolutely.
Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2021.
 Film Africa, Londons biggest celebration of African and African diaspora cinema presented by the Royal African Society (www.RoyalAfricanSociety.org), returns for its 10th edition with the UK Premiere of the multi-award winning Our Father, The Devil, Friday 28 October at Picturehouse Central, off Leicester Square.

Download document: https://bit.ly/3znszPg

Winner of the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature at this summers Tribeca Film Festival, this unnervingly compelling film follows caretaker Marie as her peaceful life in France is upended by the arrival of a charismatic priest who reminds her of her traumatic past.

Ellie Foumbis feature directorial debut is an intense and fearless dissection of trauma, power, revenge, guilt, and the devils hiding within all of us. Featuring Oscar-worthy performances by Sadjo and Savane, Our Father, The Devil is a stunning showcase for the impeccable talents of everyone involved. Heart-pounding and morally gray throughout, Foumbi and her collaborators have created a new classic that dares to go to bold cinematic heights.Karen McMullen, Tribeca Film Festival

Film Africa runs from Friday 28 October to Sunday 6 November 2022. The first edition since the end of covid restrictions, the festival will once again return to cinemas across London, showcasing 47 titles from 16 African countries, including 21 UK, European and World premieres, in 7 venues. Building off the success of last years partnership with BFI Player, Film Africa will also feature a selection of 7 narrative and documentary films on BFI Player, which will be available for people to watch during the festival, individually or in interactive watch parties. BFI Player is available with a free 14-day trial.

With a vision of showcasing the depth and variety of African stories, this years curators (Aseye Tamakloe, Accra, Ghana, Nyambura M. Waruingi, Nairobi, Kenya, and Wilfred Okiche, Cleveland, USA via Lagos, Nigeria) have selected films which demonstrate that although a lot of history and experiences are shared by Africans, there isnt any one way to be or express being African. The films  feature-length and shorts, fiction and documentary  lay bare discourse around diversity, inclusiveness, power structures, seeking healing, and building communities. Themes covered include a mothers love, belonging, sisterly bonds, migration, sexuality, gender, religion, abortion rights, repressed trauma, and freedom struggles. The selected films go to the very heart of issues, connecting historical events with contemporary concerns, and although heavy, these issues have been handled with sensitivity and captured with beauty on screen, reflecting the technical and artistic capacities of this era of African filmmakers.

Desta Haile, Deputy Director at the Royal African Society, said: The Royal African Society is delighted to present the 10th edition of Film Africa. To open with Ellies film and to her joining us for the Q&A is really exciting. Our partners  curators, judges, directors, artists, food, media, food, drink, music  have helped us pull together a stunning 10 days for the people, and I cant wait to welcome people in person to our screenings, Q&As, workshops and events, and to our online events!

Sarah Wechselberger, Festival Producer at Film Africa said: Film Africas mission remains the same: to offer a platform to showcase and celebrate the best contemporary African cinema in London and the UK, reaffirming our emphasis on discovering new talent. I am personally excited about each and every single selected film in this years programme as we encounter bold storytelling, unforgettable characters and refreshing new perspectives. From daring fiction titles, thought provoking shorts to impactful documentaries, one theme that recurs is RETURN.

In line with The Royal African Societys mission to connect, celebrate and engage audiences with topics and ideas about Africa today, the Film Africa 2022 programme features director Q&As, plus panel discussions, online events, themed dine & view evenings, live music events, and a programme of educational workshops and masterclasses focused on increasing diversity in film.

This year, we are continuing our partnerships with BEYOND NOLLYWOOD and Deaffest, and are pleased to announce new partnerships with Cinewax, EbonyLife Media, and Mobile Film Festival Africa, who will be hosting viewings, workshops, and masterclasses as part of the festival.

BEYOND NOLLYWOOD: Curated by and presented by Nadia Denton, a selection of films which celebrate the new wave audio-visual content from Nigeria and its diaspora, alongside a Q&A with Clarence A Peters, the Director of Inside Life.

Cinewax will host an animation workshop with award winning animator, illustrator and visual artist Comfort Arthur.

Deaffest will present a programme of films by Deaf filmmakers along with a live panel discussion led by popular BSL TV presenter and in-vision translator Ahmed Mudawi, and a workshop from black deaf filmmaker David Ellington.

EbonyLife Media: Mo Abudu will host a masterclass for young Film Africa Creatives alongside Actress, Writer, and Director Nana Mensah and Costume Designer Colleen Morris-Glennon.

Mobile Film Festival Africa: Participants will learn how to make a film  from ideation through to editing  using just a smartphone.

Film Africas mission remains the same  to offer a platform to showcase and celebrate the best contemporary African cinema in London and the UK. As in previous years, the festival will once again present a programme of innovative shorts in competition for the annual Baobab Award for Best Short Film, judged by a panel of industry experts. The Film Africa Audience Award for Best Feature Film also returns to give festival audiences a vote. Both awards carry a cash prize of 1,000 and will be awarded during the festival.

Film Africa 2022 has been made possible thanks to the support of the BFI, Amazon Literary Partnership, Garfield Weston Foundation, Miles Morland Foundation, and EbonyLife Media.

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AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- LOAR PLLC is a fast-growing, woman-owned, personal injury law firm with offices in Austin, Waco, and Dallas/Fort Worth and cases across the state. The firm, which recently announced a $250,000 scholarship program, has been looking for top legal talent that shares its passion for investing in the community. The firm provides top attorneys all the advantages of owning their own practice combined with the flexibility of being part of a firm with support structures, offices and meeting space, and technology allowing their team to work anywhere.

LOAR founder, Amber Russell, has a long history of accomplishment, graduating from the University of Texas at the age of 20, graduating in the top 10% from the University of Texas Law School, starting her career in prestigious big law and spending decades honing her craft. Even with all these successes, Amber consistently felt a pull toward a different law firm experience, one where she could select cases and clients that fit her passion for justice, one where the docket allowed for a more relational approach, one where she had opportunity to build a business for the long term, and one where she could work with the best team that strengthens each other and works collaboratively. Amber founded LOAR PLLC to create a different type of law firm.

LOAR PLLC hires practice leaders for specific markets across Texas. Practice leaders are provided the resources to fuel their business development and entrepreneurial aspiration, making this the perfect opportunity for someone who wants to convert this marketing investment and grow a large business. The firm balances a pursuit of justice, with business goals, all with a positive growth-oriented culture. The attorneys at LOAR run their dockets and first chair cases, and also benefit from expert legal guidance, paralegal support and training through the firm. Attorneys serve their clients with skill and compassion, with a mission to change lives. Beyond their legal contributions, the firm is active in the communities served including hosting annual events such as Summer Celebration and providing SOAR Scholarships. To learn more about LOAR's open practice positions visit LOAR Texas.

LOAR's principal office is located in Austin with additional locations in Waco and DFW. LOAR's attorneys have received recognition for excellence by Thompson Reuters, Martindale-Hubbell, Austin Monthly, and TCWLA. For more information visit our website or contact us, Contact@LOARtexas.com, 888-288-6503; and follow Law Office of Amber Russell PLLC (LOAR) on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn for more announcements.

Contact Information:

Amber Russell

Founder / Owner

amber@loartexas.com

+18882886503



This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com.
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WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 30, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The world's preeminent women leaders in business, politics, advocacy and the arts published an open letter in Sunday's New York Times calling for the immediate removal of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).

Signatories of the letter include Sec. Hillary Clinton, Canada's Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland, Media Leader & Philanthropist Oprah Winfrey, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate & Education Activist Malala Yousafzai, Economic & Political Leader Christine Lagarde, former First Lady of the United States & Advocate of Girls Education Michelle Obama, former Executive Director of UN Women Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, former head of UN Climate Change Convention Christiana Figueres DBE, former First Lady of the United States & Education Advocate Laura Bush, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate & Human Rights Activist Nadia Murad and women in leadership positions from 14 countries (and counting).

This global efforta partnership between Vital Voices, For Freedoms and a coalition of Iranian women leaderscomes amid more than 40 days of worldwide protests launched and led by Iranian women and girls after the tragic death of 22-year-old Mahsa Jina Amini. The protestors are demanding justice after Amini died on September 16, 2022 while in police custody. Amini was arrested by the Islamic Republic of Iran's "morality police" for allegedly not complying with mandatory hijab laws.

Reports of extreme punishments and harsh crackdowns against protestors by Iranian authorities have flooded international headlines and social media feeds in the weeks since Amini's death, gaining worldwide attention and scrutiny.

The group of women leaders who signed on to the letter came together in solidarity with Iranian women and girls with a clear call to action: the immediate removal of the Islamic Republic of Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women.

Within the first few days of going live, the letter received more than 21,000 signatures and growing. Additionally, more than 130,000 petitioners have also signed a letter asking for the same outcome on Change.org.

The open letter states: "We condemn the brutal violence of security forces against peaceful protesters  Earlier this year, to the dismay of women's rights advocates around the world, Iran began a fouryear term on the UN's 45member Commission on the Status of Women. This preeminent global body is exclusively dedicated to promoting gender equality and women's empowerment. The Islamic Republic of Iran's longstanding, systematic oppression of women should have disqualified them from election to the CSW."

The letter also laments the Islamic Republic of Iran's record on women's rights, citing gender inequality and legalized discrimination against women regarding marriage, divorce, inheritance, child custody cases and attire. These restrictions include the mandate that requires women to wear head coverings at the onset of puberty.

The signatories of the letter warn that the violence and loss of life will continue without global intervention at the highest levels, and that the Commission on the Status of Women will lose credibility each day the Islamic Republic of Iran remains a member.

"This is a critical moment for leaders in the international community to vocally and unequivocally demonstrate their support for women's rights by standing in solidarity with Iranian women and girls," states the letter.

Members of the public are invited to read the full letter here. To join the movement, sign on here.



###

About Vital Voices Global Partnership

Now celebrating 25 years, Vital Voices Global Partnership has directly invested in more than 20,000 women leaders across 184 countries and territories since its inception in 1997. Driven by the universal truth that women are the key to progress in their communities and nations cannot move forward without women in leadership positions, Vital Voices has provided early support for leaders who went on to become Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, U.S. Youth Poet Laureates, prime ministers, award-winning innovators, pioneering human rights defenders, and breakthrough social entrepreneurs, including Amanda Gorman and Malala Yousafzai. In an effort to advance and expand this work, in 2022 Vital Voices opened the doors to the world's first global embassy for women, the Vital Voices Global Headquarters for Women's Leadership. It is a first-of-its-kind space that allows for convening, innovation, planning, and actionall in the pursuit of serving women leaders who are taking on the world's greatest challenges.

www.vitalvoices.org

About For Freedoms

For Freedoms is an artist collective that centers art and creativity as a catalyst for transformative connection and collective liberation.

By wielding the power of art, we aim to deepen and expand our capacity to interrogate what is and imagine what could be.

Together, we seek infinite expansion.

www.forfreedoms.com

Attachments
NEW YORK, Oct. 30, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Azure Power Global Limited (Azure or the Company) (NYSE: AZRE). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at newaction@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 7980.



The investigation concerns whether Azure and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

On August 29, 2022, Azure issued a press release disclosing, among other items, that [t]he Company received a whistleblower complaint in May 2022 alleging potential procedural irregularities and misconduct by certain employees at a plant belonging to one of its subsidiaries. Azure further reported that [a]s part of the Companys review of these allegations, it discovered deviations from safety and quality norms, and it has implemented mechanisms to remediate them and in so doing strengthen safety and quality protocols. Azures Audit Committee, with the assistance of legal counsel and forensic accounting support, also identified evidence of manipulation of project data and information by certain employees. The Company is implementing immediate remedial measures, and Azure is initiating disclosure of the findings to the appropriate authorities. On this news, Azures stock price fell $4.61 per share or 44.07% percent, to close at $5.85 per share on August 29, 2022.

Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com
NEW YORK, Oct. 30, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Palantir Technologies Inc. (Palantir or the Company) (NYSE: PLTR) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado, and docketed under 22-cv-02384, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons and entities other than Defendants that purchased or otherwise acquired Palantir securities between November 9, 2021 and May 6, 2022, both dates inclusive (the Class Period), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act) and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, against the Company and certain of its top officials.



If you are a shareholder who purchased or otherwise acquired Palantir securities during the Class Period, you have until November 14, 2022 to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com . To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at newaction@pomlaw.com or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 7980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased.

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

Palantir builds and deploys software platforms to assist the U.S. intelligence community in counterterrorism investigations and operations. The Company has two operating segments, commercial and government, with the latter primarily serving agencies in the U.S. federal government and non-U.S. governments. Palantir also invests in so-called marketable securities consisting of equity securities in publicly-traded companies.

Palantir has consistently described sources of geopolitical instability and other disruptionse.g., armed conflicts, economic crises, and the COVID-19 pandemicas tailwinds for its business, given that the Companys products and services are purportedly built to aid its customers in assessing and responding to such disruptions.

The Complaint alleges that, throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Companys business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Palantirs investments in marketable securities were having a significant negative impact on the Companys earnings per share (EPS) results; (ii) Palantir overstated the sustainability of its government segments growth and revenues; (iii) Palantir was experiencing a significant slowdown in revenue growth, particularly among its government customers, despite ongoing global conflicts and market disruptions; (iv) as a result of all the foregoing, the Company was likely to miss consensus estimates for its first quarter 2022 (Q1) EPS and second quarter 2022 (Q2) sales outlook; and (v) as a result, the Companys public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On May 9, 2022, Palantir issued a press release announcing its Q1 financial results and guidance for Q2. For Q1, Palantir announced adjusted EPS of $0.02, compared to analyst estimates of $0.04 per share, noting on a conference call that the [f]irst quarter adjusted [EPS of] $0.02 . . . includes a negative $0.02 impact driven primarily by unrealized losses on marketable securities. The Company also disclosed that government revenue grew by only 16% year-over-year for Q1, representing a significant slowdown in revenue growth compared to prior quarters, and that, for Q2, the Company expected $470 million in sales, compared to estimates of $483.76 million.

On this news, Palantirs stock price fell $2.02 per share, or 21.31%, to close at $7.46 per share on May 9, 2022.

As multiple news outlets reported that day, Palantirs significant decline in revenue growth, particularly from its government customers, surprised investors, especially given the ongoing geopolitical instability and other disruptions caused by, inter alia, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and Russo-Ukrainian Warthat is, precisely the type of destabilizing conditions that the Company had previously touted as tailwinds for its business.

Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com
By Sabina Mammadli

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has condemned the terrorist attack on a religious site in Iran, Azernews reports via the ministry's Twitter post.

The ministry expressed that as a state that has faced terrorism, Azerbaijan condemns all its forms and manifestations.

"We deplore terror attack in Shah Cheragh Mosque in #Shiraz, #Iran. We extend our heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims, hope for speedy recovery of those injured. As a state that has faced terrorism, Azerbaijan strongly condemns all its forms & manifestations," the ministry tweeted.

At least 15 people have been killed and 40 others injured in an attack on a Shia religious shrine in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz. The attack was carried out by three armed men, who entered the shrine.
The browser wars of the 90s and 2000s saw the dominant player - Microsoft's Internet Explorer - locked in a David and Goliath battle against Firefox, an open-source browser that was spun off from work at Netscape.

A decade later another software war began - Microsoft was involved again with Windows Mobile, but the Goliath in this case was Symbian lead by Nokia. You should be familiar with the two Davids that took it on - Apple's iPhone and Google's Android project.

However, today's story is about Firefox OS, which was developed by Mozilla, the same community that had been working on the Firefox browser since the late 90s. Mozilla wanted to bring its principles of openness, security and privacy to the smartphone market and some smartphone makers were receptive to a new alternative to Android.

Geeksphone Peak

The first phones came out in 2013, the Geeksphone Keon and Peak. These highly affordable devices (91 and 149) were aimed at developers as they run a still-not-complete version of the OS. They were powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets (S1 for the Keon and S4 for the Peak) with just 512MB of RAM and 4GB storage.

2013 saw some major players release their own Firefox OS phones. The alcatel One Touch Fire (built by TCL) and ZTE Open came out in July. Like the Keon, they ran on the S1 chipset with even less RAM (256MB) and had tiny 3.5" 320 x 480px screens (hey, that was good enough for the original iPhone in 2007).

The LG Fireweb rounded off the year. Though it had a larger 4" display (320 x 480px) and 512MB of RAM, it was still an entry-level device. That was part of the plan, Firefox OS wanted to be accessible to everyone and that precluded premium prices. Or perhaps everyone not too busy with Android was already trying to make Windows Phone work and didn't have time for another project.



alcatel One Touch Fire  ZTE Open  LG Fireweb

Before we press on, let's talk about Firefox OS. As you can tell from the name, it used Firefox as its web browser, rather than something based on WebKit (like both Apple's Safari and Google's Chrome).

But it was more than that - iOS and Android have their own UI toolkits that were used to build apps. That made the apps less portable and required learning new tools if you wanted to make an app.

Mozilla was aiming for openness and accessibility, so it decided that apps will be just like web apps - written in HTML, CSS and JavaScript. To get your start with those all you needed is a computer that can run a text editor and a web browser, basically every computer sold in the last two decades would do. So, Firefox wasn't just the default browser, it was the app runtime as well.

Like Android, Firefox OS used the Linux kernel. In fact, Mozilla was able to hit the ground running by adopting code developed for Android phones. This includes things like the Android Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL), which smoothed out differences between the various platforms - most FF OS phones ran on Snapdragons, but not all (e.g. one Geeksphone used an Intel Atom Z chip, remember those?). You can read our Firefox OS review from 2014 if you want to learn more about the platform - what it felt to use rather than the internal details.

Alcatel (TCL) and ZTE remained the primary hardware partners for Firefox OS with devices like the Fire S and Open L, which were on the verge of being mid-range. Huawei dipped its toe in 2014 with the Huawei Y300II.



alcatel Fire S  ZTE Open L  Huawei Y300II

There were tiny devices like the alcatel Pixi 3 (3.5) with its 3.5" display and even some tablets, for example, the alcatel Fire 7 (its 7" display had 540 x 960px resolution, which was tough on the eyes).



alcatel Pixi 3 (3.5) Firefox  alcatel Fire 7

Firefox OS also reached Japan when LG had another go - the LG Fx0 for KDDI was designed by Tokujin Yoshioka. It was a curious-looking device with transparent exterior panels. And it was the most high-tech FF OS phone ever - with a decently fast Snapdragon 400 chipset, 1.5GB of RAM, 16GB storage and a 4.7" IPS LCD with 720p resolution. It sold for JPY 50,000 ($415/340), making it the most expensive Firefox device at the time.

These 2015 releases also marked the end of the road for Firefox OS. Mozilla officially declared time of death in December 2015. None of the phones were major sellers despite their affordable prices (or perhaps because of their rock bottom specs).

Before we tackle the subject of life after death, we wanted to quickly mention a few oddball devices based on Firefox OS. A Kickstarter project tried to build a Chromecast competitor dubbed Matchstick TV. That ended in failure over difficulties of dealing with DRM (which is vital for streaming).

The Matchstick TV, a failed Firefox OS powered Chromecast competitor

VIA made a couple of single-board computers (think Raspberry Pi) that were named Rock and Paper. Panasonic released a smart TV (CX700) based on the OS as well.

The Panasonic CX700 was a Firefox OS smart TV

Firefox the browser was originally known as Phoenix, named after the mythical firebird that rose from the ashes of its predecessor (symbolic as it was seen as rising from the ashes of Netscape Navigator). This was later changed (because of a trademark dispute with BIOS maker Phoenix Technologies) to Firebird (but that name also clashed with another company). Eventually the reborn browser was renamed Firefox and a red panda became its symbol.

Like its namesake browser, Firefox OS would be reborn from the ashes. After Mozilla pulled out, a community formed to continue developing "B2G OS" (Boot 2 Gecko, Gecko being the layout engine of Firefox). This later served as the basis of KaiOS.

ZTE is heavily involved in the project, continuing its work on the Open devices. KaiOS should also be familiar to you from the throwback Nokia devices - the Nokia 8110 4G, 6300 4G and 2720 V Flip.



Nokia 8110 4G  Nokia 6300 4G  Nokia 2720 V Flip

Another familiar face returned with the likes of alcatel 3088, alcatel Go Flip 3 and Go Flip V.



alcatel 3088  alcatel Go Flip 3  alcatel Go Flip V

Interestingly, KaiOS has created a sub-genre of rugged phones, the likes of the Nokia 800 Tough, Cat B35, Energizer E282SC and Plum Ram 9.



Nokia 800 Tough  Cat B35  Energizer E282SC  Plum Ram 9

Indian carrier Jio also used KaiOS for the original JioPhone and the JioPhone 2, though it is moving away from that in favor of the Android-based Pragati OS.

The JioPhone 2

Millions of KaiOS phones have been sold - back in February 2018 that number was at 30 million. Unfortunately, KaiOS doesn't espouse the open nature of Firefox OS and some parts are closed source. KaiOS never outgrew Firefox OS's preference for low-end devices, again, that is the whole point of the platform - to power phones that are too cheap for even Android Go.

Say what you will about it, but KaiOS is more successful than Firefox OS ever was. Did Mozilla give up to soon? Or did it simply fail to find the right hardware partners? It doesn't matter now, Android won and it is the open source phone OS of choice.

Firefox OS wasn't the only smartphone OS based on web technologies and not the first either. We have already looked back at Palm's webOS, whose interface was ahead of its time, but its time as a smartphone OS was short. After a short stint at HP it now the OS that powers LG's smart TVs (LG never made a smart TV with Firefox OS, unlike Panasonic).
After immersing themselves in CHamoru cultural values through Chief Hurao Academy for years, some teens and older youths are now helping Hurao carry out their legacy of passing cultural knowledge and beliefs down to the younger generation.

I definitely learned to appreciate where I grew up and appreciate my culture, and really see from the eyes of these older people who grew up, and learn the way that they learned  and be able to really, fully, immerse myself, said 15-year-old Inina Mantikiya Tanaka.

Chief Hurao Academy is a nonprofit CHamoru immersion school offering pre-school, after-school and adult programs.

Founded by Anna Marie Arceo, known as Saina Guinifi, in 2005, the program aims to pass the CHamoru language onto the next generations to keep (their) identity as a people alive, and (their) people-hood alive, Arceo said.

In addition to teaching students the language, Hurao teaches culture along with it, like dance and weaving and cooking, and just how to live off the land, according to Arceo.

Core values

According to its website, Huraos nine core values are:

aguaiya, to love.

agoflie, to see others without judgment.

aumitde, to be humble.

afamaolek, to make things good.

arespeta, to have respect.

amamahlao, to have shame.

ageftao, to be giving.

aadahi, to have care for one another and our surroundings.

aagradesi, to have appreciation for one another.

Many of the students from Huraos earlier days have grown up into practitioners of the language and culture.

Tanaka, who has been attending the academys programs for about six years, said Hurao taught her a great deal about self-identity when it comes to being CHamoru.

Tanaka said Hurao helped her learn CHamoru values such as aguaiya, teaching her about empathy and what it means to truly love and care for everyone.

Tanaka, who attends a military school, said that she felt somewhat outcasted as one of the few students who has grown up on Guam.

The more I was around other cultures and slowly pulled away from my own, I started to lose a part of me which is my culture. Then, when I went to Hurao, I was suddenly surrounded by these kids who were just like me and grew up similarly and who all wanted to learn CHamoru and learn about their ancestors.

Wanting to give back to the program that helped shape her persona, Tanaka has taken on the role of pineksai and volunteers to help teach younger students what she learned as a child.

Its overall going to be the youngest generation that we can find that is going to spread our beliefs because theyre going to be the people who are fully immersed and fluent and know what theyre doing, so they can keep passing it down, and I want to keep that dream alive, Tanaka said.

Another teen teacher, 16-year-old Eden-Blaise Cruz, said she never realized how much the language and the culture would have impacted (her) life until (she) started (there).

Not only did she gain knowledge of her language, but she also learned to respect others, which is something that she had not seen in other school settings.

She said she wishes that Hurao was at every other school, including high schools to teach (her) generation the values that (they) teach in this little school.

Another pineksai, 17-year-old Luca Sinahi Flores, said volunteering enabled him to not only assist the teachers, but learn about the culture and language for himself.

Now, I have so much more passion for CHamoru culture, he said. I can say certain things, I can understand certain things because I know the language.

Serving the mission

Hurao founder Arceo said many former students are all out there in the community, in different places, serving in the same mission one way or another.

I could see all the hard work and the fruits of the hard work finally in place, Arceo said.

Theres students that could speak and are here now, in this environment, where we can speak just CHamoru. Everybody from the teachers, to the students, to the janitor, to the office staff, everybody just speaking CHamoru and understanding this one culture where we practice all the values, and we learn from each other, and we teach each other.
Guam, once a colony of Spain for centuries, recently was recognized in a national celebration known as the annual Fiesta Nacional de Espana.

The islands flag was included in a procession of the Flags of the Hispanic Cultural Realm, which took place Oct. 12 in the small town of Guadalupe.

Guams flag bearer was Jose Antonio, who is celebrating over 50 years as a caballero, or knight, of Santa Maria de Guadalupe. In 1928, Santa Maria de Guadalupe was declared by the Catholic Church as the Queen of the Hispanic Cultural Realm, which also includes Guam.

The addition of Guams flag in the procession of the Flags of the Hispanic Cultural Realm was widely acknowledged and recognized throughout the festivities, said Clark Limtiaco, a CHamoru researcher living in Spain. The ceremony emcee, regional newspapers and local and national TV news outlets, highlighted the addition of Guams flag.

On the day of the procession, Association President Agustin Margallo Morano invited me to the induction ceremony of the new caballeros, where I expressed my gratitude for the inclusion of Guams flag in the annual ceremony, he added. My short speech of gratitude was followed by cheers of Viva Guam!

Thousands of people flocked to Guadalupe to attend the festivities on Oct. 12, commonly known as the National Day of Spain. Over 1,000 horsemen made the pilgrimage to Guadalupe this year.

This years event was the first held since 2019, which had been suspended due to the pandemic. Although it is a national celebration, the event in Guadalupe is also a religious event.

The festivities were held in the Plaza de Santa Maria de Guadalupe, located directly in front of the Monastery of Santa Maria de Guadalupe, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993.

The flag will remain a permanent part of the annual festival and will be placed on display in Guadalupes Museo de la Hispanidad (Hispanic Culture Museum) alongside the flags of the other countries of Hispanic cultural heritage including the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Argentina, Peru and Chile, Limtiaco said.

After the procession, the flags were brought into the basilica where a mass was held. The flags were brought out and paraded once more in the plaza after Mass.

Circulo Cervantino

Limtiaco said the inclusion of Guams flag in the procession was thanks to his networking with Circulo Cervantino de Guam, an online forum named after an association of the same name that once existed on Guam in the late 1950s until the 1970-80s.

This association was dedicated to conserving the Spanish cultural heritage of Guam and the Chamorro people, and it was instrumental in the preservation of Spanish-era historical sites including the San Antonio Bridge in Hagatna, Limtiaco said. The online forum seeks to continue the mission of the original Circulo Cervantino de Guam by focusing on Guams unique Hispanic cultural heritage.

The 500th Anniversary Commemoration of the Magellan-Elcano expedition has brought a little more attention to Guam here in Spain, Limtiaco added. Guam needs to be proactive in maintaining a dialogue with Spain as a means to collaborate in the recovery of much-untold history.
A new film with local teen actors and targeted to teenagers by local filmmaker Ruzelle Almonds celebrates the unique and varied identities of Filipinos who call Guam home.

Its like Halo Halo is a short film that follows a couple of high school students who talk about cultural identities specifically from the Filipino perspective, said Almonds, a local filmmaker with a communications degree from the University of Guam.

And each of these Filipinos have different backgrounds as to like, where their families came from, or how long their families have been there and so they bring different parts of their identity to the table when they have these conversations with each other.

The films title was inspired by Tabitha Espina, an English professor whose dissertation was on Unsettling the Rhetorics of the Politics of Filipinos on Guahan.

In a December 2020 post on the Oregon Humanities website, Espina wrote I am halo halo ... I am all mixed up in a brief essay about the Filipino dessert.

So the first generation is ube. The second generation is sapin sapin, and the third generation is halo halo, Almonds said.

The first generation is like the root, right? And then the second generation is because they spent a good amount of their lives here, and their gender, their identity is more layered. And then for the third generation, its like more mixed up, right, which is what halo halo is.

Its just inspired by her halo halo metaphor because I just felt like there was no better way to explain the sort of fighting in my head about who I am other than that metaphor, and so it inspires the title and some of the dialogue in the film, but its not directly related, Almonds said.

Almonds decided to make a film because it can be more interesting and understandable when its visually seen.

It can be a pretty accessible way of sharing a message. You can hear it, you can see it. And people, larger audiences tend to respond better to video-type content. I also am sort of a visual person. I feel like the best way for me to translate what my vision and what my story is to let it come to life through film, Almonds said.

Almonds said she has been planning this project for a while now.

Ive been planning it since sometime last year. So since then, we were in post-production, pre-production for a while, and then we started production over the summer, and now were in post.

Coming soon

After months of preparation, the short film is getting closer and closer to being released sometime in the future.

Theres no specific date that we have right now. But were hoping sometime this year, so the goal is by the end of the year. The plan is that well have a premiere.

And then after that, Im gonna send it to the film festivals around and then after that, Ill figure out if theres going to be a permanent home for the film. For the premiere, the plan is hopefully itll be in person, Almonds said.

She added that she hopes the impact of Its like Halo Halo will not be lost on its target audience.

I just love films in general. Im a huge fan of content geared toward teenagers anyway, which is why this particular film is about teenagers. I just feel like it is just one of the most impactful periods of your life, and its super important for people to create content so that they can relate and they can feel empowered.
A GWANDA State University (GSU female lecturer has been jailed six months after she illegally imported sex toys from Germany.

Shirley Chapunza appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Shot Game on Thursday who gave her an option of paying $60 000 to escape a jail term.

Public prosecutor Sehliselo Khumalo told the court that on May 31 this year, Chapunza went to the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) offices in Bulawayo to collect her parcel sent from Germany.

Khumalo said Chapunza was served at the counter by Francisca Mapurazi who physically checked the parcel and found three different sex toys.

The sex toys were seized by Zimra. The matter was referred to police, leading to her arrest. Newsday
Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero is once again asking the Legislature to approve a plan to revitalize and bring many government of Guam agencies into a centralized location in Hagatna, highlighting $550 million worth of redevelopment projects.

This comes six months after senators rejected a similar bill, by a vote of 8-6, seeking to approve a Hagatna redevelopment plan.

New bill

The governor on Oct. 20 sent senators a new bill seeking to once again approve the Hagatna Restoration and Redevelopment Plan and its supporting documents, collectively the Hagatna Master Plan or land use plan.

It is now Bill 347-36 and has been referred to Vice Speaker Tina Muna Barnes committee overseeing Hagatna revitalization. No date has been set for public hearings on the bill.

Revisions

The Hagatna Restoration and Redevelopment Authority board in August adopted revisions to the master plan, including a reevaluation of the plan every five years or sooner and submission of an annual report to the Legislature.

"The Hagatna Master Plan will significantly benefit the people of Guam on our road to economic recovery by bringing $550 million in redevelopment projects to Guam. These projects are aimed at promoting the history, heritage and the economic vitality of Guams capital city," the governor wrote in a letter to Speaker Therese Terlaje.

Consolidation

Consolidating many GovGuam agencies into a centralized location will provide enhanced public accessibility to these agencies while also reducing the need for many current GovGuam office leases.

GovGuams annual office leases reached $11.78 million in fiscal year 2015, based on the Office of Public Accountabilitys audit.

The master plan shows nine of 10 GovGuam agencies that could potentially move to Hagatna spent nearly $3.7 million in annual lease payments as of 2015.

'Sustainable community'

The goal is to reestablish Hagatna as the capital city of Guam, with a planning principle to "develop a sustainable community."

The master plan includes designing iconic government buildings and public open spaces; developing a Hagatna Riverwalk to include mixed-use, mixed residential and business development with recreational amenities and trails; developing wide, shaded and attractive sidewalks; and consideration for a Hagatna trolley system serving downtown with stops at key places of interest, employment and shopping.

It also includes relocating the water treatment plant and expanding the marina.

Before World War II, Hagatna's population was more than 11,000.

The war damaged or destroyed homes so families moved out of Hagatna, which now is among the island's smallest village populations. Under the plan, there's consideration for offering affordable housing and improving existing residential neighborhoods by removing conflicting land uses.

Many GovGuam facilities throughout Hagatna have been in existence since the 1970s and 1980s and are in need of improvements.

The shoreline from Adelup to Paseo is mostly designated as parkland but it is difficult to access in many areas. It is not a very inviting asset, so it remains underused, the plan says.

Infrastructure

The plan also tackles water, wastewater, storm drainage and electrical distribution in the area, along with impacts from sea level rise.

"I ask the members of the 36th Guam Legislature to honor the vision developed through this collaborative process by promptly enacting the attached bill approving the Hagatna Master Plan," the governor wrote.

In April, senators voted to reject the prior bill seeking to approve the master plan. At the time, the speaker said senators should reject the bill before the deadline to act on it so that they would have more time to review it and they may consider it at a later time.

Previous issues raised included giving the Hagatna Restoration and Redevelopment Authority broad powers to control rezoning, tax building improvements and take private property for use. Input on the plan was received mostly from businesses and government agencies, rather than property owners.

The resubmitted Hagatna master plan in the new Bill 347-36, once approved by the Legislature, updates a 2005 master plan.
Some island residents are positive about the prospects of building a new hospital while keeping both the Guam Memorial Hospital and Guam Regional Medical City  as having three facilities would benefit the whole community and improve access to health care services.

If (government) has enough, fine, why dont they build a new hospital so everybody can have access? asked Dededo resident Maria Imperian. Because people can go anywhere they want. Because sometimes when you go in a hospital, you have to wait for how many minutes before they attend to you? So, if there are three choices, then it must be good.

Health care, the construction of a new comprehensive medical complex for Guam, and a fledgling Guam Memorial Hospital thats in dire need of renovations are topping the list of discussions heading into the last week of the 2022 election season.

While leaders and candidates debate potential plans and solutions about what should be done and how, many local residents feel an additional hospital is good for the community.

Although Dededo resident Philip Lopez believes buying an existing hospital would reduce cost, he does not believe purchasing GRMC would make a real difference in terms of being able to serve all of Guam.

Health care is expensive, especially if you dont have insurance, Lopez said. I have insurance so Im ok, but I know some members in my family who dont and theyre honestly struggling.

Consider other locations

Others believe that a new hospital for Guam is necessary, but that leaders should consider other locations.

Tamuning resident Richard Burkert said that if construction on a new hospital should occur, it should be in the southern part of Guam.

What I heard is that, especially during the pandemic, they were short of rooms. Its better we build another (hospital) in the south so in case someone gets a heart attack, and they live down there, its much quicker, Burkert said.




Haiti - Sympathies : Assassination of Eric Jean-Baptiste, rain of messages





Assassination of Eric Jean Baptiste, Secretary General of the Rally of Progressive National Democrats (RDNP): https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-38000-haiti-flash-assassination-of-eric-jean-baptiste-sg-of-the-rdnp.html



Prime Minister Ariel Henry:

"The horrific assassination of the political leader, Eric Jean Baptiste and his bodyguard, has once again plunged the Haitian nation into turmoil. We strongly condemn this heinous crime against this patriot, this moderate politician committed to change. On behalf of the Government and people of Haiti, Prime Minister Ariel Henry presents sincere condolences to the families of the victims, to the RDNP and to the political class, today revolted by this heinous crime."



Senator Joseph Lambert, President of the Senate:

"The odious assassination of my friend Eric Jean Baptiste, leader of the RDNP, is a blow to the Haitian political class. The Nation has lost a true patriot, a big-hearted and sincere man who loved his country immensely. Sympathies to the family and members of the RDNP. 



Berto Dorce Minister of Justice:

"More than 45 years of friendship have suddenly faded following your odious assassination, coupled with that of your security guard, Peterson Vernius, by bloodthirsty men who continue to sow terror in the country. Dear Eric, I still remember the indelible memories of our youth at Carrefour. Go in peace my friend. But I assure you that those who spilled this drop too much will not succeed. Justice will defeat them! My sincere sympathy to the Jean-Baptiste family, to the sympathizers of the RDNP as well as to the loved ones of our very late Eric."



Ministry of Communication:

"The horrific assassination of political leader Eric Jean Baptiste and his bodyguard has once again plunged the Haitian nation into turmoil. We strongly condemn this heinous crime against this patriot, this moderate politician committed to change. We present, on behalf of the Government and the people of Haiti, our sincere condolences to the families of the victims, to the RDNP and to the political class, today revolted by this heinous crime."



James Cadet, Minister of the Environment:

"Minister James Cadet is deeply affected by the brutal, cowardly and odious disappearance of Mr. Eric Jean-Baptiste, Secretary General of the RDNP Party, sincere and courageous patriot, moderate political figure... The Minister firmly condemns this infamous act and addresses a special thought for his family and loved ones in this difficult circumstance."



Josue Pierre-Louis, Secretary General of the Presidency of Haiti:

"I learned with shock the sad news of the assassination of the Secretary General of the Rassemblement des Democrates Nationaux, Mr Eric JEAN BAPTISTE. A man who dedicated his life to the defense of his country. I share this painful moment with his family, his friends, his collaborators, and all those who are affected by this mourning. This heinous crime must not go unpunished."



Edmonde S. Beauzile President of the Fusion Party:

"Edmonde S. Beauzile President of the Fusion Party of Haitian Social Democrats, learned with dismay and indignation of the heinous assassination, on the night of October 28, 2022, of the political leader, former Candidate for the Presidency, Mr. Eric Jean-Baptiste, Secretary General of the Rally of Progressive National Democrats (RDNP) and businessman [...] La Fusion, presents its condolences to all the relatives and friends of the deceased, to the activists of the RDNP and to the entire political class of the country."



Haitian Party Tet Kale (PHTK):

"The PHTK condemns the assassination of the Secretary General of the RDNP, Erick Jean-Baptiste and his bodyguard [...] Erick Jean-Baptiste, was renowned for his exemplary patriotism and his great balance. His death comes at a critical moment in national life when he was trying, alongside other compatriots, to find the compromise necessary to get the country out of the abyss on the edge of which it finds itself. His abrupt departure leaves a huge void within the political class and plunges the business sector and the Haitian community into turmoil. The PHTK presents its heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims, to the relatives and to the RDNP [...]"



Former First Lady Martine Moise:

"Haiti is waking up once too often to the shock of the assassination of its sons. How many corpses will we have to count to curb the gangrene of insecurity in the country ? My condolences to the families and loved ones of RDNP SG Eric Jean Baptiste and his Security Officer."



Former President of Haiti Michel Martelly:

The news of the assassination of the leader of the RDNP, Eric Jean-Baptiste, touches me deeply. Haiti loses a convinced patriot and a moderate politician. My heartfelt condolences to his family, his party members and his many supporters across the country. 



Ex-Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe:

"The assassination of Eric Jean-Baptiste plunges me into deep pain! Where are our police? How much more blood will we have to shed? How many more Erics will fall? Waiting for the support of our partners What prevents the PNH from mobilizing 3,000 to 4,000 police officers to stop the gangs?"



Former Prime Minister Jean-Henry Ceant:

"Another spectacular assassination, Eric Jean-Baptiste, a loyal friend who tells you the whole truth without resentment because he is galvanized by his desire to see Haiti take another path. Revolted, I mourn his departure and I condemn this heinous act. Condolences to all the family and to the RDNP."



Former Prime Minister Claude Joseph:

"The bandits today killed the leader of the RDNP, Eric Jean Baptiste. Haiti has lost a committed son, an authentic son. I condemn this act with all my might. Heartbreaking while expressing my sympathy to the RDNP, family, friends, supporters and supporters of Eric. Rest in peace compatriot!"



Former Senator Steven Benoit:

"My sincere condolences to the family of Eric Jean Baptiste, leader of the RDNP and lover of our dear country. I have very fond memories of Eric, my ally (G8) in the 2016 elections, who showed selflessness at a decisive moment in national life. Good crossing dear Colleague!"



Former Deputy Jerry Tardieu:

"Blind violence carried away Eric Jean-Baptiste. My emotion is strong. There are no more words. The ordeal is cruel for the RDNP. The political community has lost a man of compromise. I lost a friend. Haiti has lost a patriot. For Eric, the fight must continue."



Embassy of the United States:

"The U.S. Embassy condemns the brutal murder of Eric Jean-Baptiste of RDNP. We offer our condolences to the loved ones of the deceased."



French Embassy:

"The French Embassy in Haiti learns with horror and strongly condemns the assassination of Mr. Eric Jean-Baptiste, Secretary General of the RDNP. The Embassy sends its condolences to the family, friends and loved ones of the deceased. It calls on the Haitian authorities to take the necessary measures to find and punish the perpetrators of this crime."



Sebastien Carriere, Ambassador of Canada to Haiti:

"I offer my sincere condolences to the family and loved ones of Eric Jean Baptiste. Another victim too many of the security and political crisis that is destroying."



Democratic and Popular Sector (SDP):

"The SDP [radical opposition] condemns the odious assassination of Mr. Eric Jean Baptiste, businessman and leader of the RDNP. The sympathies of the SDP to the family and to the members of the RDNP affected by this crime. Haiti needs the support of its foreign friends to secure its territory. It's obvious !"



United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH):

The United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) condemns in the strongest terms the assassination of Eric Jean Baptiste, Secretary General of the RDNP and his bodyguard. Mr. Jean Baptiste was a committed politician, serving the consolidation of democracy and the rule of law in Haiti. His murder constitutes an attack on these fundamental values. It is imperative that the circumstances surrounding his death be clarified and that the perpetrators of this assassination be arrested and brought to justice [...] BINUH extends its condolences to the relatives of the deceased, to the members of the RDNP as well as to the Haitian people and associated with their pain in these difficult times."



Cristobal Dupouy, Special Representative of the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Haiti:

My most sincere condolences to the relatives of Eric Jean Baptiste, to his RDNP political family and to the entire Haitian political class who loses a patriot who loved his country above all. 



Nicolas Duvalier:

"Shattered by this terrible event, I extend my most sincere condolences to the family of Eric Jean-Baptiste, his relatives, supporters and all the members of the RDNP."



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-38000-haiti-flash-assassination-of-eric-jean-baptiste-sg-of-the-rdnp.html



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Education : Towards a return to school, but when ?





This week has intensified the mobilization for the return to school. At least three times a week, for more than two months, Nesmy Manigat the Minister of Education and Meniol Jeune his Director General have organized yet another working meeting this week with the Departmental Directors of Education (DDE), the Technical Directors of Teaching and the pole coordinators.



It was particularly a question of ensuring the follow-up of the working meetings of the 10 DDEs with their respective educational communities as part of the administrative and pedagogical start of the school year. A framework document, drawn up for this purpose, serves as a reference for the Departmental Directorates for the mobilization of the educational community, local authorities and partners around the school.



However, despite the various calls for the return to class, since October 3, the Ministry can only note this gradual and difficult return to school, in a context marked by violence and fear.



Going back to school seems to have become a crime, an offense penalizing more than 4 million children.



According to the Ministry, a glimmer of hope appears on the horizon, attempts to resume classes in public and private schools have begun in several departments, according to reports presented by DDE officials. Isolated cases for the moment, but decisive, which announce a change in progress, where the actors are more involved for the benefit of the children, in particular through interventions and public notes.



The safety, availability and accessibility of fuel to facilitate school transport, especially for parents and educational agents, are essential factors for the overall revival of school activities and respect for the right to 'education.



The mobilization of the Ministry will also intensify because the future of the children and the country is at stake. The school must rise above the divisions, it cannot wait for the end of the conflicts to function, because its mission is to train citizens to live together which makes it possible to prevent and resolve conflicts peacefully, affirms the Minister.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Page Content

HONOLULU  The Hawaii State Department of Education (HIDOE) has received three grants from the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) partnership that will focus on enhancing college and career skills in the Campbell, Kapolei and Radford complexes and world language learning opportunities in the Kalaheo complex for military-dependent students at select schools over the next five years.



DoDEA provides quality educational services to military dependents around the globe and works closely with the HIDOE to expand opportunities at Hawaii public schools with significant populations of military-dependent students whose parents serve in the various branches of the U.S. military.



The Radford Complex received a $2 million grant to enhance college, career and community readiness in the K-12 learning pipeline including Radford High, Aliamanu Middle, and Aliamanu, Hickam, Makalapa, Mokulele, Nimitz, Pearl Harbor, and Pearl Harbor Kai elementary schools. The grant will help to provide students with enhanced access to technology tools and lessons that engage them in authentic, real world learning experiences and applications. It will also provide additional training for teachers to effectively incorporate career pathways into their curriculum and instruction and expand co-curricular and after school activities, competitions and clubs focused on real-world application of knowledge.



The Kalaheo Complex received a $2 million grant to expand and enhance its existing world language program by increasing world language instructor personnel at the elementary and secondary levels and providing them with the tools and skills necessary to expand course offerings and engage in project-based learning methods. World language positions will be established at Aikahi, Kainalu, and Mokapu elementaries to provide early language exposure through weekly special schedules. The funds will also be used to establish a Japanese program at Kailua Intermediate and expand its existing Spanish program to strengthen the K-12 pipeline and increase retention of world language students through Kalaheo High.



The Campbell-Kapolei Complex Area received a $1 million grant to enhance career skills training at Kapolei High, Honouliuli Middle, Ewa Makai Middle, and Hookele Elementary through new coalitions with business and industry partners toward new career mentoring opportunities and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) pathways. Military-connected students will engage in project-based learning as they develop digital literacy skills through daily interaction with technology as part of computer science or engineering courses and a new Academy of Law and Public Safety.



For more information on DoDEA and its work supporting military dependent students around the world, visit www.dodea.edu.


On 27 October 2017 , after a decade of mass demonstrations, Catalonia organised a referendum on self-determination without the consent of the Spanish state. It did so in spite of everything because Spain refused to debate and wanted to impose its will. A total of 2.3 million people took part, with 90% in favour of independence. With the referendum, the Catalan government wanted to push Spain to negotiate, but the state continued to refuse dialogue, sent 10,000 police to repress the vote, and Europe did nothing to demand that the conflict be dealt with democratically.

Faced with this reaction from Spain, the Catalan government of Carles Puigdemont found no alternative but to proclaim Catalonia's independence, which was what the people had voted for. The declaration of independence was unanimously approved by the Catalan Parliament and is now historically proclaimed. More than 70 countries pronounced themselves on the matter, mostly against it, as is normal in this type of case so as not to contradict the existing state, until independence is confirmed by the facts and the international recognition of the new state is made official.

At that time, the Catalan government did not want to ask citizens to defend independence in the streets, as they were certain that the Spanish state would react violently to a people who resisted massively and peacefully. That is why President Puigdemont, faced with his imminent arrest, went into exile in Belgium. He has been elected to the European Parliament, where he defends Catalonia's right to independence, and is battling in EU courts.

Five years later, the resolutions of the European judiciary are about to come out, so the Council of Europe has published, on 25 October, a new resolution drafted by its Secretary General, Marija Pejcinovic, which follows on from the Council of Europe's Cilevics Report that criticised Spain's reaction against the Catalan independence movement. It also follows up on the report of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention which found Spain's repression totally unacceptable. The new Council of Europe report argues that it is lawful to pursue the independence of a European territory as long as it is done without using or inciting violence. This completely disavows the Spanish justice system that is persecuting the peaceful Catalan independence movement as if it were terrorism.

Five years ago we already showed that we were committed to a negotiated solution. The next time we are at the same point, and it won't be long, we will not stop to look for negotiated solutions and we will go ahead with the non-violent struggle, Gandhi style, to control the territory with crowds that will disobey and overwhelm the Spanish state. If Spain uses the police and the army against a peaceful population, Europe will have to take that responsibility on its conscience.

By Jordi Oriola Folch

HT

This article is a "Readers letter" opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or position of The Helsinki Times. You can send your opinions related to articles published in the Helsinki Times or other current issues to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
The net sink of the sector, the report pointed out, sufficed to cover 48 per cent of emissions from effort-sharing and emissions-trading sectors in Finland in 2020.

EMISSIONS from Finlands land use, land-use change and forestry sector exceeded the amount of carbon dioxide the sector can sequester from the atmosphere by 2.1 megatonnes in 2021, according to the latest annual climate report from the Ministry of the Environment.

While the climate report states that the country could just barely reach its goal of carbon neutrality by 2035, the task seems all the more challenging in light of the recent decline in carbon sinks that has been attributed to high logging volumes and slowing growth of forests.

In terms of emissions, we are making progress towards a carbon-neutral Finland in 2035. In terms of carbon sinks, however, the situation is more difficult, said Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Maria Ohisalo (Greens).

We can already say that a rescue package for carbon sinks will be needed.

Helsingin Sanomat on Thursday reported that experts have criticised the report for not taking evidence of the decline in carbon sinks more seriously. Although the report acknowledges that the sinks are smaller than previously, it forwards no measures to tackle the situation and continues to base calculations on the assumption that the land use sector will function as a significant carbon sink.

Kaisa Kosonen, a climate and energy specialist at Greenpeace Finland, believes the government should have taken the opportunity to outline the rescue package for carbon sinks.

This will become a bad precedent in that, in my view, the magnitude of the carbon sink problem is being dodged, she said to the newspaper. If the climate crisis and biodiversity loss were taken as seriously as other crises, major measures would already be in place.

Her disappointment was echoed by Markku Ollikainen, the chairperson of the Finnish Climate Change Panel.

Its bad that the issue [of declining sinks] isnt discussed with the seriousness that it warrants, he stated to Helsingin Sanomat. Its mentioned, but theres no discussion about its repercussions. I cant say whats the thinking there.

He pointed out that first warning of the decline in carbon sinks was received last year and that the warning was amplified by the preliminary data released by Statistics Finland in May. The data suggested that the land-use sector became a source of emissions for the first time ever in Finland in 2021.

Carbon sinks have always been the Achilles heel of Finnish climate action, according to Ollikainen.

Finland really hasnt had a policy toward the land-use sector. Weve lived in hope that itll keep functioning as it has always functioned, he slammed.

He listed a number of measures that the government should take to reduce emissions from the land use sector: emissions from peatlands and former peat-pots should be limited, paludiculture should be increased and continuous-cover forest management practices should be adopted in forested wetlands to remove the need for improvement draining.

Kosonen, in turn, called for reducing logging in state-owned forests and incentives for forest owners to protect and manage forests in a climate-friendly manner.

Ollikainen also acknowledged the progress made in terms of emissions reductions. The emissions declined during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, but they have not rebounded to pre-pandemic levels despite the recovery of economic activity.

The annual climate report is drafted to provide lawmakers the latest information on the emissions framework, the longer-term plan for climate policy and progress made toward emissions reduction goals in the land use sector.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT
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Veteran Spotlight: Army Lt. Col. Dorothy Courtemanche

MASHPEE, Mass.  Dorothy "Dot" Courtemanche served her country in the Army as a nurse. She retired a lieutenant colonel after a marvelous 23-year career with assignments at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Denver, Cutler Army Hospital in Ayer, Walter Reed in Washington, D.C., and Fort Meade in Maryland.

Born in Dedham, she did her basic training at Fort Gordon in Augusta, Ga., which received all

orthopedic Vietnam War combat injuries.

Lt. Col. Courtemanche received her first assignment in Seoul, South Korea, at the 121st Evacuation Hospital.

"It was unbearably hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Many of us wrote home to ask our families to send electric blankets," she said. "We got monsoons that were brutal  the whole base was flooded."

There were six nurses to a "hooch" (a cinder block building) she recalled. Her first recollection of Korea was one she can never forget.

"There was this constant smell of septic. After a while, your brain just accepted it and you didn't really notice it," Courtemanche said. "The Korean people were lovely people, very respectful. The Korean nurses were excellent, too, they were very good at what they did. They didn't chum around though or mingle ... they were strictly professional."

She described her service there as having "walked right into the fire."

"I had 20 soldiers the left side of the ward and 20 on the right. You didn't call the lab to get blood, you drew it yourself  I got competent real fast. I never forget how upbeat the guys I took care of were, they never complained. It was such an honor to take care of them ...

"I'd walk in and say, 'Hello everybody,'" she remembered.

When asked about being away for the holidays, Courtemanche responded, "Oh, they were

tough, no doubt about it. We had a Christmas tree but everyone wanted to work, because nobody

wanted to be alone. You just accepted it."

One of the great memories she shared was seeing Bob Hope perform but she almost missed it.

"I had just finished my shift and got home around 7a.m. My fellow nurses were getting ready to go, I told them I'd see them later. They were persistent and told me I had to go. They had the stage set up in a big amphitheater," she said. "Bob Hope was 64 years old at the time and he sang, tapped danced  did everything  had Lola Falana with him and the Dingaling [Sisters].

"What a great morale booster! Oh god, it was so tough when they sang 'Silent Night' at the end, everybody was crying."

Lt. Colonel Courtemanche experienced many horrific memories. She shared this one: "It was Christmastime in Korea, guys were messing with drugs, many were naive  we had six overdose deaths. The hospital said they couldn't accommodate them as they were already overloaded. They put them in boxes outside in the freezing cold. It was really tough knowing those six bodies were out there."

When asked to share a good memory, she quickly responded, "the camaraderie of our nurses was the highlight, without question. We saw a great deal of death. We were very close, all in this together. If it wasn't for that, we all would have gone nuts. When we had a day off, we went to other MASH (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) units to visit the other nurses."

She continued, "I worked in ICU. We handled everything  from the colonel that got drunk and fell off his barstool to the little baby in the incubator."

Courtemanche spoke highly of her mentor in Korea, Capt. Eileen Gentile. "She was like a big sister," she said. "My specialty was orthopedics. They sent me to Captain Gentile in ICU. I was terrified, thought I would hurt the soldiers. She took time with me and was very patient, just really good people."

There were humorous moments, too, that brightened the darkness of death.

"Had one patient, his wife lived on base, kept telling me he had to get home because it was his one-year anniversary. I told him he couldn't move. He went to the latrine and jumped out the window. I was a wreck in having to tell my supervisor, "Courtemanche said. "If you looked up the word battle axe in the dictionary, you saw her picture. She called the MPs to bring the soldier back. I felt terrible."

Her final thoughts on her career? "It went by so fast  I can't believe how fast it went by," she said. "I miss it a lot. I wouldn't have traded it for the world."

Lt. Col. Dorothy Courtemanche, thank you for your service to our great country.
With just three weeks left for the November 20 elections, political parties in Nepal are campaigning at a feverish pitch.

This is the second general election in Nepal after the country adopted its first secular republican constitution in 2015. The first elections under the new federal structure were held in late 2017.

The upcoming polls will primarily be a two-horse race between the six-party group led by the Nepali Congress and the coalition led by the main opposition, the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist).

  : Sher Bahadur Deuba (Nepali Congress), Prachanda ( ) and Madhav Kumar Nepal ( .) have announced to take part in election together along with Upendra Yadav () & Durga Paudel(). File Pic. Pradeep Raj Onta/RSS pic.twitter.com/rlRcEV0Wpa  Er. Lakpa Pasang Sherpa (@ErPasang) August 6, 2022

Two left-wing partiesCPN (Maoist Center), CPN (Unified Socialist) and a Madhes-centric party Loktantrik Samajbadi Party (LSP) led by Mahantha Thakurhave allied with the Nepali Congress in the ruling partys electoral alliance. This combine is also known as the democratic left alliance.

The CPN (UML), in its electoral alliance, has taken along a pro-Hindu Rashtriya Prajantantra Party led by Kamal Thapa and Madhes-based Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) led by Upendra Yadav.

As per the constitutional provision, for the total 275 seats of the House of Representatives, 165 are directly elected while the remaining 110 seats are allocated under the Proportional Representational (PR) category.

Among the 550 seats of the seven provincial assemblies, 330 are elected through direct election and the remaining 220 are elected under the PR system.

While the chief ruling party Nepali Congress is contesting just 84 seats out of 165 constituencies under the First Past the Post (FPTP) category, the CPNUML is contesting 135 seats, and the Prachanda-led Maoist Centre has submitted nominations in only 47 seats.

This is the first time the Nepali Congress, the grand old party, is contesting only 84 out of 165 constituencies under the FPTP category, inviting a row inside the party.

Apart from the FPTP category, lawmakers are also nominated under the Proportional Representation (PR) category. Once elections are held, Nepals Election Commission finalizes candidates from this list for various PR seats reserved for women, Dalits, those belonging to indigenous nationalities, the khas arya, the Madhesi, Tharus, Muslims and those belonging to the underprivileged regions.

As voting is inching closer, there are speculations over elections results. Observers say that the current ruling alliance led by the Nepali Congress has big prospects of performing well in the upcoming elections.

Sitaram Baral, a Kathmandu-based political analyst who is also a senior journalist, gives two reasons on why the ruling parties are likely to win elections.

The current ruling alliance led by the Nepali Congress is likely to win elections for two reasons. The first is that the ruling alliance is credited for bringing the country back on a right political track after political turbulence triggered by the Oli-led governments move to dissolve parliament twice in 2020 and 2021, Baral said.

The then Prime Minister Oli, who rose to power on the plank of nationalism and in an electoral alliance with Maoist party led by Prachanda, was forced to resign in mid-2021 after the apex court invalidated his move to dissolve parliament for a second time in the period of just six months.

According to Baral, the second reason is that the ruling alliance secured its victory in the recent local elections held last May, and that will have a psychological impact on the upcoming elections.

The arch rival CPN-UML, which dominated local level elections mostly in the past, had relatively poor performance in the recent local elections because the ruling coalition kept its alliance intact, Baral observed.

Not a routine political exercise

The elections in Nepal are not just taken as a part of routine political exercise in a democracy. Instead, they are a crucial step to further consolidate the federal democratic republican system, and the policy of inclusion that was institutionalized by the countrys latest constitution.

Of course, this election will further help cement our nascent federal democratic republican system, Bipin Adhikari, a senior advocate and professor of international law, told India Narrative while speaking on the significance of the upcoming elections. He said that federal democratic set-up will sustain although there are questions being raised against it from different perspectives.

In my opinion, the present political system will survive and those supporting it will continue to rule the country in the coming years although there is a decline in peoples faith in political parties, observed Adhikari, who is also a constitutional expert.

Also Read: Deuba stems tide of instability in Nepal- completes one year in office
Trinamool Congress leader and the former head of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education, Manik Bhattacharya, recently asked the Supreme Court to invalidate the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) detention of him based on suspicion of money laundering in connection with alleged involvement in the 2014 Teachers Eligibility Test, which was used to hire primary school teachers.



What is Money Laundering?

Money laundering is the process of making significant sums of money obtained through illegal activity, such as the trafficking of illegal drugs or financing of terrorism, appear to have been obtained from a legitimate source. Large gains are made from criminal activity, like illegal arms sales, smuggling, prostitution, drug trafficking gangs, insider trading, bribery, and computer fraud schemes.

AFP/Representational image

As a result, it gives money launderers an incentive to "legitimize" their unlawful gains through money laundering. Money created is referred to as "dirty money," and the act of turning "dirty money" into "legal" money is known as money laundering.



There are three stages involved in Money Laundering. The introduction of illicit funds into the established financial system signifies the start of the process. In the second stage, injected funds are stacked and dispersed across a variety of transactions in an effort to conceal their corrupt source.

In the third and final stage, money is introduced into the financial system in a way that its initial connection to the crime is attempted to be erased, allowing the criminal to use it as "clean money."

What is the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002?

India signed the Vienna Convention pledging to fight the global threat of money laundering, prompting the creation of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). These consist of the 1988 Convention of the United Nations against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances. 1989 Basle Declaration of Principles

Reuters

The Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering issued forty recommendations in 1990. The United Nations General Assembly approved the Political Declaration and Global Program of Action in 1990.



A criminal law was passed to stop money laundering and to make provisions for the confiscation of assets obtained via or connected to money laundering and associated activities. It serves as the cornerstone of the legal system India set up to fight money laundering.

The provisions of this legislation apply to all financial establishments, particularly banks (including the RBI), mutual funds, insurance firms, and their financial intermediaries.

What are the recent amendments?

The term "proceeds of the crime" refer to not only the property generated from the scheduled offence but also to any other property derived or acquired by participation in any criminal activity related to or similar to the scheduled offence.

Money laundering was a crime that relied on another one, known as the predicate offence or scheduled offence, rather than being an independent offence. The legislation aims to make money laundering a separate offence.

If an individual is involved in the proceeds of a crime in any way, whether directly or indirectly, they will be charged with money laundering under Section 3 of the PMLA. This amendment further stated that because money laundering is a continuing offence, the individual would be regarded as having participated in the offence as long as they are benefiting from associated actions.

What is happening now?

A political leader recently asked the Supreme Court to overturn his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on suspicion of money laundering, but the court denied his request.

Unsplash/Representational image

A Calcutta High Court judge granted permission for CBI to question Bhattacharya in relation to the scam in a series of orders in June of this year, and if necessary, to question him in detention if he refused to comply. The HC division bench subsequently confirmed this.



However, the SC ordered that no coercive measures be employed against the accused in response to an appeal. Bhattacharya was subsequently detained by the ED on October 10.

The TMC leader questioned this before the SC and argued that since the top court had already shielded him from arrest in the CBI case, the ED's detention of him during this time for the "identical offence" was "unwarranted." Bhattacharya requested that the court rule the arrest to be unlawful in his petition.





For more on news and current affairs from around the world please visit Indiatimes News.
The defence minister of Russia, Sergei Shoigu has claimed that Kyiv plans to use a dirty bomb and said that he was "concerned about possible provocations by Kyiv involving the use of a dirty bomb".



AP

Ukraine and other countries including France, the UK and the US have rejected the claim as the minister could not present any evidence of it. Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelensky, dismissed the claim and accused Russia of being "the source of everything dirty that can be imagined in this war".



Russia's defence minister "likely sought to slow or suspend Western military aid to Ukraine and possibly weaken the Nato alliance in scare-mongering calls, said the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

What is a dirty bomb?

According to the BBC report, a dirty bomb is a device containing radioactive material and conventional explosives as well. Radioactive materials like Uranium spread through the air when their conventional explosive detonates.

These bombs use radioactive materials from hospitals, nuclear power stations or research laboratories and are not required to have highly refined radioactive material like nuclear bombs.

They are not expensive as nuclear bombs and can be carried in vehicles.

AFP/Representational Image

How does a dirty bomb impact?

Also known as weapons of mass disruption, it contains radioactive materials and can cause serious illnesses like cancer among the targeted population. The targeted area needs to be decontaminated or abandoned completely. It can make an area completely inhabitable for decades.

Attempts of using dirty bombs in the world

There is no record of using the dirty bomb successfully in the world but there are a few attempts including in Chechnya and the US.

Rebels in Chechnya planted a bomb containing dynamite and caesium-137 in Moscow's Izmailovo Park in 1996. It was discovered on time and defused. It was further found (defused) after two years in the country placed near a railway station, reports BBC.

Jose Padilla, a US citizen who had contacts with al-Qaeda and Al-Qaeda member Dhiren Barot was found involved in planning a dirty bomb attack. They were given 21 and 31 years of imprisonment respectively.

AFP/Representational Image

Russias letter to the UN

Russia is likely to raise the issue in the U.N. Security Council. According to the Reuters report, Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the Security Council said in a letter: "We will regard the use of the dirty bomb by the Kyiv regime as an act of nuclear terrorism.

AFP/Representational Image

In a response to this allegation, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said they are likely to inspect the alleged Ukrainian sites (unidentified) at Kyivs request and they are already subject to its inspections.





For more on news and current affairs from around the world please visit Indiatimes News.
Thousands of Brazilians living in Ireland have cast their votes in the election for their countrys next president.

A long queue formed early on Sunday at Croke Park in Dublin, where the polls opened at 8am.

Some 12,000 Brazilians are registered in Ireland.

Jair Bolsonaro supporters at Croke Park in Dublin, as thousands of Brazilian citizens from all over Ireland gather to vote in their countrys presidential election (Niall Carson/PA)

Around 8,000 in Ireland voted in the first round of the race between Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Jair Bolsonaro.

Some in the queue were wearing red in support of Mr da Silva, known mononymously as Lula, while others were expressing their support for Mr Bolsonaro.

Brazils ambassador to Ireland, Marcel Biato, said they expected to see a good turnout on Sunday.

They have to be Brazilian citizens and they have to be registered to vote in Ireland, he told the PA news agency.

Brazilians from all over Ireland queue to vote at Croke Park in Dublin (Niall Carson/PA)

With electronic voting being used, results are expected around three hours after the closing of the polls.

Mr Biato said there around 156 million people are eligible to vote in Brazil and 500,000 overseas.

Its all tallied electronically; we have a very secure system which has been in use for about 35 years, he said.

Its a very secure system, which means people can be very comfortable and know that their vote counts.

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva supporters Geneci da Cruz iu Fhatharta and her husband, Gearoid O Fatharta, queue to cast their votes (Niall Carson/PA)

Geneci da Cruz iu Fhatharta travelled from Galway to cast her ballot.

We do need to make that effort to travel long hours to come and vote for Lula, she said.

Alberto dos Santos, who lives in Dublin, turned out to vote for Mr Bolsonaro.

He said he feels there are more Lula supporters in Dublin, but more who support Mr Bolsonaro in Brazil.
On Christmas Day last year, when families were busy preparing dinner, the dreaded call arrived at around 1pm  another boil water notice.

For 9,500 people in East Cork, it meant no drinking water, after heavy rainfall compromised the water treatment process.

The boil water notice lasted for six months.

In Ireland, more than 500,000 people are served by substandard water supplies.

The rural villages of Whitegate and Aghada sit on the edge of Cork Harbour, and in recent years have been subject to near-constant boil water notices, according to residents.

We usually found our children had a tummy bug or two and then all of a sudden there was a boil water notice the following day, said one local man out walking his dog near the beach in Whitegate.

You could set your clock by it. Youd know whats coming. If theres heavy rain, there will follow a boil water notice.

In newsagents nearby, many can be seen leaving with drums of water. Another boil water notice was issued for the area on Saturday, again after days of heavy rainfall.

Everyones buying water, said Kathleen Carr. You just dont know if the waters okay or not.

Ms Carr has been buying water for about four years, around the time when boil water notices began in the area.

I have a son with special needs, so we were constantly buying water, she said.

We were conscious washing him in the bath and stuff like that. Its ridiculous. One time theyre [Irish Water] saying its okay and the next time theyre saying its not.

A boil water notice in the area ran from Christmas Day last year through to the summer, and although Irish Water says the water is drinkable, the community has lost confidence in the system.

Julie Dwyer installed a 1,000 water filter but still doesn't trust the tap water.

After moving to the area three years ago, Julie Dwyer learned to live with continuous boil water notices but soon got fed up with buying and boiling water.

About a year ago we actually decided to get a water filter put into our house which cost 1,000, the mother of two said.

We could have got a cheaper one, but we wanted to make sure it was giving us clean drinking water.

"Luckily were in a position where we can do that, a lot of households cant. Other parts of the country dont have to do it so why should we have to down here? she said.

We dont drink the tap water now anyway because I wouldnt trust it.

For Ciaran Martin, hes been buying water most of the time for four years but has taken particular caution after his wife fell ill two years ago.

She was pretty sick, he said.

We buy about 20 litres per week. The biggest pain is carrying it to the car.

Siobhan Cunningham said the cost of buying water adds up.

It does add to your shopping bill, certainly with the cost-of-living increase, that isnt easy.

Shane Russell, chairman of the Whitegate Residents Association, said locals feel the methods of communicating these notices should be looked at amid concern from some people that the boil water notices come too late and people usually find out through social media.

Social media is a good thing in some ways, but you shouldnt depend on it really, he said. Not everybody uses Facebook.

Mr Russell has welcomed a commitment from Irish Water to find a permanent solution to boil water notices, but he urged the utility company to make progress as quickly as is possible.

Raw sewage

As well as concerns around the quality of drinking water, Whitegate and Aghada are among the areas in Ireland that continue to discharge raw sewage into the environment, remaining far behind European standards.

A report from the Environmental Protection Agency has shown that every day 7.5m litres of raw sewage  enough to fill three Olympic-sized swimming pools  is pouring into Irish seas and rivers every day, 16 years after EU deadlines passed to meet treatment standards.

Some 32 towns and villages discharge untreated sewage into rivers and seas as they remain unconnected to wastewater treatment plants. This figure has been reduced by 18 since 2014 when Irish Water took responsibility for the sewage system from local authorities.

Irish Water plans to cease raw sewage discharges in 19 areas by the end of 2024, 11 more in 2025, and the final two by 2027.

Read More Irish Water says it can end boil water notices  but warns that it will take time

For locals of Whitegate and Aghada, this cant come soon enough.

Local man Don Hourihan said he feels desperate that raw sewage continues to be released into the harbour, claiming the pollution has depleted fish stocks.

I used to fish in the harbour 50 years ago, he said.

There was a lot of fish in that harbour. Theres no fish there now."

Works are underway to connect sewage systems in Whitegate and Aghada to a new treatment plant before releasing into the sea at White Bay Beach.

Mr Russell said the discharge of raw sewage is completely unacceptable given the wonderful harbour we all live beside.

This project has been spoken about for a long time and it is great to finally see it underway in the area, he said.

Irish Water expects to spend 1.1bn in capital investment this year and 1.2bn next year, and recently said most of the water quality issues arise from plants that predate the last 10 years when it became in charge of them.

Urgent action

At an Oireachtas committee last month, Tom Ryan, director at the EPAs office of evidence and assessment, told the committee "it is essential that urgent action is taken" to improve river basin ecosystems that are failing to meet the legally binding water quality objectives and "prevent further deterioration".

The EPA warned Ireland may be subject to legal action by the EU over potential failures to meet requirements for water safety.

As Irish Water continues to invest in fixing leaky pipes, sewage systems and water treatment plants inherited from local authorities, communities such as Whitegate and Aghada wait for the day when they feel confident to drink from the taps and swim at their local beach.
A case taken by a tiny island nation to the UN could have profound legal implications for smaller nations under threat from climate change.

Vanuatu in the South Pacific, backed by a number of countries such as Germany, Portugal, and New Zealand as well as figures such as former Irish President Mary Robinson, has asked the UN Assembly to consider whether the International Court of Justice (ICJ) can adjudicate a climate change case.

The nation is one of several islands and low-lying countries around the world disproportionately affected by the ravages of human-induced global warming.

Vanuatu said it was "requesting the ICJ to provide an advisory opinion on the obligations of states under international law to protect the rights of present and future generations against the adverse effects of climate change".

If passed by a simple UN Assembly majority vote, due between December and February, it would mean the ICJ would then be able to clarify legal questions related to climate change, including states obligations to other countries.

Vanuatus special envoy on climate change, Bakoa Kaltongga, said:

"For too long we have waited for global leaders to take decisive action on climate change.

"To put words and treaties into action. To fully implement the Paris Agreement. To protect our children and grandchildren. We can no longer afford to wait."

The case was taken to the UN just days before the Cop27 climate change summit in Egypt next month, where governments of the world will look to build on pledges made on climate action.

The world is heading for "climate catastrophe", the UN warned earlier this week, with "no credible pathway" in place to limit global warming to 1.5C at present. The 1.5C target, as outlined in the Paris Agreement of 2015, is the limit that scientists say is needed to stave off the very worst climate change fallout.

The top seven emitters  China, the EU, India, Indonesia, Brazil, Russia, and the US  plus international transport, accounted for 55% of global emissions in 2020. Collectively, G20 members  19 of the world's biggest economies plus the EU bloc  are responsible for 75%, the UN said.

Of the potential for the ICJ to adjudicate upon climate matters, Mr Kaltongga said: Whilst Vanuatu has introduced the resolution, we are representing every citizen of every country. No one is immune to the effects of climate change, but neighbours in the Pacific, Africa, and the Caribbean are suffering the most from it.

We have committed to fully implementing the Paris Agreement, and we have contributed the least to carbon emissions but continue to see fundamental human rights violated as oceans rise, our land disappears and cyclones become more powerful and more deadly. The world must come together as one to respect existing international legal obligations and slow global warming.
As Octobers Mental Health Month and Cybersecurity Awareness Month both draw to a close, a new study from not-for-profit cyber mental health support initiative, Cybermindz.org is showing early evidence of burnout in cyber professionals, signalling a potential loss of skills to a critical part of the economy.

The organisation is quick to acknowledge that stress and burnout are not unique to cyber, but points out that systemic weaknesses in our human cyber defences would tend to impact society at mass levels, especially if essential services like water, energy, telecommunications, health, financial services, food distribution and transportation are affected.

As the nation digests the continuing fallout of the Optus, Medibank and MyDeal breaches and others that are coming to light, the organisation has warned that unless policy makers recognise the mental health impacts on Australias embattled cyber workforce, a deterioration in the mental health of core defenders may accelerate, creating a cascading effect of reduced effectiveness and increased risk.

While the research is ongoing and will run until years end, Cybermindz founder and veteran internet industry leader, Peter Coroneos explained the importance of signalling the emerging trend as he compared it to the canary in the cybersecurity coal mine.

He observed: Most of our critical systems now have cyber risk exposure  its not hard to see that a reduction in our national cyber capability due to psychological burnout may have population-wide downstream effects. The pandemic, floods and bushfires have shown us the systems we rely upon are not to be taken for granted. Cyber attacks are a daily occurrence and, unlike natural disasters, there is no conceivable endpoint in sight.

Mr Coroneos added: Cyber workers are the unsung heroes of our time. Their day-to-day work is invisible, but a single failure through a breach which can affect millions of people makes headlines. The rapidly evolving and relentless attack environment defies any sense of job well done.

The one successful attack that could end their career could be around the corner. They are mission-driven with a strong protective ethos. But a sense of hopelessness will eventually take its toll on even the most committed worker. So its important we recognise their efforts and invest in their wellbeing. We must build a strong and resilient cyber workforce. If they fall, we all fall.

Cybermindz.org Director of Organisational and Behavioural Research, Dr Andrew Reeves is leading the study.

Dr Reeves stated: Although these are preliminarily results, they point to a worrying trend. On the key burnout metric of professional efficacy  or how well cyber workers think they are performing in their current roles  they scored significantly worse than the general population. We also compared their rates of burnout on this metric to another highly burnt-out industry: that of frontline healthcare workers, and found that the cyber professionals score considerably lower than even this group on this metric.

Dr Reeves added: This is worrying as this metric is a predictor of intention to resign. As a result, I think we are seeing early indications of a cohort of professionals who are questioning their own effectiveness and concluding their efforts are in vain. When good people leave the industry, we lose so much knowledge and expertise. It then increases the pressure on those who remain behind. As a psychological driver of burnout, its something we should all be concerned about.

Organisations who are concerned about the mental wellbeing of their cyber teams are invited to participate in the study. There is no cost to participate. Inquiries to researchdirector@cybermindz.org

The following is more information about Cybermindz, from the launch of Cybermindz in Melbourne on the 20th of October, 2022, including the full video of the launch, and four video interviews thereafter, with the article below originally posted originally posted here.

The title of that article is:

LAUNCH EVENT VIDEOS: Cybermindz.org launches in Melbourne, announces Deloitte as newest partner

Cybermindz.org is a newly formed not-for-profit organisation with a mission to change the human face of cyber, and is Australias first peer-led, cybersecurity mental health support program, and it launched in Melbourne earlier this month, with a great discussion ensuing - please watch and read on.

Australias cyber security professionals are under sustained and increasing stress, and the wellbeing of those cyber defenders has never been more important.

Motivated by compassion and a shared concern for the deteriorating mental health of cyber workers and those who manage the consequences of cyber attacks, Cybermindz.org is Australias first peer-led, cybersecurity mental health support program, founded by global cybersecurity leader and International VP of CyAN, Peter Coroneos.

As the organisation is demonstrating through its initial pilot program with Allianz, its two days of sessions at the AISA CyberCon conference earlier in October 2022, and through programs now underway at CyberCX and other organisations, Cybermindz.org is bringing scalable, effective and evidence-based mental health support and on-the-ground resilience building to cyber teams and beyond.

Deloitte is now an official partner of Cybermindz, and this follows the success at AISA CyberCon, and also follows the new that the Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG accepted Cybermindz.org's invitation to become its inaugural patron, which you can read about here.

At the Melbourne launch event, which you can see below in full, Founder and CEO Peter Coroneos was joined by a host of peers and partners, including Michael Do Rozario, Partner Cyber Group at Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Dr Richard Miller from iRest (who joined via pre-recorded video), John O'Driscoll, Justice Sector CISO, Victorian State Government, Kevin Shaw, vCISO and Cybermindz Ambassador, Dr Andrew Reeves, Cybermindz Director of Organisational and Behavioural Research, Richard Mogg, Executive Director, Cybermindz, and more, in an excellent discussion that covered a lot of ground in cyber security and mental wellness.

The event outlined the programs vision and approach and invites your participation in an exciting journey of restoration and empowerment.

Below is the launch event in full, followed by more information, and four videos from attendees following the launch event's conclusion - so please watch and read on!

You can also read about and watch the Cybermindz launch event in Sydney back in June, here.

Here are four short video interviews recorded after the conclusion of the Melbourne launch event.

1. The first is with Deloitte Cyber Practice Lead, Greg Janky:

2. The second is with John O'Driscoll, Justice Sector CISO, Victorian State Government:

3. The third is with Izzy Dean, Data Analyst at Deloitte's Cyber Division:

4. The fourth video is with Andrienee Maxted, Partner at Deloitte:

You can find more information at Cybermindz.org here.
Victorian transport authority VicRoads says it will issue new driving licences to 342,000 people in the state who were affected by the massive data breach at telco Singtel Optus.

However, it does not appear that Optus has yet given a formal guarantee to pay for these licences. The company has also not paid a single cent towards replacement of passports that were compromised in the attack.

VicRoads said in a statement "The Victorian Government will continue to seek reimbursement of costs from Optus for the replacement of more than one million licences of Victorians impacted by the largest data breach in Australian history."

The statement said 942,000 Victorian licence holders had their details compromised due to the breach.

Initially, the licence records of 462,000 Victorians, who had registered their details with VicRoads, would be flagged, it said.

"...approximately 342,000 of these [are] confirmed as impacted directly from the Optus data [breach]," VicRoads said. "This has placed an additional layer of protection for their licence details on the Victorian driver licence database.

"The government has commenced issuing redesigned licences to these individuals for free. These licences will feature a card number prominently displayed on the back of the licence, allowing for two-step verification. This is the first step in providing an added layer of protection for licence holders.

"By the end of the year, these customers will use both their licence number and card number to prove their identity for services like opening bank accounts, loan applications, phone contracts and real estate transactions.

"Using the additional card number to verify will be much like using a credit card for online transactions." The reference is to the CVV number at the back of credit cards.

VicRoads said it would put in place two-step verification for the remaining 600,000 Victorians affected.

"These individuals will be issued with a label containing their second licence card number as an interim measure," it said.

"This will be similar to the usual change of address label and can be attached to the back of a licence card. A new licence card will also be issued to these customers for free by early 2023."

Australia has recently witnessed nine data breaches in a little over a month, these being at Optus, Telstra, G4S, Costa Group, Dialog, MyDeal, EnergyAustralia, Medibank Group and Medlab.
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.
By Trend

A criminal case has been initiated on each fact related to mass graves, Military prosecutor of Azerbaijan Khanlar Veliyev told Trend.

"About 4,000 of our citizens are missing. All this is recorded in the lists of the State Commission. The remains of about 450 people were found. Such burials were found in two places in Shusha, in two more places in Kalbajar, Zangilan, as well as in the villages of Edilli and Dashbashi of the Khojavend region, in the village of Farrukh of the Khojaly region," he said.

The military prosecutor added that for the most part these are mass graves.

"Some of these graves were discovered in the course of restoration and construction work in the liberated territories. The graves in Edilli were discovered with the help of our citizen, a former prisoner. All these crimes violated the pact "On the Treatment of Prisoners of War", the Geneva Convention of 1949. A criminal case has been initiated on each fact of mass graves," Veliyev said.
CAPE MAY, NJ / ACCESSWIRE / October 29, 2022 / Two fishing vessels that have long supplied Lunds Fisheries were involved in an incident sixty miles off the coast of Virginia yesterday morning. The F/V Tremont collided with a Panamanian flag cargo ship and sank. F/V Dyrsten, operating nearby, came to their aid.

Thanks to the efforts of the crew and captain of both ships, all thirteen on board survived the tragedy and were rescued.

Lunds Fisheries commends the captains and crew of the Tremont for their prompt response to the emergency and the Dyrsten for their prompt arrival at the scene and their heroic actions to save everyone on board.

We also thank and commend the Coast Guard personnel from Virginia and North Carolina for their response and rescue efforts, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institutions R/V Atlantis for using a small boat to transport the Tremonts crew.

Thanks to the competent action of all those involved, injuries and fatalities could be avoided.

About Lunds Fisheries Inc.

Lunds Fisheries, Inc. Lund is a third generation family business and primary producer of fresh and frozen seafood based in Cape May, NJ that purchases, produces and distributes nearly 75 million pounds of fresh and frozen fish annually. Its fresh and frozen domestic sales span across the country, while its frozen exports extend to markets around the world. Lunds Fisheries is committed to developing and managing systems and practices to fish within sustainable limits and to trace its produce back to the point of harvest to ensure it comes from fisheries that are well managed, certified as sustainable or actively working towards it implement more responsible and sustainable harvesting practices.

Press contact:

Bob Vanasse

Stove Boat Communication

(202) 333-2628

[email protected]

SOURCE: Lunds Fisheries Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:


NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / October 29, 2022 / Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, is reminding purchasers of the securities of Twitter, Inc. (NYSE:TWTR) between August 3, 2020 and August 23, 2022, both dates inclusive (the Collection Period), of the important November 14, 2022 Deadline for Lead Plaintiff in the securities class action lawsuit initiated by the company.

SO WHAT: If you purchased Twitter Securities during the Class Period, you may be entitled to compensation without payment of expenses or costs through a contingency fee arrangement.

WHAT TO DO NEXT: To participate in the Twitter class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=8303 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll free at 866-767-3653 or by email [email protected] or [email protected] for information about the Class Action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you want to appear as lead plaintiff, you must call the court by November 14, 2022 at the latest. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other group members in conducting the litigation.

WHY ROSES LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified advisors with a track record in leadership positions. Frequently, companies that issue notices do not have comparable experience, resources, or meaningful recognition from peers. Many of these law firms do not actually conduct securities class actions, but are merely intermediaries who refer clients or work with law firms that actually conduct the cases. Be wise in choosing a lawyer. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors worldwide and focuses its practice on securities class actions and shareholder derivatives litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved the largest-ever settlement of a securities class action lawsuit against a Chinese company. Rosen Law Firm was ranked #1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for the number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 every year since 2013 and has hundreds of millions
Like their bosses at the top of the list, the men vying to be Brazils next vice president are polar opposites.

Heres a look at the running mates playing wingman for far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and left-wing challenger Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Sundays runoff.

 Loyal Soldier 

As in the 2018 campaign that brought him to power, Bolsonaro, a former army captain with close ties to the armed forces, has chosen a military man to be his running mate: General Walter Braga Netto.

But unlike current Vice President Hamilton Mourao, who has  sometimes publicly  fallen out with his boss over politics, Braga Netto is seen as a die-hard Bolsonaro supporter.

The 65-year-old army reserve general has held top positions in Bolsonaros government, first as chief of staff and then as defense minister.

In the former position, he notably oversaw the governments response to Covid-19  described by critics as catastrophic after the pandemic claimed more than 680,000 lives in Brazil, second only to the United States.

Born in the southeastern city of Belo Horizonte, the capital of the main battleground state of Minas Gerais, Braga Netto was appointed general and chief of security in 2009 when Brazil hosted the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Two years later, then-President Michel Temer ordered the military to take over security in Rio state amid a spate of violent crime  and put Braga Netto in charge of the operation.

The intervention, which lasted almost a year, produced mixed results: some violent crime statistics fell, but killings by police officers rose sharply.

Braga Netto sparked controversy in March 2021, shortly after Bolsonaro appointed him defense minister, when he said the 1964 coup that established more than two decades of military dictatorship in Brazil should be celebrated for pacifying the country .

Clean-cut and rugged, he runs for his first choice.

 Big Tent bet 

Ex-President Lula has meanwhile won over a former enemy as his running mate: veteran centrist Geraldo Alckmin.

The pro-business former candidate is Lulas bet to win over voters who mistrust Bolsonaros warnings that his Labor Party represents communism.

The two arent exactly an obvious match: Alckmin ran against then-President Lula in Brazils 2006 election and lost in the runoff.

But they say they have joined forces to defeat a common enemy in Bolsonaro.

People might think its weird, Alckmin said in March.

I ran against Lula in 2006. But we never compromised the issue of democracy.

Alckmin rose to prominence as the governor of Sao Paulo, Brazils largest and wealthiest state, in the 2000s and 2010s.

Known for being a good administrator but a boring politician, the mild-mannered 69-year-old has earned a reputation as a solid manager popular in the business and financial communities.

But he was politically forgotten, winning less than five percent of the vote in the first round of the 2018 presidential campaign that put Bolsonaro in power.

Born in Pindamonhangaba, a small town outside of Sao Paulo, Alckmin grew up in a devout Catholic family.

He was a city councilman and mayor before winning a seat in Congress and eventually the governorship.

The risk that the charismatic Lula will be overshadowed by him seems small.

Alckmins nickname is Xuxu popsicles  a nod to chayote, a bland vegetable widely grown in Brazil.
In the Brazilian Amazon, members of an indigenous community painted their faces and donned traditional feather headdresses as they set out to vote in the hard-fought presidential election on Sunday.

The Satere-Mawe of Sahu-Ape village say it is important to them to vote in what many say are the most important elections in Brazils recent history.

From their wooden houses, they set off on foot to the county seat of Iranduba, 80 kilometers from Manaus, the capital of the northern state of Amazonas.

But before they head to their polling station, they paint their faces with red and black arrows, a symbol of their mission: to unseat far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and elect veteran leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The Satere Mawe men wear feather headdresses, the women colorful feather earrings.

As they leave the village, Beth da Silva blows a rurru, an indigenous instrument traditionally used in wartime rituals.

This time, its not asking for strength, but to help us achieve our goal: elect Lula and change Brazil, she says.

We have suffered a lot in the last four years.

A community shaman, Sahu da Silva, 42, says it is very important for former President Lula (2003-2010) to win a third term.

He at least tried to protect our ancestral lands, he says.

Bolsonaro, on the other hand, took office in 2019 and vowed not to allow another inch of protected indigenous reserves in Brazil.

Indigenous Brazilians have been fierce critics of the conservative ex-army captain who is commanding a wave of destruction and fires in the Amazon, the worlds largest rainforest and a key resource in the race to halt global warming  as well as the livelihoods  of many indigenous peoples.

Lula knows how much we need a better quality of life, says Zelinda Araujo, 27.

This man who is in power now doesnt even look at us little people. He does not know what we need in our daily life.

Lula, a former metalworker who grew up in poverty, is different, she says.
A True Christian Chooses Lula! A supporter of the ex-president yells at a voter for far-right President Jair Bolsonaro at a Catholic church that also serves as a polling station in Rio de Janeiro.

The atmosphere is high after Sundays mass at this Copacabana church as the country holds a cliffhanger vote between depraved left-wing hero Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his far-right nemesis.

Joana dArco Perina, a member of Lulas Labor Party (PT) and ardent Catholic, is red-faced with anger as she listens to Elizabeth de Souza defend Bolsonaro, who Perina believes destroyed everything.

Lula made a deal with the devil! Bolsonaro was sent by God to save us, replies De Souza, who is wearing a bright yellow and green shirt, the colors of Brazils flag, which many believe was hijacked by the presidents supporters.

Her shirt bears the slogan: My party is Brazil.

The 69-year-old retiree is also a staunch Catholic and believes the election is a battle between good and evil, an argument made by first lady Michelle Bolsonaro, a devoted evangelical.

Religion has been at the center of a highly polarized election campaign in the nation of 215 million people, most of whom are Catholic but a third belong to burgeoning evangelical churches.

In the final Datafolha Institute poll on Saturday, Lula, 77, led among Catholics with 56 percent of the vote, while Bolsonaro was the evangelical Christian favorite with 65 percent.

Both parties stepped up efforts to win votes among these groups in the campaign ahead of Sundays runoff.

 abortion, family 

Religion and traditional values ??have become a battleground, with Bolsonaro accusing Lula of trying to close churches and allow abortions, a sensitive issue in the conservative country.

Family is sacred to me, Lula said last week while meeting with evangelical leaders. He has also denied plans to make abortion legal.

His recent attempts to woo the faithful failed to convince Edval Maximo, 41, who came to vote for Bolsonaro in the churchs converted annex.

Ive never heard Lula mention the word of God. Hes only bringing it up now that hes campaigning, said the green-eyed doorman at a Rio apartment building.

The left and the communists hate religion, he added, echoing an oft-repeated comment by Bolsonaro.

Nearly 60 percent of those surveyed by Datafolha said religion was a key factor in choosing their candidate.

I am against abortion. I choose the person who defends the family: the legend, said 67-year-old Magali Zimmermann, a nickname for Bolsonaro.

However, religion is not the only factor in their choice.

I love Copacabana, but Im afraid to go out on the streets because of thieves, says the resident of the affluent tourist district, which is home to many retirees.

Bolsonaro is not perfect but he will bring us security, added the widow, who never misses Mass.

 God of the left? 

At the back of the church, Eduardo Jorge swings from side to side with his hands raised in praise of God. He is one of several believers wearing a red t-shirt, the color of the PT. However, there are more people who wear green and yellow.

I believe in a God who gives, says the Lula supporter after the mass.

Bolsonaristas use their faith to defend their interests, not the poor. We need a Brazil that offers new opportunities and doesnt exclude people, said the 53-year-old social worker.

Esther Ferreira wears earrings in the shape of the Brazilian flag in a show of support for Bolsonaro. She says she votes for him without hesitation and hates the left.

Im Catholic, but he could be an atheist or a Jew and I would still vote for him, she told AFP.

Wilson Rodrigues Santos has a colorful tattoo of Jesus on his forearm. The Lula voter, however, said religion played no role in his voting decision.
NEW YORK, Oct. 30, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE)  WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds buyers of the securities of Yatsen Holding Limited (NYSE: YSG): (i) pursuant to and/or traceable to the Companys initial public offering, which took place on or about 19/19 IPO); and/or (ii) between November 19, 2020 and March 10, 2022, both dates inclusive (the Class Period), the important November 22, 2022 Deadline for Lead Plaintiff.

SO WHAT: If you have purchased Yatsen Securities, you may be entitled to compensation without payment of expenses or costs through a contingency fee arrangement.

WHAT TO DO NEXT: To participate in the Yatsen class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=8895 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll free at 866-767-3653 or by email [email protected] or [email protected] for information about the Class Action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you want to appear as lead plaintiff, you must call the court by November 22, 2022 at the latest. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other group members in conducting the litigation.

WHY ROSES LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified advisors with a track record in leadership positions. Frequently, companies that issue notices do not have comparable experience, resources, or meaningful recognition from peers. Many of these law firms do not actually conduct securities class actions, but are merely intermediaries who refer clients or work with law firms who actually hear the cases. Be wise in choosing a lawyer. The Rosen law firm represents investors worldwide and focuses its practice on securities class actions and shareholder derivatives litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved the largest-ever settlement of a securities class action lawsuit against a Chinese company. Rosen Law Firm was ranked #1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for the number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The office has been
Rescue workers scrambled to save residents trapped by flooding in and around the Philippine capital on Sunday as Tropical Storm Nalgae left the country after killing at least 48 people.

Several neighborhoods in cities outside of Manila remained submerged after the storm raged across the main island of Luzon overnight, cutting power and causing damage.

The death toll from the storm rose to 48, the national disaster agency said on Sunday, most of them due to a series of flash floods and landslides that destroyed villages on the southern island of Mindanao on Friday.

In Paranaque, a Manila suburb, rescue workers swam through 10-foot flood water overnight to reach 60 people, including children, who were stranded in an upper floor of a building, a local official said.

They were screaming and crying in panic because they really have no way out after flood waters rose as they attended a party, village chief Noel Japlos told AFP.

We didnt expect the water to rise so high. If we couldnt save them all, some of them might have died, he added.

Video footage taken by the rescue team showed rescuers in life jackets leading them out of the building with a rope while children were placed on makeshift floats.

In the nearby town of Kawit, a body in a white coffin was floating on a flooded street, an AFP photographer saw.

Local residents said a flash flood probably carried it away from a nearby cemetery overnight.

Kawit residents who emerged from the receding floods cleaned up and tried to dry their wet belongings.

Its so difficult because we cant move because of the flood and we have a two-month-old baby who cant sleep because theres no electricity, Andinor Cairme, a street sweeper, told AFP.

The storm weakened slightly as it swept into the South China Sea, the state meteorologist said.

Port operations have also slowly resumed as thousands of stranded passengers travel in time for Tuesdays All Saints Day holiday, when millions of Filipinos visit relatives graves.

The civil defense agency said 22 people were missing and 40 injured, with bridges, roads and crops also destroyed.
For hours, they pulled body after body from the crushed tangle of limbs that filled the narrow alley of Itaewon at the epicenter of South Koreas worst onslaught on record. But it was often too late.

Three off-duty American soldiers stationed in South Korea told AFP how they got caught up in the crowd that killed 151 and injured dozens more, and described scenes of chaos, suffering and death , while fighting for help.

An estimated 100,000 people attended the event, which local vendors said was unprecedented, but overwhelmed police, who were also dealing with a city-wide protest, only planned to deploy about 200 officers.

The three US soldiers told AFP they were part of the crowd descending the narrow, steep alley that became a death trap, but managed to escape to a landing-like area to the side.

But shortly after they managed to jump out of the crowd, it started  everyone was falling on top of each other like dominoes, Jarmil Taylor, 40, told AFP.

The people at the top of the alley tried to force their way down even though the road was already rammed full  and then the people started falling.

It was people on top of people  it was layers of people. They didnt have enough people there to help them right away, Taylor, visibly dazed and tired, told AFP on Sunday at the scene.

People in the pile panicked, which made the situation worse. There was noise everywhere that made it impossible  people screaming just drowned out all the noise, he added.

He and his friends would try to pull the victims out of the crowd and get them to safety so rescue workers could perform CPR, he said.

We picked a lot of people and took them to the nearby clubs since they finally opened them. Club floors were filled with people lying on the floor.

 It just fell apart 

Washington has around 27,000 US troops in South Korea to protect it from the nuclear-armed North, and Taylor and his friends are stationed at Camp Casey in Gyeonggi.

During their week off, they decided to go to the celebrations in Itaewon, but said they realized something was wrong when they found themselves in the huge crowd.

We got nervous too, we were in the middle of it and thats why we moved to the side, and then it just fell apart, said Dane Beathard, 32.

People were squeezed so tightly into the alley that rescue workers couldnt get them out of the tightly packed crowd, he said.

We helped pull people out all night  Its been a long time for people that were stuck there not to breathe, Beathard said.

All the crushed people were in the front where they collapsed into a heap, he said, adding that in the worst spots there was a 15-foot layer of people.

Authorities said the majority of the victims were young women in their 20s.

There were a lot of women in the crowd who got knocked down, said Jerome Augusta, 34.

I think because they were smaller, their diaphragms were being squeezed. And because they panicked, which made the chaos even more chaotic, he said.

Initially, there were hardly any police or rescue workers at the scene, the trio said, and the sheer size of the crowd meant those at the back had no idea the disaster was unfolding right in front of them.

We yelled at them to back off, but it was too little, too late, Augusta said.

The soldiers stayed at the edge of the crowd all night, desperately trying to pull people out of the piles of bodies, but said by the time they got to them it was often too late.

Were not little guys, but we were also down before we came out, Taylor said, adding that the disaster struck so quickly that they hadnt managed to process what was going on.

What you have to understand is that people were stuck up front, they were all on the ground  crushed. So you couldnt push forward and trample everyone in front, so people piled up as they fell, he said.

The trio said they felt lucky to have survived.
Netflix has released gems after gems, bringing a slew of multiple works that the avid K-Drama fans truly enjoy.

It doesn't stop there Netflix has also a large selection of fantastic South Korean films to choose from. Earlier this October, Kim Yoo Jung's "20th Century Girl" was added to the list!

The film experienced global success as it topped the Netflix global charts a day after its premiere. Here are three reasons why you should watch the film!

1. The '90s Romance Every Fan Loves

"20th Century Girl" depicts the stories of high school students who explore the joy and pain of first loves, friendships and the realities of life.

One thing that truly completes the film is the experience wherein the work takes viewers back in time, showcasing the nostalgia brought by the vibe and retro feel.

"20th Century Girl" doesn't only give a heart-fluttering romance but also a wave of nostalgia, especially to fans who lived through the '90s.

Lead actor Byun Woo Seok was also greatly reminded of his childhood when he borrowed a lot of VCRs.

2. Strong Bonds of Connection

While the film is mainly focused on romance and nostalgia, "20th Century Girl" also shows the beauty of youth's strong friendship.

In film, the lead stars' relationship is tested by time and distance but they perfectly showed their commitment to each other, showing the true essence of being best friends and just how much they care for one another.

3. The Beauty of First Love

Who doesn't love seeing dramas that focus on first loves? Although it may seem so cliche, the Netflix film gives "first love" a new meaning.

"20th Century Girl" explored the various layers and complexities of romance. In addition to that, the '90s vibe and nostalgia that is embedded in the film highlights how unforgettable first loves are, thus strengthening the saying, "first love never dies."

The new Netflix film truly tugs on the viewers' heartstrings through the story of a bunch of high schoolers who navigate the beautiful journey called life.

Have you watched "20th Century Girl" yet? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

KDramaStars owns this article.

Written by Elijah Mully.
The Laval police logo is seen on a police car, Tuesday, October 18, 2022 in Laval, Quebec. Police in Laval, Que. say the search has resumed for a one-month old child missing in the water off the shore of Laval, Que., just north of Montreal. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
The race for Kenosha County Sheriff features a Lake County Sheriffs deputy and Kenosha resident against a Kenosha County Sheriffs sergeant from Pleasant Prairie.

First-time challenger Democrat James Simmons, 50, will face Republican David Zoerner, 53, a multiple times candidate, in the Nov. 8 general election. They are vying for the job held by David Beth, a Republican who has been sheriff the last 20 years. Beth announced before the 2018 election he would not seek another term.

Beth won his last term in the 2018 fall general election, with nearly 55% of the vote (36,667) against Zoerner, who, as a Democrat, garnered 45% of the vote (30,381). At the time, it was the closest Zoerner had come to winning.

Zoerner first ran for sheriff as a Republican against Beth in 2014, during the August primary but lost to the incumbent, who garnered more than 70 percent of the vote. No Democrats ran in either the primary or general election in 2014.

In the Aug. 9 primary, Zoerner won a decisive victory capturing 8,927 votes or 47.4% of the polling amid a field with the largest number of candidates running in recent memory.

Simmons had now challenger in the August primary. Among those who selected a Democrat, Simmons earned 11,040 votes, or 99% of the polling.

A partisan position, the sheriff is elected every four years and currently earns an annual salary of $114,472, which will remain unchanged in 2023. With a budget of nearly $45 million for next year, the sheriff is responsible for the third largest law enforcement agency in Wisconsin, overseeing more than 360 full-time employees, including 137 sworn officers, and commands the third largest county detention system in the state.

The Kenosha News contacted both candidates who answered questions including why they chose to run, the most important issues facing local law enforcement and what they would bring to the job if elected. Heres what they had to say:

Why are you running for office?

SIMMONS: Im a productive member of society and willing to change the negative image of law enforcement with a different mindset on community engagement. Running as sheriff, Kenosha County needs a new positive direction. As a law enforcement leader for Kenosha County, the sheriff must be able to hold law enforcement and the community accountable for their negative actions. As sheriff, common ground must be found amongst political ideology from different political affiliations. Becoming sheriff, one must not fall under the influence of any extreme agenda which compromises the trust of the community. As sheriff having multiple divisions of experience will help with the camaraderie because the subordinates will respect the sheriff. Since the 2020 riots, the sheriff has been tasked with uniting the community and law enforcement vs showing an adversarial perspective.

ZOERNER: Kenosha County needs a sheriff who has spent enough time in the department itself, has experience in working directly with a broad range of issues, and has good working relationships with other law enforcement professionals, leaders, and organizations  I am that candidate. Ive spent 23-years serving Kenosha County in the Sheriffs Department, 11 of them as a supervisor. I have worked and supervised in every division of the Sheriffs Department: Patrol, Civil Process and Detentions. My opponent has never worked in law enforcement in Kenosha County. Im the only one with the experience, training and drive to turn things around for Kenosha County so we dont end up like another Milwaukee. I have dedicated my entire adult life to serving our community  I grew up here, I live here, I work here and I want to see it thrive.

What issues do you think are the most important for the office at this time?

SIMMONS: County highways must be kept safe with regards to speed enforcement, OWI and road rage incidents. As sheriff, I will work closely with the health department to find help for individuals suffering from the opiate crisis and bring individuals to justice who make a profit creating/selling these dangerous drugs. As sheriff, I will advocate for tougher sentencing for extreme violent criminals. As sheriff, the focus on sex trafficking is paramount. Acting as sheriff, I will advocate for higher wages for our personnel. As sheriff, I will make a serious effort to bridge the gap between law enforcement and our vast communities. As sheriff, I will implement a voluntary gun buy-back program, which will reduce the number of unwanted firearms from falling into the hands of burglars and violent criminals.

ZOERNER: Crime is at an all-time high nationally and Kenosha County is no exception. Something must be done immediately about the skyrocketing instances of property and violent crimes, illicit drug use, abuse, and trafficking. Kenosha County has been allowed to become part of a deadly drug trafficking corridor between Chicago and Milwaukee and Im ready to take the action that the current leadership has not. I will launch a multi-jurisdictional effort to shut down the flow of fentanyl and other drugs so that criminals will have no escape. Patrol, Detective and Detentions divisions will be staffed appropriately and we will continue to pursue cases with every resource available to bring these criminals to justice and keep them off our streets. The people of Kenosha County will be able to see a marked difference in the crime rate within my first year of office.

What do you think you will bring to the office?

SIMMONS: As the sheriff, bringing an effective law enforcement agency will consist of working with the community, showing transparency and accountability. The agency must be able to keep up with evolving technology in order to solve highly complex (internet stalking, cyber crimes, evidence collections) criminal activities. The agency must be proactive vs reactive. As the sheriff, promoting and hiring the best and brightest minds is necessary to keep the agency headed in the right direction.

ZOERNER: Kenosha County is my home and Im proud to be heavily involved in its protection. I have first-hand experience in a wide variety of law enforcement specialties such as firearms and taser Instruction, drone operation and hostage negotiations. I am still active in all of those disciplines. I also serve Kenosha County on the Opioid Task Force, the Chapter 51 Committee on Mental Health and Ive been a board member of Women and Childrens Horizons for 20 years helping victims of domestic and sexual abuse. I am a Marine veteran. I have garnered the respect and endorsements from the Kenosha County Deputy Sheriffs Association, Kenosha Professional Police Association, the Republican Party of Kenosha County, Racine County Sheriff Chris Schmaling, as well as, several chiefs of police from our area that I have worked beside. They not only trust my ability to lead the Sheriffs Department but that trust will allow us all to collaborate and work together to improve public safety throughout the entire region.
PLEASANT PRAIRIE  Two people suffered life-threatening injuries following a two-car collision at the intersection of Highway 165 and Green Bay Road (Highway 31) Saturday night.

A 50-year-old Waukegan, Ill.,-man, the driver of the vehicle, and his passenger, a 37-year-old woman from Kenosha were transported separately by Flight For Life helicopters to Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa following the crash, according to Sgt. Zach Dutter of the Pleasant Prairie Police Department. Village police responded at 6:27 p.m. along with fire and rescue personnel who were called to the scene.

He sustained substantial injuries, said Dutter. We were advised that his injuries were non-survivable. But he is, right now, still alive.

Dutter said the woman also had significant life-threatening injuries, but is stable and expected to survive. Their conditions were not immediately available.

Dutter said Flight For Life airlifted the man directly from the scene. The woman, however, was first transported by ambulance to Froedtert Pleasant Prairie Hospital and later flown to Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa.

The driver of the second vehicle, a 60-year-old Kenosha man, had minor injuries and was transported by ambulance to Froedtert Pleasant Prairie Hospital.

He is expected to be just fine, he said.

`Excessive speed a factor

Dutter said preliminary investigations indicated that a blue Chevrolet sedan, driven by the man from Waukegan, and a red Toyota SUV, driven by the Kenosha man, were involved in the collision.

The red Toyota SUV was northbound on Green Bay Road and went to make a left hand turn to go westbound on (Highway) 165. The blue sedan was a Chevy and was southbound on Green Bay Road and struck the Toyota making a left hand turn, Dutter said.

Authorities investigating the crash believe that speed was a factor in the collision.

We are not aware of any alcohol involved, he said.

Authorities have contacted the Wisconsin State Patrols traffic reconstruction unit to assist in the investigation.

We do have video of the incident that is being collected and will be reviewed. As of right now, there have been no citations issued. We are still actively investigating. Unfortunately, due to the age of the sedan it doesnt have an airbag module so we cant download it to see the speeds, he said. But the Toyota does have an airbag module that we will be able to download and we should be able to get an approximate speed for the sedan based off that vehicle.

The intersection was closed for nearly five hours and multiple law enforcement agencies, including the Kenosha Police Department, Kenosha County Sheriffs Department and the state patrol helped to preserve the scene and re-directed traffic.

Dutter said based on interviews from witnesses to the crash, excessive speed involving the sedan was believed to be a factor.

Passerby performs CPR

It was definitely a very sad incident. Unfortunately, a lot of people witnessed the fallout from this, he said.

He said, however, that he was heartened to see people step up to help with no questions asked.

Both the male and female were attended to by multiple passersby. One passerby did CPR on the male gentleman and actually got a pulse back and so he did an absolutely fantastic job, Dutter said. It was heartwarming to see the community come together at just the drop of a pin. Im proud to say that, you know? We all are a part of this community that kind of stuff  you dont see that every day.

Authorities are asking witnesses to the crash to call Pleasant Prairie police dispatch at 262-694-7353.
At first blush we were delighted to see Wisconsin politicians teaming up on legislation to give residents of the villages of Caledonia, Mount Pleasant and Somers their own unique ZIP codes for mail delivery.

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson and Congressman Bryan Steil, proposed the change as they introduced twin bills for Congress last week.

After hearing from residents and community leaders in Racine and Kenosha County about their frustrations with mail delivery mix-ups caused by outdated ZIP code boundaries, I was pleased to work with Sen. Johnson to help, said Steil, a Janesville Republican.

He said, This common-sense legislation instructs USPS to simplify and modernize these boundaries, saving many Southeast Wisconsin residents from needless headaches.

Indeed, ZIP code allocations and mailing addresses do seem counter-intuitive at times with some residents of Caledonia listing their mailing address as Racine, and some Kenosha County residents also listing Racine as their mailing address.

And we have no doubt that being able to use your own village name as your mailing address would build community pride and foster a greater sense of identity to the three growing area villages. Geographic boundaries are something we can all relate to.

But the five-digit ZIP codes that were introduced nationwide in 1963 and then enhanced in 1983 when the USPS introduced ZIP+4 codes to allow sorting by block, street or building were developed to assist in the efficient sorting and routing of mail  they were not developed with the idea of nurturing community identity.

That system has resulted in some quizzical ZIPs in the area  like the 53182 code that stretches all the way from the Town of Paris in Kenosha County, north through Union Grove and then almost to Wind Lake.

The Village of Caledonia has at least three ZIP codes and we have to wonder what will happen if they all get merged into one code that reflects the villages boundaries.

Before Johnson and Steils proposal sails through Congress we would urge lawmakers to get some input from the USPS on exactly how this would be implemented  and, yes, what the cost would be. We dont know if it would be a simple matter of reprogramming sorting machines or if it would affect actual mail routes. We would hope that it would be a simple, non-disruptive change, but Congress should look at that.

We say that because USPS has been struggling financially and last year posted a $4.9 billion net loss. That came on top of a $9.2 billion loss in 2020, according to Reuters news reports. That triggered a cost-cutting campaign that included slower delivery of some first-class mail  one-to-three day service standards were changed to one-to-five days. First class stamp prices were increased to 58 cents from 55 cents.

We like the idea of promoting community identity through single unique community ZIP codes, but before we march down that road, we want to know if we can afford it.
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If you are considering accepting an academic appointment, you need to be cognizant of the special issues involved in contracts in academia. You must know these things before signing an academic physician employment agreement.

An academic physician employment agreement is usually light on provisions.

Unlike most hospital physician employment agreements, an academic physician employment agreement tends to be very sparse on contractual provisions. Typically an academic physician employment agreement will just be a few pages, and the institution will have multiple outside policies governing vacation, CME, outside activities, intellectual property, etc.

I have seen academic physician employment agreements containing only two pages of text. The agreement basically just provided what department the physician would be assigned to, the academic position, and salary.

This has caused confusion with some physicians, and I have had physicians present what they thought was a letter of intent to me with the idea that I would review the final contract. I had to tell the physician that that slim document they had already signed was the final contract.

An academic physician employment agreement should reflect your experience.

Although it is not usually an issue, I have seen academic physician employment agreements that were either silent on the academic title or provided an inappropriate title. The title is much more than an honorific. Most institutions have separate pay scales for each level of faculty.

A physician, even one just leaving training, should not accept a title less than Assistant Professor. I reviewed one academic physician employment agreement that proposed the title of instructor for a board-certified specialist. The title of instructor is simply inappropriate for a physician.

If you are more than three years out of training, it would be reasonable to request a title of associate professor.

Each level of faculty has a range of salaries.

Frequently a physician is told that the compensation offered is fixed for that rank. This is rarely true. Most institutions have a range of salary for each level of faculty. The first offer is likely to be at the bottom of that range, and there usually is flexibility in increasing the salary.

There usually is flexibility in the signing bonus.

Physicians considering an academic position are frequently told that this is a standard pay package. Although that statement is accurate to the extent that there are fixed pay ranges for each level of faculty, most departments have money in the budget that can be used to increase the offered signing bonus.

In addition, many institutions have the flexibility to pay a signing bonus shortly after the execution of the agreement. Most academic institutions prefer to avoid paying a signing bonus upon execution of the agreement because doing so frequently requires another document. That document, a promissory note, is typically only three pages or so. A promissory note is a standard document that their legal department can generate with little effort if asked to do so.

An academic physician employment agreement generally provides significant administrative time.

Although I have seen academic physician employment agreements with as little as four hours per week reserved for research, teaching, and administrative duties, most provide at least eight hours per week for these duties. Frequently the amount of time the physician is given for research and administrative duties can be negotiated.

Academic physicians typically earn significantly less than their brethren in private practice or those employed by non-academic hospitals, so the amount of time away from patients is an important benefit that should be aggressively negotiated. This is one of the major benefits of academic medicine, so the physician should maximize this free time.

Not every agreement with an academic institution is an academic physician employment agreement.

As noted above, academic physicians typically earn significantly less than physicians in other clinical settings. Unfortunately, I have seen physician employment agreements with academic institutions that are clearly a strictly clinical position. The physician had no academic title, few administrative hours, and an academic pay scale.

I view a contract such as this as taking advantage of the name of the institution to unfairly penalize the physician. As noted above, the trade-off for lower compensation in an academic physician employment agreement is generally the additional time given for research, teaching, and administrative duties. If you are expected to grind out 36 (or more) patient contact hours in a week, then lets not pretend that you have an academic position.

You should be paid commensurate with what other physicians in your position are earning  not what a physician with less clinical responsibilities is willing to accept in return for the ability to spend time teaching and performing research.

Academic appointments can provide decent benefits and the opportunity to conduct innovative research in your field. If teaching and research are important to you, an academic position might be rewarding. When looking at moving to academia, however, physicians should protect themselves and make sure they are treated fairly.

Dennis Hursh is a physician contract lawyer. He blogs at Physicians Contracts Blog.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
Why psychological explanations for long COVID are dangerous [PODCAST]

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Patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) and their allies will rally in DC, London, and Edinburgh this September to demand bold, urgent governmental action for the millions of people living with ME, long COVID, and other infection-associated, chronic diseases.

As researchers continue to find many similarities between ME and long COVID, the history of ME offers crucial lessons for approaching long COVID and some pathways toward more effective research and care.

V. Jo Hsu is an assistant professor of rhetoric and writing.

They share their story and discuss their KevinMD article, Why psychological explanations for long COVID are dangerous.

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U.S. Ambassador to Korea Philip Goldberg delivers an address during the Korea-U.S. Alliance Peace Conference at a Seoul hotel, Oct. 25. Yonhap



U.S. Ambassador to Korea Philip Goldberg on Sunday offered condolences over a deadly stampede that occurred during Halloween celebrations in Seoul's Itaewon district.



"I'm devastated by the tragic loss of life in Itaewon last night," Goldberg wrote on Twitter.











U.S. Ambassador to Korea Philip Goldberg posts a condolence message over a deadly Halloween accident on Twitter in this image captured, Oct. 30. Yonhap
Cambridge, October 30: A new study has found autistic people are more vulnerable to depression and anxiety during pregnancy. The study was published in the journal, 'Autism and Developmental Disorders'.

In the study, led by researchers at the Autism Research Centre, 524 non-autistic people and 417 autistic people completed an online survey about their experience of pregnancy. Anyone who was pregnant at the time of responding or had previously given birth was eligible to take part. Also Read | Monkeypox Risk Higher in Children Aged 8 or Younger: Researchers.

The study revealed that autistic parents were around three times more likely than non-autistic parents to report having experienced prenatal depression (9 per cent of non-autistic parents and 24 per cent of autistic parents) and anxiety (14 per cent of non-autistic parents and 48 per cent of autistic parents). Also Read | Being Around Birds Linked to Lasting Mental Health Benefits, Says Study.

Autistic respondents also experienced lower satisfaction with pregnancy healthcare. Autistic respondents were less likely to trust professionals, feel that professionals took their questions and concerns seriously, feel that professionals treated them respectfully, and be satisfied with how information was presented to them in appointments.

Furthermore, autistic respondents were more likely to experience sensory issues during pregnancy and more likely to feel overwhelmed by the sensory environment of prenatal appointments.

Dr Sarah Hampton, lead researcher on the study, said: "This study suggests that autistic people are more vulnerable to mental health difficulties during pregnancy. It is imperative that effective mental health screening and support is available for autistic people during pregnancy."

Dr Rosie Holt, a member of the research team, added: "The results also suggest that autistic people may benefit from accommodations to prenatal healthcare. These may include adjustments to the sensory environment of healthcare settings, as well as adjustments to how information is communicated during prenatal appointments."

Dr Carrie Allison, Deputy Director of the Autism Research Centre and a member of the team, said: "We are grateful to members of the autistic community for providing feedback when we designed this research. It is vital that autistic people with lived experience help shape the research we do, and we keep their priorities as a clear focus."

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Thrissur (Kerala), Oct 30 (PTI) As many as 160 liquor cases containing over a thousand litres of country-made foreign alcohol was seized on Sunday from a toll plaza at Paliyekkara in Thrissur district of Kerala, an excise official said.

Assistant Excise Inspector Anoop Kumar from the Irinjalakuda Excise Range Office said that he and his team nabbed the accused, transporting the liquor in his Mahindra pick-up vehicle from Mahe to Thiruvananthapuram around 1 am on Sunday.

Also Read | A Suspected Pakistani Drone Was Spotted on the International Border in   Latest Tweet by IANS India.

The liquor cases, containing 1,440 litres of alcohol, were being transported in the vehicle by hiding it under coconuts, the official said and added that the seizure was based on a tip-off received by the excise department.

The hidden liquor cases were detected after a thorough search of the vehicle, he added.

Also Read | Stampede Horror in South Korea: What Is Crowd Surge or Crowd Crush? How To Survive A Stampede? Everything Explained Here.

Kumar also said that they were aware of this modus operandi of transporting liquor from Mahe and therefore, were always on the lookout for such vehicles.

The seized liquor was only meant for sale in Puducherry and it is an offence to transport it to Kerala, the official said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi [India], October 30 (ANI): The country registered 1,604 new positive Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, according to a statement from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, released on Sunday. The active caseload currently stands at 18,317.

India's Covid-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 219.63 crore till 7 am on Sunday, according to provisional reports. The country's active caseload currently stands at 18,317, the ministry said, adding that active cases now constitute 0.04 per cent of the country's total positive cases.

Also Read | MP: Thief Returns Valuables Stolen From Jain Temple in Balaghat With Apology Letter Saying 'I Have Suffered a Lot After Theft'.

Consequently, India's recovery rate stands at 98.77 per cent. As many as 2,081 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours and the cumulative tally of recovered patients (since the beginning of the pandemic) is now at 4,41,04,933.

The ministry of Health and Family Welfare said over 4.12 crore of first-dose vaccines were administered for the age group of 12-14 years. The ministry also said the vaccination for the age group 12-14 years was started on March 16 this year. Similarly, the Covid-19 precaution dose administration for age group 18-59 years also started from April 10, 2022, onwards.

Also Read | Uttar Pradesh: Tiger Mauls Villager to Death in Lakhimpur Kheri, Sixth Kill by Big Cats Since August.

The last 24 hours saw a total of 1,57,218 Covid-19 tests being conducted. The ministry has stated that India so far conducted over 90.08 crore cumulative tests.

The weekly positivity rate in the country currently stands at 1.08 per cent and the daily positivity rate is reported to be 1.02 per cent. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Guwahati (Assam) [India], October 30 (ANI): As part of the commitment of the State government to provide jobs to educated youths transparently, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday presented appointment letters to the selected candidates of Common Competitive Examination (2020) and junior engineers of Irrigation Department at a function held at Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra in Guwahati.

It may be noted that 655 youths got their appointments, of which 331 are for CCE and the remaining for junior engineers of the Irrigation Department.

Also Read | Operation Milap: Delhi Police Reunite Three Abandoned Children With Family.

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Sarma said that true to the commitment of the State government to select meritorious candidates for different government jobs transparently and ethically, the present government has been inducting competent youths to different government jobs.

"I extend my heartiest congratulations to all the 655 candidates on getting the government job and entering into the system to serve the people. I also thank APSC for selecting the candidates transparently," he said.

Also Read | Uttarakhand Shocker: Two Men From Delhi Swept Away in Ganga River Near Rishikesh.

The Chief Minister requested the APSC to conduct a Common Engineering Entrance Examination to select engineers for all the technical departments at one to go every year with a provision of conducting a lottery for allotment of departments to the successful candidates.

He also asked the APSC for an option for inter-departmental transfer as per the requirements of the departments.

CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, on this occasion, called upon the new appointees of ACS and Allied Service Officers and Junior Engineers to dedicate their professional life to the service of the poor and common men of the state.

He also asked them to hone their skills to serve the aspirations of the common people of the state and represent the administration in different forums.

"The present State government has taken upon itself a mission for making a new Assam," he said.

He, therefore, urged upon the new appointees to help the government in expediting the process for a new Assam.

He also asked the new officers to act as the change agents and aid in the socio-cultural and economic empowerment pursuit of the government.

Referring to the new wave of digitisation and technology-propelled development unleashed in the country, the CM asked the new officers to master the art of digitisation and other technological gadgets to serve the people better.

Citing the example of projects like Vasundhara, Bhumiputra and others, CM said, "State government has started concentrating on digitization to take governance to serve the people better".

He also stated that the last two decades had been decades of darkness, as APSC was marred by different controversies in selecting candidates for government jobs transparently.

"As a result, it cast aspersions on the confidence of the administration and the pace of development in the state also suffered. However, under the present government, the APSC and its processes of conducting recruitment tests have been revamped. As a result, competing candidates are being selected for government jobs transparently and are expected to contribute significantly to the growth narrative of the state," he said.

The Chief Minister also called upon the new officers to take the pledge to help the poor and needy and reach out to them to fulfil their requirements.

Minister Revenue and Disaster Management Jogen Mohan, Irrigation Minister Ashok Singhal, PHE Minister Jayanta Mallabaruah, Power Minister Nandita Gorlosa, Chief Secretary Paban Kumar Borthakur, Chairman APSC Bharat Bhusan Dev Choudhury, senior government officers and host of other dignitaries were present on the occasion. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Churah (Himachal Pradesh) [India], October 30 (ANI): Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jairam Thakur on Sunday expressed confidence of the BJP's victory in the upcoming Assembly elections in the state.

"BJP will definitely form the government in the state after the upcoming Vidhan Sabha elections," CM Thakur said while attending 'Vijay Sankalp Abhiyan' in Churah.

Also Read | Delhi Shocker: Toyota Fortuner Robbed at Gunpoint on Busy Road, Video Goes Viral.

The Vijay Sankalp Abhiyan has started in the state today and under this, all senior BJP leaders, union ministers, and the ministers of the state will conduct public rallies in each constituency.

"We are doing these rallies to boost the election campaign and the decision has been taken to ensure the victory of the BJP," state BJP president Suresh Kashyap said on Friday underscoring that chief ministers of neighbouring states-- Haryana's Manohar Lal Khattar and Uttarakhand's Pushkar Singh Dhami will also join the campaign.

Also Read | Chhath Puja 2022: Chhath Maiya Biggest Symbol of Social Harmony, Says UP CM Yogi Adityanath.

The elections in the state are slated to be held on November 12 and the cast votes will be counted on December 8.

To hit the battleground of poll-bound Himachal, Union Home Minister Amit Shah is scheduled to address a total of six rallies in two days - on November 1 and 2.

On November 1, Shah will hold three rallies in Chamba, Mandi and Shimla, and the next day, the rallies will take place in Hamirpur, Kangra, and Solan.

The battle in Himachal is between the incumbent BJP government led by Jairam Thakur and the opposition Congress and Aam Aadmi Party.

The state which has 68 Assembly constituencies goes to polls on November 12 in a single-phase election. 15 constituencies fall in Kangra, 10 in Mandi and five in Chamba.

The BJP has been in power and will seek to repeat the success in the hill state from where the party's national president JP Nadda and Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur hail. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Amravati (Maharashtra) [India], October 30 (ANI): Five people were killed and one sustained injuries after a dilapidated building collapsed in Maharashtra's Amravati.

The incident took place in the Prabhat Talkies cinema area of Amravati.

Also Read | Gujarat Bridge Collapse: Cable Bridge on Machchhu River Collapses in Morbi, Several Feared Injured; CM Bhupender Patel Directs Officials to Ensure Treatment of Injured.

"Five people died after the two-storey building collapsed. The building was already in a dilapidated condition," officials said.

The injured person has been rushed to the Hospital.

Also Read | Delhi Shocker: Toyota Fortuner Robbed at Gunpoint on Busy Road, Video Goes Viral.

The rescue operation has been concluded.

The investigation into the matter is underway.

Earlier in June, 19 people died after a four-storey building collapsed in Mumbai's Kurla.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the Kurla building collapse incident and announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh to the deceased and Rs 50,000 to each injured, from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF) for the next of kin of those who lost their lives.

Maharashtra former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakhs each to the families of those who died in the incident.

Earlier, rebel Shiv Sena MLA Mangesh Kudalkar expressed his grief over the loss of lives in the incident and announced that the family of the deceased will be given Rs 5 lakh each while the injured will get one lakh.

Earlier, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Additional Commissioner Ashwini Bhide said the collapsed building was dilapidated, since 2013, notices had been first given for its repair, and then for its demolition.

Minister Aaditya Thackeray also visited Kurla where the building collapsed and said that such property should be vacated on the notice of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)."Whenever BMC issues notices, (buildings) should be vacated themselves...otherwise, such incidents happen, which is unfortunate...It's now important to take action on this," Thackeray said. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], October 30 (ANI): Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's appeal to celebrate the 'Chhath' festival in a clean and safe manner has received immense support from the public with the hashtag #Swachh_Surakshit_Chhath becoming one of the top trends on Twitter.

This is the first time that on the Chief Minister's call, along with maintaining safety standards, the appeal of ensuring cleanliness on Chhath festival has been taken up by internet users.

Also Read | Morbi Suspension Bridge Collapse: Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath Expresses Grief Over Bridge Collapse in Gujarat.

The hashtag on Sunday trended on the number one position. It also managed to reach about 213 crore people. At the same time, about 11,000 Twitter users posted their thoughts using the hashtag while about 18,000 people engaged with the hashtag.

In pursuance of CM Yogi's directives, tight security arrangements have been made at all the puja ghats of the state. Apart from this, detailed guidelines have also been given regarding the cleaning of ghats.

Also Read | Morbi Suspension Bridge Collapse: 35 Die After Cable Bridge Collapses in Gujarat's Morbi, Says State Minister Brijesh Merja.

The Chief Minister has also appealed to the people of the state to celebrate the festival ensuring the cleanliness of the ghats. After the festival, the ghats will be cleaned by conducting a special cleanliness campaign in the state.

Chhath Puja is an ancient Hindu Vedic festival that is mainly celebrated in Bihar, Jharkhand and eastern Uttar Pradesh in India and Nepal.

Also referred to as Surya Shashti, Chhath, Mahaparv, Chhath Parv, Dala Puja, Pratihar and Dala Chhath, the four-day-long festival is dedicated to the deity Surya and Shashthi Devi.As part of the ritual, women fast for the well-being of their sons and the happiness of their families. They also offer Arghya to Lord Surya and Chhathi Maiya.

The four-day festival started on October 28, Friday, with the main day and the last day of the puja, being celebrated on October 31, which is falling on Monday. On each day, people observe the Chhath and follow rigorous rituals. As per Drik Panchang, sunrise on Chhath Puja will be at 06:43 am, and sunset will happen at 06:03 pm. The Shashthi tithi begins at 05:49 am on October 30 and ends at 03:27 am on October 31. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Ahmedabad, Oct 30 (PTI) The Congress will take out a massive 'Gujarat Parivartan Sankalp Yatra' in five zones of the poll-bound state from Monday, during which 145 public meetings and 95 rallies will be held along the route covering more than 5,400 km.

Also Read | Gujarat Bridge Collapse: Cable Bridge on Machchhu River Collapses in Morbi, Several Feared Injured; CM Bhupender Patel Directs Officials to Ensure Treatment of Injured.

The yatra will be launched from Vadgam, Bhuj, Somnath, Vadgam, Fagvel and Jambusar on October 31 to mark the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and the death anniversary of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, party leaders said.

Also Read | Delhi Shocker: Toyota Fortuner Robbed at Gunpoint on Busy Road, Video Goes Viral.

Senior party leaders, including Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, his Chhattisgarh counterpart Bhupesh Baghel, former Madhya Pradesh chief ministers Digvijaya Singh and Kamal Nath, Congress MLA Sachin Pilot, among others, will launch and join the yatra, they said.

"The Congress' 'Parivartan Sankalp Yatra' will be launched in five zones of Gujarat, and 145 public meetings and 95 rallies will be organised throughout the journey. The yatra, which will cover 5,432 km, aims to establish direct contact with 4.5 crore people," state Congress president Jagdish Thakor said.

More than one million party workers will join the yatra and the opposition party will spread the message of 11 promises that it has said it will fulfil when voted to power, he said.

Digvijay Singh will launch the Bhuj-Rajkot leg of the yatra, while Karnataka leader B K Hariprasad will launch it from Somnath.

Gehlot will launch the yatra from Vadgam in Banaskantha district, Pilot from Fagvel in Kheda district and Pawan Khera from Jambusar in Bharuch district of south Gujarat.

Senior Gujarat Congress leader Siddharth Patel said the people of Gujarat were agitated by the "BJP's misrule, wrong policy and clumsy administration" for the past three decades.

The Congress has promised to provide free treatment of up to Rs 10 lakh, farmers' debt waiver of up to Rs 3 lakh, electricity bill waiver, 10 lakh government jobs to youth, unemployment allowance of Rs 3,000 per month, opening of 3,000 government English medium schools, Rs 4 lakh compensation for COVID-19 deaths, among other things.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Visual of massive number of devotees thronging to ITO in New Delhi to celebrate Chhath Puja (Photo/ANI)

New Delhi [India], October 30 (ANI): After a hiatus of two years due to COVID-19, thousands of devotees on Sunday flocked to ghats and makeshift ponds across the country to seek the blessings of the Sun God as part of Chhath Puja.

In Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur and Varanasi, a large number of women clad in sarees were seen standing knee-deep in water at ghats, worshipping the Sun God.

Also Read | Morbi Suspension Bridge Collapse: Collapsed 143-Year-Old British-Era Cable Bridge Had Reopened Last Week on Gujarati New Year After Renovation.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath attended Chhath Pooja celebrations at Gomti Ghat in Lucknow.

While in the national capital, a massive number of devotees thronged to ITO Ghat to offer prayers, and devotees took a holy dip in the water as part of the Chhath Puja at a pond in Vinod Nagar.

Also Read | Morbi Suspension Bridge Collapse: 35 Killed, Over 100 Missing As Hanging Bridge Collapses in Gujarat.

A huge crowd of devotees also gathered at the national capital's Kalindi Kunj ghat to offer prayers on Chhath Puja.

The festive fervor gripped the 'land of forest' Jharkhand too, as devotees offered prayers at Hatania Talab in Ranchi.

Meanwhile, in Bihar, women were seen standing in the water, wearing long 'sindoor' with orange colour on their faces, and offering fruits and sweets to the Sun God at JP Setu Ghat in Patna.

A huge crowd of devotees gathered to offer prayers at Juhu in Mumbai to mark Chhath Puja.

In West Bengal, devotees offered prayers to the setting sun at Takra Ghat in Kolkata. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee offered prayers on the occasion of Chhath Puja at Kolkata's Dahi Ghat.

The Chhath Puja is celebrated on the sixth day of the Kartik month of the Hindu calendar, which also happens to be the fourth day after Diwali.

Hyderabad also witnessed a large number of devotees celebrating the Chhath Puja at Tank Bund.

As per the Hindu tradition, devotees, especially in Bihar, Jharkhand and UP, worship the Sun God to express gratitude and seek blessings.

Women devotees keep an arduous 36-hour-long fast 'Nirjala Vrat', and sing devotional and folk songs. 'Arghya' is offered to the Sun God while standing in knee-deep water at ghats or makeshift ponds. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi, Oct 30 (PTI) Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Sunday expressed grief over a bridge collapse in Gujarat's Morbi city and prayed for the safe rescue of all.

At least 32 people were killed after a suspension bridge on the Machchhu river in Morbi collapsed this evening. Several people standing on the bridge fell into the river, according to local officials.

Also Read | Morbi Suspension Bridge Collapse: Collapsed 143-Year-Old British-Era Cable Bridge Had Reopened Last Week on Gujarati New Year After Renovation.

"Distressed to hear about the tragic incident in Morbi, Gujarat. I pray for the safe rescue of all and speedy recovery of those injured," the Vice President Secretariat said in a tweet quoting Dhankhar.

"My thoughts are with the affected families," Dhankhar said.

Also Read | Morbi Suspension Bridge Collapse: 35 Killed, Over 100 Missing As Hanging Bridge Collapses in Gujarat.

The bridge, which was recently reopened for the public after renovation, collapsed as it could not bear the weight of the people standing on it, the officials said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Bhilwara (Rajasthan) [India], October 30 (ANI): After reports of girls being auctioned on stamp papers in Bhilwara surfaced, Rajasthan Director General of Police (DGP) ML Lather said that the state police is strict towards atrocities against women.

"Rajasthan Police is strict towards atrocities against women. The media has been told about two victim girls and a case was registered in the year 2019 in relation to the incident with both the girls," he said.

Also Read | Operation Milap: Delhi Police Reunite Three Abandoned Children With Family.

The DCP further added that a case was registered in Hanuman Nagar police station of the district under various sections of IPC, POCSO Act, JJ Act and IT Act.

"In the year 2019, Operation Gudiya was run in the Bhilwara district in connection with the purchase and sale of girls," he said.

Also Read | Uttarakhand Shocker: Two Men From Delhi Swept Away in Ganga River Near Rishikesh.

Earlier on October 29, the chairperson of the Rajasthan State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Sangeeta Beniwal, held a meeting at the Collectorate in Bhilwara following reports of girls being auctioned on stamp papers in the area.

The District Collector, Superintendent of Police, and other officials were present at the meeting.

"I came to know from DSP and Collector that this case is from 2019. At that time, police presented a challan of 25 people in court. Out of 6 girls, 4 have been rehabilitated & 2 are in girls' homes as they're from other states. I'll reach them soon and get complete information," said RSCPCR chief, Sangeeta Beniwal.

Earlier, Rajasthan, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said that the Congress party had exposed such cases which had been happening during the previous regime of the BJP in the state.

"The incident happened in 2005 when the BJP was in power. In 2019, we came and exposed it. 21 accused were arrested, three died and one is absconding. Two children died, and the rest went to their homes. It was turned into national news," Gehlot said while addressing a press conference here.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the National Commission for Women (NCW), the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and the Rajasthan State Commission for Women (RSCW) have all sought reports into the allegations.

Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Chief Swati Maliwal had also written to Gehlot seeking action against the culprits for auctioning girls on stamp papers to settle disputes over loan repayments in the Bhilwara district of Rajasthan.

"It is reported in the newspaper that girls as young as 8-year-old are being openly auctioned on stamp paper in over half a dozen districts of the state. The report has stated that whenever there is a dispute between two parties particularly involving financial transactions and loans, people approach caste-based panchayats to settle the matter, the DCW chief wrote.

"These panchayats settle financial disputes and recover the money by auctioning young girls belonging to the lender families. The girls are then sent to Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Mumbai, Delhi, and even abroad and subjected to physical abuse, torture, and sexual assault. If the families refuse to sell their girls, their mothers are subjected to rape on the diktats of the local caste panchayats!," Maliwal's letter read. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi, Oct 30 (PTI) The National Disaster Response Force on Sunday rushed three teams to Gujarat's Morbi district where at least 32 people were killed after a suspension bridge over a river collapsed.

NDRF Director General (DG) Atul Karwal told PTI that the three teams have been moved from state capital Gandhinagar and Vadodara.

Also Read | Morbi Suspension Bridge Collapse: Collapsed 143-Year-Old British-Era Cable Bridge Had Reopened Last Week on Gujarati New Year After Renovation.

Another team will be airlifted in some time and it will move via road from Rajkot to the accident site, he said.

The teams comprise senior officers and rescuers, and they are carrying the required equipment, Karwal said.

Also Read | Morbi Suspension Bridge Collapse: 35 Killed, Over 100 Missing As Hanging Bridge Collapses in Gujarat.

A bridge, nearly a century-old, on the Machchhu river collapsed this evening. Several people standing on the bridge fell into the river, local officials said.

The bridge, which was recently reopened for the public after renovation, collapsed as it could not bear the weight of the people, they said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Amritsar, Oct 30 (PTI) India and Pakistan should grant on-arrival visas to Sikh pilgrims wishing to visit holy shrines on both sides, Akal Takht jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh said on Sunday.

Singh was addressing a congregation to mark the centenary of the 'Shaheedi Saka Panja Sahib' at Gurdwara Panja Sahib in Pakistan, the SGPC said in a statement issued here.

Also Read | Morbi Suspension Bridge Collapse: Bridge Opened for Public Without Issuance of Fitness Certificate, Says Civic Official.

The event was jointly organised by Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (PSGPC) and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC).

Akal Takht is the highest temporal seat of Sikhs and jathedar, its appointed head.

Also Read | Morbi Suspension Bridge Collapse: 60 Die After Cable Bridge Collapses in Gujarats Morbi, Says State Minister Brijesh Merja; Rescue Operation Underway.

"The governments of both India and Pakistan should make arrangements to grant on-arrival visas to the Sikhs wishing to visit the shrines on both sides, so that the pilgrims don't face any inconvenience and pay obeisance," Singh said.

After the partition of the country, many Sikh shrines, including Gurdwara Panja Sahib towards which the Sikh community has deep reverence and devotion, were left in Pakistan, he said.

Sikhs should have an opportunity to freely visit these shrines, Singh said.

The jathedar said Sikhs want "smooth relations" between India and Pakistan because whenever there is bitterness between the two nations, the movement of Sikh 'jathas' is affected.

Singh also mentioned the issue of non-release of Sikh prisoners during his address.

Saka Panja Sahib took place on October 30, 1922 at Hasan Abdal railway station, close to the sacred shrine of Panja Sahib.

Several Sikhs from Panja Sahib had blocked the railway track to stop a train carrying Sikh prisoners from Amritsar to Attock (now in Pakistan) as they wanted to serve them food.

When the station master refused to stop the train, some of them sat in the middle of the track. The driver brought the train to a screeching halt but 11 Sikhs were injured. Two of them succumbed to injuries later and were hailed as martyrs of 'Saka Panja Sahib'.

The Akal Takht jathedar said the martyrs of Saka Panja Sahib were committed to the Sikh beliefs, who sacrificed their lives for strengthening Sikh institutions.

Meanwhile, SGPC chief Harjinder Singh Dhami paid tributes to the martyrs of 'Saka Panja Sahib' and said that the history of struggle of the Sikh community is priceless, which the 'sangat' will remember for ages.

He said martyrs are the heritage of the community and history is a source of inspiration.

'Saka Panja Sahib' is an important example of Sikh spirit, which will always maintain its influence, he said.

Dhami said the government should show generosity for the open pilgrimage to Sikh shrines left in Pakistan.

He appealed to the present officials of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB), Pakistan to pay special attention to the problem faced by the pilgrims at the time of getting visas.

He said recently to attend the centenary congregation, the visas of many important personalities of the SGPC were rejected, which has caused a lot of inconvenience.

Dhami demanded that long-term visas should be arranged for pilgrims and especially the preachers, so that they continue to visit Sikh shrines in Pakistan from time to time.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], October 30 (ANI): A Strategic Conclave was held in Srinagar at Fire and Fury Corps on Sunday, which was presided over by Lieutenant General Upendra Dwivedi, GOC-in-C Northern Command and attended by senior military officials of Northern Command, said a statement by Srinagar Defence Public Relations Officer.

The conclave was held to analyze shifting geopolitical equations in the world in general and our neighborhood in particular, added the statement.

Also Read | Methamphetamine Tablets Worth More Than Rs 3 Crore Seized From Mizoram.

These call for constant monitoring and reviews as they open up unprecedented challenges and opportunities for India. From the military perspective, it requires brainstorming to come up with various options at strategic, operational, and tactical levels, as per the statement.

The conclave deliberated on a multitude of issues, at all levels, to develop a comprehensive understanding and arrive at logical courses of action.

Also Read | Morbi Suspension Bridge Collapse: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge Appeals Party Workers in Gujarat To Extend Every Possible Assistance in Rescue Operation.

GOC -in- C, Northern Command, while addressing the conclave, highlighted the need for all to remain abreast of the developments in our neighborhood and directed that such educative conclaves should form part of continuous learning at all levels. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Jammu, Oct 30 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir Police has invited bids from registered aviation companies for renting helicopters to ensure faster mobility of its force, officials said on Sunday.

Flight operations are required for carrying police officers and central armed paramilitary force (CAPF) officials in all sectors of J-K, as well as for other emergent purpose, they said.

Also Read | Delhi Air Pollution: AAP Govt Forms 586 Teams to Ensure Ban on Construction, Demolition Activities.

The police floated the tender on Saturday and sought bids from registered aviation companies having a fleet of minimum three airworthy light helicopters for its operations in Jammu and Kashmir on 'leave and licence' basis for a period of three years -- January 16, 2023 to January 16, 2026, officials said.

Officials said the helicopters will be integrated in the 'disaster management plan (DMP)' and 'emergency response plan (ERP)' being prepared by the police.

Also Read | TRS MLAs Poaching Row: BJP Trying to Buy 20-30 Legislators, Topple Government, Alleges Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao.

"All the helicopters at Srinagar and Jammu helipad will be integrated into the ERP," officials said.

The operations will be carried out daily with least inconvenience to the police subject to fair weather conditions and clear visibility of the range, it said, adding that company will offer at least two airworthy double engine light helicopters.

The company shall be required to park one operating helicopter at Srinagar -Jammu helipad as per the requirement. The operator should be in a position to put immediately in place an additional stand by helicopter in the event of an emergency, it added.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New York, US (PANA) - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday spoke to President Joao Lourenco of Angola to discuss the on-going situation in the east of Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) where fresh fighting has been raging between government forces and the M23 rebels
Ahmedabad, Oct 30 (PTI) Rajasthan Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot on Sunday alleged that just the way goats are purchased for Eid celebrations, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is buying MLAs to topple elected governments in states.

Also Read | Gujarat Bridge Collapse: Cable Bridge on Machchhu River Collapses in Morbi, Several Feared Injured; CM Bhupender Patel Directs Officials to Ensure Treatment of Injured.

He said the BJP had pulled down governments using money power in Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, and had unsuccessfully tried to unseat him as well in Rajasthan, an apparent reference to the turmoil when Gehlot was set to fight the Congress presidential polls.

Also Read | Delhi Shocker: Toyota Fortuner Robbed at Gunpoint on Busy Road, Video Goes Viral.

He was speaking at a rally in Khedbrahma town of Sabarkantha district in Gujarat, where Assembly elections are due by the end of the year.

The Congress' manifesto for the Assembly polls will be released by November 8, he added.

"The BJP's acts are weakening democracy. They topple state governments and form their own government after buying MLAs. Using the money received through electoral bonds, they buy MLAs just like people buy goats from bakra mandis during Eid," Gehlot said.

"The BJP first toppled the Congress government in Arunachal Pradesh and formed their own government. The same thing happened in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Each MLA was paid nearly Rs 35 crore. Though they tried to do the same in Rajasthan recently, they could not succeed because all MLAs remained united," he claimed.

He also expressed anger at the recent defection of Khedbrahma Congress MLA Ashvin Kotval to the ruling BJP.

Before Khedbrahma, Gehlot and other senior Congress leaders addressed a rally in Virampur village in Banaskantha in north Gujarat.

During the Virampur rally, Gehlot said the Congress will announce its poll manifesto for Gujarat on November 8, adding that it will focus mainly on social security, such as free healthcare, education and employment.

"We will implement Rajasthan's social security model in Gujarat. We provide Rs 10 lakh medical insurance to each family. We also run a free kitchen where anyone can get a meal for Rs 8. Instead of 100 days, we provide 125 days of employment under the MNREGA," he said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Chandigarh, Oct 30 (PTI) Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will take out a roadshow in Haryana's Adampur on October 31, a day before the campaigning ends for the November 3 Assembly bypolls there.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar will also hold a rally for the BJP on November 1.

Also Read | Delhi Shocker: Toyota Fortuner Robbed at Gunpoint on Busy Road, Video Goes Viral.

"Arvindji will take out a roadshow in the afternoon, which will cover several villages, including Balsamand," a party leader said on Sunday.

On Sunday, Punjab Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer also campaigned in Adampur and took out a roadshow.

Also Read | Chhath Puja 2022: Chhath Maiya Biggest Symbol of Social Harmony, Says UP CM Yogi Adityanath.

The bypolls were necessitated after Kuldeep Bishnoi, the younger son of former chief minister Bhajan Lal, resigned as MLA from the seat and switched sides from the Congress to the BJP in August.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had also campaigned in Adampur for AAP on Wednesday.

Kejriwal had launched the party's nationwide Make India No. 1 campaign from Hisar last month.

On the other hand, former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and state Congress president Udai Bhan have been leading the party's campaign.

For the BJP, Chief Minister Khattar interacted with the youth of Adampur virtually, during which he sought their support to ensure the victory of his party candidate Bhavya Bishnoi .

Khattar told them his government has taken several steps to rein-in corruption, made recruitment purely on merit and undertook equitable development.

Meanwhile, Kuldeep Bishnoi claimed there is great enthusiasm among people and the BJP candidate will win with a heavy margin.

"For a few weeks now, I have been extensively touring Adampur and people are showering their love and blessings," he said.

"After a gap of 26 years, we (the Bhajan Lal family) are fighting this poll while being in the government. And people know that development works will further accelerate after the BJP victory," Bishnoi said.

Bhavya's mother and former MLA Renuka Bishnoi also exuded confidence of a comfortable win.

The chief minister will be holding a big rally on November 1, she said.

Meanwhile, AAP MP Dr Sushil Gupta, who is party's Haryana affairs incharge, went door-to-door in Balsamand village on Sunday and sought votes for party candidate Satender Singh.

"We have built good schools and hospitals in Delhi and undertaken development," Gupta said during his interaction with voters.

He appealed to them to elect Satender, saying he was a good candidate.

(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/Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 30 (PTI) Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Sunday defended his action against Vice Chancellors (VCs) of 11 universities in the state, saying that he was only performing his constitutional duty to defend the law which was laid down by the Supreme Court.

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Khan said there was no "other intention" or "controversy" behind the steps taken by him as he was only implementing the law laid down by the apex court and added that he has "no time to spend on petty fights".

Also Read | Chhath Puja 2022: Chhath Maiya Biggest Symbol of Social Harmony, Says UP CM Yogi Adityanath.

The top court on October 21 had quashed the appointment of the VC of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University saying that as per the University Grants Commission (UGC), the search committee constituted by the state should have recommended a panel of not less than three suitable people among eminent people in the field of engineering science to the chancellor but, instead it sent only one name.

Khan said that besides this, the apex court also ruled that according to UGC norms on VC appointments, the search or selection committee should not have a non-academic member.

"The Supreme Court was not hearing a matter on qualifications of a VC. They have not commented on that. They have said that the process which has been followed for appointing VCs was repugnant to the regulations of the UGC.

"The judgement does not deal with just one VC. They (SC) have laid down the law. I consider it my duty to defend and implement it if it is in my jurisdiction. Therefore, for me there is no controversy. I had no other intention. I am trying to do my duty as I am obliged to do. I do not have time to spend on petty fights," he said.

Khan was speaking at an event organised by the World Malayali Federation in New Delhi.

He further said that where he does not have the power to intervene when he sees something which in his view is against the interests of the people of Kerala, he will bring the same to the attention of the public who can then decide what to do.

Citing an example, he said ministers in Kerala have the power to appoint 25 people in their personal staff who become entitled to lifelong pension on completing two years of service.

After every two years, a new set of 25 people are appointed and in this manner during a four year tenure of a minister 50 party workers become entitled to lifelong pension which is paid from money that should be used for the people of the state.

"I do not have the legal power to stop it. Only thing I can do is let the people of Kerala know how the money is being spent and let the people of Kerala decide. This is the least I can do," he said.

At the same time, he also said he does not believe that every opinion of his is perfect and final.

"No. I am open to correction," he said.

In his speech at the event, he also claimed that no one was willing to start an educational institution in Kerala and that it was the only state where people "were searching for jobs all over the country and the world."

He further claimed Keralites outside the state are successfully running businesses and industries but, are not setting up the same in Kerala.

Khan also praised Kerala for its "unadulterated spiritual mindset", saying that "people do not suspect or have misgivings about anybody based on their birth, skin colour or language they speak".

"They have this attitude of seeing the divine in everybody. Keralites have a sense of human dignity," he said and added "you need to safeguard what you have achieved".

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Bhubaneswar, Oct 30 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday praised Odia woman Kunni Deori who has made solar energy a medium of employment for herself and others.

In his monthly radio programme Mann Ki Baat, Modi also hailed the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bhubaneswar, for developing a battery-operated portable ventilator for newborn babies, that can be used in remote areas.

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While talking about innovation and research, the Prime Minister gave the example of Deori of Odisha's Keonjhar district.

Kunni Deori, a daughter from Odisha, is making solar energy a medium of employment for her as well as for other women. Kunni lives in Kardapal village of Keonjhar district of Odisha. She trains tribal women to spin silk on a solar-powered reeling machine, Modi said.

Also Read | TRS MLAs Poaching Row: BJP Trying to Buy 20-30 Legislators, Topple Government, Alleges Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao.

As the machine is solar-powered, these tribal women do not have to bear the burden of electricity bills, and they are earning money, he said.

This is the very boon of Sun God's solar energy. The more the boon and the blessings spread, the better it is. Therefore, I urge you to join this and add others too, the PM said.

Modi also praised the IIT Bhubaneswar as it has developed a portable ventilator for newborn babies.

It runs on battery and can be used easily in remote areas. This can prove to be very helpful in saving the lives of babies who are born prematurely.

Many of our students are engaged in developing new technology - be it electric mobility, drone technology or 5G. Several IITs are also working together on a multilingual project that makes learning local languages easier, the Prime Minister said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Kolkata, Oct 30 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has proved his leadership abilities through the Bharat Jodo Yatra, TMC MP Shatrughan Sinha said.

In an interview to PTI, Sinha said Gandhi's 3,570-km-long march that began in Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu will help the Congress double its tally in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The Congress won 52 seats in 2019 elections.

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"Bharat Jodo Yatra is getting a very good response. Rahul Gandhi's charisma has started working, and he is getting an excellent response from the people. I feel that Gandhi's yatra will help double the tally of the Congress in Parliament in the next Lok Sabha polls," he said.

"This is a 'yatra' in a true sense as Gandhi is walking unlike 'Rath yatras' by BJP leaders. Lakhs of people are coming out in his support. He has proved his leadership qualities. People have accepted him as a leader. And, those who made fun of him as 'Pappu' and didn't take him seriously have been proved wrong," Sinha added.

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The actor-turned-politician won the Asansol Lok Sabha seat on Trinamool Congress ticket in a bypoll in April this year. Before fighting the election on a TMC ticket, he had switched over to the Congress from the BJP in 2019.

"BJP leaders are making fun of Gandhi, but let them also conduct a similar yatra on foot if they have the fire in their belly. The magic spell of Rahul Gandhi will work in the next elections, I feel and I want it to happen," Sinha said.

Speaking on the Gujarat elections, the TMC leader said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal would either emerge as the "kingmaker or the king" himself.

"In Gujarat, Kejriwal will either emerge as the king or the kingmaker. There is a churning in the saffron camp in Gujarat. The BJP cannot milk Hindutva or the Ram Mandir issue every time. Kejriwal has played a masterstroke through his demand of photos of Goddess Laxmi and Lord Ganesh on currency notes," he said.

Last week, Kejriwal appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to print images of Lord Ganesh and Goddess Lakshmi on currency notes for the progress of the country.

"Kejriwal has paid the BJP back with the same coin. The BJP used to act as if they were the master of the 'Hindutva school of politics' but Kejriwal is now the headmaster of that school. The BJP can neither swallow it nor discard it," Sinha said.

Claiming that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be a "game-changer" in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, Sinha hoped that the relation between the TMC and the Congress would improve.

"There is no last word in politics. Today, the relations are not good doesn't mean it won't improve tomorrow. I personally feel that if major opposition parties come together, the political situation of the country will be completely different," he said.

On the face of the opposition for the 2024 elections, Sinha said that the people of the country will choose the right leader.

"This question that who will be next (prime minister) comes up in every election. Once you reach the top politically, it will be decided based on numbers and the mandate. The country never stops, governments keep changing, and new leadership comes up," he said.

Sinha, a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee's NDA government, asserted that the anti-BJP parties are gaining momentum in the states -- whether it is Bihar, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu or Karnataka.

Sinha also targetted the BJP for the "missing" posters that surfaced in Asansol, his constituency, last week.

"Those who are yet to digest the defeat in the bypoll are behind this. I was in my constituency during Durga Puja, and was here till last week. I am spending Chhaath here in Asansol. I have been regularly visiting Asansol and the people of my constituency will vouch for it," he said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Morbi, Oct 30 (PTI) For Ahmedabad resident Vijay Goswami and his family members, it was a close shave as they had visited the suspension bridge in Gujarat's Morbi on Sunday afternoon, but returned halfway through the bridge out of fear after some youths from the crowd started shaking it.

Also Read | Morbi Suspension Bridge Collapse: Death Toll Rises to 77, Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel Announces Compensation.

A few hours later, their fears proved right when that bridge on the Machchhu river, a tourist attraction, collapsed around 6.30 pm, killing at least 60 people.

Also Read | Methamphetamine Tablets Worth More Than Rs 3 Crore Seized From Mizoram.

Goswami said when he and his family were on the bridge, some youths started shaking the bridge intentionally, making it difficult for people to walk. He said since he felt this act could prove dangerous, he and family returned without proceeding further on the bridge. He said he even alerted the bridge staff about it, but they were indifferent.

The British era bridge had reopened for the public just four days back after remaining shut for renovation work for seven months.

Goswami said he had gone to Morbi with family to enjoy the Diwali vacation.

"There was a huge crowd on the bridge. My family and I were on the bridge when some youths started shaking it intentionally. It was impossible for people to stand without holding any support. Since I had a feeling that it may prove dangerous, my family and I came back after covering some distance on the bridge," Goswami told reporters after reaching Ahmedabad.

"Before leaving the spot, I alerted the on-duty staff to stop people from shaking the bridge. However, they were only interested in selling tickets and told us that there is no system to control the crowd. Hours after we left, our fears turned true as the bridge eventually collapsed," he said.

In a video that has gone viral on social media, some youngsters can be seen kicking the ropes of the bridge and shaking it to scare other tourists.

Several children at the site told reporters that their family members or parents went missing after the bridge collapse.

"There was a huge crowd when the bridge suddenly collapsed. I survived because I caught hold of a hanging rope and slowly climbed up. But my father and mother are still missing," a 10-year-old boy told reporters.

Mehul Raval, who is among the survivors of the tragedy, said there were nearly 300 people on the bridge when it collapsed.

"The bridge suddenly caved in when we were on it. All the people fell down. Many people have died while many have received injuries. The bridge collapsed mainly because it was overcrowded," Raval, who has been admitted to Morbi civil hospital, told reporters from the hospital bed.

A local resident said, "There were nearly 300 people on the bridge, which was opened a few days back for the public. Majority of the victims were children, as they came here to enjoy their Diwali vacation. Locals rushed to the spot immediately after the mishap, and pulled out many people alive."

A large number of people living in different parts of Morbi rushed to help those who fell into river after the bridge collapse.

Another resident said the incident opened the wounds of the Machchhu dam tragedy of 1979, when thousands of local residents died due to flooding.

"All the residents living nearby came for the rescue and saved many. This is the first major incident for Morbi after the dam breach incident of 1979. This bridge collapsed due to overcrowding. Rescue was hampered because of low light in the evening," he said.

Former BJP MLA of Morbi, Kanti Amrutiya, also joined the local rescue teams.

"I pulled out many people alive, but many others were already dead when they were pulled out. Everyone is doing their bit to help people," he said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Thane, Oct 30 (PTI) As many as 60 new cases of coronavirus have been detected in Maharashtra's Thane district, taking its tally of infections to 7,46,635, a health official said on Sunday.

Also Read | Gujarat Assembly Elections 2022 Dates: Election Commission Likely To Announce Poll Schedule This Week.

With the addition of the latest cases on Saturday, there are currently 328 active COVID-19 cases in the district, which is part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, he said.

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The death toll in Thane remained unchanged at 11,965, he said, adding that the recovery count has reached 7,35,030.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Hyderabad, Oct 30 (PTI) Three persons who allegedly tried to "poach" four TRS legislators have been arrested and a local court here has remanded them to judicial custody.

The arrests were made on Saturday night after the Telangana High Court had set aside a lower court's order and directed the accused in the case to surrender before police.

Also Read | Haryana Shocker: 40-Year-Old Property Dealer Shot Dead at Point Blank-Range in Gurugram.

Earlier, a local court here on October 27 rejected the remand of three people, who were arrested by the Cyberabad police on the charge of trying to coax four TRS legislators into defecting, over not following the procedure of issuing a notice before the arrest.

The government appealed to the High Court against the lower court's order.

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Following TRS' allegations that BJP tried to poach some of its MLAs, the saffron party filed a writ petition in the High Court seeking a CBI probe.

Another judge of the High Court, on the petition by BJP, posted the matter for November 4 and deferred investigation till then.

Based on a complaint by Pilot Rohith Reddy, one of the legislators, cases under relevant sections - criminal conspiracy, offering bribe and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 - were filed against the trio -- Ramachandra Bharati alias Satish Sharma, Nanda Kumar and Simhayaji Swamy -- on the night of October 26.

As per the FIR copy, Rohith Reddy alleged that the accused offered him Rs 100 crore and in return the legislator had to leave the TRS and contest as a BJP candidate in the next Assembly elections.

The incident led to a war of words between the BJP and TRS with allegations and counter allegations.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 30 (PTI) The Kerala police on Sunday took into custody a young woman who allegedly poisoned to death her 23-year-old male friend with an intention to eliminate him.

Also Read | Methamphetamine Tablets Worth More Than Rs 3 Crore Seized From Mizoram.

Greeshma (22) was detained for allegedly serving an ayurvedic decoction (Kashayam) laced with pesticide to Sharon, a native of Parassala in the district.

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ADGP in charge of Law and Order, M R Ajith Kumar told reporters here that the woman has confessed to the crime.

"As per our preliminary investigation, she invited him to her house on October 14 and gave him the kashayam mixed with a pesticide," the ADGP said.

Sharon died on October 25 after undergoing treatment at the medical college for 11 days.

Greeshma and her family were interrogated since morning and police said they were in a relationship which ended in February.

"However, it seems like Sharon was not ready to back off from the relationship. Her marriage was fixed with another person. She later tried to avoid him in many ways. But since nothing worked out, she decided to eliminate him. That's what we understand from her statements," Kumar said.

Police said they will record the arrest soon and produce her before the court soon.

The senior police official said as of now there was no evidence in connection with the role of any other family member in the crime.

"Her motive was to eliminate him and gave the kashayam mixed with the pesticide," he said.

Asked how the accused managed to make him drink the kashayam, Kumar said she had told the victim that it was difficult to drink the ayurvedic decoction and dared him to consume it.

"He used to mock her saying that it was not that difficult to drink the kashayam. She invited him to her house on October 14 and gave the kashayam, which he drank. He vomited there itself and later on the way to his house also," he said.

Police, however, said that in his dying declaration, Sharon did not mention anything about Greeshma or her role in the poisoning.

As his condition worsened, the medical college authorities had informed the police suspecting it as a medico-legal case.

A magistrate recorded his statement on October 20.

"He passed away on October 25. We took the statement of nine people, including Greeshma and her family members on October 26 and 27. After recording the statement of the doctor, we asked her and her family to appear for interrogation. Upon interrogation, she gave us the statement with regard to the crime," Kumar said.

Sharon's family has been alleging that the woman had given him some sort of juice or decoction in order to kill him.

As the news of her confession came out, Sharon's father told the media that the family of the woman was also involved in the crime.

"Not only the girl, but her parents are also involved," he alleged.

(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 30: Richest Asian Gautam Adani's group will invest over USD 150 billion across businesses ranging from green energy to data centres to airports and healthcare as it chases the dream to join the elite global club of companies with USD 1 trillion valuations.

On October 10, Adani Group Chief Financial Officer Jugeshinder 'Robbie' Singh detailed the growth plans of the group, which started off as a trader in 1988 and expanded rapidly into ports, airports, roads, power, renewable energy, power transmission, gas distribution and FMCG and more recently into data centres, airports, petrochemicals, cement and media, at an investor meet organised by Ventura Securities Ltd in New Delhi. Adani Group Enters Industrial 5G Space, Acquires Right To Use 400MHz of Spectrum in 26GHz Millimetre Wave Band.

The group plans to invest USD 50-70 billion in green hydrogen business and another USD 23 billion in green energy over the next 5-10 years, he said. It will invest USD 7 billion in electricity transmission, USD 12 billion in transport utility and USD 5 billion in the road sector.

Its foray into data centre business with cloud services would entail an investment of USD 6.5 billion in partnership with Edge ConneX and another USD 9-10 billion is planned for airports, where it is already the largest private operator. Its foray into the cement sector with the acquisition of ACC and Ambuja cement entailed USD 10 billion investment.

It is foraying into the petrochemical business with plans to set up a 1 million tonnes per annum PVC manufacturing facility at an investment of USD 2 billion and would enter the copper sector with a 0.5 million tonnes a year smelter at an investment of USD 1 billion, he said. Gautam Adani Announces Investments Worth Rs 65,000 Crore in Rajasthan.

The healthcare sector foray that will include insurance, hospitals and diagnostic and pharma would see an investment of USD 7-10 billion, with some coming from Adani Foundation.

"Whatever you see today, it might look like it has just happened in the last one or two years, but in reality what we have done, both GSA (Gautam Shantilal Adani) and myself discussed this in 2015," Singh said at the investor meeting adding the conglomerate is a result of a well-thought-out business plan that entailed foraying into adjacencies of existing business.

The group's market capitalisation was around USD 16 billion in 2015 and it is USD 260 billion in 2022 - a surge of over 16x in seven years. "Given what we had as a set of companies, we believed that if we had assets and companies of that type we should really be a USD 1 trillion group. So we went through the steps that we needed to take to get to the point," he said.

There are only a handful of companies that are valued at trillion dollars or more. These include Apple, Saudi Aramco, Microsoft, Google's parent Alphabet and Amazon.

Singh said the Adani Group has set about building its infrastructure and logistics portfolio in a manner that it could emerge as the top five globally and not just India's largest player.

"Look at Adani Ports, Adani transmission, Adani Total Gas, Adani Power, combined when you look at these businesses, these businesses are in total infra and utility portfolio was formed by four core portfolios," he said. "It is the fastest growing portfolio of any comparable size infra portfolio. Our primary industry vertical materials metals and mining again sits next to our core of the infrastructure."

Explaining the logic being the expansions, he said for a trading company it made sense for Adani group to be in the ports business. And since energy is vital for this, the foray into distributed energy and finally into gas to provide an integrated logistics and infrastructure portfolio.

The recent foray into metals and mining is an extension of this as logistics and warehousing is an integral part of the cement business. Given that power and logistics are the largest components of any metals and materials business, the group has seen it fit to enter copper, aluminum and cement businesses, he said.

Stating that power continues to be core to the Group's future growth plans, he said Adani is making the biggest bet by any Indian group in building the chain for producing hydrogen - the fuel of the future - as well as renewable energy plants.

Most businesses of the Adani Group enjoy the best-in-class margins. The ports business has reported operating margins of 70 per cent, while its closest competitor's margins are at 56 per cent. Adani Total Gas has reported margins of 41 per cent, while Adani Tranmission's operating margin is at 92 per cent. The businesses are profitable and efficient and generate high levels of free cash flows.

On financials, Singh said the group generates earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of USD 8 billion. Of this, about USD 3.6 billion is spent on servicing debt (interest and principal). USD 700 million goes towards tax payments and businesses spend USD 1.8 billion towards capex.

While in absolute terms the Group's debt has gone up, so has its EBITDA, he said adding over the last nine years, the Group's EBITDA has grown 23 per cent CAGR, while debt has grown by 12 per cent.

Singh said flagship Adani Enterprises is the group's business incubator. Ports, power, transmission and gas businesses were all incubated by this company and when they reached a certain degree of maturity, they were spun off into separate companies and listed on bourses.

The same will be the approach for several new businesses such as airports being nurtured under AEL. When they become independent and can fund their own capital expenditure plans, they will be separated, he said.

In the next 2-3 years, hydrogen and airports businesses can be demerged when they can be independent. "Adani Group's transformation is a 25-year story of growth and ambition," he added.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
By Trend

Friendship and fraternal relations between Azerbaijan and Turkiye, sealed by common roots and values, have come a long way in development, Chairman of the Milli Majlis (Parliament) of Azerbaijan Sahiba Gafarova said at an event held on October 29 on the occasion of Turkiye's national holiday, Trend reports.

She emphasized the great international authority of the Republic of Turkiye.

"I believe that, on the one hand, this is, of course, due to its political, economic, military, intellectual, spiritual potential and geopolitical significance, and on the other hand, to the fact that Turkiye's foreign policy is based on the criteria of fairness and honesty, which today urgently needed internationally," Gafarova said.

She noted that the objective position demonstrated by the fraternal country in relation to international problems plays a uniquely stabilizing role in the current turbulent time in the world.

Speaking about the importance of the Shusha Declaration, the chairman of the Milli Majlis said that Turkey supports Azerbaijan both in the work on the restoration of Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur, and in all other issues.
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
New Delhi, Oct 30 (PTI) India and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member countries are expected to start negotiations for a free trade agreement next month with an aim to boost economic ties between the two regions, an official said.

GCC is a union of six countries in the Gulf region -- Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain.

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"Terms of reference for the agreement are being finalised and we expect to launch the negotiations next month," the official said.

India has already implemented a free trade pact with the UAE in May this year.

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According to experts, the GCC region holds huge trade potential and a trade agreement would help in further boosting India's exports to that market.

Rakesh Mohan Joshi, Director, Indian Institute of Plantation Management, Bangalore, said the GCC market is unexploited by domestic exporters and it holds huge potential.

"GCC is a major import dependent region. We can increase our exports of food items, clothing and several other goods. Duty concessions under a trade agreement will help in tapping that market. It will be a win-win situation for both sides," Joshi said.

Mumbai-based exporter and founder chairman of Techno-craft Industries India, Sharad Kumar Saraf said the GCC has emerged as a major trading partner for India and there is huge potential for increasing investments between the two regions.

"FTA will have a major benefit for both the sides," Saraf said.

Sharing similar views, Federation of Indian Exports Organisation (FIEO) Vice Chairman Khalid Khan said sectors like chemicals, textiles, gems and jewellery and leather will get a major impetus by this agreement.

India imports predominately crude oil and natural gas from the Gulf nations like Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and exports pearls, precious and semi-precious stones; metals; imitation jewellery; electrical machinery; iron and steel; and chemicals to these countries.

India's exports to the GCC increased by 58.26 per cent to about USD 44 billion in 2021-22 against USD 27.8 billion in 2020-21, according to data of the commerce ministry.

The share of these six countries in India's total exports has risen to 10.4 per cent in 2021-22 from 9.51 per cent in 2020-21. Similarly, imports rose by 85.8 per cent to USD 110.73 billion compared to USD 59.6 billion in 2020-21, the data showed.

The share of GCC members in India's total imports rose to 18 per cent in 2021-22 from 15.5 per cent in 2020-21.

Bilateral trade has increased to USD 154.73 billion in 2021-22 from USD 87.4 billion in 2020-21.

Besides trade, Gulf nations are host to a sizeable Indian population. Out of about 32 million non-resident Indians (NRIs), nearly half are estimated to be working in Gulf countries.

These NRIs send a significant amount of money back home.

According to a November 2021 report of the World Bank, India got USD 87 billion in foreign remittances in 2021. Of this, a sizeable portion came from the GCC nations.

Saudi Arabia was India's fourth-largest trading partner last fiscal. From Qatar, India imports 8.5 million tonnes a year of LNG and exports products ranging from cereals to meat, fish, chemicals, and plastics.

Kuwait was the 27th largest trading partner of India in the last fiscal, while the UAE was the third-largest trading partner in 2021-22.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Chandigarh, Oct 30 (PTI) Turning adverse conditions into an opportunity, women in Haryana are now trying their hand at shrimp production with the help of government schemes that promote alternate or unconventional farming.

Sirsa district's Veerpal Kaur is one such example, who started white shrimp farming in 2016-17 on 2.5 acres of farm, but now with the entire family getting involved in the project, they have spread it to 50 acres.

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"Generally, saline water is considered a curse for agriculture, but for shrimp production, it is proving to be a boon," she told PTI over the phone.

Her husband Gurpreet Singh said the family has taken land on lease.

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"Seventeen acres of our farm is in Mithri village, Sirsa, ten acres are in village Chormar and 22 acres in Ahmedpur Darewala in Dabwali block of Sirsa district," he said.

In Sirsa district alone, this shrimp farming is done by several farmers on nearly 5,000 acres now, and many women have taken to this business, he added.

According to a recent government statement, Kaur today not only has paved the way for other women like her to choose this business but has also set an example of how the saline water, which is considered a curse for agriculture, can prove to be a boon.

"Like Veerpal Kaur, a beneficiary of Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana, six other women of the same village have also started the business of white shrimp production," as per the statement.

Kaur said the government support also helps as under the PMMSY, a 60 per cent subsidy is given to the women belonging to scheduled caste while 40 per cent is given to the general category.

Her husband pointed out that buyers from Odisha, Telangana, West Bengal and some other states come to Sirsa to buy white shrimp.

"Later, most of it is exported to countries like the US, Canada, Russia and other nations," Singh said.

The rate of white shrimp is decided as per the demand in the international market, he added.

"While last year, the demand was good and per kg shrimp fetched us about Rs 450, but this year the price varies between Rs 350 to Rs 360 per kg," he noted.

Haryana, once known for its contribution to the green revolution, is now working on a mission mode to swiftly move towards the blue revolution, according to the statement.

"The state has started making blue revolution a success story by promoting it at the grassroots level with the formation of a cluster demonstration farm of shrimp farming and organising workshops for progressive shrimp farmers of the Sirsa district," it added.

Under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), white shrimp farming was started in Haryana in 2014-15, and after its success, this farming was implemented in Karnal, Sonipat, Faridabad, Gurugram, Mewat, Palwal, Rohtak, Jind, Bhiwani, Hisar, Sirsa, Rewari, Jhajjar, Fatehabad and Charkhi Dadri districts.

During 2021-22, a record production of 2,900 metric tonnes of shrimp was done on 1,250 acres.

In 2014, one lakh metric tonnes of different types of fish were produced in Haryana in a total farming area of 43,000 acres, and this year the target has been increased to 54,000 acres. Besides, the state government has also set a target of increasing production to 2.10 lakh metric tonnes.HARYANA VILLAGE

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Washington, October 30: President Joe Biden's administration is taking stock of a newly empowered Xi Jinping as the Chinese president begins a third, norm-breaking five-year term as Communist Party leader. With US-Chinese relations already fraught, concerns are growing in Washington that more difficult days may be ahead.

Xi has amassed a measure of power over China's ruling party unseen since Mao Zedong, the leader from 1949 until his death in 1976. Xi's consolidation of power comes as the United States has updated its defense and national security strategies to reflect that China is now America's most potent military and economic adversary. US President Joe Biden Warns Xi Jinping of 'Implications & Consequences' If China Provides Material Support to Russia: White House.

Biden takes pride in having built rapport with Xi since first meeting him more than a decade ago, when they served as their countries' vice presidents. But Biden now faces, in Xi, a counterpart buoyed by a greater measure of power and determined to cement China's superpower status even while navigating strong economic and diplomatic headwinds. US President Joe Biden Signs Major Semiconductors Investment Bill To Compete Against China.

We're not back in the Mao era. Xi Jinping is not Mao, said Jude Blanchette, chair of China studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

But we are definitely in new territory and unpredictable territory in terms of the stability and predictability of China's political system.

Biden and Xi are expected to hold talks on the sidelines of next month's Group of 20 summit in Indonesia, a long-anticipated meeting that would come after nearly two years of tense relations.

The leaders are dug into winning the upper hand in a competition that both believe will determine which country is the leading global economic and political force driving the next century. There's an awful lot of issues for us to talk to China about," said National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.

He added that US and Chinese officials have been working to arrange a meeting of the leaders, though one has yet to be confirmed. Some issues are fairly contentious and some should be collaborative," Kirby said.

Biden and Xi travelled together in the US and China in 2011 and 2012, and they have held five phone or video calls since Biden became president in January 2021.

But the US-China relationship has become far more complicated since those getting-to-know-you talks over meals in Washington and on the Tibetan plateau a decade ago.

As president, Biden has repeatedly taken China to task for human rights abuses against the Uyghur people and other ethnic minorities, Beijing's crackdowns on democracy activists in Hong Kong, coercive trade practices, military provocations against self-ruled Taiwan and differences over Russia's prosecution of its war against Ukraine.

Xi's government has criticised the Biden administration's posture toward Taiwan  which Beijing looks eventually to unify with the communist mainland  as undermining China's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The Chinese president also has suggested that Washington wants to stifle Beijing's growing clout as it tries to overtake the US as the world's largest economy. External attempts to suppress and contain China may escalate at any time, Xi warned in his address before the Communist Party congress.

We must therefore be more mindful of potential dangers, be prepared to deal with worst-case scenarios, and be ready to withstand high winds, choppy waters and even dangerous storms.

Dali Yang, a political scientist at the University of Chicago who researches Chinese politics, said there are some potentially stabilising developments emerging in the relationship after months of rancour.

Two of China's best-known diplomats in Washington were elevated at the Communist Party meeting. Foreign Minister Wang Yi was selected for the Communist Party's Politburo, the policy-making body made up of the 24 most senior officials. China's ambassador to the US, Qin Gang, is joining its central committee. Their elevation should bring a measure of continuity to the US-China relationship, Yang said.

Yang noted there has also been an effort on the part of the Communist Party leadership to tone down its warm embrace of Russia. Last month, after meeting with Xi on the sidelines of a summit in Uzbekistan, Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged that Xi had expressed concern and questions about the war in Ukraine.

With his third term confirmed, "in some ways, Xi is now freer to act and less encumbered in terms of no longer having to always watch what his rivals are doing, Yang said. I think that actually may affect his approach and may make him more comfortable in dealing with Biden.

White House officials have played down hopes that Xi's new five-year hold on the Communist Party could give him breathing room to more fully engage on matters where China has some overlapping interests with the US.

Biden, during a meeting with Defense Department officials on Wednesday, stressed that the US was not seeking conflict with China. Hours later, Chinese state television reported Xi told members of the national committee on US-China relations that Beijing should find ways to work with Washington on issues of mutual concern.

The conciliatory moment was short-lived. The following day, US and Chinese officials were trading rhetorical shots about the US move earlier this month to expand export controls on the sale of advanced semiconductor chips to China.

The US has overstretched the national security concept and suppressed China's development, and normal business cooperation has been politicised and weaponised, Wang Hongxia, counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Washington, told reporters.

Her comments came not long after a top Commerce Department official, Undersecretary Alan Estevez, said at a Washington forum that if I was a betting person, I would put down money on the US imposing additional export controls on China.

China's economy is slowing, with Beijing reporting this month that growth for the first nine months of the year was 3 per cent, putting it on pace to fall well below its official full-year target of 5.5 per cent.

The country's economy is also dragging from strict zero COVID rules, and Beijing is confronting a deceleration in exports and home prices that fell to a seven-year low in September.

It also faces increased competition from a US and European Union that are investing tens of billions of dollars to compete on semiconductors and other technologies.

All of this points to the possibility that China might not eclipse US gross domestic product by 2030 as many economists have forecast. Ruchir Sharma, chairman of Rockefeller International, recently concluded that with its likely growth trajectory China would exceed the US economy by 2060, if it manages to do so at all.

At the same time, Secretary of State Antony Blinken as well as the US chief naval operations officer, Adm. Mike Gilday, have recently expressed concern that Beijing may try to step up its timeline to seize Taiwan. Blinken said China had made a fundamental decision that the status quo was no longer acceptable."

China has largely refrained from criticising Russia's war in Ukraine, but also has held off on supplying Moscow with arms. Still, the conflict has raised concerns in Taiwan that China  which has never controlled the island  might be further emboldened to move on its long-stated plan for unification.

US-China tensions have been further enflamed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's August visit to Taiwan and Biden's remark in May that the US military would defend Taiwan in case of an attack by China, comments the White House later played down.

What's concerning now is that with Xi's unlimited power and ambition, he may use Taiwan to distract from his internal problems, said Keith Krach, a former undersecretary of state during the Trump administration. I hope he's looked at the courage of the Ukrainians and reckoned that the people of Taiwan are just as courageous, perhaps even more so.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Rio de Janeiro, October 30: Brazilians vote on Sunday in a polarising presidential runoff election that pits an incumbent vowing to safeguard conservative Christian values against a former president promising to return the country to a more prosperous past.

The runoff shaped up as a close contest between President Jair Bolsonaro and his political nemesis, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Both are well-known, divisive political figures who stir passion as much as loathing. US President Election 2024: Donald Trump Wants Revenge From US President Joe Biden, Media and Whole Lot of People by Running for Presidency in 2024, Say Reports.

The vote will determine if the world's fourth-largest democracy stays the same course of far-right politics or returns a leftist to the top job  and, in the latter case, whether Bolsonaro will accept defeat.

More than 120 million Brazilians are expected to cast ballots, but because the vote is conducted electronically, the final result is usually available within hours after voting stations close in late afternoon.

Most opinion polls gave a lead to da Silva, universally known as Lula, though political analysts agreed the race grew increasingly tight in recent weeks.

For months, it appeared that da Silva was headed for easy victory as he kindled nostalgia for his 2003-2010 presidency, when Brazil's economy was booming and welfare helped tens of millions join the middle class.

But in the October 2 first-round elections, da Silva finished first among the 11 candidates with 48 per cent of the votes, while Bolsonaro was second at 43 per cent, showing opinion polls significantly underestimated the president's popularity. Rishi Sunak Becomes New UK Prime Minister: Indians Elated As First Indian-Origin Man Set To Hold Britains Top Post, Check Reactions Here.

Many Brazilians support Bolsonaro's defence of conservative social values and he has shored up support with vast government spending. Candidates in Brazil who finish ahead in the first round tend to win the runoff. But political scientist Rodrigo Prando said this campaign is so atypical that a Bolsonaro win could not be ruled out.

The president secured endorsements from governors of the three most populous states, and allied politicians scored big wins in congressional races.

Politically, Bolsonaro is stronger than had been imagined, said Prando, a professor at Mackenzie Presbyterian University in Sao Paulo. Mathematically, Lula is in front.

Twelve gubernatorial races will also be decided, among them Brazil's most populous state, Sao Paulo, Amazonas state and northeastern Bahia state.

More than 150 million Brazilians are eligible to vote, yet about 20 per cent of the electorate abstained in the first round. The Supreme Court has issued a ruling enabling state capitals to provide free public transport on election day, and both da Silva and Bolsonaro have focused efforts on driving turnout.

The candidates presented few proposals for the country's future beyond affirming they will continue a big welfare program for the poor, despite very limited fiscal room going forward.

They railed against one another and launched online smear campaigns  with considerably more attacks coming from Bolsonaro's camp. His four years in office have been marked by proclaimed conservatism and defence of traditional Christian values. He claimed without any evidence that da Silva's return to power would usher in communism, legalised drugs, abortion and the persecution of churches.

Da Silva homed in on Bolsonaro's widely criticized handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and said the president failed to care for society's neediest members. And he painted Bolsonaro as an opponent of the Amazon rainforest, given that he defanged environmental authorities and presided over a surge in deforestation.

In campaign videos, da Silva also took aim at Bolsonaro for being behind a policy directing billions to lawmakers for pet projects in exchange for political support. It is referred to as the secret budget, due to a lack of transparency around the money's final uses, and da Silva said it depleted funds for key social spending. But for many, the record of da Silva's Workers' Party is equally off-putting. A sprawling investigation revealed the party's involvement in vast corruption scandals that ensnared top politicians and executives.

Da Silva himself was imprisoned for 19 months for corruption and money laundering. The Supreme Court annulled his convictions in 2019, on the grounds that the judge was biased and colluded with prosecutors.

That did not stop Bolsonaro from reminding voters of the convictions. Da Silva's potential election would be like letting a thief return to the scene of the crime, the president warned.

The president's tremendous digital mobilisation was on display in recent days as his campaign introduced fresh  and unproven  claims of possible electoral manipulation. That revived fears that Bolsonaro could challenge election results should he lose  much like former US President Donald Trump, whom he admires.

For months, he claimed that the nation's electronic voting machines are prone to fraud, though he never presented evidence, even after the electoral authority set a deadline for him to do so.

More recently, allegations focused on airtime for political ads. Bolsonaro's campaign claimed that radio stations failed to air more than 150,000 electoral spots and implied that might have resulted from an intentionally malicious effort to hurt his candidacy. The electoral authority declined to open an investigation, citing lack of evidence.

We don't know whether this result will be contested or not, and to what extent, said Carlos Melo, a political science professor at Insper University in Sao Paulo. It's a very tough second round and a very tense Sunday, and tensions may continue beyond today.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Kyiv [Ukraine], October 30 (ANI): Kyiv's Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov on Sunday said that it has become "impossible" for full tankers to leave port after Russia announced to suspend its participation in the United Nations-brokered grain export deal after drone attacks on the Crimean city of Sevastopol.

"(A) bulk carrier loaded with 40 tons of grain was supposed to leave the Ukraine port today. These foodstuffs were intended for Ethiopians, that is on the verge of famine. But due to the blockage of the 'grain corridor' by Russia, the export is impossible," he tweeted.

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Russia is blocking grain that would feed more than 7 million people on a "false pretext," Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.

"By suspending its participation in the grain deal on a false pretext of explosions 220 kilometres away from the grain corridor, Russia blocks 2 million tons of grain on 176 vessels already at sea -- enough to feed over 7 million people," Kuleba tweeted Sunday.

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"Russia has planned this well in advance," he said.

However, Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov said Sunday that condemning Russia for the suspension of the grain deal is unfair, reported CNN.

"The situation has escalated even further. But in the US, they do not intend to acknowledge this. Again, everything is reduced to false accusations that our country is exacerbating the global food problem," Antonov said in a statement published on Facebook.

"It is unfair to condemn Russia for suspending the implementation of the deal. This happened because of the reckless actions of the Ukrainian authorities," said Antonov.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia's suspension of the grain exports deal is a deliberately working to ensure starvation in the war-ravaged country.

Zelenskyy called the decision of Russia to suspend its participation in the grain export deal with Ukraine "deliberate" and "a rather predictable statement" in his nightly address Saturday.

"This is not the decision they made today," Zelenskyy said. "Russia began deliberately exacerbating the food crisis back in September when it blocked the movement of ships with our food."

"How can Russia be among the others in the G20 if it is deliberately working to ensure starvation on several continents? This is nonsense. Russia has no place in the 'twenty,'" Zelenskyy added.

Russia suspended its participation in an UN-brokered grain deal viewed as key to addressing the global food shortage, according to Russia's Defence Ministry.

The Russian foreign ministry said it is suspending its participation in the United Nations-brokered grain deal with Ukraine for an "indefinite period of time," tying the decision to a drone attack in Crimea on Saturday.

"In connection with the actions, which cannot be qualified otherwise than as a terrorist attack, of the Ukrainian armed forces, led by British specialists, directed, among other things, against Russian ships that ensure the functioning of the specified humanitarian corridor, the Russian side cannot guarantee the safety of humanitarian dry-cargo ships participating in the 'Black Sea Initiative,' and suspends its implementation from today for an indefinite period of time," a statement from the foreign ministry read.

Both Ukraine and Britain have rejected Russian allegations, with the United Kingdom saying Russia is "peddling false claims of an epic scale." (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Washington, Oct 30 (PTI) The US will partner India to help New Delhi play a "broader stabilising role" in the strategic Indo-Pacific region, a senior defence official from the Pentagon has said.

The Biden administration has taken several steps to strengthen India-US defence relationship since it assumed power in January 2021.

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As India is taking a look at how it accelerates its own defence modernisation, in order to expand the role that it already plays as what I would describe as a net security provider in the Indian Ocean region, but more broadly in the Indo-Pacific, the United States wants to make sure that we are partnering with India to better enable it to play that broader stabilising role in the region, a senior defence official told PTI on Saturday.

We have been very focused on ways that we are advancing interoperability between the US and the Indian military. Obviously, the signature initiative I would highlight here is the tri-service exercise that we have between, which from our view is better equipping both of our militaries to be prepared for the kinds of challenges we will face in the future, which will require joint responses on both sides, the official said.

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The senior defence official, however, refrained from describing the kind of responses that the two countries would respond to their common challenges.

The militaries of two countries have coordinated in the past during several natural disasters.

A lot of the exercises we're talking about are really focused on a lot of the disasters and other kinds of crises that we would see happening all of the time in the Indo Pacific region. So much like the QUAD really sprung out of the Indian Ocean tsunami, I think we would envision the United States and India being both capable and able to respond quickly and hopefully together if we could do similar kinds of disasters in the future, the official said.

In addition, as we operate operationally, we are looking at what we do together in emerging technological domains, which I think we both recognise are increasingly important to the modern way of warfare, said the senior defence official.

For instance, emerging technologies in the domain of space and cyberspace.

We were very pleased that this past year, we've been discussing a new emerging defence capabilities dialogue that will focus on space, AI, cyberspace, and how we work together in those domains, said the official.

I think, looking at how the United States and India both play an anchoring role in the broader regional architecture. So obviously, the QUAD is an important part of our overall cooperation, but looking also at how we can both provide support to ASEAN and in other kinds of multilateral settings, even more informally, the official noted.

For example, the La Perouse exercise that the US had with multiple countries across the region, looking at ways that both the United States and India can join together in some of those groupings to support multilateral cooperation, the official said.

India and the US have signed a new space situational awareness agreement, which speaks to the work that the two nations are doing to focus on new technologies and emerging domains.

Agreeing to those bilateral defence space and AI dialogues that we'll be having together, we see all of that work is really supporting the broader effort that the White House is leading on US India work on critical and emerging technologies, the official said.

On the operational front, the Defence Department has been in particular focused on Navy-to-Navy cooperation.

This was discussed at the Two-Plus-Two dialogue last year and then we just recently saw the first fruits of that conversation with the Charles Drew pulling into Chennai, for mid voyage ship repair, the official said.

We anticipate more of that coming up, going forward. But we think that's really going to enable greater logistical and operational cooperation between our navies, which has really been at the leading forefront of what we're doing, the defence official told PTI.

India's decision to join CMF Bahrain is another example of how the US is leaning forward on more multilateral cooperation together with New Delhi.

The official said one of the top priorities of the United States is to ensure that it is a reliable partner to India, and to make sure that as India looks at its own defence needs, Washington is providing assistance, wherever it can, as a friend and a partner.

We consult regularly with all of our Indian counterparts about what the most pressing defence needs they have been. In many cases we're very pleased that the track record of defence trade and sales between the United States and India has been really solid over the last couple of decades, the official said.

Anytime and every time our Indian friends bring requirements or near term needs to us that they've identified, we are always working very hard to ensure that if there is a way that the United States can help fill that requirement, that we do that as quickly as possible. In the past, that has included the United States, looking at options either for leasing for sales, anything that we can do, and all of that remains on the table and something that we're in active conversations with, the defence official said.

The official said every country has a desire to have a strong domestic industrial base.

And if anything, the combination of COVID and the war in Ukraine has reminded us all why that is so important for every country in the world. We completely understand that the official said.

I think though, that it has also reminded us how important it is, whether we're talking in the commercial sector, or the defence sector, to leverage the complementary strengths of our allies and partners and find opportunities to work together, the official said.

That's where some of the things that are already underway, work where Indian companies and American companies have partnered together to produce defence platforms, we think is really a very promising model for the future, and one that we hope that we're going to continue to do together, said the official.

That both supports India's desire to have growing domestic production capacity and expertise, as well as American desire to work closely with our partners, the senior defence official added.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Beijing [China], October 30 (ANI): Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping has chosen an entirely new team after winning the historic third term through the 20th National Congress in order to lessen the likelihood that he will face a political challenge. This is because the top leader is likely to enact more hardline policies in Beijing regarding the economy, foreign relations, and human rights.

The seven most significant figures in China now make up the new Standing Committee of the party, which is chaired by Xi. The six were hand-selected by the president and are fiercely devoted to him. According to Hong Kong Post, dissent has no place in this odd 'democratic' system.

Also Read | Seoul Horror: 59 Dead, 150 Injured After Stampede at Halloween Party in Itaewon (Video).

Senior leaders' names that circulated in the months leading up to the Congress were not included in the final list.

They comprised Hu Chunhua and Wang Yang, two credible candidates for the standing committee. Both were completely barred from power despite having a reputation for being reasonably pro-reform and experimentation. He was not included in the 25-person Politburo, but Wang, a former member of the previous Standing Committee, didn't even make it onto the Central Committee list of more than 200 members, Hong Kong Post reported.

Also Read | Britain's Royal Navy Involved in Nord Stream 2 'Terrorist Attack', Says Russian Defence Ministry.

In the Communist Party of China's Politburo Standing Committee, key advisers to Xi were promoted, but for the first time in years, no woman was able to secure a place in the top leadership position.

All of the selected members are weak political underlings with no family ties in order to lessen the likelihood that Xi will face a political challenge.

Wang Huning, a nationalist theorist who was close to previous presidents, is the lone exception.

Li Qiang will officially be the most significant member of the group chosen to the Standing Committee, but in reality, he might be the least 'powerful'. He was the second person to take the stage after Xi last week and will succeed Li Keqiang as premier when he officially steps down in March.

Hu Jintao was recently hauled out of the 20th Party Congress by Xi Jinping in an unseemly manner, further demonstrating the Chinese leader's desire to maintain total power.

After being elected to China's third term as president, Xi has already begun to expel the party's veteran leaders.

Earlier in 2015, Xi assisted in the detention of Ling Jihua, a top assistant who belonged to the same influential network of past leaders as himself. In addition to being expelled from the congress, it was said that Xi planned the entire incident to publicly embarrass his predecessor--possibly as a warm-up before using party discipline measures followed by legal action against him, according to the Hong Kong Post.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has shown at the 20th National Congress that Chairman Xi Jinping is the center of Chinese power and that no one will dare challenge him.

In order to demonstrate that he may now act whenever he pleases, Xi packed the Politburo Standing Committee with his close cronies, claims ethnic Mongolian rights campaigner Xi Haiming, who lives in Germany.

A Chinese journalist, who wished to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation, claimed that China is now firmly back in the Mao era. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Bhavnagar, October 30: Alpesh Kathiriya, a prominent Patidar leader who was part of the 2015 agitation for reservation to the community in Gujarat, on Sunday joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the state, where the Assembly polls are due this year-end.

He joined the AAP in the presence of the party's national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal during an election rally in Gariadhar city of Bhavnagar district. Kathiriya is a convener of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), an outfit that had organised state-wide agitation demanding Other Backward Class (OBC) status and reservation in government jobs and educational institutions to the youth from the Patidar community. Gujarat Assembly Elections 2022 Dates: Election Commission Likely To Announce Poll Schedule This Week.

He joined the AAP along with his friend and PAAS co-convener Dharmik Malaviya and other members of the organisation. Kathiriya said all of them feel that the AAP will provide them the right forum to work for the cause of nation-building through social work.

"All of us will have to come forward in this struggle for the community, for our pride, for the nation, for better education, health and corruption-free good governance. Your support is required," Kathiriya said in his address at the election rally following his induction.

"The greater the struggle, the bigger the victory," said Kathiriya, who faced more than 22 cases, including that of sedition, for his involvement in the 2015 reservation agitation and spent over 14 months in jail before being released on bail.

Kathiriya is a friend of Hardik Patel, a former convener of PAAS who jumped into the political arena by first joining the Congress where served as its working president before resigning to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Kathiriya was the face of the Patidar reservation agitation in Surat and was jailed in a sedition case that was registered against him by the Surat police. He was formerly associated with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

After inducting him and others, Kejriwal said, "I welcome Kathiriya and Malaviya in AAP. Both are youth leaders, and the future of India is in the hands of youth. They are struggling leaders who fought a long battle for the rights of youths and went to jail." Gujarat Assembly Elections 2022: Gujaratis Want To Oust Tyrant BJP Govt, Says Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann.

Earlier in the day, prominent Koli community leader Raju Solanki and his son Brajraj Solanki joined the AAP in Kejriwal's presence at Bhavnagar city.

The Election Commission is likely to announce the schedule for the polls to the 182-member Gujarat Legislative Assembly this week.
Mumbai, October 30: Prahar Janshakti Party MLA Bachchu Kadu has sought an apology from independent legislator Ravi Rana after the latter accused him of taking money to switch over to the Shiv Sena camp led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Both the leaders are seeking a resolution of the issue from senior leaders of the Shinde-BJP government. Rana arrived in Mumbai on Sunday and Kadu is expected to come later in the day.

In June this year, Shinde led a rebellion against the Sena leadership which led to the collapse of the then Uddhav Thackeray-headed Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in which Kadu served as a minister. Shinde later formed government with the BJP's support.

Rana and Kadu represent Badnera and Achalpur Assembly seats respectively in Amravati district and are supporting the Shinde-led coalition government. Kadu has dared Rana to submit a proof of the allegations or apologise and withdraw the charges levelled against him. Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde Says Farmers Affected by Excessive Rains Will Be Given Compensation.

He has also said it is up to Chief Minister Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis to say whether MLAs who went to Guwahati (as part of the rebellion) were paid money. On Sunday, Rana reached state capital Mumbai from Amravati.

"Shinde and Fadnavis are my leaders and I have been called to Mumbai, hence I have come," Rana told reporters. Kadu, who is expected to arrive here later in the day, said in Amravati that Rana's allegations have defamed him and if there is no satisfactory resolution of the issue, he will be forced to take a "big step".

He also claimed that seven to eight MLAs were in touch with him, but did not elaborate. Maharashtra: Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis Government Slashes Security of 25 Maha Vikas Aghadi Leaders.

Kadu's Prahar Janshakti party has two MLAs in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly. Shinde has the support of 39 rebel Sena MLAs as well as some independents and legislators from smaller parties. The BJP has 106 MLAs in the House.
US Ambassador to #SouthKorea, Philip Goldberg on Sunday offered condolences over a deadly stampede that occurred during #Halloween celebrations in #Seoul's #Itaewon district. pic.twitter.com/MMVGQXVxig IANS (@ians_india) October 30, 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.)
A unique festival of workshops and performances for harpers and pipers, created and presented by Music Generation Laois returns to Portlaoise in November.

More than 100 young musicians take part in Tionol (gathering) each year, travelling from all over Ireland to participate.

The festival line-up, which is the only harp and pipe festival in the world, includes workshops with well-known harpers Michael Rooney, Catriona McKay, Holly Geraghty, Siobhan Buckley, Grainne Hambly, Deirdre Ni Bhuachalla and Jill Devlin.

Uilleann pipe workshops for beginners through to advanced are available with Mark Redmond, Joseph Byrne, Leonard Barry and Alain Carroll. The cost to attend workshops across the 3 days in 80.

There are three fantastic concerts taking place over the course of Tionol.

On Friday, November 4 at 8pm, the Tionol Opening Gala Concert takes place in the Dunamaise Arts Centre. This concert will feature the premiere of new music composed by Aine McGeeney (Goitse) and performed by the Music Generation Laois Trad Orchestra.

On Saturday, November 5 young harpers and pipers from all over Ireland will perform music developed with the Scottish Harper Catriona McKay and Wexford Piper Mark Redmond  this performance will be streamed live on the Music Generation Laois Facebook Page from 7pm coming from The Malt House in Stradbally.

The annual Tionol Closing Party will take place in Bergins Bar, Portlaoise at 7pm with the fantastic Scottish duo Catriona McKay (harp) and Chris Stout (fiddle) joined by Piper Leonard Barry.

Tickets for Friday night are available from the Dunamaise Arts Centre. Saturday night livestream is free of charge, and Sundays Tionol Closing Party is free of charge.

Full programme details and booking information, see www.musicgenerationlaois.ie

Tionol is Co-funded by the Music Generation/Arts Council Partnership Creativity and Collaboration Fund. Music Generation Laois is part of Music Generation, Irelands National Music Education Programme, co-funded by U2, the Ireland Funds and the Department of Education. Locally, Music Generation Laois is part of Laois Offaly Education and Training Board (lead partner) and supported by Laois County Council.
A WOMAN accused of theft offences involving over 200,000 at a Bank of Ireland branch is also alleged to have set fire to the building.

Maureen McCormack (50), Esker, Banagher, Galway, appeared before Tullamore District Court charged with nine offences.

Ms McCormack is accused of stealing about 145,495, property of Bank of Ireland, at Bank of Ireland, Banagher on approximate dates between January 1, 2017 and October 6, 2021.

She is further accused of theft and fraud offences involving the same bank and two named individuals.

It is alleged that on November 7, 2012 at Bank of Ireland, Banagher she stole 7,844, the property of those two people, and on December 2, 2013 also at that bank, she stole 33,419.50 from the same two people.

Also, between November 7, 2012 and December 2, 2013, at Bank of Ireland, Banagher, Ms McCormack is accused of dishonestly by deception inducing those people to give her 41,263.50, with the intention of making gain for herself, causing loss to another.

The woman is also alleged to have forged the signature of one of the two persons on a Banagher Credit Union cheque at Bank of Ireland, Banagher on July 28, 2016, and on July 29, 2016 it is alleged she forged that person's signature on a Bank of Ireland lodgement slip.

Two more charges relate to alleged offences on November 7, 2016 involving about 21,008.25.

Ms McCormack is accused of stealing that amount at Bank of Ireland, Banagher from two other people and dishonestly by deception inducing them to give her 21,008.25.

Finally, she faces a charge of damaging the Bank of Ireland in Banagher by fire, without lawful excuse, on October 6, 2021.

When Ms McCormack appeared in court evidence of arresting, charging and cautioning her was given by Detective Garda Helen Colleran, Birr Garda Station.

Detective Garda Colleran told Judge Andrew Cody the accused made no reply when cautioned.

Judge Cody remanded the accused on her own bail of 500 to appear in court again on December 7 next for service of the book of evidence.
Laois Gardai have arrested a man following the incident which led to an national appeal for information after a man suffered serious injuries Portlaoise.

Laois Offaly Gardai issued a statement on Sunday, October 30 as part of an ongoing investigation into the incident which occurred near the Market Square in Portlaoise.

"A male was arrested Saturday morning, October 29 in respect of a serious assault last Sunday night, October 23 in Portlaoise. He has now been charged with the offence," it said.

The arrest of the man aged in his 20 in the Portlaoise area arises from a live investigation into the incident which occurred on Coote Street. The initial Garda appeal said a man, who is from the Mountmellick area and is aged in is 40s, suffered serious injuries after being set upon at about 1.20pm.

In a national appeal issued soon after the incident, gardai said the man, who was with his girlfriend at the time, was seriously injured and had to be transferred from Portlaoise hospital to St. James Hospital, Dublin for specialist treatment.

While he has since been discharged from hospital, it's understood he will require further treatment on his wounds.

Gardai initially said the victim was approached by four people when the incident occurred near Market Square across the road from the former telephone exchange.

Portlaoise gardai added that they have not discounted other individuals from their inquiries into the assault on the man who they believe was the victim of a random beating.

They would ask anybody who can assist them with their inquiries to come forward.
South Laois farmers and landowners along the River Erkina are being asked to buy into a local river project that could reward them for environmental actions linked to its creation.

Erkina Blueway Association want to create a Blueway that will link Woodenbridge near Ballacolla to Rathdowney. Apart from creating a local amenity, the project also has the potential to attract visitors to Laois.

As a way of advancing this the Association and the Woodenbridge Paddlers Association have been granted funding for to carry out a feasibility study that may enable landowners to take part in a new European Innovation Partnership (EIP).

If accepted as an EIP project the aim would be to to enhance water quality in the River Erkina while also be benefitting the surrounding wetlands. There could also be a reward for farmers who help.

The Department of Agriculture says the EIP Scheme funds locally-led projects that allow farmers, scientists and other experts to collaborate together to develop new practices that are environmentally friendly and economically sustainable.

The Department says the ultimate aim of these innovation partnerships is to road-test new ideas and practices which can then be used more widely by farmers and others to improve productivity and enhance resource efficiency.

According to the Department projects can get up to 100% funding. The total funding for the scheme across all projects is 59 million under the Rural Development Programme 20142020. The scheme is co-funded with the European Union.

Michael G Phelan is among those involved in the Erkina Blueway projects. He and his colleagues believe that participants in this project can look forward to being financially rewarded through an EIP.

The project already has planning permission for car parks, signs, pontoons. Laois County Council has indicated that will assist with some of the works on the river.

Farmers and landowners are being invited to a public meeting on Thursday, November 2 in Newtown Mill at 7.30pm where all landowners in the catchment areas of the rivers Erkina and Goul can learn more about the proposals. Refreshment afterwards.

The Department of Agriculture has 55 EIP-Agri projects. These projects are located throughout the country and are working on a wide range of issues including biodiversity, water, soil, peatlands, farmer health and farm safely.
Coldwell Banker Commercial have launched two substantial investment opportunities to the market to be sold via the iamsold bidding platform.

Both properties are fully tenanted with high yielding returns.

Nick Hughes of Coldwell Banker Commercial noted; in recent years, the final quarter of the year has proven to be very active, with vendors and buyers looking to complete their property transactions before end of the year. We expect given the high yields and strong locations, we will have significant interest in these assets.

Applegreen Service Station, Sallins Road, Naas, Kildare  Offered at bids over 1.9 million

This investment property consists of the Applegreen Service Station and complementary commercial outlets on a plot of approximately one acre. The commercial property is in an excellent trading location on Sallins Road, Naas, Kildare, just 30 minutes from Dublin off the main motorway to Cork City.

The service station itself offers a forecourt with 4 x double sided pump terminals under a canopy, a double bay car wash and valeting system, a parcel motel, self-service launder-mat, a 270 sq.m. convenience store with toilets and a workshop.

The property is let to Petrogas Group Ltd under a 21 year FRI lease from October 26, 2016. The next review is in August 2026 and will be based on the CPI (Consumer Price Index). Current rent is 145,000 per annum until 2026, offering an initial net yield of c. 7%.

Units 3 and 4 Swords Retail Centre, Swords, Dublin  Offered at bids over 1.1 Million

Excellent retail investments comprising of two retail units, with tenants Irish Charity Shop and McNamaras Pharmacy in situ. This high yielding investment is currently rented for 83,000 per annum, offering an 8.3% return.

Centrally located in Swords with a large established residential catchment, the breakdown for the properties is as follows;

Unit 3 - Tenant: Irish Charity Shop (approximately 141sq.m) Tenancy  15 year lease from July 15, 2021, with current rent 42,000 per annum.

Unit 4  Tenant: McNamaras Pharmacy (approximately 135sq.m) Tenancy  15 year lease from July 15, 2021, with current rent 41,000 per annum.

Both properties will be eligible for rent reviews in 2026 and can be purchased together as one lot or separately at bids over 550,000 per unit (for more information please contact the auctioneers)

These properties are located in Swords Town Centre, on a pivotal corner position at the junction of Dublin Road and Forest Road.

This scheme is almost opposite the Swords Central Shopping Centre anchored by Penneys which connects with The Pavilions Shopping Centre anchored by Dunnes Stores and Superquinn.

Contact Coldwell Banker Commercial Property Consultants on 01 411 0012 or iamsold on 01 244 0000 to arrange for a free property valuation.

For more information log on and visit www.coldwellbanker.ie or www.iamsold.ie.
Last week a local farmer dropped by the Bog of Allen Nature Centre with a giant discovery he made in one of his fields.

The land owner had found a Giant puffball (Calvatia gigantea). Due to the size of this fungi they can be easily spotted in fields as they are known to reach up to 80cm in diameter, and on rare occasions up to 150cm.

It is said that when people first spot a Giant puffball in the distance they actually think it looks like a sheep rather than a fungus!

They have an irregular globe-shaped fruit body. Their exterior is white, lumpy and leathery to the touch. Immature Giant puffballs are white coloured on the inside, but as the puffball matures the interior changes colour to a greenish brown. The puffball is attached to the ground by a mycelial cord, a root-like structure.

Although found throughout Europe they are not considered a common find. Like all fungi, they reproduce by spores, however due to their size the spore count in a Giant puffball is said to be in the trillions rather than millions or billions.

When the Giant puffball has matured their mycelial cord often breaks and the puffball can be seen rolling around the field pushed by the wind, which supports their dispersal of spores.

Giant puffballs are not just confined to fields, they can be also found in deciduous forests. With trillions of spores released each year, you would think you would find one in each field you pass while going for a walk in Autumn. Unfortunately not all the spores released are actually viable and there are only some spores that will produce a Giant puffball the following year.

An immature puffball is said to be edible however the older puffballs can actually be harmful to our health, so once again I never recommend picking and eating something from our wild habitats unless you have experience.

Have you ever found a Giant puffball?

If you come across a wildlife species that you would like help identifying contact me at bogs@ipcc.ie.
A deforested area near Sinop, Mato Grosso State, Brazil, in August 2020. FLORIAN PLAUCHEUR / AFP

In Brazil, deforestation in the Amazon has once again reached record levels. In just one year, more than 13,000 km2 of rainforest have been razed, over the period of August 2020 to July 2021, according to data transmitted by the National Institute of Space Research (INPE), the equivalent of the area of a country like Lebanon, and more than 120 times the size of a city like Paris.

It has been 15 long years since Brazil has seen such levels of destruction. The number of square kilometers of rainforest destroyed there each year has almost doubled compared to 2018, and the trend is accelerating: according to INPE, in just one year, deforestation has increased by nearly 22%.

Read more Subscribers only Brazil: The great environmental destruction of the Bolsonaro years

Jair Bolsonaro always finds himself at the heart of the accusations. Having come to power in 2019, the Brazilian president has made a name for himself by dismantling the institutions responsible for protecting the environment. "The INPE figures are unfortunately not surprising. This president is doing exactly what he promised during his campaign. He is implementing his program," said Antonio Oviedo, a researcher at the Socioambiental Institute (ISA).

These figures are a slap in the face. Isolated since Donald Trump left office, Brazil's government is now under intense pressure from the United States and the European Union (EU) to reduce the destruction of the Amazon. Understanding that things have changed, Mr. Bolsonaro promised to give pledges.

Change of tone

For the government, speeches about the end of Indigenous reserves and the exploitation of the forest are over. "To those who persist in committing these environmental crimes, [we warn] that the Brazilian state will show its full strength in the Amazon," said Minister of Justice and Public Security Anderson Torres on Thursday, in a notable change.

'Brazil signs agreements to reassure its partners, but at home, it continues its anti-environmental policy'

Cristiane Mazzetti, spokesperson for the NGO Greenpeace in Brazil

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Officially, the government is in combat. Three times since the beginning of the mandate, the armed forces have been mobilized to put out fires. In June, a new Minister of the Environment was appointed; in place of the controversial Ricardo Salles, the more diplomatic Joaquim Leite, ex-Secretary of the Amazon and Environmental Services in the Ministry, is in place.

Recently, several concrete commitments were made. At COP26 in Glasgow (Scotland), Brazil committed to ending illegal deforestation in the Amazon as early as 2028, two years earlier than initially planned, an announcement immediately welcomed by Western counterparts.

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Lebanon's President Michel Aoun waves to his supporters in front of the presidential palace in Baabda before delivering a speech to mark the end of his mandate, east of the capital Beirut, on October 30, 2022. ANWAR AMRO / AFP

President Michel Aoun left Lebanon's presidential palace on Sunday, October 30, marking the end of his six-year term without a replacement, leaving the small nation in a political vacuum that is likely to worsen its historic economic meltdown.

As Mr. Aouns term ends, the country is being run by a caretaker government after Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati failed to form a new Cabinet following May 15 parliamentary elections. Mr. Aoun and his supporters warn that such a government doesn't have full power to run the country, saying that weeks of "constitutional chaos" lay ahead.

In a speech outside the palace, Mr. Aoun told thousands of supporters that he has accepted the resignation of Mikati's government. The move is likely to further deprive the caretaker administration of legitimacy and worsen existing political tensions in the country.

Lebanese are deeply divided over Mr. Aoun, an 87-year-old Maronite Christian and former army commander, with some seeing him as a defender of the countrys Christian community and a leading figure who tried to seriously fight corruption in Lebanon. His opponents criticize him for his role in the 1975-90 civil war and for his shifting alliances, especially with the Iran-backed Hezbollah, the countrys most powerful military and political force. He has also come under fire for grooming his son-in-law to replace him, and many blame him for the economic crisis that is rooted in decades of corruption and mismanagement.

Mr. Aoun, Lebanons 13th president since the countrys independence from France in 1943, saw Beiruts historic relations with oil-rich gulf nations deteriorate because of Hezbollahs powers and one of the worlds largest non-nuclear explosions at Beiruts port in August 2020 that killed more than 200.

Mr. Aoun blasted his political opponents and said that they prevented him from bringing to justice central bank governor Riad Salameh, who is being investigated in several European countries, including Switzerland, France, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein for alleged money laundering and embezzlement.

"I leave a country that is robbed," Mr. Aoun said, adding that all Lebanese were hurt by losing their life savings in local banks. He added that some politicians prevented the investigation into the port blast. Mr. Aoun, who blamed his political rivals and others for the crisis except for members of his political party, later left the palace and headed to his residence in Beirut's northern suburb of Rabieh.

Mr. Aoun's biggest achievement came last week. He signed a US-mediated maritime border agreement with Israel that Beirut hopes will lead to gas exploration in the Mediterranean. That will presumably help Lebanon come out of its economic crisis that has been described by the World Bank as one of the worst the world has witnessed since the 1850s.

Parliament has held four sessions since late September to elect a president but no candidate was able to get the two-thirds majority of the vote needed. As in previous votes, parliamentary blocs will have to agree on a consensus candidate for the countrys top post as no alliance within the legislature controls majority seats.

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Mr. Aoun himself was elected in 2016 after a more than two-year vacuum. Despite Hezbollahs support then, Mr. Aoun was only elected after he received the backing of the bloc of his main rivals of the Christian Lebanese Forces Party as well as the bloc of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

Under Lebanons power-sharing agreement, the president has to be a Maronite Christian, the parliament speaker a Shiite and the prime minister a Sunni Muslim. Cabinet and government seats are equally divided between Muslims and Christians. Christians, Sunnis and Shiites each make about a third of Lebanons 5 million people.

Le Monde with AP
Brazilian voters are once again being called to the polls on Sunday, October 30, for the second round of the presidential election between Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the left-wing candidate, and Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right incumbent president. While the country is deeply divided, the election is expected to be highly tense and its outcome uncertain, as the results of the first round of the presidential election, on October 2, have reshuffled the cards and destabilized the former left-wing president who goes by the nickname Lula, once announced as the favorite.

A neck and neck race

In the first round, Lula, the leader of the Workers' Party (PT) and Brazil's president from 2003 to 2011, who has widely attacked his ultraconservative opponent over his handling of the health crisis, the country's economic crash and the deforestation of the Amazon, did come out on top, with 48.3% of the vote, but failed to win, contrary to what some polls were predicting.

The incumbent president, Mr. Bolsonaro, affiliated with the Liberal Party (PL), for his part, thwarted all predictions by winning 43.2% of the vote, six to 10 points more than forecasted. By the end of the first round, five points separated the two men, or only six million votes out of a total of 123 million.

Read more Subscribers only Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva: 'Another Brazil is possible'

While the momentum is now in favor of Mr. Bolsonaro, Lula remains a favorite: given the results of the first round, he would need fewer than two million additional votes to win, compared to eight million for the incumbent. According to the latest forecasts of the Brazilian Datafolha polling institute, published on October 27, Lula is credited with 52% to 54% of voting intentions and Mr. Bolsonaro with 48% to 46%.

Read more Subscribers only Lula disappoints, Bolsonaro persists in first round of Brazil's presidential election

Important but fragile rallies

The decisive rallies that followed the first round did not, however, reassure Lula's camp about the outcome of Sunday's election. The former metal worker has certainly received significant support, but it remains fragile. For example, Simone Tebet, candidate for the Brazilian Democratic Movement party (PMDB, centrist), who arrived third in the first round with a score of 4.2% (that is to say almost five million votes), has assured Lula of his support since October 5.

However, other members of the PMDB, such as former president Michel Temer (2016-2018), have announced their support for Mr. Bolsonaro. The party has not given any voting instructions to its supporters. On the other hand, the outgoing president has received strong support: from that of Romeu Zema, the governor of Minas Gerais, a decisive state in the Brazilian Southeast, and the country's second electoral college, which is still undecided. Since the return of democracy in Brazil, no president has been elected without a majority of votes in this state.

Read more Subscribers only Brazil presidential election: The battle for the key state of Minas Gerais

Lula on the offensive

Lula's objective for this second round is to win the votes of the center and the right. To win them over, the left-wing candidate has detailed measures to ensure fiscal stability. Another challenge is to capture part of the evangelical vote, which represents a third of the country's electorate and is largely supported by the far right. During the campaign, a leaflet entitled "Lula is a Christian" was distributed, stating that the PT leader "has never spoken to the devil or made a pact with him." "I am against abortion," the left-wing candidate said on October 7.

Deemed too consensual during his first-round campaign and behind on social networks in the face of the fake news disseminated en masse by the far right, Lula counterattacked with virulence in the run-up to the second round. Several embarrassing archives for the Bolsonaro camp were disseminated on the Internet by left-wing influencers, in particular a filmed interview given to the New York Times in 2016, in which Mr. Bolsonaro talked about his visit to a village in the Amazon and claimed that he would have agreed to engage in cannibalism if necessary. Lula used the image of the "cannibal president" in his campaign ads, before it was banned by the courts.

Read more Subscribers only In Brazil, concern and disarray demoralize Lula's camp

The Lula camp also did not hesitate to take exception to the comments made by Mr. Bolsonaro in a podcast interview he gave on October 14. The outgoing president mentioned a motorcycle tour in a poor suburb of Brasilia in April 2021, where he said he had met young Venezuelan girls who were underage while implying that they were prostitutes. He then used an expression suggesting a physical attraction between him and these teenage girls. The hashtag #bolsonaropedophile then became the most commented topic in Brazil on Twitter.

Bolsonaro to conquer the popular classes

On Mr. Bolsonaro's side, the challenge of the second round is to succeed in capturing part of the votes of the working classes, which largely voted for Lula in the first round. During the campaign, the outgoing president multiplied his messages to this demographic: increase in social minimums, tax cuts and a revaluation of energy vouchers. During the televised debate that pitted the two candidates against each other on October 16, he did not hesitate to attack his opponent on the cases that still taint the reputation of the Workers' Party. Lula, who spent 580 days in prison for corruption in 2018 and 2019, had made his return to politics following the recission of his convictions, in 2021.

Read more Subscribers only In Brazil, Lula and Bolsonaro scramble to win over voters before second round

An uncertain outcome

On October 24, left-wing candidate Lula said he hoped that Mr. Bolsonaro would accept the verdict of Sunday's ballot box. On several occasions during the campaign, the incumbent president criticized Brazil's electronic voting system and threatened not to accept the result.

In the race for undecided voters, Mr. Bolsonaro has nevertheless toned down his rhetoric in recent weeks, saying he would accept the result, even if it was "abnormal." However, a potentially tense atmosphere following the announcement of the results cannot be excluded, especially if they are close. The executive orders that the current president has signed in recent months, including on the free flow of firearms, have exacerbated tensions.

The post-election challenge

Whoever wins will face strong opposition. In the first round, when there were 11 candidates in the race, 92% of voters voted for either Lula or Mr. Bolsonaro, reflecting the clear polarization of Brazilian politics.

If Lula wins, he will have to deal with a very conservative Congress. On October 2, in addition to the first round of the presidential election, Brazilians renewed all the members of the Chamber of Deputies and one-third of the senators' seats. In the Chamber of Deputies, Mr. Bolsonaro's Liberal Party won, retaining first place with 99 seats. In the Senate, he won 14 seats, compared to eight for Lula's Workers' Party. Finally, on October 2, voters also voted to renew the governors and assemblies of the 27 states of the federation. Here again, the far right made gains.

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Read more Subscribers only Brazilian elections: Ultraconservative wave sweeps Congress and state legislatures

Should Mr. Bolsonaro, one of the main concerns will be regarding the environment. The incumbent president's record on the issue is unanimously deemed catastrophic by conservationists. In the Amazon, for example, by the end of the year, nearly 40,000km2 of tropical forest will have been destroyed.

Juliette Benezit
THE FINANCIAL consequences of dairy farmers being in fixed price milk contracts havent gone away.

In fact, the effects could last for years to come.

Limerick IFA is calling on Kerry Group to do more for its suppliers in the county.

John Hannon, Limerick IFA dairy chair, said Kerry Groups announcement last week of an ex-gratia payment of 2 cent a litre for fixed milk price contracted farmers for the month of September only was welcome.

However, Mr Hannon said a lot more needs to be done for this cohort of farmers.

This 2 cents offer only amounts to 0.5 cent over the entire milk supply for the period from March this year, said Mr Hannon, who added that when you compare it to the annualised ex-gratia payment made to Dairygold suppliers of 6 cents, Kerry still has some way to go.

In Limerick, there are a few hundred farmers tied into fixed milk price contracts. The level of contracts vary from 20% of 2022 volumes to greater than 50% in the most impacted cases.

The year 2022 has been a double blow for these farmers because of the massive increase in the cost of farm inputs, especially fertiliser, energy and feed. It is estimated by Teagasc that the cost of milk production has increased by at least 10 cent this year. There is no doubt that these farmers are losing on the double this year - sales revenue is down and costs are up, said Mr Hannon.

There has been no response to a media query sent to Kerry by Limerick Live which reported on fixed milk price contracts last May.

They were described as a safety net but a massive hole has appeared in them and many Limerick farmers are falling into financial difficulties.

One Limerick farmer signed a contract in late 2021 for 80% of his milk at 38cpl to run from March to October 2022.

Back then milk prices were hitting 50cpl  now the base price is closer to 60cpl. In May of last year it was around 34cpl.

Hindsight is always 20-20 but locking in at 38cpl last October seemed like the safe call. Especially in the context that over the last 20 years milk generally only moves up or down a maximum of 4cpl in a year.

I wanted to be sure I could pay the bills, cover the costs and have a livelihood but instead it is after crucifying me, said the farmer, who didnt wish to be named but is speaking for many in who are in a similar position.

I am losing money at the moment. I went to my accountant and he said, I know you won't do it but from a professional point of view (but) sell the cows, sit on the money and your asset will remain. If you milk the cows for the year you potentially are going to end up working for the whole year without any income, said the farmer.

The more people he has spoken to the more he has found out are stuck with it. He estimates the level of exposure among Limerick farmers runs into millions of euros.

A lot of the lads are ashamed to say it as if we were half stupid and worried the neighbours would be laughing at us.

There are farmers in serious financial difficulty. There are potential bankruptcies from this. Some could lose their farms, he said.
PEOPLE in precarious, low paid work could find it difficult to be a councillor due to the amount of time required to be taken off.

Thats the view of Limericks only Social Democrats councillor Elisa ODonovan, who says because of the need to take time off, often at short notice, for meetings, it might rule many people out of the role.

The reality is most employers would not want an elected representative working for them who has to take considerable leave during working hours. It means that those in precarious or low paid work or in full-time education wouldnt be able to be councillors, she warned.

It comes as she was named among four local representatives to be warned by the local authority as to their attendance at meetings. Cllr ODonovan, employed full-time as a speech and language therapist, was informed by the council that her allowances could be cut as her attendance rate had fallen below 80%.

In her case, she attended 59% of meetings, while three other local councillors, Emmett OBrien (58% attendance), Kevin Sheahan (74%) and Michael Collins (63%) were also warned as to their attendance, with the news first being revealed by the Irish Independent newspaper.

But councillor ODonovan (pictured below) pointed out that while she has attended almost all the metropolitan and full council meetings, its a continuous challenge to attend policy committee meetings, especially where she does not sit as a member.

At this months metropolitan meeting, held this Monday, Cllr ODonovan saw two items she wished to discuss referred to committees that she is not a member of  meaning shell have to take further time off work which she had not planned for if she wants to talk on them.

These meetings take place on a quarterly basis  on top of regular council meetings  and are designed to set policy for the local authority. Their recommendations then go for approval to the full council.

I think we have to face facts that being a councillor is not a part-time job any more, yet it has a part-time wage, she said.

Up until two years ago, a councillor earned a basic salary of 16,000 a year. This has since gone up to 25,000 per annum.

Councillor ODonovan says the local authority has made absolutely zero effort to schedule meetings for members who have a full-time job, meaning she has to book annual leave to attend meetings.

She pointed out that in Cork and Dublin, evening meetings were taking place, but there is no indication this will ever be the case in Limerick.

In my view, the meetings are scheduled to accommodate council staff rather than councillors. If we truly want to have more women, and people from more diverse backgrounds involved in politics then this will have to change. It is not tenable for people who work in low wage jobs to miss a significant number of work days to attend meetings. The same applies to people who work in healthcare, which is already seriously short-staffed, as I do, she added.

Former mayor Michael Collins, whose attendance measured 63% was off work for four months due to suffering from illness over the space of 12 months.

While he was not able to attend meetings in-person due to this, he did attend two meetings virtually  including from his hospital bed.

He told Limerick Live he was annoyed" at the initial national story, saying: My record of attendance over 18 years has been impeccable. I was off because I was sick and I missed three meetings. But because its over half a year, its pulled me below the average figure. By year-end, I think Ill be well above average.

Councillor Emmett OBrien, who had the lowest attendance at 58%, also raised concerns at the need to attend committee meetings.

He said he makes every effort to attend as many relevant meetings.

Councillor Sheehan has been contacted for comment.
TRIBUTES have been paid to Limerick native who has retired from An Garda Siochana following a 40-year career.

Sergeant Michael 'Babs' Keating, is originally from Limerick city but moved to Portroe, County Tipperary in 1983.

From there he moved to Nenagh in 1988 before enoying a stint at Roscrea between 1998 and 2000 when he returned and took up a position as court presenter at Nenagh District Court.

Leading the tributes at Nenagh Circuit Court, solicitor Liz McKeever, on behalf of local solicitors, said Sgt Keating had been part and parcel of the district for 25 years.

Wishing him well in his retirement, she acknowledged his enthusiasm, empathy, fairness and knowledge in dealing with court matters.

Barrister Colman Cody SC, on behalf of the bar, said Sgt Keatings organisation and preparation were exemplary and ensured the smooth running of court business.

He commended Sgt Keatings generosity when giving evidence and said that there was a "compassionate manner" in the way he conducted business.

"He always saw the good in people in spite of the difficulties," said Mr Cody.

Derek Daly, on behalf of the Court Services, said Sgt Keating kept everyone on their toes and will be sadly missed.

Judge Cormac Quinn also acknowledged Sgt Keatings empathy, fairness and experience, and pointed out that during Covid restrictions when the court moved to Kilkenny, Sgt Keating rose to the occasion.

Judge Quinn said Sgt Keating was a "gentleman" and his work behind the scenes had brought "diligence to the running of the courts".

Responding to the tributes, Sgt Keating thanked everyone for their kind words and said that it had been a pleasure to work with everyone from judges to barristers and clerks. He added that there was great rapport between them all.

He recalled that a lot of work had gone into the operation of the courts since he began as court presenter in 2000.

In that time he had not missed any circuit court sessions or trials.

"I always saw the best in people and tried to give fairness as best I could," he said.

Sgt Keating highlighted the work done by the local Restorative Justice programme, saying he was a great believer in it.
Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal and the leader of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), made a request to Chief Justice of India (CJI) UU Lalit on Sunday while they were both in attendance at the convocation of the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS) in Kolkata. Making a remark on the current legal scenario in the country, Banerjee slammed the culture of media trial" and said a section of people" are seizing all the democratic powers".

At the convocation, the chief minister served as the special guest and delivered an address in which she encouraged the court to maintain the integrity of India's federal system.

Common people are unnecessarily being harassedWhere is democracy? Please save democracy," Banerjee urged CJI Lalit, who is the chancellor of the university.

A presidential system of government would soon be implemented in the nation, Banerjee said, if democratic powers are kept from being exercised by a specific "segment of people."

The Bengal chief minister also took a jibe at media trial", saying it is guiding the verdict" even before it's out. She said that this cannot keep happening since the justice system sits at the top, and media cannot regulate it. They (media) are accusing anybody," Banerjee added.

Justice is always "for the people, by the people, and of the people," said TMC supremo. She also expressed her congratulations to CJI Lalit, stating that he had demonstrated in just "two months" what "judiciary meant."

The chief minister, however, clarified her point, saying it's not that people had lost faith in the judiciary. But the situation nowadays is suchit has gone from bad to worse. The judiciary must listen to the cries of the people. But today, people are crying behind closed doors. That is the kind of incidents happening right now," Banerjee added.

CJI Lalit encouraged law school graduates to keep an open mind to all ideas and to have compassion for people and society.

He stated during his speech that a person's ability for learning never stops and that learning never ends. He advised the students, "Keep your mind open to every suggestion, that's where you will be drawing great inspiration."

(With inputs from PTI)
On Sunday, South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol said that a stampede at a Halloween event that killed at least 149 people and injured scores more "should not have happened".

"In the centre of Seoul, a tragedy and disaster occurred that should not have happened," Yoon said in a national address, vowing to "thoroughly investigate" the incident and ensure it could never happen again.

An emergency meeting with senior aides was presided over by President Yoon Suk-yeol, who ordered the formation of a task force to secure resources for treating the injured and launch a thorough investigation into the disaster's cause.

On Saturday night, a large crowd celebrating Halloween surged into an alley in a nightlife area of the South Korean capital Seoul, killing mostly young adults in their 20s.

After COVID restrictions and social distance were lifted, this was Seoul's first Halloween celebration in three years. Halloween costumes and masks were worn by many partygoers.

As the evening progressed, some witnesses stated that the crowd became increasingly disorderly and agitated. The incident took place at about 10:20 p.m. (1320 GMT).

Many of the victims were women in their twenties.

Witnesses described tumultuous scenes just prior to the stampede, with the police, who were present in anticipation of the Halloween event, at times having difficulty controlling the crowd.

"It was at least more than 10 times crowded than usual," Choi Sung-beom, head of the Yongsan Fire Station, said in a briefing at the scene.

The footage shared on social media showed hundreds of people crammed into the narrow, sloped alley and rendered helpless as emergency personnel and police attempted to free them.

According to Choi, the fire chief of the Yongsan district, all of the deaths were likely caused by the crush in the one narrow alley.

The chaotic treatment of dozens of people who appeared to be unconscious by citizens and fire officials was captured on additional footage.

Fire officials and witnesses said people continued to pour into the narrow alley that was already packed wall-to-wall, when those at the top of the sloped street fell, sending people below them toppling over others.

After experiencing a sharp decline in business over the course of the pandemic's three years, the Itaewon district's dozens of bars and restaurants were packed on Saturday for Halloween, drawing young South Koreans and expats alike.

Two foreigners were among the dead, and others were transferred to nearby hospitals.

Nineteen of the injured were in serious condition and receiving emergency treatment, the officials said, adding the death toll could rise.

With inputs from agencies*
Two people who assaulted a husband and wife when asked to keep the noise of a late night party down pleaded guilty to charges against them at Longford Circuit Court.

Defendants Ian Whelan (22), 9 The Mill, Clondra, and Dannielle Shanley (29), 30 Springlawn, Longford, were before Judge Keenan Johnson arising from an incident in the early hours of August 2, 2020.

Garda Alan Doherty gave details to the court of the section 3 assaults on Claire Mullins and Neil Swaby. The assaults happened inside and outside a property in Old Ardnacassa.

In the early hours of the morning Ian Whelan was holding a house party at 35 Ardnacassa, which was going on for some time. Ms Mullins went to the house to ask the party goers to keep the noise down, however the people did not entertain her request.

Garda Doherty said Ms Mullins went back to her own house and discussed the matter with her husband. Mr Swaby went over to the house to ask the revellers to keep the noise down.

The officer described the response of the party goers as being belligerent. When Mr Whelan opened the door he said to Mr Swaby: Ah, here you are again, come on in.

He brought his neighbour into the party, where people in the house started to insult him about being in a dressing gown, laughing at him and making disparaging remarks. Garda Doherty said there was a row in the house, during which Mr Whelan punched Mr Swaby, and Dannielle Shanley got into an altercation with Ms Mullins.

Mr Swaby went to leave and Mr Whelan followed him out, grabbed him and punched him five or six times to the head.

Garda Doherty said there was a significant amount of blood coming from the injured party's left ear and he sustained significant bruising to the face.

In an interview Mr Whelan said there was pushing and shoving in the house. Though defendant Dannielle Shanley was misidentified by the injured party she made admissions to Gardai about slapping Ms Mullins in the face. Ms Shanley claimed the injured party was trying to bite her.

In her victim impact statement Ms Mullins spoke of missing work, and the long term impact it had on her psychological well being. Mr Swaby also missed work and attended hospital for treatment for his injuries.

Mr Whelan had no previous convictions while Ms Shanley had seven including conviction for breach of the public order, possession of drugs, and assault.

The court was told both defendants gave Gardai a full inculpatory version of events. They described drinking large amounts of alcohol on the Sunday of the Bank Holiday. Mr Whelan said he lost his temper.

Mr Whelan's barrister, Stephen Byrne BL, explained prior to the incident his client was living with his father at the Ardnacassa address. Mr Whelan's father entered a nursing home and the defendant started having house parties on a regular basis. Mr Byrne described a chaotic lifestyle with no adult supervision and said his client was hanging around with a peer group who were not a good influence.

Counsel said Mr Whelan was evicted from the property and is now living with an uncle. He said the defendant's behaviour on the night was out of character, saying he was generally very mannerly and very polite.

Ms Shanley's counsel stated her client gave a statement that implicated herself, has not come to Garda attention since and was remorseful for her behaviour on the night.

Ian Whelan read a letter of apology to the victims. In it he described his action as disgraceful behaviour and said it showed a part of myself I didn't know existed.

Mr Byrne asked his client in the witness box: Are you ashamed? Mr Whelan replied: I am truly mortified.

The court heard the defendant now works as a warehouse operative and has sought help to address cannabis and alcohol issues.

Judge Johnson described the incidents of the night saying: Mr Whelan's house was Party Central, this was interfering with the peace of the victims.

The judge noted that the defendant was very intoxicated when he engaged in the violent assault. Judge Johnson said the attacks had a profound effect on the victims who lived in the estate for six years before the incident, but moved out after.

Mitigation considerations included the defendant's early plea of guilty, their fulsome co-operation and the remorse and shame shown. The judge noted that both Mr Whelan and Ms Shanley have a good work history.

In concluding the case against Mr Whelan, Judge Johnson imposed a sentence of two years and six months, but suspended it for five years on a bond of 500 to be of good behaviour and pay a total of 6,000 in compensation.

For Ms Shanley the judge adjourned the matter to January 10 to allow for the preparation of a probation report with a proposal to deal with the assault charge by way of a 200 hour community service order.
There was confusion over whether a defendant was in jail or not in the UK, when the case appeared before last weeks sitting of Longford District Court.

Patrick McDonagh (25) with an address at 23 Weavers Hall, Market Square, Longford is charged with assault causing harm on November 19 last at that address.

Defence solicitor Brid Mimnagh said the defendant may be currently serving a prison sentence in the UK. However, she understood that he was due to be released on September 23.

She has not been able to contact the defendant. I have tried a number I have for him and also a UK number, Ms Mimnagh said.

Sergeant Mark Mahon said they could request information from the prison service to find out if he is in custody.

The case was adjourned to December 13 next, when the defendant can indicate how he is going to plead.
Two Pedestrians, Husband and Wife, Killed In Motor Vehicle Crash

Local News

By Long Island Published: October 30 2022

Narciso and Maria Saravia were walking across Ocean Avenue from east to west between Express Drive North and Michigan Street when they were struck

Suffolk County Police Fourth Squad detectives are investigating a motor vehicle crash that killed two pedestrians, a husband and wife, in Ronkonkoma last night.

Narciso and Maria Saravia were walking across Ocean Avenue from east to west between Express Drive North and Michigan Street when they were struck by a southbound 2007 Hyundai Elantra at approximately 6:55 p.m.

Narciso Saravia, 60, of Central Islip, was pronounced dead at the scene by a physician assistant from the Office of the Suffolk County Medical Examiner. His wife, Maria Saravia, 59, of Central Islip was transported via Lakeland rescue ambulance to Stony Brook University Hospital where she was pronounced dead.

The driver of the Hyundai, was not injured.
Tower has completed the sale of its Papua New Guinea subsidiary, Tower Insurance (PNG) Limited, to Papua New Guinea based insurer, Alpha Insurance Limited.

The sale was completed at a price of PGK 22 million (around NZD 11 million, at current exchange rates), rather than the AUD 7.9 million originally agreed.

Tower Chief Executive, Blair Turnbull says completing this transaction allows Tower to invest further in a streamlined Pacific operation in Tonga, Samoa, American Samoa, the Cook Islands, the Solomon Islands, Fiji and Vanuatu.

The seven Pacific markets we continue to operate in offer us positive opportunities to progress our digital strategy in terms of existing technology development, digital payments capabilities, and the balanced mix of commercial and personal lines customers.

Alpha Insurance already provides personal and business insurance products to Papua New Guineans. Tower Insurance (PNG) Limited policies remain in place following the sale and customers do not need to do anything. All Tower Insurance (PNG) Limited employees will be retained on the same or improved terms and conditions.

Mr Turnbull says, We have enjoyed our connection to Papua New Guineas people and culture over many years. I would like to extend our sincere thanks to our Papua New Guinea staff and customers for their support and loyalty.

We are pleased that our customers will now be served by a larger team in Papua New Guinea and will have access to Alpha Insurances extended product range.

ENDS

Tower completes sale of Papua New Guinea subsidiary

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October has been a month to remember for Karim Benzema. After he won the Ballon d'Or just a couple of weeks ago, he has now learned that his partner Jordan Ozuna is pregnant and that they'll have their first child together.

They confirmed their relationship in August, after rumours that they had been dating, and they'll soon have a child.

This is according to ABC, who add that they are both very excited about this development.

It has also been reported that Jordan Ozuna will, at least temporarily, leave her modelling work in order to focus on being a mother.

Karim Benzema's children

This won't be the Real Madrid man's first child, as he already has three. Therefore, he is expecting his fourth.

One of his children from a previous relationship is Ibrahim, who was present at the Ballon d'Or ceremony in Paris as the striker collected the award.

In the case of Jordan Ozuna, this baby will be her first. So, this is a very exciting time for the pair.

The importance of family for Benzema

In previous interviews, Benzema has spoken about how important family is to him.

"My family inspires me and the values and morals my parents gave me helped me stay the same person," he told Vogue.

"My faith also helps me to be focused every day. It brings me benefits and it's my strength for me, my family, as well as for my work - for literally everything."
Synlait Milk Limiteds (Synlait) Annual Meeting will be on Friday 2 December at 12 noon. The Board of Synlait wishes to update shareholders on several proposed governance changes, summarised below.

Chair succession

The Board of Synlait advises that Independent Director Simon Robertson has been appointed as Chair-elect of the Synlait Board and will replace Dr John Penno as Chair, effective 2 December 2022.

At Synlaits 2021 Annual Meeting, the Board sought ratification from shareholders to change Synlaits constitution to enable John, a Board Appointed Director, to become Chair until the 2022 Annual Meeting. This was a temporary measure to guide Synlaits new CEO Grant Watson, through his induction and establishment. The Board are pleased to confirm that Simon Robertson will assume the role, effective from the completion of the Annual Meeting on Friday 2 December.

Director retirement

The Board advises that longstanding Independent Director Sam Knowles has given notice that he will retire by rotation and not stand for re-election at the Annual Meeting.

Sam has been a Director of Synlait since 2013. The Board would like to thank Sam for his significant contribution to Synlait over the past nine years. During Sams tenure, Synlait has grown considerably. Sam joined Synlait just before its IPO and has made an invaluable contribution to its strategic direction and growth. Sam has also been Chair of the People, Environment and Governance Committee since 2019.

Director election

The Board announces that in place of Sam, Paul Washer will stand for election by Synlait shareholders at the Annual Meeting as an Independent Director.

Paul is a senior executive with extensive experience in planning and operations, finance, and information technology. He is Chief Financial Officer for ASX-listed Pact Group. Before this, Paul spent 17 years with Fonterra. He was the Acting CFO of Fonterra Co-Operative Group Limited for seven months before moving to Shanghai as Chief Financial Officer of Fonterras Greater China business, responsible for Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan across the Consumer, Foodservice, Ingredients and China farming businesses.

The Board has assessed Paul to be an Independent Director.

Annual Meeting

Synlaits Annual Meeting will be held on Friday 2 December 2022 at 12 noon.

The Annual Meeting will be held in person at the Dobson Room (D1) Ground Floor, Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre, 188 Oxford Terrace Christchurch, and online at: www.meetnow.global/nz

The Notice of Meeting and Proxy Form released alongside this announcement will be sent to shareholders today and includes further information about how to attend the meeting online.

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Experts say the letter of adherence to the Geneva Conventions means the government does not want foreigners to interfere in the country's internal affairs. Therefore, foreign diplomats have been warned ahead of national elections.

by Anwar A. Khan

People in Bangladesh want the upcoming national elections to be held in a festive atmosphere and improve the atmosphere so that voters can vote for the candidate of their choice. And that will be sure as shooting.

But it is grossly offensive to decency or morality that foreign diplomats stationed in Dhaka are all rabbiting on over the next general election in Bangladesh, whereas their own countries are at colossus faults in many affairs including the election processes. So, when they want to prescribe us in our national matters, we can take them as if rogues supplant justice.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on September 6 to discuss deals on connectivity, energy, food security and trade. [ Photo  AP]

The next parliamentary elections are still more than a year away. However, like every other time, foreign diplomats are becoming involved in Bangladeshs election process. But they must cease their interference in the national matters of Bangladesh. The government also does not take kindly to their criticisms and opinions on the election process and the internal affairs of the country. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has already informed the foreign diplomats working in Bangladesh to stop all these trumperies.

We remind them of the Geneva Conventions to observe etiquette. Besides, media representatives must not ask any question to the foreign diplomats about our election process.

Last July, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reminded foreign diplomats working in Bangladesh to comply with the Vienna Code of Conduct. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has sent a letter in this regard to the United Nations office located in Dhaka, all international organizations and all foreign missions located in Dhaka on July 18. But the statements of the diplomats and their continuous close interaction with the opposition political camps have not yet decreased.

In addition, the Minister of Foreign Affairs. AK Abdul Momen and State Minister Shahriar Alam also urged the diplomats to speak according to etiquette. The foreign minister also expressed his anger at the behaviour of diplomats.

Experts say the letter of adherence to the Geneva Conventions means the government does not want foreigners to interfere in the countrys internal affairs. Therefore, foreign diplomats have been warned ahead of national elections.

Earlier on June 13, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was told in the meeting of the National Committee on Security at the initiative of the Cabinet Division that the diplomats of various foreign missions located in Bangladesh should be requested to comply with the Vienna Convention. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presided over the meeting.

And so, on July 18, the letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wishes the United Nations Office in Dhaka, all international organizations and diplomats and representatives working in all foreign missions located in Dhaka to follow the relevant rules and etiquette in conducting diplomatic activities.

In view of the recent events, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would like to respectfully inform everyone that diplomats at the public and private levels shall conduct their diplomatic activities in accordance with the proper diplomatic protocol as stipulated in the Vienna Convention of 1961 and the Vienna Convention on Consular Affairs of 1963.

In the letter, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also stated that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs promises on behalf of the Government of Bangladesh that the Government will provide all the necessary support to all diplomatic missions, UN offices and all international organizations to work.

Several foreign diplomats working in Dhaka said that it is not their job to interfere in Bangladeshs internal issues. They want everything in the country to go well and be peaceful. This is not true. They say one thing, but they do diametrically the opposite.

Investors from many countries have invested and are doing business in Bangladesh. For this, we want a stable environment and do not want any unstable situation to be created in Bangladesh.

German Ambassador Akhim Troster, Netherlands Ambassador Annie Von Leeuwen and European Union Ambassador Charles Whiteley held a meeting with Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on July 24.

After the meeting, German ambassador Akhim Troster said in a tweet that it is the main responsibility of diplomats to keep in touch with the political parties and institutions of the host country. So, their temerity is irremissible under any setting.

A meeting was held with Awami League General Secretary, Roads and Communications Minister Obaidul Quader and his colleagues on July 24. The European Union and its member states are tested friends of Bangladesh. Ambassador of the Netherlands Anne Von Leeuwen said in a tweet that a diplomat always tries to communicate with all partners to understand the situation of the host country and to advance development. This abracadabra harangue is not worthy of acceptance or satisfactory.

On June 2, the US Ambassador to Dhaka invited five representatives of civil society to lunch at his residence on the issue of the upcoming national elections. Several representatives of the civil society who participated in the lunch at that time said that America and Europe have great interest in the upcoming national elections. Look at how much brazen-faced and insolent Uncle Sam is!

Former Additional Secretary and Ambassador of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mahfuzur Rahman said, the last July letter is a warning. Basically, ahead of the national elections, the government is warning foreign diplomats in advance that the government does not want to see any foreign interference in the countrys internal affairs.

Because, past experience has shown that foreign diplomats have also entered the countrys politics with their own evil agenda. If the government party and the opposition parties, i.e. all political parties, are responsible, there is no chance for foreigners to turn their noses up.

Foreign Minister Dr. AK Abdul Momen said that the foreign diplomats posted in Bangladesh are mature. We believe they will follow diplomatic etiquette. When asked whether the government can make a statement or protest to prevent foreign diplomats from commenting on Bangladesh elections, the minister said, We believe that the diplomats in our country are mature. They are honorable people. We trust that they will follow diplomatic etiquette.

Regarding the recent comments of the US ambassador Peter Haas about the upcoming parliamentary elections, the foreign minister told the reporters that because the journalists asked questions to the ambassadors, they commented on the internal affairs of Bangladesh. He said, You force him. The poor man was forced to answer. It is better if you dont go up to foreign countries.

Come to us. They dare to speak because some of our people go to them. The foreign minister said, due to the colonial mentality, we still prefer something foreign. We have to get out of this habit.

Abdul Momen said, democracy is different in different countries. Bangladesh is the leader of democracy. We gave blood for democracy in 1971, 3 million people gave their lives. Where else in the world? We have struggled in this country when peoples voices have been stifled. When peoples right to democracy is taken away.

He also said that when the genocide was happening in this country in 1971, they did not even come close to us. When the genocide was going on in Myanmar, no one gave shelter to those people. Who did it, Bangladesh did it. Sheikh Hasina has opened the border. Protected human rights.

The foreign minister also said that the current government is committed to conducting free, fair and transparent elections and is not in favour of the death of a single citizen of the country during the election process. We are trying so that not a single person dies.

He said, there are good and bad in every countrys democracy. It is not always accurate. Its a process. Democracy matures through efforts. We also have weaknesses. We are trying to work out how to fix the vulnerability. This does not mean that they are the best. They also have weaknesses, problems

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam said that foreign diplomats should not talk about the internal politics of Bangladesh. They should speak according to etiquette. They should mind in their own business. An old but significant proverb reminds us, Let not the shoe-maker go beyond his last.

-The End-

Anwar A. Khan is an independent political analyst based in Dhaka, Bangladesh who writes on politics, political and human-centred figures, current and international affairs
Production of the U.S. Armys new light tank, the 38-ton, the MPF (Mobile Protected Firepower) system vehicle begins this month. MPF has not yet received a customary name as the 70-t0n M1 Abrams or 15-ton M551 Sheridan. Both of these looked like tanks but the M1 was a major success while the M551 was not. The army wants the MPF vehicle to provide infantry units with mobile fire power in an armored vehicle whose sensors can detect enemy armored vehicles at great distances. While MPF armor protects the vehicle from autocannon shells up to 30mm, it is vulnerable to most anti-tank weapons.

The army held a competition in 2021 in which a dozen of the GD (General Dynamics) 36-ton Griffin 2 and a dozen of the 37-ton BAE M8 AGS were turned over to troops for seven months of field testing. The Griffin 2 won and many of the changes suggested by the soldiers testing the vehicle were implemented. GD received a $1.14 billion contract to deliver up to 70 low-initial rate production MPF vehicles. This means the cost per MPF is $16 million. Initial rate production vehicles always cost more than the mass production vehicles, The army plans to order 500 of these, with deliveries continuing until 2035. One reason the MPF is so expensive is that the turret, which is similar to that of the larger M1, contains most of the same tech (fire-control, sensors, communications) found in the latest M1s. In 2021 Poland ordered 250 M1A2SEP3 tanks for $6 million each. This is the current model of the M1.

The Griffin was first shown in 2016. It was a light-tank, initially 28 tons and armed with a new 120mm gun and a four-man crew. There were configurations available and one with more armor and a 105mm gun were offered as Griffin II and a candidate for the MPF. The final MPF design did not include the autoloader for the 105mm gun and that meant a four rather than three-man crew. The turret layout is similar to that found in the M1 tank and includes many of the same systems used by the current M1.

GD originally created Griffin by combining components already in use by various IFV and light tank systems. The Griffin II configuration was most popular with the troops. The fist low-initial rate production MPF will be delivered in 2023. Instead of assigning a company of 14 MPF vehicles to each army combat brigade, there were only enough MPFs to provide each division, including the 82nd Airborne division, with one or more companies.

The process of obtaining a new light tank began over 30 years ago just before the trouble-prone M551 light tank was retired from combat service. Some M551s continued to serve as a simulated enemy tank in large scale training exercises at the NTC (National Training Center) until 2003. There were a lot of M551s still available because 1,662 were built between 1966 and 1970. The M551 failed in combat. It had a crew of four and a unique 152mm gun that used twenty onboard 152mm short range shells or nine Shillelagh guided missiles with a max range of 3,000 meters. The 152mm gun was never very reliable and during its only combat experience (Vietnam 1969-72) performance of the M551 and its 152mm main gun were dismal. The M551 152mm gun only used shells in Vietnam to supply infantry with much needed fire support. Only 200 M551s were sent to Vietnam and most were destroyed by enemy fire (RPG rockets or heavy machine-guns) or broke down during use. The 152mm gun had a slow rate of fire and had only 24 shells on board if missiles were not carried. There were often problems with the fire control system. The army came up with several modifications but gave up on the M551 by 1978. The 82nd airborne division kept using them because they could be dropped by parachute and still function.

The U.S. Army didnt look for an M551 replacement until 1992 and the first candidate was the M8 Buford Armored Gun System, which was to replace the M551 in the 82nd Airborne Division and in several other units. The M8 was developed in 1983 using corporate funds and used several innovations to produce a well-protected 24-ton tracked vehicle with a 105mm high velocity gun using an autoloader. That meant a crew size of three. The autoloader was based on the one the Navy had been using for its Mk 54 five-inch (127mm) gun. The M8 autoloader allowed up to twelve shells a minute to be fired. The M8 design was accepted in 1992 and mass production was to begin within four years with the first M8s entering service in 1997. Severe and unexpected cuts in the army budget led to the abrupt cancellation of the M8 in 1996 in order to prevent manpower cuts involving 20,000 troops. The M551 was also retired in 1997. An updated version of the M8 was one of the two finalists in the MPF competition.

Despite the cancellation of the M8, the army still wanted a light tank and in 2002 adopted a limited (142) number of the 19-ton M1128 Stryker Mobile Gun System, which also used an autoloader for the 105mm gun and could fire ten rounds a minute. This autoloader was of a slightly different design than the one in the M8. When the M1128 was airdropped, there were problems with the autoloader. Without the airdrops the 8x8 wheeled M1128 was successful in combat (Iraq) and the army planned to produce a lot more but that idea was dropped in 2012 when it was decided to seek a heavier tracked vehicle as the replacement for the M551. That led to the MPF, which adopted many of the techs that worked in the M8 and M1128. One item not initially adopted for MPF was the autoloader. The main reason for that was the MPF uses a version of the M1 fire control system in a turret based on the one used in the M1. The final MPF design left out the auto loader.

Western nations have avoided autoloaders for their heavy tanks. The only exception was the French LeClerc heavy tank, which was designed to fire the same 120mm ammunition as the M1 and Leopard 2 tanks. Unlike the Russian T-72, the LeClerc autoloader does not require leaving the ammunition in the crew compartment. France designed the tank around the autoloader, rather than having to design the autoloader to fit into the tank, as was the case with the T-72. The LeClerc autoloader was a success but no other Western nation adopted the French approach until the MPF came along.

Russia pioneered use of autoloaders in the 1960s with their T-64 tank and that was successful enough to include it in the T-72 and all subsequent Russian tanks. Russian autoloaders look like a carousel. When it is time to load the 125mm gun, the carousel swivels to the ready position, and the cassette with the round and propellant bag is aligned with the main guns chamber. The cassette gets lifted up, and the main round is rammed in first, followed by the propellant charge. The gun then fires, and the process is repeated for the next round. This is a system that has the benefit of working well with the compact Russian tank designs. It has allowed Russia to field a lot of tanks.

The Russian autoloader was not as well-designed as the later French autoloader or the earlier one used in the M8. The Russians skimped on providing at least one item of safety gear that was inexpensive and great for crew morale. Its initial lack of a cheap slide-up metal shield meant the autoloader would occasionally load the gunners arm. The autoloader in the T-64/T-72/T-80/T90 also stores the ammunition in the crew compartment, which means that if one of those shells goes off in the turret (because of enemy fire or an accident), the crew dies too. Eventually the Russians added that safety feature for the gunner, but nothing was done to get the ammo carousel out of the crew compartment so thousands of Russian tank crewmen have been spectacularly killed in Ukraine this year.

Most Western tanks continue to use a human loader. The rate of fire is slower; a round every ten seconds from an M1 compared to one round every three seconds from a LeClerc, or one round every 6.5 seconds from a T-72. The use of a human loader allows Western tanks, especially the M1 and Leopard 2, to keep the ammunition away from the crew compartment. This is often the difference between a crew getting killed and a crew surviving, even if the tank is a total loss.
Read the original article on Business Insider.

Afghan commandos that were trained by the United States are being recruited to fight for Russia in Ukraine, according to a report from Foreign Policy.

Members of Afghanistan's elite National Army Commando Corps were left behind by the United States when the Taliban took control of the country in August 2021.

Now, commandos say they are being contacted on WhatsApp and Signal with offers to fight for Russia, according to the outlet.

The messages, seen by Foreign Policy, say: "Anyone who would like to go to Russia with better treatment and good resources: please send me your name, father's name, and your military rank."

Military and security officials in Afghanistan told the outlet that they fear up to 10,000 commandos could be tempted by such an offer, as many of them were left jobless and fearful for their life as they became targets for the Taliban.

"They have no country, no jobs, no future. They have nothing to lose," one military source told the outlet.

One former Afghan commando officer told Foreign Policy that he believed the shadowy Wagner Group was behind the recruitment drive.

"I am telling you [the recruiters] are Wagner Group. They are gathering people from all over. The only entity that recruits foreign troops [for Russia] are Wagner Group, not their army. It's not an assumption; it's a known fact," he said.

Earlier this year a video emerged of the group's suspected founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close Putin ally, recruiting prisoners from Russian jails to fight in Ukraine in exchange for shortened sentences.

Thousands of the Afghan commandos fled to neighboring countries following the Taliban takeover last year, and many are now losing hope in the possibility that they could be settled in Western countries. Many are still in hiding in Afghanistan.

Afghan media reported that soldiers were being offered Russian citizenship in exchange for fighting in Ukraine.

One former Afghan commando captain, 35, told Foreign Policy that he had helped connect colleagues with a recruitment office in Tehran, and those who took up the offer were flown to Russia via Iran.

"When they accept Russia's offer, the commando personnels' phones are turned off. They proceed very secretly," the commando, who is himself hiding in Afghanistan, said.

He said that he turned down the offer because he views Russia as Afghanistan's enemy after the Soviet Union sparked a nine-year war by invading Afghanistan in 1979, but that others might have taken it up out of desperation.

"We are very disappointed. For 18 years, shoulder to shoulder, we performed dangerous tasks with American, British, and Norwegian consultants. Now, I am in hiding. I am suffering every second," he told the outlet.

The Afghan Elite National Army Commando Corps, made up of 20,000 to 30,000 volunteers, was partly trained by U.S. Navy SEALs and the British Special Air Service, per Foreign Policy.

While, in general, the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces were seen as incompetent, the commandos were well respected.

A former senior Afghan security official, speaking anonymously to Foreign Policy, said that the Afghan fighters "would be a game-changer" in the war.
ISLAMABAD (AP)  A 75-year-old from Pakistan who was the oldest prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay detention center was released and returned to Pakistan on Saturday, the foreign ministry in Islamabad and the U.S. Defense Department said.

Saifullah Paracha was reunited with his family after more than 17 years in custody in the U.S. base in Cuba, the ministry added.

Paracha had been held on suspicion of ties to al-Qaida since 2003, but was never charged with a crime. Last year in May, he was notified that he had been been approved for release. He was cleared by the prisoner review board, along with two other men in November 2020.

As is customary, the notification did not provide detailed reasoning for the decision and concluded only that Paracha is not a continuing threat to the United States, according to Shelby Sullivan-Bennis, who represented him at his hearing at the time.

The DoD said in its Saturday statement that the U.S. appreciates the willingness of Pakistan and other partners to support ongoing U.S. efforts focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing the Guantanamo Bay facility."

In Pakistan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said it had completed an extensive inter-agency process to facilitate Paracha's repatriation.

We are glad that a Pakistani citizen detained abroad is finally reunited with his family, the ministry said.

Paracha, who lived in the United States and owned property in New York City, was a wealthy businessman in Pakistan. Authorities alleged he was an al-Qaida facilitator who helped two of the conspirators in the Sept. 11 plot with a financial transaction.

He has maintained that he didnt know they were al-Qaida and denied any involvement in terrorism.

The U.S. captured Paracha in Thailand in 2003 and held him at Guantanamo since September 2004. Washington has long asserted that it can hold detainees indefinitely without charge under the international laws of war.

In November 2020, Paracha, who suffers from a number of ailments, including diabetes and a heart condition, made his eighth appearance before the review board, which was established under President Barack Obama to try to prevent the release of prisoners who authorities believed might engage in anti-U.S. hostilities upon their release from Guantanamo.

At the time, his attorney, Sullivan-Bennis, said she was more optimistic about his prospects because of President Joe Bidens election, Paracha's ill health and developments in a legal case involving his son, Uzair Paracha.

The son was convicted in 2005 in federal court in New York of providing support to terrorism, based in part on testimony from the same witnesses held at Guantanamo whom the U.S. relied on to justify holding the father.

In March 2020, after a judge threw out those witness accounts and the U.S. government decided not to seek a new trial, the younger Paracha was released and sent back to Pakistan.

In its statement on the elder Paracha's repatriation, the DoD said 35 detainees remain at Guantanamo Bay as of Saturday, and that of 20 of them are eligible for transfer.
How to use the mindat.org media viewer

Click/touch this help panel to close it.

Welcome to the mindat.org media viewer. Here is a quick guide to some of the options available to you. Different controls are available depending on the type of media being shown (photo, video, animation, 3d image)

Controls - all media types

Zoom in and out of media using your mousewheel or with a two-finger 'resize' action on a touch device.

Use the mouse or your finger to drag the image or the view area of the image around the screen.

< and > at the left and right hand side of the screen move forwards and backwards for the other images associated with the media you selected. Usually this is used for previous/next photo in a gallery, in an article or in search results. Keyboard shortcuts: use shift + the left and right arrow keys.

< and > in the bottom center are used for switching between the photos of the same specimen. Keyboard shortcuts: use the left and right arrow keys.

> in the bottom center, raises the information box giving details and further options for the media, < at the top of this box then hides it. Keyboard shortcuts: use the up and down arrow keys.

? opens this help window. Keyboard shortcuts: use the H key or the ? key.

Other keyboard shortcuts:

1 Fit image to screen 2 Fill screen with image 5 Display at full resolution < Make background darker > Make background lighter space Hide/dim titles and buttons

Scalebar

If the field of view (FOV) is specified for the photo, the scalebar appears in the left bottom corner of the viewer. The scalebar is draggable and resizeable. Drag the right edge to resize it. Double click will reset the scalebar to it's default size and position. If the scalebar is in default position, double click will make it circular.

Controls - Video

Video files have a standard set of video controls: - Reset to start, - Skip back, - Play, - Pause, - Skip forwards. Keyboard shortcuts: You can stop/start video play with the P key.

Controls - Animation (Spin Rotation)

Animation (usually 360 degree spin rotations) have their own controls: - enable spin mode. Note that while images are loading this option will not be available but will be automatically activated when the animation has loaded. Once active you can spin the image/change the animation by moving your mouse or finger on the image left/right or by pressing the [ or ] keys.

The button switches to move mode so that you can use your mouse/fingers to move the image around the screen as with other media types.

The button, or the P key will start playing the animation directly, you can interrupt this by using the mouse or finger on the image to regain manual movement control.

Controls - 3D Stereoscopic images

If a stereoscopic 3D image is opened in the viewer, the 3D button appears in the bottom right corner giving access to "3D settings" menu. The 3D images can be viewed in several ways:

- without any special equipment using cross-eyed or parallel-eyed method

- with stereoscope

- with anaglyph glasses.

- on a suitable 3D TV or monitor (passive 3D system)

For details about 3D refer to: Mindat manuals: Mindat Media Viewer: 3D

To enable/disable 3D stereo display of a compatible stereo pair image press the 3 key. If the left/right images are reversed on your display (this often happens in full-screen mode) press the 4 key to reverse them.

Controls - photo comparison mode

If a photo with activated comparison mode is opened in the viewer, the button appears in the bottom right corner giving access to "Comparison mode settings" menu.

Several layouts are supported: slider and side by-side comparison with up to 6 photos shown synchronously on the screen. On each of the compared photos a view selector is placed, e.g.: Longwave UV . It shows the name of currently selected view and allows to select a view for each placeholder.

Summary of all keyboard shortcuts
Elon Musk took control of Twitter and fired its top executives on late Thursday in a deal that puts one of the leading platforms for global discourse in the hands of the world's richest man.

Following the takeover, Musk tweeted that the bird is freed, referencing the company's iconic avian logo.

He wasted no time sacking chief executive Parag Agrawal, as well as the company's chief financial officer and its head of safety, the Washington Post and CNBC reported citing unnamed sources.

Agrawal previously went to court to hold the Tesla chief to the terms of a deal he had tried to escape.

The takeover came hours before the court-appointed deadline for Musk to seal his on-again, off-again deal to purchase the social media network.

Musk tweeted earlier in the day that he was buying Twitter because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner.

Twitter did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the departure of its top executives, but the platform's co-founder Biz Stone thanked the trio  Agrawal, Ned Segal and Vijaya Gadde  for their collective contribution to Twitter.

Massive talents, all, and beautiful humans each.

 'Chief Twit' 

The closure of the deal marks the culmination of a long and drawn out back-and-forth between the billionaire and the social network.

Musk tried to step back from the Twitter deal soon after his unsolicited offer was accepted in April, and said in July he was canceling the contract because he was misled by Twitter over the number of fake bot accounts  allegations rejected by the company.

Twitter, in turn, sought to prove Musk was contriving excuses to walk away simply because he changed his mind.

After Musk sought to terminate the sale, Twitter filed a lawsuit to hold Musk to the agreement.

With a trial looming, the unpredictable billionaire capitulated and revived his takeover plan.

Musk signaled the deal was on track this week by changing his Twitter profile to Chief Twit and posting a video of himself walking into the company's California headquarters carrying a sink.

Let that sink in! he quipped.

He even shared a picture of himself socializing at a coffee bar at Twitter headquarters earlier in the day Thursday.

Musk said during a recent Tesla earnings call that he was excited about the Twitter deal even though he and investors are overpaying.

 Twitter free-for-all? 

Some employees who would prefer not to work for Musk have already left, said a worker who asked to remain anonymous in order to speak more freely.

But a portion of people, including me, are willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for now, the employee said.

The idea of Musk running Twitter has alarmed activists who fear a surge in harassment and misinformation, with Musk himself known for trolling other Twitter users.

But Musk said he realizes Twitter cannot become a free-for-all hellscape where anything can be said with no consequences.

Musk has vowed to dial content moderation back to a bare minimum, and is expected to clear the way for former US president Donald Trump to return to the platform.

The then-president was blocked due to concerns he would ignite more violence like the deadly attack on the Capitol in Washington to overturn his election loss.

Far-right users were quick to rejoice on the network, posting comments such as masks don't work and other taunts, under the belief that moderation rules will now be relaxed.

Free speech will always prevail, tweeted Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, prompting replies including says the party that bans books.

AFP
I was hugely flabbergasted when, a few days ago, I read about the excuses Nigerias Attorney General and Justice Minister, Abubakar Malami, made for the federal governments unwillingness to comply with the decision of the Appeal Court to release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) from detention in which he had been in captive since 18 June 2021.

For me, as a journalist, Attorney Malamis reasons just didnt add up. If there was any interpretation I could make of it, it was that the federal government was perhaps trading impunity to impress Nigerians that they could do just about anything they like, and nothing would happen. And moreover, they could quote the law, twist it or maneuver it to suit their purpose, shove it down the throat of their victims and expect no one to raise an eye brow.

This is certainly not democracy. And I remember mentioning this in my book: The Presidential Years: From Dr. Jonathan to Gen. Buhari when I addressed the ordeal of the publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore being apprehended in the courtyard by security agents, just hours after the court had set him free.

One thing the Nigerian government must understand is that no democratically elected government can be toppled by a revolution of civilians unless they have the backing of the military. They should get this fact clearly into their heads. Neither IPOB nor MASSOB nor OPC nor Arewa or any other civilian group of agitators can topple a democratically elected government of the people just like that, without the tacit backup of the military. Civilians dont stage coups. They dont topple governments by force. Only the military does. And so, if the perception of a revolution begins to shake the government, the first group of people to peruse or scrutinize should be the military who might be backing up the civilians.

So, it was shocking when Abubakar Malami said the federal government was not inclined to obey the order of a competent court of jurisdiction compelling it to release detained Mazi Nnamdi Kanu . Malami made that disclosure on Thursday 27 October 2022 in an interview with Nigerias Vanguard newspaper. As the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, he tried to convince Nigerians that the decision of the government not to release Kanu was based on four factors the government considered essential.

Vanguard reported that Malami said the issue surrounding the rendition of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu could not possibly be used as the only basis to free him in the face of other offences he allegedly committed against the Federal Government of Nigeria. The Justice Minister explained that the government was holding Kanu down on account of four major facts, which preceded the rendition issue for which the court gave him a clean bill.

Malami was quoted as saying: To release or not to release Nnamdi Kanu is a function of law and the rule of law for that matter. In arriving at a decision on whether to release or not release is, one: you look at the rule of law. Two: you look at the public and the national interest. Three: you look at the security situation. Four: you look at international diplomacy. Let me talk first of the rule of law. This is someone that has been granted bail on account of charges that have been preferred against him at the court. Someone jumping bail to the international community, a case of a fugitive is established against the background of jumping the bail.

Two: arising from the national security, this is someone that is charged with treason, incitement and destruction of civil authority, murder and assassination of others on account of his incitement that boils down to issues of national security and criminality.

Three: on account of international diplomacy, this is someone that has against his person, used the international community or a foreign country to launch an attack against a nation, against his nation for that matter. All these naturally come into play to determine what to do. So if you have through judicial processes established multiple cases of treason, homicide, bail-jumping among others, the fact that you have indeed succeeded in one case as against multiple others that are pending goes to establish the fact that that case cannot be the only basis and criteria for determining whether you are entitled to be released or not.

Getting on with the learned gentlemans argument, and by his own assessment, let us first talk about the rule of law. What should the ordinary Nigerian walking the streets of Lagos, Kano, Enugu or Port Harcourt know about the rule of law which our politicians and government officials often quote or bandy around? It is simply that the rule of law is the mechanism, the process, the institution, the practice or the norm that buttresses the equality of ALL citizens before the law . It is even more important they know that the rule of law also means that the creation of laws itself, their enforcement and how they relate to every other law are themselves regulated by law, so that no one  not even the most highly placed officialis above the law, not the President, not the Minister of Justice, not any Nigerian.

The legal constraint on government officials by the rule of law means that the government is subject to existing laws as much as its citizens are. So, equality before the law holds that no legal person shall enjoy privileges that are not extended to ALL and that no person shall be immune from legal sanctions.

In addition, the application and adjudication of legal rules by various governing officials must be impartial and consistent across equivalent cases, made blindly without taking into consideration the class, status or relative power among disputants. In order for those ideas to have any real importance, there should be in place some legal apparatus for compelling officials to submit to the law.

So, assuming that Kanu jumped bail as the Attorney General alleged, what has jumping bail to do with the rule of law? Nnamdi Kanu did not jump bail before his fathers palace, where he lived during his bail period, was invaded by the Nigerian army. Till today, years after the incident, no one has been told why the army invaded the palace in the first place. No one has been told who ordered the army to invade the palace. Who could we have asked? Who would have given us an answer?

Malami and the rest of us know well that it was in an attempt to save his life that Mazi Kanu escaped from the palace when the army invaded it and subsequently from the country. We all know that if he had stayed back, the army boys would have killed him alongside the so many they killed on that sad, unmemorable day. Malami also knows that the case of Nnamdi jumping bail or not jumping bail is in court.

Now, with the posture the federal government is adopting through its justice minister, what message is Malami sending across to the rest of Nigerians? Who is failing the rule of law, Nnamdi Kanu or the federal government? Obviously it is the federal government here. A government that has failed to understand that public office holders and even government officials have no privileges over and above any other Nigerian citizens as they throw their weight around with unimaginable impunity.

The fact that a court had issued an order and the chief legal officer flouts that order with a high level of impunity shows that the government has no respect for the courts. It tells the world that the government and its officers are above the law. And consistently the Nigerian government has continued to give that ugly impression to the international community that its law enforcement agencies are above the law. And next, Nigerians will talk of our democracy. Which democracy works under benign military autocracy?

If the executive arm of government can compel the law court to obey its every whim and caprice, where then is the place of separation of powers in Nigerian brand of democracy? Why must the court not be able to even summon the minister if in their view his arm of government was functioning with executive rascality? And why is the National Assembly mute on such very sensitive national issues?

Then, let us look at the other points Malami raised. He was concerned about security. Now, there is something the justice minister should know if he doesnt already know it. If we take a good look across the group of people agitating for the resuscitation of Biafra or even for referendum which the federal government finds difficult to implement for whatever reason, we find that these people are young men and women below 50 years of age. Many of them were born on the Biafra side of Nigeria at the time. Their birth certificates showed they were Biafrans. The war ended. Nigerian authorities made no attempt to change those birth certificates from Biafra back to Nigeria. It meant that those children who were issued with the birth certificates of Biafra when they were born between 1967 and 1970 are still being identified with the Biafra Stamp as men and women of around 50 years by now.

They may have seen or their parents must have told them in their childhood days how unjust the Nigerians had become in their dealings with the Igbo of Eastern Nigeria, if the things that happened in those days which eventually led to the war were any facts to go by. Today, their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, is in detention. He has been in detention for over one year now. The release granted him by the Appeal Court has been flagrantly flouted by government agencies  which also depicts Nigerias level of democracy under the watch of an ex-military general.

The fact Malami refused to consider was that because those Nigerians by virtue of their Biafran birth certificates are not really Nigerians because they cannot vie for the highest public office in the land. Their Biafran birth certificates disqualify them from doing so. It is intricate but that is the legal truth. They were born Biafrans. Nigeria, for whatever reason, could not change their Biafran birth certificates to Nigerian birth certificates after the civil war. For that reason, they will not be able to exercise their full rights as other Nigerians and vie for the highest political office in the country if they want to do so. They suffer this injustice because of the mistakes of the Nigerian leadership at the end of the civil war. And the current leadership sees no point in calling for a dialogue with these men to find a way forward. To put it mildly, this is awful. Those who prepare to win a war should also prepare to win the peace after the war is won. In the case of Nigeria, no visible preparations were made to embrace peace after the war.

Those of us who live in European countries or in America exactly know the importance of birth certificates in any of these countries. What this means is that legitimately, as long as those Biafran birth certificates were not changed back to Nigerian birth certificates, these people remain Biafrans. And nothing can change that now. Nothing can change that now because birth certificates can be very important and because you cannot change someones birth certificate 45 years into his life. I will cite just two examples to bring my story home.

In its November 13, 2015 edition, Sahara Reporters carried the story of a revelation that was about to be made then as a court in France allowed a family member of the Gabonese President, Ali Bongo Ondimba, to view the birth certificate of the President after accusations flew in his face that he lied about where he was born. As the August 2016 Presidential elections in Gabon were fast approaching then, rumours and controversies stirred up over Ali Bongos birthplace. His political opponents said he falsified his birth certificate to hide the fact that he was adopted from Biafra during the Nigerian civil war. That accusation was based on the fact that he was said to have been born 18 months before his father, the late President Bongo, married. But the court ruled in his favour. And he was re-elected for a second tenure as President of Gabon.

Almost the same thing happened in America. President Obama faced the same issue of where he was born at the height of his campaign for a second tenure. Donald Trump kept hammering the point that Obama was not born in America, that he falsified his birth certificate and that he should be prosecuted for that. Not until the President made public his birth certificate did the matter come to closure. That is as important as birth certificates can be.

Justice Minister Malami also raised the issue of security. He said Mazi Nnamdi Kanu had been using the international community and foreign countries to launch a fight against his own country. And the question is how? When Nigeria has financial problems despite the enormous crude oil, gas and so many mineral resources it has, national officers go to foreign countries to borrow money. They go to France. They go to Germany. They go to China. They go to USA. They go to Japan. Why do they do that? Who questions them? When top government officials are sick, they go to foreign hospitals instead of equipping the hospitals we have in Nigeria, given the high caliber quality of doctors we have who are only frustrated to go work abroad to live better, who queries government officials? When a citizen feels he is marginalized and that his life is no longer safe, and he complains to the same foreign countries everybody turns to when they have a problem, his case becomes different. Why? This all really borders on the rule of law. In the Nigerian brand, some men are more equal than others. It is more like a master-servant relationship. And we talk of democracy.

But come to think of it: no individual can get the international community to launch a fight against his country even under the glaring eyes of the United Nations. Otherwise, all the countries of the world would have rushed into Kiev to fight for the Ukrainians against Russia. But unfortunately, the international community does not work like that. So, the fairy tale Malami must narrate to Nigerians is what weapons Nnamdi Kanu and his international collaborators came with to destroy Nigeria. Did they have knives and clubs or bazooka and drones? Haba! No one can fight his fatherland without weapons and that is the truth with Nnamdi Kanu  unless the federal government is saying that he was caught with weapons and the public was not told about it when he was forcefully renditioned from Kenya?

Those apart, let us not forget that in recent times, some prominent Igbo politicians were said to have discussed the possibility of releasing Mr Kanu from detention with President Buhari. We hear that President Buhari said he didnt want to interfere with the work of the judiciary and that Kanus case was for the courts to settle. Buhari spoke as he should. He clearly understood and allowed Nigerians to know that he knew that in a democracy, there should be separation of powers. The Appeal Court acted on Mr. Presidents confidence in the court and ordered that Kanu should be released from detention. But Kanu remains still locked up weeks after the Appeal Court ordered his release. And that also raises the question of whether Malami was seeing himself as superior to the President or whether he thought he was doing the President a favour when in actual fact he was damaging the Presidents international credibility.

Indeed, Kanu poses more of a national problem when he is in detention, like a time-bomb waiting to explode. Most Igbo youths love and even adore him. And no one should doubt that the young man commands a cult-like followership running into millions. And should anything happen to him in detention as it has been made known by his lawyer that he is terminally ill, should anything like him dying in detention as Boko Haram leader, Mohammed Yusuf, died in police custody in 2009, the federal government will be outstretched to fight a Boko Haram in the North, another Boko Haram in the East, and another in the Middle Belt, possibly another in the South-South over crude oil and another in the West, led by some erudite Yoruba professors who have never made a secret of their desire to go away from Nigeria. Can the federal government cope with all these fronts? Or would Nigeria continue to be the same one indivisible country? These are the issues Malami should be considering.

The jubilation that blanketed Southern Nigeria the day the people heard that the Appeal Court had set Mazi Nnamdi Kanu free should be a pointer to Malami that the security of the country is more guaranteed when Kanu is let off the hook than when the federal government wants to flex muscles and quote the rule of law out of context.

Wisdom is what government officials should apply now that they have time on their hands. And that wisdom lies in first obeying the court order, then applying for extradition and taking it from there.

Should anything happen to Kanu while in detention, his blood that is shed for Biafra, like that of Boko Harams Mohammed Yusuf, would become a rallying point for the Igbo nation led by their youths to fight back or go into guerrilla warfare, like the South Africans did with Nelson Mandela when apartheid ruled in their country. Nigeria will never be the same again. So, government officials, especially the Directorate of State Security should stop giving the world this annoying impression that they are above the laws of the land  perhaps because they have got the gun they believe should control democracy in Nigeria. Democracy does not work with the guns. It is either democracy or the guns, not both.

Chief Sir Emeka Asinugo is a London-based veteran journalist, author and publisher of Imo State Business Link Magazine (Website  https://imostateblm.com)
The Russian army accused Ukraine of a "massive" drone attack on its Black Sea Fleet in Crimea on Saturday, claiming the UK helped in the strike that damaged a vessel.

Sevastopol in Moscow-annexed Crimea, which has been targeted several times in recent months, serves as the headquarters for the fleet and is a logistical hub for operations in Ukraine.

The Russian army claimed to have "destroyed" nine aerial drones and seven maritime ones, in the Saturday morning attack on the port.

Moscow's forces alleged British "specialists", whom they said were based in the southern Ukrainian city of Ochakiv, had helped prepare and train Kyiv to carry out the strike.

In a further singling out of the UK -- which Moscow sees as one of the most unfriendly Western countries -- Moscow said the same British unit was involved in the explosions which damlaged the Nord Stream gas pipeline last month.

Moscow's military said ships targeted at their Crimean base were involved in a UN-brokered deal to allow the export of Ukrainian grain.

The UK defence ministry on Saturday rejected claims by Russia that its specialists were involved in either series of attacks.

The defence ministry tweeted: "To detract from their disastrous handling of the illegal invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Ministry of Defence is resorting to peddling false claims on an epic scale."

Crimea a crucible of conflict

Attacks on Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014, have increased in recent weeks, as Kyiv presses forward with a counter-offensive in the south to retake territory held by Moscow for months.

Moscow-installed authorities in Kherson, just north of Crimea, have vowed to turn the city into a fortress, preparing for an inevitable assault.

In early October, the bridge linking Crimea to the Russian mainland -- personally inaugurated by President Vladimir Putin in 2018 -- was damaged by a blast that Putin blamed on Ukraine.

The Russian fleet stationed in the port had also been attacked by a drone in August.

Russia's allegations Saturday came as the Ukrainian army reported fighting in the Lugansk and Donetsk regions in the east, including near Bakhmut -- the only area where Moscow's forces have advanced in recent weeks.

Pro-Russian separatists fighting alongside troops from Moscow also announced a new prisoner exchange with Kyiv, saying 50 will return home from each side.
Rebels seized more territory in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday, prompting the UN peacekeeping mission to increase its "troop alert level" and boost support for the army.

The M23 rebel fighters had seized control of two localities along the strategic RN2 highway in the eastern province of North Kivu, local officials and witnesses told AFP by telephone.

Rebels had also been seen at Rugari, just 30 kilometres (20 miles) down the RN2 from provincial capital Goma, which it links with the north and Uganda.

"Kiwanja and Rutshuru-centre are in M23 hands," said civil society representative Jacques Niyonzima.

"The rebels have held two meetings and told local people to go about their work and those displaced to return to their villages, saying security was now guaranteed," he said from Kiwanja.

A general hospital official in Rutshuru added: "There were several wounded in Kiwanja after a small amount of resistance".

"Calm has returned. People are moving about and shops are opening," the official said, asking not to be named.

Hostile acts

The MONUSCO mission condemned "the hostile acts of M23", the rebel group, and called for an immediate halt to the fighting.

The DRC army had made no comment by mid-afternoon Saturday on the latest rebel reports.

The M23 first leapt to prominence in 2012 when it briefly captured Goma. By (AFP)

But the MONUSCO said on Twitter it was providing "air support, intelligence and equipment" as well as medical assistance.

The peacekeepers said they were "mobilised in support" of DRC's army after residents reported at least ten people dead since Sunday and dozens more injured near RN2.

The MONUSCO said it had set up an "operations coordination centre" with the army and was carrying out reconnaissance and surveillance flights, but did not provide further details about the alert level.

M23, a mostly Congolese Tutsi group, resumed fighting in late 2021 after lying dormant for years.

It has since captured swathes of territory in North Kivu, including the key town of Bunagana on the Ugandan border in June.

The frontline between Congolese troops and M23 rebels had been calm in recent weeks until last week, when clashes erupted again.

Last Sunday, M23 fighters captured the village of Ntamugenga in the Rutshuru area. It lies four kilometres (2.5 miles) from the RN2 where the clashes spread on Thursday.

The UN humanitarian affairs office in the DRC said this week around 34,500 people had fled the Rutshuru region.

The group's resurgence has destabilised regional relations in central Africa, with the DRC accusing its smaller neighbour Rwanda of backing the militia.

Rwanda denies the charges and counters that DRC works with a notorious Hutu rebel movement involved in the 1994 genocide of Tutsis, which Kinshasa also denies.

A report by independent UN experts seen by AFP in August found that Kigali had provided direct support to the M23.

And this week a US representative to the United Nations spoke of Rwandan defence forces providing assistance to the M23.

M23 first leapt to prominence in 2012 when it briefly captured Goma before a joint Congolese-UN offensive drove it out.

The militia is one of scores of armed groups that roam eastern DRC, many of them a legacy of two regional wars that flared late last century.
The Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, George Mireku-Duker has called on Ghanaians to come together and support the government in the fight against illegal mining otherwise called galamsey.

According to him, those who are engaged in illegal mining are greedy persons only who care about themselves.

Hon. George Mireku-Duker made the call at a stakeholders sensitization engagement on responsible community mining at Bepoh in the Prestea Huni-Valley municipality of the Western region.

This is greed, and because of this greed we are destroying our country and our future, including the lives of the next generations, he stated.

He described the action as shameful, saying "because of gold, all the river bodies are being destroyed."

Mr. Mireku-Duker, bemoaned the state at which the river bodies in the country are destroyed due to the activities of illegal mining.

He called on the chiefs and residents to join forces together to ensure the irresponsible behaviour of the illegal miners are stopped.

As community members you cannot say you do not have knowledge about how the illegal miners are polluting and destroying the river bodies because it is done within the same community you all find yourselves, he stated.

He said, if the chiefs and the residents will agree and take responsibility for themselves to fight illegal mining, there is no way the miners can come to the community and destroy the water bodies.

"The constitution allows for citizen arrests. You do not have to be a security officer before you can arrest someone violating the laws of the country.

"So, you can arrest illegal miners who are destroying the river bodies and hand them over to the police for prosecution.

If the Chiefs and the residents will collaborate and accept to be involved to protect the river bodies within their district from the upstream to the downstream, the river bodies would become clean, Mireku Duker stressed.

The Deputy Minister stated that government is not against small-scale mining because it provides about one million direct jobs to the people and for that cannot rush to ban it.

According to him, it is important to note that a sector that contributes about 35 percent to the countrys economy needs full support from the government, "but if it turns out to become a burden, killing the people, then it must be stopped."

Some people including religious bodies in recent times called for the ban of small-scale mining due to the destruction of river bodies and the land including forest reserves.

The Prestea Huni-Valley Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Small-Scale Mining, Nuhu Mohammed Mustapha, in an address thanked the government for the engagement and pledged to work to ensure the polluted river bodies are restored by the end of this year.

He pledged the associations readiness to support the government in the fight against illegal mining.
The Prestea Huni-Valley Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Small-scale Mining (GNASSM), Nuhu Mohammed Mustapha has called on government to ban the importation of black tubes that are used to wash gold by the galamseyers.

He said the galamseyers will not be able to wash their gold in the rivers anymore.

This, according to him, will address the problem the country is currently facing with the pollution of the river bodies.

Mr. Mustapha stressed that it is difficult to arrest the illegal miners at their operational areas, indicating that even when they are seen, access to their location is another challenge. "And before you get there, you will not get anyone to arrest."

He added, "You will see them on the rivers working, and you cannot get anybody to arrest them because they will run away before you get there. But when you place a ban on the importation of black holes, they cannot go to the rivers again because the holes are no longer in the market and this will automatically collapse their work.

"The holes are what the illegal miners used to wash their gold in the water. And they are changed within two to three weeks because after using it within that period it will spoil, and they will have to change it.

Galamsey work will collapse if you ban the importation of the black holes or seize them from the market."

According to him, the destruction of chanfans will rather create more problems for the country.

He explained that the small-scale miners and community mining workers use the chanfans to grind the gold they extract from the underground, "so when you burn them, you create issues for them."

Mr. Mustapha stated that the small-scale miners do not have license to mine on the river bodies or forest reserves. "Their concessions are far away from the forest and the river bodies, so it is difficult to see small-scale miners in these areas. It is only the illegal miners who hide in the forest and the river bodies to work because they do not have license to mine.

Let's advised ourselves, especially those who go to the forest, to deplete the forest reserves.

Mr. Nuhu Mohammed Mustapha appealed to the government to disregard the call to ban small-scale mining.

He said, the call if considered, will create more economic challenges as small-scale mining alone contributes about 35 percent of Ghana's GDP.

He urged the religious bodies who are advocating for the ban of small-scale mining to push for ways to create jobs for the youth to stop them from engaging in any illegality.
The Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources responsible for Mines, Hon. George Mireku Duker has expressed optimism that Ghanas waterbodies which have been polluted by illegal mining activities could regain their lost purity status by March 2023 if Ghanaians are committed to fight the menace.

Hon. Mireku Duker is reassured and encouraged by the fact that the measures introduced by government are already yielding results. He added that if the trend is sustained by the first quarter of 2023, there will be a drastic improvement in the quality of the water bodies.

He noted that the training of river wardens, who will complement the Operation Halt II taskforce is another laudable initiative by government towards the liberation of waterbodies from galamsey operations.

Speaking at a Community Sensitization on Illegal Mining in Tarkwa on Thursday, October 27, 2022, Hon. Mireku Duker averred that the introduction of digital innovations such as registering and tracking all earth moving equipment in the country as well as the Community Mining Scheme will guarantee success for government in its fight against illegal mining.

He, however asserted that the innovations and efforts by government will not see the light of day if traditional authorities and residents of mining communities do not join in the fight against illegal mining.

He, therefore threw a challenge to the chiefs and residents of Tarkwa and its environs to extend helping hands to government purge the Bonsa River of the pollution by galamsey activities.

Hon. Mireku Duker appealed during the engagement at Tarkwa that if the residents cooperate with the government, he is certain that by March 2023, Bonsa River which passes through the community would be pure and safe.

He cautioned the mining communities that government which has demonstrated strong commitment to protecting legal small-scale mining businesses would be left with no option to heed to the call of those who are asking for a ban on small scale mining if it does not enjoy the collaborative efforts of the indigenes of the communities.

There are suggestions for government to close down small-scale mining activities but we are aware of the number of job opportunities created in the small-scale mining sector. The Bonsa River has been destroyed. 100 years ago, they mined gold here in Tarkwa but the river was clear so how have we allowed greed to make us destroy our river, he said.

Because myself, my Minister Hon. Samuel A. Jinapor believes in small-scale mining, we have the blessings of President Akufo-Addo to promote mining but in a very sustainable and responsible way. If you dont want government to ban small-scale mining, all of you gathered here must help clean the Bonsa River. The chiefs, small-scale miners and everyone here has a role to play to protect the Bonsa River. The Small-scale miners have assured the MCE during a meeting that by the end of December, the Bonsa would have cleared.

The leadership of the small-scale miners in Accra have also assured us of their support to ensure that the Birim River in the Eastern region is cleared. It is the responsibility of everyone to fight illegal mining. Government alone cannot fight illegal mining, we need your collaboration. Government has recruited river wardens whose job is to provide constant patrol of the Pra, Tano, Bonsa, Ankobrah, among others. Theyve been given speedboats to do their job. The riverguards have uniforms stuffed with body cameras and their movements will be monitored, he said.

The MCE for Tarkwa-Nsuaem, Benjamin Kesse said the people of Tarkwa-Nsuaem will not sit down aloof and watch others destroy the environment. He assured that they will provide intelligence to the security authorities about galamsey operators.

Nana Adakwa Bediako III, Dzasehene of Apinto commended government for the Community Mining scheme in the area, revealing that many lives have been impacted positively by the innovative mining scheme. He promised that his community will not allow galamsey operators to create a bad name for them.
30.10.2022 LISTEN

Alhaji Farouk Aliu Mahama, New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Yendi has stressed the need for the Tertiary Students Confederacy (TESCON) of the party to remain resolute and loyal in working for the interest of the party.

He also implored them to at all times stick to the founding principles of TESCON, which has become the platform for future leaders of the party and the nation at large.

Alhaji Farouk Aliu Mahama made the call when he addressed members of Greater Accra Regional TESCON Boot Camp at the University of Ghana Business School in Accra.

He reminded them that young people represent the life and soul of the NPP tradition, and urged them to be very instrumental in promoting the ideals of the NPP tradition, which his late father, Alhaji Aliu Mahama lived and died for.

Alhaji Farouk Aliu Mahama who is also the Board Chairman of the Ghana Integrated Iron and Steel Development Corporation (GIISDEC) used the opportunity to task the TESCON members to propagate the good works of the NPP Government, which has demonstrated a strong commitment to tackling the very challenges confronting the nations youth through various interventions and policies.

He said, "As youth of the NPP, we may have a tougher responsibility, but breaking the eight (8) is a MUST DO for us. We must convince Ghanaians that changing a productive regime merely because they have lasted for eight years is not healthy for a country that seeks progress.

"We must prove beyond every reasonable doubt to Ghanaians why the party must not go after its two-term regime cycle. Beyond singing the chorus of Breaking the Eighth, we must critically engage our minds forthwith".

The Yendi legislator also made a donation of Ghc10,000 to support the programmes and activities of the Greater Accra TESCON and pledged to support the National TESCON when the need arises.

Mrs Francisca Oteng, a Deputy Minister Designate for the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection advised members of the confederacy to remain loyal and continue to work hard for the party's success in the 2024 election to break the eight.

Mr Sammi Awuku, immediate past National Organizer of the NPP and Director-General of the National Lottery Authority (NLA) charged the TESCON to be good ambassadors of the party by propagating the good work of the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo led administration and also defending the NPP.
Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu, Mr. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has alleged some financial inequities at the Finance Ministry.

He claimed that under the watch of underfire Finance Minister, Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, a whopping GHS1.3 billion cannot be accounted for.

According to him, Mr. Ofori-Atta accounted for only GHS2,061,122,607.00 contrary to the GHS3,368,095,788 contained on page 10 of the 2021 Auditor General's report.

The Auditor-General says he cannot vouch for the "accuracy and completeness of revenue figures" under Ken Ofori-Atta's watch.

Page 10 of the AG's 2021 audit report on General Government reveals that whereas Ken's ministry insists that our 2021 oil revenue (ABFA) was GHS2,061,122,607.00, the Controller and Accountant General reports GHS3,368,095,788 in its statement of financial performance. That represents a staggering discrepancy of some GHS1.3 billion, he revealed in a tweet on Saturday, October 29.

Mr. Ablakwa also pushed for the immediate dismissal of the Finance Minister and also a thorough investigation into all activities that happened under his watch.

Ken Ofori-Atta should definitely go and quickly he must; however, when he's gone, we will need a major forensic probe into his entire tenure, he demanded.

On Tuesday, some 80 members of the Majority Caucus in Ghana's Parliament called on the President to dismiss the Finance Minister and the Minister of state at the Finance Ministry, Charles Adu Boahen.

They said the two are unfit to remain at post following the worsening economic crisis.

They also vowed to boycott government businesses in Parliament should the President fail to dismiss Ken Ofori-Atta.

However, a day after, on Wednesday, October 26, they (the Majority Caucus) met the President and agreed to his appeal to allow the Finance Minister conclude negotiations with IMF before a determination can be made on the proposed dismissal.
Maritime grain exports from Ukraine were halted on Saturday, when Russia suspended participation in the agreement which had been allowing shipments from Black Sea ports to Turkey. Moscow blames drone attacks on its vessels in Crimea for the suspension.

The deal to free grain exports, signed between Russia and Ukraine in July, was due to be renewed on 19 November.

The agreement has allowed more than nine million tonnes of Ukrainian grain to be exported, directly easing the global food crisis caused by the conflict.

On Saturday, Russia said it was halting its participation after its army accused Kyiv of a "massive" drone attack on its Black Sea fleet, which Ukraine labelled a "false pretext".

US President Joe Biden called the move "outrageous" while Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Moscow was "weaponising food".

On Sunday, the EU urged Russia to "revert its decision."

Ukraine's foreign minister claimed on Twitter that Russia was blocking "two million tons of grain on 176 vessels already at sea" that he said was "enough to feed seven million people."

He accused Moscow of having planned to "resume its hunger games" in advance and said the Black Sea explosions were "220 kilometres away from the grain corridor."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the Russian move "an absolutely transparent intention of Russia to return the threat of large-scale famine to Africa and Asia".

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary-general, said: "It is vital that all parties refrain from any action that would imperil the Black Sea Grain Initiative which is a critical humanitarian effort".

False claims on an epic scale

Sevastopol in Moscow-annexed Crimea has been targeted several times in recent months and serves as the headquarters for the Russian Black Sea fleet and a logistical hub for operations in Ukraine.

The Russian army claimed to have "destroyed" nine aerial drones and seven maritime ones in an attack on the port early Saturday.

"In light of the terrorist act carried out by the Kyiv regime with the participation of British experts against ships of the Black Sea fleet and civilian vessels involved in the security of grain corridors, Russia suspends its participation in the implementation of the agreement on the export of agricultural products from Ukrainian ports," the Russian defence ministry said on Telegram.

Moscow's forces alleged British "specialists", who they said were based in the southern Ukrainian city of Ochakiv, had helped prepare and train Kyiv to carry out the strike.

Britain strongly rebutted the claim, saying "the Russian Ministry of Defence is resorting to peddling false claims on an epic scale".

Moscow's military said ships targeted at their Crimean base were involved in the grain deal.

Russia had recently criticised the deal, saying its own grain exports have suffered due to Western sanctions.
Critically endangered forest elephants use their acute senses of hearing and smell to detect poachers while they are still some distance away and well before they have fired a shot, a new study in the Democratic Republic of Congo suggests.

To gather data, researchers used a grid of 50 passive acoustic sensors that spanned more than 121,000 hectares of Nouabale-Ndoki National Park and an adjacent forestry concession, in the Congo Republic.

They discovered that the elephants went silent shortly before automatic gunfire erupted in eight suspected poaching events.

After the gunshots, elephants immediately increased their vocalisations, suggesting they warned others using alarm signals, or marshalled their family members while heading to safety.

I mostly expected that we would find a decrease in vocalisations following the gunfire events, said Colin Swider, a doctoral candidate at Syracuse University, who led the study published in the African Journal of Ecology.

I figured the elephants might immediately abandon the area and head away from the danger, leaving no elephants around for us to detect.

In retrospect, the spike in vocalisations picked up by the sensors did make sense.

Acoustic communication is a critical part of how elephants overcome stressful or challenging situations together, Swider told RFI. It is crucial for coordination. I imagine the need to communicate would be quite high following such a dramatic event as a poaching incident.

After that initial spike, however, the elephant calls dropped to lower-than-baseline rates, the study says. Was this because the animals were simply reducing their vocal activity, or had they moved away?

Elephant soundscape

Swider has a hunch that it is because the elephants move to other areas, away from danger.

He has personal experience that supports this hypothesis. On one memorable occasion while doing fieldwork in 2019 at Dzanga Bai  a natural clearing in the park where forest elephants often gather in numbers of more than 100 at a time  gunshots were heard nearby and all the elephants left.

For days afterwards only a few individuals would appear at the clearing; sometimes none. When elephants did finally return they appeared to be mostly newcomers, oblivious to what had happened.

Other researchers have observed similar responses to trauma. In 2017 a team recorded how forest elephants spent days avoiding the carcass of a slain male elephant at Mbeli Bai, another clearing in the park.

It's unclear whether any of the poaching events recorded by the acoustic sensors, part of the Elephant Listening Project run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology with the support of an on-site Congolese acoustics team, resulted in the deaths of elephants.

The scientist says upcoming work will combine acoustic grid data with complementary data gathered by anti-poaching rangers from the Wildlife Conservation Society Congo, such as the location of elephant carcasses and other signs of poaching.

But the analysis of the soundscape of elephant rumbles does illuminate the responses to poaching made by this critically endangered species, he says.

"We have shown that poaching has more subtle impacts that seem to ripple into the wider population by affecting behavior of non-targeted elephants.

It could mean that elephants leave areas with high poaching pressure thereby forsaking otherwise high-quality habitat, the study says.

In addition to directly killing elephants, poaching could have indirect population-level consequences.

Growing human pressures

The findings are interesting and have implications for conservation management of protected areas, said Andrew Fowler, West and Central Africa director for conservation charity the Zoological Society of London, who was not part of the Congo study.

Although he has no quantifiable data, Fowler agrees that elephants present in an area where poachers are active will change their behavior.

I can certainly attest that elephants in areas where there is poacher activity are quiet while still present, he said, adding that he had observed this among forest elephants at two field sites  LuiKotale and Lomako  in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Even bonobos, a species of ape found at the two sites, went quiet and left the immediate area in the wake of poachers' gunfire, and individual bonobos that were previously used to human presence became wary of observers.

Swider said he hopes acoustic methods like his can be used to collect data to understand the consequences of growing human pressures on wildlife.

I hope we have stimulated some thought on how acoustic tools might be applied to specific problems or open new avenues of research. And this applies not just to forest elephants and poaching, but to any species and human activity that makes sound.
The Ghana Armed Forces has undertaken the 2022 Land Combat Power and Demonstration at Bundasi Training Camp near Tema.

The Land Combat Power and Demonstration is part of efforts to show the countys capability to defend its territorial integrity and equip Soldiers on ways to use fire assets on the field.

The annual exercise, forms part of the Training of Course 44 Students of the Senior Division Course at the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff Training College (GAFCSC) at Teshie, Accra.

It involves the display of various components of an Infantry Battalion, Command Post and other combat supporting elements.

Brigadier General Michael Ayisi Amoah, the General Officer Commanding Southern Command, said the training aimed at equipping the Senior Division Course 44 students with the knowledge of fire assets available to a given battle group and joint task force on how they could be used during a given operation.

 The aim of the exercise is to enable students of the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College to appreciate the fire assets available to a battle group and how they are employed in the field, he said.

The exercise is also used to test the operational readiness of the Ghana Armed Forces in defending the Country from external aggression such as terrorism, a canker in the Sahel region which is increasingly advancing to the West African sub-region.

Contemporary threats that face Ghana is similar to what we face in other countries. In the subregion, for instance, the threat profile that confronts Ghana is the same, Brigadier General Ayisi Amoah said

Colonel Willaim Kwabiah, the Chief Instructor of Joint Studies at GAFCSC, said the exercise, apart from forming part of the curriculum of the institution, will demonstrate to students on how interoperability between the Army, Airforce and Navy could be used to achieve synergy and enable the Armed forces to achieve its aim.

Mr Kofi Amankwaa-Manu, Deputy Minister of Defence, commended GAF for their selfless services to the country as well as their continuous security offered the length and breadth of the country.

This years exercise conducted by the First Infantry Battalion of Micheal Camp supported by elements of the 2nd and 5th Infantry Battalions , 153 Armoured Regiment among other regiments further incorporated the simulation of techniques involved in how injured Soldiers are treated on the front lines before being conveyed to the hospital during an active battle.

GNA
30.10.2022 LISTEN

Ministry of Education has clarified that it has completed the audit of the Ghana Accountability for Learning Outcomes Project (GALOP) as requested by the World Bank.

It comes on the back of a statement from the World Bank suggesting that Ghana had delayed the submission of the audit report of the project agreement with the International Development Association.

Given that the audited financial statements are now four months overdue, and in line with the audit compliance guidance, we write to inform you that unless you come into compliance within the next 30 days from the date of this letter, the Association may have no option than to explore the possibility of exercising the appropriate legal remedy under the financing agreement, the letter dated October 21, 2022, by the World Bank said.

But in an October 30, 2022 response, the Ministry of Education said, subsequent to the notice from the World Bank, the report has been finalized and submitted. The World has confirmed receipt.

There is therefore no outstanding obligation in request of the 2021 audit report on GALOP, the Education Ministry concluded.

Funds for the GALOP were for the training of over 40,000 teachers on a digital literacy platform.

But there were reports suggesting that the Education Ministry and the Ghana Education Service have solicited for a $1.2 million support from the World Bank, but the said training was not organized upon release of the funds from the international financial institution.

These claims were described by the sector minister, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum as untrue.

The Minister said the money has not been squandered as claimed by some media reports, clarifying that the said amount in contention was not even meant for the training of teachers as suggested.

The good news is that the money is sitting in the [Ministry's] account as we speak, the Minister said at a press briefing in Accra on Thursday, May 26, 2022.

-citinewsroom
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has expressed confidence that there is hope for the countrys economy to bounce back from its current crisis.

According to him, he has consulted extensively with cabinet, the Council of State and key stakeholders on the challenges facing the country.

He said there is hope for Ghana after his engagements.

In a tweet on Sunday, ahead of his public address on the economy, President Akufo-Addo said I will be addressing the nation after broad consultations with the Council of State, Cabinet and key stakeholders in the economy including, GUTA, AGI, Banks, GPRTU, Forex Bureau Association, Market Women, Ghana Employers Association, and Organised Labour. #HopeForGhanaEconom. 

Cabinet ended a three-day retreat on the economy on Saturday October 29.

Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah disclosed that during the meeting, President Akufo-Addo settled on key decisions aimed at responding strongly to the impact of the global economic challenges on Ghana.

Mr Akufo-Addo is scheduled to address the nation today Sunday October 30 to announce the decisions towards the economic recovery to the citizenry.

Prior to that the President and other government officials have been engaging key stakeholders on how to deal with the situation.

In a tweet, Mr Oppong Nkrumah who is also the lawmaker for Ofoase Ayirebi said We've wrapped up a three day cabinet retreat during which President Akufo-Addo has settled on key decisions aimed at responding strongly to the impact of the global economic challenges on Ghana.

-DGN online
By Trend

There is no alternative to peace in Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Khalaf Khalafov said at an event dedicated to the Day of the Republic of Turkiye, Trend reports.

"We hope that the agreements reached in Prague will continue. The main thing is to move towards peace. The parties must continue to work in support of each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty," Khalaf Khalafov said.

According to him, a trilateral meeting is expected in the near future. "We believe that the leadership of Armenia understands its responsibility - responsibility to the international community, in connection with its obligations. Because Armenia, which has signed certain documents, must fulfill its obligations. She is responsible to her people," said the deputy minister.

He noted that today in the South Caucasus, in the Armenian-Azerbaijani relations there is no alternative to peace.

"We must reach a peace agreement, take all the necessary steps for this. These steps must be concrete," Khalafov said.

Armenia must express its position and take all necessary steps towards peace, the deputy minister added.
The Minister of Education Yaw Osei Adutwum says his outfit or Ministry of Finance cannot be blamed for the delay in the release of audit report on Ghana Accountability for Learning Outcomes Project (GALOP).

According to the Education Minister, the Audit Service is responsible for the auditing of GALOP, saying that the Service is responsible for the delay and not his ministry or that of the Finance ministry.

The education ministry in a statement released Sunday October 30, 2022 said subsequent to the notice, the report has been completed and forwarded to the World Bank, indicating that The World Bank has confirmed receipt.

The statement signed by Kwasi Kwarteng, spokesperson for the Minister, added There is therefore no outstanding obligation in respect to the 2021 audit report on GALOP.

The international financial institution had threatened to initiate legal action against the Government of Ghana within 30 days if it fails to submit audited financial statements on the Ghana Accountability for Learning Outcomes Project.

Pierre Laporte, the World Bank Country Director to Ghana, in an October 21 letter addressed to Finance, Minister Ken Ofori-Atta expressed concerns over the delays of the audit statement within the stipulated six months after the end of one fiscal year per the financial agreement between the International Development Association and Ghana.

Owing to the fact that the submission of the statement is four months overdue, the World Bank says it will explore the possibility of exercising the appropriate legal remedies under the Financing Agreement against the government.

In accordance with Section 5.09(b)(ii) of the General Conditions incorporated by reference in the Financing Agreement and as specified in paragraph II (ii) of the Disbursement and Financial Information Letter (DFIL), the Recipient is required to furnish the audited financial statements covering the period of one fiscal year of the Recipient no later than six (6) months after the end of such period. We note that as of today, October 18, 2022, the Association has not received the audited financial statements for the year ending December 2021 in compliance with the General Conditions.

The Association is concerned that it is almost ten (10) months after the year ended and an independent audit report on the use of funds has still not been furnished to the Association.

Given that the audited financial statements are now four (4) months overdue, and with the Audit Compliance Guidance, we write to inform you that unless you come into compliance within the next thirty (30) days from the date of this letter, the Association may have no option than to explore the possibility of exercising the appropriate legal remedies under the Financing Agreement, part of the letter read.

Pierre Laporte has consequently requested Ofori-Atta to attend to the brewing matter in order for the audit requirement to be adhered to.

We trust that your personal and immediate attention to this matter will ensure speedy compliance of the audit requirements referred to above, the letter said in part.

-DGN online
The government has released funds to the National Food Buffer Stock Company and the second cycle schools nationwide for feeding.

According to a statement released by the Ministry of Education, an amount of GH126,000,000 had been released to the National Food Buffer Stock Company for non-perishable food items.

Also, GH72,106,603 was released to the Senior High and TVET Schools across the country to cover perishable food items and recurring expenditures.

The statement said the money was released over the last four weeks, mentioning that The Public is therefore assured of the Ministry's commitment to ensuring the timely supply of adequate and quality food items to all second cycle institutions.

The Ministry further reiterates Its dedication to ensuring smooth and effective distribution of other resources in its quest to improve and sustain quality education in Ghana.

The Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools had been complaining about the delays in releasing the funds for feeding.

It also warned that many food suppliers had threatened to suspend supplies, while others had withheld the food supplies due to the non-payment of their monies.

Some headteachers had even threatened to close down their schools because of these feeding challenges.
30.10.2022 LISTEN

The Deputy Protocol Director at the headoffice of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwabena Frimpong, has responded to the party's former Deputy General Secretary, Obiri Boahen for describing the National Chairman as a timid soul.

Obiri Boahen (Esq) has criticised the approach deployed by the National Chairman, Stephen Ntim in handling the agitations of some party Parliamentarians asking for the dismissal of Ken Ofori-Attah and Charles Adu Boahen.

He said in an interview with Okay FM that the never-before-seen action of the MPs could create political instability if not handled well.

The experienced Lawyer stated that he expected the NPP Chairman to have held a crunch meeting with the Party leadership and its Steering Committee and informed them about how dire the situation was rather than issuing a press statement.

"This is not the NPP and NDC politics on who did this or that. This is a very serious National issue that goes down to the National stability of the country and Western Democracy. It is scary. Nothing like this has happened before in Ghana ever since Don Diego Di Azambuja landed in Ghana," he stated.

He added, "It is nearing 80 out of 138 MPs if you just add 20. And the Chairman of the party says.... what are you coming to do? Stephen Ntim what are you coming to do? If you are a timorous soul; please get out of politics. If you don't have courage; exit politics. Stephen Ntim as the Chairman of the Party.... the thing is scary for the Party."

Nonetheless, Kwabena Frimpong, a party youth activist has stated that the modern style of leadership is not necessarily about being loud and noisy but efficient to get the needed results in his response to the former General Secretary of the Party.

Kwabena Frimpong vehemently stated that the comment from Obiri Boahen is unfortunate and demeaning, asking him to d do the needful by retracting his words, especially describing the National Chairman as "timid."

"Leadership has long moved from being noisy or loud to effective and efficient to get the needed results. Chairman Ntim is too experienced to know the approach that can be deployed to resolve a particular issue like what happened," said Kwabena Frimpong.

He continued "Chairman Ntim needed to be tactical in his approach in engaging the disgruntled MPs to ensure there is peace in the Party as well as Government to avoid further tension and the release from the National Chairman calm down the situation as we see today.

"Chairman Ntim's leadership believes in dialogue rather than being confrontational. What Obiri Boahen must know is that we need everybody on board in our quest to break the 8 which demands that we must be fair when an issue crops up and does lawyer Obiri Boahen knows the behind-the-scenes engagement that has gone on which was master-minded by the National Chairman to Calm down the situation?

In conclusion, the outspoken Frimpong added, "My uncle, lawyer Obiri Boahen should have acknowledged and appreciated the National Chairman for stamping his authority in this brouhaha because for some years now a National Chairman didn't sit down on Unconcerned but acted tactfully as a true leader. "

On Tuesday, October 25, about 80 NPP MPs held a press conference to demand the dismissal of Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Attah and Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Charles Adu Boahen.

The Party leadership has also released a statement to engage the Government, Parliamentary Group and other stakeholders for an amicable solution to avoid any mayhem for the party and government.
Not long ago, President Addo-Addo met with the MMDCEs and the Ashanti region House of Chiefs to discuss the problem of illegal mining. The meeting took place on the 5th of October 2022 at Manhyia in the Ashanti region. The leadership of the National Association of Local Authority of Ghana (NALAG) also intended to meet the heads of various local governments to outline measures to support the fight against illegal mining. Nana Addo called the meeting because he was convinced that some MMDCEs were actively involved in illegal mining in their jurisdictions. He warned these MMDCEs to stay away from galamsey. Many people described the president's statement as hypocritical because there are some ministers, MPs, and party functionaries involved in illegal mining but the president refused to talk about it. There were many who felt Chairman Wontumi should have been arrested for destroying water bodies through illegal mining at Samreboi.

According to the former Minerals Commission CEO, millions of dollars that were spent by Nana Akufo Addo and the NPP government to fight galamsey proved fiasco. This is the government's own doing. The blame can be placed squarely on the government and no one else. The NPP government has failed in the fight against galamsey so the residents of Obuasi are sceptical about government's renewed fight against galamsey. It is not surprising that Nana Addo has not repented. To put it bluntly, the pollution of the water bodies and the destruction of our forests and cash crops must be a major concern of Nana Addo, but instead he continues to shield government appointees who are recklessly engaged in the practice.

When the NPP wrestled power from the NDC in 2016, Nana Addo launched a fight against illegal mining and galamsey. Military personnel and other security forces were deployed to the areas where illegal mining was going on. They seized about 200 excavators and took them to a military camp in Accra where security was assured. One fine morning, Ghanaians woke up to realise that all the 200 excavators had vamoosed into thin air. They were all stolen from the security area. No investigations were conducted and no arrests made. An excavator is not like a match box that can be put in one's pocket. This sad event marked the beginning of the end of Nana Addo's ambition to fight galamsey. The security personnel decided to protect the illegal miners in exchange for money. Government appointees joined in within the full glare of Nana Addo. Meanwhile the environmental destruction and the severe pollution of water bodies, continued unabated.

It is not only Chairman Wontumi who is a party official engaged in illegal mining, but there are quite a number of party officials engaged in it. The former Member of Parliament for Tema East Constituency, Hon Daniel Nii Kwartei Titus-Glover, fully aware of the key personalities of the NPP engaged in illegal mining, charged the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources to equally penalize key members of the (NPP), who are involved in illegal mining. Mr Kwartei Glover strongly urged the Minister not to spare members of their party who are arrested for illegal mining. Will such key members of the ruling party ever be arrested or punished? Nana is fully aware of key members of the party destroying the environment and polluting water bodies. He never even made reference to Chairman Wontumi.

The deputy ranking member on the Mines and Energy committee of Parliament, Hon. John Jinapor also added his voice and affirmed that there is evidence that the destruction of the environment and the pollution of water bodies are caused by top officials of the NPP who are engaged in illegal mining. He has consistently called on the government seriousness, concern and commitment against illegal mining. Nana Addo visited Ashanti region and went ahead to witness at first hand the galamsey areas and saw how the environment and the water bodies have been destroyed after meeting the chiefs in the region. Hon Abu Gyinapor felt that if Nana Addo is genuinely eager to fight illegal mining, he should arrest and prosecute the bigwigs involved in the galamsey and illegal mining. As Ghana continues to deal with the canker of galamsey, to wit, illegal mining, Ghana is likely to import drinking water in the not too distant future. The National Defence Congress have also added their voices to the problem. They have appealed to President Nana Addo to arrest the party officials engaged in galamsey.

To help the NPP party to regain its popularity and to be able to break the eight, Nana Addo must show seriousness, strictness and impartiality as regards illegal mining. .He should concentrate on improving the environment, save the cocoa trees and improving the water bodies. Ghanaians are angry and frustrated about how the government of the NPP are managing the economy. The last straw that broke the camel's back was when Nana Addo was hooted at in Kumasi for neglecting the city's development. A region known to vote massively for NPP. The future of NPP is bleak indeed!

Columnist: Stephen Atta Owusu

Author: Dark Faces at Crossroads

Email: [email protected]
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo

30.10.2022 LISTEN

The President of the Republic of Ghana, H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has given the assurance that the deposits of individuals in Government treasury bills or instruments are safe.

In the midst of current hardships and the poor state of the Ghanaian economy, government is engaging the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a support programme.

While talks continue, the Minority and some Finance experts have said critical decisions including what is termed 'a haircut will be one of the measures agreed on to rescue the country from the economic crisis.

However, addressing the country on Sunday, October 30, President Akufo-Addo said nothing of that sort will happen.

According to him, funds of investors in Government treasury bills or instruments are totally safe.

I also want to assure all Ghanaians that no individual or institutional investor, including pension funds, in Government treasury bills or instruments will lose their money, as a result of our ongoing IMF negotiations, President Akufo-Addo said in his address on Sunday night.

In his address, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo admitted that the Ghanaian economy is in a troubling state.

Indicating that the economy is in deep crisis, the President assured the citizenry that his government isl working harder to turn things around.

President Akufo-Addo disclosed that various decisions have been taken to address the cedi depreciation and all the challenges with the economy.
The President of the Republic, H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has called on market women and traders in the country to desist from deliberately selling goods at high prices.

Addressing the nation on Sunday, October 30, the President said he has admiration for the ingenuity and hard work of traders and will not resort to calling them names for hiking the prices of goods.

He said in the midst of the current hardships in the country, he can only appeal to the market women not to take advantage of the challenges facing the Ghanaian economy to make huge profits.

I hear from the market queens also that another factor fueling the high prices is the high margins that some traders are slapping on goods, for fear of future higher costs. I say to our traders, we are all in this together. Please let us be measured in the margins we seek. I have great respect and admiration for the ingenuity and hard work of our traders, especially those that take on the distribution of foodstuffs around the country, and I would hesitate to join in calling them names.

I do make a heartfelt appeal that we all keep an eye out for the greater good, and not try to make the utmost profits out of the current difficulties, President Akufo-Addo said in his address on Sunday night.

While admitting that Ghana is currently in crisis, the President added that his big dreams for the country is unshaken.

President Akufo-Addo says he will ensure his government takes important decisions that will bring the country out of the current mess and set the economy on the path of growth and development.

My ambitions for Ghana remain high. All our children should be educated and trained with skills that will enable us be competitive in the world. We need to close rapidly the infrastructure gap, we need to build a world-class healthcare system, and we need to build confidence in ourselves to make ours the happy and prosperous place it deserves to be.

I believe we can and we will find the means to achieve these goals, even if the immediate measures we have to take are painful, President Akufo-Addo indicated in his address.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has given assurance to Ghanaians that his government is willing to work hard to address the challenges facing the economy.

On Sunday, October 30, the President delivered an address to the nation on the state of the economy and what his government is doing to turn things around.

In his address, President Akufo-Addo stressed that his government cares about Ghanaians and will bring relief to them in the midst of the hardships in the country.

It is obvious, fellow Ghanaians, that you have a government that cares. We are determined to restore stability to the economy, and provide relief. We are all in this together, and I am asking for your support to rescue Ghana from the throes of this economic crisis.

I have total confidence in our ability to work our way out of our current difficulties. We are not afraid of hard work. We will triumph, as we have triumphed many times before. Let us unite, and rally around our Republic, its institutions and its democratic values, and insist that, under God, we will emerge victorious from our current difficulties. For this too shall pass, as the Battle is the Lords, President AKufo-Addo noted.

According to the President, he will be regularly addressing the nation with updates on what his government is doing to stabilize the economy henceforth.

I will be coming regularly to keep you updated about the measures your government is making to move our country forward, and tackle our economic challenges, President AKufo-Addo said.
Kanye West's relatives come up about the rapper's recent tantrums and behavior.

The rapper, who legally changed his name to Ye, claimed he lost $2 billion each day when Adidas and GAP dropped him because of his anti-Semitic remarks.

Meanwhile, his family members do not believe he is suffering from mental illness and believe he is only expressing his thoughts.

When questioned by The Sun if they are concerned about the "All Of The Light" rapper's mental health and career in the midst of the enormous reaction, his cousins and aunts on his mother Donda's side replied they aren't.

"He's a very intelligent man. He's fine. Family is always near."

Another family insider stated Kim Kardashian's ex-husband still has a lot of support, and his relatives don't dare to criticize him because they feel it's just "Kanye being Kanye."

"He's always had strong ideas and been controversial, and although we don't always agree with him, we still respect him," they told the site.

"We don't believe this is a mental health incident," the Maryland source continued, "it's simply him speaking his ideas as usual." He is completely aware of the repercussions and is unconcerned."

Despite the fact that Kanye made many people angry with his words, the relatives hope the fashion designer will be able to turn things around.

The family members also hope that the father-of-four receives direction from God and understands that his family will always be there for him, as his mother Donda desired.

READ ALSO: Kanye West Canceled: This Is What A Former Fan Has Done To His $15K Worth of Yeezy Shoes

Kanye West Canceled

Kanye West turned to social media to express his sadness about enormous commercial losses when Adidas terminated their $1 billion partnership following his comments.

"I've been beat to a pulp, and there's still no accountability," he said in an Instagram post.

The Grammy-winning rapper has been blocked from using Twitter and Instagram, but he has expressed his displeasure on Facebook. He was barred from using multiple sites owing to his anti-Semitic remarks.

He's back on Instagram, though, since he also cross-posted it.

This all began when the Yeezy founder startled the audience by arriving at the Oct. 3 Paris Fashion Week for his brand's fashion presentation wearing a black hoodie with the words "White Lives Matter."

He tweeted a few days later, declaring "death con 3 on Jewish people."

In an interview with Piers Morgan, he reaffirmed his positions, claiming he had no remorse about his remarks.

READ MORE: Jerry Lee Lewis Suffered Immensely Years Before Death: Family Abused Singer, Locked Him Away From Reality?

 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
FBI agents work outside the home of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi where her husband Paul Pelosi was violently assaulted after a break-in at their house, according to a statement from her office, in San Francisco, California, Oct. 28, 2022.
Conor here. This post doesnt get into the past four years of protests in Haiti against US interference there, including sanctions on Venezuela that caused fuel prices to soar and the installation of current president Ariel Henry, but is a good counterweight to recent pieces in the New York Times and Washington Post calling for US intervention.

By Brett Wilkins, an author and journalist. Originally published at Common Dreams.

As U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met Thursday in Ottawa to discuss a possible multilateral invasion of Haiti in the name of restoring stability, Haitian and anti-war voices denounced the prospect of yet another U.S.-backed interventionwhich they say will bring the opposite of stability to the crisis-ridden nation.

The Biden administration is seeking a nation to lead a rapid-deployment international military force, an intervention backed by the United Nations Security Council and requested by de facto Haitian prime minister Ariel Henry to quell the gang violence that has spiked since last years presidential assassination, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake, and a hurricane that devastated much of the deeply impoverished nation.

While some Haitiansespecially elitesand the U.S. corporate media push for armed intervention, other Haitians and peace activists have taken to the streets and to social media to condemn any new invasion.

The U.S. wants another country to invade Haiti on its behalf to put down protests against the U.S.-installed government. Theyre also ready to make it happen with or without U.N. approval, tweeted the women-led peace group CodePink on Thursday. The entire world must demand #HandsOffHaiti right now.

In a recent interview with Democracy Now!, Guerline Jozef, executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, said that Haitians are saying no to an invasion, no to armed invasion from the international community, because every time there is the so-called help invasion, that people go to Haiti, it results in chaos.

Look up the Ottawa Initiative from 2003 to see how Canada, France, and the US decided to destroy Haitian sovereignty through a coup detat of Haitis democratically elected president https://t.co/gaUP3hvlCS  JPierre (@grosmorne29) October 28, 2022

Madame Boukman, a prominent Haitian political commentator, recently tweeted that U.S.-style humanitarian intervention is like a massive blow to the spine.

It has completely paralyzed Haitis development, she added. Haitians call for a localized, Haitian solution based on the principles of self-determination.

Jemima Pierre, a sociocultural anthropologist, UCLA professor, and co-coordinator of the Black Alliance for Peace team on Haiti, said in a Wednesday interview on the progressive radio show Between the Lines that the Haitian people absolutely do not want foreign armed soldiers on the ground.

Haiti has been invaded many times by the U.S. government, Pierre continued. And every single time its been complete brutality, rape And so the last thing people want is to have these soldiers going around with guns and tanks pointing at them, right?

Each time the United States has invaded or backed intervention in Haitithe only nation born from a successful slave revoltit has cited the restoration of order and stability as its pretext.

The U.S., which had coveted Haitian territory since the 19th century, used civil unrest sparked by a gruesome presidential assassination to justify a 1915 invasion and subsequent 19-year occupation.

#Haiti was a beacon of light to the world, a challenge to the dread logic of capital & empire. For this it was punished with foreign interference: coups, invasions, occupations, assassinations. To help Haitians, stop meddling & stand up to the worlds bully, the #UnitedStates. pic.twitter.com/mWfEIJ5xPw  Clare Daly (@ClareDalyMEP) October 14, 2022

U.S. Marines, wrote Time at the end of the occupation, landed at Port-au-Prince and began forcibly soothing everybody. Thousands of Haitians who resisted were killed. Rape of Haitian women and children by U.S. troops ran rampant and went unpunished. Occupation forces implemented forced labor, Jim Crow segregation, and oversaw the looting of the countrys finances and resources for the benefit of Wall Street banks and investors. All the while, U.S. politicians and press hailed what they called Americas civilizing mission.

The U.S. would occupy Haiti until 1934. In the decades that followed, successive administrations in Washington supported Haitian dictators including the brutal Duvalier dynasty. Democracy was finally restored with the 1990 election of then-priest and progressive populist Jean Bertrand Aristide, but a year later he was ousted in a military coup whose plotters included CIA operatives.

Amid calls for an international intervention to restore stability, President Joe Biden, then the junior U.S. senator from Delaware, in 1994 opined that if Haiti just quietly sunk into the Caribbean or rose up 300 feet, it wouldnt matter a whole lot to our interests.

Joe Biden in 1994: If Haitia God-awful thing to sayif Haiti just quietly sunk into the Caribbean or rose up 300 feet, it wouldnt matter a whole lot to our interests. pic.twitter.com/iMvSJzg2JU  A Tulip in a Cup (@queeralamode) July 7, 2021

Then-President Bill Clinton did not agree, and that year his administration secured United Nations Security Council authorization to stage a U.S.-led invasion to restore democracy to Haiti. Clinton sent 25,000 troops on a nation-building mission, and Aristide was returned to the Palais National. Ten years later, he was ousted in another U.S.-backed coup.

When U.N. troops deployed to Haiti following a devastating 2010 earthquake, they brought more than the stability they were tasked with maintaining. A cholera epidemic traced back to Nepalese U.N. peacekeepers infected more than 800,000 people in four regional countries, killing over 10,000 of them.

A fresh cholera outbreak has been cited by some people seeking renewed intervention in Haiti, but Jozef said that that itself is a result of the U.N. being in Haiti after the earthquake.

In related Haiti news, U.S. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and 15 colleaguesincluding progressives Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)this week urged the Biden administration to immediately extend and redesignate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti, a move that would allow Haitians currently in the United States to remain in the country until conditions improve in their homeland.
By Conor Gallagher

As Washington shovels billions to Ukraine for war, the homeless population in the US continues to swell. In just about every way imaginable, the news is getting worse.

The number of older Americans who find themselves facing homelessness after a job loss, divorce, family death or health crisis is growing rapidly. The number of Americans dying while homeless has surged dramatically in the past five years.

Not surprisingly, the US doesnt have a great way to collect data on the crisis, but its believed that upwards of 580,000 Americans are homeless, and that might be vastly undercounted.

The numbers are tallied by volunteers, and a count hasnt been done since 2020 due to the pandemic. Regardless, the number is expected to be much higher when the 2022 report is released. From the AP:

Fueled by a long-running housing shortage, rising rent prices and the economic hangover from the pandemic, the overall number of homeless in a federal government report to be released in coming months is expected to be higher than the 580,000 unhoused before the coronavirus outbreak, the National Alliance to End Homelessness said.

If one doesnt live in an area hosting modern-day Hoovervilles, they can peruse the news and read stories of homeless students and veterans, how up to 60 percent of the homeless are employed but are without shelter due to low wages and the high cost of living, homelessness caused by a car that broke down, domestic violence, medical bills, declines in public assistance, and on and on.

According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, it would cost $20 billion to end homelessness in the US  in other words, a fraction of what the US has sent to fund its proxy war against Russia in Ukraine.

But it would be unfair to say that the US is doing nothing. States and localities across the country continue to pass laws criminalizing public camping. Because the problem isnt really that millions of people are suffering and sleeping on the streets; its that the rest of society is forced to see them on a daily basis. From NPR:

Public pressure to do something about the increasing number of highly visible homeless encampments has pushed even many traditionally liberal cities to clear them.

To be fair, in some places the laws are rarely enforced, but in others theyre used on a near-daily basis.

More from the NPR piece, which is typical of the genre:

Miranda Atnip lost her home during the coronavirus pandemic after her boyfriend moved out and she fell behind on bills. Living in a car, the 34-year-old worries every day about getting money for food, finding somewhere to shower, and saving up enough money for an apartment where her three children can live with her again. Now she has a new worry: Tennessee is about to become the first U.S. state to make it a felony to camp on local public property such as parks. It seems like once one thing goes wrong, it kind of snowballs, Atnip said. We were making money with DoorDash. Our bills were paid. We were saving. Then the car goes kaput and everything goes bad.

Tennessee certainly isnt the only state passing draconian laws to remove the homeless from sight. A wave of legislation has swept across the country recently. Many of the laws are modeled after legislation published online by the Cicero Institute, a Texas-based think tank that wants to find entrepreneurial solutions to public problems.

Its unclear if Ciceros entrepreneurial solution refers to adding more people to the $74-billion-per-year industry that is the American prison system. One would be forgiven for thinking so because studies have shown it is far more expensive to criminalize homelessness than it is to simply provide shelter. One recent study in Florida found:

It costs taxpayers $31,065 a year to criminalize a single person suffering from homelessness  through enforcement of unconstitutional anti-panhandling laws, hostile architecture, police raids of homeless encampments, and just general harassment. The cost of providing them supportive housing  $10,051 per year.

The Cicero Institute was started by Joe Lonsdale, the billionaire co-founder of the software company Palantir, a company that benefits from criminalization and whose technology has been used for projects like migrant surveillance and predictive policing.

In response to the COVID pandemic, the Trump Administration earmarked billions for states and localities across the country to help reduce homelessness. But most areas have been slow to get the money to those in need, primarily because the state and local agencies simply didnt have the capacity (and urgency) to deal with the influx of funds. From the Pew Charitable Trusts:

California, which has the countrys largest homeless population, illustrates the difficulties. A report by the state auditor found that Californias Department of Housing and Community Development did not give its partners access to the first round of federal Emergency Solutions Grants until December 2020, seven months after the federal government announced the funding. Thats mostly because the department lacked the capacity to manage the grants and failed for a full year to hire a contractor to run the program, the report said. That $315 million was 25 times the departments typical yearly allocation, noted Geoffrey Ross, its deputy director of federal financial assistance. The departments private partners struggled to expand housing capacity while meeting pandemic safety guidelines, he said.

The will and the capacity to meet the crisis have been shrinking for the past 40 years  from Reagans cuts to local government aid and housing subsidies to Clintons 1996 welfare reform law to Rudy Giulianis sweeps of the homeless away from tourist areas of New York City. But we shouldnt forget that there once were models that worked to effectively combat homelessness in the US. From the National Alliance to End Homelessness:

Permanent supportive housing: Permanent supportive housing pairs long-term rental assistance with supportive services. It is targeted to individuals and families with chronic illnesses, disabilities, mental health issues, or substance use disorders who have experienced long-term or repeated homelessness.

Rapid re-housing: Rapid re-housing provides short-term rental assistance and services. The goals are to help people obtain housing quickly, increase self-sufficiency, and stay housed.

Instead of these tried and true remedies, the new solution is criminalization. Heres a non-exhaustive list of recent news involving bans on public camping and other punitive legislative actions against the homeless:

Arizona

Scottsdale camping ban may target homeless people Scottsdale Progress May 9, 2021

California

Gov. Newsom OKs mental health courts for homeless  kpbs.org September 14, 2022 The law Newsom signed on Wednesday would let a court order a treatment plan for up to one year, which could be extended for a second year. The plan could include medication, housing and therapy. California wont forgive parking tickets for homeless after Newsom veto  LA Times September 29, 2022 Homeless camps banned near Sacramento school campuses  kcra.com October 19, 2022 LA City Council Passes Ban On Homeless Encampments Near Schools And Daycares  LAist August 10, 2022 Riverside bans camping in Santa Ana River bed, other fire-prone areas Press Enterprise Aug. 3, 2022 New camping ban in Milpitas: Reminds me of Nazis says one councilmember The Mercury News Sept. 7, 2022

Colorado

Aurora camping ban: What to know as city approves enforcement plan Colorado Public Radio News May 10, 2022 Aurora camping ban estimated to cost $2 million a year Colorado Newsline May 3, 2022 Car camping ban advances in Boulder County as homelessness advocates protest Colorado Newsline May 19, 2022 City council extends urban camping ban The Daily Sentinel (Grand Junction) May 20, 2022

Louisiana

Homeless encampments on public land banned in East Baton Rouge Parish by Metro Council The Advocate Aug. 24, 2022

Missouri

Missouri governor signs law aimed at cracking down on homeless camps St. Louis Post-Dispatch June 30, 2022

North Carolina

Charlotte officials vote to make camping on city property a crime WCNC April 5, 2022 Fayetteville ordinance imposes $500 fine for some homeless camps on city property CBS17 Aug. 9, 2022

Oklahoma

New bill requires homeless camps to get permits KFOR March 3, 2022 Proposed local law would allow police to remove homeless people from sidewalks, other public rights of way Tulsa World June 29, 2022 New OK bill would make giving porn to homeless illegal KFOR May 13, 2022

Oregon

Oregon mayor to ban homeless camps on Portland streets  The Columbian October 21, 2022 Astoria bans daytime camping on public property KGW8 June 28, 2022

Texas

Statewide ban on homeless encampments approved by Texas Senate  Texas Tribune May 20, 2021 And a response: Central Texas man welcomes homeless encampments on his property KXAN June 30, 2021 Austin voters banned homeless people from camping in public spaces. The city is creating housing for them but not fast enough  Texas Tribune August 31, 2022 Police have had to eject hundreds of people from encampments. They still struggle to tell many of them where to go.

Virginia

Following public camping ban, Bristol man shares his experience with homelessness WJHL Aug. 10, 2022 Roanoke City Council passes ordinance banning people from camping on downtown sidewalks WSLS Dec. 7, 2021

Washington

Tacoma council passes a homeless camping ban. Heres what it means and when it starts The News Tribune October 12, 2022 Vancouver City Council approves camping ban in wildfire-prone areas The Columbian July 13, 2022 Spokane City Council votes to ban camping along river, under viaducts and near homeless shelters The Spokesman Review Sept. 19, 2022 Edmonds City Council approves ban on homeless camping KOMO News May 17, 2022

Nationwide
(Natural News) Not long after newly elected Alberta (Canada) Premier Danielle Smith assumed her post, she openly advocated for unvaccinated Canadians, whom she described as the most discriminated against group that Ive ever witnessed in my life. At a recent event, Smith also apologized for what unvaccinated Canadians faced for the past nearly three years due to Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) plandemic tyranny.

Smith was asked about her campaign promise to both apologize to and seek justice for unvaccinated Albertans who were prosecuted or otherwise persecuted for their decision to maintain natural immunity while the rest of the herd jumped headlong over the genetic cliff. Smith responded by stating (watch below):

Im deeply sorry for anyone who was inappropriately subjected to, um, discrimination as a result of their vaccine status. Im deeply sorry for any government employee that was fired from their [sic] job because of their vaccine status. And I welcome them back if they want to come back.

Alberta leader apologizes to the Unvaccinatedpic.twitter.com/DMxge0hzQT  Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) October 24, 2022

The woman who originally asked the question went on to ask Smith if she is still planning to grant amnesty to all unvaccinated Albertans who were fined or put in prison for refusing to get injected with Fauci Flu chemicals, to which Smith responded:

As for the amnesty, Id have to get some legal advice on that. Um, and so Ive already asked my staff to, um, to request that advice so I can see how we would be able to proceed on that. My view has been that, um, these were political decisions that were made, and so I think that we need political decisions to offer a reversal.

But I do still want to get some legal advice on that first.

Concerning a timeline for such amnesty to take place, Smith suggested that she is eager to do it at the earliest opportunity and is hoping within the next week that Ill get that advice.

An apology wont cut it: there needs to be JUSTICE served to plandemic perpetrators

As promising as Smiths words sound, it cannot be overstated that simply saying sorry for a multi-year terror campaign that destroyed millions of people lives does not constitute justice.

While Smith may not be personally responsible for what took place, her apology fails to address what will become of the politicians who inflicted this mass genocide on Canadians in the first place.

Will Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ever be held accountable for his crimes against humanity? Does Smith have any ability to sway other politicians like herself to launch an investigation into such matters, the goal being to dole out punishment for the scamdemic criminals.

One Twitter user put it like this in response to Smiths apology and promise of amnesty for the persecuted:

There ya go, kids: Big Pharma and your government find it better to ask for forgiveness than ask for your permission.

Another was a little more gracious, calling Smiths sentiments a start and adding that all leaders should be doing this.

I guess she thinks by just saying shes sorry thatll make up for everything, wrote another who is not so forgiving. I hate to tell these people but theyre wrong.

Several others were encouraged that a politician would apologize at all, even if it does not end up achieving true justice.

It takes a lot for any politician, party, or side to apologize these days, one of them wrote. What Smith is doing is awesome and Im sure she will get a lot of backlash for it.

The covid scamdemic continues to crumble. To keep up with the latest, visit Pandemic.news.

Sources for this article include:

NaturalNews.com

Twitter.com
(Natural News) Upon being called to the scene to investigate and take action, the local police force in Uvalde, Tex., complained about having to go inside Robb Elementary School over fears of getting shot, newly released bodycam footage shows.

The armed men covered in body armor spoke to each other about fears or being clapped out, shot, or otherwise put in unnecessary danger if they entered the school where an alleged massacre took place on May 24.

A local NBC News affiliate reportedly obtained the bodycam footage, which depicts a conversation between two unidentified officers who were unsure what they were even supposed to do upon arriving at Robb Elementary School.

Want to jump the f***ing gate or what? one of them asked.

What is the safest way to do this? then asked the other. Im not trying to get clapped out. (Related: Back in July, the mayor of Uvalde warned of a cover-up in the local police response to the incident at the school.)

Me either, the first officer then said back to the other. I also dont like standing right by the windows where we can get shot, bro.

Why did local police in Uvalde seem to not know what was going on?

The sense one gets from watching the footage is that the two men were simply confused about what was going on and how they were supposed to safely respond to it.

Many in the public were also confused as there was never any actual evidence presented that backs the official narrative surrounding what allegedly took place inside the building that day.

Youre going to put yourself in danger, another officer was heard stating at the scene of the incident, where nobody seemed to know who was even part of the Special Response Team that was sent there.

On October 7, the entire Uvalde police force was suspended because of all this confusion. They are accused of failing to take appropriate action in response to the situation.

Former school district police chief Peter Arredondo was also let go a few months prior in August.

The official story goes like this: on May 24, gunman Salvador Ramos entered Robb Elementary School at 11:33 a.m. and proceeded to shoot up the place. Within minutes, police arrived on the scene.

As Ramos was going from room to room, we are told that police did not attempt to cordon off rooms 111 and 112, which were both unlocked. This allowed Ramos to allegedly hide inside the rooms and continue his massacre.

At 11:40 a.m., Arredondo, who was without a radio at the time, called dispatch to say that he and his guys were inside the building and that Ramos was in one room.

I need a lot of firepower, so I need this building surrounded, Arredondo then said. Surrounded with as many AR-15s as possible.

Arredondo then reportedly tried checking different keys to see if he could access the room, which was already unlocked. However, he is said to have been at the wrong door to a room safely away from the shooter.

At 12:16 p.m., a child on an emergency line called in to beg for help, only to have Arredondo say out loud: tell them to f***ing wait.

The day would go on with similarly inexplicable behavior by Arredondo, whom critics say was not all that interested in saving the children and was instead focused on protecting himself and other officers from harm.

DPS head Steve McCraw would later state that Ramos could have been neutralized in three minutes, while the Texas House also confirmed that Arredondo acted too slowly.

More related news coverage can be found at PoliceState.news.

Sources for this article include:

ThePostMillennial.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) As Revolver and others have covered, Nina Moaning Myrtle Jankowicz is a joke. The Harry Potter superfan-turned-propagandrix is now the Biden Administrations chosen head for the Disinformation Governance Board. Among many other embarrassing videos in circulation is the following clip of Nina Jankowicz bizarrely and emphatically dismissing the notion of the so-called deep state.

(Article republished from Revolver.news)

There is no deep state. Nina says so. pic.twitter.com/WY7h7SKhWW  Maze (@mazemoore) May 2, 2022

For those who cant stand uptalk, heres what she said in the video:

Talking about the deep state and things like that which is a thread among conspiracy communities here in the United States, that there is this secret cabal here in Washington working to undermine the American people couldnt be further from the truth, as someone who works with and around these public servants every day.

Whatever one thinks of the precise term deep state, Nina badly wants everyone to dismiss the very concept of secret groups operating within Washington. She works with and around them after all, and she says such a cabal or network of cabals does not exist.

In fact, Nina does know the truth, and its the opposite of what she claims above. Ninas name appeared in one of the most explosive and aggressively censored national security leaks of the century. The leak in question exposed the Integrity Initiative, a dark government-funded NGO that appears to have engaged in political meddling and covert influence operations in Western countries under the guise of fighting disinformation.

Founded in mid-2015 under the auspices of the U.K. government-funded NGO Institute for Statecraft, the Integrity Initiative boasted a precociously fashionable motto: Defending Democracy Against Disinformation.

The Integrity Initiative defended democracy by recruiting secretive clusters of academics, national security bureaucrats, journalists, think tankers, and lobbyists in multiple European countries. These clusters would then be engaged in various ways to address nation-specific threats of so-called Russian disinformation.

In its organization, funding, operation, structure, and rhetoric the Integrity Initiative is the single best template for understanding how the entire hornets nest of NGOs, journalists, and national security bureaucrats work secretly and in concert to wage psychological warfare against citizens of the West. One cannot understand how the Disinformation Industry functions without understanding the little-known (and now defunct) Integrity Initiative.

Thankfully, before its demise, hackers leaked a huge swath of internal documents from the Integrity Initiative. More on that leak in a moment, but for now, here is an official description of the clusters from one of those leaked documents:

Full text transcribed here for readability (emphasis ours):

The network of networks: The Integrity Initiative was set up in autumn 2015 by the Institute for Statecraft in cooperation with the Free University of Brussels (VUB) to bring to the attention of politicians, policy-makers, opinion leaders and other interested parties the threat posed by Russia to democratic institutions in the United Kingdom, across Europe and North America The Integrity Initiative Aims to unite people who understand the threat, in order to provide a coordinated Western response to Russian disinformation and other elements of hybrid warfare. The nature of this response needs to render counter productive the Russian tactic of dividing countries internally and from one another. This will be the case if each Russian information and influence attack provokes the country targeted into sharing analysis of the attack with other countries in the network on a governmental basis, thereby increasing collaboration and Alliance cohesion. NATOs political Committee can play an important role here. An effective network is best achieved by forming in each European country a cluster of well-informed people from the political, military, academic, journalistic and think-tank spheres, who will track and analyze examples of disinformation in their country and inform decision-makers and other interested parties about what is happening.

Nina Jankowiczs name appears in a 2018 leak as a member of the inner core of the Integrity Initiatives U.K. Cluster, specifically in the sub-group dedicated to Russia.

Another name that appears alongside Nina Jankowiczs in the leaked documents as a member of the inner core of the U.K. cluster dealing with Russia is Anne Applebaum. Revolver briefly touched upon Applebaums apparent involvement in the Integrity Initiative in an earlier piece.

Applebaum was last seen refusing to comment on the coordinated cover-up of Hunter Bidens laptop. Applebaums apparent fellow inner core cluster wingman Nina Jankowicz repeatedly amplified the U.S. intelligence communitys discredited claim that the Hunter Biden laptop was a Russian disinformation operation:

Back on the laptop from hell, apparently- Biden notes 50 former natsec officials and 5 former CIA heads that believe the laptop is a Russian influence op. Trump says Russia, Russia, Russia.  Nina Jankowicz ???? (@wiczipedia) October 23, 2020

From the Integrity Initiatives formal description of clusters above it is somewhat difficult to infer what sort of activity Nina Jankowicz may have been involved in. But as luck would have it, the leaks included documents describing the activity of the Integrity Initiatives Spanish cluster.

In 2018, Spains ruling party attempted to appoint Pedro Banos as head of the countrys national security department. The Integrity Initiatives Spanish cluster as well as several U.K. associates immediately leapt into action to sabotage the appointment of this allegedly pro-Kremlin official. The following document from the leaks details their efforts:

Transcript (emphasis ours):

Midday: (II) Integrity Initiative Spanish cluster hear that a well known pro-Kremlin voice Pedro Banos is to be appointed as Director of the National Security Department, which works closely with the Spanish PMs office (La Moncloa) and is very influential in shaping policy 14:00: Spanish cluster leader alerts other cluster members and prepares a dossier to inform the main Spanish media. The cluster starts a campaign on Twitter to try to prevent the appointment. 15:45: Spanish cluster leader alerts Integrity Initiative UK Team which activates the Integrity Initiative network to generate international support for the Twitter campaign UK team creates a WhatsApp group to coordinate the Twitter response, get contacts on Twitter to spread awareness and get people retweeting the material. Publishes opinion piece by Nico de Pedro on StopFakes Spanish website, which was also retweeted by key influencers. Cluster send material to El Pais and El Mundo to publish and alert contacts at UK and French Embassies. Outcome By 19:45 Spanish Cluster assesses that the campaign has generated significant noise on Twitter. Contacts in the Socialist Party confirm that the PM has received the message. Some Spanish diplomats also express concerns

The result of the Integrity Initiatives campaign was swift and decisive. After a week of lobbying, then-Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez named a different man to the post.

Despite ostensibly defending democracy against disinformation, the Integrity Initiatives clusters operated in the shadows to interfere with yet another political event in Spain. Consider the following from a leaked Integrity Initiative Progress Report:

Integrity Spain Our first cluster, set up in January 2017, is headed by an academic currently at CIDOB, a Barcelona-based think tank. The inaugural seminar was co-sponsored by HQ NATO and addressed Russian malign influence in Eastern Europe and North Africa. A second inaugural session was held soon thereafter at the ECFR think tank in Madrid to ensure a balanced national coverage. This clusters draws it participants from academia, the media, civil servants and military and several political parties. Its main means of influence is through academic papers and especially through articles, written by independent journalists in newspapers like El Pais, based on material provided anonymously by the cluster.This cluster produced a major study on Russian influence in the Catalan referendum process which was circulated privately to key influencers in Spain, including the PMs office, and throughout Europe on the Integrity Initiative network. [Integrity Initiative]

Just like with the Banos incident, the government-backed Integrity Initiative injected itself into a political matter  this time the Catalan independence movement.

A couple things are especially noteworthy about the operations described above.

First, we note the sinister irony that the NATO-funded Integrity Initiative, whose ostensible purpose is to Defend Democracy Against Disinformation, was caught red-handed conducting a secretive influence operation to meddle in the internal politics of Spain, a democratic NATO member.

Second, we note how crucial  indeed, indispensable  the social media platform Twitter was to the influence operations in question. It is precisely the importance of Twitter as a theater for U.S., U.K., and NATO backed psychological influence operations that informed our analysis of Elon Musks attempt to purchase the platform. We werent exaggerating when we described Elons threat to allow free speech and transparency on Twitter as a declaration of war against the Regime. As the Integrity Initiatives use of the platform shows, Twitters value to U.S.-aligned intelligence agencies as a friendly ground for influence operations far exceeds its nominal value as a technology company.

Throughout this article so far, we have repeatedly referred to the Integrity Initiative as state-funded. This isnt idle speculation. The Integrity Initiative took pains to mask the nature of its operations. Its listed address was in Scotland, despite actually operating in London. The Integrity Initiatives funding came from a Scotland-based non-profit, the Institute for Statecraft, of which it operated under as a subsidiary. The Institute for Statecraft presents itself as an independent organization with a wide array of backers, but in reality the vast majority of its funding comes from the U.K. government. In its 2018-2019 fiscal year (running March 2018-March 2019), the Institute reported 2.2 million pounds in income.

How much money did the Institute for Statecraft receive from the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) in that time? 2.2 million pounds! By the way, at the same time, the FCO oversaw both the GCHQ (Britains equivalent of the NSA) and MI6 (its equivalent of the CIA).

Read more at: Revolver.news
(Natural News) Joe Biden just cannot stop sniffing underage children and making highly inappropriate comments about them in front of reporters, prompting calls for an investigation into the fake president.

Police in Washington, D.C., say they are receiving increasingly more calls requesting a probe into Biden, who has an extensive history of pedophilic behavior and statements throughout his career.

At a recent campaign event in Irvine, Calif., for instance, Biden was seen creeping up on a visibly uncomfortable young girl from behind while whispering to her his favorite line:

Now, a very important thing I told my daughters and granddaughters  no serious guys until youre 30!

The child, who clearly did not want the Pedophile-in-Chief groping and whispering his rambles into her ear, responded with:

Okay, Ill keep that in mind.

As this was happening, Biden was visibly seen intoxicating himself with her smell, which he has done to many young women over the years  most of them underage. (Related: Back in August, a homosexual couple adopted young boys for the explicit purpose of using them to make child pornography.)

Liberal Jon Stewart called out Biden in 2015 for his pedophilic behavior

During another recent event, Biden told reporters about a friendship that he once had with a 12-year-old girl when he himself was 30 years old.

We go back a long way, Biden smirked while pointing to a woman in the crowd. She was 12, and I was 30, but anyway. This woman helped me get an awful lot done. Anyway.

Keep in mind that every time these types of incidents happen, Bidens Secret Service detail is right there to try to scrub it from spreading in the media, including on social media.

At the Irvine event, Secret Service enablers were seen trying to stop people from filming Bidens advances towards the underage girl, who one could easily tell was ready to leave the room immediately because she was that uncomfortable.

It is not just conservatives that have taken note of Bidens creepy penchant for children, either. Back in 2015, liberal Jon Stewart spoke openly about Bidens perversion  though many would argue that he did not go far enough in exposing it.

According to Prof. Anthony Zenkus, an expert in such matters, Biden displays all of the hallmark behavioral traits of a serial predator. He belongs in prison far away from children, in other words, not in the White House.

The fact that Americans are allowing this creepy pervert to occupy the highest office in the land  many of them still being proud that he is there, in fact  demonstrates just how far this country has fallen to wickedness and depravity.

Every step of the way, Bidens heinous actions have been covered up and hidden by the very people who are supposed to be prosecuting such things. This includes, perhaps most notably, the FBI, which Biden and his cronies continue to use as their own secret police force to protect their deviant behavior.

If the Republicans didnt have at least as many pedophiles in their ranks as well, this problem would have been solved long ago, wrote a commenter on the matter.

It is just as bad in Great Britain, added another.

Someone else, calling out Bidens Catholicism, wrote that the guy is not a Christian but practices the adherence to the sacraments of Baal, adding that this is generational and nothing has changed in thousands of years.

Just ask Joe Biden about the blood-drinking ceremonies, this same person added with apparent sincerity.

More of the latest news about Biden, pedophiles, and the fight for an America that is free from these perverts can be found at Evil.news.

Sources for this article include:

Newspunch.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) A pro-China cybergroup is reportedly running an extensive campaign to undermine voter confidence and suppress turnout in the upcoming midterm elections.

Cybersecurity firm Mandiant stated in a report that cybergroup Dragonbridge has waged a misinformation and division campaign using plagiarized and altered news articles. It added that Dragonbridge operatives are extensively using false digital personas to spread misinformation.

According to the report, the group is impersonating another group called Intrusion Truth, which targets malicious Chinese cybergroups to generate credibility for its false claims. (Related: REVEALED: Full list of western media outlets participating in Chinese communist propaganda events.)

The group was also found to be altering news articles to create fabricated content that they distribute through social media. Members of the group are creating fake accounts to pose as readers of the same material.

Most notably, in September 2022, Dragonbridge accounts posted an English-language video across multiple social media platforms containing content attempting to discourage Americans from voting in the upcoming U.S. midterm elections. The video questioned the efficacy of voting and of U.S. government institutions more broadly, the report said.

It went on to say that the campaign pointed to frequent mentions of civil war on social media and incidents of politically motivated violence, including confrontations between individuals supporting opposing parties and acts against the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as evidence of the deterioration of the political process and its impending demise.

This comes amid reports that the Biden administration is mulling a prospective deal to retain TikTok in the United States. Dormer national security officials and industry insiders worry that the terms would leave the apps U.S. users open to data leaks, hacking and Chinese espionage.

Dragonbridge known to promote pro-Chinese interests

Dragonbridge has been promoting pro-Chinese interests for years in fake grassroots social media campaigns designed to influence politics in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Mandiant is now linking the organization to a series of more U.S.-focused campaigns. Its most brazen act is seeding hundreds of social media posts designed to demoralize voters and reduce turnout ahead of the November midterms.

These actors have been rapidly growing and hyper-aggressive. They went from carrying out limited campaigns focused on Hong Kong to a global operation on dozens of platforms, said John Hultquist, Mandiants vice president of intelligence analysis. Interfering in our elections is just another line that theyre clearly willing to cross.

Mandiant refused to reveal in its report the entire collection of disinformation posts tied to Dragonbridge, but the company said the posts numbered in the thousands. It added that the posts published by these accounts argued that American democracy is being taken over by extreme partisanship.

The group also published a video that discourages Americans from voting, making claims about political gridlock and inaction and showing images of the insurrection at the U.S. capitol building on January 6, 2021. The video stated: The solution to Americas ills is not to vote for someone, but to root out this ineffective and incapacitated system.

However, all of the content that Mandiant identified in its report as part of the Dragonbridge operations has since been deleted.

Other influence campaigns from the group also show clear ties to Chinese government, as pseudonyms on Twitter accounts that were controlled by Dragonbridge post claims in both English and Mandarin.

More recently, Dragonbridge sought to blame the U.S. over the apparent sabotage of the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline, which connects European countries to Russian gas sources. Mandiant noted that the claim echoes statements from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

This doesnt mean that Dragonbridges campaigns are necessarily the work of a Chinese government agency or even a contractor firm, but Mandiant noted that theyre very likely supporters of China.

Its hard to imagine their activity, in its totality, being in any other countrys interest, Hultquist said.

Visit Propaganda.news for news about the spread of pro-China information via fake news and social media.

Watch the video below that talks about China using fake news websites to spread propaganda and disinformation.

This video is from the Chinese taking down EVIL CCP channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Mainstream media dug their own graves with fake news propaganda.

Lies.news reveals the truth on all the latest fake news, fake science and other propaganda.

Chinese propaganda showing well-stocked citizens during lockdown BACKFIRES as people complain about LACK of food.

Sources include:

JustTheNews.com

Wired.com

Brighteon.com
The National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) has arrayed with Sinnad, a leading Card Processing and Payment Service Provider in the Kingdom, to procure recycled PVC plastic (RPVC) cards to its customers. This follows the banks decision to start transitioning NBBs daily operations to include more eco-friendly practices.

In line with its commitment to reducing its annual carbon footprint and plastic waste, NBB will make use of Sinnads value added services to successfully launch its recycled credit and prepaid cards. By leveraging on Sinnads expertise in the field, the Bank will continue to lead the sector in adopting ESG practices in its products and services.

Shadi Barakat, Head of Card Business at NBB, said: NBB has been on a steadfast journey towards integrating environmentally conscious practices at the core of our operations. As such, our collaboration with SINNAD as the sole card procurement provider, will enable us to further expand our environmentally-friendly initiatives and support the Kingdom in meeting its net-zero aspirations and the UNs Sustainability Development Goals.

Hasan Mohamed, Head of Business Support at SINNAD, stated: We are pleased to extend our collaboration with a leading institution such as NBB. Through this partnership we will provide RPVC cards manufactured from recycled materials that will significantly contribute to reducing plastic waste and carbon emissions. We look forward to engaging with more entities in the banking industry on similar initiatives that encourage and promote environmentally friendly operations.-TradeArabia News Service
(Natural News) Seemingly, the most dangerous risk a human being can take after getting a Fauci Flu jab is bad-mouthing everyone who chooses not to get one. This would be the case, as weve seen it happen to many folks, with a 41-year-young progressive Democrat candidate, Richard Allen Rowe, who told the world he does not give a f##k what happens to anti-vaxxers and he hopes Darwin does his work in killing us all off. Then he dropped dead while walking his dog. Coincidence? Maybe so, but its happening time and time again to these pro-vax-fanatics who brag and boast about their spike-protein-prion injections, then drop dead from SADS (sudden adult death syndrome), a.k.a. the clot shot effect.

The latest Democrat vaccine fanatic mocked and scolded the fully unvaccinated masses for helping to kill 700,000 Americans and then died a few short months after getting the shot. Weve seen body builders, newscasters, and politicians alike die from unexplainable causes shortly after getting shot up with millions of spike proteins in the nano-bot-clot shots, ironically WHILE telling the world of non-vaxxers they are going to die and kill people for not getting the deadly jabs themselves.

Nano-bot-clot-shot may have killed pro-vaccine fanatic while he accused the fully unvaccinated of being the biggest threat to the world

Democrat vax-fanatic and truck driver Richard Rowe went and got his first Pfizer jab this August and thought he was gaining protection from the gain-of-function flu, when in actuality he may have committed involuntary suicide in the face of it all. Well, you cant catch or spread Covid if youre dead, so in that sense, the clot shot worked. Survival of the fittest would then mean that avoiding the clot shot would be your best chance at surviving the pandemic.

Heres the Democrat vax-fanatic blowing up social media post-Pfizer-stab and before he croaked while walking his dog:

Let me be real clear.I do not give a F##K what happens to anti-vaxxers. I dont. Let Darwin do his work. They helped kill 700,000 Americans. I do not have the pity or tears to spare for any of them. Its all dried up now. Sorry. At this point. Im just hoping they feel 1/10th of the pain theyve caused everyone else. The kids will be fine. THEYRE going to suffer. And I f##king well think theyve earned it.

Covid Democrat and vax and mask fanatic dies after saying everyone who doesnt vax up or mask up deserves to die

Pro-jab-fanatic and Democrat candidate for office, Richard Rowe, plastered social media with hate speech about non-vaxxers, but was never banned, barred, censored, or booted off Twitter, Fakebook, Instagram, or any of the other Far Left extremist social hate platforms, because hes not conservative or going against the narratives. Simple as that.

Strange how these vaccine fanatics who voice their anger and vicious slams at the fully unvaccinated millions end up suffering inexplicable death shortly after (or during) the Wuhan flu shots.

Maybe mainstream media MSM will blame some random referee whistle that might have been blown in the vicinity of Rowe dropping dead while walking his dog, or maybe Rowe took a nice cold shower first and that made his heart fluctuate so badly that it just stopped working altogether. Weve seen those stories scattered and splattered all over fake news as of late.

Maybe Rowe had so much hatred for the fully unvaccinated that the hatred itself caused his heart to stop working or a blood vessel in his brain to pop and give him a stroke. Nobody knows what really caused his death, yet, but maybe an embalmer or coroner will find those strange rubbery long clots made of heavy metals in his blood and reveal the real culprit. Only time and an honest autopsy will tell.

Bookmark Vaccines.news to your favorite independent websites for updates on experimental vaccines that cause blood clots, myocarditis, and severe, chronic inflammation.

Sources for this article include:

InfoWars.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Destruction of public and private property is the best way to save the environment from global warming and climate change, suggests an opinion piece recently published by The New York Times.

Andreas Malm, a Swedish eco-terrorism advocate, penned the article in which it is also stated that throwing soup at famous Van Gogh art pieces is simply not enough to convey the full climate message that sabotage is most effective at saving the environment.

Malm, an associate professor of human ecology at Swedens Lund University, scoffed at the recent food fight demonstration in London, calling it not gritty enough to truly constitute climate activism.

He would rather see pipeline explosions like what happened to the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines that run from Russia to Germany.

As a rule, I tend to think sabotage is most effective when it is precise and gritty, Malm wrote in his essay.

Malm promoted Ecological Leninism in 2020 during height of covid

Malm says he is quite proud of the eco-terrorists who appeared at gas stations in the United Kingdom to destroy the pumps. These people hit the nail on the head, he says, because they directly targeted what he believes is a source of global warming: vehicle fuel.

Such activity should serve as a blueprint, he says, for other acts of terror that are easily replicated. He would like to see more gas station destruction, in other words, and not just soup on famous paintings.

When governments refuse to undertake this work, it is up to the rest of us to initiate it, Malms piece further reads. That is the rationale for sabotage: to aim straight for the bags of coal.

In his book, Malm goes even further in chastising climate terrorists who stop short of actually destroying fossil fuel equipment like gas pumps. Even better, Malm would like to see more natural gas and oil pipelines destroyed as this would cut off fossil fuels at the source.

In Malms mind, ending all fuel is a good thing because it will make the planet more green. He called his ideology Ecological Leninism back in 2020 around the start of the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) scamdemic.

We must find a way of turning the environmental crisis into a crisis for fossil capital itself, he said at the time, pointing to Vladimir Lenin, a famous Russian Marxist revolutionary.

The whole strategic direction of Lenin after 1914 was to turn World War I into a fatal blow against capitalism. This is precisely the same strategic orientation we must embrace today  and this is what I mean by ecological Leninism.

Malm would like to see sports-utility vehicles (SUVs) banned entirely, along with private jets used by the rich to gallivant around the world. Anything that consumes completely indefensible amounts of fuel must go, he says.

This is low-hanging fruit for the climate justice movement, as these sources of emissions are among the least socially necessary, Malm added in a statement.

Some forms of consumption will indeed have to be limited or abolished outright  this cannot be done through markets or appeals to ethical consumption, but only through state regulation.

It would seem as though the Times fully endorses Malms message, otherwise the fake news outlet would not have published his op-ed. And that message, just to reiterate, includes violence.

 there should be room for tactics other than strict nonviolence and peaceful demonstrations, says the Times Tatiana Schlossberg, the daughter of Caroline Kennedy.

Eco-terrorism is a growing trend among far-leftists who have been programmed to demonstrate their hatred for fossil fuels with violence and destruction. More of the latest can be found at Terrorism.news.

Sources for this article include:

ClimateDepot.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is already denying the results of the 2024 presidential election.

In a video posted on Twitter by grassroots organization Indivisible Guide, the former First Lady warned that right-wing extremists already have a plan to literally steal the presidential election in 2024. Thus, she called on supporters to take the fight to MAGA Republicans at the the state level.

Clinton warned that the right-wing controlled Supreme Court would ultimately grant state legislatures the power to overturn presidential elections. Incidentally, many state legislatures have a Republican majority  which is on the line in the 2022 midterm elections.

If that happens, the 2024 presidential election will be decided, not by the popular vote or even by the anachronistic Electoral College, but by state legislatures.

The former secretary of state during the Obama administration urged supporters to donate to the crush the coup campaign to help defend democracy. She added: This could not be more important or more urgent.

Greg Price, senior digital strategist for conservative PR firm X Strategies, pointed out that Clinton had also denied the results of past elections. He cited examples of the former First Lady doing so in 2000, 2004 and 2016. Incidentally, her prior denials occurred during years when GOP candidates won as president.

She claimed in 2000 that former President George W. Bush was selected, not elected. Five years later, she remarked that there were many legitimate questions about the 2004 elections that gave Bush his second term. Later, Clinton denounced former President Donald Trump as an illegitimate president when the real estate mogul won as president in 2016. (Related: When Hillary Clinton claimed Trump stole the election and was illegitimate, Dems cheered; now Biden calls election doubters enemies of the state.)

She is a dangerous election denier, an insurrectionist and a threat to the very foundations of our democracy, Price tweeted.

Clintons remarks mocked on social media

Many conservative figures also took to Twitter to respond to Clinton denying the results of future elections.

Brigitte Gabriel, founder and CEO of activist group ACT! For America, tweeted in response: Hillary Clinton is spreading misinformation about the elections. Shouldnt she be de-platformed?

Benny Johnson, who hosts The Benny Report on Newsmax, also shared Gabriels sentiments regarding Clinton spreading misinformation about how the GOP is going to steal the 2024 elections. He also asked if the former secretary of state will be de-platformed for her posts.

Trump campaign surrogate and author Nick Adams pointed out the double standards between Clinton, a nasty woman peddling lies and misinformation about [the] elections, and the former president. He asked: Why is she allowed to keep her platform but Trump is not?

Turning Point USA founder and Executive Director Charlie Kirk concurred with Price, calling the former First Lady an election denier and conspiracy theorist who represents an existential threat to our democracy.

Rep. Lance Gooden (R-TX), meanwhile, posted a question in response to Clintons claims about the GOP attempting to steal the 2024 elections: Does she have another fake dossier to prove it?

Head over to Clinton.news for more stories about the former First Lady and failed presidential candidate.

Watch Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson weigh in on Hillary Clintons remarks below.

This video is from the GalacticStorm channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

How can honest Americans have any faith in elections when Democrats REFUSE to play by the rules?

When Democrats fight the results of elections its patriotic but when the GOP does, suddenly its treason.

Trump makes it official, calls out BIG TECH for colluding with Democrats to silence conservatives and steal elections.

Hillary Clinton warns Democrats that their obsession with mutilating children to become transgenders could cost them the midterms.

Twitter PURGE of conservatives spearheaded by Hillary Clinton and the left-wing media because the left can only win elections by silencing their opponents.

Sources include:

En-Volve.com

Breitbart.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Not long ago, the vast majority of congressional Democrats and their propagandists in the mainstream media claimed that electing Donald Trump to the presidency would lead to nuclear war and global destruction.

But as usual, that was just more left-wing projection since Marxist Democrats always accuse their political opponents of what they do.

It turned out that Trump became the peace president. During his term, his administration brokered several historic peace deals between Israel and Arab rivals, as well as between historical enemies in eastern Europe. He made peaceful overtures to North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un and actually became the first U.S. president to meet with a North Korean leader since the end of the Korean War in 1953. And Trump wanted to reach out to Russian President Vladimir Putin, often saying on the campaign trail that having a mega-nuclear-armed Russia on our side instead of the side of our enemies was inherently in our best interests, but he could not because that plan was torpedoed by the deep state left with a phony election collusion narrative.

Now, those same deep-state Marxists have successfully beaten back the most liberal Democrats in the party after 30 of them signed a letter imploring The Installed One, Joe Biden, to find a negotiated settlement in the war between Russia and Ukraine before that conflict goes nuclear.

The Washington Post reported:

In the letter, the 30 Democrats led by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, call on Biden to pair the unprecedented economic and military support the United States is providing Ukraine with a proactive diplomatic push, redoubling efforts to seek a realistic framework for a cease fire.

The Democrats are specifically concerned that the United States is not engaging in regular dialogue with Russia as part of its effort to end a protracted war that has caused thousands of deaths and displaced 13 million people. The Biden administration has been adamant that it is up to Kyiv whether and when to negotiate with Russia, arguing that Ukrainians as a free people should decide their fate.

Let me be clear: we are united as Democrats in our unequivocal commitment to supporting Ukraine in their fight for their democracy and freedom in the face of the illegal and outrageous Russian invasion, Jayapal said. Diplomacy is an important tool that can save lives  but it is just one tool.

The alternative to diplomacy is protracted war, with both its attendant certainties and catastrophic and unknowable risks, the letter continued.

But less than 24 hours later, the group of progressives had been cowered into submitting to the deep-state anti-Russian war hawks in both parties  claiming that the letter was sent to the White House by mistake.

The Congressional Progressive Caucus hereby withdraws its recent letter to the White House regarding Ukraine, the retraction began.

The letter was drafted several months ago, but unfortunately was released by staff without vetting. As Chair of the Caucus, I accept responsibility for this, Jayapal wrote, before pivoting to blame Republicans because, of course.

Because of the timing, our message is being conflated by some as being equivalent to the recent statement by Republican Leader McCarthy threatening an end to aid to Ukraine if Republicans take over, she wrote. The proximity of these statements created the unfortunate appearance that Democrats, who have strongly and unanimously supported and voted for every package of military, strategic, and economic assistance to the Ukrainian people, are somehow aligned with Republicans who seek to pull the plug on American support for President Zelensky and the Ukrainian forces.

Journalist Glenn Greenwald mocked Jayapal and her cowardly band of leftists online.

They couldnt even hold out for *24 hours*. What a complete humiliation. Joe Crowley must be sitting in his lobbyist office cackling each time this happens, he tweeted, referencing the former New York Democrat who had a lead role in the party when he was defeated in a Democratic primary in 2018 by now-Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

They couldnt even hold out for *24 hours*. What a complete humiliation. Joe Crowley must be sitting in his lobbyist office cackling each time this happens:https://t.co/s7605fJ9HZ  Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) October 25, 2022

Sources include:

WashingtonPost.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) The United Kingdom will continue to fail to reach its full economic potential, at the expense of its own people, thanks to one of the first decisions from the countrys new prime minister.

Though she did not last long in her position, outgoing PM Liz Truss did order a resumption in shale oil fracking that included offering households 1,000 each for allowing the practice in their neighborhoods.

According to the Financial Times, her successor  the new PM, World Economic Forum-sponsored Rishi Sunak, is reversing Trusss order, and reinstating the fracking ban, meaning Sunak is forcing the UK back into the green religion:

During his first prime ministers questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday, the new UK prime minister told MPs that he stands by the Conservative partys 2019 manifesto commitment that halted fracking. The moratorium was briefly lifted by Truss during her brief period as prime minister.

That manifesto, which came after a 2.9 earthquake was caused by private fracking firm Cuadrilla, says: We placed a moratorium on fracking in England with immediate effect. Having listened to local communities, we have ruled out changes to the planning system. We will not support fracking unless the science shows categorically that it can be done safely.

Following that, then-PM Boris Johnsons government pronounced that it would ban all new fracking wells and the only active fracking site in the country at the time, in northwest England, would be shut down immediately.

As noted further by Zero Hedge:

Trusss reversal was set to increase North Sea drilling, a renewed focus on accelerating offshore wind farms, a pre-announced 400 energy bill discount and the removal of green levies costing 150  capping the typical household energy bill approximately 1,971.

Sunak, however, is still advocating for offshore wind plants and more nuclear, adding that is what this government will deliver.

UK NatGas production had been notably declining since 2000.

Sunaks proclamation comes amid the resignation of Jacob Rees-Mogg on Tuesday, who is a fracking advocate that Truss placed in charge of the countrys energy strategy. Notably, he warned against climate alarmism and added that he wanted cheap, affordable energy for the British people rather more than I would like them to have windmills.

That led another greenie, Rebecca Newsom, head of political affairs for Greenpeace UK, to claim that Rees-Mogg is the last person who should be in charge of the energy brief, adding that appointing him to the brief now suggests the Torries have learned nothing from some years of energy policy incompetence.

But in fact, its the green religion that has failed the UK in terms of energy policies, not fossil fuel advocates. There simply isnt the technology available at present to completely remove fossil fuels from the energy production equation; countries cant build windmills or construct enough solar panel farms (especially in cloudy UK) to power a first-world economy, as the rest of Europe has demonstrated.

For that matter, the climate change lunatics have even managed to kill off nuclear energy, which has been around for more than a half-century and literally produces zero emissions (leading critics of their movement to believe theyre not really interested in clean air as much as they are interested in control).

Worse, left-wing leaders in EU countries are hypocrites and stupid. While they forced their own countries to give up producing cheap, accessible, and yes, clean-burning fossil fuels, they became more reliant on Russian fossil fuels, a nation they were supposed to be defending against per their membership in NATO.

All in all, the head-long plunge into unreliable and expensive green energy was foolish, ill-planned, and based entirely on an unproven premise: That SUVs and cattle flatulence are causing the earths climate to change.

Sources include:

NaturalNews.com

ZeroHedge.com
(Natural News) Sources say that the Ukrainian leadership is planning a diabolical false flag attack using a nuclear dirty bomb so they can blame it on Russia and possibly widen the conflict there to include NATO and other countries.

According to Sputnik, dirty bombs, which are also known as radiological dispersal device, or RDD, mixes conventional explosives with radioactive materials and typically utilizes dynamite and other explosives to spread radiological dust and smoke over a wide area, causing radioactive contamination and, eventually, sickness and death.

Sources told the news agency that the reason behind the shocking attack is to accuse the Russian government of using weapons of mass destruction and trigger an anti-Moscow global campaign aimed at, eventually, toppling President Vladimir Putins regime.

According to the insiders, the administration of the Eastern Mining and Processing Plant located in the town of Zholtye Vody in Ukraines Dnepropetrovsk region, as well as the Kiev Institute for Nuclear Research, was tasked with making the dirty bomb, a process that the sources said is being overseen by Kievs Western curators, Sputnik noted further.

The insiders added that the organizers of the provocation hope that the nuclear incident will prompt an extremely negative reaction from the international community, and that Moscow will lose the support of many of its key partners.

Meanwhile, the West will again try to raise the issue of depriving Russia the status of a permanent member of the UN Security Council and ramp up its anti-Russian rhetoric, according to the sources.

These claims come on the heels of a Russian Foreign Ministry statement last week reiterating that Moscow does not threaten the first use of nuclear weapons, adding that the West typically uses nuclear rhetoric as a means of trying to portray Russia as being on the brink of triggering global annihilation using weapons of mass destruction.

Earlier this month, Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Putins government, pressed the global community to recall Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskys recent urging for a nuclear strike against Russia as a preventative measure. He also criticized Western governments for failing to vociferously condemn the remarks.

There were some timid attempts, lets say, to condemn Zelenskys tone. We heard at the United Nations and so on. But to our regret, lets say, it didnt occur to anyone to rein in their vassal. This is very dangerous, he said.

Konstantin Vorontsov, a deputy director of the Russian Foreign Ministrys department for arms nonproliferation and control, emphasized that the Kremlin will be monitoring the reaction of Kyivs Western sponsons to Zelenskys completely inadequate and absolutely unacceptable words.

I urge all [UN] delegates to go to the site where this interview is posted in Ukrainian and listen to what President Zelensky said in the original video. You will see that he wasnt talking about some kind of preventive sanctions before February 24, mythical ones that the presidential press service invents, but it was clearly about the need for preventive nuclear strikes by NATO nations against Russia, he said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that Kyiv was creating unnecessary risks regarding the use of weapons of mass destruction with its rhetoric.

Zelenskys appeal only testifies to the threats emanating from the Kyiv regime, and the entire purpose of the invasion was to eliminate such threats, he noted further.

As you know, a council of the so-called European community was convened yesterday, it was an initiative of [French] President [Emmanuel] Macron, following which EU diplomacy chief [Josep] Borrell announced  proudly  that a process was beginning to form a security structure without Russias participation. In general, they simply dance to the tune of Kiev and encourage the crazy fantasies of those who are still in power there, Lavrov said.

Sources include:

Infowars.com

Sputniknews.com
(Natural News) Hundreds of woke Twitter employees have fled the company and gone to work for Facebook and Google so they can satisfy their insatiable appetites to censor users, according to a Business Insider report.

(Article by Sean Adl-Tabatabai republished from NewsPunch.com)

The report notes that a total of 530 Twitter employees have left since Elon Musk took control of the platform, with many running directly to the tech giants direct competitors who are more draconian than Twitter.

Summit.news reports: Over 1,100 employees have left Twitter since Musk announced his intention to buy the company back in January, with almost a third going to Google or Meta.

The figures come from a new analysis of LinkedIn data, with the report noting that other workers have moved to the likes of Pinterest, LinkedIn, Snap, and TikTok.

Musk, who has vowed to complete the Twitter acquisition by Friday, has said he intends to make huge staff cuts of up to 75% anyway, cutting worker numbers from around 7,500 to around 2,000 employees.

The Washington Post also notes that even if Musk doesnt close the deal, Twitter officials have planned a $800 million cut in payroll by the end of 2023 regardless.

Musk previously mocked work-from-home enthusiasts at Apple with a lazy dog meme, and also stated that constantly working remotely is phoning it in, informing employees they can collect their belongings if they disagree.

In an email to Tesla employees earlier this year, Musk wrote Remote work is no longer acceptable, except in extreme cases.

Anyone who wishes to do remote work must be in the office for a minimum (and I mean *minimum*) of 40 hours per week or depart Tesla, he wrote in correspondence then leaked by Tesla shareholder Sam Nissim.

Musk confirmed that the email was authentic and doubled down, saying anyone unhappy with it should pretend to work somewhere else:

They should pretend to work somewhere else  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 1, 2022

Musk has promised that work ethic expectations at Twitter will be extreme when he takes over:

Also, work ethic expectations would be extreme, but much less than I demand of myself  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 7, 2022

Yesterday, Musk was filmed entering Twitter HQ literally carrying a sink. He tweeted the footage with the caption let that sink in, clearly an effort to trigger his detractors:

Entering Twitter HQ  let that sink in! pic.twitter.com/D68z4K2wq7  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 26, 2022

The post prompted a barrage of memes imagining the reaction of remaining woke Twitter employees:

Please tell us this is tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/ACkTr2FNlt  Cincy Browncoat  You cant take the sky from me (@cincy_browncoat) October 26, 2022

Elon has arrived for the Twitter board meeting. pic.twitter.com/GCk8odJHl8  Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) October 26, 2022

The current mood of all the woke employees at Twitter. pic.twitter.com/6eiwHayxVd  Nick Fad?? (@NicAtNigh) October 26, 2022

Meanwhile, as Twitter stock is rising, Meta is collapsing:

JUST IN ? Banks have started to send $13 billion in cash backing Elon Musks takeover of Twitter, according to people familiar with the matter, WSJ reported  Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) October 26, 2022

Mark Zuckerberg urged to spend less on metaverse after suffering supersized and terrifying losses https://t.co/Ipa4qwMoOb  Business News (@Busines65959783) October 27, 2022

Massive cut in market cap in after hours trading tonight  via @MarketWatch   #Facebook earnings cut in half, Meta stock sinks toward lowest prices in more than 6 years https://t.co/FbtjJ9mqnK  Irwin Lazar (@imlazar) October 26, 2022

Overnight trading wipes $65bn from value of Facebook and Instagram owner https://t.co/xfShc98JqM  Cindy Lee (@cidlee1) October 27, 2022

Mark Zuckerbergs net worth has plummeted by $85 billion so far this year. From $125 billion to $40 billion.  Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) October 27, 2022

Facebook is collapsing while Elon prepares to take over Twitter. You love to see it.  Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) October 27, 2022

Read more at: NewsPunch.com
Major studies warn that the world is close to an "irreversible" climatic meltdown. As oil companies record enormous profits, major UN assessments warn that immediate and coordinated action is required.

One of the top climate experts in the world stated that the climate problem had reached a "bleak point" after several significant publications revealed how vulnerable the globe is to disaster.

Urgent Situation

Global cooperation is more critical than ever to prevent climate tipping points, according to Prof. Johan Rockstrom, yet geopolitical tensions are at an all-time high.

He stated that "time is running out very fast" and that the globe was "very, very close to irreversible changes."

The research revealed that emissions are still rising even though they must decrease by roughly half by 2030 to achieve the internationally agreed-upon objective of 1.5C of warming. This is happening at a time when oil companies are earning enormous profits.

On Thursday, shell and TotalEnergies increased their quarterly profits to almost $10 billion. After Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the surge in post-Covid demand, oil and gas industry behemoths have profited greatly. The industry is anticipated to generate $4 trillion in revenue in 2022, reinforcing the case for high windfall taxes to deal with the rising cost of living and finance the switch to clean energy.

Also Read: Environmental Justice Goes Mainstream with Governmental Support

Grim Findings

In the past two days, devastating findings have been released by all three of the major UN organizations. According to the UN environment agency's study, there is "no credible road to 1.5C in place" and "woefully inadequate" progress being made in reducing carbon emissions, making a "rapid transformation of society" the only option for reducing the worst effects of the climate catastrophe.

According to the UN's climate agency, even if pledges for action by 2030 are thoroughly carried out, they would result in a rise in global heating of around 2.5C, which would doom the planet to a catastrophic climate collapse. Despite committing to do so at the Cop26 UN climate summit in Glasgow, a few countries have stepped up their efforts in the past year.

Climate Action, Now

According to the UN's meteorological agency, the primary heating gases all reached new highs in 2021, with methane emissions, a strong greenhouse gas, increasing alarmingly.

Separately, the IEA's world energy report gave hope, predicting a peak in CO2 emissions from fossil fuels by 2025 as high energy costs push countries toward clean energy. However, it cautioned that this would not be enough to prevent severe climate impacts.

"It's a grim moment," said Rockstrom, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany. "We are not delivering on either the Paris or Glasgow climate agreements. We also have so much scientific evidence that we are very close to irreversible changes. We're coming closer to tipping points."

Related Article: Environmental Justice: How and Why Environmental Activism Became Mainstream

For more news update about Environmental Action, don't forget to follow Nature World News!
Tropical Storm Nalgae, locally known as Paeng, brought heavy rains to the Philippines from Thursday night to Friday, according to the weather forecast.

A few days before Halloween, the country experienced flooding rainfall that could result in landslides and flooding. Meanwhile, AccuWeather's latest forecast said that heavy rain could be expected in the Philippines and other Southeast Asia countries as the storm was tracked to move west this weekend.

Before the rain made landfall, local authorities evacuated people who could have been affected by Tropical Storm Nalgene in Samar province, according to Reuters

Reuters reported that Tropical Storm Nalgae impacted most of southern Maguindanao. Although the place prepared for the storm, BARMM interior minister Naguib Sinarimbo said the rainfall was more than expected. BARMM is the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Mindanao .

The report also added that the tropical storm brought 75km (47 miles) of packing winds per hour. The strong winds and heavy rains resulted in the temporary cancellation of flights.

Meanwhile, AccuWeather said Tropical Storm Nalgae was seen at 350 miles east-southeast Manila on Friday. The storm is expected to hit areas in southwestern China and Taiwan next week.

The report added that the storm resulted in 42 deaths. It unleashed heavy rains and mudslides that affected the residents in the said area.

Also Read: Tropical Activity Could Emerge in Atlantic or Caribbean Sea in November; Potential System Could Develop in U.S.

Atlantic Ocean and United States

On the other hand, the National Hurricane Center said in the latest weather update that they were monitoring disturbed weather in the eastern Caribbean Sea. HNC said that the brewing system had a conducive environment allowing for the potential development of a tropical depression in the coming weekend or early next week.

Meanwhile, the advisory added that locally heavy rainfall could occur in portions of the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Lesser Antilles this weekend.

In the United States, forecasts showed that it could have a rainy start in November while Americans enjoy Halloween. The report said rain showers could occur in Kentucky, New York, Bat Cave, and North Carolina.

Meanwhile, the weather outlook showed that some parts of the U.S. could have mild and stormy weather starting in November.

Portions of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Billings could expect stormy and cool weather.

On the other hand, a mild temperature outlook could also unleash in Washington, Charlotte, Kansas City, New York, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, and Jacksonville.

Storm aftermath

The storm in the Philippines, locally known as Paeng, left casualties and damage to homes. Heavy rains caused landslides, flooding, and mudslides. Here are some tips during the storm's aftermath.

Many residents went to evacuation centers after the storm made landfall. As you return to your home, it is important to stay updated with weather reports and announcements from local authorities.

Be careful with floodwaters and landslide-prone areas as you go back. It is significant to ensure that the area is safe. Watch out for debris and damaged power lines.

If any of your family members is missing, immediately notify the nearest local authorities.

Avoid touching damaged power outlets or wires. It is best to consult a professional electrician. Check your house for damages from the storm.

Related Article: Halloween Weather Forecast: Rainy Weather Expected in U.S. But Not Monster Snowstorm

For more similar, don't forget to follow Nature World News.
Winter wildfires and burn flows are a possibility in the Western US as long as the winter weather lasts.

Once a wildfire has been put out, the threat remains. Another risk associated with winter storms is the potential for sudden and fatal debris flows in nearby communities due to burn scars left over from the massive summer fires.

The soil-sealing wax released by burning trees and other plants makes the ground almost water-resistant across a burn scar. Burned land is devoid of vegetation, but its roots cling to the ground and prevent soil erosion.

Heather Brinkmann a meteorologist from FOX Weather, said that In areas where the wildfire burned for a while, the soil subsequently acts almost as a water repellent. Rainfall that would typically be absorbed will run off quickly, especially in dense forests, and pose a threat of extreme flash flooding for everything down the mountain.

In addition to destroying trees and their roots, fire also leaves behind a large number of tree trunks that are easily gathered by flash flooding to form a debris flow.

According to the USGS, a debris flow can be caused by as little as 0.3" of rain within 30 minutes while a region is having its first post-fire burn. Recovery from a burn scar might take several years. In the first two years following a fire, debris flows are most common.

Burn Scars

The foothill communities near the burn scars in the Cascade Mountains experienced thunderstorms and heavy rain during the first of a series of powerful storms. Residents were warned at town hall meetings by community leaders.

At the meeting, an emergency manager expressed concern about road blockage caused by fire debris that tumbles down from hillsides. During the fire, firefighters nearly lost their lives.

A hazardous winter could be in store for millions of people due to widespread fires in Western states. The Northwest may experience a wetter-than-average year with more atmospheric river-fueled storms this winter because meteorologists are already predicting that a La Nina weather pattern will be in charge.

This summer served as a preview of what might occur if heavy rain falls on burn scars, with a debris slide wrecking a restaurant as it swept through with 7 feet of mud, boulders, and tree trunks. A burn scar in southern California experienced monsoon rain.

Higher Burn Severity, Higher Debris Flow

Daniel Horton, a professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences from Northwestern University, said that the hazard levels for debris flow are closely correlated with both the size and severity of a burn area. Higher burn severity equals higher risk from debris flow. The affected downstream areas are larger than the burn area.

New Mexico's largest wildfire in history has a burn scar that was also covered in monsoon rains this summer. The water supply of an entire town was contaminated by debris flows and runoff.

As a mixture of water and boulders, dirt, trees, sand, and everything else in its path, debris flows are described as a "slurry" by Horton.

Horton said Debris flows can be fatal if people are unable to flee and are very dangerous, as there has been known to destroy homes, roads, and other buildings. Debris flows can move at up to 35 mph.

Read also: Wet Weather and Cooler Temperatures in the Pacific Northwest to Continue Until November

US Landslides

According to the US Geological Survey, landslides kill 25 to 50 Americans on average each year and cost up to $2 billion in property damage. In January 2018, one of the worst burn flows occurred in Montecito, California. It resulted in the deaths of 23, injuries of 167, and the destruction of over 400 homes. It rained heavily in the upscale Santa Barbara County neighborhood where the Thomas Fire burn scar is located.

Brendan McClusky, the director of King County, Washington Emergency Management, said in an interview with FOX Weather that they are concerned now and will continue to be in a few years about the rain and the winter.

NOAA All-Hazards Weather Radio

The management assigned people to deliver information door to door, and they are now also providing them with NOAA all-hazards weather radios. For experts to precisely track the rates of rainfall, they will even set up a few portable weather stations on the summit of the mountain.

According to the Teton County website, a nationwide radio station network known as NOAA All-Hazards Weather Radio (NWR) broadcasts continuous weather reports from the closest National Weather Service office. Every day of the week, including holidays, NWR broadcasts official watches warnings, forecasts, and other hazard information from the Weather Service.

Related article: Tropical Activity Could Emerge in Atlantic or Caribbean Sea in November; Potential System Could Develop in US
Expected to attract over 2,000 companies from over 55 countries, Breakbulk Middle East (BBME), the regions largest event dedicated to the breakbulk and project cargo industry, is all set to return to Dubai from February 13 to 14, 2023.

The 2023 edition will bring together key decision makers, government officials, top-ranking professionals, oil and gas companies, and some of the worlds leading EPCs to engage in discussions related to opportunities and challenges facing the industry, supply chain disruptions, economic development of the sector, and the latest technological advancements taking place in the industry.

Eng Hassan Mohamed Juma Al Mansouri, Undersecretary for Infrastructure and Transport Affairs at the UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure said: The UAE plays a vital role in strengthening the capabilities of the trade and logistics sector around the world. A key contributor to the sectors success is its breakbulk and project cargo segment, which has grown from strength to strength over the years.

Top-notch capabilities

Our national competencies such as the top-notch capabilities and state-of-the-art infrastructure of the ports played a significant role in enabling the success of the sector and driving the economic growth of the country. Banking on this and the progress of several leading organisations dealing in breakbulk and project cargo, the industry in the UAE has been able to survive and grow despite the challenges of the pandemic.

According to a report by Mordor Intelligence, the UAE freight and logistics market is expected to record a CAGR of more than 5% until 2026. We look forward to ensuring that this progress is heightened through industry collaborations among companies operating in the sector via networking opportunities provided during events such as the BBME.

Eng Hessa Al Malek, Advisor to the Minister for Maritime Transport Affairs, Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure said: The breakbulk and project cargo sector has proved to be a major factor in driving the progress of the UAEs economy. Our association with Breakbulk Middle East will thus play an integral role in highlighting the importance of the sector and reaffirming our role in contributing to its progress, locally, regionally and globally.

Within the UAE that is a gateway to the Gulf, Indian Subcontinent, and African Markets, we are indeed working ceaselessly through our 20 leading ports that are well equipped to facilitate the smooth functioning of the project cargo sector. We are certain that our current progress will pave the way for greater success over the coming years. Now, we are looking forward to the 2023 edition of Breakbulk Middle East that will complement our efforts, helping industry players overcome roadblocks and explore newer valuable opportunities.

Unmatched networking opportunities

Ben Blamire, Event Director of Breakbulk Middle East said: The project cargo sector is vital to the UAEs economic growth. Hence, we believe it is essential for us as a key event in the sector to provide an ideal forum for the industry to discuss the opportunities and challenges within the sector. Since inception, our sole purpose is to unite the industry and help them find solutions and develop strategies that will strengthen the UAEs status as a global trade hub. Through our 2023 edition we will work towards achieving this goal by initiating discussions on a wide range of topics and trends concerning the sector.

Leslie Meredith, Marketing Director of Breakbulk Events & Media said: BBME has always been at the forefront of showcasing the latest products and services in the industry. Apart from our trademark events, Education Day and Women in Breakbulk, this year, we are looking at spotlighting technology and sustainability to a great extent. Our ultimate aim is to aid the UAE's and the region's economy, helping it grow from strength to strength.

With DP World UAE as the Host Port, the event will attract leading organisations including CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, Abu Dhabi Ports, Al Faris Group, Mammoet, Volga-Dnepr Group, MICCO Logistics, AAL Shipping, Air Charter Service, AASTS, BBC Chartering, Fagioli, Goldhofer Aktiengesellschaft, Hareket Heavy Lifting & Project Transportation Co, etc.-- TradeArabia News Service
As many Americans began to decorate their homes with Halloween themes, the latest weather forecast showed that this coming weekend would be dry but would rebound to wetter conditions starting Monday.

A few days before October's End, previous forecasts said that the weather for the first week of November would be mild to rainy. However, the rain that would emerge in the first week would not be intense or heavy. The report advised Halloween goers to prepare umbrellas, raincoats, or waterproof Halloween attire so they won't get disturbed by rain.

Dry conditions would be expected in many portions of the United States as they prepare for Halloween. According to AccuWeather's latest forecast, a quiet pattern with dry weather is expected from Friday to Saturday in Monreal, Bangor, Boston, New York, Washington D.C, Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Detroit, Toronto, and Syracuse. The latest weather forecast said that the weekend would be dry temperature.

On Sunday, the weather outlook revealed that portions of Detroit, Burlington, Boston, Buffalo, New York, Washington, Virginia Beach, and Pittsburg would have dry and tranquil weather. On the other hand, Columbus and Charleston would have afternoon rain showers.

A wetter weather would unveil on Monday after the weekend's dry weather. The report said that enough rain showers would unleash in Charleston, Columbus, Detroit, Buffalo, Pittsburg, Washington, Virginia Beach, New York, and Boston. However, dry weather would persist in Burlington and Portland.

Meanwhile, AccuWeather's report added that the dry weather would not continue until Monday.

Atlantic Basin

Meanwhile, weather stations have been observing the potential development of a tropical depression in the tropical Atlantic. Last week, the National Hurricane Center reported that three brewing systems would emerge in the Atlantic, which major concerns in the north of Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, and Bermuda.

Furthermore, AccuWeather reported that beach hazards through Sunday are in effect in Virginia Beach, Charleston, and Orlando. The hazard said that strong rip currents and gusty winds could affect residents in the area, while minor flooding due to high tide could emerge.

The latest report from the NOAA NWS National Hurricane Center said that a broad low pressure in the southeastern Caribbean caused disorganized showers and thunderstorms, affecting the Windward Islands west-northwestward.

The National Hurricane Center noted that the low-pressure area in the southeastern Caribbean could become a tropical depression or tropical storm this weekend or early next week due to current conducive environmental conditions.

Also Read: Tropical Activity Could Emerge in Atlantic or Caribbean Sea in November; Potential System Could Develop in U.S.

The disturbance was also seen to move slowly westward on the central Caribbean Sea. The advisory noted that heavy rains with gust winds could occur in the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Lesser Antilles.

Moreover, the National Hurricane Center said they found a large area of cloudiness with showers. It extends from Bermuda and over the western Atlantic. However, the advisory said it had only a slow chance of occurring due to unfavorable conditions.

Rainy Halloween

Forecasts showed that Halloween would be rainy. It is best to bring umbrellas and stay updated with the current weather updates.

Related Article: Halloween Weather Forecast: Rainy Weather Expected in U.S. But Not Monster Snowstorm

For more similar, don't forget to follow Nature World News.
Wildlife officials are closely monitoring the situation to try to prevent the spread of a deadly chronic wasting disease that is affecting deer across the US and has now been discovered in North Carolina.

Chronic Wasting Disease

According to state biologists, it is known as Chronic Wasting Disease and is a prion disease with a 100% mortality rate in deer. Weight loss, sluggishness, and staggering are symptoms of the illness in deer.

Hunters who have expressed their concerns to Channel 9 about the disease and its effects on the deer population are very concerned. In Yadkin and Surry counties, which are located north of Charlotte, it has so far been discovered in three deer. Testing has been required in the region to find out more about the spread of the disease.

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission is testing people across the state after the first case was discovered in deer in this state in March. Scientists must take a deer's lymph nodes out for testing, and they are collaborating closely with hunters as well as meat processors to gather samples. Additionally, researchers have set up freezers at various locations in the hopes that hunters as well as other participants will voluntarily contribute research samples.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the deadly disease not only affects deer but also elk, sika deer, reindeer, and moose. In some parts of North America, which include the United States and Canada, as well as in Norway and South Korea, it has been discovered.

Containment

Danny Ray, a wildlife biologist from North Carolina, says that the goal of the testing is to keep the disease localized where it is currently found and prevent its spread.

According to Ray's statement in an interview with WSOC-TV Channel 9, his team is making every effort to prevent people from removing deer and deer parts from that infected area.

Read also: Texas Deer Struggles to Grow Antlers Due to Extreme Heat

Human Health Risks

According to the New York State Department of Health, there is currently no proof that hunting increases the risk of contracting CWD. The risk of other illnesses, such as rabies, may vary depending on the handling of the animal.

Hunters should take the usual safety precautions when dealing with any animals, like avoiding sick animals or those that act strangely. Any possible rabies exposures, such as animal bites, contact with the mucous membranes of the nose, eyes, or mouth, or with a fresh, open wound as well as the saliva, brain, or other nervous tissue of the animal, must be reported to the local health department.

Infected Deer

If there has been any human contact that raises suspicion, a report must be made to the local health department because a sick deer may have rabies. Subsequent CWD testing will be performed on animals that test negative for rabies.

The state anticipates testing a large number of deer. The majority of that testing will take place around Thanksgiving throughout most of the muzzle-loading season and the beginning of the rifle season.

Related article: A Deadly 'Brain-Eating' Disease is Spreading Among Animal Population in Texas
Wintry conditions are set to hit the Western US, a drought-stricken region characterized with ongoing wildfires and high temperatures, according to a new weather forecast.

A cold jet stream and storm system are causing the winterlike weather conditions that will affect cities like Seattle, Sacramento, and other cities across the region.

The forecast also contradicts previous weather outlooks.

US Wintry Conditions

AccuWeather meteorologists asserted that a weather pattern change will bring will end the abnormally dry conditions starting with the approaching storm.

The US weather forecasting campy adds this weather will change consist mostly of bringing rainfall, mountain snow, am d cooler conditions.

This week, the meteorologists expect the passing of the weather systems could result in travel delays drought relief, and winterlike conditions.

One forecaster from AccuWeather meteorologist Haley Taylor said this is made possible as the incoming storm will allow the entry of colder air flow in to the US region.

As a result, cooler temperatures are expected in these coming days.

Also Read: Renewed Winter Weather Forecast to Continue in Central US from Monday

NOAA 2022 US Winter Outlook

On October 20, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued its 2022 US Winter Outlook report, forecasting drought will persist in the Great Plains, some parts of the American West, and other regions across the country.

The looming drought threat will coincide with an ongoing La Nina weather phenomenon for the third consecutive year during the winter season.

In particular, the NOAA's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) released the outlook that the climate pattern will drive warmer-than-average temperatures to the Southwest US, the Gulf Coast, and Eastern US between the months of December and February.

The NOAA predicted that there will be drier-than-average conditions across the South US with increased wet weather.

Similar conditions are reportedly possible in some areas of Ohio Valley, Great Lakes, northern Rockies and Pacific Northwest.

Due to the unpredictable naturel of weather and climate, other regions in the North American nation are possible within the said period.

NOAA forecasters also collaborated with the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS), which stated that drought conditions are present in 59% of the country, with parts of the Western US, southern Great Plains will be the hardest hit during the winter season.

Contradicting Winter Forecasts

The NOAA and NIDIS drought forecast for the US this upcoming winter could potentially contradict succeeding forecasts for December in the coming days and weeks.

For instance, a separate yet related forecast of the National Weather Service (NWS) shows the prevalence and persistence of cold weather systems affecting the American West and Eastern Seaboard in recent days.

This week alone, rainfall and mountain snow occurred in the Pacific Northwest, which experienced a completely different weather scenario over two weeks ago when forecasts by US weather authorities of further drought and dry conditions will further exacerbate high temperatures and ongoing wildfires, especially in California and other areas.

In relation to the latest AccuWeather forecast, a full-blown winter season could replace the existing drought-winter forecast should the cold jet stream and storm system continues in the region.

Related Article: Cooler Winter Weather Forecasted for a Dozen US States; Increased Energy Consumption Expected
Earth is at "code red" as humanity faces the growing threat of environmental crisis and the risk of climate emergency, according to a new study by an international team of scientists led by the United States.

The "Special Report" released this week highlights that current human suffering is likely to worsen due to multiple climate-related disasters, including monster storms and extreme weather events like heat waves.

The scientific team emphasizes that almost half of Earth's "vital signs" are in critical conditions due to the elevated impact of climate change and global warming not only to people but also the to global environment.

This means the looming threat reportedly offers humans to choices; to make significant environment and climate-saving efforts or face the possibility of a global societal collapse in the future.

In recent years, climate scientists have predicted many times that Earth's animals and various marine, terrestrial ecosystems are either at risk of endangerment or extinction by the end of the 21st century.

These predictions are generated based on simulations using climate models that reflect the current elements of a major environmental and climatic disaster since the Industrial Revolution.

Code Red Warning

The Special Report was published in the journal BioScience on Wednesday, October 26, wherein William Ripple from the Oregon State University and his colleagues in the US and other countries concluded that the planet is facing a colossal climate crisis.

The team also urges other scientists, citizens, and world leaders to read the Special Report and take the necessary actions to avert the impact of climate change.

The assessment coincides with this year's 30th anniversary of the "World Scientists' Warning to Humanity," which emanated from the affixed signatures of over 1,700 scientists back in 1992.

During their original warning, there has been already a 40% increase in global greenhouse gas emissions.

The new research stated that the worsening climate emergency continues despite several written warnings issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and a recent warning with almost 15,000 signatories from 158 countries.

Furthermore, the Special Report comes in time with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)'s report on Thursday, October 27, that there is an inadequate progress on climate action.

In particular, the UNEP said the international community still falls short of the objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement or Paris Treaty of reaching the targeted 1.5 degrees Celsius global temperature.

Also Read: Earth Day 2022: Celebrating the Planet Amidst Various Environmental Crisis

Greenhouse Gases

The terms climate change and global warming have been used recurrently when it comes to the warming of the planet caused by the trapped greenhouse gases.

The UN, which spearheads the Paris Agreement, acknowledges that human activities like burning fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions contributes to such warming by accelerating the natural process of greenhouse effect.

Also known as the Paris Accords, the multinational legally binding treaty was agreed upon by 196 countries in Paris in 2015 and was implemented in November 2016.

The goal is to limit global warming below 2 degrees Celsius, preferably down to 1.5 degrees Celsius which is comparable to pre-industrial levels.

Related Article: Adapting to Climate Change Could Still Mean Environmental Troubles
APM Terminals Bahrain has announced that its Managing Director, Maureen Bannerman, will leave her assignment effective January 1, 2023.

The Chief Financial Officer, Farooq Zuberi, will act as interim Managing Director, a statement said.

Maureen joined APM Terminals Bahrain in March of 2021. During her tenure, along with the board and her team, she advanced a strategic and transformational agenda for the company and Khalifa Bin Salman Port, strengthened the management team, and developed and promoted existing talent, it said.

Khalifa bin Salman Port ranks as one of the best and most efficient ports in the Middle East. It is well positioned to continue to deliver exceptional value for Bahrain and shareholders in the years to come, the statement added.  TradeArabia News Service
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 38F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 38F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph.
I believe that the office of county clerk and recorder should be operated as a non-partisan office. I do not believe in delaying information to parties opposite of my own. I believe that all people and businesses, should have the same access to information and service from the clerk and their staff."
Kristen Wilson is the Illinois Distributed Museum coordinator at the University of Illinois Archives in the University of Illinois Library. Kristen can be reached at klallen3@illinois.edu.
Reporter

Mary Schenk is a reporter covering police, courts and breaking news at The News-Gazette. Her email is mschenk@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@schenk).
Masdar, one of the worlds fastest-growing renewable energy companies, has pledged to strengthen its support for Saudi Arabias clean energy objectives, with the opening of a new dedicated office in the kingdom.

The strategic move comes at a time when Saudi Arabia is planning to generate 50% of its electricity from clean sources by the end of this decade, targeting 58.7 GW coming from renewable sources.

The world's biggest oil exporter has also pledged to cut its carbon emissions to net zero by 2060, with plans to invest more than $180 billion to reach that goal.

Masdar said it will be participating with partners in the upcoming Round 4 tender announced by the Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) for wind and solar projects with a combined capacity of 3.3 gigawatts (GW).

The SPPCs Round 4 tender will be for three wind power plants with a combined capacity of 1.8 GW, and two solar parks totaling 1.5 GW, as part of the countrys National Renewable Energy Program.

Saudi Arabia is planning to generate 50% of its electricity from clean sources by the end of this decade, targeting 58.7 GW coming from renewable sources. The world's biggest oil exporter has also pledged to cut its carbon emissions to net zero by 2060, with plans to invest more than $180 billion to reach that goal.

The opening ceremony was attended by Sheikh Nahyan bin Saif Al Nahyan, UAE Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, along with representatives from Masdar partners, Saudi government officials, and industry leaders.

Masdar CEO Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi was also present, along with other senior company executives, who were also participating in the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh.

Sheikh Nahyan said: "This occasion reflects the close ties that unite our two countries. These ties are based on a solid foundation supported by the leadership of both nations and work to achieve shared developmental goals for a more prosperous future and increased Emirati-Saudi integration in various fields."

"We are committed as countries and peoples to cooperating in this regard, not only for the benefit of our countries but also for the region and world at large. The UAE and Saudi Arabia remain keen to strengthen strategic cooperation and leverage joint resources and capabilities," he stated.

Al Ramahi said Masdar is actively committed to supporting Saudi Arabias efforts to reach net zero, and the kingdom represents a key strategic market where it has established a proven track record in developing clean energy projects.

"This new office will support Masdars ongoing growth and expansion in the kingdom, and it will better enable us to help diversify Saudi Arabias energy mix and meet the ambitious renewable energy targets outlined in Vision 2030. We look forward to working with our partners to continue to deliver world-class clean energy projects in Saudi, he added.

General Manager (Saudi Arabia) Abdulaziz Omar Al Mubarak said: "Establishing a physical office further demonstrates our commitment to Saudi Arabia and will help ensure we are aligned with the Kingdoms Vision 2030. The Saudi office will not only look over our existing assets, it will also play a key role in the development of future pipeline projects here."

"Masdar is committed to providing best-in-class services and solutions  whether that be providing utility-scale projects or solutions for commercial and industrial customers looking to offset or reduce their energy bills," stated Al Mubarak.

Masdar is already contributing to Saudi Arabias clean energy objectives, with the 400-megawatt (MW) Dumat Al Jandal Wind Farm  the kingdoms first and the largest in the Middle East  having begun electricity production last year.

Developed by a consortium of Masdar and EDF Renewables with Nesma Company, once fully operational Dumat Al Jandal will generate enough clean energy to power 70,000 Saudi homes while displacing 988,000 tonnes of CO per year.

Masdar is also developing the 300-MW South Jeddah Noor Solar Photovoltaic Plant, through a consortium led by Masdar with EDF Renewables and Nesma Company as partners.

The consortium signed a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with SPPC last year to design, finance, build and operate the plant, which will be located in Third Jeddah Industrial City, 50km south-east of Jeddah.-TradeArabia News Service
Since the late 1970s, the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute has provided this column free in cooperation with the UAF research community. Ned Rozell ned.rozell@alaska.edu is a science writer for the Geophysical Institute.
Alice Bailey is a public information officer and research vessel Sikuliaq science liaison at the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She can be reached at alice.bailey@alaska.edu.
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Qatar Airways has expanded its codeshare agreement with JetBlue, offering JetBlue passengers to travel options between the US and 11 new destinations, in 8 different countries across Africa and Asia via Dohas Hamad International Airport.



New destinations include Accra, Addis-Ababa, Alexandria, Bangkok, Cairo, Denpasar, Harare, Jakarta, Khartoum, Phuket, and Windhoek. These 11 new markets will be added to the 13 existing codeshare destinations already available to JetBlue customers within the Qatar Airways network in Africa, Asia and Middle-East.



This builds on the airlines partnership that first began in 2011. Qatar Airways passengers already benefit from access to over 50 destinations across JetBlues network, including being able to book travel on JetBlues extensive routes between the United States, the Caribbean and Latin America regions.



Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker, said: Qatar Airways is excited to bring our codeshare partnership with JetBlue to our extensive global network, offering passengers seamless connectivity to over 150 destinations worldwide including premier destinations across Africa and Asia. For more than a decade, JetBlue has been an outstanding partner, and as we continue to deepen our ties we are committed to offering travellers effortless connections and unparalleled service. Both Qatar Airways and JetBlue have a strong commitment to excellence, and we look forward to further building our partnership.



Together with Qatar Airways, were connecting more customers to more outstanding destinations around the world, all while providing them with industry-leading experiences onboard both our airlines, said Robin Hayes, chief executive officer, JetBlue.



Qatar Airways is already one of our top partners for connecting customers across the Americas to its global network, which is why were continuing to strengthen our relationship and give travellers a variety of new travel options.



Along with expanded destinations, customers will also enjoy enhancements that link the carriers loyalty programmes. Privilege Club and TrueBlue members benefit from the ability to accrue Privilege Club Avios or TrueBlue points as part of this codeshare agreement. In the future, these benefits will expand with the ability to redeem points on either carriers flights.  TradeArabia News Service
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Labour Minister Jameel bin Mohammed Ali Humaidan has affirmed Bahrains resolve to continue protecting the rights of all workers.

Also Board of Directors Chairman of the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA), Humaidan said it is based on the system of humanitarian values spearheaded by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, and supported by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister.

The Minister was speaking as he inaugurated yesterday the fifth regional Social Protection for Domestic Workers conference, organised by the General Federation OF Bahrain Trade Unions (GFBTU) on October 25-26.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the event, he emphasised that the leaderships support has resulted in strengthening the foundations and principles of improving working conditions for all workers and preserving their rights without discrimination, which contributed to placing Bahrain among developed countries in providing fair and equitable guarantees for workers, earning it a prestigious status at all international labour gatherings.

Humaidan affirmed that the Kingdom has issued innumerable laws, procedures and regulations that provide protection for all.

He also highlighted the measures taken by the LMRA to ensure protection for all expatriate workers, including domestic helpers.

Labour Ministrys Undersecretary, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, GFBTU Secretary-General, Abdulqader Abdulkarim Al Shehabi, representatives of the domestic labour exporting and importing countries, in addition to the representatives of civil society organisations from 11 countries attended the conference.

The conference aims to shed light on national legislation and laws related to expatriate domestic workers to enhance cooperation mechanisms between labour organisations in Asia, Africa and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, and to ensure that domestic workers enjoy the same rights enjoyed by their counterparts in other sectors.

It reviewed a research study on the reality of domestic workers in Bahrain, in addition to the legislation in the labour-hosting countries and the extent to which protection for domestic workers is achieved.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

A multinational naval task force led by Bahrain conducted a one-day training drill in the Arabian Gulf, on Tuesday featuring unmanned systems and artificial intelligence alongside seven crewed ships.

Naval Forces from Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and the United States participated in support of the Bahrain-led Combined Task Force (CTF) 152.

It is so valuable to get these opportunities to test how our forces from different nations can work together with the uncrewed systems, said Royal Bahrain Naval Force Capt. Rashed Al-Ameen, commander of CTF 152.

It helps us better understand how to work with each other to boost regional security. Three US Navy Saildrone Explorer unmanned surface vessels operated with USS Hurricane (PC 3) and USS Chinook (PC 9) from the United States, UK Royal Navy ships RFA Cardigan Bay (L3009) and HMS Bangor (M109), Royal Bahrain Naval Force ships RBNS Al-Manama and RBNS Al-Fateh, and HMS Khalid from the Royal Saudi Navy.

CTF 152 led the exercise while embarked aboard Cardigan Bay, as the ship sailed in international waters off the coast of Saudi Arabia. This is the latest drill involving unmanned systems in the Arabian Gulf since the United Kingdom and the United States completed a similar bilateral naval exercise Oct. 7.

During both manoeuvres, unmanned and artificial intelligence systems operated in conjunction with crewed ships and naval command centres ashore in Bahrain. Sensors from the unmanned vessels could locate and identify training aides in the water and relay visual depictions to the command centres.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Staff Reporter

Advertisement agencies and printing firms have emerged as indirect beneficiaries of the Kingdoms upcoming parliamentary and municipal council elections.

Many advertising and printing firms, otherwise struggling with sluggish businesses, are now even employing their staff in double shifts as they control the image-building processes for most of the candidates.

Unlike previous elections, The PR exercises from the part of candidates seem to be gaining momentum in an unprecedented manner and a majority of them are seeking professional strategies and approaches while treading their path towards electoral victories.

Speaking to The Daily Tribune, a senior executive of a leading advertising and public relations firm in the Kingdom, said: Its really a boom time.

The upcoming elections are really serving fuel for an industry that almost died during the pandemic season.

We have a good business, which includes managing social media accounts of candidates, designing posters as well as contributing towards devising election-winning strategies.

The senior executive said all candidates are considering the social media campaign as a critical tool towards positively convincing the voters on their candidature.

We have assigned different social media teams for different candidates and their jobs include continuously posting their campaign agenda on all social media platforms.

The incumbents, meanwhile, are busy spreading messages on their achievements to the voters to guarantee their victories and they find social media as an essential channel.

We also design posters for billboards as well as for Instagram, Facebook and other social media platforms.

Campaign billboards have popped up in every nook and corner of the country, welcoming the final phase of the grand electoral campaign season.

Earlier, speaking to the newspaper, a campaign staff for one of the parliamentary candidates, said that social media will be a major decider in the upcoming elections.

Almost all candidates this time have social media teams, which was not the case during last or previous elections.

Another advertisement agency representative told The Daily Tribune that the election business is definitely good but there does exist a risk factor.

Delayed payments is of course a matter of big worry.

For all the services that we do, payments are made in a later period.

And until we receive them the risk hovers over the business.

What if a candidate loses? It would be really difficult to obtain money from candidates who lose the polls.

Although we sign contracts we wouldnt generally take the legal route as that would hurt the future businesses and companys reputation in the electoral campaign market.

A manager with a leading printing firm said the election time offers a bonanza to them.

This business was desperately required for the industry to survive.

Our digital printing, screen printing and offset printing divisions have received a lot of oders ael Al Asoomi against the decision of the electoral supervisory committee, which had earlier dismissed his nomination.

Mr Al Asoomis candidature was rejected by the electoral committee after accepting the claims in the complaint filed by his opposing candidate Murad Ali Murad regarding discrepancies over residency.

Many other appeals were as well rejectedmmittee earlier warned candidates against mudslinging and tarnishing each others personal image for the sake of electoral victory.

Such activities will be seen as a grave violation and the candidates if proven guilty will face consequences, the warning said.

The last week was filled with many shocks and surprises as many Appeal rejected thehigh-profile candidates lost their electoral appeals filed before the judiciary.

The High Civ by the court.

The appellants were Dr Sharaf Al Mazal, former lawmaker Ali Shamout and lawyer Muhammad Al Othman.

Earlier, Dr Sharaf had filed nominations for contesting from the Fourth Electoral Constituency in the Northern Governorate while Mr Muhammed filed his papers for the poll battle from Fourth Electoral Constituency in Muharraq Governorate.

Mr Ali was a potential candidate from the Sixth Electoral Constituency in the Capital Governorate.

The Kingdom will head to the polls on November 12 with a run-off fixed on November 19.rnd we are almost completing them.

There cant be any compromise on the perfection element as we are going to witness a tough contest between the candidates.

The electoral supervisory coil Court of appeal filed by fourtime lawmaker Ad
National Carrier recognized as five star by APEX

NADI, Fiji, Oct. 26, 2022 /CNW/ -- Fiji Airways , Fiji's National Carrier has been rated a Five Star Major Airline 2023 in the Official Airline Ratings by its passengers.

For the 2023 Awards, nearly one million flights were rated by passengers across more than 600 airlines from around the world using a five-star scale. The APEX Official Airline Ratings were independently certified by a professional external auditing company.

Fiji Airways Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Mr Andre Viljoen is in Calfornia, USA to receive the award on behalf of the airline.

"We at Fiji Airways have worked very hard to elevate the airline to a level where it has been recognized as an APEX Five Star Major Airline. This is no easy feat for a carrier our size, based out of a remote location in the South Pacific."

"This rating by APEX is a win for the whole of Fiji. While battling the challenges brought on by the pandemic, the National Carrier showed resilience and managed to become a Five Star Rated Airline. We are now counted among the best 'Major Airlines' in the world, thanks to the GRIT and TENACITY of our team."

Fiji Airways success in resuming services in a COVID safe manner, the quick ramp up and record number of visitor arrivals contributed to our rating as a Five Star Airline.

Where many airlines of a similar size are struggling, the National Carrier has managed to stay afloat, successfully navigated the pandemic, and is now soaring to newer heights in terms of bookings and revenue earnings.

Additionally, Mr Viljoen has also been invited to deliver a keynote address on Fiji Airways Journey from SURVIVING to THRIVING.

There will also be a panel discussion on Maximising Customer Service, where Fiji Airways will share how it has placed quality service delivery at the core of the airline's functions and operations.

The APEX Official Airline Ratings were created based on neutral, third-party passenger feedback and insights gathered through APEX's partnership with TripIt from Concur, the world's highest-rated travel-organizing app.

About Fiji Airways: Founded in 1951, Fiji Airways Group comprises of Fiji Airways, Fiji's National Airline and its subsidiaries: Fiji Link, its domestic and regional carrier, Pacific Call Comm Ltd, and a 38.75% stake in the Sofitel Fiji Resort & Spa on Denarau Island, Nadi. From its hubs at Nadi and Suva International Airports, Fiji Airways and Fiji Link serve 108 destinations in over 15 countries (including code-share). Destinations include Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, the US, Canada, the UK, Hong Kong (SAR China), Singapore, India, Japan, China, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands. The Fiji Airways Group brings in 64 percent of all visitors who fly to Fiji, employs over 1000 employees, and earns revenues of over FJD$1 billion (USD $460m) pre-COVID. Fiji Airways rebranded from Air Pacific in June 2013. Visit www.fijiairways.com for more information

Images can be downloaded from here.

SOURCE Fiji Airways

For further information: For media queries please contact: [email protected]
Ethiopian Airlines, Africas leading carrier, has launched a new flight to Bulawayo, the airlines third destination in Zimbabwe, via Victoria Falls starting from October 30, 2022.



Ethiopian has started four weekly flights to Bulawayo after Harare and Victoria Falls, taking and Ethiopians global destinations to 131. The new flight will be operated with B787 on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Bulawayo, also known as The City of Kings is rich in cultural history and is the second largest city in Zimbabwe after the capital, Harare.



Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO Mesfin Tasew, said: We are continually growing our network in Africa to provide affordable and convenient air connectivity and facilitate trade within Africa and beyond. The commencement of flights to Bulawayo is crucial in connecting Southern Africa to the world with our 130 destinations in five continents.



We are glad to serve Bulawayo, the industrial hub of Zimbabwe and Southern Africa accelerating trade with our cargo and passenger services. Our flights to multiple cities in a country indicate our solid commitment to serve our customers and support our continent as the best pan African carrier.



Bulawayo is an important trade and tourist hub for travelers from all corners of the world and Ethiopian will provide the best connectivity service along with African flavored hospitality. Ethiopian has been flying to two other cities in Zimbabwe Harare and Victoria falls, with its first flight to Harare in 1980. The airlines new flight to Bulawayo is aimed at providing convenient and affordable service to the growing post pandemic business and leisure travelers to and from Bulawayo and the Southern African region.



Bulawayo is the second largest city with the second largest airport in the country. The suitable geographical location, road infrastructure and hotel businesses have made the city a center of tourism. The city also hosts international trade fair where people from different parts of the world gather attracting tourists and business travelers. However, the airport is underutilized with only few carriers operating to Bulawayo. Ethiopian Airlines commencement of flights brings about additional connectivity options with competitive fares for the people of Bulawayo and the southern African region.- TradeArabia News Service
The Inspector-General of Police, IGP, Alkali Baba Usman, has cautioned foreign countries over terror alert in Nigeria. Usman said fore...

The Inspector-General of Police, IGP, Alkali Baba Usman, has cautioned foreign countries over terror alert in Nigeria.

Usman said foreign countries should stop informing the public about terror alerts.

The police boss said the recent terror alert should have been given to the police and not the public.

The United States and United Kingdom governments released a security alert.

In a travel advisory, they urged their citizens to stay away from Abuja due to the planned terrorists attacks.

They also urged their citizens to vacate Abuja until the terror alert is dealt with.

However, the IGP assured the general public of their safety.

The IGP spoke on Saturday while inaugurating a police station and barracks in Ibusa, Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State.

He said, How can you enter the country and said there is security alert, you didnt inform the police, and you go around telling your people; dont go to Abuja, return from Abuja.

When you have information on security, it is proper to inform the police and we will find a way to tackle it, instead of taking it to the public.

We are working in synergy with other security agencies to ensure the safety of residents.
A former Edo State Commissioner for Information, Kassim Afegbua has said that contrary to media reports, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP...

A former Edo State Commissioner for Information, Kassim Afegbua has said that contrary to media reports, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar did not hold any crucial meeting with the critical stakeholders of the United States State Department.

Afegbua in a statement issued Sunday claimed that this level of dubiety, desperation, boldness, wildness and audacity was unbecoming, to say the least.

He said, Some even said that Alhaji Atiku actually travelled under the cover of Governor Aminu Tambuwals Diplomatic entourage  what reduction and debasement! Entering into the US under this guise vitiates the headlines we see here on his trip.

Afegbua stated categorically that Atiku travelled to the United States on negotiated entry, just like he did in 2019.

He said the pictures on display are of members of Atikus entourage who left Nigeria to the United States to gallivant.

Afegbua stated: In deliberate effort to impress his supporters and followers, Atiku Abubakar and his musketeers have again travelled to the US on negotiated entry just like in 2019. This time, he was seen with his musketeers parading empty corridors in photo-ops to impress us back home.

He alleged that the truth of the matter was that Atiku still has questions to answer because he has not been discharged and acquitted of his corruption allegations that border on money laundering in the US.

Afegbua emphasised,  In 2019, he was granted negotiated entry, just like now; this is his leave to create the impression that all was well.

Was he indeed barred from entry before now? What were the factors or reasons for his initial ban? Have those issues been addressed? Has he been discharged and acquitted of those allegations? Why this so-called celebration if there are no undertones?
The abductors of Adigun Agbaje, a former deputy vice-chancellor (academics) of the University of Ibadan (UI), have demanded a ransom of N50 ...

The abductors of Adigun Agbaje, a former deputy vice-chancellor (academics) of the University of Ibadan (UI), have demanded a ransom of N50 million to effect his release.

Agbaje was kidnapped on Saturday along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway after a gunfire exchange between police officers and the abductors.

Adewale Osifeso, the Oyo police spokesperson, had earlier confirmed the abduction of the academic.





The police spokesperson had revealed that an officer was killed in the attack while another was badly injured.

The abductors were said to have made contact with Agbajes family, demanding a N50 million ransom.

On Sunday, a Twitter user @Dammielawlar, shared details of the bank account belonging to one of Agbajes colleagues where contributions for the ransom can be paid.

This is Professor Agbaje. He was kidnapped at Guru Maharaj yesterday on his way back from OOU where hes observing his sabbatical. The kidnappers have demanded 50 million naira. Kindly donate to support the effort to procure the release of Prof Agbaje, the user wrote.

All contributions should be paid to First Bank account no 2004429197. Prof. E. Remi Aiyede Ag HoD Political Science UI. Thank you so much.

This is Professor Agbaje. He was kidnapped at Guru Maharaj yesterday on his way back from OOU where he's observing his sabbatical. The kidnappers have demanded 50 million naira. Kindly donate to support the effort to procure the release of Prof Agbaje. pic.twitter.com/a3DEPZe8ZI  Aduke Ibadan (@Dammielawlar) October 30, 2022





Meanwhile, Adebowale Williams, the state commissioner of police, has ordered full-scale scientific and technological aided investigations to unravel the events that led to the incident.
Hidayet Bayraktar, Turkish ambassador to Nigeria, says drones and helicopters from Turkey will soon arrive in Nigeria as part of efforts t...

Hidayet Bayraktar, Turkish ambassador to Nigeria, says drones and helicopters from Turkey will soon arrive in Nigeria as part of efforts to strengthen the security architecture of the country.

Bayraktar spoke on Saturday during the commemoration of the 99th national day of the Republic of Turkey, at an event held in Abuja.

In August 2021, Bayraktar had said there would be collaborations between Nigeria and Turkey in various sectors, including security.

As of July 2022, the federal government was said to have procured six attack helicopters from Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI).

According to NAN, the ambassador described the security support from Turkey to Nigeria as an achievement from the defence cooperation contract signed by both countries in 2021.

He said Turkey is set to extend support to Nigeria in its efforts to counter security threats, by sharing experience, technical expertise, and technology.

The defence contracts signed between our countries last year, marked a historical record, he said.

Taking this opportunity, I am proud to announce that two of our flagship defence industry platforms, Bayraktar (TB-2) drones and (T-149) ATAK helicopters, are set to arrive Nigeria.

We are confident that new Turkish defence products will support the efforts of the Nigerian government and contribute immensely to the peace, prosperity, and security of fellow Nigerians.

Remaining as the sole obstacle hindering our bilateral relations to develop further, we call Nigeria not to let terror groups undermine our excellent ties, by allowing this terrorist group to fund their illegal aims and activities, by generation of revenues in this country.

On the bilateral relations between both countries, Bayraktar said he was very proud that there have been achievements in the bilateral relations between Turkey and Nigeria.

He also highlighted the visits of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Nigeria as well as President Muhammadu Buharis visit to Turkey.

These mutual high-level visits have provided the opportunity to underline our shared goal of strengthening our bilateral ties in every field, especially in terms of commerce, defence industry, energy, construction, manufacturing, healthcare, education, tourism, and culture, he said.

With its steady growth over the last decade and by emerging as an economic powerhouse in its region, Turkiye expressed its readiness to share its development experience with African states, to broaden and strengthen its cooperation in different areas.

Today, Turkish business people, some of whom are present here tonight, are investing in numerous sectors, from fast-moving-consumer-goods to construction, from healthcare to transportation, from energy to agriculture.

With the current pace of increasing commercial relations, I am confident that we will soon achieve our target of $5 billion of bilateral trading volume with Nigeria, which remains as one of our top trading partners in sub-Saharan Africa.
At least 100 people were killed, including women and children, after two car bombs exploded in Somalias capital of Mogadishu on Saturday....

At least 100 people were killed, including women and children, after two car bombs exploded in Somalias capital of Mogadishu on Saturday.

According to the BBC, the two car bombs exploded within minutes, leaving buildings and vehicles in the area destroyed.

The first bomb explosion hit the ministry of education and then the second went off as medical teams arrived to deal with the aftermath of the initial blast.

Hundreds of people were said to have gathered at the site of the blasts looking for missing family members.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said among the victims who have been massacred include mothers with their children in their arms.

He condemned the attack via a Twitter post and claimed that the al-Shabaab group, which has ties with Al-Qaeda, in Somalia was responsible.

Todays cruel & cowardly terrorist attack on innocent people by the morally bankrupt & criminal Al-Shabab group cannot discourage us, but will further strengthen our resolve to defeat them once & for all. Our government & brave people will continue to defend #Somalia against evil, he wrote.

Although there has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack by the al-Shabaab, the group has claimed other attacks in the past.

In a video statement after visiting the scene of the attack, Mohamud said more than 300 people were wounded in the attack.

I am here to tell the Somali people that such October attacks will not happen again, God willing, he said.

The bombings were a message sent by the militants to show that they are still alive, despite the fact that they were defeated on the battlefield by government forces.

In August, at least 21 people had been killed in an overnight siege after Islamic militants attacked the Hayat hotel in Mogadishu.

At the time, Ali Haji Adan, the countrys health minister, had said 117 people were also injured in the attack.

The al-Shabaab extremist group later claimed responsibility for the attack on the hotel.
Ahmad Gumi, an Islamic cleric, says the naira redesign policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will make kidnappers resort to dollars ...

Ahmad Gumi, an Islamic cleric, says the naira redesign policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will make kidnappers resort to dollars for ransom.

On October 26, the CBN announced that it has redesigned some new naira notes.

The apex bank said the new notes include N200, N500 and N1000, adding that the new design and issues will be effective from mid-December 2022.

Reacting to this development, Gumi said the policy is coming at the wrong time and will cast economic woes on the citizens.

As for the question of starving kidnappers of the naira, it goes without saying that they will resort to dollars and other hard currencies which will further put more pressure on it making the rotten situation worse, he said.

This is no time for economic kamikaze! People that sell goods will tell you that most Nigerians dont have the money to buy things; therefore most traders are running at a loss and are already folding up. At this junction, anything that can cause a cash crunch will be a disaster for the nation.

Many good ideas are marred by wrong timing. This is likely to be another one. No matter how ingenious the hatchers may romanticize; the benefit will remain phantom since the reality on the ground is incongruous and it spells doom for the escapade.

This kind of programme is not for a government that is in the throes of its demise. If there is any advantage of such adventures, it usually comes after many years of excruciating poverty and hardship which no well-meaning government should hand over such cruelty to any incoming government to manage.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential council has dismissed a report predicting that Bola Tinubu, standard bearer of the All Pro...

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential council has dismissed a report predicting that Bola Tinubu, standard bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC), will win the general election.

In a report, Fitch Solutions Country Risk and Industry Research said the former Lagos governor would win the presidential election, but there would be social instability.

In a statement on Saturday, Kola Ologbondiyan, spokesman of the PDP campaign council, said Tinubu has no chance of victory in the presidential election.

Across the north, the APC presidential candidate does not have a stable political structure with the daily decamping of hordes of Nigerians in the region who voted for President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 and 2019 now crossing over to the PDP to support Atiku Abubakar in the 2023 elections, the statement reads.

In the south, Asiwaju Tinubu has no solid base in the south-south and south-east where he has been roundly rejected.

Even in the south-west, the former Lagos state governor has been demystified as evidenced in his partys devastating loss in the last Governorship election in Osun State; a state considered to be his ancestral home, to the PDP.

Asiwaju Tinubu has been booed in States of the south-west and he has lost his political allies, cultural institutions and foot soldiers in Lagos state and other parts of the south-west because of his selfish posturing and trust issues.

Moreover, the APC presidential candidate has not demonstrated the desired capacity, experience, stamina as well as selfless disposition to lead a nation like Nigeria.

The reality of the 2023 Presidential elections is that the PDP Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has the highest organic followership cutting across all demographics like age, class, ethnic, sectional and even political affiliations in the country as Nigerians believe in his proven capacity, competence, experience, readiness and will power to lead our nation at this point.

Nigerians should therefore disregard the said Fitch Report as it does not reflect the reality of the 2023 presidential election in Nigeria.
Governors of the South-East zone on Sunday met in Enugu State and resolved to set up a 24-hour patrol team in all the major highways in the ...





Governors of the South-East zone on Sunday met in Enugu State and resolved to set up a 24-hour patrol team in all the major highways in the zone.

The Governors, who met behind closed doors, decried the State of insecurity in the region, stating that economic activities have come to a halt while kidnapping and wanton killings have become the order of the day.

Those in attendance included Enugu State Governor, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, and Ebonyi State Governor/Chairman of the South-East Governors Forum, Engr. David Umahi, while the Governors of Anambra and Imo States, Prof. Charles Soludo and Senator Hope Uzodinma were represented by their deputies, Dr. Onyekachukwu Ibezi and Prof. Placid Njoku, respectively.

They called on the Federal Government to come to their aid by providing security in the zone bearing in mind that elections were around the corner.

Chairman of the South-East Governors Forum and Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi, who read the communique, said they agreed to set up a 24-hour Joint Patrol in all major highways within the South East, especially during the Christmas season.

The governors commended the States and the Federal Government on efforts to alleviate the sufferings of the victims of the recent flood menace in the Country.

He said South East Governors have decided to put funds together to further assist the victims of flooding in the five States in the region.

We also plead with the Federal Government to please initiate action in the dredging of rivers in the South East, to ameliorate the destruction of houses, farmlands and properties. We request the Federal Government to come to the aid of the victims in terms of rehabilitation of the internally displaced persons.

South East Governors Forum jointly formed Ebubeagu and Forest Guards not ESN. So, it is not correct for any person to allude to fact that South East Governors created ESN.

South East Governors are watching with keen interest the developments with respect to the case of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu viz-a-viz the court rulings. However, we believe that a political solution is still possible in this circumstance, he stated.
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By Trend

On October 29, an official reception was organized in Baku on the occasion of the 99th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Turkiye, Trend reports.

Chairman of the Milli Majlis (Parliament) of Azerbaijan Sahiba Gafarova, Turkish Ambassador to Azerbaijan Cahit Bagci, deputy speakers and deputies of the Milli Majlis, state and government representatives, ambassadors of foreign countries, members of the public took part in the official reception.

The state anthems of Azerbaijan and Turkiye were played at the event organized by the Turkish Embassy.

Speaking at the reception, Ambassador Cahit Bagci said that the Republic of Turkiye, having strengthened even more over the past period, has become a symbol of stability and security in the world.

He noted that the events in the region further increased the role and importance of Turkiye and Azerbaijan.

"Turkiye has settled the global food crisis, and the energy problem will be solved together with Azerbaijan. Our countries play an important role in solving Europe's security and energy problems," the ambassador said.

Stressing the significance of the Shusha Declaration, which raised relations between Turkiye and Azerbaijan to the highest level - the level of alliance, Bagci said that today more than 5,000 Turkish companies operate in Azerbaijan, and about 3,000 Azerbaijani companies operate in Turkiye. The trade turnover between the countries is more than 5 billion dollars.

"Turkiye and Azerbaijan are two bridges opening to Europe and Asia and play the role of a strategic hub," the ambassador said.

Speaker of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova, speaking at the official reception, conveyed the sincere congratulations and best wishes of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on the occasion of the 99th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Turkiye.

She said that the process of formation of the republic, which began ninety-nine years ago under the leadership of the great Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, turned brotherly Turkiye into one of the most powerful countries in the world.

The speaker noted that in recent years, Turkiye under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has achieved even greater success in all spheres of life.

"Large-scale projects implemented in the Republic of Turkiye, as well as with its participation in other regions of the world, in particular in the South Caucasus, serve the well-being and progress of peoples. The Republic of Turkey has great authority in the world. The Republic of Turkiye has great authority in the world. I believe that, on the one hand, this is, of course, due to its political, economic, military, intellectual, spiritual potential and geopolitical significance, and on the other hand, to the fact that Turkey's foreign policy is based on the criteria of fairness and honesty, which today urgently needed internationally," Gafarova said.




Ron Faucheux: How Joe Biden stacks up going into the midterms
Prince Harry's memoir, an object of obsessive anticipation worldwide since it was first announced last year, is coming out Jan. 10.

The book will be called Spare and is being billed by Penguin Random House as an account told with raw, unflinching honesty" and filled with insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.

In a statement released Thursday, Penguin Random House summoned memories of the stunning 1997 death of Prince Harry's mother, Diana, and the subsequent image of Harry and his brother walking behind their mothers coffin as the world watched in sorrow  and horror.

As Diana, Princess of Wales, was laid to rest, billions wondered what the princes must be thinking and feeling  and how their lives would play out from that point on, the statement reads in part.

For Harry, this is his story at last.

The memoir's title is an apparent reference to the heir and the spare, a phrase often used to describe royal siblings. Harry's brother, William, is now Prince of Wales and heir to the British throne. When Harry was born, he was right behind William in the line of succession but has since been pushed down. Their father , King Charles III, assumed the throne upon Queen Elizabeth II's death last month.

Royals watchers and the public at large have speculated endlessly since the book was first announced in July 2021. Within hours of Thursday's announcement, Spare was in the top 10 on Amazon.com's bestseller list.

The Duke of Sussex had already revealed a newsmaking willingness to discuss his private life when he and his American-born wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, were interviewed by Oprah Winfrey for a bombshell March 2021 broadcast. The couple spoke of Meghans deep unhappiness with her new life in England, the alleged racism within the royal family and Harrys fear that his wifes life might be endangered had they remained in his native country.

In 1992, Diana worked with author Andrew Morton on her explosive memoir Diana: Her True Story, in which she described at length her unhappy marriage to the future King Charles III.

Harry and Meghan stepped back from royal duties in 2020 and moved to the U.S. Harry told Winfrey that his family cut him off financially and that he helped pay for his security with money left to him by his mother. They have launched numerous initiatives, including a Netflix production deal and the nonprofit Archewell Foundation.

Penguin Random House's 2021 announcement included a statement from Harry.

Im writing this not as the prince I was born but as the man I have become, he said. Ive worn many hats over the years, both literally and figuratively, and my hope is that in telling my story  the highs and lows, the mistakes, the lessons learned  I can help show that no matter where we come from, we have more in common than we think."

The 416-page book will be published in 16 languages, from Dutch to Portuguese. Harry himself  identified by Penguin Random House as a husband, father, humanitarian, military veteran, mental wellness advocate, and environmentalist  will narrate the audiobook. The cover features a close-up of an unsmiling, T-shirt-clad Harry.

Financial terms were not disclosed, but Harry, Duke of Sussex, will donate proceeds from Spare to British charities. He has already given $1.5 million to Sentebale, an organization he co-founded with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho to help children and young people in Lesotho and Botswana affected by HIV/AIDS.

The book had been tentatively scheduled for publication this year, and the delay led to rumors that Harry was hesitating to say too much about his family, or was perhaps revising the narrative after his grandmother died in September. He has spoken of being estranged from his brother, although the siblings and their wives appeared in public together during the mourning period following the Queen's death.

Penguin Random House is honored to be publishing Prince Harrys candid and emotionally powerful story for readers everywhere," the global CEO of Penguin Random House, Markus Dohle, said in a statement. He shares a remarkably moving personal journey from trauma to healing, one that speaks to the power of love and will inspire and encourage millions of people around the world.
In Phyllis Nagy's Call Jane, Joy (Elizabeth Banks) is a 1960s housewife married to a defense attorney (Chris Messina) with a teenage daughter (Grace Edwards) and a baby on the way. A heart condition, though, threatens her life in childbirth. The only treatment, her doctor tells her, is to not be pregnant.

When they, acting on the doctor's advice, appeal to the hospital's board for permission to conduct a therapeutic termination, this critical moment in Joy's life passes curtly. The all-male board members discuss it briefly while not acknowledging Joy, across the table. No regard for her mother? she asks. Their votes sound the answer. No." No." No."

Call Jane," which opens in theaters Friday, is set more than 50 years ago but it could hardly be more up-to-the-minute. Following the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade earlier this year, abortion  which Pennsylvania Senate Republican candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz recently described as between a woman, her doctor and local political leaders  is again a hotly debated issue in upcoming elections.

Nagy, the screenwriter of Todd Haynes' radiant '50s-set 2015 drama Carol, again illustrates how the past can illuminate the present. Call Jane," made before the end of Roe v. Wade but when its future was increasingly precarious, dramatizes the Jane Collective, a Chicago network of women activists who in the years before legalized abortion, clandestinely helped other women obtain safe abortions.

Call Jane is just one of the films about abortion rights that by happenstance have debuted this year. Audrey Diwans piercing Happening, about a young woman in 1963 France, remains one of 2022's standouts. Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes' HBO documentary The Janes grippingly recalled the Jane Collective, with colorful reflections from the women who helped run it.

Call Jane, the glossiest of the bunch, lacks the vivid detail of The Janes or the riveting visual intimacy of Diwans movie. But all three films bear an of-the-moment urgency and a deep sense of empathy for the adversities faced by women whose choice has been taken from them. Call Jane distinguishes itself as a stirring portrait of the birth of an unlikely abortion-rights activist.

Banks, always good but especially strong here, plays a woman who looks more 50s than 60s. But she is slowly awakening to the changing times. In the opening scene, she walks through an elegant hotel lobby with sumptuous music playing  a moment that would fit right in in Carol  only to be struck at the raucous sound of women protesting outside. You can feel a shifting current, she tells her husband.

Their family life is traditional, loving and  aside from a Velvet Underground record  conservative. Centering the story on a straight-and-narrow character like Joy is, itself, a reminder of the wide spectrum of people who might one day reluctantly seek an abortion. Joy's options, initially, are terrible. There's always insanity, the doctor tells her. One woman suggests: Just fall down a staircase.

It's a paper ad at a bus stop that brings Joy to Jane. After a hesitant phone call, she's brought to their offices by blindfold. But Call Jane doesn't play up the covert aspect of the group's activities. Nagy instead stays focused on Joy's awakening to a wider world of female fellowship that's more frank about sex and its repercussions. Virginia (Sigourney Weaver) is the group's leader and a natural hippie foil to Joy. She calls Joy Jackie O." Soon after Joy's own procedure, Virginia lures Joy into volunteering with the collective. At first, Joy isn't entirely convinced. One young woman who comes to Jane is having unprotected sex with a married man, Joy is appalled to learn. But Virginia lays down the law: We help women. We don't ask any questions.

Call Jane loosens up notably inside the collective, a varied group of women that includes a Black Power activist (Wunmi Mosaku) and a nun who fields phone calls (Aida Turturro). There may have been more possibilities here for the film, which spends a lot of time with the group's less valorous doctor (Cory Michael Smith), who performs the procedures. But that, too, becomes part of Joy's storyline, as she gets more and more deeply involved with Jane. For Joy, it's more than a cause. For the first time, she realizing her own power.

There are probably many more stories that could be told about the Jane collective, which facilitated an estimated 12,000 abortions in the years before Roe v. Wade. But few know how to tease out threads of repression in a society like Nagy. The conventional approach of Call Jane is a statement, itself. This could be anyone's story.

"Call Jane, a Roadside Attractions release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for some language and brief drug use. Running time: 121 minutes. Three stars out of four.
A stolen U-Haul van. An out-of-state suspect. A confiscated gun, a thick wad of cash, six snarly cats, and a trashed rental vehicle used as a mobile home since August.

You cant make up what we see out here on any given day, Hobart patrol officer Tommie Tatum told me in the busy Walmart parking lot in Hobart.

Two hours earlier, Tatum was patrolling his typical route along the U.S. 30 business corridor. I rode shotgun in Tatums vehicle, shadowing him during his noon to 8 p.m. shift.

Within seconds of pulling into the Walmart lot, Tatum received a call from dispatch about an allegedly stolen van parked there. A female U-Haul employee, who just happened to be shopping at that store, spotted the van and checked its identification number in her companys online system.

I know it dont look right. Of course it comes up stolen, she told me. So then I have to call the police. And now its a whole thing that wouldnt have happened if I just stayed home tonight.

Sure enough, it turned out the van, with Arizona plates, was rented in August out of Illinois and never returned to U-Haul.

If he wants to give me the keys, Id be happy to take the van right now, the U-Haul employee told Tatum. Otherwise my boss told me to press charges.

While walking toward the van, Tatum told me its not uncommon for criminals to use stolen rental vehicles to commit crimes. Its less common for someone to be living in one for weeks or months.

Next thing you know, were chasing U-Haul trucks now, Tatum said.

He approached the man behind the wheel of the van, asking for his drivers license. The man claimed innocence of any wrongdoing.

Im living in here and I have nowhere else to stay. All my stuff is here, he said.

Two more Hobart cops pulled up to the scene as backup.

I didnt come here to run your plates, Tatum told the man. I was called here. Its unfortunate I have to put you and your cats out of this van. But I have to do my job. So how would you like me to help you stay out of handcuffs?

Whatever the man said, it didnt work. He was in handcuffs a few minutes later. Another cop transported him to the police station where he would plead his case to the detective on call. Meanwhile, animal control and a tow truck company were called to retrieve the cats and the van.

After the suspect was taken from the scene, Tatum began searching the van for weapons. Another Hobart officer, Kyle Belec, joined him. The van was littered with scattered clothes, a makeshift mattress and pillow, laundry baskets, an Xbox game, piles of trash, cat food, and cat feces.

I cant breathe in here, Belec said while counting the cats. Alright, so thats 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 cats back here, and one up front.

Tatum wanted nothing to do with the cats.

Im terrified of cats, he said.

Still, hes been a cop for 11 years, 10 of those years working in Gary.

But I dont trust cats, he told me.

A few minutes later, Tatum pointed to a small box inside the back of the van.

Whats that right there? he asked Belec.

I think somethings going on, Belec replied.

With the cats casually watching, Belec and Tatum found a thick wad of hundred dollar bills and a clip for a gun.

I asked if he had firearms in the van, Tatum said, shaking his head. He said no.

The man lied. Belec also found a firearm behind the drivers seat.

This whole thing is messed up, Belec said to no one in particular as nosy customers stopped to watch the commotion.

Tatum placed the gun, its clip, and the money into an evidence bag, then put it into the trunk of his police car. At that point, it wasnt yet determined if the case was auto theft or unauthorized control of a vehicle.

We will have to sort it out tonight, Tatum said while waiting for animal control.

A Walmart parking lot attendant wandered over.

Can I have one of the cats? he asked Tatum.

No, these cats are still that guys property, Tatum replied.

Oh, I didnt know that, the Walmart worker said.

The man who was driving the van, originally from Scottsdale, Arizona, told police he stopped at the Walmart in Hobart simply to get a sandwich. He left in a squad car. Tatum initially planned on releasing the van to the U-Haul employee, but that was before the gun and money were found.

Im sorry maam, Tatum told the U-Haul worker. We are just doing some stuff here we normally dont do.

For the next 30 minutes, Tatum and the tow truck driver helped the animal control worker corral the six cats and remove them from the van. They didnt want to be evicted from their mobile home. It took a little finesse and a little force.

Shes the cat whisperer, Tatum said. I could never do her job. Never.

In an upcoming column, Ill continue my series on riding shotgun with Tatum, who explains why he continues to be a cop despite its tarnished public image.
Lake County voters will choose Nov. 8 between a Democratic sheriff who says he's dedicated his life to public safety and a Republican former deputy who says the incumbent's criminal indictment is a stain on the department.

Sheriff Oscar Martinez Jr. said he's running for reelection because he's "deeply committed to making all of Lake County a safer area for everyone."

"If re-elected, I would be committed to continuing the momentum I have been building in public safety, addressing the needs of families and individuals dealing with addiction and mental health issues, and making sure the Lake County Sheriff's Department is equipped with the finest technology and training available, so that we can respond to large-scale emergencies and disasters quickly, safely and effectively," Martinez said. "I would continue to devote time and resources to well-rounded, cutting-edge approaches to public safety."

Dave Crane, who entered the race in June after no other Republicans sought the party's nomination in the May 3 primary, said Lake County residents deserve a sheriff who is going to look out for them.

Crane said that the Lake County Sheriff's Department has a history of corruption and that Martinez is the latest in a series of sheriffs and other high-ranking officers to face criminal charges.

Martinez was indicted in January by a Lake Criminal Court grand jury on a felony count of resisting law enforcement and misdemeanor reckless driving.

He has pleaded not guilty in connection with allegations he was driving his unmarked Jeep TrackHawk 96 mph in a 45 mph zone Sept. 18, 2021, after drinking at the Buddy & Pal's bar in Crown Point.

The sheriff is accused of leading two Crown Point police officers on a chase into Merrillville while their lights and sirens were activated. The officers ended the pursuit when the driver they were chasing turned on the TrackHawk's police emergency lights, and the case was later referred to the Indiana State Police post in Fort Wayne for further investigation.

Crane, who previously told The Times he was forced to retire in 2015 after 17 years as a sheriff's deputy, has said he wants to restore the department's credibility.

"I know that our citizens are tired of police officers who feel that they are above the law," Crane said. "I know that the good, hard-working police officers are tired of law enforcement being dragged through the mud every time a bad officer's actions hit the front page of the paper."

Martinez said he has 30 years of law enforcement experience and is the only candidate with a list of initiatives and accomplishments.

"Unlike my opponent, I have a proven record of maintaining the highest level of scal responsibility and eective daily operations, all while actually hitting the streets myself to respond to emergencies and help solve crimes," he said. "For me, being sheri is more than a job, it's my life."

Before Martinez was elected sheriff, he was "a highly-decorated officer known for helping to take millions of dollars worth of illegal drugs off the street," he said.

"This experience gives me the unique perspective of how to acquire resources and position them in the most eective way," he said. "It also aords me the knowledge of the best ways to use our talent and equipment to get the job done for the residents of Lake County."

If elected, Crane would work to ensure every school is safe, improve relationships with other agencies and create a civilian oversight board for the department, he said.

"My first priority is making sure our children are safe," he said. "We have all seen too many school shootings, and too many of our kids are dying of drug overdoses. I will work with school administrations, teachers unions, PTAs, PTOs and security experts to ensure that every school is safe."

Crane said he's been told other agencies don't want to work with a sheriff who's facing indictment.

"I believe that a better working relationship can be developed with other law enforcement agencies," he said. "A lack of cooperation with and by federal law enforcement agencies hurts all of us."

He said he's talked with Republican candidates for sheriff in Porter and LaPorte counties about the need for a High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area "fusion center" to better coordinate information from the initiative's three units in Northwest Indiana.

Crane said his proposed civilian oversight review board would look at all complaints made against sheriff's officers.

"After a review by this board, a vote would then be taken to send any and all information to the Lake County Sheriffs Merit Board, which, by Indiana law, is the final authority on firing of law enforcement officers," he said.

Martinez listed several accomplishments during his first four-year term.

He said he established and expanded the Police Assisted Recovery Initiative, which employs two full-time mental health professionals who help people find pathways to treatment and recovery that don't involve arrest.

As part of the program, officers receive training on how to deal with situations where mental health, including addiction, may be a factor.

"Compassion and understanding is encouraged as part of our county policing effort," he said.

Martinez said he's directed several special enforcement support programs and operations, including monthly multi-agency operations targeting carjackings, drug trafficking, violent crimes and various traffic violations.

The sheriff said he established the Lake County School Safety Emergency Contact Network this year.

"We continue to work on identifying communications solutions for police and public safety agencies responding to emergencies in large buildings," he said. "In 2023, we plan to open a public safety intelligence center at the Lake County Sheriff's Department."

Martinez said he also coordinated a team that secured a Project Safe Neighborhoods grant, which was used to purchase the StrataSite cloud-based emergency preparedness tool.

"It has been made available to each public, parochial, private and charter school in Lake County, as well as college campuses," he said. "It will allow each of them to collaborate with their police and fire departments to create and maintain emergency action plans."

Crane said voters should know he will never take them for granted.

"This is the reason I have gone to every union hall in Northwest Indiana," he said. "I have walked many different neighborhoods, and I have visited many businesses in Lake County to get my message out."
Gun turn-in at Merrillville Police Department Resident Jonathan King, left, hands three shotguns on Friday afternoon to Operations Commander Nate Dillahunty at the Merrillville Police Department.

Gun violence is an epidemic, federal task force agent Lt. Derrick Cannon of the Gary Police Department says.

Cannon and members of law enforcement, the medical field and the public are taking measures to curb this epidemic in their local communities and target youth populations affected by gun violence.

One of the efforts to reduce the likelihood of youth violence and juvenile crime is to get guns off of the street, says Dr. Michael McGee, founder of Project Outreach and Prevention, one of two nonprofits that sponsored this weekend's gun turn-in at four Region police departments.

Residents in Northwest Indiana had the opportunity to turn in their guns, no questions asked, from 1 to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday in Gary, Merrillville, Hammond and East Chicago.

"The program today is directed at any- and everybody," McGee said. "But we target kids here because some are so involved in violence."

Community members brought in used weapons for a variety of reasons. Jonathan King brought three large shotguns to the Merrillville Police Department that he said he found while moving out of his house. He said he turned them in because he has no use for them and wanted them out of the house.

The turned-in guns will undergo ballistics testing to examine whether the firearm has been used in a crime. From there, the guns will be destroyed, McGee said. Nate Dillahunty, operations commander for Merrillville police, said many agencies will assist with the destruction of firearms, such as contracting with saw mills to destroy the weapons.

The police departments partnered with POP and Positive Approach to Teen Health, a Portage-based nonprofit, for a gun turn-in designed to encourage youths to avoid firearms and educate themselves on the dangers of guns, McGee said. These areas were selected because of higher rates of juvenile crime, low graduation rates, truancy and other economic risk factors making them more in need of programs and resources to combat violence.

The gun turn-in program follows multiple POP and PATH events during National Safe Schools Week from Oct. 17-23 in Northwest Indiana.

Cannon spoke last Thursday to a crowd of West Side High School students about gun safety. He asked them to reflect on the classmates they started high school or elementary school with and where some of those classmates are now.

"Some classes get smaller and smaller," he said. "Some students aren't there anymore because of choices they made and consequences they have to face."

Cannon told students what to do if they come into contact with a gun or see one while at a friend's house, on their way home from school or any other situation.

"Some might be quick to handle the gun, some might be quick to do something irresponsible," he said. "I want them to know there are ways to report things."

Cannon said he told students the best way to handle such a situation would be to text or call 911 to report the firearm.

Cannon said he believes it is important for people like him and McGee to connect with students because the students need to be able to identify with someone who has similar roots and has chosen to pursue education and a successful career.

"I try to be representative and inclusive when talking to students. Once they recognize somebody like them achieving in every field of human endeavor, they won't exclude themselves from whatever it is that they're interested in."

With a grant from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the two nonprofits are implementing Project SLEY  Saving Lives and Empowering Youth  designed for ninth- through 12th-graders to develop personal, interpersonal and drug-resistance skills and enhance social-emotional learning through peer-to-peer interaction.

Students can get involved or learn more about POP by visiting its website.
MERRILLVILLE  After some trimming, the Town Council has adopted its 2023 spending plan.

The council recently unanimously approved the second reading of an ordinance associated with the total budget of $46.5 million.

When the budget was introduced at the end of September, Trista Hudson, Merrillvilles financial consultant, said the spending plan would need to be adjusted to a figure the town could sustain.

Since that meeting, about $500,000 was cut from the 2023 general fund, bringing that down to about $11.2 million, said Eric Cender, another town financial consultant from Cender|Dalton Municipal Advisors.

The general fund is expected to receive more than $8.2 million through taxes, but the general fund also receives money through building permits and various licenses required in town, Hudson said.

Cender said Merrillville also reduced the amount in the local option income tax fund designated for public safety. That dropped by about $600,000.

Cender said there are expenditures involving the Police Department that would have come from those dollars, but the town can use American Rescue Plan funding to cover them in 2023. He said the towns American Rescue Plan budget is at about $5.8 million.

While reviewing the 2023 budget, Town Councilman Leonard White again asked whether Merrillvilles tax rate would increase for property owners next year.

In September, Hudson said the tax rate isnt changing, but residents could pay more in property taxes if their assessed values increased.

Cender reiterated that statement when the council adopted the spending plan.

Residents may have received increased assessed values on their homes, but the council has not made any decisions to increase tax rates, he said.
They may both support the dissemination of government secrets, but Edward J. Snowden and WikiLeaks seem to disagree on how best to do it.

On Thursday, Mr. Snowden, the former government contractor who released a trove of National Security Agency documents and now lives in exile in Russia, credited WikiLeaks, a clearinghouse for similar disclosures, with furthering the cause of transparency but also criticized its unfiltered approach.
Many questions remained unanswered 16 hours after a crowd crush killed at least 151 people during a Halloween celebration in Itaewon, a popular nightlife district in central Seoul. Officials do not yet know what caused the disaster, but recollections from witnesses and participants are helping to paint a fuller picture of the terrifying evening.

Janelle Story, 35, an English teacher who was out with two friends in the neighborhood, said a stampede of people briefly rushed toward her around 10:30 p.m. near the corner from the alleyway where most of the victims were crushed. I saw this sea of bodies come rushing toward us really fast, without any warning. It seemed to happen so suddenly, she said.

Ms. Story said she was worried, but thought at first that it was just an inebriated crowd being disorderly. She left the area around 11 p.m. and learned the full extent of the tragedy only after she took the subway back to the area where she lives.

In hindsight, she said the people who had rushed toward her were probably reacting in panic to what was unfolding in the alley. It didnt even occur to me they were running in fear, she said.
The rising fortunes of some Republican candidates with no previous electoral experience allowed Saturday Night Live to try out some new (or newish) political impressions in its opening sketch this weekend.

The broadcast, on which the rapper Jack Harlow was both host and musical guest, began with a parody of PBS NewsHour, with Heidi Gardner playing the anchor Judy Woodruff. Were what your grandma is talking about when she says, I saw this on the news, she explained.

Introducing three Republicans who are running for office this November, she began with Kenan Thompson, who played Herschel Walker, the Senate candidate from Georgia. Hello, Judas, he said. My name is Herschel Walker, Texas Ranger, and I am running for president of the United Airlines.

Mikey Day played Dr. Mehmet Oz, a Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, who has been criticized for a lack of familiarity with the state. My Pennsylvania Phillies are in the World Series and I just had a delicious Philadelphia cheese and steak, he said. Yum.
But the real trouble came some two decades later, when Capotes bilious short story La Cote Basque, 1965, an excerpt from his planned masterpiece-to-be Answered Prayers, was poised for publication in Esquire magazine. It featured thinly veiled versions of Slim Keith, Babe Paley and Woodward, with Kennedys and Vanderbilts splashed in like so many cocktail onions. The first two women, previously his dear friends, would drop Capote cold; his book editor was annoyed hed jumped the gun; Woodward ended her life with what Montillo says was Seconal (others have reported cyanide). And you thought Cat Person made waves.

In Montillos telling, Capote and Woodward were fated to converge and clash. They were both outsiders, each struggling to maintain their foothold in Manhattan high society. The difference was that she tried to erase her past, while he embraced (and embroidered) his.

Woodward was born Angeline Crowell on a farm in Pittsburg, Kansas. Her childhood home had no running water, and insects crawled over her skin as she slept on a straw mattress. A younger brother choked to death at age 4; her father broke his back; and her enterprising mother, after they divorced, started a taxi and livery service in Kansas City. Ann changed her last name to Eden and aspired to be an actress; sadly, her father, who became a trolley conductor, grew convinced she was Eve Arden. Bill Jr. didnt know that she was passed on to him by his own father, Bill Sr. a banking scion with a taste for horses and showgirls, after he spotted her onstage at Fefes Monte Carlo in Manhattan and embarked on a liaison of his own.

Capote, as has been endlessly documented, was born Truman Streckfus Persons in New Orleans (prophetically, his biological father was called Arch Persons) and raised by spinster cousins in Monroeville Ala., where he became childhood besties with the future novelist Nelle Harper Lee. His mother, Lillie Mae Faulk, changed her name to Nina after she met Joe Capote; and, though alcoholically neglectful of Truman, brought him to New York City and Greenwich. Like the Woodward patriarch, Joe and Nina enjoyed going to the races  and she too died by Seconal.

In those days (before location tracking?) everyone seemed to be cheating on everyone else all the time. Founded on the infidelity of Bill Sr., and his belief in rumors that his son was in fact a homosexual, the marriage of Bill Jr. soon saw cracks and affairs as well. He wanted a divorce. Ann did not and, as in an Agatha Christie mystery, this difference of opinion could be said to have supplied her with a motive on the night, after attending a party in honor of the Duchess of Windsor, when she stuffed extra shotgun shells into the bra she wore to bed, leaving the gun itself on the slipper chair as we might an iPhone. Bill had gone to bed that night with a pistol nearby too.
At least 150 dead in Seoul

At least 150 people were killed in Seoul after they were crushed in a Halloween crowd on Saturday. Most were in their teens and 20s, and women significantly outnumbered men among the victims.

South Koreans are trying to understand how the crowd crush happened now that most of the victims have been identified. Witnesses said they saw almost no crowd control and scant police presence in the hours leading up to the tragedy, even though people were filling the streets. The crush happened in Itaewon, a popular nightlife district, on the first Halloween after most pandemic-related social distancing measures were lifted.

As the night grew more frenetic and the mass of revelers swelled, many of them crammed into an alleyway barely 11 feet wide, in a bottleneck of human traffic that made it difficult to breathe and move. From within the crowd came calls to push, push and a big shove. Then, they began to fall, a tangle of too many bodies, compressed into too small of a space.

Toll: At a community center where family members had been awaiting news, wrenching wails followed dreaded confirmations. Shin Su-Bin, 25, is among the dead. Her family had been calling her phone that night to no answer.
Three days after Elon Musk purchased Twitter, the billionaire posted a tweet that advanced baseless allegations about the recent attack on the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The tweet, on Sunday, raised anew questions about how, or if, Mr. Musk will act to combat misinformation and hate speech on the social media site.

On Saturday, Hillary Clinton, the former first lady and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, posted a tweet assailing Republicans for spreading hate and deranged conspiracy theories that she said had emboldened the man who attacked Ms. Pelosis husband, Paul, inside the couples home in San Francisco early Friday.

In a reply to Mrs. Clintons tweet, Mr. Musk wrote, There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye and then shared a link to an article in the Santa Monica Observer. The article alleges that Mr. Pelosi was drunk and in a fight with a male prostitute.
Good morning. Eric Kim recently did some reporting on one of the great dishes of the American South: Brunswick stew (above): shredded meats cooked with tomatoes, corn and butter beans until a ladle can stand straight up in the pot. What meats? Squirrel or rabbit, traditionally, though most people use chicken today, occasionally supplemented with pork shoulder or chuck beef.

His dispatch for The Times got me hankering to make the dish for Sunday supper, a main course to serve with cornbread. Thats the way they do it in Brunswick County, Va., anyway. In Brunswick, Ga., the stews more of a side dish to serve with barbecue. (Eric found a great line about that, from Roy Blount Jr., a humorist and lifelong Georgian: Brunswick stew is what happens when small mammals carrying ears of corn fall into barbecue pits.)

I hope youll join me for that. As for the rest of the week 

Monday

Its Halloween! If youd like to make the affair a little more formal than a salad bowl full of mini Snickers and Charleston Chews, weve got a stellar collection of recipes that are sweet and not at all spooky. Just looking for dinner? Tuck into this Madhur Jaffrey recipe for winter squash and wild mushroom curry and watch 8 Mile on Netflix instead.
Times Insider explains who we are and what we do, and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together.

City life, for many, was changed drastically when the coronavirus arrived. People left major cities like New York and Los Angeles. Offices emptied out. Businesses closed. In some places, crime rates spiked.

Recovery has been sluggish in many places. But other towns and cities have rebounded in surprising ways. The transformation of city centers inspired The New York Times to take a close look at downtowns across America to see how they are faring.

Downtown can obviously serve different purposes depending on the city and the size of the city, Meghan Louttit, a deputy editor on The Timess National desk, said. We wanted to look at what kind of role they have in American life and how have they changed to adapt to the new world were living in.

Ms. Louttit and her colleague Peter Applebome, another deputy National editor, spearheaded The American Downtown, which was published online on Thursday and appears as a separate tabloid section in Sundays newspaper. Eight reporters and 10 photographers profiled 10 cities across the United States.
Three children and one adult died after a fire broke out in a home in the Bronx on Sunday morning, the authorities said.

Firefighters were faced with heavy fire on the first and second floors after arriving at 2165 Quimby Ave., near Castle Hill Avenue, in the Unionport section of the Bronx, the New York Fire Department said.

Fire marshals are investigating the cause of the blaze, which was reported at about 6 a.m. The cause of the fire was determined not to be criminal, Inspector Keiyon S. Ramsey, the commanding officer of the 43rd Precinct, said in an interview.
During last years mayoral primary in New York City, Andrew Yang, then a leading Democratic candidate, made a calculated investment: If he could make meaningful inroads into the Hasidic Jewish community, its bloc of votes could help carry him to victory.

He hired a Hasidic Democratic leader in Brooklyn as his Jewish outreach director. He publicly pledged not to interfere with Hasidic Jewish religious schools, which were being investigated over whether they were providing a basic education. Still, some were not persuaded.

I told him he might be a very nice person, but I dont know him, said Rabbi Moishe Indig, a leader of the Satmar Hasidic group in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. I said we have a good history with someone who is here for years; we know that he cares for the community. Its not nice to take an old friend and throw him under the bus.

That old friend was Eric Adams, then the Brooklyn borough president, who won the primary and became mayor in January. Mr. Adams, like Mr. Yang, has been supportive of the Jewish schools independence, saying on the eve of his inauguration that they generally served as the basis for a well-rounded quality education.
New York City has agreed to pay $26 million to settle lawsuits filed on behalf of two men whose convictions in the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X were thrown out last year after a judge found serious miscarriages of justice, according to the city and federal court records.

The two men, Muhammad A. Aziz and Khalil Islam, each spent more than 20 years in prison after their hasty arrests and a trial that relied on questionable evidence in one of the most notorious murders of the civil rights era.

Their exonerations last November  Mr. Islams was posthumous  came as allegations of racism and discrimination in the criminal justice system were again prompting national protests and political debate.

The throwing out of the mens convictions came after a 22-month investigation by the Manhattan district attorneys office, then led by Cyrus R. Vance Jr., and the mens lawyers, which found that prosecutors, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New York Police Department had withheld key evidence that probably would have led to acquittals had it been presented to a jury.
Students should have the right to tell administrators that theyre being taught poorly

I feel like the issue right now is more that pedagogy is lacking than Gen Z is lazy. I graduated in 2021 with a degree in biology from a private university, and I found many professors, particularly in STEM, were ambivalent about teaching. Students should have the right to tell administrators that theyre being taught poorly, even if they dont have the final say over what should happen next.  Hannah Geller, 23, Washington, D.C.

Students stopped wanting to be educated and became buyers of credentials

I taught digital media management to postgraduates at a private university, and over the last few years students stopped wanting to be educated and became buyers of credentials. That evolution created sides in a conflict: students and the administrators who collect their tuition on one side, faculty and our professional obsessions on the other.

Ultimately, I could not accept the mismatch of priorities. I left academia because of the changes I perceived in students and the administration that pandered to them. That means I failed to adapt. I felt a duty to do the right thing from my perspective; the students felt pressure to get value for their money. Neither of us is wrong, but we are no longer aligned, and that makes for a failing enterprise.  Stephen Masiclat, 61, Syracuse, N.Y.

Where the conflict lies

It felt like if you were not succeeding then, you never would

I graduated in 2021 with a degree in computer science from a large, private university. Our introductory computer science class was supposed to be an equal playing field regardless of how much prior coding experience you had. In practice that was far from the truth. I struggled much more than those that had been coding since childhood (majority white men) and less than those who were new to the field (more POC and women). Our professors told us, in not so many words, that the first several classes in our sequence were weed-out classes. It felt like if you were not succeeding then, you never would. At the start of the second semester you could see the effects as our class became more and more a sea of white men. Professors should be held accountable for who leaves majors after their classes.  Emma Reed, 23, Pittsburgh

Part of this process is becoming adept at problem solving

I have extensive experience teaching undergraduate, graduate and medical students in both seminar and large lecture settings at a private university. I used the Socratic method, attempting to gently lead the students through the process of problem solving. I explained at the beginning that it was meant as a dialogue, not a harassment. About 15 years ago, I started seeing undergraduate students become resistant to this challenge. Ten years ago this discomfort had filtered up to the graduate and medical students. Now, questioning students in front of their peers is more or less considered unacceptable. It makes them uncomfortable. I consider myself a flexible, supportive instructor, sensitive to the needs of my students. I do not believe in so-called weed-out courses. I believe in learning. But part of this process is becoming adept at problem solving under challenging conditions.  Barry Goldstein, 70, Westport, N.Y.

Professors are often resistant to changing their teaching styles

I am an undergraduate at a private university widely regarded for having difficult professors and curriculums. I think many professors at research universities tend to focus less on their teaching and more on publishing. I also find that professors are often resistant to changing their teaching styles when something isnt working because for many, it doesnt seem to be a priority for them.

In a post-Covid academic climate many of my peers, including myself, are just not accustomed to the kind of effort that has been expected for decades in pre-med and other similar weed-out courses.  Sam Nichols, 20, Ithaca, N.Y.
No, Ye was being used. And he was using you. Ye has been nothing if not transparent about his concept of economics. As he rapped in his 2004 song All Falls Down:

Drug dealer buy Jordans, crackhead buy crack/

And the white man get paid off of all of that.

He knew  and knows  that the goal of fueling Black conspicuous consumption and even addiction is profit; there is power in it, power that white corporations can use to enrich themselves. Instead of wanting to flip that table, Ye wanted to sit at the head of it. Instead of being revolted by the economic arm of white supremacy, he aspired to it.

As he said in a recent interview: I empathize with the position of the straight white male, and part of the reason why I empathize with that position is because I know that Im headed to that position.

Now, Ye has been on a spree of antisemitism, and it simply crossed the line. Last week, he issued a word salad apology about God, samurais, Africa and The Da Vinci Code. It was much like his response to his slavery comments, but forgiveness and forgetfulness will not come as quickly this time, if at all.

Ye is self-destructing.

Corporations have finally, rightfully, said, Enough. It begs the question: What took you so long? Was disrespecting Black people not enough? But I have to ask the same question to many Black people: Was his disrespect of your ancestors  and of you  not enough? It shouldnt have even gotten to his wearing a White Lives Matter shirt and defending it. It is possible that the corporations figured they could afford to stay silent because too many of us did.

And, when his hurtful words began to hurt his pockets, out came more apologies. This time Ye apologized for saying  against testimony and evidence  that George Floyd died of a fentanyl overdose instead of asphyxiation. As Ye said, his statements hurt the Black people so he wanted to apologize for hurting them because right now God has shown me by what Adidas is doing, and by what the media is doing, I know how it feels to have a knee on my neck now.

Even the apology is problematic and narcissistic. A rich man becoming less rich because of his own ignorance is not even in the same category as Floyds street lynching.

Im not saying that people should not be allowed to apologize for saying things they regret. I certainly have. But it is about the degree of offense, the quality of apology and the repeating of pattern. The fact that Ye keeps coming back to the same kind of offense means that these are not slips of the tongue, but a revealing of character.
More than three millenniums after Tutankhamun was buried in southern Egypt, and a century after his tomb was discovered, Egyptologists are still squabbling over whom the chamber was built for and what, if anything, lies beyond its walls. The debate has become a global pastime.

At the center of the rumpus is the confrontational enthusiast Nicholas Reeves, 66, who shares a home near Oxford, England, with a nameless house cat. In July 2015, Dr. Reeves, a former curator at the British Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, posited the tantalizing theory that there were rooms hidden behind the northern and western walls in the treasure-packed burial vault of Tutankhamun, otherwise known as King Tut.

It was long presumed that the small burial chamber, constructed 3,300 years ago and known to specialists as KV62, was originally intended as a private tomb for Tutankhamuns successor, Ay, until Tutankhamun died prematurely at 19. Dr. Reeves proposed that the tomb was, in fact, merely an antechamber to a grander sepulcher for Tutankhamuns stepmother and predecessor, Nefertiti. Whats more, Dr. Reeves argued, behind the north wall was a corridor that might well lead to Nefertitis unexplored funerary apartments, and perhaps to Nefertiti herself.

The Egyptian government authorized radar surveys using ground-penetrating radar that could detect and scan cavities underground. At a news conference in Cairo in March 2016, Mamdouh el-Damaty, then Egypts antiquities minister, showed the preliminary results of radar scans that revealed anomalies beyond the decorated north and west walls of the tomb, suggesting the presence of two empty spaces and organic or metal objects.
Lt. Gov. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, the Democratic Senate nominee in the state, left, and Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Republican nominee, before their recent debate in Harrisburg, Pa.

With just days until Election Day, candidates in the most competitive races of this midterm season are finished hashing out their differences in debates. Read about those that have taken place.

Thursday, Nov. 3: Maine

In Maine, Gov. Janet T. Mills, a Democrat, and her Republican challenger, former Gov. Paul LePage, met for a final debate. In her closing message to voters, Ms. Mills warned that Mr. LePage would bring fighting, dysfunction and stalemate to the state government.

Read more from News Center Maine: Mills, LePage debate for a final time in race for governor

Wednesday, Nov. 2: New Hampshire

Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, a Democrat, debated Don Bolduc, her Republican challenger, for a final time. Ms. Hassan tried to cast her opponent as an extremist while emphasizing her efforts to work with Republicans in the Senate.

Read more from Seacoast Online: In New Hampshire Senate debate, Hassan and Bolduc argue abortion, inflation and more

Tuesday, Nov. 1: Ohio

The candidates for Senate in Ohio, Representative Tim Ryan, a Democrat, and J.D. Vance, a Republican, participated in a town hall hosted by Fox News. Mr. Vance clarified that he would accept the results of his election, though defended his statements doubting the outcome of the 2020 election.

Read: Vance Says He Will Accept Election Results, While Still Questioning 2020s

Sunday, Oct. 30: Georgia, Washington State

In Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, and Stacey Abrams, his Democratic challenger, met for their second and final debate. Mr. Kemp and Ms. Abrams focused on highlighting their respective platforms, staying clear of personal attacks.

Read: 4 Takeaways From the Last Kemp-Abrams Debate Before Election Day

Senator Patty Murray of Washington, a Democrat, debated Tiffany Smiley, a Republican. Ms. Smiley sought to portray the incumbent as a D.C. insider, telling her opponent, You are not the mom in tennis shoes anymore, a reference to a Murray campaign line.

Read more from The Seattle Times: Patty Murray, Tiffany Smiley meet for 2nd debate as campaign enters homestretch

Friday, Oct. 28: Colorado, Minnesota

In Colorado, Senator Michael Bennet, a Democrat, and Joe ODea, his Republican challenger, debated for a final time. The two candidates both voiced support for mandatory background checks for gun purchases but disagreed on a question about a ban on the sale of assault rifles.

Read more from The Denver Post: A final, feisty debate in U.S. Senate race as Michael Bennet, Joe ODea make their cases

In their final debate in the race to lead Minnesota, Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, and Scott Jensen, his Republican challenger, traded personal attacks. Mr. Jensen said that Mr. Walz had failed his duties as governor, while Mr. Walz said his opponent was running on a dark and fearful vision of Minnesota.

Read more from The Star Tribune: Accusations intensify in third and final Minnesota governor debate

Thursday, Oct. 27: Alaska, Maine, New Hampshire

Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a Republican, debated three challengers, including Kelly Tshibaka, a Republican running to Ms. Murkowskis right. Ms. Murkowski defended her record against criticism from Ms. Tshibaka, who called the incumbent one of the worst senators even imaginable.

The large field is the result of a new system in Alaska that allows the top four candidates to advance to the general election, regardless of party. In the general election, voters again rank the candidates in order of preference.

Read: Murkowski Fends Off Attacks on Her Record in Alaskas Senate Debate

In Maine, Ms. Mills, a Democrat, and Mr. LePage, her Republican challenger, met for their penultimate debate. The two candidates clashed over Maines economy, blaming each other for the states chronic labor shortage.

Read more from The Bangor Daily News: 4 key moments from Thursdays gubernatorial debate

In New Hampshire, Ms. Hassan, a Democrat, debated Mr. Bolduc, her Republican challenger. Mr. Bolduc retracted his previous claims that the 2020 election had been stolen, saying he realized claims of widespread fraud were unfounded.

Read: Hassans challenger, Don Bolduc, goes on the offensive, but stumbles into contradictions

Wednesday, Oct. 26: Alaska

Representative Mary Peltola of Alaska, a Democrat, debated her challengers, including former Gov. Sarah Palin and Nick Begich III, both Republicans. Ms. Peltola, who won a special election this summer after the death of Representative Don Young, painted herself as the natural successor to Mr. Young, a Republican. Several of Mr. Youngs former staff members have endorsed Ms. Peltola.

Read: Peltola Squared Off in Debate Against 3 Challengers in Alaska House Race

Tuesday, Oct. 25: Colorado, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania

In Colorados Senate race, Mr. Bennet, a Democrat, and Mr. ODea, his Republican challenger, argued about inflation and energy prices during a debate hosted by Colorado Mesa University.

Read more from The Denver Post: Three themes and one grim agreement from Michael Bennet and Joe ODeas Senate debate

In Michigan, Tudor Dixon, a Republican challenging Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, defended herself against Ms. Whitmers criticism of her positions on abortion.

Read more from The Detroit Free Press: 4 takeaways from the first Whitmer-Dixon debate"

Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, a Democrat, met her Republican challenger, Lee Zeldin, in their only debate. Mr. Zeldin focused on crime, while Ms. Hochul tried to tie her challenger to former President Donald J. Trump.

Read: Battle for New York: 5 Takeaways From the Hochul-Zeldin Debate

Lt. Gov. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, a Democrat, and Dr. Mehmet Oz, a Republican, met for the only debate of their Senate campaign. The candidates discussed crime, abortion and fracking.

Read: Fetterman, showing the effects of his stroke, battled Oz in a hostile Senate debate

Monday, Oct. 24: Florida, Maine

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, a Republican, and his Democratic challenger, Charlie Crist, a former governor and U.S. lawmaker, discussed abortion, education and climate change in their only debate. The debate was originally scheduled for earlier in the month but was postponed because of Hurricane Ian.

Read: Four Takeaways From the DeSantis-Crist Debate in Floridas Governor Race"

In Maine, Ms. Mills and Mr. LePage each painted themselves as the true champion of Maines lobster industry in the second debate between the candidates for governor.

Read more from The Bangor Daily News: Paul LePages curveballs and Janet Mills look back define 2nd TV debate

Sunday, Oct. 23: Washington State

In Washington, Ms. Murray, a Democrat, faced Tiffany Smiley, her Republican challenger, in a contentious debate. Ms. Murray defended her record and Ms. Smiley tried to blame the incumbent for inflation and rising crime rates.

Read more from The Seattle Times: Patty Murray, Tiffany Smiley spar over crime, abortion, climate at Senate debate

Friday, Oct. 21: Arkansas

Three candidates for governor in Arkansas met for their only debate. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a Republican; Chris Jones, a Democrat; and Ricky Dale Harrington, Jr., a Libertarian; discussed how they approach media access to their campaigns. Ms. Huckabee Sanders, a former White House press secretary, said she prefers to cut out the middle man and speak directly to voters.

Read more from 4029 News: Arkansas governors debate: Candidates respond to question on media access

Thursday, Oct. 20: Massachusetts

The candidates running for governor in Massachusetts, Geoff Diehl, a Republican, and Attorney General Maura Healey, a Democrat, met for their final debate. The two candidates argued about taxes and the states economy but agreed that they would both absolutely accept the results of the election.

Read more from The Boston Globe: Maura Healey and Geoff Diehl spar in final gubernatorial debate

Wednesday, Oct. 19: Oregon

Three candidates running for governor in Oregon met for their final debate. Tina Kotek, a Democrat; Christine Drazan, a Republican; and Betsy Johnson, an independent, all agreed that reducing homelessness would be among their top priorities if elected.

Read more from OregonLive: Candidates for governor clash on homelessness, education, policing during final televised debate

Tuesday, Oct. 18: Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, New Hampshire

In Colorado, Mr. Bennet, a Democrat, and his Republican challenger, Mr. ODea, participated in a 30-minute forum on mental health.

Read more from The Colorado Sun: Colorados U.S. Senate candidates debate in the races first-ever mental health forum

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, a Republican, and Val B. Demings, a Democrat, met for their first debate. They touched on abortion, foreign policy, gun control and property insurance.

Read: Four Takeaways From the Rubio-Demings Debate in Floridas Senate Race

In Illinois, Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, hammered Darren Bailey, his Republican opponent, on his ties to Mr. Trump and others who have questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 election.

Read more from The Chicago Tribune: In final debate, Darren Bailey calls Chicago Pritzkerville, while governor says challenger a threat to democracy

Minnesotas governor, Mr. Walz, a Democrat, and Mr. Jensen, a Republican, argued about how they would spend the states budget. The candidates also disagreed on mining, gun control and opioids.

Read more from The Star Tribune: Walz, Jensen clash in first and only TV debate in Minnesota Governors race

Ms. Hassan of New Hampshire, a Democrat, faced her Republican challenger, Mr. Bolduc, in a debate that focused on economic issues. Mr. Bolduc revealed a point of agreement with the incumbent, on raising the cap on income that can be taxed to fund Social Security.

Read: New Hampshires Senate Debate Reveals a Surprising Point of Agreement

Monday, Oct. 17: Georgia, Iowa, Ohio, Utah

In Georgia, Mr. Kemp, a Republican, and his Democratic challenger, Ms. Abrams met for their first debate this year. The two candidates addressed gun control policies, the states recovery from Covid-19 and economic policy. Shane Hazel, a Libertarian candidate who will be on the ballot, also participated.

Read: 5 Takeaways From the Georgia Governors Debate: Kemp and Abrams Came Ready

Gov. Kim Reynolds of Iowa, a Republican, defended her record against Deirdre DeJear, a Democrat vying for the seat. Ms. Reynolds argued that the states budget had remained balanced under her leadership, while Ms. DeJear accused the incumbent of underfunding public services like education and health care.

Read more from The Des Moines Register: Kim Reynolds and Deidre DeJear spar in their only Iowa governor debate. Heres what they said

In a second debate for Ohios Senate candidates, Mr. Ryan, a Democrat, and Mr. Vance, a Republican, each tried to paint his opponent as extreme.

Read: 5 Takeaways From the Final Ohio Senate Debate

Senator Mike Lee of Utah, a Republican, and his independent challenger, Evan McMullin, agreed on some points, including abortion policy, in their only debate. But Mr. McMullin offered sharp criticism of Mr. Lees role in undermining the results of the 2020 election, a major theme of Mr. McMullins campaign.

Read: 5 Takeaways From the Utah Senate Debate

Friday, Oct. 14: Georgia, Wisconsin

Herschel Walker, a Republican who is challenging Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia, a Democrat, went on the offensive in the pairs first debate, at one point telling Mr. Warnock, a pastor, Do not bear false witness.

Read: Walker Barrels Into Georgia Debate and Meets a Controlled Warnock

In Wisconsin, Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, and Tim Michels, a Republican, disagreed on gun control and parents power in setting school curriculum.

Read more from The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Takeaways from the only debate between Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers and challenger Tim Michels

Thursday, Oct. 13: Colorado, Michigan, Wisconsin

In the first Michigan governors debate, Ms. Whitmer, a Democrat who is seeking her second term, highlighted her experience in elected office over two decades. Ms. Dixon, her Republican challenger and a conservative TV news commentator, cast herself as a political outsider who says the state needs fixing.

Read: Five Takeaways From the Michigan Governors Debate

In the second Senate debate in Wisconsin, Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican, and his Democratic challenger, Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, disagreed on abortion access, but neither candidate explained specific policy changes they would support if elected.

Read: Four Takeaways From the Barnes-Johnson Senate Debate

Candidates for a newly created House seat in Colorado answered questions about oil and gas production, abortion access and a failed secession bid in 2013 that would have broken Northern Colorado off into a new state.

Read more from 9News: CD8 candidates face off on economy, abortion, housing

In a different debate, Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado, a Democrat, and his Republican challenger, Heidi Ganahl, went over their respective plans to eliminate income tax in the state.

Read more from The Colorado Sun: What we learned about Jared Polis and Heidi Ganahl during their debate

Wednesday, Oct. 12: Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico

Marylands candidates for governor, Dan Cox, a Republican, and Wes Moore, a Democrat, traded personal attacks in their only debate. Mr. Moore criticized Mr. Cox for supporting the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, and Mr. Cox accused Mr. Moore of falsifying details in his autobiography, which Mr. Moore has denied.

Read more from The Baltimore Sun: Maryland governor candidates Dan Cox and Wes Moore trade jabs in sole debate

In Massachusetts, the candidates for governor, Mr. Diehl, a Republican, and Ms. Healey, a Democrat, argued over taxes, renewable energy and Mr. Trumps legacy.

Read more from The Boston Globe: Healey, Diehl spar on Trump, abortion rights, and affordability in first TV debate

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, a Democrat, and her Republican challenger, Mark Ronchetti, met for their final debate this year. Ms. Lujan Grisham attacked Mr. Ronchettis dearth of political experience, and Mr. Ronchetti questioned the incumbent about a $150,000 settlement she reached in 2020 with a former staff member who accused her of sexual harassment. Her campaign denies the allegations.

Read more from The Albuquerque Journal: Gov candidates confront each other in combative debate

Monday, Oct. 10: Ohio

The first debate between the candidates for Senate in Ohio, Mr. Ryan and Mr. Vance, was sometimes heated and often personal.

Read: Six Takeaways From the Vance-Ryan Debate in the Ohio Senate Race

Friday, Oct. 7: North Carolina, Wisconsin

Cheri Beasley, a Democratic former chief justice of the State Supreme Court, and Representative Ted Budd, who are competing for a Senate seat in North Carolina, met for a debate in Raleigh. Mr. Budd, a Republican, tried to portray the race as a referendum on President Biden, while Ms. Beasley sought to tie her opponent to election denialism and Mr. Trump.

Read: The Key Issues That Defined North Carolinas Senate Debate

Mr. Johnson and Mr. Barnes previously met for a debate in Madison that put their ideological differences on full display: Mr. Barnes embraced progressive ideas like marijuana legalization and the defense of Black Lives Matter protesters, while Mr. Johnson derided efforts to curb climate change.

Read: Five Takeaways From the Wisconsin Senate Debate

Thursday, Oct. 6: Arizona, Illinois

Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, a Democrat, and Blake Masters, his Republican challenger, met for a debate in Phoenix, where the topics included abortion, immigration and Californias water use.

Read: Five Takeaways From the Arizona Senate Debate

Mr. Pritzker and Mr. Bailey debated in Normal, Ill., as part of their contest for governor. Mr. Bailey pressed Mr. Pritzker, whose presidential ambitions are no secret, to pledge to serve out all four years of his term if re-elected. Moderators asked Mr. Bailey to explain comments that compared abortion to the Holocaust.

Read: In Illinois Governors Debate, Bailey Tries to Put Pritzker on Defensive

Wednesday, Oct. 5: Kansas

Gov. Laura Kelly of Kansas, a Democrat, and her Republican opponent, Derek Schmidt, the state attorney general, met for a debate in Kansas City. Mr. Schmidt danced around the issue of abortion, saying that while he preferred a Kansas that has fewer abortions, not more, he would respect the outcome of an August referendum in the state that preserved abortion rights.

Read: G.O.P. Governor Candidate in Kansas Walks Abortion Tightrope in a Debate

Tuesday, Oct. 4: Maine

Ms. Mills and Mr. LePage met for their first debate in Lewiston, Maine. Mr. LePage struggled to answer a question from a moderator about whether he would veto additional restrictions on abortion if a Republican legislature were to pass them.

Read: LePage Stumbles on Abortion Questioning in Maine Governors Debate
Follow our live coverage of the 2022 midterm elections for the latest news and updates.

ATLANTA  Raphael Warnock, the Democrat fighting for a full term in the Senate, has three jobs these days: candidate, senator and pastor.

On Sunday in Atlanta, he was working double time. First, he delivered a sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he serves as senior pastor, preaching to his parishioners from the book of Acts and delivering a message about both the healing powers of God and the dangers of power-hungry politicians.

Then, at a sanctuary 15 minutes away, with his campaign bus parked out front, he spoke at a Souls to the Polls event, encouraging supporters to vote immediately after church.

Mr. Warnock both preaches and talks politics on the campaign trail, where he invokes Scripture and calls voting a kind of prayer before calling for Medicaid expansion and levying thinly veiled criticisms against his Republican opponent, Herschel Walker. His closing message is the same on the stump as it is in the pulpit: Keep the faith and keep looking up.
Because Brown is our law, S.F.F.As lawyers wrote, Grutter cannot be.

In its Supreme Court brief, lawyers for Harvard wrote that the three affirmative action cases rested on Brown. Bakke, Grutter, and Fisher uphold Brown in every way, they wrote. Like Brown, those decisions relied on the overriding importance of education.

The Biden administration, in a brief supporting the universities, urged the justices to reject what it said was a revisionist view of Brown.

Nothing in Browns condemnation of laws segregating the races to perpetuate a caste system calls into question admissions policies adopted to promote greater integration and diversity, the brief said. And petitioners persistent attempts to equate this case with Brown trivialize the grievous legal and moral wrongs of segregation.

But the challengers wrote that Brown must be read broadly to forbid consideration of race.

Harvard and the United States trivialize Brown by trying to confine that foundational precedent to its facts, lawyers for S.F.F.A. wrote, adding: Surely Harvard doesnt think that Brown would have been different if Southern schools had used a holistic policy that covertly reduced the number of Black students.

At bottom, said Kenji Yoshino, a law professor at New York University, the debate over the meaning of Brown turns on how and why school officials take account of race.

The segregationists believed in race-conscious policies that entrenched the subordination of Black Americans, he said. U.N.C.s race-conscious policies, in stark contrast, seek to ameliorate that dehumanizing subordination. This has always been the crux of the affirmative action debate. Does the 14th Amendments equal protection clause forbid racial classification itself or only racial classification that entrenches historical subordination?
SAN FRANCISCO  A trail of strained relationships. An itinerant life that included a stint living in a storage unit. A personality that was consumed by darkness.

Accounts from people who know the man accused of the break-in and violent attack Friday on Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, described indications of a troubled individual and growing signs of politically fueled hate.

That man, David DePape, 42, remains in custody and will likely face several charges, including attempted homicide and assault with a deadly weapon, as early as Monday, with an arraignment expected Tuesday, the authorities said. The San Francisco district attorney, Brooke Jenkins, said on Saturday that Mr. DePape had given a statement to the San Francisco Police Department, though she declined to elaborate.

According to law enforcement officials, Mr. DePape broke into the Pelosis San Francisco home in the early morning hours on Friday through a back entrance. He was looking for Ms. Pelosi, who was in Washington, the authorities have said, and yelled, Where is Nancy? In a struggle with Mr. Pelosi, 82, over a hammer, Mr. DePape struck Mr. Pelosi with it at least once as the police arrived and apprehended him, the police said. At the house, Mr. DePape had zip ties, a person with knowledge of the investigation said on Sunday.
MOGADISHU, Somalia  The students, pondering their next moves in life, lined up at the Ministry of Education to collect their high school certificates. Nearby on the bustling street, patrons packed restaurants and shops, while vendors, including mothers with children on their laps, sold vegetables and exchanged money. And just up the road, old men trickled out of a mosque before crowding into buses and three-wheeled tuk-tuks.

But several minutes after 2 p.m. on Saturday, they were all caught in a twin car explosion that tore through the Somali capital, Mogadishu, leveling buildings and burning up dozens of cars.

At least 100 people were killed and nearly 300 others wounded in the attack, the Somali president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, said on Sunday, in the most devastating act of terrorism to hit the country in five years.

The attack highlighted the challenges facing Somali leaders: The government is under persistent threat from the terrorist group Al Shabab, which claimed responsibility for the blasts, and is also trying to address rising energy and food costs and a looming famine.
As the race between Brazils right-wing president, Jair Bolsonaro, and his leftist challenger, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, tightened, Mr. Bolsonaro and his allies intensified their courting of a voting bloc key to his campaign: evangelical Christians.

In the days leading to Sundays runoff election, the country was awash in harsh attacks against Mr. da Silva that were meant in part to sway evangelical voters, who make up by some estimates roughly 30 percent of the population and have become key supporters of Mr. Bolsonaro.

The president likely needs this bloc, which tends to be more conservative than other religious groups in Brazil, to vote for him in significant numbers if he is to win a second term.

Mr. Bolsonaro won more than 60 percent of the evangelical vote in his first campaign for the presidency in 2018 and received a similar percentage during the first round of voting in this election cycle.
RIO DE JANEIRO  Brazils elections chief ordered the head of the countrys highway police to answer allegations that he had ordered traffic stops, particularly of buses transporting voters to the polls, in an effort to suppress turnout in Sundays presidential election.

There were dozens of reports on social media on Sunday that federal highway agents were stopping vehicles and questioning people in several states across Brazil. Such stops appeared to violate orders from election officials on Saturday to halt any traffic stops on Election Day that could hinder peoples efforts to vote.

Alexandre de Moraes, a Supreme Court justice who leads Brazils election agency, issued an order to the head of Brazils federal highway police, calling on the official to provide proof that his officers were not violating election rules to benefit President Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right incumbent.

In the order, Mr. Moraes included a link to a tweet from a person claiming that the highway police had set up a roadblock in the northeastern city of Cuite and were not letting people pass. Its already driving away the population of the countryside! the tweet said. Brazils northeast is a leftist stronghold.
Supporters of Mr. Bolsonaros opponent, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a leftist former president, seized on the comment, drawing comparisons with cannibals real (Jeffrey Dahmer) and fictitious (Hannibal Lecter).

Memes about Mr. Bolsonaros appetite for human flesh proliferated. Mentions of Bolso-Lecter, BolsoDahmer and, yes, Canibalsonaro flooded social media feeds.

That cannibalism became such a big conversation topic reflected the campaigns descent into mudslinging in its final days, punctuated by accusations of freemasonry, devil worship and pedophilia. Mr. da Silva, for his part, had to rebut claims publicly that he formed a pact with Satan.

At the time of the wide-ranging interview with Mr. Bolsonaro, it was hard to tell if his cannibalism comment was some sort of yarn or if he was trying to provoke a reaction. He made the remark unprompted. The Yanomami people, who live in the region of the Amazon referred to by Mr. Bolsonaro, say they have no tradition of cannibalism.

Now that Mr. Bolsonaro has been president since 2019, his remarks are viewed as a reflection of his character and his policies. Beyond broaching a taboo, Mr. Bolsonaro has pushed to open Indigenous lands to mining, slashed environmental protections and overseen a surge in the deforestation of the Amazon, the worlds largest rainforest.
Brazilians will head to the polls on Sunday to elect a new president in a bruising runoff between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the future of Latin Americas biggest democracy.

The right-wing president, Jair Bolsonaro, has rallied supporters around what he calls a leftist attack on family values and individual liberties. He has cast academics, the media and even democratic institutions, including Brazils Congress and Supreme Court, as enemies.

The leftist challenger, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a former president, has vowed to govern for all Brazilians, while returning the country to a more prosperous past, though his own history of corruption scandals has divided voters.

During the first round of voting on Oct. 2, Mr. da Silva drew about six million more votes than Mr. Bolsonaro, who came in second, but he fell short of the 50 percent threshold to avoid a runoff. Mr. Bolsonaro did far better than pollsters had predicted, suggesting that Sundays race could be close.
In New Zealand, where a series of cases has brought public scrutiny to the issue, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern justified the policy as necessary for maintaining a fragile public health system.

When you individualize and talk about individual stories, those stories are hard and very difficult, Ms. Ardern told Newshub, a New Zealand news outlet, in February. But, she said, We do have a universal public health system. Once you are here on long-term visas, you receive that free care, so we need to make sure we can continue to provide that free care, well, to everyone.

Migrants are also sometimes denied visas over the potential cost of other kinds of state-sponsored care, including special education. Ignacia Vasquez, 19, has an intellectual disability and can say only a few words but is physically healthy. Shes completely lovely, her mother, Carolina Vasquez, said. Sometimes people dont even know she has a problem.

When Ms. Vasquez and her husband migrated to New Zealand from Chile in 2015, their daughter was denied a visa on the grounds of the costs related to her disability and remained in Chile with family.

She was eventually granted a student visa in 2019, when the associate minister of immigration intervened. But that visa has an expiration date of just a few years, and the family has been fighting ever since for her to be able to stay on, submitting an avalanche of reports from medical specialists at their own expense.

You dont know whats going to happen the next day, the next week, said Ms. Vasquez, a chef in Christchurch.
SEOUL  It was supposed to be a festive evening, throngs of raucous youngsters dressed as zombies, princesses and super heroes converging on one of Seouls most popular nightlife districts for their first restriction-free Halloween celebration since the pandemic began.

Late Saturday evening, they crowded into bars and nightclubs pumping out the latest K-pop hits and spilled out into the tight alleys that wind through the citys Itaewon neighborhood. They snacked on the Greek, Turkish, Italian and other international foods for which the diverse district is known.

As the night grew more frenetic and the mass of revelers swelled, many of them crammed into an alleyway barely 11 feet wide, in a bottleneck of human traffic that made it difficult to breathe and move. There were few police officers around, and from within the crowd came calls to push, push and a big shove, according to witnesses. Then, they began to fall, a tangle of too many bodies, compressed into too small of a space.
Shin Su-Bin was not answering her phone.

It was around 10 p.m. Saturday and her father had just seen reports of a deadly crowd crush in Seouls Itaewon nightlife district, where his only daughter was out celebrating Halloween with a friend. The phone rang for hours.

At around 5 a.m. this morning, a police officer answered Su-Bins phone, her cousin, Kim Young-hoon, said in an interview on Sunday. The officer told Su-Bins father that the phone left on the ground was ringing.

By then officials had announced that more than 100 people had died in the crush and dozens more had been injured. The death toll would increase to more than 150 by Sunday afternoon.

The police officer who picked up the phone of Ms. Shin, 25, instructed her parents to head to a nearby community center for more information. At midday, there were still no answers.
Park Ga-young was a small-town girl going to school in a big city, with dreams of continuing her studies abroad.

Originally from the rural town of Hongseong, in western South Korea, she was a student at Mokwon University in Daejeon, a metropolis not too far from her home. She had also been working part time to save money so that she could afford to realize her dream of studying fashion design in Canada.

On Saturday, Ms. Park, 19, was taking a getaway in Seoul when she found herself swept up in a crowd surge in the Itaewon neighborhood during Halloween festivities. She was one of 150 people who died.

She was supposed to turn 20 on Tuesday.

What to do about my child? What to do about my child? Ms. Parks mother, Choi Seon-mi, said as she cried, her head and arms against a wall at the Hannam Community Center, where families were waiting on Sunday to find out about their loved ones.
By 8 p.m. on Saturday, the throngs of people were already too large for the narrow alley packed with bars.

There was almost no crowd control, said Nuhyin Ahmed, 32, who along with several friends tried to get through to join Halloween revelers in the alley next to the Hamilton Hotel in the Itaewon nightlife district. They gave up after 20 minutes and went down a different alleyway.

But even there, Mr. Ahmed said, there was minimal police presence, perhaps four officers trying to guide the mass of people pouring in. Mr. Ahmed, a tech worker from India, and his friends ended up back on the main street, where he said the crowd felt like a wave, with forces pushing him back and forth.

I didnt know where it was coming from, backwards or front or the middle; it was like a tsunami wave, he said. I mostly heard the screams of women, he said, adding that it was hard to understand that what was happening was fatal because of the loud music and the huge number of people.
BERLIN  Germany understood the trap of strategic vulnerability that it had laid for itself in relying so heavily on Russian gas only after Moscow invaded Ukraine and turned off the spigot. But whether that lesson has been fully absorbed may be tested elsewhere: China.

As Chancellor Olaf Scholz prepares for his first visit to Beijing on Thursday, a planeload of executives in tow, Germanys intelligence chiefs and allies are warning him against pursuing business as usual with a China that is saber-rattling in the Taiwan Strait. Were tensions to escalate, Europes most powerful democracy could be exposed to economic coercion.

More than a million German jobs depend directly on China, and many more indirectly. Almost half of all European investments in China are from Germany and almost half of German manufacturing businesses rely on China for some part of their supply chain.

And Germanys dependence on China is more complex than that on Russia: In addition to Chinas export market, German industry also relies on China for raw materials and technologies critical for the transition to a carbon-neutral economy. From solar modules to batteries for electric cars, China is crucial.
We as Arab voters, we may be able to send our leaders to the Knesset, but we dont know if it will have much of an impact, she said. It may affect local budgets and services, but things like the discrimination against Arabs, this is impossible to change unless the country changes.

Raam promised to secure the official recognition of Khasham Zana and two other villages  homes to Bedouin, Palestinian communities that were once seminomadic  and said it also intended to prepare a plan to deal with dozens of other unrecognized villages in Israels Negev Desert.

But that has not happened, and few other improvements have taken place in a village where, besides the school and half-finished road, there is no other infrastructure. Though power lines run alongside the edges of Khasham Zana, there is no state-supplied electricity, and residents must rely on solar power. There are no sewers or garbage collection. Running water comes from water tanks and pipes that residents installed themselves.

Ms. Abu Hadoba-Freh comes from another unrecognized village, Wadi Samara, where residents face home demolitions and must rely on themselves for almost all services, including setting up solar panels for electricity.

She voted in the past four elections. But she is questioning whether she will vote again this time.

Even before Raam, more Palestinian voters were beginning to question their involvement in the Parliament, said Mansour Nasasra, a professor of politics at Ben Gurion University of the Negev, especially as there has been no progress on other key issues of importance to the Palestinians, including rising violence within the Arab community and increased attacks and police raids on holy sites.

Those reservations have only increased with an Arab party in government, he said.
It was inhumane and we were children. It felt like the end of the world. Theyre going to find a way to put a bruise on you. I still cant move forward with my life. Dying Inside: Chaos and Cruelty in Louisiana Juvenile Detention Repeated abuses, overlooked complaints and a surge in suicide attempts at a detention center with powerful allies.

COUSHATTA, La.  The last time Bridget Peterson saw her son Solan was through the window of a holding cell at Ware Youth Center, just two weeks after his 13th birthday. Even for such a small boy  a shade over five feet tall, barely 90 pounds  the cell looked cramped.

Four days later, he was dead by suicide. I remember screaming, My boy is gone, Mrs. Peterson said.

Solan Peterson in 2018, on his final first day of school. He was sent to Ware Youth Center six months later. The Peterson Family

She soon learned that another child at Ware had killed himself two days before. Then she learned that her son had been isolated in that bare cell for at least four days, even though state rules said he shouldnt have spent a single night there. The guards, who were supposed to check on him every 15 minutes, hadnt done so for more than two hours, just as they had neglected to check on the other boy, state regulators records and surveillance footage show.

Its like, what on earth is going on? she said.

For a few days in February 2019, the back-to-back suicides flashed across the news cycle around northwest Louisiana. But inside the walls at Ware, one of the states largest juvenile detention facilities, children have been trying to kill themselves with stunning regularity.

There were at least 64 suicide attempts at Ware in 2019 and 2020, a rate higher than at any other juvenile facility in the state. Children have tied socks, towels and sheets around their necks. They have swallowed baby powder, screws, fluid from an ice pack. Two tried to drown themselves.

Escape attempts are surging, too: At least 91 children have tried to flee since the beginning of 2019, a little more than 5 percent of those held at Ware in that period. In June 2020, a girl told staff members that she was going to run away in hopes that the police would take her to the big jail rather than back to Ware, records show. A second told staff members at Ware that she would rather be sent to a psychiatric hospital than spend another day there. Soon after, she tried to kill herself by leaping from a roof.

Behind any attempt at suicide lies a tangle of factors. But what has happened at Ware has brought into sharp focus pervasive despair among children there that no one is going to rescue them from repeated acts of physical violence, sexual assault and psychological torment, an investigation by The New York Times and the Investigative Reporting Program at the University of California, Berkeley, Graduate School of Journalism found.

For years, Wares leaders have failed to report complaints of abuse, hired unqualified employees and disregarded state rules. Records offer no evidence that state regulators have ever fined or punished Ware, or threatened its contracts, even as inspectors have documented the same failings year after year. Local law-enforcement officials have been largely dismissive of sexual-abuse allegations at Ware.

The Times/Berkeley investigation  based on more than 100 interviews with people previously held at Ware and current and former staff members, thousands of pages of records and court documents, and hours of security footage  reveals how a place meant to offer children care and rehabilitation instead descended into chaos and cruelty. Guards beat and choked their wards. Several forced children to endure sexual abuse as the price for phone privileges. They frequently maintained control by bribing children with food to assault other children.

I used to tell myself Im not going to ever get through this stuff, Asia Perkins, the girl who threw herself off the roof, said in an interview.

In interviews and documents, 42 people held at Ware over the last 25 years described being sexually abused by staff members. Many accounts were corroborated by relatives, others once held at Ware or court records. In all, they identified 30 staff members who had sexually abused children at Ware; one of the accused, a longtime manager, still works there. Yet many said they had remained silent at the time, out of fear of retaliation or the understanding that others complaints had been simply brushed aside.

Basically, you cant do nothing, you cant go tell on them, said Shakira Williams, who spent about a year and a half at Ware.

Ware declined to comment for this article.

The center may be extreme in some respects, but it embodies the chronic dysfunctions of Americas juvenile justice systems, their stubborn resistance to decades of exposes and waves of reform. In Louisiana, where brutal conditions prompted juvenile justice reform two decades ago, the system is again in crisis. Amid chronic staffing shortages, a succession of headline-grabbing uprisings and escapes is being met with measures once banned, such as arming some guards with Tasers.

Ware, in Red River Parish, is also emblematic of the systems pervasive racial imbalances. Roughly three-quarters of the children held there are Black, many from urban areas hours away from this part of the state, which violently opposed Reconstruction and fought school desegregation into the late 1970s. Most Ware guards are Black, as well, though nearly all of its leaders are white, as are the local judge, sheriff and district attorney.

Yet central to the story of Ware are the politics and protocols of this patch of northwest Louisiana forest and bayou, where a handful of influential men harnessed their power to direct millions of state dollars to the construction and nurturing of what is now a major regional employer, while insulating it from outside intervention. They had their political ducks in a row, said Mary Livers, who until 2016 ran the states Office of Juvenile Justice. It was pretty well protected.

At the same time, allegations of abuse at Ware have frequently received superficial scrutiny from the local criminal-justice system. Year after year, records and interviews show, the sheriffs office conducted cursory investigations, sometimes failing to interview key witnesses or rejecting out of hand allegations from children they viewed as incorrigible criminals. Julie Jones, who has prosecuted three Ware guards for sexual abuse in her 13 years as district attorney, offered each of them plea bargains that kept them out of prison and off sex-offender registries.

I do not like the idea of burdening someone with a charge that they do not deserve, Ms. Jones said in an interview.

Asked if those cases gave her concerns about the safety of children at Ware, she responded: Were talking about armed robbers and murderers. And these girls havent even hit the age of 18 yet, some of them. Do I worry about their safety? No, I dont. I think that theyre quite capable of taking care of themselves.

In fact, while some of the children at Ware are held for violent crimes, a vast majority are girls and boys like Solan Peterson, sent there for nonviolent offenses or infractions as minor as skipping school. We knew there would be consequences, his mother said, but my kid didnt deserve to die because he set fire to a roll of toilet paper in a school.

Joseph Rushmore for The New York Times Joseph Rushmore for The New York Times

Last Line of Defense

On Thursday nights in the late 1980s, some of the most powerful men in northwest Louisiana  judges, sheriffs deputies and politicians from seven neighboring parishes  began meeting at the Catfish Bend restaurant south of town to discuss a shared problem: where to send local children who broke the law.

Some of Louisianas larger parishes had their own juvenile detention centers. But in small parishes like Red River, officials had to hope they could snag empty beds  at considerable expense  at a center in, say, Lafayette or Baton Rouge, several hours away.

One Catfish Bend participant was Donald Kelly, a close confidant of Gov. Edwin Edwards. As the Democratic floor leader in the State Senate, Mr. Kelly wielded significant influence over the state budget; now he would use it to secure funding for a juvenile facility serving all seven parishes. Red River is one of Louisianas least populous parishes, but Mr. Kelly said in an interview that he worked to have the new center built there, in the place where he grew up and where his former law partner was the judge.

Donald Kelly, former state senator. Kenny Loftin, director of Ware, 1993-2015 and 2021-22. Richard Ware, Red River Parish district judge.

The center would be named for that judge, Richard Ware. Its director would be Kenny Loftin, a 29-year-old child-abuse investigator recommended by Mr. Kelly and voted in by Wares founders. As one Catfish Bend participant put it, Mr. Loftin was Donnies guy.

Ware opened in 1993, at a time when Louisiana was earning a reputation for operating one of the countrys worst juvenile systems. A series of scandals led to the closing of all privately run juvenile facilities, and in 2000, the federal government assumed oversight of those run by the state.

RED RIVER PARISH 155 71 Red River Ware Youth Center Coushatta 49 Detail area 1 1 Louisiana New Orleans 10 miles The New York Times

But Ware was neither private nor state-run. It was a political subdivision of the state, created by legislation and overseen by a board composed of many of the men who met at Catfish Bend. This structure offered them and their charismatic new director ready access to tax dollars and far more independence from regulators.

Ware began to grow. In addition to the detention center, for children arrested and awaiting disposition of their cases, it added group homes for children with substance abuse and behavioral problems. And with Mr. Loftin working his political connections, Ware won a no-bid contract to house every girl in Louisiana sentenced to secure care  the states most restrictive form of detention for children convicted of crimes  along with $5 million to build new girls dormitories.

One of the first to arrive would be Shakira Williams. On Sept. 30, 2009, nearly 300 miles to the south, Shakira woke up at Florida Parishes Juvenile Detention Center expecting a routine Wednesday. Instead, she recalls, she and about a dozen other girls were shackled and loaded into a van headed for Ware.

Shakira, 16 at the time, had entered the juvenile system the year before. Her mother struggling with addiction, Shakira had turned to theft to support her siblings. I was the oldest, and I had to step up. Or I thought I had to, she said in an interview. She got caught and was put in a group home. When she was arrested again  for possessing an acquaintances gun  she was sentenced to secure care at Florida Parishes.

Shakira Williams at 18, soon after her release. She was sent to Ware in 2009, amid the facilitys expansion. Ms. Williams in 2020, age 27. She recalls being locked up for 23 hours a day. Rachel Lauren Mueller

There the program was tailored to girls, many of whom had histories of sexual abuse or pregnancy. Florida Parishes is just an hour from New Orleans and Baton Rouge, where most of the girls were from. We were doing good work with girls, Joseph Dominick, an administrator at Florida Parishes, said. Why send them so far up north?

Shakira was struck by the straight cotton fields as the van drew closer to Ware, she recalls. There were a lot of things that would upset an African-American kid, she said.

At Ware  the detention center, school and several group homes surrounded by 125 acres of forest  Shakira found a place that seemed to view her as irredeemable. Training materials in use since at least 2014 teach employees that society expects them to serve as their last line of defense in protecting their community from those deemed unfit to live among them.

At Florida Parishes, days had been carefully structured with school and therapy; misbehavior was met with five-minute timeouts. But with Wares new girls dormitories still unfinished, Shakira said, she was placed in a cell and put on 23 and 1  23 hours a day locked up, with one hour out to shower. She and other girls said they were kept on lockdown until the new housing was ready.

Eleanor Morgan, a former supervisor with decades of experience in other juvenile facilities, said she had never seen lockdown used as much as at Ware. Experts have long known that prolonged isolation is harmful to childrens neurological development. In 2013, the state limited lockdown to 72 hours. But Ware continued confining children for far longer, five people held at Ware said. One said she had been kept on lockdown for two months.

Ware is not being held accountable for the staff that they hire, for the lack of training that they give to their staff and the safety of the kids, said Eleanor Morgan, a former Ware supervisor. Rachel Lauren Mueller and Meg Shutzer/8 Days at Ware

What made lockdown worse, several said, were psychiatric drugs  common in juvenile facilities  that left them feeling like zombies. Forced to take Seroquel and Prozac but fearing their effects, Shakira would hide the pills under her tongue and stow them under her mattress, she said.

I dont know how they function with the amount of medications some of them were on, said Janice McCanliss, who worked at Ware until 2019.

Wares policies prohibit the inflicting of physical pain on a youth for punishment. But a majority of those interviewed for this article who had been held at Ware or worked there said guards routinely punished, degraded or inflicted pain.

One favored takedown, they said, was chicken wings: Guards would cross your arms behind your back, then force them up until it seemed that your shoulders would pop out of their sockets. Patricia Bell, who still works at Ware, said in an interview in 2020 that the technique had been part of the training until 2018. Now you arent supposed to do the chicken wing, she said. Of course, they still do. In reports to the state, Wares nurses described carpet burns on childrens faces and head-to-toe bruises from restraints.

For Shakira, the abuse didnt let up once she moved into Wares new dormitories. She was no longer locked up all day, but she and others once held at Ware overwhelmingly recalled a staff who tormented them. They would say my mom didnt want me for nothing but a disability check, said Dayja Nixon, incarcerated at Ware in 2017 and 2018. Six women said staff members had withheld sanitary pads as punishment. One recalled a white supervisor who treated Black children differently. I frightened her; she called me an N-word, she said.

Shakiras dorm supervisor, Tynica Haskett, inspired singular fear. Nine women once held at Ware said she would often painfully restrain and beat children. It was like a drill, said one former co-worker, Tracy Mosley. She would go into the rooms on a rampage and flip the mattresses, take the kids down.

Ms. Haskett, who no longer works at Ware, declined to comment.

Sometimes guards bribed children to beat up other children. Theyd give us a sign by gesturing toward the designated target, Shakira said. Then, theyd take your order for shrimp or chicken.

She remembered being constantly hungry, and said that when a female guard came into her room and kissed her, she went along, enduring sexual abuse for weeks in exchange for food. Youve got to survive, she said.

She gave me Laffy Taffy to be quiet, wrote Cortasia Pree at age 15, in a statement about a guard who she said kissed two of her peers, including Shakira Williams.

Not all employees were abusive. Samyra Williams, held at Ware until 2020, recalled that she grew close to her units residential adviser; she called her the mother that most children wish they had.

But even the best intentions were challenged by Wares culture. Precious Sellers said she hoped to be a role model when she started as a guard in 2019. That was knocked out of me the first time I went into Ware, she said. She quit after a month.

Joseph Rushmore for The New York Times Joseph Rushmore for The New York Times

You Dont Have A Choice

In separate interviews, 29 people held at Ware over the past 25 years said they had endured sexual abuse by staff members. Incident reports and lawsuits reveal allegations from 13 more.

They described a range of abuses, from suggestive comments and lewd gestures to rape. One girl said baring her breasts was quid pro quo for access to library books. Another said a guard forced her to take photos on his cellphone of her touching her genitals. A third said she was 13 when a guard raped her. The next time he tried she fought back, only to be sprayed with Mace. The time after that, she said, she stopped resisting. Boys were abused, too. This past April, a female guard was captured on surveillance video orally raping a boy.

In some cases, guards continued to harass those held at Ware after they left. U can b my boo n Ill be ur little secret, one wrote to a 17-year-old on Facebook five months after her release.

Yet former residents and employees, in interviews, said Wares leaders were largely indifferent, even apathetic, in the face of abuse allegations.

In separate interviews, four women said a supervisor named Mallory Parson II had raped them. Another said he would enter her cell and strip-search her. Three others said he had sexually harassed them. Shakira Williams recalled his boasting about sexually assaulting girls  he called it breathing. He would say, I need everyone to go to sleep so I can go breathe, she said.

In an interview, Mr. Parson, who left Ware in 2013, described his accusers as criminals from the streets who should not be believed. I never had intercourse with any of them girls, he said. We cant do that. Too many people, too many cameras.

But the eight women who described Mr. Parsons conduct said it typically took place in the surveillance systems blind spots  the nurses bathroom, the laundry room, the holding cells. Indeed, records show that abuse has been happening in those places for years.

Gabryell Hardy, sent to Ware in 2009 at 14, was often locked in a holding cell where she came face to face with Mr. Parson. Isolated in the cell, she said, her heart would pound at the sound of jingling keys. She would cross her legs as Mr. Parson came in and sat next to her on the concrete bed. His breath would stink, he would be so close, she said. She would push him off, but he would not stop.

Sometimes you just let him touch you, you just let him, because you dont have a choice, she explained. Reporting him seemed futile, because his conduct was an open secret. Thats their house, she said. Whatever they say goes.

Gabryell Hardy was 14 and an orphan when she arrived at Ware in 2009. Your life is already hard, then you get to someplace like Ware, and they show you they dont care, said Ms. Hardy, now a mother of five, studying to be a chiropractor. Rachel Lauren Mueller

She considered hanging herself. This is your life, Ms. Hardy, now 27, recalls thinking. This is it.

Two women who said they had been sexually assaulted by Mr. Parson recalled reporting it to Wares administrators. Three employees  a guard, a supervisor and a teacher  said in interviews that they, too, had reported Mr. Parson for inappropriate sexual conduct. None of the five recalled any kind of investigation in response to their allegations, which came between 2005 and 2011.

It is unclear how Wares administrators responded to these complaints, if at all. Ware declined to produce records of abuse complaints against its employees. However, Mr. Parson said he had once been suspended while the sheriffs office investigated a sexual-abuse allegation against him. The inquiry ended in a matter of days, he said, adding that he had never been questioned. There is no record of him being charged.

Among the 30 staff members accused of sexual abuse at Ware  in incident reports that Ware submitted to the state, as well as court files and interviews  was the detention centers longtime manager, Raymond Lloyd Jr., an imposing man in his 50s who has worked there since it opened. Two women said Mr. Lloyd had groped them; one of them said he had stuck his fingers in her vagina. Four more described physical abuse.

Doreisha Martin, incarcerated at Ware more than a decade ago, remembered Mr. Lloyd entering the room as she was being restrained by several staff members. He actually spat in my face, she said. He pulled her head back by her hair and then, Mr. Raymond, he choked me unconscious.

Doreisha Martin, sent to Ware at 13, said she was physically and sexually abused there. Now 27, she said guards continue to harass her. I still cant move forward with my life. Megan Shutzer

All these years later, she says she still cant bear to have anyone behind her.

In May 2021, another child told her probation officer that Mr. Lloyd had choked her, an incident report shows. She is one of 15 children who described being choked by Ware employees. That same month, documents show, a third child confided to her probation officer that Mr. Lloyd had told her he could touch her with one finger and make her melt.

There is no evidence that any outside regulator looked into the accusations against Mr. Lloyd, who continues to work at Ware.

The Department of Children and Family Services said the May 2021 allegations had been investigated by the local sheriffs office  which, for its part, said neither accusation had even been reported. Apparently this was an unfounded complaint investigated in-house, Suzanne Gallier, chief of criminal investigations and narcotics for the Red River Parish Sheriffs Office, wrote on an incident report for both allegations. In an email, she said that the Office of Juvenile Justice had also assigned an investigator. But the general counsel for that agency said it would not have had jurisdiction to investigate.

The sheriffs office would not provide The Times with records of investigations into Ware employees. But Captain Gallier expressed skepticism about the childrens allegations. You cant believe what these kids say, she said, adding, These kids come from all over the place, from down south, New Orleans, Baton Rouge. Theyre different, theyre a lot rougher.

As the detention centers manager, Mr. Lloyd was supposed to receive reports of sexual abuse. But former staff members and people once held in the facility described his response as often grudging or dismissive. Mary Ann Wiggins, who taught at Ware for 14 years, said that when a student confided that Mr. Parson had assaulted her, she typed up a report and hand-delivered it to Mr. Lloyd. I dont think Raymond appreciated that I believed the girl, she said.

Former employees said they perceived a culture of picks and chooses that protected those with the right local connections, like Mr. Parson, whose father was a longtime Coushatta councilman. At least six of Mr. Lloyds relatives have worked at Ware. Ms. Morgan, the former supervisor, had one of his nephews on her shift; she feared retaliation if she reported him for even the smallest infraction.

Coushatta look out for Coushatta people, she explained.

Mr. Lloyd declined to comment.

Joseph Rushmore for The New York Times Joseph Rushmore for The New York Times

Malfeasance in Office

In 1997, David Adkins, a Red River Parish sheriffs deputy, learned that a Ware supervisor, Ronald Peace, had been sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl in the laundry room.

Like pretty much everyone who would be involved in the case, Mr. Adkins was quite familiar with Ware. He was one of its founders and remained a board member.

Wares assistant director, Joey Cox, took the victims statement. Wares director, Mr. Loftin, was permitted to weigh in on what charges to bring.

The judge was another board member, Lewis Sams, and after Mr. Peaces conviction, he sentenced him to three years in prison. Ron will be out in one to one and a half years max, Mr. Adkins wrote in his journal after the sentencing, adding, It doesnt help to try to keep kids from being sexually abused in Red River Parish. In an interview, Mr. Sams said that he had informed Mr. Peaces lawyer that he was on the board, and that he had later stepped down to avoid possible conflicts. He declined to comment on the sentence.

DA: Mr. Loftin, after the incident on October 17, were any procedures changed immediately after that?



Loftin: Yes, sir. There were a lot of procedures changed. One thing, the kids because of unrest at the facility, the kids were in lock-down for a couple of weeks there until we felt like we had control. During grand jury proceedings in the case against Ronald Peace, a Ware supervisor, the district attorney questioned Mr. Loftin, Wares director.

The case would become emblematic of Red River Parishs handling of allegations of abuse at Ware. In fact, of the four guards convicted of sexually assaulting children at Ware, Mr. Peace would be the only one imprisoned. In interviews with former deputies who investigated abuse allegations at Ware, and in records from their investigations, a portrait of indifference emerges. The sheriffs office deferred to Ware officials like Mr. Lloyd on what video evidence was relevant. Witnesses were interviewed perfunctorily, if at all. Even the children reporting the abuse were not always interviewed.

If there wasnt video or an eyewitness, there wasnt a lot we could do, said Johnny Taylor, a former sheriffs detective. Most of the girls in there, its hard to believe what they say. Theyre not in there for going to church on Sunday.

One case he investigated involved 15-year-old Natalee Brannon. In January 2014, Natalee was sent to Ware after fighting with her mother, who had called the police hoping it would scare her into better behavior. When she came home two days later, she went straight to the shower. Shes showering over and over and over and over and crying, and Im just thinking, God, why did I put her there? said her mother, Jennifer Denman.

Natalee Brannon, now 24, was 15 when she was held for two days at Ware, where she says she was raped by a guard. He was accused of raping two other girls and received a plea deal with probation. Rachel Lauren Mueller

Worried, Ms. Denman took her daughter to the hospital, where a nurse told her Natalee needed rape counseling.

That same week, another 15-year-old reported that a Ware supervisor, Christopher Morris, had repeatedly raped her. The detective reviewed video, provided by Ware, that showed Mr. Morris entering a bathroom with the girl, something male guards were forbidden to do. Mr. Taylor soon discovered that Mr. Morris had been alone in the bathroom with a second girl. When he learned of Natalees hospital visit, he suspected she might be a third.

Natalee was not ready to talk. (She would later say Mr. Morris had threatened her mothers life if she spoke.)

There is no evidence that Mr. Taylor looked into whether Mr. Morriss behavior extended beyond that week or if there were any other victims. Two of Mr. Morriss colleagues said they were never interviewed, including a guard who took the original complaint against him, and another who remembered his repeatedly taking private phone calls in the bathroom. Still, Mr. Taylor believed he had enough evidence to put Mr. Morris away for decades.

Instead, prosecutors offered Mr. Morris two years probation, without inclusion in the sex-offender registry, if he pleaded guilty to four counts of malfeasance in office for sexual conduct  a charge Louisiana prosecutors often use against prison guards accused of illicit sexual relationships.

The outcome surprised Mr. Taylor. With someone not from here, you throw the book at them, the detective said. (Mr. Morris declined to comment.)

Ms. Jones, the district attorney since 2009, said in an interview that in negotiating the plea, she had, among other things, looked to previous cases against Ware employees. Five years earlier, she had negotiated pleas with two other guards, the cousins Chiquita and Laquinta Ware, who were accused of sexually abusing two girls. (One was Shakira Williams.) They pleaded guilty to malfeasance in office and served probation.

I try, whether it be right or wrong, for first offenders to give them a probationary period, unless theres an aggravated crime, Ms. Jones said.

She would not elaborate on why there were no aggravating factors in the cases of sexual assault by Ware guards on incarcerated children.

What I like to do is to say, Here is your opportunity to do different.

Joseph Rushmore for The New York Times Joseph Rushmore for The New York Times

Dog and Pony Show

Two state agencies oversee Louisianas juvenile system, and each has had ample opportunity to intervene at Ware.

The Office of Juvenile Justice, which provides much of Wares funding, assesses the effectiveness of therapeutic programs and investigates sexual-abuse allegations. The Department of Children and Family Services licenses Ware and is charged with ensuring compliance with state standards. Ware is legally required to notify both of serious incidents of abuse, and both have broad investigative authority.

They can also issue fines or revoke contracts and licenses. Neither agency has taken these steps against Ware. In fact, in audits dating back to 2012, the Office of Juvenile Justice has awarded Ware ratings of effective, highly effective and in full compliance.

Records and interviews offer evidence that state oversight is frequently superficial and easy to manipulate. Inspectors fail to uncover serious problems at Ware, and when they do identify shortcomings  often the same ones over and over  state officials rarely enforce demands for change.

From 2012 to 2019, for example, the Office of Juvenile Justice repeatedly found that Wares therapy programs for girls were delivered by untrained staff members, with little regard for girls individual needs. Each time, the agency reiterated its recommended improvements, yet as of last year, Wares counseling was still rated noncompliant with state standards. The agency declined to comment for this article.

Children and Family Services, meanwhile, has consistently found deficiencies, such as failing to disburse medication correctly or do timely mental-health evaluations. Each time, Ware has submitted a plan to address the issue; in many cases, inspectors have returned to find the same problems.

The state Department of Children and Family Services has repeatedly cited Ware for failing to disburse medication correctly  a deficiency that is not subject to a fine. Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services

Glenn Holt, a former assistant secretary of the Office of Juvenile Justice, recalled Mr. Loftin saying that state oversight was a waste of time.

Hed make comments like, If at any given point I dont want to play with these guys, Im not worried, Mr. Holt said. Cause if I shut my doors, I guarantee you got sheriffs, you got local law enforcement, you got people, judges that are going to be screaming at D.C.F.S., What the hell are you doing? Youre jeopardizing public safety.

When auditors showed up at Ware, Mr. Holt said, the director stage-managed a dog and pony show. Mr. Loftin, he said, would give a big ol country boy smile, and ask, What can we do for you girls?

Before inspections, there was a mad rush to fix everything, said Janice McCanliss, the former Ware guard. Children had their hair done. New bedding and rugs suddenly appeared. Inspectors often relied on Ware officials to choose which children would be interviewed, current and former staff members said. They pick someone who is scared, said Kaley Breaux, held at Ware in 2014 and 2015. I was that one.

Kaley Breaux in 2022. She said that shortly after she arrived at Ware in 2014, five guards painfully restrained her as punishment but that she did not tell state auditors when they interviewed her because she feared retribution. Rachel Lauren Mueller

Dr. Livers, the former juvenile justice secretary, described Mr. Loftin this way: He thought he was the smartest, most excellent juvenile justice professional in the state of Louisiana. Who the hell has the audacity to tell him how to do anything?

When Mr. Loftin retired and ran for sheriff in 2015, he was succeeded by his longtime deputy, Mr. Cox. Wares relationship to regulators, though, remained consistent. Ware is required by federal law, for example, to submit annual reports documenting all allegations of sexual abuse. In 2014, the year Christopher Morris was accused of sexually assaulting three girls, Ware reported no allegations of sexual abuse by detention center employees. It again reported none in 2018, when another guard was accused of sexually abusing a 16-year-old boy.

Mr. Loftin and Mr. Cox declined to comment.

Regulators had evidence that Ware was being less than candid in reporting critical incidents. Between 2017 and 2020, inspectors cited Ware nine times for failing to promptly and accurately report encounters between staff members and children that involved restraints or force. In a 10th incident, Ware reported that a guard had subdued a 13-year-old girl with her hand in [the childs] neck area. Video footage, however, showed something different: The guard had choked the girl for 14 seconds, an investigator for the Department of Children and Family Services found.

Surveillance video captured a guard choking a girl for 14 seconds. Soon after, local law enforcement handcuffed the girl and took her to the detention center. Upon a review of the footage, the staff was cleared of wrongdoing. Via Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services

The agency cited Ware for a single deficiency, then closed its investigation.

In a written statement, the agency said it had limited authority to issue fines or demand personnel changes. When conducting facility inspections, the agency added, its licensing staff  not Ware administrators  chooses whom to interview. The agency would not say whether it had ever considered revoking Wares licenses. The department works with providers to implement corrective measures designed to alleviate cited deficiencies in order to maintain the providers licenses, the statement said.

Meanwhile, at the Red River Parish Sheriffs Office, an investigator reviewed the video of the choking incident and cleared Wares staff of wrongdoing due to the juveniles size and level of aggression.

Joseph Rushmore for The New York Times Joseph Rushmore for The New York Times

One of the Safest

Alora Fountain had been crying all day.

It was March 7, 2017, and a guard had been taunting her that her grandmother didnt want her anymore, said her friend Keelye Denise. That day, Alora, 16, confided to a counselor that she had begun making herself throw up, and she told her friend that she wondered if her mother would miss her if she were gone.

At around 8 p.m., she wrapped a sheet around her neck. All you see was her hanging, Ms. Denise said.

Aloras death was a prelude to a rising tide of suicide attempts, runaway attempts and general dysfunction that converged the second week of February in 2019.

Jordan Bachman, a 17-year-old from Colorado, had arrived at Ware six weeks earlier, charged with disturbing the peace and resisting arrest while on a road trip with friends in Louisiana.

His mother, Patricia Bachman, drove to Ware to see him. He seemed uncharacteristically sad and subdued, she recalled.

On Thursday, Feb. 7, he was put in his cell after fighting in school, Lawrence Chisolm II, a classmate, said. Before the fight, he had written these words on a piece of paper: dying inside.

The shift supervisor that night was Travis Howard, who in the past had been disciplined for failing to report using force on a child; Wares leaders had promised regulators that he would be monitored to ensure appropriate interactions with juveniles.

It is not known what time Jordan hanged himself. He was found at 11:45 p.m. To this day, Ms. Bachman can hear the coroners voice, waking her with the news.

Alora Fountain died at Ware at age 16. Cristy Fowler Jordan Bachman died at Ware at age 17. Tim Bachman

The next morning, Wares assistant director, Staci Scott, reported to state regulators that she and Mr. Lloyd had reviewed video, and that room checks had been conducted every 15 minutes as required.

Those assurances were false. When state officials reviewed the footage, they saw that no one had checked on Jordan between 10 and 11:45. They also discovered that guards had falsified the room-check log.

Mr. Howard, the shift supervisor, said in an interview that it hadnt been his responsibility to check on Jordan. He denied the earlier allegation of assault.

Solan Peterson was at Ware that night  at 13, one of the youngest and smallest children there. Others saw him as the exasperating little brother who never stopped talking, never stopped fidgeting. We would tell him, Chill out, man, chill out. You just tripping, Mr. Chisolm recalled.

Solan certainly had his mental-health struggles  attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and anxiety, as well as trauma from his early childhood, before he was adopted. But he had never been in legal trouble until the week before, when he lit a roll of toilet paper on fire at school  the police found birthday candles and a lighter  and was sent to Ware. I was assured that thats one of the safest facilities around, his mother said.

Several days later, Solan, a boy who loved to tinker and take things apart, disassembled the light in his cell and picked the lock on the door. When he was caught, he was placed in isolation.

The cell where Solan was held for four days. State law forbids isolation longer than four hours. Via Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services

Mental-health professionals would likely have warned that putting a child with Solans psychological profile in isolation would be a special torment. By then, he should have had a full mental-health assessment. But that didnt come until three days later, Feb. 8. According to an incident report filed after his death, the social worker who met with him said Solan had been curious about Jordans suicide but did not voice any suicidal ideations and had been joking and in a good mood.

At one point  it is not clear exactly when  Cora Sepulvado, a 15-year-old tasked with cleaning the area, overheard Solan in tears, pleading for help and telling a guard that he wanted to die. The guard, she said, told the boy, If you want to be killing yourself, just do it, because people just be saying that.

Under state rules, isolation should not exceed four hours. By Saturday, Feb. 9, Solan had been in isolation for four days.

Though Jordan had died two nights earlier, guards once again skipped the required 15-minute checks. Video shows the shift supervisor, Jhanquial Smith, checking on Solan at 9:13. Then, for more than an hour, nothing. At 10:45, Travis Howard, once again on duty, walked by without checking, records show.

At 11:30, Mr. Smith finally looked in on Solan. He had hanged himself.

Another guard dropped to his knees and sobbed. A distraught boy pounded the walls of his cell. In the background, the YNW Melly song Murder on My Mind played from a speaker.

The suicides touched off the usual round of regulatory inquiries. Investigators cited Ware for improper supervision, the seventh time in just over three years. For the third time, the state found a failure to do timely mental-health assessments. Also for the third time, it found that Ware was keeping children in holding cells too long.

But as with all the other citations, these carried no financial penalty or other actions against Wares license or leadership. Questioned about the suicides at a public meeting, a senior official with the Office of Juvenile Justice said the states investigation didnt find concerns.

Five months after the suicides, the agency awarded Ware a new $450,000 contract  to supervise at-risk youth.

In September 2020, the district attorney brought malfeasance-in-office charges against Mr. Smith and another guard for failing to check on Solan. Mr. Smith is awaiting trial; the other guard has since died.

Ms. Jones said she did not believe that criminal charges were warranted in Jordans death, despite the video showing that guards had failed to check on him, too. She declined to elaborate.

Wares administrators introduced changes, including a system to enforce room checks. Yet children continued to be at risk.

On Christmas Eve 2019, a guard was arrested on charges of battering a child at Ware. In 2020, a guard was arrested on charges of helping children slip out at night to go on burglary sprees. In 2021, a guard was arrested on charges of taking a bribe to help a child escape. This past May, a guard was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a boy in the laundry room and then helping him and two other boys escape.

But the clearest indicator of crisis at Ware is the number of suicide attempts.

Of the 243 recorded across Louisianas juvenile facilities in 2019 and 2020, a quarter were at Ware, though it holds only about 5 percent of the systems beds. (The state did not provide comparable data for 2021.)

One child who tried to kill herself was Cora Sepulvado. Her breaking point, she said in an interview, came soon after Solans death, following incidents of physical abuse and torment by guards.

Cora Sepulvado, during her incarceration. She said she had often been locked up by herself. Via Cora Sepulvado I just wanted somebody to listen to me, said Ms. Sepulvado, now 19. Rachel Lauren Mueller

Standing on a chair, in tears, preparing to hang herself, she noticed something odd: a guard holding up a cellphone, recording it all. I looked at them, like why arent yall stopping me? she said. Three guards confirmed that their colleague had been filming.

One of those guards walked into the building just as Cora kicked the chair out from under her feet and rushed to take her down. But for Cora, now 19 and trying to complete high school, the sight of the guard filming her answered a question she had often been forced to confront at Ware: Was anyone actually going to help her?

Thats all I really wanted to know  if somebody really cared.
AN intoxicated man let an unmuzzled dog run freely around JKL Street in Edenderry more than three years ago, Tullamore District Court heard.

Daniel O'Brien (24), Carrick Link Road, Edenderry, who appeared in custody before Judge Andrew Cody, pleaded guilty to a number of summonses brought by Garda Lesley Coss.

Sergeant James O'Sullivan told the court that on July 31, 2019 gardai responded to a call at Granary Court, Edenderry where Mr O'Brien had a large German Shepherd type dog.

The accused was very intoxicated and initially had a dog on a chain and refused to leave the area.

He went to JKL Street and let the dog off the chain to run freely around the street and the dog was not muzzled and did not have identification on him.

Mr O'Brien ran away from gardai, leaving the dog running around the street and the dog warden had to be contacted to collect the dog.

Sergeant O'Sullivan said the man had 11 previous convictions and was currently serving a sentence.

The previous day he had been in court in Naas and was convicted of violent disorder. Mr O'Brien told the court he had been sentenced to three years in prison, including 18 months suspended.

Previously at Kilcock District Court in 2019, he was convicted of public drunkenness and failing to appear in court twice.

Judge Andrew Cody said that because the offence before him had occurred in 2019 he could not take any more recent convictions into account.

He imposed fines totalling 150, 50 each for having no licence, having no muzzle and failing to control a dog with a chain or leash.
THE Central Hotel in Tullamore has donated 900 to the Irish Cancer Society after hosting a breakfast fundraiser.

Hotel general manager Brian Reynolds said the hotel was delighted to host the Big Pink Breakfast in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Cancer has hit almost every household in Ireland. Each person with their own journey but it is important that we come together to raise the much-needed funds for an amazing charity, said Mr Reynolds.

The Irish Cancer Society typically only receives 3% of its income from the government so its thanks to the generosity of our wonderful donors, fundraisers and volunteers that they are able to provide the services and support to those who may be battling cancer and ensuring they do not have to face cancer alone.

The Central Hotel decided to match all profits made on Thursday, October 6. For every 1 that was donated, the hotel also donated 1.

With almost 50 people attending the Big Pink Breakfast meant we were able to join together as a community and show our support. Central Hotel Tullamore is delighted to be donating 900, said Mr Reynolds.
The first contract to deliver 500 modular homes for people from Ukraine fleeing the Russian invasion will be completed in early 2023, a minister has said.

Minister of State Patrick ODonovan said the homes will not all be sited at Defence Forces barracks, but also on land provided other public bodies including the HSE.

To date, Ireland has accommodated up to 56,000 men, women and children from Ukraine, with thousands of children in primary and post primary school and also over 10,000 Ukrainians working.

However government has warned that refugees could end up sleeping on the streets due to the accommodation shortage.

Mr ODonovan defended the governments handling of the situation, saying 60,000 people, equivalent of 1% of the population have arrived in Ireland since February.

Were not the only European country that are experiencing huge influxes of this nature. Seven million people have been displaced internally in Ukraine, and millions have left the country, he told RTEs The Week In Politics.

I dont think anybody saw seven million people moving out of Ukraine last February.

And it isnt only Ireland, Belgium is under serious pressure.

The Netherlands are under pressure, all the Baltic countries and eastern Europe.

Weve placed a contract with a principal contractor and work is starting in the initial 500 houses that has now been decided to grow by the government to an additional 200.

On top of that, weve placed orders for 250 houses with the subcontractors so were on track to deliver.

We hope to see the completion of the first in the first months, January and February, of 2023, which is actually on schedule from the original plan.

He said the houses will be on sites provided by various public bodies including the Office of Public Works, local authorities, the HSE, the Department of Defence and others.
The talkshow host apologised for being rude to serving staff. Australian workers say the pandemic has made abuse worse.
Eighty per cent of voters support calls to put a price cap on power, an Australian is among the more than 150 people killed following a Halloween stampede in South Korea and the crossbench senators who will determine the fate of Labors industrial relations reforms say they need more time to scrutinise the legislation.
The government has not ruled out reversing a tax cut on the UKs biggest banks as it scrambles to overfill a huge hole in the public finances. Asked today by City A.M. if chancellor Jeremy Hunt and prime minister Rishi Sunak would commit to cutting the bank surcharge, an effective windfall tax, the Treasury said [...]
The Ukrainian president has blamed Russia for a delay in shipping grain. Kyiv has also claimed Russian forces have mined a dam at the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant in the Kherson region. DW has the latest.
A few days after Frank-Walter Steinmeier canceled a trip for security reasons, he has finally made his first trip to the Ukrainian capital since the Russian invasion.
Eurasia Review 26 Oct 2022

The geopolitical shift caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine has resulted in deliberate inconsistencies in EU Member..
South Korea's president has declared a national period of mourning over a stampede during Halloween festivities - as the number of deaths has risen to 151.
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Brazilians are voting in Sunday's presidential runoff between incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and challenger Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, described as the most divisive election in the countrys history.
ODN 31 Oct 2022

Home Secretary Suella Braverman tells MPs that the shocking incident at a new Border Force immigration centre in Dover is not..
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Anne Gieske, a graduate of Beechwood High School and a nursing student in her third year at the University of Kentucky, was killed..
Arsenal bounce back from Thursday's Europa League loss to PSV Eindhoven by returning to the top of the Premier League table with an emphatic win over Nottingham Forest.
South Africans attended the country's 33rd Pride celebration on Saturday despite terror warnings while the LGBTQ community and its allies in Taiwan marched through Taipei under the rain.
Residents in an eastern Michigan town were told that trick-or-treating this year is canceled as a result of a major cockroach infestation.


Rumble 20 Nov 2022

On Sunday, millions of people across Brazil will vote in the final round of its presidential election. They'll choose..
The proposed visit comes amid a fresh wave of hostilities between Russia and Ukraine following a huge blast in Crimea nearly two weeks ago. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov will have talks with external affairs Minister of India S Jaishankar on November 8 in Moscow, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken held a telephonic conversation with external affairs minister S. Jaishankar and discussed the ongoing Ukraine war, counterterrorism and other regional and global issues. Jaishankar thanked Blinken for his "strong and clear message" on counter-terrorism as well as his call for holding those responsible for the 26/11 Mumbai attacks accountable.
Sainte-Soline, France (AFP) Oct 29, 2022



Thousands of demonstrators defied an official ban to march on Saturday against the deployment of new water storage infrastructure for agricultural irrigation in western France, some clashing with police. Clashes between paramilitary gendarmes and demonstrators erupted with Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin reporting that 61 officers had been hurt, 22 seriously. "Bassines Non Merci", whic
Thousands of Brazilians living in Ireland have cast their votes in the election for their countrys next president.
Kevan Doyle, 43, died at Glencleland Road in the Craigneuk area of the town after an incident around 8.50pm on Friday, October 28.
(RFE/RL)  Over the 28 years of Alyaksandr Lukashenkas repressive rule, Belarusians who oppose him, despise him, or just want to criticize any particular policy could feel relatively safe expressing their views inside the confines of their homes.



Now they may want to think again, legal and digital experts say ...
In a foreign policy speech Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Western nations of trying to dominate the world, saying the coming decade will be one of the most dangerous since the end of World War II.



In a lengthy speech in Moscow during the opening session of Valdai Discussion Club's annual foreign affairs...
Watch VideoPresident Joe Biden  accompanied by one of his granddaughters, a first-time voter  cast his midterm ballot on Saturday.



In-person early voting in his home state of Delaware, where President Biden regularly returns for weekends, began Friday. Democrats nationwide have encouraged voters to take advantage of...
South Korean officials say at least 26 foreign nationals in total were killed in the incident in Seoul's Itaewon district. Many were young adults celebrating Halloween.
By Trend

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan expressed condolences to the Republic of Korea, Trend reports citing Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry's Twitter account.

"We are deeply saddened by loss of lives during the tragic stampede in Seoul, Republic of Korea. We express our condolences to the Government and people of Korea. We wish for a quick recovery to all those who were injured," MFA said.
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The chairman of the High State Council, Khaled Al-Mechri, at a meeting here Sunday with the French president's special envoy to Libya, Paul Soler, renewed "the commitment of the High State Council to conduct elections on a solid constitutional and legal basis as soon as possible
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The Libyan Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity, Abdelhamid Al-Dbaiba, chaired on Sunday an enlarged meeting to discuss the conditions of Oncology Centres, identify their needs and the difficulties they face
Photo: (Photo : Suket Dedhia)

One of the best purchases you can make for yourself and your baby is a hip (seat) carrier as they are shown to be more beneficial for babies compared to strollers as they promote mental development. As a matter of fact, wearing one helps to distribute evenly your child's weight around your lower torso. Having the ability to hold the child on either the right or left side helps to distribute her weight not only around the waist but also around the pelvic region, per Ergo Baby.

Your both hips and legs provide both help and support for her weight. Thus, there's less pressure on the back and shoulders. It also helps lighten the burden of carrying around the weight of your baby which only means that you can be more comfortable carrying your baby around plus you'll be able to carry him for a longer period of time if necessary.

Although many parents want to use baby wear, they have a hard time wearing one as they have bad backs. Hence, many of these parents have found hip carrying to be their solution and noted that it's a great carrying position especially if you have bad back issues as it evenly distributes the baby's weight to make sure that there is little to no stress on both of your spine and back muscles.

Read Also: Encouraging Toddlers to Dress Themselves Without Parent's Help

Amazon baby hip carrier with adjustable long waistbands

This Amazon product is a BABY MUST as the hip seat carrier has a squishy memory foam non-slip hip seat that naturally supports the baby in an ergonomic natural position which also gives the baby the best safety and comfort. Further, it also relieves parents' back pressure in all baby carries positions.

This product who has 4.5 stars out of 5 allows one to be a multi-tasker as it has multiple storage pockets which means you can almost put everything you need while on the go. This has 5 pockets and 1 loop. You can put diapers or wipes in the large storage bag or the front pocket beneath the seat. Whereas, in the side zipper pockets, you can put your keys, phone, and even pacifiers. This product also has a baby bottle storage mesh bag where you can put the water bottle and baby bottle as the mesh bag is breathable. Lastly, some toys and sanitizer were in the loops.

This baby hip carrier is specially designed for parents specifically for moms as it has five flexible carry positions and padded abdominal pad designs which permits mom to wear such even at home or on the go for an extended period of time without actually feeling pressure on the shoulders or back. It serves as an easy-on and-off for parents without a complicated shoulder belt making it a baby supply in the family.

Serves as the advantage of having your hands free

Although wearing a hip carrier is helpful for parents, it is not recommendable for every baby as you can't wear one unless the baby is around 3-4 months or in most cases, 6 months as they wait until the baby can now turn his head by himself, can turn himself on his stomach or lifts his feet when lying on his back.

The average carrier should actually last until 2 years old or depending on the baby considering their weight. Hence, if parents want to carry their child all the time, they can upgrade to a huge toddler carrier that will support their growing toddler. With these, you can carry toddlers ages 4 years old and above but there's no assurance that it will still be beneficial for parents.

Hip carrier indeed gives you the advantage of having your hands free while babies enjoy being able to see the world from up high. Raising Children suggests safely wearing preferred carriers for the safety also of the baby.

Related Article: Pregnancy Pillow: How to Choose the Best for You in Amazon
The Ministry of Finance has described as false reports that Presithe dent Akufo-Addo is refusing the resignation of the Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Charles Adu Boahen.



In a statement issued on social networking site, Twitter on Friday, October 28, 2022, the Ministry said rumors about the Honourable Minister of State tendering in his resignation are untrue and should be treated with all the contempt it deserves.



The rumors have been fueled by the Member of Parliament (MP) for the North Tongu constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa. In a twitter post, Mr. Ablakwa alleged that the President has refused to accept the resignation of the Minister of State.



This, the Ministry says the allegations are untrue and unhelpful urging the general public to disregard them completely.



Mr. Adu Boahen had come under pressure last Tuesday with some members of the New Patriotic Party in Parliament demanding his removal together with Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta for the current economic crises.



The Majority MPs insisted that the removal of both Ministers will restore confidence in the economy.



However, after meeting the President, the Majority MPs have softened their stance accepting the Presidents plea to have the Ministers stay in office to seal Ghanas bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

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 Progressive Peoples Party(PPP) has watched, listened and analysed the recent events in the Country as it relates to the present impasse in Government and have the following to contribute.



The Progressive Peoples Party have argued that Members of Parliament should not become appointees of the Executive as Ministers of State, Members of Government Boards or holders of any other public office. We should amend article 78 and prevent Ministers from becoming MPs and vice versa. Strict separation of the Executive from the Legislature will improve our Governance system. We are of the view that this will strengthen Parliaments ability to check the excessive powers of the Executive as exist in the current Constitution. People contest to become Members of Parliament only to catch the eye of the Executive to gain an appointment to hold offices. The real work of Parliament then becomes a secondary matter.



This view has been shared by many including the Present Speaker of Parliament Rt. Honorable Albin Bagbin, Immediate past Speaker, Honorable Professor Mike Ocquaye, present Majority Leader Osei Kyei Mensah and Minority Leader, Honorable Haruna Iddrisu, & Honorable Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom.



There is a general acceptance that the system in its present form does not work. It would be routine for the Executive to respect the Legislature in decision making and ensure good governance for the people when article 78 is amended. This has not been the case as the Executive continues to have its way without any meaningful opposition from Parliament as a whole with particular reference to the Majority. The Majority leader is appointed by the President as a Minister for Parliamentary affairs. How can he pose as a real independent leader against Government affairs for which he is a part of and sits in cabinet. This is an anomaly.



It takes extraordinary moments in time for Parliamentarians (as a collective) to become awaken to their responsibilities of checking the excesses of the Executive.



Case in point is a recent pronouncement by 80 majority members giving ultimatum to President Nana Akuffo Addo to sack the Finance Minister and Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance. They state that the President must sack his cousin the Finance Minister for mismanaging the economy of Ghana among other charges. Failure to do so, the group claim they will not approve matters relating to Government business and therefore the budget. Is it because the executive has not listened nor accepted an earlier call from same majority side of Parliament for the President to reshuffle his Ministerial team including the Finance Minister?



The PPP wish to remind Ghanaians that such a situation happened during the Third Republican Parliament of Ghana in 1980. The then Parliament refused to pass a budget presented by Professor George Benneh, the then Minister for Finance under Hilla Limanns PNP Administration. Parliament was made up of 140 members. The PNP had 71 seats, PFP 42 seats, UNC 13 seats, ACP 10 seats, SDF 3 seats and 1 Independent candidate. (Notice how Ghanaians were more tolerate of other political parties. To be revisited at another time). The total seats in opposition were 69 seats. Clearly, the majority had the numbers to pass the budget. However, the budget presented was rejected by Parliament.



The rejection of that budget set sail a series of negative activities which brought further hardship on Ghanaians until we entered into the 4th Republican Constitution.



The PPP wish to remind Ghanaians that the Constitution needs to be reviewed to limit the unbridled power of the Executive. It will also allow Leaders to take decisions early enough as to not put us at dangerous crossroads.



Failure to deal with the present impasse in a timely manner can take Ghana down a very dark and dangerous road. Ghana does not need a 5th Republican Constitution.

Source: Progressive Peoples Party









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 Head of Monitoring Unit at the Forestry Commission, Charles Owusu, has expressed his dissatisfication with President Nana Akufo-Addo's response to the Majority Caucus over their request for the removal of Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.



Over eighty (80) Members of Parliament of the New Patriotic Party have petitioned the President to dismiss the Finance Minister and the Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Charles Adu Boahen.



But the President, in a meeting with the aggrieved MPs, has asked them to wait till Mr. Ofori-Atta seals Ghana's deal for financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).



Tackling the issue during Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" morning show, Charles Owusu took the President's assurance to the MPs with a pinch of salt.



According to him, the President's statement is just "a nice way to tell the Parliamentarians that I have listened to you but I won't do it".



He wondered what Mr. Ofori-Atta can do in three weeks if he couldn't do it in six years to transform the economy.



"If the 2024 elections are held and the NPP wins, will Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta continue to be the Finance Minister of Ghana?...Someone who has been in government for six (6) good years, if he couldn't do everything he must do in 6 years, what can he do in three (3) weeks?...What change will three weeks bring?", he asked.



Charles Owusu couldn't "understand why it should be difficult" for the President to remove Ken Ofori-Atta "when Ghanaians and members of his party are calling for the removal of this man" as he stressed "this country will still be governed should Akufo-Addo die today".



Making reference to a biblical account on the freedom of the people of Israel from Egypt, he cautioned President Akufo-Addo not to harden his heart concerning the calls for removing the Finance Minister.



"Pharoah hardened his heart not to let the people of God go and his end resulted in death", he warned the President.





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 Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko has criticized President Akufo-Addo for suggesting that there's no one else in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to take over from Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.



NPP MPs Threaten



Over 80 Members of Parliament of the NPP threatened to boycott government business if the President doesn't sack Ken Ofori Atta and Charles Adu Boahen, Minister of State at the Finance Ministry.



Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, the MPs stressed "if our request is not responded to positively, we will not be present for the budget hearing, neither will we participate in the debate".



According to Subin MP, Eugene Boakye Antwi, the Finance Minister is "experimenting with this country and we've had enough".



A President's Plea



President Akufo-Addo following the MPs' protest, held an emergency meeting with them and pleaded that Ofori Atta be allowed to conclude talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and also present the 2023 Budget Statement of government in November.



In a statement signed by Majority Leader and Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the NPP MPs have agreed that Ofori Atta will stay until the conclusion of the round of negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the presentation of the Budget Statement and Economic Policy in November, 2022 and the subsequent passage of the Appropriation Bill after which time the demand will be acted upon.



Illogical



However, Boakye Agyarko disagrees with the President.



Speaking on Peace FM's The Platform programme, he said "it doesn't make sense" to ask the Finance Minister to stay for now.



"I don't see how one person...so what are we going to do if God forbid we wake up tomorrow morning and he's no more? Are we going to ask God to wait and allow him to finish the negotiations? It doesn't make sense...it speaks ill of us"



Watch his full submission in the video below





Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
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 protester shovels snow in front of parked semi-trailer and pickup trucks on Rideau Street, on the 21st day of a protest against COVID-19 measures that has grown into a broader anti-government protest, in Ottawa, on Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022. The commission investigating the government's use of the federal Emergencies Act last winter will hear this week from the protesters who organized the occupation of downtown Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Quebec Liberal Leader Dominique Anglade waves as she enters with her elected caucus to be sworn in during a ceremony at the legislature in Quebec City, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022. The chief organizer of the Liberal Party of Quebec, Jean-Francois Helms, says he will not renew his mandate. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot
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A person walks in the hall at a school in Scarborough, Ont., on Monday, September 14, 2020. The union representing about 55,000 Ontario education workers has given five days' notice of a potential provincewide strike. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
Andrea Horwath, Ontario NDP Leader, announces her resignation as party leader during her campaign event in Hamilton, Ontario Thursday, June 2, 2022. In the immediate wake of a June provincial election loss that saw her step down from a 13-year tenure at the helm of Ontario's New Democratic Party, Andrea Horwath couldn't muster up the energy to cook or bake, how she usually deals with stress.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Tara Walton
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The SCOTUS is overrun with appeals from MAGAs seeking to avoid subpoenas as we head into the end of October; many see the endzone in sight, January 3rd. If they can just get to January 3rd, there will be no need to plead the Fifth or be forced to say, Yes, well  thats exactly what Trump told me to do, and I really didnt have a choice given what he threatened. (This is clearly an extreme and somewhat flippant example, the principle holds). Lindsey Graham is next up and, in his reply brief to the Supreme Court, argues again that the Speech and Debate clause covers a possibly criminal phone call in an attempt to persuade the Georgia Secretary of State. He shall not be questioned regarding this reckless and unethical (if not illegal) phone call. From Law and Crime:

Attorneys for U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Friday submitted a reply brief in a U.S. Supreme Court case which seeks to excuse him from testifying about his telephone calls surrounding the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.

In the reply brief, Graham reiterated the argument that he shall not be questioned.

The reply brief continued to lean into what it described as two neutral doctrines of constitutional law: Speech or Debate Clause immunity and and sovereign immunity as reasons to shut down Grahams requested testimony in Georgia.

As most of us learned in senior year Civics, the Speech and Debate Clause is meant to protect free speech during heated debates on the Senate and House floor. The framers didnt want Senators and Representatives worried about false statements made in anger and on and on. It is highly unlikely that the Framers imagined it extending to a phone call asking about matching signatures as a means to check votes in certain areas. Of course, the framers wouldnt know what a phone was, so perhaps the better example is that the framers didnt envision the clause expanding to a note by carrier pigeon, begging that the Secretary of State to check the signatures of wealthy white landowners, just in case one mightve been signed by a woman, or  signed in a hurry and appearing different enough such as to throw it out.

But Graham will not be questioned.

One doesnt need a lawyer to question whether this is the most effective tone and aggressiveness one should take. There is one slight worry, one based upon the behavior weve seen from the MAGAs of late and not some tinfoil hat conspiracy, and that is that Graham is saying that he will not be questioned, no matter what the SCOTUS says because hes from a co-equal branch and will determine the speech and debate clause parameters himself.

One might say, Yes, but that is certain jail. Well, true, almost certainly. But if he is jailed, it would be for contempt of court, whereas if he will be questioned, he may face prison based on a conspiracy to defraud the public in order to steal a presidential election. One need not be a lawyer to appreciate the difference. One thing, though, it is more than possible that Graham could be convicted of Not being questioned, and conspiracy despite never having answered the subpoena. After all, Graham will not be questioned, but he has been recorded.
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Barack Obama is mad.

He has certainly been mad before, very mad, probably often as mad as Trump during his presidency. But Barack Obama was the first black president. He wouldnt be allowed to be an angry black man while also being the president. He had to hold it in. Watch his face during the You lie! moment at the State of the Union. Somehow, he held it. But Barack Obama is no longer president. He will never face voters again and may be the most admired man in the world. Now, Barack Obama has some things to say, some of them make him mad, very mad, like the fact that Republicans like Ron Johnson are considering a raid on Social Security. And Obama no longer has any reason to hold anything back and  as is discussed below, he had a tactical reason to let it out now, too.

Watch and be stunned:

The thing that takes this to the Obama level, is that, though hes genuinely angry, he also has a highly technical and genius reason to let his anger out beyond his passion.

Obama knows that Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes is a few points behind Ron Johnson. Obama knows that Barnes needs a paradigm shift, big news, to win. Obama understands that moderate voters must trust Democrats with the economy or the Democrats will lose, so he gives a speech about the GOP taking away Social Security. And Obama also knows that if he gives a speech in Wisconsin in which he gets angrier than hes ever been behind a podium, expressing why its disgusting that Johnson is planning to re-do Social Security, the clip WILL get played on the local news, likely several times, and moderate voters will hear that Ron Johnson wants to take their Social Security away.

Barack Obama was mad. But he cant ever let that genius side go, either. He may have wanted to take that level of anger out before, but this time he saw a very strategic reason for doing so. Obama may have single handily given Barnes a full percentage point of the vote. It is Wisconsin, and single percentages are critical.
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Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent a Dear Colleague letter to her fellow Democrats explaining that a violent man broke in to their family home looking to confront her and brutally attacked her husband Paul. Reminding everyone that she is a human being with loved ones who are real people and have feelings, she wrote, Our children, our grandchildren and I are heartbroken and traumatized by the life-threatening attack on our Pop.

Speaker Pelosis spokesperson Drew Hammill issued a statement after the attack saying Paul Pelosi was admitted to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital where he underwent successful surgery to repair a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands. His doctors expect a full recovery.

Paul Pelosi is 82 years old. Imagine someone attacking an 82 year old grandfather with a hammer. Its beyond depraved.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi is an American hero who quite literally saved this democracy on January 6th, when Trump terrorists sought to assassinate her and then Vice President Mike Pence.

Even with her life at risk, the terrorists chanted Nancy, Nancy and All we want is Pelosi! outside her office in the Capitol minutes after she was evacuated from the building. They then stormed her office looking for her.

This language echoes what the attacker said after he broke into the Pelosi home saying Where is Nancy.

Watch here:

EXCLUSIVE: Video obtained by Jan. 6 committee shows new footage of Capitol violence. Documentary filmmaker Nick Questeds account of the riot will be a central piece of the House Jan. 6 select committee's prime-time hearing tonight. @jonkarl reports. https://t.co/D62xDSuajB pic.twitter.com/yrY9fJEz7w  Good Morning America (@GMA) June 9, 2022

Republicans have been demonizing Nancy Pelosi for over a decade and right wing media regularly tries to humiliate her and treats her like a punching bag. They sexualize her and have even shown her on her knees dressed like a porn star.

Congress now pays for body armor for lawmakers and their families, something brought on by the rising threats to our government and its institutions, largely on the part of radicalized Trump supporters enabled by complicit and cowardly Republican leaders.

For some sad reason, media gives Republicans credit for calling out this violence  when they have pushed the very conspiracies that were cited by the alleged attacker. They have not set the record straight on those lies they tell daily, they have not admitted Donald Trump lost the 2020 election  a huge lie that many Trump supporters believe, and have reason to believe because Republican leaders and conservative media tell them its true.

In case it wasnt obvious how dangerous that lie was before, January 6th proved it inspired domestic terrorism. That should have been enough; but it wasnt. Republicans have still not set the record straight. Republicans continue to lie to their supporters and some of those who are vulnerable to radicalization will continue to act on it in dangerous ways.

Republicans know this. Paul Pelosi is in the hospital because of those lies and still, they cant manage the integrity and courage to speak the truth. And yes, they all know its the truth. Theyve been told and they know how elections work. 2020 was the most secure election in history according to experts.

President Joe Biden won, but because Donald Trump is a sore loser, we are all targets of the wrath of Trumps cult.

Our hearts here at PoliticusUSA go out to the Speaker and her family.

Speaker Pelosis Full Letter To Her Colleagues

Read her full letter:

Dear Colleague,

Yesterday morning, a violent man broke into our family home, demanded to confront me and brutally attacked my husband Paul. Our children, our grandchildren and I are heartbroken and traumatized by the life-threatening attack on our Pop. We are grateful for the quick response of law enforcement and emergency services, and for the life-saving medical care he is receiving.

Please know that the outpouring of prayers and warm wishes from so many in the Congress is a comfort to our family and is helping Paul make progress with his recovery. His condition continues to improve.

We are also comforted by the words of the Book of Isaiah: Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

We thank you and pray for the continued safety and well-being of your family.

Sincerely,
SRS and Politics Reporter

I cover the Savannah River Site and politics. I previously covered government and politics for the Morning News in Florence. I am graduate of the University of South Carolina School of Law and the University of Charleston (W.Va.).
A new power source could be coming to the Savannah River Site.

Avery Hammett, a scientist at the site located 20 miles south of Aiken, told the Facilities Disposition and Site Remediation Subcommittee of the Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board on Tuesday that the Department of Energy was considering the development of a solar farm at the site in partnership with Dominion Energy.

She said the Department of Energy was "reevaluating" its response to a 2018 recommendation from the board to use solar power at the site.

In 2018, the board recommended the Department of Energy investigate the possibility of using rooftop solar panels or placing solar panels in common grounds for renewable energy at the site. The board also recommended the department perform a study to determine the economic feasibility of solar power.

The department rejected the first recommendation.

Site Manager Michael Budney said the age and unique design of the roofs of existing buildings was cost prohibitive and that funding would be better allocated to other energy-saving ideas like more efficient lightbulbs and heating.

It accepted the second recommendation and agreed to perform the study by mid-2019.

Board Chairman Gregg Murray said he remembered that the cost per kilowatt hour was very slightly higher for solar power.

But, at the time, there wasn't a strong federal commitment to alternative energy sources like solar power.

In 2019, Donald Trump, a Republican, was president, Rick Perry, also a Republican, was secretary of energy, and the Republicans controlled the Senate. And the Republicans prefer other alternative sources of energy like natural gas.

Now, the Democrats, strong supporters of solar energy, hold the White House (Joe Biden), the Senate and the House.

Several members of the subcommittee speculated that the Democrats may be willing to pay a premium to have a green energy power source at the site.

Murray added that the cost per kilowatt hour for solar energy may have continued to decrease, making the proposition more economical.

A potential timeframe for the construction of the solar farm is yet unknown.

The potential location of the solar farm would be in A-Area.
Does it get any better?

For Frank Mullins, maybe not.

The new president of the Aiken Steeplechase Association enjoyed what he described as a fantastic day during the Aiken Fall Steeplechase.

Mullins is the co-owner of a 3-year-old thoroughbred colt named Topic Changer, who captured the $30,000 Holiday Cup over jumps Saturday.

I am in like shock, Mullins said following Topic Changers 4 -length victory over Beat Le Bon. This is just wonderful."

Mullins, who became the Steeplechase Association's president over the summer, campaigns Topic Changer in partnership with son-in-law Jordan Wycoff, a Pennsylvania resident.

Prior to the Holiday Cup, Cross Border and Hilliard were scratched, reducing the field to six horses, none of which had ever won a race over hurdles.

For Topic Changer, it was the first time he had ever competed over jumps.

Before Wycoff struck a deal to purchase the colt privately, Topic Changer had won twice during five races on the flat in New York.

Wycoff thought the bay thoroughbred would be able to learn how to soar over hurdles without too much trouble because of his breeding.

Flintshire, the father of Topic Changer, has done remarkable things as a sire of steeplechasers, Wycoff said.

Ridden by Barry Foley, Topic Changer galloped along off the pace early before charging past and pulling away from front-running Beat Le Bon while approaching the finish line.

Topic Changer completed 2 1/8 miles in 3:55 2/5.

Lumberjack was third, followed by Honor Up.

Tiger to Remember and Flying Scotsman failed to finish.

Sponsored by A is for Advertising, the Holiday Cup was the afternoons richest contest.

I was a little bit surprised, said Wycoff of Topic Changers victory. Hes only been jumping for three weeks, so that was a tough ask. We hope to bring him back next year for the Aiken Spring Steeplechase because he loves this course. He is a really nice horse.

Keri Brion trains Topic Changer.

The Aiken Fall Steeplechase was held for the first time at the Aiken Steeplechase Association's new venue at 2020 Richland Avenue East, and there were five races in all.

In the Calico Creek, at 1 miles on the flat, Be Yourself, who is owned by part-time Aiken resident Adam Newman, was the winner.

I had been renting here, but I enjoyed myself immensely in Aiken last winter, so I bought a home, a nice little cottage right in town, said Newman, who lives the rest of the year in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Aiken is a lovely place to spend the colder weather months, he continued. Its small, friendly and horsey  all the things that Im looking for.

Newman campaigns Be Yourself in the name of Flying Elvis Stable.

The 4-year-old geldings jockey in the Calico Creek was Gerard Galligan.

Be Yourselfs trainer is Neil Morris, who told the Aiken Standard that he plans to have a stable of horses in Aiken this winter.

Be Yourself defeated Secret Soulmate by a half-length and turned in a winning time of 2:22.

Plans call for Be Yourself to race over jumps for the first time during the Steeplechase of Charleston on Nov. 13.

Hes been schooling over fences and by all reports is doing really well, Newman said. This was sort of a tune-up for that.

Even though the Calico Creek didnt offer any purse money, Newman was happy.

Its always nice to win, and its always nice to see the positive attitude that he (Be Yourself) showed, Newman said.

Wycoff, Brion and Foley also teamed up for another win with Clara Belle in the $15,000 Cathedral Aisle over jumps.

A 3-year-old filly, Clara Belle covered 2 1/8 miles in 3:59.

She finished 2  lengths in front of Hail to the Chief, a 5-year-old gelding.

Ballybristol Farms Soramond cruised to victory by 15  lengths in the $20,000 Juac Hollow over hurdles.

In what was the days longest race, the 5-year-old mare completed 2 3/8 miles in 4:19 3/5.

Leslie Young trains Soramond, who was ridden by Freddie Proctor.

In the $25,000 Thomas Hitchcock over jumps, Cainudothetwist triumphed by four lengths and covered 2 1/8 miles in 3:57 4/5.

The 5-year-old mare is trained and owned by Archibald Kingsley Jr.

Jack Gilligan rode Cainudothetwist to victory.

In addition to A is for Advertising, Aiken County Farm Supply, Aiken Regional Medical Centers, Honda Cars of Aiken and Budweiser sponsored races.
SC nonprofits need to address pay and benefits to attract and retain much needed talent
IRMO  As Joe Caughman regularly drives his Chevy Bolt 120 miles from his home in Ravenel to the Columbia area, he's grown disappointed in South Carolina's network for recharging electric cars.

It sucks, to be honest," Caughman said while his car charged in Irmo.

Caughman owns land south of Columbia, but he knows his trip to the Midlands will require going further north to Irmo for a high-speed recharge.

Outside of the state's big cities, there are very few options, he said. And along Interstate 95? "Good luck," he said.

Two recent studies agree with his blunt assessment of the state's network of electric chargers.

South Carolina lags behind its neighboring states in building out a network to charge electric vehicles, even as BMW and Volvo push ahead on plans to build electric vehicles here and a number of companies across the state plan to make battery components.

The assessments put South Carolina behind not only early adopters such as California, but also almost all its Southeastern neighbors.

A study from the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy advocacy group put South Carolina fifth among six Southeastern states for rolling out electric cars and chargers.

Georgia and Florida were far ahead of the rest, with only Alabama lagging behind South Carolina. Overall, the region was behind the national average on adopting electric vehicles even as the area continues to attract industry investment, the report said.

A report from Electrek, a website dedicated to EVs and alternative energy, found that South Carolina had only one-third of the public charging stations available versus neighbor North Carolina in mid-2021: 774 compared to 2,365.

Georgia had 3,746 charging locations, more than both of the Carolinas put together.

The website computed that South Carolina provided one charger per 102 miles of road in 2021. For North Carolina, it was one every 45 miles; Georgia had one every 34 miles on average.

Statewide, more chargers will be needed because the number of electric vehicles is increasing sharply.

According to the Transportation Department's plan for expansion, the number of registered vehicles in South Carolina that are all-electric or plug-in hybrids increased from about 2,000 in 2016 to more than 12,000 in 2021.

Electric charging stations are important because many consumers cite "range anxiety," the concern that they will run out of power far from a station, as a reason they are reluctant to switch from gasoline vehicles.

Most new electric cars have a range of 200 to 300 miles on a full charge. Greenville and Charleston are 200 miles apart.

The goal is to have publicly available charging stations within 50 miles of every interstate location, said Rob Bedenbaugh, director of engineering and support at S.C. Department of Transportation.

According to the state roads officials, South Carolina doesn't meet that standard across much of the Midlands and Lowcountry. Interstates 85 and 77 reach that mark, but Interstate 26 does only near Spartanburg and Columbia, not in its approach to the Charleston area.

Interstate 95 does not meet that mark for public chargers for much of its length across the state, while Tesla does have locations along the interstate for its cars. Tesla chargers are not universal.

Publicly available stations also play a bigger role for car owners who lack the space and equipment to charge at home.

A better network would help combat drivers' range anxiety, said Stephen Kasprzyk of Greenville, who was showing off his electric Kia at a recent Soda City Market EV event in Columbia.

Electric vehicle owners said that apps help with route planning to find charging locations, making interstate trips workable.

Wynn Godbold of Myrtle Beach said she only travels to Columbia and Charleston with her Chevy Bolt EV because she has confidence that she can find charging in the big cities.

She wishes there were more charging spots along the state's highways.

I would love just knowing theyre there in case something happened," Godbold said.

One challenge in building a public network: different vehicles, such as those from Kia and Tesla, have different charging plugs and cannot automatically share equipment.

Tesla, Elon Musk's electric car company, has built a nationwide network of chargers, but its bigger stations only work for its own cars.

Most cars from other makers are standardizing around a different charger configuration. Tesla is letting its owners buy an adapter to use other chargers, but a Kia cannot plug into Tesla's large network.

A major source of resources to expand the public network is the federal government. The state will receive about $70 million over the next five years to add to its efforts, thanks to infrastructure spending championed by the Biden administration, according to Justin Powell, chief of staff for the S.C. Department of Transportation.

Other funds, including grants to help rural and economically struggling areas add electric charging, also will be available, Powell said.

To build a more viable network, however, first will focus on adding more interstate charging locations away from major cities to fill gaps in the system where drivers are far from a charger.

The state hopes to use incentives that help the private sector take the lead on building out the network of charging stations, Powell said.

Grant programs will be important for building charging stations in more rural or lower-income areas especially away from the interstates, said Sara Bazemore, director of the State Energy Office.

That could mean private businesses, local governments or utility companies taking the lead in different locations in those areas, Bazemore said.

"It is going to be a combined effort," she said.

The city of Charleston is working with the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments to assess what charging resources it has and what needs to be added.

One criteria that will be applied: making sure that the broader community has access to chargers and the business opportunities involved in installing and servicing them, said Katie McKain, director of sustainability for the city.

The BCDCOG is launching a regional transportation planning effort in December that will include evaluating electric vehicle charging needs, said Kyle James, a regional planner for the council.

The five-year plan will include a census of public charging resources and asking whether there are hurricane evacuation routes in addition to Interstate 26 that need to have chargers, James said.

The city of Greenville has doubled the number of chargers in its 11 city garages, from 17 to 34, said Bill Foster, facilities and parking administrator.

Limited availability of open chargers because of heavy demand prompted the increase, and the city will continue to monitor them to see if demand keeps climbing, Foster said.

"It meets our needs for now," Foster said.

Greenville will monitor demand near its downtown garages, but the larger area likely will rely on private parking operators to add more charger access outside downtown, Foster said.

The electric car industry has become a major focus in South Carolina in recent years. Several equipment makers have launched projects across the state this fall:

On Oct. 19, BMW announced $1 billion in new investment in its Spartanburg County plant will be spent on producing electric vehicles, and a further $700 million on a battery facility in Woodruff.

Florence County is going to be home to a $2 billion investment by a Japanese car battery maker, sources have said.

The Polestar 3, an electric SUV, was unveiled in October and will be built at the Volvo Cars facility near Ridgeville. The luxury SUV will reach showrooms in 2023.

Electric car charger startup ABB E-Mobility said in September it is investing $4 million to begin production of charging stations in West Columbia.

For the state's electric utilities, building a charging network means new and heavier demands, including in rural areas that sometimes have limited infrastructure.

Charging stations are being added not just at places that sell gas, but also at workplaces and residential developments, said Daniel Kassis, general manager for strategic partnerships at Dominion Energy.

Apartments and new residential projects are adding chargers as an amenity for their tenants, in addition to the demand for public charging stations. All that will increase demand on the electric grid, Kassis said.

Added charging stations greatly increase the power demand because the stations draw so much energy to charge cars, with the faster chargers needing an hour or less to power up a car.

Dominion sees a big role for the utility in helping with the construction of the charger network in more rural areas, including sites that are further from the interstates, Kassis said.
Two months before her hand-off to a new administration, Spearman sat down with The Post and Courier to reflect on her tenure, as well as her hopes and concerns for the future. Read moreExiting schools' chief Spearman reflects on teacher recruitment, mergers and takeovers
We use the word "hope" casually  I hope the kids can come for Christmas this year  but if you look deeper, that wish really looks like love, a hearts desire for joining in celebration, a pull toward joy, and those are inside the battery. Hope is not attached to the holiday; hope is the inner motivation. Read moreAging for Amateurs: Hope is a monarch butterfly
MYRTLE BEACH  A specialized medical practice that uses Ketamine infusion therapy to aid in the treatment of chronic pain and various disorders is expanding across South Carolina, this time with an office in Myrtle Beach.

Grand Strand Ketamine Center, located at 1321 44th Avenue North, is the second location of a practice started by medical doctors Tim Osbon, Erik Oberg and Edward Neilsen. The trio also has a location in Greenville, with ultimate plans of opening locations in Columbia, near Rock Hill and Savannah, Ga. in the future.

The three of us, since the first day of medical school, finally get a chance to go into business together, Osbon said. Erik and I had opened up the Greenville Ketamine Center two and half years ago and its done so well and we knew Myrtle Beach needed it so we put it all together.

Ketamine is an anesthetic that was first approved for use in the United States in the early 1970s and is commonly used in emergency rooms as a sedative for people undergoing painful procedures. It is listed on the World Health Organizations List of Essential Medicines, which contains medications considered to be the most effective yet safe to meet needs in health systems.

Dr. Tim Osbon said his office uses Ketamine in the form of IV infusions to treat anxiety, bipolar disorders, chronic pain, depression, post-traumatic stress disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders and substance abuse.

Ketamine may not be for everybody, and we never pitch it as a cure but we see remarkable results, Osbon said. Its the best drug I have ever encountered for a lot of different reasons.

Its also one of the safest drugs in history while being used in battlefields and emergency rooms.

Patients of Grand Strand Ketamine Center are taken back to rooms featuring sliding barn doors, where after being given a controlled dose of Ketamine through an IV in a black leather chair, the rooms lights are dimmed, colorful lights are reflected onto the ceiling and soothing music is played.

The key to ketamine therapy is you have to get to a dissociative state, Osbon said. Its a psychedelic. You see colors differently and the perception is altered and that helps us figure out that you are at that spot.

What we know about ketamine, for it to be therapeutic, youve got to get to that dissociated state. By giving this drug, your mind goes to another place.

A study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders in 2018 discovered a connection between dissociative effects and improvements in depressive symptoms. The more disassociated the studys participants were, the more clinical improvements they experienced.

Osbon said his staff goes in every few minutes to make sure the patients are dissociated, but they are hooked up to monitors to constantly gauge their vital signs. The infusion itself lasts about one hour.

By virtue of that neurocircuitry change, people literally think differently, Osbon said. They have insights into their problems. They address problems in a different way in more healthy productive ways as opposed to that negative spiral a lot of people get into when they suffer depression and anxiety.

But the procedure is not covered by health insurance; however, Osbon said times are changing, especially with more research being done on Ketamine.

Should they cover it? Osbon said. Yes, but thats a fight we have been pushing for years. The literature is very clear on this and we are not doing anything that is not evidence-based period.

Osbon said patients typically undergo six infusions over a two-week period in order to maximize the beneficial effects of the drug, and then booster treatments are determined on a case-by-case basis.

The cost for each of the first six infusions is $435, although Osbon said they offer a 10 percent discount to first responders and military veterans as well as offer a finance plan through the veteran-owned business.

We finance here with no finance charges, he said. We are going to trust our patients and it has worked out well in Greenville.

Were doing it the old school way. Take your time, get to know the patients, treat them right and do anything you can to help them.

Ketamine has been criticized over the years due to it being psychedelic and its use in veterinary medicine.

Ketamine has been abused as a club drug, no doubt about it, Osbon said. Its also used in veterinary medicine in far higher doses than we are using.

Osbon said in his career in emergency medicine he has even used it on a three-year-old who bit their tongue and needed it to be sewn up with no adverse reactions and they have seen a success rate of 90 percent in their locations.

Weve got nothing to hide, Osbon said, while pointing to a notebook in his lobby containing factual evidence. Ive got 25 years of good literature to back up what we are talking about.

We wouldnt be able to sleep at night if we werent doing things the right way based on the science of it.
In the age of cellphones and the internet, consumers often face a simple choice: convenience or privacy? Do we let Big Tech have access to our private communications and free email accounts because it's so easy? Once you've said yes  and who among us has not?  it's not a stretch to think t Read moreCommentary: Contact-tracing apps had good intentions. Then we got carried away.
You are the owner of this article.
SPARTANBURG  For Michael Simonetti, the process of understanding horses is almost second nature.

I've learned their language, and once you can understand their language, you can speak to them on a level that they understand, Simonetti said.

In 2015, Simonetti started Equipped Horsemanship, a foundational horsemanship business that gets horses fit for work or riding, as well as addressing behavioral issues.

A few years later, he began shoeing horses. As a practicing horseman, Simonetti said there was a lack of farriers willing to work on the horses he was training because they were still developing or didn't stand well, so he decided to expand his business to offer farrier services and started Equipped Forge Inc.

Simonetti moved to Spartanburg from Long Island in early June with his two daughters and wife, Nicole. He said the move was due to the high cost of living in New York and the desire to raise his family in a family-oriented city with plenty of outdoor activities.

I had a beautiful spot, he said. It was an acre and a half that bordered 3,500 acres of state land.

Simonetti had a farm in New York and ran a full training facility. Horses from around the world would come to the facility to be developed for a month to two years. Once the horses were developed, theyd go back home to their owners. He was also a real estate agent in New York and has plans to continue selling real estate with Allen Tate Realtors Greenville/Simpsonville Office.

When Simonetti was a teenager, his father picked up horsemanship, and he followed suit. His family purchased a horse property 15 minutes away from his childhood home. Between the ages of 16 and 18, Simonetti began to learn about developing and understanding horses because they were available to him. Before his family purchased the property, Simonetti would visit other family members in Alabama who had horses.

He signed up for a program created and presented by the Mustang Heritage Foundation, called the Extreme Mustang Makeover. Participants have to bring in a wild mustang and are given 100 days to "gentle' the horse. The horse is shown in a competition. After the competition, the horses go up for adoption.

The Extreme Mustang Makeover gives horses an opportunity to live with a person rather than holding pens that the Bureau of Land Management has put them in order to keep them off of grazing land, Simonetti said.

Understanding anatomy, physiology and biomechanics of horses is really important for putting shoes on, he said. You're nailing a metal object into a live animal that is about 1,200 pounds, and if you do it wrong, you can hurt them very easily.

Simonetti said horses' feet grow just like a humans fingernail and keeping a horse's hooves cleaned and trimmed based on its job is important. He said that hooves are equivalent to the digits in our fingers and horses are basically walking on their fingertips.

There are various styles of shoeing based on different styles of riding and the different jobs horses have. The time frame of when its appropriate to change a horse's shoes is determined by its job.

Trail horses are getting a heavier shoe that's made with more metal stock, he said. When they're walking out on those sandy, rocky trails, the shoe just gets beat up, so the shoe can really take that beating on the rugged terrain.

Simonetti works with horses from all disciplines: hunter jumpers, dressage horses, rodeo horses, ranch horses, racehorses, trail horses and carriage horses.

Simonetti currently has a trailer that he works out of to provide services. He can train and shoe horses. Simonetti also offers therapeutic shoeing and glues shoe applications. Since moving, he's shrunk the training portion of business but will still take clients on a case-by-case basis.

More information about Equipped Forge Inc, can be found at facebook.com/EquippedForge/.
I adapted a famous translation of one of the Roman poet Martials epigrams to comment in limerick form on Dr. Ozs victory in the Pennsylvania Republican primary. I now offer five lines of verse to comment on Dr. Ozs opponent in the Pennsylvania Senate election. We support Dr. Oz  a better man than Fetterman. Indulge me if you can with these five lines for Fetterman.

A candidate named John Fetterman

Told us he was better, man.

So said his doctors letter, man.

Can he even knit a sweater, man?

He looks like a bedwetter, man.

As the Democrats and their media adjunct seek to push Fetterman over the finish line, they revert to the Weekend At Bernies routine that worked so well for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential campaign. This time around, however, they seem to have overestimated their ability to sell the lie of the year. Barack Obama has fittingly returned to peddle it.

We can see that the man is severely impaired. We have the ocular proof. The Dems doctors letter is a lying fraud. The Fetterman candidacy is a charade.
If Keith Ellison wins his race for reelection as Minnesota Attorney General it will be a sad day indeed. If he loses, he will be back. His lust for office is insatiable. Win or lose, history must be told.

Ellison must be the single most unfit officeholder in the United States. The competition is intense, the contenders are many, but Ellisons unfitness reigns supreme. That was the point of my 2018 Weekly Standard column Can Keith Ellison turn lawman?, which updated my 2006 Weekly Standard column Louis Farrakhans first congressman and companion Power Liner post Keith Ellison for dummies. Beginning with my series of posts asking Who is Keith Ellson?, I have sought to place Ellisons political career in context over the past 16 years.

What is the context? Ellison has never been pressed on it. This is the summary I offered in the 2018 Weekly Standard column. Let it stand as my closing statement on Ellison this year.

Ellison was an active supporter and local leader of the Nation of Islam in Minneapolis before his election to Congress, yet he has baldly dissembled about this history since 2006. In his 2014 memoir My Country, Tis of Thee, for example, Ellison simply omitted it and presented himself as a critic of Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam.

In 2018 Ellison told Jake Tapper on CNN, I worked on the Million Man March and I was proud to do so. Thats it. But that wasnt it. Ellison first sought office as a Democrat in 1998 as Keith Ellison-Muhammad, a self-avowed member of the Nation of Islam. (Ellison-Muhammad is just one of three Nation of Islam names Ellison has used over the years.) Fortunately for him, Ellisons 5th District constituents didnt much care about his history and the Minneapolis Star Tribune has almost entirely let it rest exactly where Ellison wants it.

The most troubling thread that runs through Ellisons career: support for cop killers. In September 1992 Minneapolis police officer Jerry Haaf was murdered execution-style, shot in the back as he took a coffee break at a restaurant in south Minneapolis. Police later determined that Haafs murder was a gang hit performed by four members of the citys Vice Lords gang.The leader of the Vice Lords was Sharif Willis, a convicted murderer who had been released from prison and who sought respectability as a responsible gang leader from gullible municipal authorities while operating a gang front called United for Peace.

The four Vice Lords members who murdered Haaf met and planned the murder at Williss house. Despite the fact that two witnesses implicated Willis in the planning he was never charged because law enforcement authorities said they lacked sufficient evidence to convict him.

At the time, Ellison was a Minneapolis attorney in private practice. And within a month of Haafs murder, Ellison appeared with Willis supporting the United for Peace gang front. In October 1992, Ellison helped organize a demonstration against Minneapolis police that included United for Peace. The main point of our rally is to support United for Peace [in its fight against] the campaign of slander the police federation has been waging, said Ellison.

Willis was the last speaker at the demonstration. According to a contemporaneous report in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Willis told the crowd that Minneapolis police were experiencing the same fear from young black men that blacks had felt from police for many years. If the police have some fear, I understand that fear, Willis said. We seem to have an overabundance of bad police. . . . [W]ere going to get rid of them, Willis said. Theyve got to go. The Pioneer Press account concludes with Ellisons contribution to the demonstration: Ellison told the crowd that the police union is systematically frightening whites in order to get more police officers hired. That way, Ellison said, the union can increase its power base.

Ellison publicly supported the Haaf murder defendants. In February 1993, he spoke at a demonstration for one of them during his trial. Ellison led the crowd assembled at the courthouse in a chant that was ominous in the context of Haafs cold-blooded murder: We dont get no justice, you dont get no peace. Ellisons working relationship with Sharif Willis finally came to an end in February 1995, when Willis was convicted in federal court on several counts of drug and gun-related crimes and sent back to prison for 20 years.

The Haaf case wasnt an aberration. In February 2000, he spoke at a fundraiser sponsored by the Minnesota chapter of the old National Lawyers Guild, on whose steering committee he had servedthe chapter was raising funds for former Symbionese Liberation Army member Kathleen Soliah, who had been a fugitive from justice for 25 years, on charges related to the attempted pipe bombing of Los Angeles police officers in 1975. (The National Lawyers Guild is an old Communist front group that somehow survived the fall of the Soviet Union. Regimes come and go; dupes are forever.)

In his National Lawyers Guild speech Ellison spoke favorably of cop killers Mumia Abu-Jamal and Assata Shakur (Joanne Chesimard), who was wanted for the murder of New Jersey state trooper Werner Foerster in 1973. Chesimard was convicted of that murder but escaped from prison in 1979 and has been on the lam in Cuba since 1984. Bryan Burroughs Days of Rage has a riveting account of Chesimards terrorist career. In 2013, the FBI made Chesimard the first woman named to its Most Wanted Terrorists List. The FBI has offered a reward of up to $1,000,000 for her capture.

Yet Ellison prayed for Chesimard in his National Lawyers Guild speech: I am praying that Castro does not get to the point where he has to really barter with these guys over here because theyre going to get Assata Shakur, theyre going to get a whole lot of other people, he told the crowd. I hope the Cuba[n] people can stick to it, because the freedom of some good decent people depends on it.

Ellisons support for Soliah/Olson in the speech is equally notable. He denounced law enforcement authorities for prosecuting the attempted murder of police officers. Referring to the days Soliah/Olson had spent in the SLA under the leadership of Donald DeFreeze (Field Marshal Cinque), Ellison hailed Soliah/Olson as a black gang member and portrayed her as a victim of government persecution. He described her as one of those who had been fighting for freedom in the 60s and70s and called for her release. Ellison to the contrary notwithstanding, Soliah/Olson pleaded guilty to the crimes charged in Los Angeles and to an additional murder charge in Sacramento.

According to Ellison, Soliah/Olson was a social justice warrior fighting the good fight. The case had nothing to do with the attempted murder of police officers; that was but a pretext. The Los Angeles district attorney was pursuing the case in bad faith: This is not about justice. This is not about accountability, this is not about public safety. THIS is about SYMBOLISM. This is about MAKING A POINT. This is about saying to you and to me that we are going to get you if you ever try to stand against what were about. WERE GOING TO GET YOU. And were going to lock you up and we dont care how long it takes, were going to get you. There might be people who get book deals, or there might be private revenge, there might be all these things, but no prosecution like this would really float unless it had a very important, symbolic meaning that tied it together for the people involved in it. And it is the idea that the people who fought for social justice and to elevate humanity in the 60s and 70s were WRONG! They were wrong and were going to prove it because were going TO LOCK HER UP. Thats what its about.

In 2006 Greg Lang dug up the text of Ellisons speech as edited by Ellison himself and posted it on a site Lang dedicated to the Soliah case. Fearing that the site might disappear, as it has, I posted the speech in its entirety here on Power Line. The whole thing is indeed worth reading. To say the least, it reveals Ellison to be hostile to impartial enforcement of the law and indifferent to the lives of police officers. It is a shocking speech that betrays his unfitness for any public office, let alone attorney general. Then Star Tribune metro columnist Katherine Kersten devoted a column to Ellisons National Lawyers Guild speech at the time Lang dug it up. When she sought out Ellison he declined to comment on his current view of Soliah/Olson or Chesimard/Shakur and he has not been asked about it since.

From the time of his third year at the University of Minnesota Law School (19891990) through the 2000 National Lawyers Guild speech Ellison was a hustler peddling the toxic Nation of Islam line. By 2002, when he ran a second time for office as a state legislator, he had jettisoned the Nation of Islam baggage. The vicious radicalism remained.

This period of Ellisons career is partially documented in videos preserved in archives around the Twin Cities. My Ellison file of news clippings and interview notes is about six inches thick. There is nothing more damning than the fully documented record of his ardent support for cop killers summarized above. For the sake of completeness, I want to set forth the video remnants in chronological order with notes where warranted. As I say, this is for completists only.

Police and the African-American community (10/30/92) 1 of 3

Ellison introduced and starts speaking at 1:44:20  Ellison says some people call them riots  he refers to them as disturbances around 1:46:20

Police and the African-American community 2 of 3

4:30 Ellison says There is no police accountability

4:58 Ellison says police are the military wing of the government

5:30-6:30 Defends convicted felon Sharif Willis and says he had nothing to do with the killing of Minneapolis Police Officer Jerry Haaf (Willis was implicated in the murder of Haaf but never charged)

6:00: Ellison refers to so-called gangs

Police and the African-American community 3 of 3

Crime Hysteria and Race Bias Forum (1/26/1994) 1/5

4:30-7:00 Ellison laments hysteria around crime and rails against criminal justice system  seems like all the debate centers around do we punish these quote unquote criminals severely or very severely

2/5

3/5

7:45 Ellison asks about AC Ford case  Ford was one of the defendants convicted in the murder of Officer Haaf. Ellison appears to agree with Fords attorney that the wrong guy got convicted

4/5

18:00 Ellison blasts crime hysteria fueled by race

5/5

Death Penalty Forum 11/6/1996

5:08 Ellison seems to support the conspiracy theory that the CIA placed crack cocaine in black communities

6:08 Ellison says America is not a good place for black people

8:45 Says convicted cop killer Mumia Abu Jamal is likely innocent

37:00 Says Americans might abandon death penalty except for fear of blacks

42:20 Street crimes arent worst kind of crimes  environmental crimes are worse

49:50 Young white people need to take responsibility for racial oppression  Ellison endorses reparations

50:20 Blacks should have right to secede from America
Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was attacked by a man with a hammer at the couples home in San Francisco early Friday morning. CNN has strung a series of reports on the attack here. CNNs first report of the assault was posted at 11:08 a.m. on October 28. By 2:25 p.m. Gavin Newsom had attributed the attack to divisive and hateful rhetoric. By 7:25 p.m. President Biden had observed that assaulters query  Wheres Nancy?  was the same one used during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.

Defamation dies in darkness. The Washington Post therefore assigned three reporters to the case. By 7:00 a.m. on October 29 the Post had nailed it down: Attack on Nancy Pelosis husband follows years of GOP demonizing her. The subhead was equally unsubtle: A man with right-wing views who broke into the House speakers home yelled Where is Nancy? before assaulting Paul Pelosi with a hammer, police say. The Post must have capitalized Where is Nancy to indicate its part of the right-wing code.

Michael Shellenberger has taken note. Shellenberger is the long time Bay-area resident and author of San Fransicko: Why Progressives Ruin Cities (2021). Shellenberger finds the attacker  David DePape  to be more in the grip of a drug-induced psychosis than ideology-induced fanaticism. Shellenberger wrote in his Substack post on DePape (links omitted):

DePapes politics have little rhyme or reason. In past years DePape shared a post about Stephen Colberts 2006 roast of President George W. Bush at the White House Correspondents dinner; linked to videos of Disney films altered to make it look like the characters were swearing; and claimed, Jesus is the anti-Christ  not exactly a litany of right-wing tropes. And, as I discovered yesterday, DePape lived with a notorious local nudist in a Berkeley home, complete with a Black Lives Matter sign in the window and an LGBT rainbow flag, emblazoned with a marijuana symbol, hanging from a tree. A closer look reveals the characteristics of a homeless encampment, or what Europeans call an open drug scene. In the driveway, there is a broken-down camper van. On the street is a yellow school bus, which neighbors said DePape occasionally stayed in. Both are filled with garbage typical of such structures in homeless encampments. People come and go from the house and the vehicles, neighbors say, in part to partake in the use of a potent psychedelic drug, ibogaine. Neighbors described DePape as a homeless addict with a politics that was, until recently, left-wing, but of secondary importance to his psychotic and paranoid behavior. What I know about the family is that theyre very radical activists, said one of DePapes neighbors, a woman who only gave her first name, Trish. They seem very left. They are all about the Black Lives Matter movement. Gay pride. But theyre very detached from reality. They have called the cops on several of the neighbors, including us, claiming that we are plotting against them. Its really weird to see that they are willing to be so aggressive toward somebody else who is also a lefty. Not all of the news media missed DePapes history of drug use, psychosis, and homelessness. CNN reported that a woman named Laura Hayes, who said she worked with DePape 10 years ago making hemp bracelets, said he had been living in a storage shed. He talks to angels, she said, and told her that there will be a hard time coming. Another woman, Linda Schneider, told CNN and Bay Area NBC TV affiliate, KRON4, that she got to know DePape around 2014 and that he was still homeless, living in a storage unit, and using hard drugs. He (was) likely a mindless follower of something he saw on social media because I dont think he had the courage to be part of any political or terrorist group, said Schneider. His drug use began again and he went off his rocker. But much of the rest of the news media, particularly local journalists who could have interviewed DePapes neighbors, were swept up in the narrative that DePape was more like John Wilkes Booth, the fanatical but sane assassin of Abraham Lincoln, than John Hinkley, Jr., the mentally ill man who shot Ronald Reagan. DePape is much more like one of the hundreds of psychotic homeless people Ive interviewed in recent years than the fanatical climate ideologues who Ive been writing about in recent weeks. Wrapped up in their own obsession with Trump Republicans, most journalists have missed the real story. David DePape is not a microcosm of the political psychosis gripping America in general. Rather, hes a microcosm of the drug-induced psychosis gripping the West Coast in particular.

Shellenberger has more here and there is more to come, Im sure.

House Minority Whip Steve Scalise was of course gravely wounded by a Bernie Bro. The Washington Post did not make much of the shooters obvious political mania. Indeed, they placed his near assassination in the context of the long, awful history of gunned-down lawmakers. Scalise spoke for himself in his characteristically decent voice on Twitter.
By universal consent, the most powerful force in Minnesota politics is the teachers union, Education Minnesota. In my opinion, Education Minnesota is the states number one source of evil. My organization, Center of the American Experiment, has been fighting for years to counter the teachers unions malign influence.

We are the only effective challenge to their power. Among other things, we have exposed the fact that the union spends much more money on left-wing politics than on representing its members. We have also exposed the fact that, contrary to myth, Minnesotas public schools can fairly be described as failing their students.

So Education Minnesota hates us. Yesterday, it sent out this missive to its members and, I suppose, friends and supporters. First the image, then excerpts:

Education Minnesota is alarmed about the fact that this year, for almost the first time, there are meaningful school board races across the state. Until now, the union has basically appointed the school boards that it has controlled and with which it has negotiated. But now, a revolution is under way, led by the Minnesota Parents Alliance.

Origins of conservative, anti-union forces in school board races Investigative reporting by the St. Paul Pioneer Press

The Pioneer Press article was a good one. I wrote about it here.

has revealed the origins of the Minnesota Parents Alliance, which is even more closely related to the Center of the American Experiment than many thought. After two tours of Minnesota presenting its incorrect and inflammatory view of critical race theory in 2021

Education Minnesota is the local chapter of the National Education Association, which has enthusiastically endorsed the teaching of critical race theory in the public schools. Needless to say, the union offers no instance of anything in our many programs being incorrect. And what was inflammatory was not our programs, but the unions introduction of racism and anti-Americanism into the schools.

the CAE decided in early 2022 to create a 501(c)(4) social issues group

Is the quality of public education now a social issue? The Left consistently describes it that way.

to recruit and train candidates for school boards. CAE President John Hinderaker recently wrote on his blog that the intent was to pull together Minnesota parents to wrest control of the public schools away from teachers unions, in order to improve the quality of education and to stop left-wing indoctrination.

That sums it up well. Education Minnesota refers to this Power Line post, and I thank them for quoting me correctly.

That group became the Minnesota Parents Alliance, which has recruited and trained school board candidates throughout the state. The group has endorsed about 120 candidates in the November election.

Correct again! On one side, the most powerful and well-funded special interest group in the state. On the other, concerned parents with almost zero resources. I am betting on the parents.

The [Center of the American Experiment] is the most potent advocate in Minnesota for school vouchers

Thank you! I think there is a good chance that Minnesotas new legislature, when it convenes in January, will enact real, meaningful school choice, due in large part to our efforts. For many years Education Minnesota, like George Wallace in the 1950s, has stood in the schoolhouse door, blocking a brighter future for minority kids. That is about to end.

whitewhashing history lessons

That is code for occasionally talking about something other than slavery.

loosening environmental protections

I dont know what they are thinking of here. To be fair, we have come out against blocking dairy farm expansion based on cow flatulence supposedly affecting global temperatures. Maybe that is what they have in mind.

breaking unions

We are fine with private sector unions, but do indeed want to destroy the corrupt power of public sector unions, chiefly Education Minnesota, which has done more to harm Minnesotas children than any other institution.

and lowering taxes on millionaires and corporations.

Typical left-wing dishonesty. Actually, we want to lower taxes for all taxpaying Minnesotans, but the far left cant admit that without shattering its fantasy world-view.

It runs an annual campaign, Educated Teachers, to encourage Education Minnesota members to leave their union.

Indeed we do! And I am happy to say that our efforts meet with growing success. For the first time ever, as far as I know, Education Minnesota has reported declining revenue and declining membership. Why would a normal teacher want to spend his or her hard-earned money to funnel political contributions to candidates with whom he or she may or may not agree? The deep corruption of Education Minnesota has been exposed, and its power is waning.

If you want to help our fight against entrenched power, you can go here to support American Experiment and here to support Minnesota Parents Alliance.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested one Abubakar Ibrahim, the village head of Gidan Abba, Bodinga Local Government Area of Sokoto, with 10 others over 991,320 pills of pharmaceutical opioids.

A statement by the Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday in Abuja, said 1,251kgs of cannabis and Khat were recovered.

Mr Babafemi said the suspect, Mr Ibrahim, 38, was arrested in Bodinga town with 3kgs of cannabis Sativa and 4,000 tablets of exol-5.

He said that NDLEA operatives attached to Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO) import shed of Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Ikeja Lagos, also intercepted 15 cartons.

According to Mr Babafemi, the cartons which were intercepted on 26 Oct. contained 802,000 pills of Tramadol, imported from Dubai, UAE and Karachi, Pakistan.

He also said that 10 cartons of Tramadol 225mg, came in from Dubai on an Ethiopian Airlines flight.

The NDLEA Director for Media and Advocacy added that four cartons of 100mg and a carton of 225mg Tramadol came from Karachi, Pakistan on another Ethiopian Airlines flight.

According to him, on the same day, operatives at the SAHCO export shed intercepted cans of tomato paste going to the United Kingdom.

A thorough search of the consignment revealed that the tomato cans were used to conceal 36 pellets of cannabis.

This was with a gross weight of 21.30 kilograms, while a cargo agent, Sodehinde Akinwale, has also been arrested in connection with the seizure.

Two days after, Oct. 25, operatives attached to the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc (NAHCO) import shed of the Lagos airport, also seized five cartons of dried khat leaves.

This was also weighing 107.70kgs that came in from Bangkok, Thailand, through Dubai on an Emirates Airline flight,  he said.

Mr Babafemi said a follow-up operation on the seizure of 11.90kgs Meth concealed in the heads of dried fish going to Dubai, UAE on August 5, had also led to the arrest of a 30-year-old bricklayer, Babatunde Mamowora.

He said that the suspect was arrested on 27 Oct in the Sango Ota area of Ogun, in collaboration with men of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in the area.

(NAN)

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In parallel with the extraordinary session of the National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh, a multi-thousand-strong rally has started in Stepanakert

October 30, 2022, 15:36 A multi-thousand-strong rally started in Stepanakert (Live)

STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 30, ARTSAKHPRESS: Today, on October 30, at the initiative of all the factions of the National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh, an extraordinary session was held, in parallel to which a multi-thousand-strong rally has started in Stepanakert's Revival Square.
Olivier Bremond and Thorunn Anspachs production company Mercer Productions (part of Federation Studios) announced the filming of the documentary titled Bhutan: Following in the footsteps of Matthieu Ricard. This 52 film for ARTE is directed by Jerome Cecil Auffret and co-written by Auffret and Caroline Halley. The 28-day-long shoot kicked off in Bhutan on October 16.

After spending 7 years away, Buddhist monk and photographer Ricard returns to Bhutan, a small hidden kingdom in the Himalayaswhere he has spent 10 years of his life.

The film invites us to discover this exceptional man and the country he holds most dear: thanks to his statusand his in-depth knowledge of Bhutanand its inhabitants, Matthieu Ricard is able to take us to places no-one else has access to. By his side, we get to see the most breathtaking of landscapes, and meet men, women and children experiencing ageless existences and traditions, as well as masters of wisdom. Since Matthieu Ricards last visit, the modern worlds battering ram has finally managed to butt through the armor of this self-sufficient realm, imposing its satellites and worldwide web. But despite this encroachment, Matthieu Ricard is still able to find the jewels that have always made this small kingdom a unique territory, away from the rest of the world.

In the late Sixties, Ricard was one of the first Westerners to convert to Buddhism. He has become internationally renowned for the simplicity with which he is able to heighten public awareness on the subjects of meditation, peace and altruism. A member of the Dalai-Lamas inner circle, Ricard is also an excellent photographer, and he uses this art form to share his values and his wonder over the workings of the world and the human soul.

Ricard: I want to travel again  maybe for the last time - to Bhutan: this little kingdom is one of the most special realms I have ever had the pleasure of visiting. Ive photographed this country so much over the years but it must have changed a lot since the last time I was here. This trip will be an opportunity for me to talk about the concerns the Bhutan people have regarding the threat of global warming to their precious environment. The Himalayan glaciers (known as the worlds third pole) are melting at an alarming rate when, paradoxically, this country is probably the least polluting nation in the world.

I see photography as an instrument, an art form, that allows me to achieve my vocation as a practicing Buddhist: to serve others. I hope this new trip and the documentary that goes with it will allow me to share my optimistic viewof the world.

Auffret, the films co-writer and director: We will be following in Matthieu Ricards footsteps and seeing things through his eyes as he takes us to the mythical places that have left an eternal impression on this unique cosmopolitan monk. From inaccessible monasteries to mountain nomads, and from rituals to wildlife and impassable cols, the photographers red robe is our door opener to this countrys innermost secrets. Through him, we also get to meet his monk and lama friends and the various colorful characters he has known for many years.

Auffrets films have won about fifty awards worldwide, including an International Emmy Award. They have been watched by over 90 million viewers throughout the world, aired by ARTE, France T.V., PBS, Buena-Vista & Disney, NatGeo and BBC, in particular.

Having explored many areas of life, including culture, anthropology, animals and science, his editorial line is now devoted to the relationship between Man and the sacred.

Caroline Halley, the documentarys fellow writer: In her roleas a visual artist and photographer inspired by pureness and sobriety, Carolinehas spent the last 20 years exploring sacred places around the world, pictorially depicting the myths and legends they harbor.

This documentary is produced by Mercer Productions, a Federation subsidiary production company created by Thorunn Anspach and Olivier Bremond in 2020. It specializes in French and international fiction and high-end documentaries.

International sales of the Bhutan: Following in the footsteps of Matthieu Ricard documentary will be handled by Federation.
LONDON, Oct. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- At the 20th CPC Congress in Beijing, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping outlined what he called a "new journey of national rejuvenation through a Chinese path to modernization."

POSTER OF A NEW JOURNEY  CMG EUROPE CMG Europes Juliet Mann with Chinas Ambassador to the UK, Zheng Zeguang

On this special one-hour show, China Media Group Europe examines China's move from high speed to high quality growth, its green transition and the very real opportunities that has created for Europe to engage with a rejuvenated and fully modernized China. Its anchor Juliet Mann is joined by China's Ambassador to the UK, Zheng Zeguang, and a host of experts from across the world to consider exactly what that new journey will look like, and how it will impact relations with the UK and Europe.

In an exclusive conversation, CMG Europe finds out what the idea that China cannot develop in isolation from the world and that the world needs China for its development really means in practice. His Excellency Mr Zheng also shares his thoughts on how China and Europe can work together to tackle global problems. He told Juliet Mann: "China will respond to external uncertainties with its own certainty, and inject positive energy into world development with its high-quality development and high standard opening up."

A New Journey then moves on to consider the miracles of fast economic growth and long-term social stability. Stephen Perry, Chair of The 48 Group Club tells Juliet that we can expect to see a similar transformation in China in the next 40 years to that we've seen over the last 40. David Fergusson, who has edited four volumes of Xi Jinping's work on the governance of China, echoes that, pointing out that continuity of purpose is what has made China successful. Marc Ostwald, Chief Economist and Global Strategist at ADM Investor Services International points out the very necessary modernizing reforms now in place to facilitate China's growth towards a $20 trillion economy, and Wang Huiyao, Founder and President of the Center for China and Globalization celebrates the hybrid economy China has been able to create through extensive reforms is what is central to China's Success.

The final part of CMG Europe's special program considers China's green revolution. Author and business expert Tim Clissold points out that China is leading the world in terms of the transition to renewable energy and electric cars, a thought echoed by Dr Christoph Nedopil, Director of the Green Finance & Development Center at the Fanhai International School of Finance. Yin Zhiguang, Professor at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Fudan University tells Juliet how China's vision of a green world actually entails a much bigger vision for a fairer and more accessible world order. And Stephen Lynch, Managing Director of the British Chamber of Commerce in Beijing explains how a greener China is an incredible opportunity for British and European businesses to collaborate with their Chinese counterparts.

Tune in from 16GMT on 31 October 2022 on CGTN, YouTube, Facebook and Dailymotion to watch the special show and catch all the stories and videos at https://www.cgtn.com/europe.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1933081/CGTN__Europe.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1933082/CMG_Europe_CMG_Europe.jpg

SOURCE CGTN Europe Ltd
The rally and presence of tens of thousands of Artsakh Armenians in Stepanakert's Revival Square is already a message to humanity, the international community and various countries.

October 30, 2022, 17:57 Any proposal or document that would consider Artsakh as a part of Azerbaijan will be rejected. David Babayan

STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 30, ARTSAKHPRESS: As Artsakhpress informs, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh, David Babayan, said this during the rally held in Stepanakert's Revival Square on October 30.

"Indeed, we live in a period of time, when we face ontological dangers. Moreover, not only Artsakh, but also Mother Armenia and the Diaspora are facing ontological threats.

The future largely depends on Artsakh. To get out of this difficult situation with honor, we have to work both in the domestic and foreign fields.

Most importantly, we must not be indifferent. It is indifference that can destroy us, although it may seem like the most innocent act. Our future depends on each of us; will it be victory or defeat? As for the foreign sphere, of course, a lot of work is being done together with all Armenians.

We must be principal; we must give place to professionalism and patriotism," said the Artsakh FM. He emphasized that any proposal or document by which Artsakh will be considered as part of Azerbaijan is unacceptable and will be rejected.

"In case of such proposals by various countries and international structures, we will consider them as a gross violation of international law.

Believe that we are able to protect Artsakh. We have that potential," said the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Artsakh, stressing that it depends on everyone to be that dignified and principled generation that will be able to save this Biblical land of Artsakh regardless of all difficulties.

David Babayan expressed his belief that this mission will be realized together.

"I am sure, because we have Yerablur, Tsitsernakaberd, Shushi, which are looking at us. After all, how will we look into the eyes of our children, our elders, our grieving wives and mothers?

How will we stand before the memory of our heroes and what answer will we give before God? Therefore, we should all know that our fate is united and there will be no games behind the people's backs.

All of us will keep together and protect Artsakh regardless of all the difficulties, and there is a chance to save Artsakh, David Babayan added, highly appreciating the role of the Russian Federation in maintaining peace and stability in the region.

"When we say that the Russian people and Russia are fraternal, we want to announce to the world that this is not aimed at any state, because we, as people who have a diaspora, have no right to think so.

Therefore, let's fight, unite and never despair", concluded Babayan.
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Family-friendly Halloween fun October 31 at the Church of Scientology Los Angeles. All are welcome.

The Church of Scientology is pulling out all the stops for the annual Halloween extravaganza this Monday.

The Church of Scientology of Los Angeles is the place to be for a safe and memorable Halloween celebration. Tweet this Family-friendly Halloween party at the Church of Scientology in East Hollywood with 100,000 pieces of candy at 20 trick-or-treat stations, photo booths and Halloween games galore.

The entire family is invited to the East Hollywood Halloween Spooktacular from 4-9 p.m. at 4810 Sunset Blvd.

Expect plenty of free "treats" and activities, including more than 100,000 pieces of candy at 20 different trick-or-treat stations all up and down L. Ron Hubbard Way. There will be pumpkin carving, Halloween photo booths and Halloween games galore.

It's the place to be for a totally safe and memorable Halloween celebration for the entire family.

"I think that it's awesome that the Church of Scientology put this together," said a Batman look-alike at the drive-through treat station at the Church last year in a video on the new interactive section on the Scientology website , also available on the Scientology channel on YouTube . "It's a community thing. We need more of this kind of thing, especially with the pandemic that just passed, it's nice to have people get together."

Come in costume and bring home memorable pictures of the kids with their favorite Halloween characters.

Join the fun at the Church of Scientology Los Angeles for a Spook-tacular Halloween celebration.

The Church of Scientology Los Angeles is designed to provide ideal facilities for Scientologists on their ascent to higher states of spiritual freedom and to serve as a home for the entire communitya meeting ground of cooperative effort to uplift people of all denominations. The Church was dedicated by Scientology ecclesiastical leader Mr. David Miscavige in 2010 .

The Church of Scientology Los Angeles is featured in an episode of Inside Scientology on the Scientology Network, available on DIRECTV channel 320 and streaming at Scientology.tv, through mobile apps and via the Roku, Amazon Fire and Apple TV platforms.

For more information, visit the website of the Church of Scientology Los Angeles or the new interactive timeline at Scientology.org/our-help-is-yours/ .

SOURCE Church of Scientology International
CALIFORNIA CITY, Calif., Oct. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- GenesisCare, a leading provider of integrated cancer care globally, and Prelude Corporation (PreludeDx(TM)), a leader in molecular diagnostics and precision medicine, today announced interim results from the AUSPREDICT registry. Data presented at the Australasian International Breast Congress demonstrates a significant (45%) change in radiation therapy treatment recommendations1 when using the DCISionRT test, optimising management to prevent over and under treatment of Australian women with Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS).

DCIS is a pre-invasive disease of the breast that may lead to invasive breast cancer if untreated.(2) After breast conserving surgery (BCS) for DCIS, radiation therapy is often used to minimise the risk of recurrence. DCISionRT(R)is a novel molecular test that assesses the 10-year risk of recurrence after BCS and if there would be a benefit to treating with radiation therapy. GenesisCare and PreludeDx formed a strategic partnership in 2021 to bring DCISionRT to Australia for the first time and establish the AUS-PREDICT registry to collect real-world data to further the development of precision medicine and decision tools globally.

The presentation, entitled Interim Analysis of the PREDICT Registry Australia: Changes in Treatment Recommendation for a Biologic Signature Predictive of Radiation Therapy (RT) Benefit in Patients with DCIS, studied 232 patients from Australia who had received the DCISionRT test following breastconserving surgery. Radiation therapy recommendation decreased by 70% in patients with a low risk DCISionRT score and increased 29% in patients with elevated risk scores.(1)

Leading Specialist Breast Surgeon and Director of Breast Cancer Services for Royal Melbourne and Royal Women's Hospital, Melbourne, Professor Bruce Mann, said: "Historically, we have relied on clinical pathology, such as tumour grade and size, to determine treatment plans for patients with DCIS. This data demonstrates the integration of DCISionRT into clinical decision making has a substantial impact on RT recommendations and has the ability to prevent over and under treatment of DCIS patients."

Principal Investigator and GenesisCare Radiation Oncologist, Dr Yvonne Zissiadis, said the interim results "demonstrate the critical role of DCISionRT in the clinical treatment pathway for DCIS patients, ensuring women receive the right treatment at the right time. "Our study highlights that DCISionRT is a promising predictive tool, arming clinicians and patients with the information to make informed decisions about treatment options based on a patient's individual biological risk profile."

"GenesisCare, in partnership with PreludeDx, is thrilled to present the interim findings from our Australian-first study," continued Dr Zissiadis.

"The first interim analysis of AUS-PREDICT is highly consistent with the US-PREDICT registry3 that has completed enrollment of 2,500 patients," said Troy Bremer, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer of PreludeDx. "In the registry studies in both countries, DCISionRT was the most impactful single factor for changing treatment recommendations regarding radiation therapy following breast conserving surgery," continued Dr. Bremer.

"We are delighted to bring precision medicine to Australian women diagnosed with DCIS and further enrollment in the AUS-PREDICT registry. We look forward to the continued expansion of our global data network and clinical evidence for DCISionRT," said Dan Forche, CEO of PreludeDx.

References

Zissiadis et al. Interim Analysis of the PREDICT Registry Australia: Changes in Treatment Recommendation for a Biologic Signature Predictive of Radiation Therapy (RT) Benefit in Patients with DCIS [abstract]. In: Australasian International Breast Congress.; October 13-15 2022 ; Brisbane, Australia .



Breast Cancer Network Australia. Understanding breast cancer: Ductal Carcinoma In Situ. viewed 11 October 2022 .(https://www.bcna.org.au/understanding-breast-cancer/what-isbreast-cancer/ductal-carcinoma-in-situ/)



Shah et al. The Clinical Utility of DCISionRT(R) on Radiation Therapy Decision Making in Patients with Ductal Carcinoma In Situ Following Breast-Conserving Surgery. Ann Surg Oncol 28, 59745984 (2021).

About GenesisCare

Headquartered in Sydney, Australia, GenesisCare is a global healthcare company and one of the world's largest integrated oncology organisations. The company's purpose is to design care experiences that get the best possible life outcomes. This is grounded in the belief that care should be focused on the individual, not the condition.

GenesisCare is the world's largest provider of radiotherapy  a vital treatment option for cancer patients  and provides patients with access to diagnostics, medical oncology, surgical oncology, radiotherapy, and novel therapies alongside the ability to participate in the latest clinical trials. With a growing research and trials program numbering more than 150 clinical trials, a contract research organisation, and global innovation programs focused on precision medicine and novel therapies, GenesisCare aims to bring new therapies to more patients in need in a more affordable way.

Every year, GenesisCare clinical teams see more than 400,000 people across 350+ locations, including more than 300 locations in the U.S., 40 in Australia, 14 in the UK, and 17 in Spain. A further 30 new centres are also under development. The organisation employs more than 6,000 highly trained physicians, healthcare professionals and support staff across Australia, Europe, and the U.S. For more information, visit www.genesiscare.com

About AUS-PREDICT Registry

AUS-PREDICT is a prospective registry study designed to evaluate the effect of the DCISionRT test on treatment decisions in patients with DCIS following breast conserving therapy. The study will enrol 1500 women across Australia onto the registry, who have accessed DCISionRT following surgery.

About DCISionRT for Breast DCIS

DCISionRT is the only risk assessment test for patients with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) that predicts radiation therapy benefit. Patients with DCIS have cancerous cells lining the milk ducts of the breast, but they have not spread into surrounding breast tissue. In the US, over 60,000 women are newly diagnosed with DCIS each year. DCISionRT, developed by PreludeDx on technology licensed from the University of California San Francisco, and built on research that began with funding from the National Cancer Institute, enables physicians to better understand the biology of DCIS. DCISionRT combines the latest innovations in molecular biology with risk-based assessment scores to assess a woman's individual tumor biology along with other pathologic risk factors and provide a personalised recurrence risk. The test provides a Decision ScoreTM that identifies a woman's risk as low or elevated. DCISionRT's intelligent reporting provides a woman's recurrence risk after breast conserving surgery alone and with the addition of radiation therapy. In turn, this new information may help patients and their physicians to make more informed treatment decisions.

Disclaimer: As the test has only recently launched in Australia, it is not currently on the Medicare Benefits Scheme or listed on the Therapeutic Goods Association (TGA) in Australia. Instead, the patient's tissue sample is sent offshore to California to a Prelude's CAP/CLIA-approved lab for analysis. The test is frequently used in the USA and many insurers fund the test there. Globally, the test is validated by Level 1b clinical evidence which is considered to be one of the highest levels of evidence. Health care practitioners can access extensive research and findings here: https://preludedx.com/our-publications/

About PreludeDx

PreludeDx is a leading personalised breast cancer diagnostics company dedicated to serving breast cancer patients and physicians worldwide. Founded in 2009 with technology licensed from University of California San Francisco, PreludeDx has focused on developing precision breast cancer tools that will impact a patient's treatment decision. Our mission is to provide patients and physicians with innovative technologies that improve patient outcomes and reduce the overall cost burden to the healthcare system. Before making a treatment decision, Know Your RiskTM. For more information on how PreludeDx is making a difference for patients, please visit the Company's website: https://preludedx.com and follow us on Twitter @PreludeDx, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. PreludeDx, the PreludeDx logo, DCISionRT, the DCISionRT logo, Decision Score, The DCIS Test, Know Your Risk and Your Biology, Your Decision are trademarks of Prelude Corporation or its wholly owned subsidiaries in the United States and foreign countries. Disclaimer: This information is provided for the sole purpose of disseminating general information in relation to DCISionRT.

SOURCE Genesis Care
Seoul, Oct 30 : US President Joe Biden expressed "deepest condolences" over a deadly stampede in Seoul that killed at least 149 people.

"Jill and I send our deepest condolences to the families who lost loved ones in Seoul. We grieve with the people of South Korea and send our best wishes for a quick recovery to all those who were injured," Biden said in a statement, referring to first lady Jill Biden.

"The Alliance between our two countries has never been more vibrant or more vital -- and the ties between our people are stronger than ever. The US stands with South Korea during this tragic time," he added.

The France's President Emmanuel Macron has conveyed his "heartfelt thoughts" to the residents of Seoul and South Koreans in a tweet after the stampede.

"France is by your side," said Macron.
Colombo, Oct 30 : Former Tamil rebel, who was imprisoned for the attempted assassination of former Sri Lanka's Defence Secretary-turned-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, won the Best Tamil Novelist award at the State Literary Awards.

The prisoner Sivalingam Aarulan's novel was adjudged the Best original Tamil novel at the State Literary Awards held under the patronage of current President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Aarulan, who was indicted as one of the accused in 2006 bomb attack to assassinate Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was then the powerful Defence Secretary in the government run by his elder brother and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Aarulan, who had obtained a Bachelor's degree in engineering had been arrested while he was studying for his postgraduate degree in a state university.

He has written seven Tamil books and one in English and all his books have been nominated for awards and he had won the Best Novelist award in 2016 as well.

Aarulan was escorted to the literary award ceremony by prison guards.

Thousands of minority Tamils from the Northern Sri Lanka, who joined the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fought against the state security from 1983, demanding a separate land from North and East of the island nation.

The rebel group was also responsible for the assassination of India's former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi. Gandhi was killed by a suicide bomb attack carried out on May 21, 1991, while he was in an election campaign in Tamil Nadu.

In May 2009, the rebel group was militarily crushed by Sri Lanka security forces ending a 26-year long war.
Tehran, Oct 30 : Iranian police have announced that they have arrested key members of a gang, who had swindled millions of dollars from people, on the pretense of sending them to study in foreign universities.

In an intelligence operation, Iranian police identified and arrested the swindlers who used extensive social media advertising to claim they could send students to Turkey to study medicine, state media outlet quoted police spokesman Mehdi Hajian as saying on Saturday.

The scammers deceitfully assured applicants that they would be admitted to Turkish universities by sending them phony student identity cards and admission papers through the internet, according to the state media outlet report.

The gang used the same scheme to defraud 200 people out of $6.25 million by charging each of them between $15,600 and $31,000, said Hajian as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.

Five of the gang's key members have been detained, and investigations are underway to find the remaining members in cooperation with Interpol, he added.
Seoul, Oct 30 : US Ambassador to South Korea, Philip Goldberg on Sunday offered condolences over a deadly stampede that occurred during Halloween celebrations in Seoul's Itaewon district.

"I'm devastated by the tragic loss of life in Itaewon last night," Goldberg wrote on Twitter as quoted by Yonhap news agency report.

"Please know my thoughts, and those of our team at US Embassy Seoul, are with the Korean people and especially the loved ones of those who perished, as well as the many injured in this catastrophic incident," he tweeted.

The accident took place on Saturday evening, leaving at least 149 dead and 76 others injured, according to fire authorities.
Seoul, Oct 30 : The ruling and opposition parties are set to hold emergency meetings on Sunday to discuss a deadly stampede at Seoul's Itaewon district that killed at least 149 people during Halloween celebrations.

The ruling People Power Party (PPP) said it has canceled scheduled meetings and will instead convene a meeting at the National Assembly to discuss emergency response plans.

"It is an unprecedented, massive safety accident," PPP chief Chung Jin-suk wrote on Facebook.

"We need to closely look into the cause of the accident." The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) said its leadership will gather for an emergency meeting to look into the cause of the deadly tragedy and come up with response plans, Yonhap news agency reported.

DP leader Lee Jae-myung said he was "shocked and devastated" and vowed to make efforts to handle the aftermath of the accident.

"We have to focus on promptly identifying victims and supporting their bereaved families as well as healing and recovery of injured people," Lee wrote on Facebook.

"(The party) should also provide maximum support for police, fire authorities and medical staff."
Seoul, Oct 30 : At least 19 foreigners have been confirmed dead in a stampede at Seoul's Itaewon district during Halloween celebrations, fire authorities said on Sunday.

The death toll from Saturday's accident rose to 151, with 19 of them identified as foreigners, Choi Seong-beom, head of the fire department in Yongsan, said in a briefing.

Their nationalities include those from Iran, Uzbekistan, China and Norway, Choi added as quoted by Yonhap news agency report.
Seoul, Oct 30 : South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on Sunday announced a period of national mourning and ordered the lowering of flags after a deadly stampede killed at least 151 people, including 19 foreigners, during Halloween celebrations in Seoul.

Yoon addressed the nation live from the presidential office a day after a crowd surge in a narrow alley in Itaewon crushed scores of young revellers, many in their 20s.

"It's truly horrific," Yoon said, saying Saturday's "tragedy and disaster should never have happened".

"As president, who is responsible for the people's lives and safety, my heart is heavy and I struggle to cope with my grief," he added.

"The government will designate the period from today until the accident is brought under control as a period of national mourning and will place top priority in administrative affairs in recovery and follow-up measures." Yoon expressed his condolences over the deaths and wished a speedy recovery for the injured, saying the government will support funeral preparations and fully mobilise emergency medical services to treat patients, including by assigning public servants individually to those requiring assistance, Yonhap news agency reported.

"The most important thing is to determine the cause of the accident and prevent similar accidents," he said.

"We will thoroughly investigate the cause of the accident and make fundamental improvements so that similar accidents do not happen again in the future." Yoon also added that he will instruct the Interior Ministry and other relevant ministries to carry out an emergency review of all Halloween celebrations and other local festivals to ensure they are conducted in an orderly and safely manner.

Immediately after the address, the President visited the site of the accident before heading to the government complex in central Seoul to preside over a government response meeting.

He also ordered all government offices to lower their flags to half-mast, according to his office.
Seoul, Oct 30 : World leaders have sent messages of condolences and support to South Korea after a deadly stampede in Seoul's Itaewon district killed at least 151 people during Halloween celebrations.

"We grieve with the people of South Korea and send our best wishes for a quick recovery to all those who were injured," US President Joe Biden said in a statement on Sunday.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a tweet, "All our thoughts are with those currently responding and all South Koreans at this very distressing time." In a message written in French and Korean, French President Emmanuel Macron said, "I extend my condolences to the citizens of Seoul and the Korean people in the Itaewon disaster. France is by your side." German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a tweet that his country is "deeply saddened by the tragic events in Seoul," calling it "a sad day for South Korea." Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also left similar messages of deep condolences, Yonhap news agency reported.

Josep Borrell, the foreign policy chief of the European Union, said, "Deeply saddened by the terrible events in central Seoul. What meant to be a celebration turned into a tragedy with so many young casualties. We are with the people of South Korea at this difficult moment," US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan wrote in a tweet that he hoped for "a quick recovery for those injured" in the "heartbreaking" accident and that the US "stands ready to provide South Korea with any support it needs".

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also said, "We send our thoughts and deepest condolences to the family and friends of the deceased and injured, as well as to the people of South Korea as they mourn this horrific tragedy," referring to Korea by its official name, the Republic of Korea.
On October 30, a multi-thousand-huge rally was held at Stepanakert's Revival Square for the sake of the free, independent and dignified future of the Republic of Artsakh.

October 30, 2022, 19:49 Rally dedicated to the dignified and secure future of the Artsakh Republic held in Stepanakert

STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 30, ARTSAKHPRESS: Arzik Mkhitaryan, a participant of the Artsakh movement, professor of Artsakh State University, honored figure of NKR science, believes that the spirit of the Movement of 88 has reawakened among the Artsakh Armenians, who today, gathered in Stepanakert's Revival Square with their just demand for the right to self-determination and independence.

Arzik Mkhitaryan, in an interview with "Artsakhpress" , mentioned that the struggle of the last century also started from Stepanakert's Renaissance Square.

"We were enthusiastically included in that struggle, which Azerbaijan brutally retaliated with massacres of Armenians living in Sumgait, Baku and other cities. We had to take up arms. The first Artsakh war brought us quite a lot of success, although we were aware that the enemy would seek revenge. We have paid a very high price for our independence. I believe that the Armenian people will stand together as one person and defend the independence of Artsakh," said A. Mkhitaryan.

According to Lernik Hovhannisyan, Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, today's rally is a call to the international community that Artsakh cannot be a part of Azerbaijan.

"Artsakh is facing serious challenges. The united will of our people should dictate the agenda they are trying to impose on us. With this gathering as well as with daily struggle, we should be able to prove to the world that we are the owners of this country and we will decide the future of Artsakh. For us, there are red lines, with which the international community should take into account," emphasized L. Hovhannisyan.
New Delhi, Oct 30 : The Election Commission (EC) recently asked the Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav to submit documentary proof to substantiate his allegation that voters' names had been deleted on a mass scale.

It also prompted EC officials to maintain that the poll panel's safeguards against wrongful deletion leave no scope for mass deletion of the names of bona fide voters from electoral rolls.

As per the Election Commission, during an election year, suo-moto deletions are strictly prohibited. Each and every deletion is made after following due procedure of law by giving ample opportunity to the person concerned as provided in Section 22 of the Representation of People Act 1950.

An EC official said that even after the final publication of the electoral roll in an election year, for ensuring the purity and health of the electoral roll in any Assembly constituency, if deletions are required (by ERO) and the quantum of such deletions is more than 0.1% of the number of electors in the finally published rolls, the DEO is required to take the approval of the CEO before allowing such deletions by the ERO.

At each and every stage of revision of electoral rolls, and continuous updation thereafter, complete transparency is maintained by sharing copies of the draft and final electoral rolls, list of claims and objections and putting them in the public domain.

Moreover, recognised political parties being the most important stakeholders, are provided with copies of electoral rolls or lists of claims/objections or list of additions/deletions at every appropriate stage including draft publication of the electoral roll and other stages.

Recently, the Election Commission asked Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav to submit documentary proof to substantiate his allegation that the Election Commission had deliberately deleted the names of 20,000 voters from the Yadav and Muslim communities in almost all of the 403 Assembly constituencies of Uttar Pradesh, at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies.

Officials said that sharing of data at each stage of the revision of electoral rolls and at each level including DEOs at the district level and CEO at the state level was done with every recognised political party including the Samajwadi Party.

The law provides an opportunity to appeal against the decision of the ERO, under Section 24 of the Representation of People Act 1950, for deleting the name of the person concerned. "As the electoral roll forms the basis for a free & fair election, it has always been an endeavour to ensure the purity and health of the electoral roll so that no eligible person is left out at the same time no ineligible person is included," said the official.

Moreover, the electoral roll is discussed during all the Standing Committee meetings with recognised political parties or with candidates at the state, district and constituency levels. All necessary arrangements for dissemination of the electoral roll data at every stage, as provided in the Law and Commission's extant instructions, are made, so that incorrect entries or discrepancies, if any, may be brought to the notice of the electoral authorities for timely corrective/redressal measures after following due procedure of law.
Kolkata, Oct 30 : At a time when the mercury of the forthcoming thrills in West Bengal politics was taking a northward drive over a series of crucial meetings with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as the common thread, a decision of the Union Home Ministry on Saturday took out much of the fizz from the excitement.

The decision to postpone the Eastern Zonal Council meeting at the West Bengal state secretariat Nabanna scheduled on November 5, which was supposed to be attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Ministers from five states -- West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and Sikkim -- acted as the principal mood dampener on this count.

Political observers feel that the Eastern Zonal Council meeting was crucial from multiple angles, which were both administrative and political from West Bengal's point of view.

They feel that the meeting in itself was crucial since it would have given a chance to Banerjee to raise her reservation in front of the Union Home Minister on contentious issues like extension of Border Security Force's (BSF) jurisdiction area to 50 km within the Indo-Bangladesh borders in the state or the recent announcement of Shah to open National Investigation Agency (NIA) offices in all state capitals.

Equally interesting would have been Shah's observations on these issues.

While that was the administrative interest angle concerning the meeting, there was a number of peripheral interest angles which were purely political.

First was related to a possibility of a one-to-one meeting between Shah and Banerjee on the sidelines of the administrative event, the fallout of which could have been crucial in the current politically-heated ambience in the state in the backdrop of the increased activities of central agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the state.

Secondly, the postponement also fizzled out the efforts on the part of the Trinamool Congress to fix a separate one-to-one meeting between Banerjee and her counterpart in Bihar and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar, who was scheduled to attend the Eastern Zonal Council meeting on November 5.

Recently, after Kumar snapped ties with the BJP and became the Chief Minister with the support of RJD, Banerjee had said that before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, all anti-BJP forces will unite where she specially took the name of her counterpart in Bihar, though she refrained from taking the name of Congress.

At the same time, the Bengal unit of BJP was also planning to use the opportunity of Shah's visit to its benefit by arranging an interaction between the Home Minister and those protesting for over 500 days against the multi-crore teacher recruitment scam.

That opportunity has also fizzled out following the postponement of the administrative meeting.

However, the coming month of November will continue to carry some thrills over two other forthcoming events again with Banerjee as the common thread.

On November 2, Banerjee is scheduled to fly to Chennai to attend the 80th birth anniversary of the elder brother of West Bengal Governor, La Ganesan. The Chief Minister has agreed to attend the meeting following personal invitation from the Governor, who visited the Chief Minister's residence on Monday on the occasion of the Kali Puja.

However, sources in the state secretariat said that the main focus of the Chief Minister's Chennai visit will be her probable meeting with Tamil Nadu CM and DMK leader M.K. Stalin.

Mamata will fly to Chennai on November 2 and will be back in Kolkata the next day. Political observers in the state are speculating whether she would have a separate meeting with Stalin during her short visit to the southern state.

Finally, all eyes will be on the closing part of November when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit Kolkata to attend an official programme on 'Namami Gange', an integrated conservation mission of the Union government to accomplish the twin objectives of effective abatement of pollution, conservation and rejuvenation of River Ganges.

Although the date of the programme and the Prime Minister's scheduled visit are yet to be finalised, the entire focus of the political circles in the state will be glued to that on two counts.

First, will the Prime Minister and the West Bengal Chief Minister be seen on the same dais. Second, will there be a one-to-one meeting between Banerjee and Modi.

If the meeting happens, feel political observers, opposition parties like the CPI(M) and Congress will hint towards a probable BJP-Trinamool understanding in the backdrop of the current activities of the central agencies in the state over various issues of corruption involving Trinamool leaders.

If the meeting does not happen, speculation will do the rounds as to whether the central agency actions will accelerate in the state in the coming days.

Of late, several BJP leaders in West Bengal, without specifying any details, have claimed that December will witness a lot of interesting sequence of events in state politics.

So, from that point of view, the meetings in the month of November will be in focus to give a hint as to what will happen next.
New Delhi, Oct 30 : Mallikarjun Kharge took over as the Congress president on October 26 in the presence of outgoing interim president Sonia Gandhi. In his first decision he had replaced the Congress Working Committee with a 47-member steering committee.

The new Congress president has to resolve the ongoing tussle in Rajasthan and settle the issue of Chief Minister in Chhattisgarh. On Thursday, sources said, former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot had met him and held a long discussion on the CM issue but there is no forward movement yet.

Similarly in Chhattisgarh T.S. Singh Deo wants that the commitment to make him chief minister should be honoured. However, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi has indicated that Kharge will take the final call. He has not met any senior leader officially after taking over, sources said.

Both Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot are asserting themselves -- the former to retain the post and the latter to succeed him, but Pilot is silent and Gehlot is more vocal, unlike the Congress culture.

Mallikarjun Kharge was the senior observer for Rajasthan when a section of MLAs engaged in a virtual rebellion by boycotting the Congress Legislature Party meeting. However the main actors in the drama, Mahesh Joshi and Shanti Dhariwal, had met Kharge and now sources say that Gehlot has been successful in pacifying Kharge. However, state in-charge Ajay Maken is upset over the state of affairs and is said to be keen on calling a meeting of the MLAs again. There is no indication of it yet as on October 31 Gehlot will be in Palanpur to join the Gujarat Bharat Jodo Yatra starting from five points.

The Gandhis were upset with the revolt-like situation but Gehlot came and apologised to Sonia Gandhi and it was decided that the issue of leadership would be kept in abeyance till the new party president is elected.

Many MLAs boycotted the CLP meeting called by the high command at the Chief Minister's residence on September 25. The Congress Disciplinary Committee soon after issued notices to state ministers Shanti Dhariwal and Mahesh Joshi and RTDC president Dharmendra Rathod for boycotting the meeting.

The other challenge for the party will be to conduct elections for the Congress Working Committee, the party's highest decision-making forum.

The CWC has 25 members, including the party president, and of the rest 12 are nominated by the party chief and 12 are elected by the All India Congress Committee members.

Party sources say that an AICC session could be called soon and Kharge will decide on the CWC election. The election is the demand of the dissidents which may see hectic lobbying in the AICC session as it will decide the control of the party. If opposing members are elected then the CWC meetigs will be stormy affairs each time.
Jaipur, Oct 30 : A few years back, there were discussions on relocating the Asiatic lions from Gir Forest in Gujarat to some other states in India because their numbers have outgrown the available forest cover.

But Gir's lions seem to have lost out to the cheetahs from Namibia who have been settled at the spot where they were supposed to have been relocated -- the Kuno national park in Madhya Pradesh.

Cheetah politics, meanwhile, has become the hot subject of discussion in three states, namely, Gujarat, MP and Rajasthan.

It started in Gujarat three decades back as the Centre sought the views of some state governments on how to relocate the Asiatic lions from the Gir Reserve to other national parks in the country.

The reason was to hedge the risk to the lions, whose numbers are growing rapidly, from becoming victims of human-animal conflicts, or being wiped out by a major natural calamity.

It did not make sense to have all the lions in the country located at just one place. The lions needed to be relocated to other appropriate habitats for their own good.

Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan took the lead and identified several alternate habitats suitable for the Gir lions. Kuno Palpur Sanctuary in MP was adjudged the most ideal forest to become a second home for lions in India.

But Gujarat continued to resist the logical move of relocating the lions, considering it would lose its monopoly over the big cat. In April 2013, the Supreme Court ordered Gujarat to send a few Gir lions to Madhya Pradesh to establish a second population.

The court gave the wildlife authorities six months to complete the transfer. Kuno was upgraded to the status of a National Park and its protected area was increased. About 1,650 inhabitants of 24 villages were resettled outside the protected area. An area of 924 sq km, surrounding the wildlife sanctuary, was added as a buffer zone to human settlements.

Hopes were kept alive of the lions reaching Kuno. But political thinking underwent changes. Then Union Environment Minister, Jairam Ramesh, saw new mileage in the cheetahs who had become extinct in India in the early fifties, so it was decided to bring them from an African country. In 2009, Kuno was proposed as a possible site for the cheetahs' reintroduction in India.

Their arrival took a long time. Eight cheetahs reached Kuno in mid September 2022 after being airlifted from Namibia. India hailed it as an addition of a wild cat species that had become extinct some seventy years ago! The call for lions has not remained unheard. Gujarat's pride was to be maintained - for lions as well. So during January 2022, the Union government drafted a 25-year plan for lions to be relocated within Gujarat state and not in other states. It is on record that the Gujarat government did not carry out the Supreme Court's order since 2013. It has been resisting the relocation of lions outside Gujarat. According to Bhopal-based environmentalist Ajay Dubey, plans to reintroduce African cheetahs in Kuno National Park is another way to stall the transfer of lions to Kuno National Park.

Talking about the cheetahs at Kuno, officials said, "They are still within the quarantine zone. It is a large open grassland habitat fenced on all sides where the overseas guests roam around. They hunt Spotted Deer which are released within their precincts and are able to catch them," said an official at Kuno on condition of remaining incognito. They will enjoy the luxury of such spoon feeding for another couple of months. It is to enable them to acclimatize with the local ecological factors. After that they will be let loose in the open fields of Kuno to roam wherever they like, hunt their prey and start a new life in the wilderness of India.

Lauri Marker, founder of the Cheetah Conservation Foundation in Namibia, conveyed to her Indian counterparts: We have done our job from Namibia. If you need more cheetahs, they will be offered. Try South Africa and other neighbouring countries to get more cheetahs.

Marker was the one who flew to Gwalior in a specially designed aircraft carrying the cheetahs for Kuno. She has been to India several times over the past two decades to negotiate the cheetahs' entry into India. She is now happy that her objective has been fulfilled.

Meanwhile officials confirmed that by the time the present lot of eight cheetahs resume their normal life in Kuno's wilderness, a new momentum for importing more cheetahs from Africa will start gathering speed. The Union Environment Ministry has an action plan to introduce 50 more cheetahs in India in the next five years. Not all will be billed for Kuno. So where else? Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself introduced the imported wild cats at Kuno on his birthday, a new element in the nation's polity appears to be gaining currency: Cheetah politics. The states may put in requests for cheetahs in the next reintroduction drive. Madhya Pradesh's quota appears full through Kuno. Next in the race is Rajasthan which missed the bus this time. Its Mukundara Reserve was selected as an ideal grassland habitat. Lauri Marker visited it in July 2022. Will it receive some cheetahs in the next reintroduction drive of the Union Government? The cheetah controversy has not died down so far. Eight scientists of international stature have criticised the Union Government over cheetahs having been imported from Namibia. Arjun M. Gopalaswamy, Femke Broekhuis, Leili Khalatbari, Michael G. L. Mills, Ravi Chellam, David Thuo, Abi Tamim Vanak and K. Ullas Karanth, have said that India's plan is based on three unsubstantiated claims -- that cheetahs have run out of space in Africa; that India currently has sufficient and suitable space for them; and that conservation translocations have been successful in wild cheetah range restoration efforts.

They have written an article "Introducing African cheetahs to India is an ill-advised conservation attempt", published in Nature Ecology and Evolution, to highlight that there are "unknown ecological, disease-related and genetic risks involved in replacing Asiatic cheetahs with the larger cheetahs from southern Africa." They added: "The action plan appears to have substantially overestimated cheetah carrying capacity in the first release site (Kuno National Park), which is unfenced, harbouring about 500 feral cattle and surrounded by a forested landscape with 169 human settlements. Neither Kuno nor the other landscapes considered are of the size and quality to permit self-sustaining and genetically viable cheetah populations." Political pundits said the central government will like to use the cheetahs as a new politico-wilderness model to woo the people and try to receive greater voter support. Let the lions remain at Gir, cheetahs are the new ploy.
New Delhi, Oct 30 : Most of the toppers in the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) (Advanced) are taking admission in Computer Science and related engineering courses.

The craze of 'Computer Science engineering' is so much that many students are not taking admission in IITs as they do not want to pursue other engineering sectors.

These students, who have left the option of joining IITs and cannot get admission in Computer Science courses on the basis of JEE Advanced rank, take admission in other higher educational institutions such as Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS). The basic reason for this is that in these institutes they are able to get admission to pursue Computer Science engineering.

According to data shared by the Joint Seat Allocation Authority, 97 students of the top 100 ranked students in JEE Advanced have opted for Computer Science courses. Students, who are registered in core engineering branches, also want to take IT jobs as it is believed that the IT sector pays a higher starting salary.

Although academicians refute this trend, saying that unfortunately, this increasing trend is reducing the importance of core engineering branches. A large number of students and parents are making decisions without thinking in this regard.

Many private colleges are also giving admission to thousands of students in various variants of 'Computer Science Engineering' without applying any thought. The role of the lawmakers and regulatory bodies as well as the industry in this regard is very unsatisfactory as no action is being taken on this.

On the other hand, if we talk about the salary of fresher engineers with computer science degrees, then a package of up to Rs 40 lakh per annum was offered to computer science students in IIT-Madras and other IIT institutes of the country. Apart from this, many institutes have registered an increase of up to 32 per cent in the internship offers for computer science engineering.

BITS Pilani campus has registered an increase of 32.62 per cent in the average salary during the placement drive of 2023 academic batch. The average package offered during placements for the 2023 academic batch is up to Rs 30 lakh per annum. A salary package of Rs seven lakh per annum for general engineering students and Rs 16 lakh per annum for computer science graduates have been offered from private institutes like JK Lakshmipat University.

According to Professor Sanjay Goel, Director of JK Lakshmipat University, at present the whole world is facing a lot of engineering problems. The whole world is grappling with the problems of climate crisis, clean water, food production, energy, transport, healthcare, logistics, materials etc.

The solution of these problems is possible only from core engineering sectors like civil, electrical, electronics, mechanical, chemical, material science. Interestingly, various industry forecasts show very good growth in all these sectors. For example, along with global construction, the chemical market is expected to double by 2030.

Global energy demand is expected to grow by 40 per cent during this period. Apart from this, industry 4.0 needs digital things along with the physical and biological world. Studying core engineering subjects is also very important to be successful digitally.

Professor Goyal told IANS that educational institutions should teach new skills to prepare students for jobs in the core engineering sector. There is also a need to update their academic syllabus according to time. These things are very important for the core engineering industry. Also, companies in the core engineering sector should update their starting salary structure and offer higher salaries.

At the same time, the regulatory body should immediately and proactively prevent educational institutions from admitting thousands of students in CSE variants in the same campus without proper infrastructure and faculty. To promote the core engineering sector, it is necessary to get encouragement from the government, support from industry chambers and media to spread more awareness about this sector.
Lucknow, Oct 30 : The chairman of Gosainganj Nagar panchayat and his aides have been booked on the directions of the court in a case of murder that took place in March this year.

As per the FIR, the accused, Nikhil Mishra a.k.a Tonti Maharaj, and his aides had allegedly assaulted a youth, Vikas Kanaujia of Gosainganj, over a petty dispute on March 25.

Vikas had later succumbed to injuries.

Vikas's father Ram Kumar alleged that the incident took place after his son demanded money from Nikhil for washing his clothes.

"When Vikas asked for money, Nikhil hurled casteist abuses at him and thrashed him. We filed a police complaint but no action was taken," Ram Kumar said.

When Nikhil came to know about the complaint, he summoned Vikas at Panchayat Bhawan around 9 p.m. on March 25.

"My son was beaten mercilessly and he fell unconscious. The attackers threw him at the gate of the Panchayat Bhawan and fled the scene. I took my son to the community health centre in Gosainganj but doctors pronounced him dead," he said.

"Nikhil and his men still abuse us and threaten to kill me and my family," he added.

Swati Chaudhary, ACP, said that the statements of the complainant would be taken soon and a team would be formed to visit the spot of crime.

"The post-mortem of Vikas had mentioned suicide as the cause of death, therefore, no FIR was lodged at the time of his death," she said.
Bijnor : , Oct 30 (IANS) The Amangarh Tiger Reserve (ATR), will open for the first time for tourists from November 15.

Gyan Singh, sub-divisional forest officer, said, "The government had directed us to start the tourist activity from November 15, for which preparations are in full swing." The reserve is home to 27 tigers and hundreds of herbivores.

According to the officials, a budget of Rs 5 crore has been earmarked to make ATR a tourist place. The proposal is in the pipeline as the government is yet to release the fund.

The repair of approach roads and entry gates is being done with funds available at the department's disposal.

At present, only government guest houses are available for tourists. According to officials, resorts will be developed in the area.

ATR is also the buffer zone of Corbett Tiger Reserve.

District Magistrate Umesh Mishra said, "Amangarh Tiger Reserve will be developed as a tourist place. The plan has been chalked out as we prepare to open for tourists next month." He said that ecotourism would help generate employment for locals.
Ayodhya, Oct 30 : Ayodhya traders, who own commercial establishments on the Ram Janmabhoomi Bhakti Marg, have been asked to vacate their shops for the demolition drive by the district administration.

This drive is part of the state government-approved road-widening project.

The affected shopkeepers have already received compensation from the Ayodhya administration. Shopkeepers have also been allotted land behind their existing shops for constructing new shops.

About 50 per cent of shopkeepers have already vacated their establishments.

Around 170 shopkeepers will be completely displaced while 330 others will be partially displaced.

The additional district magistrate (administration) Amit Kumar has asked the traders to vacate their shops, and added that the demolition drive would start from Sunday.

Meanwhile, traders have sought extension till the festive occasion of Kartik Purnima on November 8.

The two annual Parikramas in Ayodhya will start from November 1. The Chaudah Kosi Parikrama will start on November 1 at midnight and end the next day at 10 p.m.

Similarly, the Panch Kosi Parikrama will start on November 4 early in the morning and end on the same day.

Several lakh devotees from Ayodhya and adjoining regions are expected to attend these two parikramas.

Nand Lal Gupta, trader leader,said, "The Parikrama is starting from November 1. Traders have requested for more time to vacate their shops, but the Ayodhya administration is firm." "This year, we are expecting a large turnout of devotees for the two parikramas. In the past two years, these two events were curtailed due to the pandemic," he said.
The outcome of the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP ) that began on October 16 at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing has already been signalled by the report drawn up by the 19th Central Committee in which it was claimed that China had under the leadership of Xi Jinping as CCP General Secretary, marched ahead on multiple fronts - from economic policy to international relations - in pursuit of 'the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation' and has done so amid increasing pressures on China posed by complex geopolitical developments.

Presenting this report himself, Xi Jinping claimed that during the 'extremely unusual and extraordinary' spell of last five years that witnessed 'big changes not seen for a century', the party achieved 'historic victories' such as reaching the CCP's centennial goal of establishing a 'moderately prosperous society' and eliminating 'extreme poverty'.

He declared that a new 'central task' was to achieve the 'second centenary goal of building China into a great modern Socialist country in all respects' through a 'Chinese path to modernisation' and indicated that he sought to realise that aim by 2035 itself - much before the goal of getting there by the 100th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of Chins in 2049 was first set.

The way Xi asserted that China's zero-COVID policy was good for the economy and did not make any reference to the hardships faced by the people, raised the call of 'shared prosperity' through increased employment-based income, self dependence in high tech field and startups and reiterated China's willingness to use force to incorporate Taiwan into the People's Republic, his message was one of assuring the people that China is moving forward on a steady note despite all odds and warning the nation at the same time, of the darker times ahead.

The report acknowledged the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) as an instrument for advancing China's opening towards the outside world but emphasised that security was now on top of the agenda . Xi pointed out that 'China is now in a period where strategic opportunity and risks and challenges co- exist'.

The work report presented by Xi Jinping showed his confidence about continuing with a third term- and beyond - as it made repeated references to the 'centralisation' and 'unity' of the party's top leadership as a process that will continue into the future, resolved to keep up the fight to counter corruption and ideologically indoctrinate China's people and declared that China must be ready to withstand 'high winds, choppy waters and even dangerous storms'.

Xi Jinping has been successful in stamping out dissent, consolidating his control on the party and projecting himself as the saviour of the nation against new global threats. He combines the traits of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping and remembers the lessons that China had to draw from the demise of USSR. The Soviets had deviated from Democratic Centrism or one party rule that was the essence of Marxism and had allowed a closed economy to deteriorate amid the corruption of an oligarchy.

Xi Jinping kept up the Deng Xiaoping's approach of opening the Chinese economy to the world in a controlled way, but reverted to making the party singularly strong as was done by Mao Zedong.

Many Chinese people were convinced that just as Mao united their country and Deng helped it prosper, Xi's foreign policy will make China great again by attending to both national security and economic advancement.

Xi told the 20th Party Congress that the Chinese people will never allow any foreign forces to bully, oppress or enslave them and announced that 'the party leads in all spheres of the nation- government, army, society, academia, east, west, north, south and centre'.

The 19th Central Committee report significantly contended that 'leadership of CPP is the fundamental feature and the greatest advantage for Socialism'.

The 19th national Congress had not only centred round the theme of the 'Chinese dream' but had seen Xi as a 'leader' who would bring the party to the centre of everything in China and head nearly every critical organisation. The notion of collective leadership on China was effectively ended and the idea of 'core leader' was brought back after some 30 years.

The speech of Xi at the 20th national Congress of CPP was just half as long as the one delivered by him at the last one, indicating a mindset of confidence that the agenda will be carried through as fixed. It is therefore not a surprise that he is - apart from becoming the General Secretary of the party for an unprecedented third term - recognised now as the 'core leader' giving him parity with Mao Zedong. Xi is glorified as a restorer whose 'thoughts on Socialism with Chinese characteristics for a New Era' is today's equivalent of Mao's little Red Book.

Xi's new status and his thoughts were incorporated in the party' Constitution. In 2018, at the instance of Xi, the party had lifted the embargo of two terms for the post of President and Xi is set to continue in that position too - his affirmation about achieving the next centennial goal of the party by 2035 showing his aspiration to be around in the supreme position for many more years.

The Chinese President has corrected the earlier strategy of pursuing the economic route to becoming a superpower to place an equal emphasis on military advancement. He announced that he intended making PLA a fully modernised and restructured force by 2027. He repeatedly spoke of China's defence of its territorial boundaries, made it a point to specially invite the PLA commander of Galwan to the national Congress and declared that he wanted a more muscular, aggressive and fighting China to deal with the situation ahead.

As the signs appear of a new Cold War developing between the US and China on Taiwan and Indo- Pacific, Xi is bracing to deal with the opponents led by the US.

He is confident that China leads the residual of the Communist world after the dismemberment of the USSR, is sure of the irreversibility of Sino-Russian bonds, particularly in the wake of the military confrontation between Russia and Ukraine, and is cognisant of the interplay of Indo-US and Indo-Russian relations.

Xi has been trying to consolidate China's strength externally and also from within. The BRI, strategic Sino-Pak alliance and an assertive foreign policy are supposed to bring China some advantage internationally while a definite focus on removing poverty, reducing inequalities and enhancing internal cohesion remain the hallmark of Xi Jinping's domestic policies.

Socialism with Chinese characteristics is translated into practice by Xi through his advocacy of Sinicisation of Marxism, his extraordinary invocation of the 'civilisational strength' of China and a ruthless attempt at assimilating the minorities in the Chinese nation.

The BRI was a mean of furthering economic expansion and political dominance. Sino-Pak axis helped Xi guard the Chinese interest in Afghanistan through a give and take with Taliban on matters relating to Xinjiang and counter India through collaboration with Pakistan on the issue of Kashmir.

Xi Jinping would not like India to be drawn too close to the US in the latter's geopolitical moves against China and is therefore trying to suggest that India-China issues on LAC should be seen in the wider context of Sino-Indian relations - the Indian response rightly making these relations incumbent on a resolution of the border problem.

Xi wants China's advance to be steady but not slow and realises that the old strategy of gaining victory without war may not work out. The classical doctrine of 'two steps forward, one step backward', however, is still on and a glimpse of that was seen on the LAC, making it necessary for India to demonstrate its zero tolerance of any aggressive Chinese behaviour.

The Narendra Modi regime is adopting this policy and is prepared to deal with any coordinated attempt by China and Pakistan to indulge in mischief on our borders or even on our domestic front.

Xi Jinping has emerged as the Chinese leader in total control of the state, the party and the military - with politburo, central committee and central military commission, all packed with his loyalists - and it is evident that he is fully geared to taking on US President Joe Biden in the geopolitical confrontation that is developing between the US and China.

India is now a major power and its positioning in a world divided between the US-led West on one hand and the Russia-China combine on the other, is crucial for global peace.

Prime Minister Modi's stand on Russia-Ukraine conflict showed India in the light of a wise counsel which was appreciated by the world community - India not letting Indo-US relations come in the way of India-Russia friendship and vice-versa.

China's hostility towards India accentuated by the former's military alliance with Pakistan - another adversary of India - directly endangered India's security and has to be dealt with by India largely on its own because the US while focusing on the clash of interest with China seems to be not taking enough notice of Sino-Pak alliance in terms of its threat to the democratic world at large.

Further, the return of Taliban Emirate in Afghanistan with total support of Pakistan added to the threat of terrorism, specifically to India whereas the Biden administration, after the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, looked at that country with some comfort of distance.

Currently under the Prime Ministership of Shehbaj Sharif, Pakistan is once again trying to project itself as a helpful ally of America and beginning to get a favourable response from the US - at the cost of India.

India is rightly following the policy of maintaining the required military build up at the border to deal with any aggression of China and joining in the international initiatives to keep China in check on the marine front. India is also relentlessly campaigning against Pak-sponsored terrorism by Islamic extremists, raising the issue effectively at all summits.

India has the advantage of having 'economic stability' as acknowledged by the IMF. The Sino-Pak axis, however, remains the gravest source of external and internal threats to India apart from the globally shared dangers of cyber warfare, influx of narcotics and use of social media as an instrument of combat.

(The writer is a former Director of Intelligence Bureau. The views expressed are personal)
Manali, Oct 30 : Two tourists from Gurugram were washed away in the Parbati river near Kasol in the picturesque Parbati Valley while clicking selfies in May.

The body of one of the victims was recovered after a 15-day search operation.

In another case of Insta fame of 'frozen selfies', 24 students from Hyderabad's V.N.R. Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology, who were on a holiday trip to Manali, drowned in the Beas river.

Unaware that they were minutes away from death, a video showed the students standing on the boulders in the riverbed for a picture-postcard shoot with the gurgling river in the background, when a wall of water suddenly carried the screaming victims away.

Local authorities say in every tourist season almost half a dozen such instances are reported from the Kullu-Manali region where tourists fall into the river alongside the highway while clicking selfies or taking pictures while venturing close to the river.

In the recent past, seven students of an engineering college opted for the hills for an excursion. After they were marooned for more than 78 hours in the icy heights of Kullu district without food and mountaineering apparatus, they were finally evacuated by local authorities from the snow-bound Chanderkhani peak, located at an altitude of 12,000 ft despite hostile weather.

Amidst an unfamiliar chill in the air of this Himalayan state, officials admitted to IANS that freak incidents of drowning or being stranded in inaccessible hamlets for days without rescue equipment indicate changes in social behaviour.

But the statistics are grim.

The drowning or accidental fall numbers, as per the local authorities, are now more frequent from the riverside in the picturesque Kullu-Manali area in the peak tourist season -- from May to July and October to December. There are even more numerous non-fatal incidents that often go unreported.

Tourism is a big attraction for hundreds of domestic and foreign tourists coming to Himachal Pradesh every year but a growing section of youngsters, mainly corporate professionals, are getting attracted to the state's drug trade too.

The lure of drugs is attracting them to the higher reaches, largely unexplored areas.

Police officials admit, on condition of anonymity, that the picturesque valleys and the lure of cheap and quality hash draw social media influencers too. With the aim to get high in the mountains, they are reaching out to the wider audience by blogging or using their Instagram or Facebook feeds, asking enthusiasts to comment on their mountain mania.

"For some, it's a safe way to experiment with drugs in the mountains while hiking and snowshoeing," remarked a senior police official.

The Kullu Valley is notorious for cannabis cultivation. The cannabis crop grows in abundance despite the police and the narcotics wing launching several campaigns to destroy it.

Chandigarh-based journalist and author of the crime thriller 'High on Kasol', Aditya Kant observes that youngsters being inquisitive by nature have always been more vulnerable to addiction. But what has made them more vulnerable nowadays is the tendency to show off and seek approval for their acts through social media.

"The tendency to show the public what you are up to, through different platforms of social media, be it through posts on Facebook or with the reels on Instagram, has taken today's youngsters by storm.

"I have come across several youngsters who while planning to go for a trip or even to an adventure camp would have in mind the popularity of the place on social media. The safety or precautions about the trips would be the last thing on their mind." Kant, who spent his early years in Kullu town, told IANS that the real purpose of such trips and getaways which used to be a break or disappearance from the social scene has been completely defeated.

"Now you want the world to know which places you visited for your holidays and even what you ate there, with your expressions." Kant was recently invited to the Ahmedabad International Literature Festival as one of the speakers where he delved into the issue of drug addiction amongst the youth and the environmental degradation to which the ignorance of youth, he says, is a major contributor.

"Addiction in any form, be it for drugs or for social media, is turning out to be too harmful. And those who are addicted to drugs as well as social media are heading for a deadly cocktail," he said.

One of the characters in his novel 'High on Kasol' is a teenager from Delhi who portrays the state of mind of youngsters.

The character has drawn inspiration from real characters as there are many youngsters who are nowadays preferring to visit Kasol and nearby areas in Kullu for adventures of all kinds.

Kant, in a chapter named 'Frozen Selfie' in his novel, has narrated through his fictional story how a teenage girl Haizel from Delhi, who slips into the Parvati river while taking a selfie on a rock, is saved by the protagonist after she has a nearly fatal fall. Both of them fall in love with each other.

Kant mentioned the character Haizel could be considered an exception as most of the tourists who slipped while taking pictures by the riverside could not be saved and had a fatal fall.

"So through this instance, I have tried to convey a message to the tourists that they should not get carried away by the picturesque sites and climb on dangerous rocks.

"It's understandable that today's youth may find it hard to resist the temptation of sharing their experiences on social media but alongside they should also do some homework about the threats and possible dangers of the places, which otherwise may look picturesque and fascinating in the Instagram reels and social media posts," he said.

Kant rather suggests that the youngsters while on their adventure camps also mention one or two informative or precautionary messages along with their posts for the benefit of others who intend to visit these places in the future.

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)
At the rally held in Stepanakert's Revival Square on October 30, the representatives of Artsakh intelligentsia and youth called on Armenians to unite and stand in support of the Republic of Artsakh, noting that independence and the right to self-determination have no alternative.

October 30, 2022, 20:57 Representatives of Artsakh intelligentsia and youth called to unite and support the Republic of Artsakh

STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 30, ARTSAKHPRESS: Qajik Harutyunyan, the popular actor of the Republic of Artsakh, emphasized in his speech that the existence of Artsakh in Azerbaijan in any capacity is impossible.

"Today, more than ever, we must be united. In 1988 the spirit of patriotism was high. That is why we won the war imposed on us. Today, there is a wave of uncertainty in Artsakh, but leaving is not a solution to the problem.

Believe me, the most wonderful, cozy, holy and precious land in the world is the world of Artsakh. Therefore, we must live in Artsakh, protect and preserve our sanctuaries, the graves of our grandfathers, fathers, brothers and sons; our sacred land. Let's fight and stand up for our country, unite and save Artsakh," said Q. Harutyunyan.

Donara Gabrielyan, the rector of Mesrop Mashtots University of Stepanakert, referring to the history of the Artsakh movement of 1988, the declaration of independence of the Artsakh Republic and the 30-year process of maintaining it at the cost of blood, stressed that democratic Artsakh can never be a part of totalitarian Azerbaijan.

''Scientist Sakharov said that the issue of Karabakh is a matter of life and death for the Armenian people. We have to live in this land; we want to build our future here in a peaceful region. Otherwise, nothing good can be expected if there is no Artsakh as a sovereign and democratic state," added Donara Gabrielyan, expressing her belief that in case of the indefinite extension of the mission of the Russian peacekeeping troops deployed in Artsakh, one can only talk about the restoration of justice.

Hrach Sayiyan, the president of the student council of Mesrop Mashtots University of Stepanakert, also emphasized that the existence of an independent and Armenian Artsakh is unacceptable for Azerbaijan.

"If we want to have a homeland, we must always fight. Any peace agreement that would question our sovereignty is unacceptable to us," said Hrach Sayiyan, calling on the Armenian people to unite and invest all their potential to preserve the homeland and stand in support of the Republic of Artsakh.
Lucknow, Oct 30 : Till he was arrested for creating a nuisance in a public place in May this year, Azam Ansari's 'popularity' was restricted to parts of the old city where he is known as 'Bhai'.

A Salman Khan doppelganger, Azam has turned his similarity -- if it may be called so -- into a full-time business.

He has practiced Salman's mannerisms, his walk and style of talking to perfection. He dresses up exactly like the actor does in his latest release.

When 'Tere Naam' released, Azam Ansari sported a hairstyle with a centre parting and went around smoking like a chimney - exactly like Radhe Mohan did in the film.

He donned the avatar of a Sikh when 'Antim' came on the big screen.

Ansari, in his videos, is seem making poses similar to Salman Khan.

When he goes around making Instagram reels, dressed up as Salman Khan, he creates a commotion since many believe that the star has actually arrived for shooting.

It was one such shoot in Lucknow that led to a massive traffic jam and Ansari was arrested.

Azam Ansari often makes videos against the backdrop of the historic roads and monuments in Lucknow. He is quite popular on social media and has 1.67 lakh subscribers on YouTube.

"Fifteen years ago, I weighed 128 kgs but I was an ardent fan of Bhai (Salman). Then I decided to become fit like him and started exercising. Today, I can say I am fit and I exercise regularly to maintain myself," he says.

He adds that his wish is to meet Salman Khan though he has not succeeded so far. "I want to meet him and make a video with him," he says.

Azam Ansari is in the real estate business but his passion remains being a 'Bhai lookalike'.

"It gives me a kick," he says in Salman style.

Ansari's Facebook page is "Azam Ansari - Salman Khan fan -Purana Lucknow" and has his photos and videos in various avatars of his favourite star.

He has also given his mobile number for those keen to invite him for birthday parties, weddings, events, social and political functions for "full enjoy" - and a fee, of course.
Seoul, Oct 30 : The defence chiefs of South Korea and the US will hold their annual security talks near Washington, D.C., this week to discuss joint deterrence against evolving North Korean threats and other alliance issues, the defense ministry said Sunday.

Defence Minister Lee Jong-sup and his U.S. counterpart, Lloyd Austin, are set to attend the 54th Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) at the Pentagon on Thursday (local time), amid concerns that Pyongyang could raise tensions by conducting a nuclear test or other provocative acts, Yonhap news agency reported.

Topping the agenda are joint efforts to enhance the credibility of America's "extended deterrence" commitment to mobilising the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear options, to defend its Asian ally against North Korean aggression, Seoul officials said.

The efforts include the allies' coordination on the deployment of U.S. strategic military assets to the peninsula. President Yoon Suk-yeol and his U.S. counterpart, Joe Biden, agreed to their deployment in a "timely and coordinated" manner, during their May summit in Seoul.

The upcoming SCM comes amid expectations Seoul and Washington could devise more effective measures to address tensions that have run high in the wake of a series of the North's ballistic missile and artillery launches.

The two sides also plan to discuss trilateral security cooperation among the South, the U.S., and Japan, and preparations for a series of events marking the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Seoul-Washington alliance next year, according to the officials.

Lee and Austin are also to be briefed on the outcome of a "full operational capability" (FOC) assessment that the two countries' militaries conducted in August for the envisioned handover of wartime operational control (OPCON) to Seoul from Washington.

The FOC assessment is the second part of the three-stage program designed to vet Seoul's capabilities to lead the allies' combined forces. The program is part of various conditions required for the OPCON handover.

In addition, the two defense chiefs are expected to touch on other regional and global security issues, including tensions across the Taiwan Strait. In last year's SCM joint statement, the two sides "acknowledged the importance of preserving peace and stability" in the strait.

During his stay in the U.S., Lee plans to lay a wreath at a Korean War memorial, meet with think tank experts and visit the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.
Bengaluru, Oct 30 : Recently, the Karnataka Police arrested a constable on charges of raping a minor girl who had left her home to meet an Instagram friend.

A 37-year-old techie from RT Nagar in Bengaluru filed a police complaint, alleging that conmen duped him of Rs 3.5 lakh promising to arrange a women for him through dating apps.

A Karnataka court had awarded punishment of life imprisonment for a police constable who blackmailed a minor girl, lured her into dirty talks and pushed the girl to end her life in Dakshina Kannada district. The accused had befriended the girl through Facebook.

The Karnataka police arrested a transgender on charges of cheating a young woman by posing as a man on Facebook account in Vitla town of Dakshina Kannada district.

A fashion designing graduate lodged a complaint with Madanayakanahalli police station in the outskirts of Bengaluru on the night of January 19. She has complained that her Facebook friend raped her in his car and then took her nude videos and photos.

All the above incidents have taken place in recent months, with a majority of them taking place in Bengaluru. The police and experts point out one common factor in all these incidents of crime -- the attraction of social media proved fatal to them.

S.K. Umesh, a retired SP and author, while talking to IANS explained that the perpetrators of traditional crimes knew about punishments, policing in connection with cases related to IPC sections. They had fear. In crimes committed using social media, it is not possible to arrest the accused immediately.

Secondly, there is a lack of knowledge about cyber laws. They need to be simplified. If they are not simplified, cyber crime police won't be able to get convictions, he says.

The procedures require experts and there is a shortage of skilled staff. Charge sheets are being filed and it won't stand in the court due to procedural lapse, Umesh opines.

The laws are rigid. The police are dependent on courts not accepting digital documents. There is lacunae regarding cyber laws. The arrested are thinking that they will get bail in one day and becoming emboldened, he explained.

This problem is being faced by the whole world. It is very difficult to determine what is good and what is bad. Anyone can see anything on social media. If restricted, children develop more attraction. It is complicated, Umesh says.

Kiran Prasad, a core committee member of the Association of Primary and Secondary Schools of Karnataka (KAMS) and founder of the Vidya Vaibhav group of schools, explained that social media definitely has an influence on children.

"If you look at the statements given by the accused juvenile delinquents they outrightly state they are influenced by social media," says Prasad.

"The only thing that can be done is educating the children on what is good and what is bad. Second thing, try to talk to children transparently. Many things we don't want to talk to children about. There are many things like this. It will create a gap and there is peer pressure. Even cartoons are violent today, the 'F' word has become so common." A. Sridhara, a reknowned psychologist, narrates about an incident in Uttar Pradesh where a person made a video of his wife commiting suicide.

"This man had completely videographed her while she killed herself and uploaded the video. He watched his wife dying. Whenever there is an accident the first thing you do is capture the incident and forget about coming to the rescue. They want to record, when they do that there is absolutely no feeling of remorse," he explains.

"My older friend got a call from a Play Rummy executive at the time of the funeral. when he slammed the person for calling, she told him not to scold and just say no. Our personal cultural demeanour and feeling for other human beings is not present. There is only pleasure and profit rules," he says.

"Nothing is more disturbing than a three-year-old baby being raped or a 90-year-old woman being violated. So, there is a problem with our sense of understanding of other human beings," he adds.

"Individual moralities have stooped down. There is no system with us to reinforce them. If you are guilty, you will go to your mobile to watch a programme. There is nothing like repentance, there is no room." Sridhara opines that "our culture, education system, and personal values must be increased. However it is not visible now... This is one of the things causing a lot of cruel behaviour for which people are not feeling guilty".
Agartala, Oct 30 : Sometimes in favour of militant outfits, occasionally against government or political personalities, on a few occasions on controversial issues, social media posts now and then put people behind the bars, but some men and women continue to post in various social media on various issues.

Social media experts said that there are both positive and negative sides in the social media posts. However, like the traditional media there must be a controlling and monitoring authority for the social media to curb the destructive and harmful posts.

A young wushu player and boxer Maina Chutia, 23, college students Barshashree Buragohain, 19, Bitupan Changmai, 22, Pramod Kalita, 22 were separately arrested in Assam since May this year for allegedly commenting in Facebook posts in support of banned terror outfit United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (ULFA-I) headed by Paresh Baruah.

Many people criticised the government for arresting them, while their families claimed that their poems and posts were not provocative.

The poem written by Barshashree has no direct reference to the terror outfit. However, the FIR against her mentioned that the poem was an implicit endorsement of the ULFA-I, a banned extremist organisation, and pointed towards a larger "criminal conspiracy" and "intent to wage war against the Indian government".

Barshashree, who was accused of "supporting" ULFA-I, was granted bail recently by the Gauhati High Court.

Following criticism from a large section of people, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said: "Barshashree was given protection from destroying her life." "One must remember many people have been given death sentences in the ULFA-I camp, which may not be even known to the outfit leader Paresh Baruah." Sarma added: "The girl was repenting for her action and the family has also assured that they will take care so that she should not indulge in such type of activities in future." The Assam police under the Cyberdrome Project monitored social media platforms and found 990 "objectionable posts" by such brainwashed youths during 2021-2022.

The Chief Minister recently said in the Assembly that on the basis of such posts, the police have registered around 100 cases across the state and 85 people were arrested while 581 others were counselled in the presence of their parents and guardians.

Around 400 social media posts were removed from different platforms, he had told the House.

The Assam police in April last year had arrested Guwahati based writer Sikha Sarma for allegedly making controversial comments against Martyrs on social media.

Police officials said that the 48-year-old Assamese writer was arrested on various charges including sedition for her alleged Facebook post on security forces after 22 security personnel were killed in a Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh in early April last year.

Sarma was arrested following an FIR lodged by two lawyers -- Umi Deka Baruah and Kangkana Goswami.

Police officials said that she was arrested on charges of sedition, violation of the Information Technology Act and under other sections of the Indian Penal Code.

According to the police Sarma had allegedly written on Facebook : "Salaried professionals who die in the line of duty cannot be termed martyrs. Going by that logic, electricity department workers who die of electrocution should also be labelled martyrs. Do not make people sentimental, the media." In her Facebook page, Sarma, who was later granted bail by the court, said: "Isn't it a crime to harass me by giving the wrong interpretation of my posts? Will they come under the law for the false slander against me?"

Assam Congress leaders had said the law will take its own course as police have arrested Sarma, but some people have threatened to gang rape her and police should also take action against them.

The Gauhati High Court released her on bail of Rs 30,000 with conditions, directing her to refrain from committing any similar offence in future.

In Manipur, activists Erendro Leichombam and Wangkhemcha Wangthoi were arrested under the National Security Act (NSA) in July last year for his Facebook post criticising BJP leaders for advocating cow dung and cow urine as a cure for Covid-19.

Subsequently, the Supreme Court and the Manipur High Court ordered the release of Leichombam and Wangthoi respectively.

The duo were arrested following a complaint filed against Leichombam and Wangthoi by Manipur state BJP vice-president Usham Deban and general secretary P. Premananda Meetei, accusing both the activists of posting "offensive comments" referring to the death of state BJP president Saikhom Tikendra Singh, who succumbed to Covid-19 in a hospital in Imphal on May 13 last year.

Leichombam and Wangthoi had been arrested twice earlier on charges of sedition and for making various posts on social media against the government.

Leichombam, educated abroad, is the founder of the People's Resurgence and Justice Alliance, a political party whose candidate in the 2017 Manipur elections included rights activist Irom Sharmila. He had also unsuccessfully contested the Assembly polls in 2017.

Rights activists and various Manipur-based organisations and elsewhere in the country had then criticised the government for "overreacting".

Social media and security expert Mans Paul said that like the traditional and institutional media, there must be a controlling authority and mechanism to curb the destructive, depressing and harmful posts, photographs and visuals.

"However, social media posts are always not harmful and destructive, sometimes these posts do constructive criticism and properly guide the traditional and institutional print and electronic media," Paul, who authored a few books on security affairs, told IANS.

He said that some people with a purpose and plan make posts in social media, but some people without knowing a particular issue and event randomly make posts in various social media.

During Durga Puja festivities last year and after incidents of communal violence in Bangladesh, provocative social media posts both in Bangladesh and India created some unrest on both sides of the border.

As per media reports, mob violence erupted in Comilla in October last year after unconfirmed posts went viral on social media about the alleged desecration of the Quran at a Durga Puja venue, following which Hindu temples were vandalised.

Reports quoting Rana Dasgupta, general secretary of the Bangladesh Hindu-Buddha Christian Oikya Parishad, said in the communal violence in Bangladesh at least six people were killed and many injured, while at least 70 Hindu temples and scores of houses and property were damaged in six districts across that country.

(Sujit Chakraborty can be contacted at sujit.c@ians.in)
Seoul, Oct 30 : Seol Ye-sol, a 19-year-old, asked her mother for money before going out to Itaewon to meet her boyfriend in one of their last dates before he goes to the military for mandatory service. Seven hours later, her boyfriend called her mother, crying and saying that she is dead.

The 55-year-old mother, Ahn Yeon-seon, recounted the last moment she shared with the ill-fated daughter while scouring a hospital in Seoul on Sunday looking for her, one of the victims in a deadly stampede during Halloween festivities the previous day, Yonhap news agency reported.

"She said, 'Mom, gimme some money!' and then went out," Ahn told Yonhap News Agency at Soonchunghyang University Hospital, the biggest hospital in the Itaewon area where many of the dead and injured were brought by emergency responders following the stampede.

At least 151 people were killed and 82 injured, according to authorities.

Firefighting officials said they received their first report of people with breathing difficulties after 10 p.m. Saturday when a crowd surge in a narrow downhill alley in Itaewon's nightlife district apparently crushed scores of revellers, many in their 20s. The exact cause is under investigation.

"Her boyfriend called me around midnight, crying, saying Ye-sol was dead, that she'd been under a pile of people for over an hour and that he'd tried to pull her out but couldn't," Ahn said. "I rushed here after getting his call but haven't received confirmation." Ye-sol is the second of four children who was mature for her age partly due to the early death of their father, the mother said, adding her daughter had started working early because she was determined to help raise her younger siblings.

"I'll just keep searching," she said.
Seoul, Oct 30 : World leaders from U.S. President Joe Biden and the UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to Mexican President Andres Manuel have sent messages of condolences and support to South Korea after a deadly stampede in Seoul's Itaewon district killed at least 151 people during Halloween celebrations.

"We grieve with the people of the Republic of Korea and send our best wishes for a quick recovery to all those who were injured," Biden said in a statement. "The United States stands with the Republic of Korea during this tragic time," the Yonhap news agency reported.

UK Prime Minister Sunak said in a tweet, "All our thoughts are with those currently responding and all South Koreans at this very distressing time." In a message written in French and Korean, French President Emmanuel Macron said, "I extend my condolences to the citizens of Seoul and the Korean people in the Itaewon disaster. France is by your side." German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a tweet that his country is "deeply saddened by the tragic events in Seoul," calling it "a sad day for South Korea." Mexican President Manuel also tweeted a condolence message.

"We embrace the families and friends of those who lost their lives or are injured by the unfortunate tragedy in South Korea. We also send our most sincere solidarity to the people and government of that country," the tweet read.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also left similar messages of deep condolences.

Josep Borrell, the foreign policy chief of the European Union, said, "Deeply saddened by the terrible events in central Seoul. What meant to be a celebration turned into a tragedy with so many young casualties. We are with the people of the Republic of Korea at this difficult moment," U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan wrote in a tweet that he hoped for "a quick recovery for those injured" in the "heartbreaking" accident and that the U.S. "stands ready to provide the Republic of Korea with any support it needs." U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also said, "We send our thoughts and deepest condolences to the family and friends of the deceased and injured, as well as to the people of the ROK as they mourn this horrific tragedy," referring to Korea by its official name, the Republic of Korea.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman left a tweet extending her "deepest condolences," hoping for "a speedy recovery for all those injured." "We stand with the people of the Republic of Korea in mourning," she wrote.
Guwahati, Oct 30 : Assam police seized narcotic substances worth 15 crores from Karbi Anglong district and arrested two drug peddlers on Saturday evening, officials said.

Police received a tip-off about a consignment of drugs that was moving from Manipur towards the Karbi Anglong district and accordingly, a check post was installed in the Dilain Tinali area under the Bokajan Sub-division of the district.

Bokajan Sub Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) John Das informed that a vehicle bearing a registration number of Uttar Pradesh was coming from Manipur and was intercepted at the police check post. Upon searching the vehicle, approximately 4 kg of Morphine hidden in secret chambers of the vehicle was recovered.

Police also arrested two drug peddlers who were identified as Hemkholal Lunkin (37) and Jangminlal Haokip (38), both residents of Manipur.

According to police, the market value of the seized drugs is estimated to be Rs 15 crore.

A case has been registered under NDPS Act. Police have been interrogating the arrested persons to unearth further links in this case.
New Delhi, Oct 30 : Etihad Airways and Armani/Casa launched a new relationship to create an unmatched luxury travel experience, elevating the standard for the aviation sector.

The agreement, which will begin operations in December 2022, establishes a distinctive vision for Etihad's premium product, which was specifically created with renowned designer Giorgio Armani.

The Constellation Collection, which was inspired by constellations, is the result of a partnership between Etihad and Armani/Casa. In order to provide Etihad's visitors with an experience that goes "beyond business," the range is adorned with a distinctive geometric pattern that softly graces the collection.

For a truly opulent in-flight experience, the collection offers a new dinner service with ceramics, glasses, cutlery, and serving ware in addition to premium linens.

Tony Douglas, Group Chief Executive Officer, Etihad, said: "Today we unveil a completely new and elevated way to fly with Etihad Airways-an experience defined by our Emirati heritage yet shaped by a clear vision for our future. Known globally for its Italian luxury and elegance, Armani/Casa is the ideal brand partner to create an unparalleled level of bespoke service and refinement for our guests." Redefining Business class travel

The dining service has elegant shapes with modern finishes that have been enhanced, combined materials, and embossed patterns. The UAE's diverse cultural heritage is reflected in the usage of various textures. The colour scheme echoes Abu Dhabi's surroundings: slate symbolises the city's sophistication and dark green is inspired by the area's date palm trees. Aquamarine represents the beauty of the mangroves.

With its patterned handles and delightfully tactile distinctive silverware, Armani/Casa brings its unmistakable experience right to the guest.

The assortment was created in keeping with the airline's dedication to sustainability. Equipment weight has been decreased by up to 10% thanks to strong, high-quality materials and creative designs, which means less fuel is used and less pollutants are produced.

The premium textiles line combines quality materials for the best rest with one of the most well-known luxury lifestyle brands in the world. The Armani/Casa distinctive designs are included on a pair of matching pillowcases and duvet covers to further improve the Business class turndown service. The airline's brand-new, cutting-edge memory foam mattress will assist passengers on lengthier flights by enhancing the comfort of the fully-flat bed in Business.

(IANSlife can be contacted at ianslife@ians.in)
New Delhi, Oct 30 : In a latest development in connection with the Coimbatore car-explosion case, the Tamil Nadu Police have handed over all the documents to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Seven accused have been arrested in the case by the TN Police. So far, the NIA has not made any official statement on the case.

On October 23, a blast took place near a temple in Coimbatore in which Jameesha Mubin, an engineer, was killed. Initially, the TN Police were looking into the matter and later on, the demand for NIA probe was raised. M.K. Stalin, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, also urged the MHA for the NIA probe.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had on October 27, ordered the NIA to takeover the probe.

The NIA then filed an FIR in this respect.

The FIR reads that a search operation was conducted at the house of the deceased Jamesha Mubin in which a number of incriminating documents were found. As many as 109 articles were seized during that raid.

The source said that notebooks were recovered in which their missions regarding Jihad were mentioned.

"We recovered black powder, potassium nitrate, nitroglycerin, PETN powder, aluminium powder, sulphur powder, sterile surgical," said the official.
New Delhi, Oct 30 : Crimes against women and children have increased in the last few years but the main concern is the rising brutality against them, said Swati Maliwal, Chairperson of the Delhi Commission for Women.

In an exclusive conversation with IANS, Swati Maliwal said, "Definitely the crimes against women and children are on the rise. Among many reasons, one important point is that the reporting of such cases has also increased in the last few years.

"However, the main concern is the rising brutality against women and children as we have numerous examples like how a eight month child is raped and her eyes are taken out in a brutal way".

"All facts and figures are indicating that crimes against women and children are rising in the capital. After the 2012 incident, the reporting of such incidents was made mandatory which is a good thing that at least such incidents are being reported now. It is also a reason that the crimes seem to be rising, but apart from that, it is also a fact that the crimes are rising", Swati Maliwal told IANS.

The issue which needs our serious attention is the rising brutality against women and children. Even, children are being burnt after rape. A recent case of brutality against them was in Rajasthan where girls aged between 8 to 18 years are being sold on stamp papers by the Panchayat, the DCW chief said.

"A racket is being run where families are being trapped in debt and thousands of crores of rupees are being earned by selling girls on stamp papers", Maliwal said. Strict action needs to be taken to stop such practices. Beyond the politics, I appeal to the Rajasthan Chief Minister to take the leadership role to uproot such evils from the root," she added.

Talking about the Ghaziabad rape case, Maliwal said that we have written to the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh to constitute a high level committee to probe the incident. If the committee finds that the girl has levelled false allegations, she must be arrested and action should be taken against her, she said.

Talking to IANS, the DCW chief underlined the role of the police in maintaining law and order in the city. "If we compare with the situation ten years back, we find that crimes have risen manifold. And the role of police can't be overlooked as it is the only law enforcement agency", she said.

"If police are given enough resources and start working properly with fixed accountability, we will see the changes", Swati Maliwal concluded.
Two Arrested and 13 Charged in Three Separate Cases for Alleged Participation in Malign Schemes in the United States on Behalf of the Government of the Peoples Republic of China

In three separate cases in the U.S. Attorneys Offices for the Eastern District of New York and the District of New Jersey, the Justice Department has charged 13 individuals, including members of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) security and intelligence apparatus and their agents, for alleged efforts to unlawfully exert influence in the United States for the benefit of the government of the PRC.

In the Eastern District of New York, an eight-count indictment was unsealed on Oct. 20 charging seven PRC nationals  two of whom were arrested on Oct. 20 in New York  with participating in a scheme to cause the forced repatriation of a PRC national residing in the United States. The defendants are accused of conducting surveillance of and engaging in a campaign to harass and coerce a U.S. resident to return to the PRC as part of an international extralegal repatriation effort known as Operation Fox Hunt.

A criminal complaint was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging two Peoples PRC intelligence officers with attempting to obstruct a criminal prosecution in the Eastern District of New York. The defendants remain at large.

In the District of New Jersey, an indictment was unsealed today charging four Chinese nationals, including three Ministry of State Security (MSS) intelligence officers, in connection with a long-running intelligence campaign targeting individuals in the United States to act as agents of the PRC.

As these cases demonstrate, the government of China sought to interfere with the rights and freedoms of individuals in the United States and to undermine our judicial system that protects those rights. They did not succeed, said U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. The Justice Department will not tolerate attempts by any foreign power to undermine the Rule of Law upon which our democracy is based. We will continue to fiercely protect the rights guaranteed to everyone in our country. And we will defend the integrity of our institutions.

The actions announced today take place against a backdrop of malign activity from the government of the Peoples Republic of China that includes espionage, attempts to disrupt our justice system, harassment of individuals, and ongoing efforts to steal sensitive U.S. technology, said Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco. The men and women of the Department of Justice will continue to defend the United States, our institutions, and our people from foreign threats that violate the law  no matter what form they take.

These indictments of PRC intelligence officers and government officials  for trying to obstruct a U.S. trial of a Chinese company, masquerading as university professors to steal sensitive information, and trying to strong-arm a victim into returning to China  again expose the PRCs outrageous behavior within our own borders, said FBI Director Christopher Wray. The FBI, working with our partners and allies, will continue to throw the full weight of our counterintelligence and law enforcement authorities into stopping the Chinese governments crimes against our businesses, universities, and Chinese-American communities.

These cases highlight the threat the PRC government poses to our institutions and the rights of people in the United States, said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Departments National Security Division. We will not tolerate these brazen operations: the harassment and attempted repatriation by force of individuals living in the U.S.; the effort to corrupt our judicial system; and the attempt to recruit agents for the PRC under the cover of a front academic organization. Countering such threats is a cornerstone of the mission of the National Security Division.

United States v. Quanzhong An, et al., Eastern District of New York

An eight-count indictment was unsealed on Oct. 20 in Brooklyn charging a total of seven nationals of the PRC  Quanzhong An, 55, of Roslyn, New York; Guangyang An, 34, of Roslyn, New York; Tian Peng, 38, of the PRC; Chenghua Chen of the PRC; Chunde Ming of the PRC; Xuexin Hou, 52, of the PRC; and Weidong Yuan, 55, of the PRC  with participating in a scheme to cause the forced repatriation of a PRC national residing in the United States. The lead defendant, Quanzhong An, allegedly acted at the direction and under the control of various officials with the PRCs governments Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection (Provincial Commission)  including Peng, Chen, Ming, and Hou  to conduct surveillance of and engage in a campaign to harass and coerce a U.S. resident to return to the PRC as part of an international extralegal repatriation effort known as Operation Fox Hunt.

Quanzhong An and Guangyang An were arrested on Thursday and were arraigned that afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ramon E. Reyes Jr. The remaining defendants remain at large.

As alleged, the defendants engaged in a unilateral and uncoordinated law enforcement action on U.S. soil on behalf of the government of the Peoples Republic of China, in an effort to cause the forced repatriation of a U.S. resident to China, said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York. The United States will firmly counter such outrageous violations of national sovereignty and prosecute individuals who act as illegal agents of foreign states.

As alleged in the indictment, the defendants participated in an international campaign to threaten and intimidate John Doe-1, a resident of United States, and his family to force John Doe-1 to return to the PRC. These efforts were part of Operation Fox Hunt, an initiative by the PRCs Ministry of Public Security to locate and repatriate alleged fugitives who flee to foreign countries, including the United States. The PRC government has targeted these alleged fugitives and their families to compel cooperation with the PRC government and self-repatriation to the PRC. The PRC government has taken such law enforcement actions on U.S. soil in a unilateral manner without approval, of or coordination with the U.S. government.

Quanzhong An, who is a businessman operating in Queens, New York, and the majority shareholder of a hotel in Flushing, acted as the primary U.S.-based liaison for the Provincial Commissions targeting of John Doe-1 and his family members, including his son, John Doe-2, both in the United States and in the PRC. As part of the scheme, various PRC-based conspirators forced a relative in the PRC (John Doe-3) to travel from the PRC to the United States in September 2018 to meet with John Doe-2 and convey threats that were intended to coerce John Doe-1s return to the PRC. Yuan  John Doe-3s superior at the PRCs State Administration of Taxation  escorted John Doe-3 from the PRC to the United States, under the guise of a visit with a tour group.

PRC-based defendants and coconspirators also engaged in a pattern of harassment targeting John Doe-1s family members. In November 2017, Hou wrote John Doe-2 warning him that coming back and turning yourself in is the only way out. Hou further threatened that avoidance and wishful thinking will only result in severe legal punishments. The PRC government also harassed John Doe-1 and John Doe-2 through the filing of a lawsuit in New York State court, alleging that John Doe-1 had stolen funds from his former PRC based employer and that John Doe-2 had knowledge of and benefitted from his fathers scheme.

In a series of recorded meetings in 2020, 2021, and 2022, Quanzhong An repeatedly met with John Doe-2 and attempted to persuade John Doe-2 to cause the return of John Doe-1 to the PRC. In these meetings, Quanzhong An acknowledged that he is a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), which enforces the rules and regulations of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) abroad. At various times, he attributed his instructions to Chen, Ming, and Peng and acknowledged that the Fox Hunt operation was motivated by the PRC governments need to save their faces and repatriate as many fugitives as possible.

Quanzhong An admitted that he was acting as an agent of the Provincial Commission to increase his standing in the PRC. During his meetings with John Doe-2, Quanzhong An repeatedly transmitted threats on behalf of the PRC government. If John Doe-1 did not return, the PRC government would keep pestering you, [and] make your daily life uncomfortable, in addition to actions to target and monitor John Doe-1s relatives in the PRC. On another occasion, he stated that they will definitely find new ways to bother you and it is definitely true that all of your relatives will be involved.

As set forth in the detention memorandum, Quanzhong An met with John Doe-2 again on Sept. 29, 2022. During this meeting, Quanzhong An pressed for John Doe-1 to execute an agreement to return to the PRC in advance of the CCPs 20th National Congress, which began on Oct. 16, 2022. As part of such agreement, Quanzhong An sought a written confession from John Doe-1, which would be submitted directly to the PRC government.

The charges in the indictment are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted of acting as agents of the PRC, Quanzhong An faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. The money laundering conspiracy charge against Quanzhong An and Guangyang An carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The remaining charges, including conspiring to act as agents of the PRC and conspiring to commit interstate and international stalking, carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alexander A. Solomon, Sara K. Winik, and Antoinette N. Rangel and Trial Attorney Scott A. Claffee of the National Security Divisions Counterintelligence and Export Control Section. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Morris of the Offices Asset Recovery Section is handling forfeiture matters.

United States v. Dong He, et al., Eastern District of New York

A criminal complaint was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging two Peoples Republic of China (PRC) intelligence officers with attempting to obstruct a criminal prosecution in the Eastern District of New York. The defendants remain at large.

According to court documents, Dong He, aka Guochun He and aka Jacky He, and Zheng Wang, aka Zen Wang, allegedly orchestrated a scheme to steal files and other information from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of New York related to the ongoing federal criminal investigation and prosecution of a global telecommunications company (Company-1) based in the PRC, including by paying a $41,000 Bitcoin bribe to a U.S. government employee who the defendants believed had been recruited to work for the PRC, but who in fact was a double agent working on behalf of the FBI.

Todays complaint underscores the unrelenting efforts of the PRC government to undermine the rule of law, said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York. As alleged, the case involves an effort by PRC intelligence officers to obstruct an ongoing criminal prosecution by making bribes to obtain files from this Office and sharing them with a global telecommunications company that is a charged defendant in an ongoing prosecution. We will always act decisively to counteract criminal acts that target our system of justice.

Dong He and Zheng Wang are charged with attempting to obstruct a criminal prosecution of Company-1 in federal district court in the Eastern District of New York. Defendant He also is charged with money laundering based upon a bribe payment of $41,000 in Bitcoin made in furtherance of the scheme.

According to the complaint, the defendants are PRC intelligence officers conducting foreign intelligence operations targeting the United States, on behalf of the PRC government and for the benefit of Company-1. Starting in 2019, they directed an employee at a U.S. government law enforcement agency (GE-1), whom they believed they had recruited as an asset, to steal confidential information about the criminal prosecution of Company-1 in order to interfere with that prosecution. In actuality, GE-1 was working as a double agent on behalf of the FBI.

In September 2021, the defendants tasked GE-1 with reporting about meetings that GE-1 was purportedly having with prosecutors in Brooklyn at the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of New York. In written communications, the defendants said they were particularly interested in knowing which Company-1 employees had been interviewed by the government and in obtaining a description of the prosecutors evidence, witness list and trial strategy.

In October 2021, GE-1 used an encrypted messaging program to send the defendants a single page from a purported internal strategy memorandum from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of New York regarding the Company-1 case. The document appeared to be classified as SECRET and to discuss a plan to charge and arrest two current Company-1 employees living in the PRC. Dong He responded that the document was exactly what I am waiting for and that he was waiting for the feedback from some guys about whether there were any questions about the document. Dong He then paid GE-1 approximately $41,000 in Bitcoin for stealing that document.

GE-1 also asked the defendants for any feedback about the SECRET document. In November 2021, Dong He stated that [Company-1] didnt give me specifically feedback now yet, but they are obviously interested in it, and my boss and they need further information. Dong He further told GE-1 that [Company-1] obviously will be interested in GE-1 stealing another part of the strategy memorandum, and maybe will offer more for that information. In December 2021, in response to a further request by GE-1 for feedback or guidance from Company-1 about what they want me to get, Dong He explained that they didnt give me any positive feedback yet and demanded to communicate with you directly. Dong He said that he refused Company-1s request to speak directly to GE-1 because its too dangerous.

The charges in the complaint are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted, Dong He faces up to 40 years of imprisonment and Wang faces up to 20 years of imprisonment.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alexander A. Solomon and Meredith A. Arfa and Trial Attorney Scott A. Claffee of the National Security Divisions Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.

United States v. Wang Lin et al., District of New Jersey

A federal indictment was unsealed today charging four Chinese nationals, including three Ministry of State Security (MSS) intelligence officers, in connection with a long-running intelligence campaign targeting individuals in the United States to act as agents of the PRC.

As alleged in the indictment, from at least 2008 to 2018, Wang Lin, 59; Bi Hongwei, age unknown; Dong Ting, aka Chelsea Dong, 40; Wang Qiang, 55, and others engaged in a wide-ranging and systematic effort to target and recruit individuals to act on behalf of the PRC in the United States with requests to provide information, materials, equipment, and assistance to the Chinese government in ways that would further Chinas intelligence objectives. These recruitment efforts included targeting professors at universities, a former federal law enforcement and state homeland security official, and others to act on behalf of, and as agents of, the Chinese government.

As part of the conspiracy, MSS intelligence officers Wang Lin, Dong Ting, and others used a purported academic institute at Ocean University of China  referred to as the Institute for International Studies (IIS)  as cover for their clandestine intelligence activities. Acting under cover as the purported director of the IIS, Wang Lin, in coordination with other MSS operatives operating under the guise of academics at the IIS, targeted professors at American universities and others in the United States with access to sensitive information and equipment.

According to the indictment unsealed today, MSS intelligence officers Wang Lin, Bi, Dong, and others, acting for and on behalf of the MSS and the Chinese government, systematically targeted United States persons, including but not limited to a coconspirator who was a resident of the state of New Jersey and a second individual who was a former federal law enforcement officer and state homeland security official and a professor at an American university.

Among other things, the conspiracy targeted the second individual by inviting the individual in 2008 and 2018 on all-expenses-paid trips to China sponsored by the IIS. During those trips, Wang Lin, Dong, and others sought to recruit this individual as a human source, requesting that the individual provide sensitive fingerprint technology, information, and assistance with stopping planned protests along the 2008 Olympic Games torch route in the United States, which the conspirators expressed would be embarrassing to China. The individual also was requested to sign a contract for purported consulting services with a Chinese company whose core value was the national interest and national security of China, with an objective to protect the national interest and Chinese enterprises overseas interest[s] and to build sources and channels to collect security information. Recognizing Wang Lin, Dong, and others as Chinese intelligence officers, the individual refused these requests and reported them to law enforcement.

The conspiracy also targeted the coconspirator in New Jersey by tasking the coconspirator to take specific action in the United States in furtherance of the MSS intelligence objective. Wang Qiang coordinated a meeting in 2016 between the coconspirator, Wang Lin, and Bi Hongwei in the Bahamas, at which time MSS intelligence officers Wang Lin and Bi directed the coconspirator to obtain U.S. currency and provide it to a designated individual in New Jersey. The coconspirator returned to New Jersey and did as Wang Lin and BI instructed. Wang Qiang then visited the coconspirator in New Jersey, at which time Wang Qiang and the coconspirator discussed in detail their and others activities taken on behalf of the Chinese government in the United States.

Lin, Bi, Dong and Qiang, all are nationals and residents of the Peoples Republic of China. They each are charged in the indictment with conspiracy to act in the United States as agents of a foreign government, namely, the Peoples Republic of China, without prior notification to the Attorney General of the United States, as required by law, and to direct such unlawful action by others in the United States. The conspiracy charge carries a statutory maximum term of imprisonment of five years and a maximum fine of $250,000.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy in Newark, with the investigation leading to the charges.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys J. Brendan Day, Attorney in Charge of the Trenton Branch Office, and Joyce M. Malliet, Chief of the Offices National Security Unit.

The charges in the indictment are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

This story has been published on: 2022-10-30. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
By Vugar Khalilov

The Azerbaijani Milli Majlis (Parliament) will discuss a proposed draft law "On public-private partnership" in its forthcoming plenary session, Azernews reports, citing the parliament.

The proposed bill was initially discussed at a meeting of the Azerbaijani Parliament's Committee on Economic Policy, Industry, and Entrepreneurship, attended by Committee Chairman Tahir Mirkishili, Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov, Azerbaijani Bank Association President Zakir Nuriyev, as well as the other members of parliament.

The new draft law, in line with paragraphs 11, 12, and 13 of part I of Article 94 of the Azerbaijani Constitution, envisages the organizational, legal, and economic foundations for carrying out activities in the public-private partnership sector.

Following the discussions, the bill was recommended to the plenary session of the Azerbaijani Parliament in the first reading.
A man travelling from Australia to New Zealand has been left without his cancer medication after his Jetstar plane took off without 50 bags.

The man flew from the Gold Coast to Christchurch, arriving early on Friday, to visit his family but soon found out he was missing his luggage containing the vital medication.

His brother, Stephen Stuart, told Stuff.co.nz it was staff who advised him to put the medicine in his checked luggage.

Mr Stuart said it was pandemonium at the airport when it became apparent how many passengers had their bags missing.

Jetstar left dozens of bags behind, including one that contained important cancer medication. Source: Getty/File

In the chaos they were unable to get a case number for their missing bags and were left on hold to the airlines call centre.

They make an art form of not being able to be contacted, Mr Stuart said. There is probably quite a few grumpy people around.

In a statement, Jetstar said the bags were placed on the next direct flight.

"Due to a change in weather conditions, an additional payload restriction was placed on our flight from Gold Coast to Christchurch.

"Unfortunately, this meant a number of bags were unable to be uplifted. These bags were place on the next direct flight from Gold Coast to Christchurch and are being delivered to passengers this morning.

"We apologise for the inconvenience and thank our passengers for their understanding."

Mr Stuarts brother couldn't wait until Sunday and visited a doctor to get more medication.

Jetstars $4500 check-in blunder

Earlier this month, another Jetstar passenger had issues when checking in her luggage after she was charged $4500 instead of $45.

Jannine Meyers was flying from Auckland to Christchurch at the time of the incident and said the extremely frustrating experience took weeks to be rectified.

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Lucknow, Oct 30 : In Uttar Pradesh, 'C is for children and 'C is also for caste.

It is school children who bear the brunt of the prevailing caste politics in the state.

There are innumerable cases of children being discriminated against in government schools on the basis of caste. Most of them either go unreported or do not invite any action.

Last year, in Amethi, the principal of a primary school in Gaderi in Sangrampur area was accused of allegedly forming a "separate queue of Dalit children" when they were served the midday meal.

An FIR was registered against the principal Kusum Soni, under sections of the SC/ST Atrocities Prevention Act and she was suspended.

The case was also reported to the district magistrate who ordered a probe by the Basic Shiksha Adhikari.

There was also the case of segregation of utensils used by Dalit students in a government school in Mainpuri district.

"This has now become a way of life, especially in rural areas. The caste feeling is so dominant now that it is the children who refuse to eat food cooked by a Dalit or sit with children belonging to Dalit castes. We try to sort out the matter in the school itself and it is only when a TV channel highlights the incident that action is taken," says Ram Prakash Srivastava, a retired school teacher in Ballia.

Vinay Kumar, the head of a village in an eastern UP constituency, says, "The caste system has gained strong roots and unless the local MLA or MP belongs to a marginalised caste, Dalit children are victimised in schools. Teachers, while beating them or scolding them, use cuss words and caste shame them. I belong to the Dalit community but there is little I can do to protect the children because the local MLA belongs to the upper caste and so do the local officials." Sangita, a class four student who belongs to a Dalit community, says that the school teacher tells her to sit in a separate row and she is also asked to sit away from others when the midday meal is served.

"Big (read upper caste) children do not play with me and they also get the food first," she says.

Sangita says that the only time she is given 'VIP aur accha kaam (treatment)' is when 'mantri ji' comes to school.

Her mother, Asha, says that the teacher asks her to put oil on Sangita's head and comb her hair and she is taught how to speak to the guest. In return she gets candies but once the visit is over, things are back to being worse.

Radhika Saxena, who works with children belonging to marginalised communities, says that the caste discrimination in schools remains a major factor in keeping the kids, especially girls, away from school.

'The drop-out rate increases as children start growing up and begin to realize that they are being subjected to abusive behaviour. Some male teachers even derive sadistic pleasure by not allowing girls to relieve themselves during school hours and this kind of behaviour is only for Dalits," she says.

Radhika says that the problem lies with the social and political system which has become highly caste-oriented and teachers are a part of it.

"De-sensitizing teachers does not work and now even children are becoming caste conscious which is a highly dangerous trend for the future. I have seen some upper caste children refer to Dalit children with abuses," she adds.

A retired IAS officer, who served in the state education department for a long time, admits that government schemes exist mainly on paper and the reality is different.

"We provide uniforms, shoes, books and other incentives but who checks whether the children are actually getting the benefits. There is no system to check if teachers behave well with children. The human resource factor is missing from the system and books alone will not make schools a better place," he says.
Ranchi, Oct 30 : A class IX student of Jamshedpur's Saradamoni Girls' School, Ritu Mukhi, set herself on fire by sprinkling kerosene on her body after returning home from school on October 14. She passed away on October 21, after struggling for seven days in Tata Main Hospital with 90 per cent burns.

The 14-year-old is survived by her mother, Saraswati Mukhi and her siblings. She was calm and introverted by nature and wanted to become a government officer to support her family. Her family's hopes and dreams also came to an end with her death.

On October 14, when her mother and brother were out for some work, she sent her sisters to a neighbour's house before setting herself on fire. When the flames intensified, she ran towards the street and fell unconscious. Hearing the commotion, people nearby ran to her aid and doused the fire.

The reason behind this drastic step is extremely shocking. In the statement given to the police, she said that she was appearing for her terminal exam when the invigilator, Chandra Das, accused her of cheating. Das slapped her and forced her to remove her clothes in front of everyone to check for hidden notes even after she protested.

The victim added in her statement that she was so embarrassed by the incident that she took the extreme step after returning home from school that day.

Das is lodged in jail and has denied the allegations, although several other students who were present in the class confirm the victim's allegations. School principal Geeta Mahato has been suspended. Taking cognizance of the incident, Chief Minister Hemant Soren directed the administration to take necessary action.

When Jamshedpur Deputy Commissioner Vijaya Jadhav reached to console the victim's mother, the latter kept saying that she couldn't save her baby girl. She also requested Jadhav to get justice for her daughter.

This incident raises many questions about the system. Dr S.C. Sharma, a retired lecturer and academician of Vinoba Bhave University, Hazaribagh, says that, "This incident may at first glance seem to be only the teacher's fault, but in reality it is a question on the entire educational system and our social fabric as well." He added that, "the student took the decision while suffering herself and did not let anyone get a hint about the 'war' in her mind. Such reports are coming frequently from academic campuses. We move on after every incident with only regret and blame. Incidents of corporal punishment are a question on the whole system. Merely making laws to stop them will not work. There is a need for constant counselling of teachers-students-parents." In Jharkhand alone, there have been many incidents of harassment of students in schools in recent times. On September 27, Vikas alias Cyril Kujur, a teacher of St. Michael English Medium School of Gumla district, brutally thrashed 13 students when they refused to dance. Many students were injured and had swollen hands and feet.

Angered by this incident, people staged a sit-in in front of the school and protested. Eventually the accused teacher was sent to jail by registering an FIR.

A similar incident happened in Bokaro on September 22. In SS High School of Kasmar block, school teacher Vineet Kumar Jha thrashed a student, Rajkumar Mahato, badly. The student suffered a serious injury on his hand. In protest, students and parents blocked the main road outside the school and demanded action against the accused teacher. Later, the police pacified them by assuring of strict action.

On September 9, at a private school in Deoghar, a minor student of Class IX was allegedly thrashed and made to stand in the sun for three hours by a non-teaching staff, causing him to faint. He was rushed to his house, from where his family members admitted him to a hospital.

Two teachers of Modern English School in Itki block of Ranchi district brutally thrashed a sibling duo, resulting in injury marks on their bodies. Their father lodged an FIR at Itki police station on October 14.

Renu Tiwari, who was in charge of the primary section of a reputed school in Ranchi for almost three decades, says that, "along with the teachers, students and parents should be constantly counselled. Corporal punishment for children in school or any kind of discrimination against them comes under the category of crime." It is the responsibility of the school management to create an environment where children can feel safe. There can be many ways to control the indiscipline of the students. For example, complaints should be made to the parents and an undertaking should be given in serious matters. Corporal punishment is by no means a solution to the problem, Tiwari added.
Seoul, Oct 30 : At least 19 foreigners, including three Chinese nationals, have been confirmed dead in a stampede at Seoul's Itaewon district during Halloween celebrations, fire authorities said on Sunday.

The death toll from Saturday's accident rose to 151, with 19 of them identified as foreigners, Choi Seong-beom, head of the fire department in Yongsan, said in a briefing.

Their nationalities include those from Iran, Uzbekistan, China and Norway, Choi was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.

The Chinese embassy in South Korea said shortly after the stampede, it immediately activated an emergency response mechanism, contacted the South Korean side overnight to learn about the cause of the accident and the nationalities of the victims, and paid close attention to the internet and social media platforms to see if any Chinese nationals were seeking help, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Chinese embassy has offered condolences and will provide assistance to the families of the deceased.

The accident has left 151 dead and 82 injured, according to the South Korean firefighting authorities.
Washington, Oct 30 : U.S. President Joe Biden voted early in this year's crucial midterm elections, casting his ballot alongside his 18-year-old granddaughter Natalie Biden at a polling station in his home state of Delaware.

After casting his vote on Saturday, he said: "This is not a referendum of the upcoming midterms. "It's a fundamental choice between two different people." The 2022 midterm elections will be held on November 8, with all 435 seats of the U.S. House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 Senate seats on the ballot, Xinhua news agency reported.

Plus, 39 state and territorial gubernatorial elections, as well as numerous other state and local elections, will be contested.

More than 20 million people have voted so far in the elections, open data from the United States Elections Project showed.

Seventy-one per cent of voters said the US is headed in the wrong direction, compared with 20 per cent who said it's on the right track, according to a NBC News poll released earlier this month.

Eighty-one per cent of Democrats said they believed the Republican Party's agenda posed a threat that, if not stopped, will destroy America, the poll found.

A similar share of Republicans, 79 per cent, held the same view of the Democratic Party's agenda.

"It seems like voters are no longer looking for a 'Contract with America,' they want a divorce," said pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research Associates.

"The United States and its voters are in a very sour mood," said public opinion pollster John Zogby.

"The numbers of people that trust the government to do the right thing, the numbers of people that trust either political party, and even Republicans towards the Republican Party and Democrats towards the Democratic Party, are really at all-time lows," elaborated Zogby.
Chennai, Oct 30 : Around 10,000 policemen led by senior police officers were deployed on Sunday in five districts in view of the Jayanti celebrations of Muthumaralinga Thevar, the revered leader of the Thevar community.

The celebrations were being held in the Pasumpon village in Ramanathapuram district on Sunday.

Policemen are deployed in Ramanathapuram, Dindigul, Madurai, Virudhunagar, and Sivaganga districts which have a heavy presence of the powerful Thevar community.

The AIADMK power struggle will also be reflected during the celebrations, as there is a feeling in the community that all towering leaders of the community, which has always been supporting the AIADMK, have been cut to size in the party. AIADMK deposed leader and former Chief Minister, O.Panneerselvam will pay his respects at Pasumpon village while the interim general secretary of the party, Edappadi K. Palaniswami will pay his respects in Chennai.

The Thevar community has not taken lightly the insult meted out to Panneerselvam after he was expelled from the party during its general council meeting on July 11.

The former interim general secretary of the AIADMK, V.K. Sasikala, and her nephew and Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) general secretary, TTV Dhinakaran were also expected to reach Pasumpon village. The jayanti celebrations of Muthuramalinga Thevar, according to Thevar insiders, will be a show of strength of the community before the political leadership.

Almost all senior leaders of DMK, AIADMK, BJP and Congress will congregate during the Thevar Jayanti celebrations as the community has a major sway in the five south Tamil Nadu districts, and in electoral politics it is very important to be on the right side of powerful community leadership.

South Zone Inspector General, Asra Garg will lead the police contingent comprising four DIGs and 34 SPs will be present across the five districts. 95 CCTV cameras have been installed across the districts to manage the crowd and 14 drones are also deployed.

While Chief Minister M.K. Stalin will not be attending the celebrations due to a medical emergency, senior DMK leader and water works minister, S. Duraimurugan will be overseeing the security aspects. Ministers P.T.R. Thiagarajan, K.N. Nehru and I. Periyasamy will also be present.
Hyderabad, Oct 30 : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is invoking the legacy of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in Telangana to build a strong narrative for the next year's Assembly elections.

The saffron party is working aggressively to highlight the key role played by India's first home minister in erstwhile Hyderabad State's accession with the Indian Union.

The BJP-led government at the Centre officially organised 'Hyderabad Liberation Day' celebrations in Hyderabad on September 17. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, whom the BJP describes as 'Abhinav Sardar', hoisted the national flag and took the salute from the central police forces at the parade organised by the Union ministry of culture.

Hyderabad State, which comprised Telangana and some districts of present day Maharashtra and Karnataka, became part of India on September 17, 1948, following India's military action 'Operation Polo', popularly known as 'police action'.

The Centre had invited chief ministers of all the three states to the main official function. The move was clearly aimed at embarrassing the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government, which has been rejecting the BJP's demand for officially celebrating the day.

The parade was attended by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde while Karnataka was represented by a Cabinet minister.

In what is seen as a political masterstroke to checkmate BJP, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) hoisted the Tricolour at parallel 'Telangana National Integration Day' celebrations organised by the state government.

While staying away from the celebrations organised by the Centre in tune with the BJP's ideology, the KCR's government organised its own celebrations to counter the saffron party.

Alleging that the BJP stands for dividing the people in the name of celebrations, KCR claimed that TRS wants to unite people.

The BJP still claimed victory in its sustained campaign as this was the first time that official celebrations were organised on September 17.

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), a friendly party of TRS, also celebrated September 17 as the national integration day.

The development was significant as the BJP had been targeting KCR for not officially celebrating the day due to pressure from the AIMIM.

The party led by Asaduddin Owaisi had always maintained that there is only one Independence Day for the entire country and hence there is no need for separate celebrations in Telangana.

The BJP has been demanding for the last two decades that the day should be officially celebrated like in some districts of Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Like the previous governments of Congress and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in undivided Andhra Pradesh, the TRS government in Telangana had rejected demands for officially celebrating the day in view of the reservations by AIMIM and other Muslim groups.

Being an emotive issue with the potential communal polarisation, the BJP has been aggressively pushing for official celebrations. At every public meeting, Amit Shah and other central leaders of BJP have been attacking KCR for not celebrating September 17 officially due to fear of AIMIM and promising that if voted to power in 2023, BJP will celebrate the liberation day in a befitting manner.

"Bring BJP to power in Telangana, we will celebrate the day officially in a grand manner," Shah had told a public meeting in Munugode in August.

The BJP leaders, during their speeches, also make special mention of Sardar Patel and claim that Hyderabad State became part of India thanks to the firm stand taken by the 'iron man'.

"If not for Sardar Patel, Hyderabad would have taken more years to get liberated. Sardar Patel knew that as long as Nizam's Razakars could not be defeated, the dream of Akhand Bharat will not be fulfilled," Amit Shah had stated at the celebrations last month.

He praised Sardar Patel for launching Operation Polo against Nizam's army and Razakars to make Hyderabad a part of India. Shah recalled that even after India became independent, there were no celebrations in the then Hyderabad State and for 13 months people were subjected to repression by Razakars.

Taking a dig at TRS, the Union home minister remarked that some political parties feel ashamed to call September 17 as Hyderabad Liberation Day since they still have fear of Razakars in their mind.

The Union Home Minister said unfortunately those who were in power for 75 years did not dare to celebrate Liberation Day because of vote bank politics.

Razakars were a band of militia formed by Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) leader Syed Qasim Razvi and they indulged in atrocities on those who wanted Hyderabad State's accession to India.

Political parties in the post-1948 Hyderabad State and later in united Andhra Pradesh never organised any official celebrations to avoid any controversy in view of the reservations from the Muslim community due to the massacre of Muslims in the aftermath of 'police action'.

The Sunderlal Committee, appointed by the Government of India to report on the situation after the merger of Hyderabad, found that mass violence was committed against common Muslims. According to the report, 27,000 to 40,000 Muslims were massacred.

This time in a strategic move to counter the BJP, AIMIM organised national integration day to highlight the fact that Hindus and Muslims were advocates of a united India under a democratic and secular government as reflected in the Sunderlal Committee report.

The TRS also used the occasion to launch a counter attack on the BJP for pushing its divisive agenda for its narrow political interests. The TRS leaders slammed the saffron party for giving a communal colour to September 17 to divide people.

When Amit Shah hoisted the national flag in Hyderabad to mark Hyderabad Liberation Day, TRS working president K.T. Rama Rao alleged that he came to divide people while Sardar Patel had united them.

"74 years ago, a Union Home Minister came to unite and integrate the people of Telangana into the Indian union. Today a union home minister has come to divide and bully the people of Telangana and their state government," the TRS leader had tweeted.
Chennai, Oct 30 : The slugfest between Tamil Nadu BJP President K. Annamalai and top police officers of the state over the Coimbatore blast case continued.

In a press statement on Saturday, the DG of Tamil Nadu police, C. Sylendrababu, said that the BJP President was spreading rumours on the Coimbatore car blast case and was attempting to divert investigation.

Tamil Nadu DGP office said that if UAPA was invoked, the local police were bound to give a statement to the state government and added that in such instances it was the local police that was to carry out initial investigation.

The statement also said that the state government forwards this report to the NIA which decides within 15 days whether it will take over the case or not.

The press statement also said that in some cases the state government takes months to submit the report and that the Government of India will also take several months for taking a decision.

The DGP office further said that Annamalai's statement that the Tamil Nadu police acted after getting inputs from the Central intelligence was wrong. It added that the circular from New Delhi was common to all states and not specific to Tamil Nadu.

Tamil Nadu BJP President, K. Annamalai, in a tweet said that a point-by-point rebuttal would be given to the statement released by the DGP office. Annamalai stated that he has high respect for the hardworking brothers and sisters of the Tamil Nadu police.

He added that the DGP and ADGP (Intelligence) were behaving like an extension of DMK head office, Arivalayam. He said that the BJP had come out specifically against the DGP and the ADGP (Intelligence) for failing their basic duties but that they have come out with a statement as if it was from the entire police force.

The Tamil Nadu BJP led by K. Annamalai has been taking aggressive stance against the Tamil Nadu police , especially the DGP of state police.
Islamabad, Oct 30 : Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has claimed that he rejected a proposal from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan about the appointment of army chief, and instead offered him dialogue on Charter of Democracy and Charter of Economy, local media reported.

Talking to vloggers, the prime minister said that the PTI chairman offered talks with the government a month ago through a mutual businessman friend to resolve two issues, one of which was the appointment of the army chief, The Express Tribune reported.

"Imran Khan offered [to conduct] negotiations," Prime Minister Shehbaz told vloggers. "The first matter was the army chief's appointment and the second was holding early elections," he added.

Prime Minister Shehbaz added that he had sent a message that appointment of the army chief was a constitutional duty that the prime minister would have to perform. "I have offered Imran Khan to discuss Charter of Democracy and Charter of Economy." He also said that Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) director general held a press conference along with the director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) earlier this week with his permission.

He explained that he was told that the ISI chief wanted to hold the press conference because he (ISI DG) was eyewitness to the meeting between Imran Khan and the army chief. He added the ISI chief put the whole matter in front of the people, The Express Tribune reported.

"Imran Khan is currently targeting the army leadership only to fulfil his personal desires," the Prime Minister said.

"Imran Niazi now spewing poison against those who nurtured him. No one is safe from his mischief," he added.
New Delhi, Oct 30 : The vast Indian talent pool in fintech, logistics and banking sectors is set to benefit from Hong Kong's new visa scheme, which was announced recently to stem a brain drain that has risked the city's status as an international financial centre.

With the city's workforce shrinking by about 140,000 people over the last two years, Chief Executive John Lee announced the "Top Talent Pass Scheme" this month, which includes incentives for high earners and top university graduates.

The scheme grants a two-year visa to individuals who earn no less than HK$2.5 million (US$318,000) annually, and graduates of the world's top 100 universities with at least three years' working experience over the past five years.

There are more than 42,000 Indians in Hong Kong, and nearly 33,000 of them hold Indian passports, says a July 2022 update on the website of Consulate General of India in Hong Kong.

"Increasingly, a large number of Indian professionals are coming to Hong Kong, working in the service industry, banking and finance, information technology, shipping, among others," it said.

As per the government data, Hong Kong approved 1,034 visa applications from Indians under its general employment policy in 2021, and 560 applications in the first six months of 2022.

Prior to the pandemic, 2,684 visas were issued to Indian nationals in 2019 under the same general employment policy.

As far as the Indian talent pool in Hong Kong is concerned, the city has largely been able to retain it, as a result of which it remains a popular destination for prospective Indian workers who wish to move, industry insiders told South China Morning Post.

Hong Kong has been home to a large Indian community for more than 150 years, and its contribution to the city's emergence as a hub of global finance and trade is well known.

Six public sector banks and two private sector banks from India are currently operating in Hong Kong.

According to the Consulate General of India in Hong Kong, numerous global financial majors, investment institutions and fund managers operating in India have their regional headquarters in Hong Kong.

Apart from a major sourcing centre for Indian companies, Hong Kong has also emerged as a major re-exporter of items it imports from India to Mainland China.

Due to their long presence, Indians have been able to integrate themselves into the mainstream Hong Kong society.

People from Sindh, Gujarat and Punjab form the largest component of the community, and there are more than 40 Indian associations present in Hong Kong that are run by diaspora/ people of Indian origin.

Gautam Bardoloi, president of the Forum of Indian Professionals in Hong Kong, told South China Morning Post that the "exodus from the city over the past two years had not been reflected in the Indian professional community".

Also, with Lee announcing a slew of proposals including tax rebates, relaxed procedure for employers who recruit foreigners, as well as loosening immigration measures for overseas students by extending the limit of stay from one year to two -- Hong Kong seems to be the right destination for skilled Indian workers as well as students.

Hong Kong was a former British colony handed to Chinese control in 1997. Many of its residents left in droves after a tough national security law was imposed, leading to crackdown on political dissent.

The city's population in mid-2022 dropped 1.6 per cent from a year earlier, falling by 113,200 residents as of August, according to government statistics.

Last month, Singapore overtook Hong Kong in a ranking of global financial centres.

(Meenakshi Iyer can be reached at meenakshi.i@ians.in)
Srinagar, Oct 30 : Is Pakistan repeating its Punjab drug push strategy in Kashmir? It certainly appears so. Drug traffickers are out to destroy Kashmir's generation-next by selling poison to it at the behest of Pakistan, which wants to enslave the youngsters for fighting its proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir.

The drug trafficking in Kashmir has emerged as one of the biggest challenges for the law enforcing agencies and the administration.

Not a single day passes without the J&K Police seizing narcotic drugs and arresting the peddlers, who are operating in every district of the Valley.

The drug trade in Kashmir is nothing new. It has been thriving for many years as the former political regimes didn't pay much attention towards curbing this menace. The substance abuse in Kashmir has turned into a monster which is out to devour the youngsters.

In the first nine months of 2022, the divisional administration in Kashmir issued 106 detention orders under Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance Act, 1988, (PIT-NDPS) and efforts are on to save youngsters from falling into the trap of drug peddlers and traffickers.

NCRB Report reveals 35 per cent increase The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report on drug abuse in Jammu and Kashmir released in September 2022 revealed an increase by 35 per cent in drug abuse cases in 2021 as compared to the cases registered in 2020.

The NCRB report stated that 1,222 cases under NDPS, 1985 act were registered in J&K in 2020, however, the number increased to 1,681 in 2021.

As per the figures, among the 1,222 cases registered in 2020, 289 cases were those where a convict was found to be in possession of drugs for personal use or consumption while 933 cases were found to be in possession of drugs for trafficking.

In Kashmir, there has been a spate of unexplained, sudden deaths due to overdose of drugs but in most cases, the families don't believe it. Even hospitals certify these deaths as caused by cardiac arrest to save the deceased's kin from ostracism.

J&K Police Chief exposes Pak Soon after the abrogation of Article 370, a temporary provision in the Constitution of India, J&K Police Chief, Dilbag Singh in September 2019, had stated that majority of the drugs pumped into Jammu and Kashmir came from Pakistan to finance terror activities.

Singh had revealed that sending drugs into Kashmir was a part of Pakistan's plan to turn Kashmir's generation-next into drug addicts so that they could be used as tools to keep the pot boiling.

MHA takes serious note After August 5, 2019 -- when the Centre abrogated J&K's special status and divided it into two Union Territories -- the security agencies cracked a whip on drug traffickers as the Union Home Ministry led by Amit Shah passed on clear cut directions to the law enforcing agencies to wipe out 'narco terrorism" from Kashmir.

Politicians, who ruled J&K till 2108, were aware of the ground situation as the security agencies had time and again briefed them about the entrenched corridor for illegally routing drugs from Pakistan to Kashmir and from there to the rest of India. But the former rulers didn't pay much attention towards the red-flags raised by the security agencies.

Keran village in frontier district of Kupwara used to serve as the conduit for drug racketeers. From Keran, the consignments reached Rajouri border and then Jammu from there they were sent to other states.

In 2020, Jammu and Kashmir Police seized 36.08 kilograms of pure heroin and 49.7 kilograms of brown sugar from different parts of Kashmir.

In September 2021, a charge sheet filed by National Investigation Agency (NIA) in a narco-terrorism case had revealed that operatives of terror outfits such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen were behind the drug trade in Jammu and Kashmir.

J&K natives used as tools Besides sending guns, bombs and grenades, Pakistan has been exporting drugs into J&K. It just pretends to be a sympathizer of people of Kashmir but the fact is that it's the biggest enemy of J&K people.

Pakistan has used J&K natives as its instruments to fight the proxy war which it launched in 1990 by sending the gun-toting terrorists into Kashmir. Since then terrorist handlers have done everything to destabilize J&K.

Government acts swiftly During the past three years scenario in J&K has changed as the government has acted swiftly against the terrorists and their handlers. The security forces have been given clear cut instructions to wipe out all forms of terrorism, including narco-terrorism, from Jammu and Kashmir.

A recent survey conducted by Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (IMHNS), Government Medical College, Srinagar, in collaboration with the Social Welfare Department and Directorate of Health Service Kashmir in 10 districts across Kashmir had revealed that at least 2.8 per cent of the total population in the Valley has been substance users, with 52,404 dependent on drugs currently.

The survey had claimed that approximately 95 per cent are heroin users and the average age of initiation of heroin in Kashmir is 22-years.

The survey had also stated that substance use was seen majorly in the unemployed population, which was little over 25.2 per cent of the total population in Kashmir and the most commonly used psychoactive substance in every district of Kashmir is Opioids.

The Army, police and other government departments have been putting in relentless efforts to help the youth to give up drug addiction. Many drug de addiction centers have been set up across the Valley to change the lives of substance abusers.

Under Nasha Mukt Bharat scheme funds have been allocated to various departments to identify the substance abusers so that they could be treated and pulled out from the death trap which they have been put in by the drug traffickers, supported and sponsored by Pakistan.

CNN-News 18 last month had reported that Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed a 2,000 per cent spike in cases of drug abuse. It had stated that in 2016, the Oral Substitution Therapy Centre (OST) at the Government Medical College, Srinagar, recorded 489 patients, while the number crossed the 10,000-mark in 2021.

Common man has a role The conspiracy hatched by Pakistan to turn Kashmir into a haven for drug addicts has shattered the myth that Pakistan is a well wisher and a sympathizer of J&K people. A common man in J&K needs to understand that security forces and administration alone cannot fight this threat.

Every J&K denizen would have to contribute his bit in the war against 'narco-terrorism." Kashmiri society has to wake up and realize how its young generation is falling into the pit of disaster from which it can never emerge again. It's the duty of the people to save their children from this poison in circulation.

J&K's civil society has to play a major role. From parents to religious clerics, everyone has to come forward and send a message to drug traffickers that they won't be allowed to succeed in their nefarious designs. Law enforcing agencies are maintaining a strict vigil and administration is rendering all the possible support but the terrorism from J&K cannot be wiped out fully till the "narco-terrorism" ends.
Vladimir Putins rumoured goddaughter has reportedly been caught on CCTV fleeing Russia on foot just hours before police raided her luxury home.

Ksenia Sobchak, who is the daughter of Putins one-time boss, is now in Lithuania after entering the country on her Israeli passport, the head of Lithuania's counter-intelligence service said on Thursday.

The 40-year-old journalist and TV star who was once dubbed the "Russian Paris Hilton" left on Tuesday night, crossing the Belarus-Lithuania border after tricking the Russian authorities by purchasing  but not using  plane tickets from Moscow to Turkey and Dubai, the state-owned news agency TASS reported.

Ksenia Sobchak, who is the daughter of Putins one-time boss, is now in Lithuania after fleeing Russia. Source: Twitter/Getty

CCTV footage circulating online appears to capture Ms Sobchak wearing all black as she enters the border checkpoint on foot while seemingly trying to keep her head down, according to RIA Novosti news agency.

An unidentified man in blue walking behind her can be seen looking over his shoulder as he carries a large duffle bag.

Its believed the leaked footage was captured by Belarusian border security cameras.

"Without any doubt, she is [in Lithuania] I confirm the fact", Darius Jauniskis, who heads the Baltic country's counter-intelligence service, told the Ziniu radio station on Thursday morning.

A channel associated with #Belarusian security forces published a video of Ksenia #Sobchak crossing the Belarusian-Lithuanian border at the Vidzy checkpoint. pic.twitter.com/rNRQzuCZBN  NEXTA (@nexta_tv) October 27, 2022

"As an Israeli citizen, with a valid passport, she doesn't need a visa and can enter Lithuania and stay here for up to 90 days," he added.

Story continues

Israel's daily Haaretz newspaper reported in April that Ms Sobchak acquired Israeli citizenship after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Sobchak responds on Telegram

Russian media reports that Ms Sobchaks home in a prestigious Moscow suburb was part of a probe into alleged wrongdoing by her media director Kirill Sukhanov who was arrested on charges of extortion.

Ms Sobchak is not a suspect, TASS reported, citing law enforcement agencies.

The state-owned news agency earlier this month said Ms Sobchak herself faced a criminal investigation over a story she had done that police suspect was "fake", though suggested the subject of the offending material was the "state funding of festivals".

After news of the police raid broke, Ms Sobchak suggested on her Telegram channel the case that triggered the search was politically-motivated and linked to a documentary she had made on the use of torture in Russian prisons.

Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Liberal opposition candidate Ksenia Sobchak in 2018. Source: Getty

"Our commercial director Kirill Sukhanov has been arrested. They are trying to charge him with extortion," Sobchak wrote on Wednesday, CCN reports.

"I dont believe [these charges] at all, and I hope that now they will quickly sort everything out and will see that all this is some kind of nonsense.

"If not, then it is obviously a raid on my editorial office  the last free editorial office in Russia, which had to be clamped down."

Sobchak's connection to Putin raises suspicion

The 40-year-old is the daughter of the late Anatoly Sobchak, St Petersburg's mayor in the 1990s, who was Putin's boss and friend. The two families had close ties, sometimes holidaying together.

Her long-standing family connection to Putin has been a source of suspicion among parts of the anti-Kremlin opposition movement, much of which is now outside Russia, despite her own involvement with it at times.

While she first gained fame as a fashionable socialite, Ms Sobchak got involved in politics when she joined the massive protests in Moscow against Putin in 2011-12, and later reinvented herself as a serious TV journalist and opposition activist.

Her Telegram channel, which frequently carries reports critical of government policy, has 1.4 million followers.

She ran for the Russian presidency in 2018, winning less than 2 per cent of the vote, in what her critics derided as a publicity stunt that helped the Kremlin create the impression inside Russia that the election, won by Putin, was competitive.

Ms Sobchak said she had genuinely wanted to win the contest and was interested in politics and bringing about change.

With AP

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Amritsar, Oct 30 : A wheelchair-bound devotee, who was denied entry into the Sri Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) here, has sought to make it accessible for physically challenged too.

However, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), which has control over Sikh religious affairs and manages gurdwaras, including the holiest of Sikh shrines Harmandir Sahib, popularly known as the Golden Temple, says 'sewadars' are deputed for convenience of the 'sangat' or devotees.

The SGPC's statement comes after wheelchair-bound graphic designer Inderjeet Singh Dang on Saturday tweeted by saying, "How can someone who's permanently on wheelchair supposed to go to Main Darbar without using wheelchair on pathway? "I request officials to look into this matter and help to make Darbar Sahib accessible for all." The SGPC replied to him by saying, "In case any pilgrim with wheelchair, they r helped by Sewadars by lifting them up with hands & taken to Darbar Sahib. Wheelchair cannot be allowed due to certain reasons. Please ask Sewadar help to pick the person & help in Darshan." At this Dehradun-based Dang replied: "Lot of Sewadars are extremely rude and arrogant and they simply say you can go by yourself or don't go.

"Also what are the reasons to prohibit wheelchair on pathway? It's just a plain pathway. I understand not allowing wheelchair inside the Main Darbar but it's just pathway." Saying everyone has equal rights to visit the sanctum sanctorum of, Dang further said, "It's very uncomfortable and inappropriate to get lifted by someone specially for females when there is a simple way to go just by going through wheelchair." Seeking the Prime Minister's intervention, he said, "This is not a Sikh related issue...This issue is for every wheelchair user who is unable to pay obeisance at Shri Darbar Sahib because of @SGPCAmritsar rule of not allowing wheelchair to the passage. I raised this issue earlier but no response from SGPC." Earlier, the SGPC said wheelchair assistance is available at Sri Darbar Sahib plaza and in the whole complex.

Sri Harmandir Sahib also known as Sri Darbar Sahib or Golden Temple. The Sikhs all over the world, daily wish to pay visit to Sri Amritsar and to pay obeisance at Sri Harmandir Sahib in their Ardas.

Sri Harmandir Sahib is built on a 67 feet square platform in the centre of the sarovar (tank). The temple itself is 40.5 feet square. The Darshani Deori (an arch) stands at the shore end of the causeway. The door frame of the arch is about 10 feet in height and eight feet and six inches in breath.

The door panes are decorated with artistic style. It opens on to the causeway or bridge that leads to the main building of Sri Harmandir Sahib. It is 202 feet in length and 21 feet in width.

Its architecture represents a unique harmony between the Muslims and the Hindus' way of construction work and this is considered the best architectural specimens of the world.

It is often quoted that this architecture has created an independent Sikh school of architecture in the history of art in India.

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)
Chennai, Oct 30 : After Karthi-starrer 'Kaithi' and S.S. Rajamouli's blockbuster 'RRR' featurning Ram Charan and Junior NTR, Vijay-starrer 'Master' is all set to hit screens in Japan.

Sources said that the film will screened in Japan from November 18. "The film's Japanese version has been titled 'Sensei'. The film is being dubbed in Japanese for its release there," the sources added. Like 'Kaithi', 'Master' has also been directed by Vijay Kanakaraj.

Rajinikanth's Tamil films have done considerably well in Japan. In fact, the Tamil superstar enjoys a reasonably big fan base in the Land of the Rising Sun as well. Not many south Indian films, however, have released in the East Asian nation until now.

Late last year, Lokesh Kanakaraj's Tamil superhit film 'Kaithi', featuring Karthi in the lead, released in Japan. The development occurred after one of the Japanese distributors evinced interest in showcasing the film to audiences in Japan.

"We were approached by a distributor who liked the film and wanted to showcase it in Japan. This is the first time that we are releasing one of our films in Japan. If this works, a new market will open up," 'Kaithi' producer S.R. Prabhu had then told IANS.
Dhaka, Oct 30 : The ruling Awami League has heard that the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has formed a "cabinet" as a part of conspiracy to oust it from power, Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Kamal said.

During seventh triennial council of Dhaka district Awami League here on Saturday, the minister said, "For some days, I have been hearing that on 10 December they (BNP) will occupy Dhaka and oust us. We have been hearing that, though they did not declare it. We heard, they have also formed a (shadow) cabinet." Awami League leader Asaduzzaman said: "We all will move together. We want to see the honourable prime minister as prime minister again." Asaduzzaman exuded confidence that people of the country will not make any mistake and will make Awami League triumph again by voting for them.

He said, "There is no place in Bangladesh where Awami League fails to be established strongly. The whole of Bangladesh thinks as long as the country is led by the people's leader Sheikh Hasina, the country will remain illuminated." Meanwhile, militants of 'pro-Pakistan' Jamaat-Shibir leaders and activists participated in BNP's divisional mass meeting at Collectorate Eidgah ground in Rangpur on Saturday, police said.

The BNP along with its ally Jamaat-Shibir is planning to create chaos in Rangpur, the detective officers of police told media.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir had said: "There will be no elections in the country without a caretaker government." Addressing the party's divisional mass rally in Rangpur city, Fakhrul, the BNP Secretary General, said Sheikh Hasina and her government will have to shoulder the responsibility if any famine occurs in Bangladesh again.

The BNP is going to take some important decisions before its grand rally in Dhaka on December 10, said the leaders.

"One of the decisions is the resignation of seven lawmakers from Parliament," the BNP claimed.
New Delhi, Oct 30 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged start-ups to take full advantage of growing opportunities in the Indian space sector.

In his monthly radio broadcast "Mann Ki Baat", Modi said that Indian industries and startups are engaged in bringing new innovations and new technologies in this field. In particular, the collaboration of IN-SPACe is going to make a big difference in this area.

"Non-government companies are also getting the facility to launch their payloads and satellites through IN-SPACe. I would urge more and more start-ups and innovators to take full advantage of these huge opportunities being created in India in the space sector," he said.

In June 2020, the Government had opened up the space sector to enable the participation of Indian private sector in the entire gamut of space activities.

To facilitate private sector participation, Government had created the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), as a single-window, independent, nodal agency which functions as an autonomous agency in Department of Space (DOS).

It is a single window agency for all space sector activities of private entities.

"Earlier in India, the space sector was confined within the purview of government systems. Ever since, the space sector has opened for India's youth, revolutionary changes have started coming in it," Modi noted further in his address.

"I also remember those old days, when India was denied the cryogenic rocket technology. But the scientists of India not only developed indigenous technology, but today with the help of it, dozens of satellites are being sent to space simultaneously," the Prime Minister said.

Referring to the feat of placing 36 satellites in space simultaneously on October 23, Modi said that with this launching, India has emerged as a strong player in the global commercial market.
Seoul, Oct 30 : An Australian national, who survived a deadly stampede in Seoul's Itaewon district the previous day, desperately searched for the body of his Australian friend on Sunday.

The 23-year-old female victim, whose identity was withheld, is believed to be one of 19 foreign nationals who died in a crush in a narrow downhill alley in the famous nightlife district on Saturday night after tens of thousands of people visited the area for Halloween, Yonhap news agency reported.

At least 151 people were killed and 82 others were injured, according to local authorities. The foreigners killed also include those from Iran, Uzbekistan, China and Norway.

"I don't know where she is ... Next week's her birthday," Nathan Taverniti told Yonhap News Agency in front of Soonchunhyang University Hospital, where the bodies of some of the victims are located.

Taverniti said he and the victim were visiting South Korea for vacation and were together at the Itaewon alley at the time of the tragic accident.

"I just can't believe it. I was in the front of where it happened," Taverniti said as he wiped away tears. "All I could see was a wall of people ... it was impossible (to save her)." After crawling outside of the pile of people, the Australian survivor said he tried to pull people out and called out for help.

"People need to know how bad it was and how little help there was," he said. "Nobody was paying attention." Taverniti said after seeing the body of his friend being taken away on a stretcher, he has since not been able to hear any information on the whereabouts of her body.

"I can't find any info, phone number for missing people .... the (Australian) consulate doesn't know where she is," he said, adding that his friend was planning to go back to Australia on Thursday.

"Her family's in Australia, so I'm the guardian, but they wouldn't let me see her," he added.
Lahore, Oct 30 : As the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) heads towards Islamabad with its long march, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday said that Imran Khan is spewing venom against an institution that "raised him", local media reported.

To a question by a YouTuber in Lahore on the DG ISI's presser, the premier said that the PTI chief "severely attacked" the Pakistan army. He added that the institution works for the defence of Pakistan, Geo News reported.

"This institution's officers and troops, since Pakistan's inception, have made numerous sacrifices be it wars or terrorism," said the premier. He added that the army fought against terrorism at a time when no place in the country was safe.

"Then you spew venom against such an institution. Was there an illegal action taken? Tell me was the vote of no confidence illegal or unconstitutional?" asked Prime Minister Shehbaz.

He added that the former prime minister offered an extension to the army chief to ensure the failure of the vote of no-confidence that ousted him.

"He used to call me a boot polisher and whatnot and in order to defeat a constitutional action in parliament, Imran Khan made an unconstitutional offer," said the Prime Minister, Geo News reported.

"He spews venom against an institution that raised him," said the premier. He also reminded the audience that the institution removed all barriers to support his predecessor and gave him support that no one got as the premier in the country's 75-year history.

"I say it in lighter vain that had we gotten 20% of that support, Pakistan would have sky rocketed under Mian Nawaz Sharif's leadership," said the Prime Minister. He added that the PTI chief "failed" despite all this support.

Giving an example of a car being pushed to start, the premier said that Khan failed despite getting all this push. He added that today the former prime minister uses Shehbaz Gill or Azam Swati to make statements against that institution.

"The things that Imran Khan is doing even an animal does not do that. Even a witch attacks after skipping three homes," said the Prime Minister. He added that Khan will not be able to thank the institution all his life for the favours it did to him even if he tries to do it all his life, Geo News reported.

"They raised you and did whatnot. Got money from Saudi Arabia, China, Qatar and begged. Put everything at stake for Pakistan's benefit," said the premier.

On the DG ISI Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum's presser with the military spokesperson, Prime Minister Shehbaz confirmed that the official had taken permission from him before addressing the media.

"I have never seen a liar like Imran Khan in my life," said the Prime Minister.
Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 30 : Kerala police on Sunday seized ganja from the security staff room of a school in Kothamangalam, Ernakulam district. Five people who had reached the school to buy the contraband were arrested by the Kothamangalam police who acted on a tip-off.

The Kothamangalam police however said that the school's security staff, who had kept the ganja in their room for sale, are absconding.

According to the police, the arrested people reached the security room of the school to buy the narcotic substance.

The state government has started a campaign against drug abuse after rise in incidents of drug usage in the state. The anti-drug campaign named 'Yodha' was inaugurated by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. However, the seizure of ganja from the guard room of the school has stunned the authorities.

While speaking to IANS, the principal of the school said, "We never knew that our security staff would indulge in such an act. The school has taken a proper background check on these people but never suspected that such a dirty business was taking place in this school." The Kerala police have stepped up their ante to arrest the security staff who are absconding from the school and their residences.
New Delhi, Oct 30 : There's something about audio that lends itself beautifully to horror - hearing a narrator reading a scary novel, replete with bone chilling sound effects - blood curdling screams, creaking, old staircases, whirling winds in creepy graveyards is enough to make your imagination go absolutely wild.

To really get into the Halloween spirit, tune into these incredible, spine-tingling horror audio stories on Audible that sure to spook the living daylights out of you - check out this exclusive title trailer .

Bhoot Kaal with Neelesh Misra: Season 2 Written by: Anulata Raj Nair and Narrated by Neelesh Misra

This Audible Original is a 20-episode podcast series with Neelesh Misra who will take you through unbelievable supernatural and horror stories from remote corners (urban and rural India) of the country that are sure to send chills down your spine. Enter a world of cursed apartments, desert ghosts and demonic possessions that will play on the very basic human instinct - the fear of the unknown.

Shraapit Written by: Affy Ali, Manali Rasal, Mantra; Narrated by: Ashwini Kalsekar, Sayantani Ghosh, Sudhanshu Pandey, Hitesh Bhojraj, Akash Makhija, Riya Deepsi, Arpita Vora, Affy Ali, Ajit Shidhaye ; Created by: MnM Talkies

For hundreds of years, every member of the Shah family has died a gruesome death, plagued, followed and killed by a violent curse sparked by a horrific act, a woman burned alive. Aman, Nina and Sam are unaware of the curse until their grandmother reveals the horrors the family has faced for centuries. As the story unfolds, will Aman, Nina and Sam manage to escape or will they have to face their own cursed end. Find out more about this Audible Original by tuning in on Audible.in.

CHOWKIDAAR: The Lost Soul Written by: TMV Studios

This Audible Original podcast is based on true legends from around India and will take you through the story of a man who gets employed as a security guard at a dilapidated and empty mental hospital. Little does the man know that the hospital building is only a facade and a headless horseman inhabits the building.

Sarkar Badi ke Rahasya (Secrets of Bari Sarkar) Written by: Sutapa Basu ; Narrated by Mehr Dar

Anahita Sarkar is bequeathed in a mansion in Kolkata that she has never seen and has to travel to the City of Joy to dispose of her inheritance, only to realize that it has deep, dark secrets. As she enters the mansion, these secrets become enigmas that pursue her. A grand house that speaks to her, an intriguing visitor who knows a little too much, a friendly foe who wraps secrets in riddles, and a cursed mysterious past-putting her family's reputation and values at stake. Can she dig deeper to unravel the mystery and turn the cursed inheritance into a blessing? The audiobook is available in Hindi.

Ghosts of The Silent Hills: Stories Based on True Hauntings Written by: Anita Krishan; Narrated by Riya Mukherjee

This audiobook is a collection of spine-chilling stories based on true hauntings that will make your nights a little scarier. Ghosts of the Silent Hills has some gripping audio stories set in dense, menacing forests where one never knows what lurks around in the cold, dark nights. Story of how a beautiful woman in white haunts the lonely pathways, looking to enchant and ensnare men.

(IANSlife can be contacted at ianslife@ians.in)
Dharamsala, Oct 30 : Concerned over a physical attack on her husband, Paul Pelosi, at their home in California, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has written to Speaker Nancy Pelosi to express his sympathy.

"I understand that he is expected to make a full recovery," he wrote, adding: "nevertheless, I pray that his health may soon be completely restored." "Media reports indicate that the intruder, who broke into your residence and assaulted your husband, was asking for you. I trust that all necessary steps are being taken to ensure your safety and security." "I have the greatest respect for the United States and the democratic freedoms that the American people enjoy. However, it is important that freedom is exercised responsibly. Violence in any form can make no positive contribution to the organisation and development of society, whether in the United States or any other country." His Holiness ended his letter by offering his prayers and good wishes to Speaker Pelosi and her family.
Chennai, Oct 30 : The Puducherry Technological University is mired in a controversy after the Union Territory's Lieutenant Governor, Tamilisai Soundararajan, cancelled the suspension order of the university's Registrar issue by the Vice-Chancellor. The cancellation happened within two hours of the order being passed.

The Opposition Congress has raised the red flag saying that the Lt. Governor had cancelled the order of the Vice-Chancellor suspending the Registrar of the university on grave charges of corruption and misappropriation of funds.

The senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister of Puducherry, V. Narayanasamy, in a press conference on Saturday said there was something serious behind the Lt. Governor interfering in an action of the Vice-Chancellor.

He called for an "impartial inquiry" into the motive behind the cancellation of the suspension order and said "the government should come clean on the issue".

Naryanasamy told IANS: "The Lt. Governor revoking and order of the Vice-Chancellor suspending the Registrar within two hours is something that is not in proper perspective. The V-C had ordered the suspension of the Registrar on corruption charges and the Lt. Governor is not mentioning anything regarding the corruption charge but instead is speaking on the V-C not having met the procedures involved in taking disciplinary action. The Lt. Governor and the Puducherry government must come out with facts in the issue." It may be noted that in neighbouring Kerala, the Governor, Arif Mohammed Khan, called for the resignation of 11 Vice-Chancellors in the state after the Supreme Court ordered the APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University Vice-Chancellor, Rajasree, to be removed from the post as she had been installed without the necessary proceedings were fulfilled.

This action is being protested vociferously by the ruling Left Front and the CPI-M, but in Puducherry, the present BJP government and the Lt. Governor are in the same boat.

G. Sivaradje, Registrar and Professor, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering , Puducherry Technological University was suspended with immediate effect on October 21.

The charges, according to an order from the Vice-Chancellor of Puducherry Technological University, S. Mohan is that the Registrar has been suspended with immediate effect following allegations of abuse of official position and financial misappropriation of funds.

The Vice Chancellor's office said that there were several allegations against G. Sivaradje that he had misused his official position and indulged in corruption and financial misappropriation of funds in the university as well as in Puducherry Engineering College.

The Vice-Chancellor, Mohan, said in the order: "Preliminary enquiry revealed that the allegations against Sivaradje are prima facia found to be true. Further there have been several allegations levelled against him which are available in public forums and newspapers. Considering the grave nature of the allegations, the Vice-Chancellor ordered his suspension." The Registrar was also prohibited from entering the university and asked to be available for enquiry as and when directed by the competent authority and he was also directed not to leave Puducherry without prior permission.

However within two hours of the order from the Vice-Chancellor, the Lieutenant Governor Soundararajan in her capacity as the Chancellor of the university revoked the order.

The Lt. Governor in a one line communication said that that officers' suspension has been cancelled with immediate effect. Sources in the Raj Bhavan told IANS that the Lt .Governor had acted with immediate effect revoking the suspension as the Vice-Chancellor had not followed the due process in suspending an officer rank employee.

It is to be noted that as per section 15 and sub-section 14 of the University Act , "the Vice Chancellor has the power to suspend, discharge, dismiss or otherwise take any disciplinary action against the staff of the university after providing them reasonable opportunity to defend themselves." The Chancellor of the University, the Lt Governor, has the right to suspend or remove any officers of the university.

However, the Act clearly states that even the Chancellor has to issue a showcause notice before initiating disciplinary action against an officer, which according to the Raj Bhavan sources was not implemented by the Vice-Chancellor before removing the Registrar from the post. The sources also said that the Lt. Governor had revoked the suspension as she has the right under the University Act to do so.

Educationists and independent researchers however are of the opinion that even though the V-C did not follow the Act properly in not issuing a showcause notice to the Registrar, the issue mainly is the Lt. Governor taking charge of the university as its full authority and the action of Soundararajan is being viewed by many as a move to stamp her authority as Chancellor in the day-to-day activities of the university.

K. Mukundarajan, former Principal in Sociology and Director of Socio-Economic Development Foundation, an education think-tank based out of Madurai and Mahe said, "It is clear that the Lt. Governor is trying to establish herself as the supreme authority as far as the matters of the university is concerned and she has implemented her power by revoking the suspension of the Registrar minutes within he was suspended by the V-C. This is a clear message from the Lt. Governors' office that it will not lie low and that it would be a proactive Governor." The red flags being raised by the Lieutenant Governor (and the Kerala Governor) have the possibility of affecting the academics in the institutes of higher learning and the rating of these higher institutes of learning coming down.
100 years ago

1922: Miss Pauline Jones of Williams was voted Coconino Countys most beautiful girl and is attending the state fair at Phoenix this week as a guest of the fair management. Twelve of the other counties of the state each have their most beautiful girl there, too, and from the 13 beauties will be selected the one judged most beautiful of all, to be crowned as Arizonas fairest daughter and queen of the fair. Alberta Kinsey of Flagstaff was found to be a very close second to Miss Jones when the vote was counted last Saturday at noon by city clerk Clarence T. Pulliam of Flagstaff and carefully rechecked and tabulated. The final standing of the contestants included Pauline Jones with 336,800 votes and Alberta Kinsey Flagstaff with 317,650 votes. There were many other Flagstaff and Williams beauties nominated but several withdrew their names because they would be unable to attend the fair and compete for state honors. And others because they favored the candidacy of some other girl who had been nominated. The contest created great interest throughout Coconino county and the voting continued right up-to-the-minute of the polls closed. In fact, each day as the date announced for the closing of the contest grew nearer, the interest increased. Had it been possible to extend the contest the total votes undoubtedly would have reached several million.

75 years ago

1947: A Flagstaff mule named Dynamite and owned by Andy Womack is the first of his breed to take to the airways. Dynamite was flown to Phoenix yesterday from Flagstaff to take part in the Junior Rodeo this weekend. Dynamite will aid his master in rodeo clowning stunts. Its not known when Dynamite will take flight for the trip home.

City officials said today that an alternative writ of mandamus has been served calling for mayor Harold S. Sykes to either sign a building permit for a Quonset hut to be erected near the college entrance, or to appear in court to give reasons why the permit should not be signed. The writ, issued by Judge H. L. Russell of Coconino County Superior Court, was obtained on behalf of Glenn and Richard Parsons, operators of the Parsons Motor Company near the college entrance. They wish to erect the building to be used in their business. Mayor Sykes said that, so far, he has refused to sign the permit because he believes the structure to be in conflict with the citys fire zoning ordinances. One of the ordinances specifically mentions the type of building that the Parsons wish to erect as being prohibited within the boundaries of the fire district.

50 years ago

1972: The City of Flagstaff should spend almost $7.8 million before 1980 to make adequate and modernize its water system. The present water system will be operating in the red by 1974 unless the city can find some way of increasing its revenue by as much as 34%. These two points were the principal substance of a water development report phase two presented to the Flagstaff City Council by John Carrollo engineers, the citys longtime water consultants. The report said the systems present production capacity of 10.7 million gallons per day will be approached by peak period demands of 9.8 million gallons a day in 1975 and will not provide for peak period demands of 12.7 million gallons a day in 1980 and further. The report said that the city should begin making plans now to provide adequate and more economical service to such higher service areas as Shadow Mountain, Sweitzer Mesa and the Mount Elden area. At present, the main sources of water are Upper Lake Mary, two reservoirs located at the foot of the San Francisco Peaks and designed to hold runoff from the inter basin area, and a series of wells in the Woody mountains and Lake Mary areas. None of these sources put water into a central supply area. The Corrolla report indicated the City of Flagstaff should anticipate spending almost $365,000 on improvements during the next fiscal year and should then anticipate an expenditure of $1,191,000 during the fiscal year immediately following. By the end of fiscal year 1979 to 1980 the report indicates the city should have spent some $7,741,000 on improvements, including drilling new wells in both the Lake Mary and Woody Mountain fields.

25 years ago

1997: The National Park Service came under attack Wednesday in Congress for spending an average of $500,000 apiece to build 82 homes for employees at two parks as well as a $330,000 outhouse. Grand Canyon National Park has 59 of those new homes at a cost of $390,000 per home but the net cost for construction of each home was only $195,000 per home, said Maureen Olrogge, the parks public affairs officer. Olrogge said the rest of the $165 million price tag stems from road building, installing utilities, building curbs, installing a water waste system, complying with the national environmental policy act. Other costs include site management planning and a requirement to buy American.
New Delhi, Oct 30 : The unrelenting acrimony between Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has snowballed into a political controversy, after Khan asked the vice-chancellors (V-Cs) of nine state universities to tender their resignations, flagging legal infirmities in their appointment.

Last week, the Supreme Court set aside the appointment of the V-C of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technological University, Thiruvananthapuram.

Citing the apex court verdict, Khan directed nine other V-Cs to resign and fixed a short deadline for their resignation. He also converted the communication to the V-Cs into show-cause notices, asking them to explain why their appointments should not be deemed illegal. The governor is the ex-officio chancellor of all state universities.

In the matter of the A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technological University, the Supreme Court posed a query: Whether while making the appointment of Dr Rajasree M.S. as V-C of the university, the appointment should be as per the prevailing UGC regulations or in effect of the provisions of the University Act, 2015 (State Act)? Answering the query, the top court noted that it decided an identical question while considering the appointment of the V-C of Sardar Patel University, Gujarat.

In the S.P. University matter, the top court held that the appointment of the Vice Chancellor cannot be made dehors the applicable UGC (University Grants Commission) regulations, even if the State Act prescribes diluted eligibility criteria, vis-A -vis the criteria prescribed in the applicable UGC regulations.

It further held that the State Act if not on a par with the UGC regulations, must be amended to bring it on a par with the applicable UGC regulations and until then it is the applicable UGC regulations that shall prevail.

"It is further observed and held that in case of any conflict between the State legislation and the Central legislation, the Central legislation, i.e., the applicable UGC Regulations shall prevail by applying the principle of repugnancy under Article 254 of the Constitution as the subject "education" is contained in the Concurrent List of Schedule VII of the Constitution," noted the apex court, while quashing the appointment of the V-C of Sardar Patel University on March 3 this year.

In the A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technological University verdict, the top court said any appointment as a V-C made on the recommendation of the search committee, which is constituted contrary to the provisions of the UGC Regulations shall be void ab initio.

"If there is any conflict between the State legislation and the Union legislation, the Union law shall prevail even as per Article 254 of the Constitution of India to the extent the provision of the State legislation is repugnant. Therefore, the submission on behalf of the State (Kerala government) that unless the UGC Regulations are specifically adopted by the State, the UGC Regulations shall not be applicable and the State legislation shall prevail unless UGC Regulations are specifically adopted by the State cannot be accepted," said the top court.

The court, referring to its earlier decisions, said the UGC Regulations were adopted by the state government in October 2010 and that "while adopting/accepting the UGC Regulations, it is specifically observed... that all the universities shall incorporate the UGC Regulations in their Statutes and Regulations within one month from the date of the said order ... ".

It added, "merely because the subsequent amendment has not been specifically adopted/accepted by the State cannot be a ground by the State to contend that the amendment to the regulations shall not be binding on the State/State's Universities...the appointment of the Vice Chancellor shall be always as per the relevant provisions of the UGC Regulations amended from time to time".

Khan's point was that nine V-Cs were either appointed by the submission of a single name by a search committee -- instead of a panel of three to five names, which is required under UGC regulations -- or were chosen by a committee which included the State's Chief Secretary.

When the V-Cs refused to resign, Khan issued show-cause notices to them, requiring them to respond by November 3 on their legal right to continue in office. Eight V-Cs moved the Kerala High Court challenging these notices. The Kerala High Court on October 24 granted relief to the V-Cs saying "the impugned communications/orders of the Chancellor of the Universities involved in these cases, are hereby set aside".

A single bench of Justice Devan Ramachandran said no one can be legally forced to tender resignation. "This is unmistakable because, once the Chancellor apparently has offered the petitioners an opportunity to show cause against certain action proposed by him, it ineluctably means that they are still in service and certainly eligible to continue as Vice Chancellors, until such time as their term of office expires, or until they are removed as per law", said the high court.

The high court held that all of them could continue in their positions till a final order is passed by the governor against them on the basis of the show-cause notice issued. The high court left open all contentions of the parties, including the argument that the governor has no jurisdiction to initiate the action.

Following the high court order, questions arise whether the governor was correct in fixing a short deadline for the V-Cs' resignation? Whether he was correct in converting the communication into show-cause notices to the V-Cs, asking them to explain why their appointments should not be deemed illegal? Also, could the top court ruling in the case of one V-C be automatically applicable to all others? There is a probability that this matter may reach the apex court for adjudication.

However, the universities should stay immune to political controversies and against the backdrop of the apex court ruling, the sooner the university statutes in Kerala are brought in line with the UGC regulations, it would deter any similar conflict in future. And, the state government and the governor should reconcile their differences while handling university matters.

(Sumit Saxena can be contacted at sumit.s@ians.in)
Bengaluru, Oct 30 : The recent appointment of the Vice Chancellor to the reputed Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) has sparked off a debate in Karnataka on the process of appointments of VCs by the state government.

The BJP government had to face flak from academicians who alleged that all the three candidates finalised by a panel faced various allegations and demanded the withdrawal of all three names.

However, inspite of the opposition, the panel sent the three names -- Anand Deshapande, registrar of VTU, M.N. Vidyashankar, Vice Chancellor of Karnataka State Open University (KSOU), and Gopal Mugeraya, Director, National Institute of Technology, Goa -- to the Governor.

Activists alleged that one of the candidates faced a police investigation, another was barred by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the third was accused of illegalities.

They said that the Governor should get details of the finalised candidates as their appointment would lead to a huge controversy. However, M N Vidyashankar was appointed the Vice Chancellor of the VTU.

Talking about the controversy, retired professor Dr B P Maheshchandra Guru told IANS that presently the capitation lobby is ready to sponsor probable Vice Chancellor candidates.

He said there is no consideration for merit, ethics and UGC norms. If appointments are made as per the UGC norms and guidelines there will not be any problem.

Attempts are made for the appointment of their own candidates by vested interests. Such cases have come before the courts. Once the directions are given by the courts, the Governors will have to remove them. That is what happened in Kerala. "We have to congratulate the Kerala Governor for taking the bold step," he said.

Guru added that those candidates who became VC through violation of guidelines, should be uncovered and thrown out. There should be PILs filed in the High Courts and the Supreme Court seeking quashing of their appointments.

When late Hansraj Bharadwaj was the Governor of Karnataka, the appointment of VCs was done as per whims and fancies. No one knocked at the doors of the Supreme Court and the VCs completed their tenures, he claimed.

Now, the appointment of the VC to the VTU has turned into a controversy. "Presently there are vice chancellors who were suspended many times and appointed before being exonerated by the government. They are heading prestigious institutions and once they are questioned in the court, their appointment will also stand quashed,' he said.

There are also allegations of money changing hands in the recent appointments of VCs in Karnataka. The new trend is, there are sponsors for the VC candidates. The religious organisations in the state who run educational institutions sponsor them to get their work done, Guru stated.

Similarly, a candidate who has not even done MA in Sanskrit has become Vice Chancellor for the Sanskrit University in the state. Highly objectionable appointments are being made in certain universities where the VC does not have the required specialisation, he alleged.

Senior academician V P Niranjan Aradhya told IANS that "we are witnessing politicisation of all sections in this phase. The party loyalists are becoming Vice Chancellors." Presently, a search committee is formed, it proposes three candidates and the Governor selects one of them for the post of VC. People say big money is exchanged for syndicate and senate membership, he said.

"According to my experience of more than four decades in academics, I think that the mistake is happening in the process of submission of applications for the post of Vice-Chancellors. Politics starts as soon as the application is filed," he stated.

"Instead of the process of filing applications, the search committee should have complete freedom to search without application for the best of the best.

"I have suggested this for the best teachers' award as well. Because, when an application is filed, the candidate will start documentation for 10 years. We don't want a 'documents VC'. The excellent work on the ground has to be the real criterion," Aradhya stated.

For a dean there is an opportunity to show his capabilities in teaching, administration and innovation. As an administrator he has to ensure democracy and decentralization, his expertise in his subject and has he been able to bring some innovation, these factors have to be considered while appointing candidates to the post of Vice Chancellors, he opined.

The search committee members should be independent and honest who don't give in to influence, pulls and pressures. The committee formed for the selection of VCs should be on the lines of the collegium in the High Courts and Supreme Court, he suggested.
Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 30 : A piquant situation has arisen in Kerala, known for its high educational standards, as literally a 'war has broken out between Governor Arif Mohammed Khan and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan over the running of the higher education sector.

The tussle began when Khan, also the Chancellor by virtue of being the Governor, tried to implement the rights and responsibilities vested with a Chancellor. Khan attacked the Kannur University Vice Chancellor, Gopinath Raveendran and said he is a criminal. Since then it has been a free for all.

Then came another outburst when Khan went hammer and tongs after Kannur University cleared the appointment of the private secretary of Vijayan, K.K. Ragesh's wife Priya Verghese to the post of Associate Professor in the Malayalam language.

Khan had earlier said that the appointment lacks merit and that Priya Verghese was way behind other aspirants for the job but due to alleged political support, she had become the number one in the list.

He then froze the appointment and so did the Kerala High Court.

Then came the next round when Khan refused to ink two Ordinances -- one concerning the universities and the other which would have tweaked the powers of the Chancellor.

After Khan's refusal, Vijayan called a special sitting of the Assembly and a Bill to this effect was sent to Khan -- which was the last that was heard of it. This further widened the rift between the Governor and the CM.

Then came the next issue when Khan shot off a strongly-worded letter to Kerala University asking for a senate member to be part of a search committee formed to select a new Vice-Chancellor.

Khan's previous two letters on the same issue had not been responded to.

Khan became furious when he heard that a senate meeting called to discuss this issue could not take place due to shortage of the quorum needed for the meeting.

Khan as Chancellor withdrew 15 members who were all nominated members in the senate.

Soon after the Supreme Court set aside the appointment of the Vice Chancellor of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University.

A bench of Justices M.R. Shah and C.T. Ravikumar had found that the search committee formed to pick the VC was not properly constituted and also that only one name was sent to the Governor as opposed to a list of names as is required as per the UGC regulations.

Latching on to it, Khan asked the Vice Chancellors of the University of Kerala, Mahatma Gandhi University, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies, Kannur University, APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University, Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, University of Calicut, and Thunchath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University to quit.

With these VCs approaching the Kerala High Court, which agreed to hear their plea on Diwali day. After hearing the plea it held that the letter issued by the Governor, directing the VCs of nine state universities in Kerala to resign was no longer valid since the Governor himself later issued show cause notices to them.

The court, therefore, ruled that the VCs can continue in their posts till the Governor passes a final order after following the procedure under law.

These VCs have time till November 4 to reply and Khan is expected to return on that day after his North India trip.

Vijayan meanwhile has cautioned Khan against "misusing" his Chancellor's post to exercise powers that are not vested in him and warned of strong public opposition to his "anti-democratic" actions.

Vijayan said these universities were highly rated in the country and that all the Vice-Chancellors have top qualifications matching the best in the industry.

"The Governor as Chancellor seems to be acting on behalf of some destructive forces who are bent on destroying the higher education sector of the state. He is not signing bills passed by the Assembly and this is anti-constitutional. The Governor is now a tool of the Sangh Parivar forces and if he continues like this he might have to face public ire. No one should think that a democratically elected government can be made redundant and rule the state from behind. The Governor will have to face strong opposition against it," said Vijayan.

State BJP president K. Surendran then stepped in and warned the CPI-M leadership not to threaten the Governor who was discharging his responsibilities as the Chancellor of the universities and added that the Governor was not an orphan and that the BJP would extend support to him.

CPI-M state secretary M.V. Govindan said that on November 15 about one lakh people will protest against Khan here. This will be one of the biggest protests seen in the state.

Surendran hit back by reminding the CPI-M that no one should forget that Vijayan's residence is only a stone's throw from where Khan resides.

Meanwhile the principal opposition party, the Congress, has made it clear that it is not a party to what's happening in the political space. Its state president K Sudhakaran said their role is to speak out and whosoever does wrong will be pulled up. At the moment, there are few areas where the Governor is right.

Now all eyes are on November 4 when Khan returns and goes through the replies of the VCs who have been served show cause notices.
San Francisco, Oct 30 : Tech giant Apple has released an update to its Apple TV app, which is used by smart TVs and other devices, adding HDR10+ support for Apple TV+ streams and iTunes movies.

According to AppleInsider, the latest tvOS 16 update has added multiple features, including support for video streaming using HDR10+ for the third-generation Apple TV 4K.

Following that release, Apple began to add support for third-party hardware that uses the Apple TV app.

Smart TV owners are starting to notice the update to the app on their home devices, including Samsung smart TV models, according to the report.

The Apple TV+ and iTunes movie rentals feature HDR10+ as an additional HDR option alongside the HDR10 and Dolby Vision options already available.

HDR10 is a standard that adds dynamic metadata to HDR10, allowing for more precise image optimisation on a TV throughout a piece of content, scene by scene.

In order to show HDR10+ video on a TV, it must support HDR10+. If a TV is connected to a different streaming-capable device, then the cable must support HDR 10+ for this to work, it added.

However, in order to add HDR10+ support to content, studios must first provide Apple with an HDR10+ master file.

As only a few studios use HDR10+ in their content, it won't be available for a lot of content provided through Apple's online services for quite some time, reports AppleInsider.
Southern India sprang a surprise when Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan announced to sack nine Vice Chancellors of the state on grounds of questionable appointment. He cites the reason for this as violation of UGC norms.

Certainly, this move sent about shock waves across establishments. The Kerala Governor had alleged several times that the Pinarayi Vijayan government is inclined at nepotism and favouritism in crucial appointments.

But pointing out procedural violations, terminating university heads from their offices has spotlighted the matter of favoured appointments and varsity head and state government political nexus.

Governor Arif Mohammad Khan issued an order demanding Vice Chancellors of nine Kerala state universities to tender their resignations by the forenoon of October 24.

Adding to this imbroglio, the Supreme Court cancelled the appointment of Dr Rajashree M.S. as Vice Chancellor of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University (Previously called Kerala Technological University) on grounds that UGC rules were violated during her appointment.

On the basis of this case, the other terminations were similarly announced.

The presence of non-academicians in the selection committee is also cited as a reason for the disqualification of VCs in certain universities as it amounts to violation of UGC norms.

The procedure is that the Search Committee, in order to appoint a Vice Chancellor, recommends a panel of at least three names, from which the Chancellor (who is the state Governor) selects and appoints the VC in keeping with the UGC norms.

In the case of Dr Rajashree, she was the single name on the panel. Thus, her appointment was pronounced null and void ab initio on a petition filed by Professor Dr Sreejith P.S.

As per Section 13 (4) of the University Act 2015, "The committee shall recommend unanimously a panel of not less than three suitable persons from among the eminent persons in the field of engineering sciences that will be placed before the Visitor/Chancellor." Conceptually a colonial remnant, a chancellor is the ceremonial head of all universities. Unlike the system in the U.S. where the chancellor is the executive head of a university, in order to handle daily operations in Indian (and several commonwealth nations) universities, there is a vice chancellor, the apex authority within a university system.

Across Europe, the Rector is equivalent to a VC in England. Australia, on the other hand, unlike other commonwealth countries, has the Chancellor as both executive as well as the ceremonial head.

Interestingly, Down Under, the second to Chancellor is the Pro Chancellor or the Deputy Chancellor, a post commonly filled by influential people that are not necessarily from the academic domain.

In the Indian context, however, a state's Governor is the ex-officio Chancellor of its state universities.

This means that the Governor appoints VCs of the state universities in accordance with the legal provisions pertaining to the university, in consultation with the state government -- indicating thereby that the appointment of a VC in a state university is a harmonious decision of the Governor and the state government.

But given the violation of the norm which mandates that the Search Committee recommend a panel of three to five names, the recommendation of just a single name as in the case of Kerala, has deemed the appointment illegal.

Although the Chancellor is above the VC in terms of exercising ultimate authority, any constructive contribution to the university system cannot be done single-handedly by the Governor. He needs the aid and advice of the state government and the officials concerned. A sweeping gesture of stiff authority can nonetheless be made by the Governor, as in the cases of Kerala universities.

Kerala Opposition leader V.D Satheesan called this move of the Guv "correcting past mistakes", as the appointment of VCs -- disputed in these cases -- was made by the Governor.

Of the other state universities whose VCs are sacked, two among them -- Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies and Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit -- were appointed by Governor Khan. The rest were appointed by his predecessor P. Sathasivam.

It is to be noted that once a VC is sacked by the Governor, they lose out on any chance for membership at any academic body in India; nor will they be considered for any Constitutional post in the future. Meaning thereby that such an extreme step by the Governor could kill their further career prospects.

As Chancellor, the Governor wields the authority to grant leave or institute disciplinary action and award penalties. Among several others, he is vested with the power to nominate certain members to the Executive Council, and nominate experts in the appointment of teachers of various categories in the university.

With plenty of powers with the Governor to do things that can count in favour of VC, a negative remark of incidence could prove to be just as serious in magnitude.

While Kerala Raj Bhavan is adamant on its stand, the LDF has, in the wake of these developments, announced a protest march against the Governor on November 15.

A similar situation broke out in Punjab regarding the appointment of Punjab Agriculture University's VC, Dr Satbir Singh Gosal. The accusations exchanged pertain to "constantly interfering" in the functioning of the state government, and engaging in a "proxy war", indicating that the Governor was being remote-controlled to oppose AAP Government's decisions.

It is a lot clearer in the case of Kerala that the government strategically places ideologues in places of influence like universities, to take forward its Leftist agenda.

Further, a Governor is supposed to act on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers. Additionally, sacking Kerala's Finance Minister -- who is crucial to the Council of Ministers -- points to a political conflict between the state government and the Governor from the Opposition, carried out by means of procedural glitches of state universities.

(Kavya Dubey can be reached at kavya.d@ians.in)
New Delhi, Oct 30 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged the youth of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) to make transparency their priority while being in government service.

Addressing the J&K Rozgar Mela virtually, Modi said: "Whenever I met the people of J&K earlier, I always felt their pain. It was the pain of corruption in the system. People of J&K hate corruption. Now is the time to leave the old challenges behind and take full advantage of the new possibilities. I am happy that the youth of J&K are coming forward in large numbers for the development of their state and the people." Remarking on the continuous development of J&K by "a new, transparent and sensitive governance," the Prime Minister said: "For fast pace of development, we have to work with a new approach, with new thinking." He informed that about 30,000 government posts recruitments have been done since 2019, out of which, 20,000 jobs have been handed out in the last one and a half years.

Throwing light on the record increase in the number of tourists witnessed by J&K, the Prime Minister noted that the tourism sector in the state received a boost due to the infrastructural developments and increased connectivity.
Mumbai, Oct 30 : Actor-director Rishab Shetty, who has been garnering rave reviews for his recently released movie 'Kantara', recently sought blessings at the iconic Siddhivinayak Temple in the Prabhadevi area of Mumbai.

As Rishab Shetty visited the famous Siddhivinayak Temple in Mumbai along with his team, he witnessed a huge crowd of fans mobbing him at the temple. The actor was seen in a simple attire wearing a white shirt and jeans.

Image Source: IANS News

'Kantara' has created a big buzz for both right and wrong reasons. It film has emerged as a box-office winner, breaking into new territories, and several senior members of the fraternity, including Rajinikanth, have heaped praise on Rishab.

Image Source: IANS News

At the same time, the film has stepped on a plagiarism landmine with a Kerala-based fusion rock band Thaikkudam Bridge accusing the makers of ripping off their track 'Navarasam'.

Recently, the Kozhikode Sessions Court had issued an injunction barring the makers of the film from playing the allegedly plagiarised song 'Varaha Roopam' in theatres and other streaming platforms.

-- Syndicated from IANS
Chennai, Oct 30 : Actor Chandan Roy Sanyal, whose role as Bhopa Swami in the 'Aashram' series has come in for appreciation from various quarters, is thrilled by the fact that the role has become so popular that people now identify him by it.

The actor said that while he was shooting for his upcoming film 'Woh 3 Din' in Varanasi recently, the locals there started referring to him as Bhopa Swami and greeted him by saying 'Japnaam'.

After the release of 'Aashram', Chandan Roy Sanyal has become a household name. Fans across the country refer to him as Bhopa Swami, and his name has become synonymous with the character's name.

Talking about the popularity he has received, Chandan said: "'Aashram' has been a special project for me, I am always amazed to know how far the show has reached. Everyone across the country has watched and loved the show. To be known by your character name is every actor's dream. There is no bigger reward. I feel grateful." Sanyal is currently awaiting the release of his film 'Woh 3 Din' and show 'Karm Yuddh'. His upcoming projects include 'Aashram Season 4', Amazon Prime's 'Lakhot' and 'Patna Shukla'.
Los Angeles, Oct 30 : The 'Man of Steel' star Henry Cavill was in the race to play the character of the legendary spy James Bond.

Henry got through to the final audition stage with just him and Daniel Craig in the running to play 007 but Henry eventually lost out when Bond bosses chose the more experienced 'Layer Cake' actor to play the superspy in 2006's 'Casino Royale', reports Female First UK.

Henry has no qualms and maintains that the producers made the right choice. Speaking on the 'Happy Sad Confused' podcast, he explained: "They told me I was close. They told me it was ultimately down to, and this is what I've been told, it was just down to me and Daniel [Craig], and I was the younger option. They obviously went with Daniel and I think it was an amazing choice to go with Daniel." According to Female First UK, Henry went on to insist he may not have done the part of James Bond justice, adding: "I probably wasn't ready at the time and I think Daniel did an incredible job over the past movies, so I'm happy they made that choice." However, auditioning to play Bond and missing out didn't do Henry's career any harm as he went on to land the role of Superman in 2013's 'Man of Steel' which cemented his status as a leading man.

Looking back, Henry has no regrets over his failed Bond audition: "It was a fun adventure at the time, and definitely gave me a boost to my career. That was the key element of it."
Lakhimpur Kheri : , Oct 30 (IANS) A tiger mauled a 40-year-old man to death in South Kheri Forest division of the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve (DTR).

Big cats have mauled six people to death this month.

The incident, which took place on Saturday, comes days after a 38-year-old woman was killed by a tiger in the Mohammadi range in the said district.

Besides, four people have been killed by leopards in the forests of the district this month.

According to reports, Veerpal, a resident of Bakarganj village under the Hyderabad police circle, had gone to a sugarcane field near the Aanvla jungles of Mohammadi range to collect fodder for his cattle when he was attacked by the big cat.

Other farmers working in nearby fields rushed to the scene and the tiger escaped through the dense fields. Veerpal was rushed to a community health centre in Gola where he succumbed to his injuries.

South Kheri divisional forest officer Sanjay Biswal visited the area along with field staff to take stock of the situation and assured all possible help to the deceased's family.

The official said that combing teams had been deployed to drive the tiger back to the forest.

Biswal said movement of big cats, including tigers and leopards, had been regularly reported from the area. As a result, the villagers have been asked to be alert and vigilant while going to the fields.

He has asked the villagers to avoid going out in the evening and at night when carnivores are on the prowl, and to work in large groups when necessary.

Senior forest officials have issued instructions to trap or tranquilise the leopard, which was suspected to be too old or feeble to catch its natural prey.

Cages and cameras in large numbers have been set up and images of the elusive leopard have been captured. The leopard has stayed away from the cages.
Have you ever looked over a city and wondered what the land was like before humans moved in? Youre not alone in that curiosity.

In the recently released book, The San Francisco Peaks and Flagstaff Through the Lens of Time, John L. Vankat satisfies the question for those of us in northern Arizona.

Expertly compiled by Soulstice Publishing, the book features repeat photography by Vankat that shows how Flagstaff and its surrounding landscape have changed over the last century and a half. By coupling historic photos with eerily precise repeats, Through the Lens of Time delivers an opportunity to see past and present side by side. More than a balm for simple curiosity, the work reveals a history invisible to the current-day Flagstaffian and offers insights for the construction of our future.

Vankat is a scientist first  a plant ecologist to be precise. Through the Lens of Time" is not his first book. Vankat is also responsible for a textbook that examines how plant life has changed over time in the mountains and plateaus of the American Southwest. U.S. Geological Survey research ecologist Craig D. Allen called it a beautiful work of careful scholarship, but for Vankat, it wasnt beautiful enough.

Its about as boring as you can get, all scientific, Vankat said of his past work.

His major complaint? Not enough pictures.

I wanted to include some comparison photographs, he said. I thought Id probably find dozens of them. I was startled how few there were. Here and New Mexico, there were just a few of them that were showing the nature," he said.

He published the book still wanting for comparison photos. Years later, Vankat retired from his rigid scientific career but found himself looking to continue his research in a more relaxed way. He found inspiration from his past desires.

Why not repeat photography? he recalled asking himself. I love to hike. I love being outdoors. And, so, what better way than trying to find 150 different sites around the San Francisco Peaks?

What followed was seven years of an adventurous and meticulous process whereby Vankat retrieved historical photos from museum and university collections then set out to explore the landscape, camera in hand, until he found their exact vantage.

Exact is not an exaggeration.

I was in no hurry, Vankat said.

He often returned to locations until he was satisfied that he had snapped a perfectly framed repeat photograph. For one recreation of an 1871 photo that shows the San Francisco Peaks from Hart Prairie, this meant returning to a site a dozen times over many weeks in search of a particular pile of rocks.

The last time I went back looking around, it was in the mid- to late-fall, Vankat said. And there was a shrub that had lost its leaves.

In a moment of eureka, Vankat realized that what he had mistaken for rocks in the historical photograph were actually small shrubs denuded by winter. Shrubs  unlike rocks  can move a lot over 150 years, and with this realization Vankat was released from recreating the landmark. He found the frame, and captured the photo with satisfaction.

There were other surprises throughout the project, Vankat said. Some were discoveries of landscape  such as when he happened to locate an unrecognized cinder cone thanks to a casual glance out the window while driving east of Flagstaff. Or when he found that, despite the shade of substantial new tree growth, on June 3 the morning sun still hits a particular stone near the Museum of Northern Arizona the same way it did in 1887.

Others were discoveries of community  such as when the Flagstaff Fire Department agreed to lift Vankat on the ladder of firetruck so that he could recreate an 1884 shot of downtown Flagstaff taken from atop a since removed water tower. Or the way the people of Flagstaff graciously allowed him behind their fences when he requested access in pursuit of particular shots.

I was only turned down once, Vankat said.

When asked why he believed he had such a high rate of success in this regard, Vankat said he thought Flagstaff is place where people are friendly and share the care for the landscape.

Its remarkable, he added.

In collection, the repeat photographs of Through the Lens of Time reveal patterns in the way the northern Arizona landscape has changed. The overall expansion and modernization of Flagstaff is expected. But it is rather surprising to see the open ponderosa grassland before it was engulfed, and realize that the full-grown trees presently squeezed in the urban density are nearly all recent additions.

Weve lost an aspect of what used to be present in Flagstaff, he said. Ponderosa pines are not completely gone downtown, in the suburbs and other regions, but so many of them have been replaced by non-native species.

As a plant ecologist, non-native plants are a mortal peeve to Vankat. He has seen and studied first hand the havoc they can wreak on an ecosystem. And for the most part, his photos show the degree to which non-native plants dominate the present day streets of Flagstaff.

Its not just the city where trees have gotten more dense. Many photos clearly show how even in the surrounding forests  where native plants still reign supreme  ingrowth of ponderosa pines and other tress have filled in the scenes. At times, this ingrowth is so severe that the repeat photos would be unrecognizable if not for some faint clue. One pair from Norther Hart Prairie clearly shows a mountain vista across a grassland in 1885. In its repeat, the peak on the horizon is faintly visible between the trunks, branches and needles of newly grown trees.

This new density of trees is in large part a consequence of historic wildfire suppression, Vankat said.

According to the Forest History Society, it was in the late 1800s  the same era as many of the historic photographs in Through the Lens of Time  that conservationists began arguing for the suppression of natural wildfire. The idea was to protect lumber supply and watersheds, and when the U.S. Forest Service was established in 1905, fire suppression became standard practice.

But by disrupting the natural fire regime, these historical practices ushered in unnatural forest density. More trees means more fuel for fire, and dense forest is partly why northern Arizona now experiences more destructive and extreme fires today. All of Arizonas 10 largest wildfires have taken place in the last 20 years. Mere months before Through the Lens of Time was published, Flagstaff endured the Tunnel and Pipeline fires, two of its most destructive wildfires to date.

Vankat hopes that by illustrating the radical departure northern Arizona forests have made from historical conditions, it will help readers understand present-day forest management tactics, such as thinning and prescribed burns, that attempt to restore the area to a healthier, more fire-resistant state.

To that end, Through the Lens of Time is a success, said Peter Fule, regents professor in the Northern Arizona University School of Forestry. He said the book is helpful as an educational tool.

For those of us working in forest issues around here, it lets us helps us understand some of the changes in the forest Fule said. Changes associated with keeping fires out of the forest, with logging practices in the past, and some of the types of development and growth of communities that puts us in a somewhat dangerous fire setting of wildland-urban interface.

Not only does Vankats repeat photography offer insight into what change has wrought so far, but, Fule believes, it will also be an invaluable resources to future researchers and historians.

Time is continuing onward, Fule said. We are moving through a century characterized by really rapid warming; there are certainly going to be many other changes to this landscape. And so by him [Vankat] pausing here around 2022 and taking these photographs, that is also setting the stage for someone else to do it again in 50 or 100 years.

While finding the exact locations photographed in Through the Lens of Time took Vankat seven years to complete, if someone were to repeat his process in the future it would be much easier. A true scientist, Vankat took excellent notes. For every location he recorded GPS coordinates, took context photos and even left small piles of stones to mark the place where he stood. He intends to compile and publicly preserve these detailed notes.

Ive made an agreement with the special collections archives at NAU, said Vankat. I haven't deposited anything there, but I've signed a commitment.

As much effort as Vankat put into Through the Lens of Time, he said that there were many ways in which the final product was a team effort. Professional photographer Tom Alexander helped angle and crop the repeat photos to match the historical. The book was designed by Mary Ross Design in Flagstaff, and Julie Hammonds of Soulstice Publishing contributed her editing talents to the final presentation.

But most of the credit, Vankat said, goes to the people that took the historical photographs and the archives that preserved them.

Vankat will publicly present Through the Lens of Time at Soulstice Publishing event Thursday at the Flagstaff Public Library between 6:30 and 8 p.m. Copies will be available for sale, and Vankat will be available to sign books and answer questions about the project.
London, Oct 30 : Labour is urging the government to publish its assessments of Suella Braverman's security breach following her controversial reappointment as UK home secretary just six days after she was forced out, local media reported.

New Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is under growing pressure over reinstating Braverman as home secretary after a former party chair claimed she had committed "multiple breaches" of the ministerial code, Sky News reported.

He has so far resisted demands to launch an inquiry after she shared a sensitive document with a Tory backbencher from a personal email without permission, Sky News reported.

Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have raised "national security" concerns over the breach, as well as called for a Cabinet Office probe.

Labour will try to push ministers to share risk assessments of this and other alleged leaks, as well as the information given to Sunak before he reinstalled her at the Home Office, with a "humble address" motion in Parliament.

Braverman has so far refused to appear before MPs to explain the circumstances surrounding what happened.

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: "Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman cannot keep running away from these questions. It is far too serious for that, and raises serious doubts about the prime minister's judgement.

"People need to know they can trust the Home Secretary with highly sensitive information and our national security. Rishi Sunak's decision to reappoint Suella Braverman was deeply irresponsible.

"Labour will use every parliamentary mechanism open to force government to come clean over her reappointment, to get answers and to require detailed documents to be released to the Intelligence & Security Committee", Sky News reported.

Braverman resigned from her post just over a week ago after using her personal email address to forward sensitive government documents, breaking the rules that ministers have to abide by.
Hyderabad, Oct 30 : Telangana government has withdrawn the general consent to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate cases in the state.

The move is seen as an attempt by the KCR-led government to prevent any intervention by the Centre in MLAs poaching case.

The development came amid the political heat generated by the arrest of three alleged agents of BJP while trying to bribe four MLAs of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) to make them defect to the BJP.

The BJP has been demanding that the investigation be handed over to the CBI in the 'MLAs poaching' case.

Though the Government Order (GO) was issued on August 30, it was kept confidential. It was made public on Saturday when the state government informed the Telangana High Court about the withdrawal of general consent to the CBI during hearing on a petition filed by the BJP seeking direction to transfer the investigation to the Central agency.

The High Court on Saturday stayed investigation in the case till further orders and directed the state government to file its counter by November 4.

"Governments of Telangana hereby withdraws all previous consents issued by the state government under section-6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946 to all the members of Delhi Special Police Establishment to exercise the powers and jurisdiction under the said Act in the State of Telangana," reads the GO issued by Ravi Gupta, Principal Secretary, Home Department.

"Consequent to the withdrawal of all previous general consents issued earlier, prior consent of Government of Telangana shall be required to be taken on a case-to-case basis for the investigation of any offence or class of offences," it added.

As per rules under the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act of 1946, in accordance with which the CBI was formed, the investigating agency has complete jurisdiction over Delhi. But it can also enter the other states with the general consent of that state's government In the absence of the permission, the CBI now cannot interfere with any case that takes place within the limits of Telangana.

Cyberabad police on October 26 arrested three alleged agents of BJP including two godmen from a farmhouse at Moinabad near Hyderabad when they were trying to lure four TRS MLAs with offers of huge sums of money.

Ramachandra Bharathi alias Satish Sharma, Kore Nanda Kumar alias Nandu and Simhayaji were arrested during the raid conducted on a tip-off by one MLA Pilot Rohit Reddy.

He alleged that the accused offered Rs 100 crore to him and Rs 50 crore each to three others.

The accused were booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Prevention of Corruption Act. They were produced before a magistrate on the night of October 27 but he refused to send them to judicial custody, citing lack of evidence.

Later, the police approached Telangana High Court challenging the orders of the lower court. The High Court set aside the orders of the ACB Court. The police subsequently re-arrested the accused on Saturday and produced them before the ACB Court judge at his residence.

The judge remanded them to 14-day judicial custody.
Varanasi, Oct 30 : After 'Deepotsav' in Ayodhya, it is now time for 'Dev Deepawali' on the ghats of Varanasi.

The 'Dev Deepawali' festival, this year, will be special since President Draupadi Murmu will grace the occasion.

The festival falls on the full moon of the Hindu month of Kartika (November - December) and takes place 15 days after Diwali.

The steps of all the ghats on the riverfront of the Ganges River, from Ravidas Ghat at the southern end to Rajghat, are lit with more than a million earthen lamps (diyas) in honour of Ganga River, and its presiding goddess.

Mythologically, the gods are believed to descend to earth to bathe in the Ganges on this day. The festival is also observed as Tripura Purnima Snan.

During Dev Deepawali, houses are decorated with oil lamps and coloured designs on their front doors. Firecrackers are burst at night, processions of decorated deities are taken out into the streets of Varanasi, and oil lamps are set afloat on the river.

Owing to the significance and the growing socio-cultural popularity of this festival, it has now also come to be celebrated in nearby districts such as Mirzapur.

'Dev Deepawali' is also a major tourist event and people from all over the world come to see this world-famous festival. This year the Dev Deepawali festival will be celebrated on November 7.

State ministers Ravindra Jaiswal, Dayashankar Mishra Dayalu and MLA Saurabh Srivastava along with the divisional commissioner Kaushal Raj Sharma, municipal commissioner Pranay Singh and other officers have inspected the entire riverfront.

The work of removing the silt deposited on the steps of the ghat due to floods is being done on a war footing by the Varanasi Municipal Corporation.

"But since it is not possible to completely remove the silt from the Ghats till Dev Deepawali, it has been decided that wherever suitable space is available, a wide drain should be made in the soil near the stairs and connected with the water of the Ganga to bring the water of Ganga near the steps of the ghat, and make it accessible for worship and 'deepdaan'," said an official.
Bengaluru, Oct 30 : Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday ordered a probe in the death of Police Inspector Nandeesh, who died under suspicious circumstances in Bengaluru.

Nandeesh attached to K.R. Puram police station in Bengaluru had succumbed to heart attack on Thursday. Former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy from the JD(S) party had questioned the ruling BJP over the death, alleging that political pressure led him to get a heart attack.

Kumaraswamy questioned the circumstances leading to his medical condition. Deceased inspector's wife had alleged that the incident took place due to pressure on him.

CM Bommai stated that a direction would be given to the Director General and Inspector General of Police of the state and after getting all the relevant information regarding the case, investigation will be ordered. "There is no second thought as far as conducting investigation is concerned," he said.

Nadeesh was suspended for letting a pub operate in the jurisdiction of the K.R. Puram police station till early in the morning.

Kumaraswamy said, "The government itself had permitted restaurants to operate till 1 a.m. I am asking the government to find out for how long the pub remained open? Who was there? How many of them were supporters of a politician? There is also a report that says police officers were also dancing in that pub," he said.

"The officers who had given Rs 70 to Rs 80 lakh for postings in Bengaluru and got suspended, how would they recover their money? This is a murder by the ruling government. This case needs to be probed by a higher agency," Kumaraswamy demanded.

"The government is giving plum posts to IAS officers who were trapped in raids. Can one do anything as the party high command is backing them? The probe should be taken up to ascertain what is happening in Bengaluru city," he stated.

Kumaraswamy maintained that the deceased police inspector is the relative of an MLC. "If they had to undergo such circumstances, what about others who do not have such a background? Karnataka Home Minister must answer these questions," he said.
New Delhi, Oct 30 : Pakistan was recently removed from the Financial Action Task-Force's (FATF) grey list. The chances of increased across border terrorist activities is once again looming.

Sources from intelligence agencies said that in the last few days, there has been a stir in the terrorist training camps and launch pads present in POK. Terrorists involved with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) are hatching major infiltration plans in India.

According to sources, training camps of such organisations across the border have increased by 50 per cent. There has also been an increase in the number of terrorists and more than 200 are trying to infiltrate into the country before heavy snowfall.

According to the information, terrorist camps and launch pads have been shifted to many places in the vicinity of the border. Houses along the other side of the border are used as bases for operations.

Apart from this, terrorists are also searching for new routes to infiltrate Indian territory.

The training camps of LeT, JeM and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) in Muzaffarabad, Kotli, Mansehra, Bimber etc. of POK have started working actively. There are more than 20 launch pads in POK, where there has been a sudden increase in the number of terrorists. Both Pakistan's army and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) are providing help to them, sources said, adding that ISI is conspiring to infiltrate terrorists into India through POK.

Within the last few days, more than 100 terrorists have reached the launch pads across the border in Machil, Keran and Gurez sectors of Jammu and Kashmir.

With Pakistan removed from the list, security forces on the International Border (IB) and Line of Control (LoC) have increased their vigilance. Under the cover of dense fog and snowfall, security forces have been instructed to patrol the border with full alertness in anticipation of an increase in infiltration attempts. Sources said that infiltration routes get closed after heavy snowfall, which is why new routes are being searched.

A huge decrease was recorded in infiltration of terrorists in J&K and their funding was also tightened. But now, Pakistan has again been trying to carry out its terror plans.

According to security agencies, in view of the intensified movement by the terrorists in the past one week, it is believed that there may be an increase in incidents like infiltration, terror funding and narco-terrorism.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah recently said that after the abrogation of Article 370, there has been a 34 per cent reduction in terrorist activities and 54 per cent drop in the deaths of security forces.
New Delhi, Oct 30 : Delhi Police have received a complaint from the news website 'The Wire' against its former consultant Devesh Kumar in connection with its fabricated story related to BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya.

"The complaint was filed by the news website late Saturday evening through email," said a senior police official.

Delhi Police on Saturday had registered an FIR against 'The Wire' and its senior editors based on a complaint filed by Malviya, alleging that the portal forged documents with a view to malign and tarnish his reputation.

The complaint has been filed against 'The Wire' founder Siddharth Varadarajan, founding editor Sidharth Bhatia, editor M.K. Venu, deputy editor and executive news producer Jahnavi Sen, Foundation for Independent Journalism and other unknown persons.

"I am filing the complaint for the offences of cheating, forgery for the purpose of cheating, forgery for the purpose of harming reputation, using forged document or electronic record as genuine, and defamation, among other provisions of IPC ('The Wire', Siddharth Varadarajan, Sidharth Bhatia, MK Venu and Jahnavi Sen shall be collectively termed as 'Accused')," Malviya stated in his complaint.

On Thursday, Malviya had said that he will file a case against 'The Wire', claiming that the media outlet tried to tarnish his image and reputation.

"After consultation with my lawyers and seeking their advice, I have decided to file criminal and civil proceedings against 'The Wire'. Not only will I be setting the criminal process in motion, but I will also sue them in a civil court seeking damages as they forged documents with a view to malign and tarnish my reputation," Malviya had said in a statement.

'The Wire' had in a series of reports alleged that Malviya had certain privileges to take down posts from Meta-owned Instagram, a claim which was later denied by Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook.

"The posts in question were surfaced for review by automated systems, not humans. And the underlying documentation appears to be fabricated," Meta's director for policy communications, Andy Stone, had said in a tweet.
Kolkata, Oct 30 : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday was all praise for the current Chief Justice of India, U.U. Lalit, and said that he has been able to restore the public confidence in the country's judicial system as evident during the last two months.

"I do not know whether this is the right platform to congratulate the current Chief Justice of India, U.U. Lait. But I must say that the public confidence in the country's judicial system has been restored a lot during the last two months. The court is like a religious place. People knock on the legal doors hoping for justice. So, it is important that the confidence of the people on the judicial system prevails," the chief minister said, while addressing the 14th convocation of the West Bengal National University of Judicial Sciences here on Sunday afternoon.

Chief Justice of India U.U. Lalit, Calcutta High Court's Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava and the Chief Justice of Bangladesh Hasan Foez Siddique were present on the occasion.

Her speech had a latent apprehension about the threats faced by the federal system of democracy in India. "Social prestige is everything for us. We lose everything if we lose our social prestige. So, I will request all associated with the judicial system to ensure the federal system of democracy prevails," said the chief minister.

Without making direct reference to the Union government and BJP, the chief minister said that unnecessary harassment of the people has increased manifold these days. "All the democratic powers are being killed by a section of people. If this goes on then it might move towards a presidential form of government. Where will democracy prevail then? So, please protect democracy, and that is my only request," the chief minister said.

Speaking on the occasion, Mamata Banerjee also launched a scathing attack against the media and claimed that it is often running a parallel trial. "This cannot happen. The media cannot dictate the judicial system," she added.
Ahmedabad, Oct 30 : BJP's senior leader, former Health and Water Resource Minister Jaynarayan Vyas' meeting with Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has sparked debate over the former's next political step.

Speaking to IANS, Vyas said, "I am interested in contesting the Assembly elections on BJP symbol from Siddhpur constituency. I have even briefed the party observers about my interest. Aeing a senior person and having represented the seat for long, I have first right to get the re-nomination from the seat, now the ball is in the party's court." He added, "If the party rejects my candidature and does not nominate me, I will speak to my workers and decide my next political step. But, it is only after the party takes a call and not before that." Playing down his meeting with Ashok Gehlot on Saturday night in Ahmedabad, he said, "In this meeting we have not discussed politics, my appointment was fixed with him two months ago. Due to the political developments in Rajasthan, it was delayed. I wanted Gehlot's input on the Narmada project from Rajasthan point of view for the book I am penning on Narmada, as Rajasthan has done a considerable job in ensuring that Narmada water reaches to farms."
Seoul, Oct 30 : The death toll in the halloween stampede in South Korea's capital Seoul has mounted to 153 and could rise further, as 19 people sustained serious injuries.

The deadliest stampede in South Korea's history happened Saturday night in a narrow four-meter-wide downhill alley near Hamilton Hotel in the famous nightlife district after tens of thousands of people visited the area for Halloween, Yonhap news agency reported.

The stampede marked the worst tragedy in South Korea since the 2014 sinking of the ferry Sewol that killed 304 people, mostly high school students.

It was the first Halloween event in Seoul in three years after the country lifted many COVID-19 restrictions. Most of the people on the streets were wearing Halloween costumes.

Of those killed, a majority of at least 97 were female, and observers said women took a bigger blow due mainly to their relatively smaller frame, combined with usually heavier Halloween costumes.

The number of foreigners killed rose to 22, according to the fire authorities.

They are four each from China and Iran; three from Russia; and one each from the United States, France, Australia, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, Norway, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Austria, they said. The nationality of the last victim has not yet been identified.

However, the interior ministry put the number of foreign casualties at 20.

An explanation on the discrepancy was not immediately available.

Police have also launched an investigation to determine the exact cause of the accident.

Fire authorities initially received dozens of reports from people in the Itaewon area -- home to expat communities with its hip nightlife and chic restaurants -- about patients with breathing difficulties. The first report was made around 10:15 p.m.

Witnesses and survivors say a massive group of people surged into the back alley, and the stampede began "instantly" after some people fell over and caused others to fall down like "dominoes" and pile up on one another, unable to move or breathe.

The back alley in question is a downhill 4 meter-by-40 meter path that links a busy restaurant district with a main street, where about six adults can barely pass at the same time.

"People kept pushing down into a downhill club alley, resulting in other people screaming and falling down like dominos," an unidentified witness wrote on Twitter. "I thought I would be crushed to death too as people kept pushing without realizing there were people falling down at the start of the stampede." Video footage showed rescue workers and ordinary people desperately conducting CPR on victims on the streets.

A sudden influx of about 300 patients needing CPR and other first-aid measures also left rescuers shorthanded, while heavy return-home traffic in the area added to the difficulties, according to witnesses.

President Yoon Suk-yeol addressed the nation live from the presidential office, saying Saturday's "tragedy and disaster should never have happened." He also announced a period of national mourning and ordered the lowering of flags.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo later told reporters the mourning period would last from Sunday until Saturday at Yoon's instructions and that a mourning altar would be set up in downtown Seoul to allow people to pay tribute to the victims.

Han also announced Yonsan Ward, which includes Itaewon, will be designated as a special disaster area, where the family members of the victims will be awarded with compensation and funeral expenses. Medical costs of those injured will also be covered.

World leaders from U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to Mexican President Andres Manuel have sent messages of condolences and support to South Korea.

Biden expressed his "deepest condolences." "Jill and I send our deepest condolences to the families who lost loved ones in Seoul. We grieve with the people of the Republic of Korea and send our best wishes for a quick recovery to all those who were injured," Biden said in a statement, referring to first lady Jill Biden.

"The Alliance between our two countries has never been more vibrant or more vital - and the ties between our people are stronger than ever. The United States stands with the Republic of Korea during this tragic time," he said.
Kathmandu, Oct 30 : The Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday sent a diplomatic note to India regarding the death of a nine-year-old boy who was killed after being hit by a stone that flew in a blast carried out for the widening of the Tavaghat-Lipulek road by India across the Mahakali river in western Nepal.

The Nepal's Ministry asked the Indian government to take precautions before carrying out infrastructure work along the border, thereby preventing similar untoward incidents in the near future.

The ministry also asked the Indian government to coordinate with the local administration of Nepal while carrying out similar development activities across the border.

As the Indian authorities undertook the explosion without informing the Nepali side, Pawan Mahara of the Vyas Dumling, Vyas Rural Municipality-2, was killed on the spot on Friday while walking on the other side of the border in the Nepali territory.

While admitting the mistake, the Indian construction company Garg and Garg has agreed to provide one million Indian rupees as compensation to the victim's family.

On Friday the local administration of Darchula district took up the matter with District Magistrate of Pithoragarh district of India.

According to Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the diplomatic note was sent to the Indian government through Indian Embassy in Kathmandu.

Nepal's Ministry of Home Affairs had asked the Foreign Ministry to take up the matter with New Delhi so that such incident could be avoided in the past.

On Saturday, the victim's family and local representatives held a meeting at the office of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Pithoragargh, with Indian officials and contractors responsible for the road-widening.

As per the international practice, while detonating an explosive device or performing other kinds of restrictive works, one side should inform the other and restrict the mobility of vehicles and people.

Pawan was fatally hit in the head while his sister, Sarina, was injured and is undergoing treatment at a local hospital in Darchula, according to Dirgha Raj Upadhyay, chief district officer of Darchula.

The land on the Nepali side of the river where India is building the road is at lower elevation, adding to the risk for Nepalis during an explosion.
Update: 30-10-2022 | 07:15:16

Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly's Committee for External Relations Vu Hai Ha suggested countries enhance trust building and respect for each other's sovereignty, political institutions and legitimate interests while addressing a session of the 30th meeting of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF) that concluded in Thailand on October 28.

The 30th meeting of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF) concluded in Thailand on October 28

He also proposed nations strengthen cooperation to ensure peace, stability and law respect at seas and oceans, saying the East Sea should be maintained as a sea of peace, cooperation, security, safety and freedom of navigation and overflight on the basis of respecting basic principles of the United Nations Charter and international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Ha called on the APPF member countries to carry forward their roles in building and ensuring the enforcement of international commitments and laws relating to peace, security and development in the region, while urging governments to work to improve the efficiency of cooperation in containing the COVID-19 pandemic, and preventing and addressing traditional and non-traditional security issues.

The legislator also briefed participants on the Vietnamese National Assemblys performance in parliamentary diplomacy, saying it has raised recommendations to consolidate the peaceful environment in the era of innovation and technological reform.

The meeting issued a joint declaration which stresses the need to promote parliamentary diplomacy, and boost green economy and digital economy, for sustainable recovery, and for peace and prosperity in the region.

On the sidelines of the meeting, Ha, head of the Vietnamese delegation, met with President of the Thai National Assembly Chuan Leekpai, and paid a courtesy visit to the Chairman of the Lao National Assembly Saysomphone Phomvihane.

He also had bilateral meetings with delegations from Canada, Cambodia, Australia and New Zealand.

During the meetings, Ha spoke highly of the relations between the Vietnamese legislature and its foreign counterparts, and expressed his hope for stronger ties in the time ahead./.

VNA
Hyderabad, Oct 30 : Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday said 'Delhi brokers' tried to buy Telangana self-respect by offering Rs 100 crore to four MLAs of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).

In his first reaction to the 'MLAs poaching' case, KCR said those working for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and playing key roles in RSS came to buy the MLAs have landed in jail.

He said there should be a thorough investigation to find out where the money came from and who is behind it. "Those behind it have no right to continue in office even for a minute," he said.

KCR paraded four MLAs at an election rally in Munugode Assembly constituency on Sunday and praised them for refusing to be sold like cattle and upheld Telangana self-respect and democracy.

Three alleged agents of BJP including two godmen were arrested by Cyberabad police on October 26 while trying to 'buy' four MLAs.

The TRS chief wanted to know from where these hundreds of crores came to buy the MLAs. He alleged that the BJP is buying MLAs to topple governments in various states.

"I am asking Mr Narendra Modi. What more do you want? There is no higher post in the country than the Prime Minister. You got the chance twice. Why this cruelty. Is this good for the country and the society? You should explain to the people," he said.

"What people saw on television is just a little lit. There is more, enough to shake Delhi throne. It will come out in the days to come," he said.

The Chief Minister told the people that he would not comment further on the case. "I am holding the constitutional post of the Chief Minister. I would not like to say more as the case is in the court." He said the BJP government at the Centre has no money to procure paddy from Telangana but has hundreds of crores to buy the MLAs.

KCR appealed to people of Munugode not to get lured by any offers or false promises and to teach a lesson to the BJP.

The TRS leader said an unnecessary by-election was imposed on the people of Munugode. Referring to the recent decision of TRS to go national by changing its name to Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), he said people of Munugode have got an opportunity to lay a strong foundation for BRS.
Mumbai, Oct 30 : During the "weekend ka vaar" episode, Salman Khan asked Gautam Vig to choose between captaincy and ration and he opted for captaincy which left everyone inside the "Bigg Boss 16" house furious.

While Sajid Khan said that he will go on a hunger strike, Tina Datta, Shalin Bhanot, Shiv Thakare, Priyanka Chahar Chaudhary, and Ankit Gupta all followed him in deciding to give up food.

Sajid said: "This man (Gautam) will be nominated and evicted. Then I will get my food. I will leave my meal for his eviction." All the contestants had a heated argument with Gautam and told him that he did wrong but he said that he has no regrets about his decision.

Meanwhile, Shekhar Suman was seen hosting the segment and giving his guidance to Ankit for always being quiet and Shalin for always giving medical reasons on the show.

Shalin was also called out by Salman for the same during the "weekend ka vaar" episode on Saturday.

"Don't always keep saying 'Medical medical., I know all your medical reasons, I know your mental reasons also very well," the host said.

"Bigg Boss 16" airs on Colors.
Kolkata, Oct 30 : The Opposition parties in West Bengal reacted storongly to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee appealing to the judiciary to be more active in protecting the institution while addressing the 14th convocation ceremony of the West Bengal National University of Judicial Sciences here on Sunday.

Reacting to Banerjee's remark that unnecessary harassment of people has increased manifold these days, CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member and senior advocate in the Calcutta High Court, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, said that he couldn't really understand what the Chief Minister wanted to say.

"Only she (Banerjee) can understand what she means. It is true that democratic practices should be safeguarded. But at the same time, corruption cannot continue in the name of protecting democratic practices. And if legal actions are taken against corruption, it does not mean maligning social prestige. Action against corruption will have to continue in a democratic system," Bhattacharya said.

State Congress president and Lok Sabha member Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury accused the Chief Minister of creating indirect pressure on the judiciary.

"The deprived teachers in West Bengal have knocked the doors of the judiciary seeking justice. The judiciary has so far stood by them, at least what is evident from its recent directives and orders. But the ruling party in West Bengal is not comfortable with that. The Chief Minister is herself against democratic practices," Chowdhury said.

BJP's former national secretary Rahul Sinha said that while the Chief Minister is talking about democratic practices, her own party is facing an immense crisis.

"One professor was sent behind the bars for a social media post against the Chief Minister. She is not even sparing the youth who are democratically protesting against teachers' recruitment irregularities. The Chief Minister never attends national events convened by the Union government. And she is now so worried about federal democracy," Sinha asked.

Reacting to the Opposition's comments, Trinamool Congress spokesman Kunal Ghosh said that the Chief Minister has rightly pointed out that the judiciary is the final shelter for justice for the common people.

"What is there to criticise about this? The reactions of the Opposition leaders are not acceptable," Ghosh said.
Bengaluru, Oct 30 : Facing flak over Diwali cash gifts reportedly sent out from his office to some journalists, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai hit back at the opposition Congress on Sunday.

Attributing the controversy to Congress' 'Toolkit', Bommai said the the grand old party is an expert in creating lies.

Denying that he had issued any instructions to distribute gifts to journalists, Bommai said that the Congress has no moral right to comment on the issue.

"We all know what gifts the Congress leaders had given to some press reporters and the same had been reported in newspapers. They gave iPhones, laptops and gold coins, so they have no moral right to talk about it." The controversy erupted over the distribution of Diwali gifts allegedly by the Chief Minister's Office in Karnataka.

Bommai's close associates had allegedly distributed a box containing sweets and cash to the tune of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2.50 lakh to selected journalists in the state.

Anti-corruption activist group Janadhikara Sangharsha Parishat has filed a complaint with the Lokayukta against the CMO for allegedly trying to bribe journalists.

Meanwhile, the opposition Congress has targeted the ruling BJP over the issue and demanded a probe into the matter.

Bommai also assured a thorough probe into the issue.

"Someone has filed a complaint with the Lokayukta and the matter will be probed. It is not correct to say all journalists have accepted the gifts. The Congress spokesperson has spoken very badly on this issue on Saturday and I condemn it," Bommai said.
Okha : , Oct 30 (IANS) The Indian Coast Guard has rescued a Gujarat fisherman, who had suffered a paralytic attack, on the high seas and and admitted him to a hospital in the state's Okha, an official statement said on Sunday.

The Coast Guard said it on Saturday received a distress call about a medical emergency from Indian fishing boat Jal Jyoti, whose crew member had suffered a paralytic attack.

As the fishing boat was anchored some 30 nautical miles off Okha, the Coast Guard diverted a fast interceptor vessel towards it, the patient was evacuated, and brought back to Okha harbour within an hour. On the way, the patient was given preliminary medical services.

On landing at the Okha harbor, local medical officers found that the patient was stable and took him to the government hospital.
Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 30 : Senior Congress leader and former Kerala Chief Minister, Oommen Chandy will be going to Germany for treatment of his throat ailment.

His family members told media that he will be treated at Charite Universitatsmedizin in Berlin.

Chandy, who is currently undergoing treatment in Kerala, will be accompanied to Berlin by his son Chandy Oommen, his daughter Maria Oommen and MP Benny Behanan.

The former Chief Minister has been suffering from a throat ailment since 2019 which has affected his voice and had undergone treatment in Germany earlier also.

With a video, circulating now, alleging that Chandy's family was not giving him the best treatment and that the public should intervene to ensure that his life is saved, Chandy Oommen told media persons in Kochi that he did not know from where such a fictitious video originated.

Chandy Oomen appealed to the people not to believe the content of the video and that the family was always with the former Chief Minister.

"I am his son and we will provide him with all the best treatment available in the world. Please don't believe in rumours spread by vested interests," he said
New Delhi, Oct 30 : Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, will visit the UAE on Monday to attend the opening ceremony of the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition & Conference (ADIPEC-2022).

Puri is visiting the UAE on the invitation of Suhail Mohamed Faraj Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, and Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, and Managing Director and Group CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).

During his visit, Puri will deliver his special remarks at the inaugural ceremony of ADIPEC-2022 along with the hosting ministers, an official statement said.

The minister is scheduled to have bilateral discussions with his counterparts in the UAE to strengthen energy cooperation within the overall framework of India-UAE strategic partnership.

During the event, Puri will also inaugurate the India Pavilion, set up jointly by the Federation of Indian Petroleum Industry (FIPI) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

Hosted by ADNOC, ADIPEC is one the world's leading events of the energy industry and aims to provide insights into the latest trends in the evolving global energy system, including the global economy, energy supply and security challenges as well as next generation of energy solutions.
Hyderabad, Oct 30 : YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) leader Y.S. Sharmila has slammed Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao for withdrawing the general consent to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate cases in the state.

She alleged that KCR -- as the Chief Minister is popularly known -- who stands for corruption and misrule, has resorted to this stand through a secret government order (GO) as he is scared of the CBI.

Sharmila took to Twitter to mount an attack on the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government for withdrawing the general consent to the CBI. She alleged that the KCR-led gang, 'which looted lakhs of crores', is afraid of the central probe agency.

She also asked KCR why he was blocking CBI investigation if he had done no wrong.

The YSRTP leader wondered why the TRS government barred the CBI from investigating cases in the state after raising a hue and cry over the alleged attempt by the BJP to buy its four MLAs.

Meanwhile, Sharmila continued her Praja Prasthanam Padayatra for 194th day in Telangana, covering the Korutla constituency in Jagtial district where she interacted with various sections of people to know their problems.

Earlier, she had launched a scathing attack on TRS government's failure in reviving the Nizam Sugar Factory in Muthyampet, demanding that the factory be immediately re-opened. She recalled that during the Telangana movement, KCR had promised to get the factory opened within 100 days.

Sharmila said that several hundred days have passed, but there is no trace of KCR. She also said that local MLA Vidyasagar Rao had threatened to kill himself in front of the factory gate and even the BJP MLA had assured to get the factory revived, but all these proved to be false promises.

"Earlier, sugarcane was grown over an area of 1.20 lakh acres, which has sadly shrunk to just 10,000 acres today. Three factories were closed after then Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu forced 100 per cent privatisation," she said.

"It was only during the late YSR's government that an honest and committed initiative was taken in the larger interest of the farmers. A committee was formed in 2006 that confirmed that it was indeed a scam. If only YSR was alive, the factory would have been revived, given his selfless vision for farming and the working fraternity," added Sharmila, who is the daughter of late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, who was popular as YSR.

The YSRTP leader said that while KCR has a fancy for national foray and can buy a helicopter and rob the exchequer of lakhs of crores in Kaleshwaram project, he can't think of revival of Nizam Sugar Factory.

She made it clear that her party won't be cowed down or pushed to the wall by the attacks of TRS leaders, and instead will continue her fight until a decision is taken and a concrete plan is put in place for the sugar factory.
New Delhi Oct 30 : In this game of chess between the new Indian government and the wily Nizam, there was smoke and mirrors. Adding to the hype, there was also some propaganda to the effect that Hyderabad aircraft would bomb cities like Bombay, Madras, Calcutta and even Delhi. This propaganda caused a certain amount of apprehension among the people of the neighbouring provinces. Meanwhile, Mir Laik Ali, prime minister of Hyderabad, was pressing that the issue be taken to the United Nations.

The American Charge d'Affaires in New Delhi apprised the Government of India of the fact that the Nizam had written to the President of the United States requesting that he should arbitrate and that the latter had refused. The Razakars did not spare even missionaries and nuns. Early in September the States Ministry received complaints that some foreign missionaries had been assaulted and some nuns molested by the Razakars.

The military view was that the campaign could not last beyond three weeks. Actually, everything was over within less than a week. On September 9, 1948, after a careful evaluation of all the considerations and only when it was clear that no other alternative remained open, the Government of India took the decision to send Indian troops into Hyderabad to restore peace and tranquility in the state and a sense of security in the adjoining Indian territory.

This decision was communicated to the Southern Command, who ordered that the Indian forces should march into Hyderabad in the early hours of Monday the 13th. The Indian forces were commanded by Major-General J.N. Chaudhury under the direction of Lt-General Maharaj Shri Rajendrasinhji, who was then the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Command. This action, euphemistically called 'Police Action', was given the name 'Operation Polo' by the Army Headquarters.

There was some stiff resistance on the first and second days. After this, resistance petered out and virtually collapsed. On the Indian side the total casualties were slight, but on the other side, owing to scrappy operations and lack of discipline, the Irregulars and the Razakars suffered comparatively more casualties. The number of dead was a little over 800. It is unfortunate that so many should have died in this action, though the number is insignificant when weighed against the killings, rape and loot inflicted by the Razakars on the Hindus of the state.

On the evening of September 17, the Hyderabad army surrendered. On the 18th, the Indian troops led by Major-General Chaudhuri entered Hyderabad City. The operation had lasted for barely 108 hours. On September 17, Laik Ali and his cabinet tendered their resignations.

The Nizam sent for K.M. Munshi (who had been under house arrest ever since the Police Action began) and informed him that he had given orders for his army to surrender; that he would be forming a new government; that Indian troops were free to go to Secunderabad and Bolarum; and that the Razakars would be banned. Munshi communicated this to the Government of India.

Major-General Chaudhuri took charge as Military Governor on September 18. The members of the Laik Ali ministry were placed under house arrest. Rizvi was arrested on September 19.

There was not a single communal incident in the whole length and breadth of India throughout the time of the operation. There was universal jubilation over the swift and successful ending of the Hyderabad episode and messages of congratulation poured in to the Government of India from all parts of the country.

The Hyderabad operation was very much controlled by Sardar Patel and V.P. Menon, it was not that Nehru remained oblivious to the developments there. He was fully involved in the run-up to the 'police action'. There was a degree of vacillation, but he left it to the Home and States Minister Sardar Patel to react with his typical spring-loaded action. The wide and varied correspondence on Hyderabad proves that.

In a letter to Sardar Patel, Nehru (his letters to different people are courtesy of different sources) wrote: "We do not want to impose our will on any State and it is our earnest desire to avoid conflicts and quarrels ... We therefore concluded the Standstill Agreement with Hyderabad last year with the hope that in the course of the year, the people's desires would be fulfilled. But no sooner the ink in which the agreement was signed was dry, the Hyderabad government violated the agreement.

"Hyderabad is the only State where so far there has been no change in the nature of the government ... The Ittehad Muslemeen and its volunteers are committing violence on the people, trying to overawe and coerce them with bullets. The present state of affairs definitely cannot be allowed to go on." In a speech at a secret session of the AICC, Bombay, on April 16, 1948, speaking of the policy on Hyderabad, Nehru said:

"I would like to assure the AICC that the Government of India are fully alive to the seriousness of the situation developing in Hyderabad State. ... If the Nizam's government or the Razakars take any aggressive action, the Government of India will certainly take steps to safeguard the interest of the people concerned." Again, speaking at a public meeting, in Udhagamandalam (Ooty) on June 2, 1948, Nehru stated:

"We have made it perfectly clear to Hyderabad that there will have to be a solution to this problem and that ultimately there must be accession. There is no other way, and it is not possible for Hyderabad to walk out of the Indian Union. Responsible government is inevitable because in the modern world we cannot allow a feudal government as in Hyderabad to continue." Writing to Vallabhbhai Patel on June 6, 1948, Nehru had stated a similar view:

"To come back to Hyderabad we have to view Military Action from the point of view of our present capacity as well as from the other consequences flowing from it. These consequences may well be far-reaching to various parts of India as well as Pakistan. ... I arrived at the conclusion therefore that Military Action should only be indulged in Hyderabad when the Hyderabad government or their Razakars etc make it impossible for us to desist from it. Of course in such circumstances we have to take action because inaction may produce worse results." Nehru also took certain Interim Defence measures. There were instructions to Army commanders around Hyderabad and to the local governments concerned. The instructions were as follows: "With the exception of articles of food, salt, medical stores and chlorine for purifying the water supply, all other articles should be denied entry into Hyderabad state and strict blockade should be maintained in regard to these other articles." On the other hand, Hyderabad was making frantic efforts to purchase arms. For this purpose, Major-General Syed Ahmed El Edroos, Commander of the Hyderabad State Forces, was sent to London and his mission was to get automatic weapons and anti-tank guns. He makes his views abundantly clear in the book he authored, 'Hyderabad of the Seven Loaves'.

Even regarding the position of the Hyderabad Army, he writes, "I realised the hopeless situation which we were in and any clash by our troops with the advancing Indian Army would have only led to ill-feelings and probably harder terms of surrender. A copy of my plan was submitted to the Hyderabad Government.

"But the Government under the influence of the Prime Minister Mir Laiq Ali returned the copy with the remarks that he was the best authority in this vital matter and he was to hold the Indian Army at bay for about three months and by that time, help from Pakistan would come. He found it almost impossible for Hyderabad to purchase arms and ammunition from abroad as Hyderabad was not recognised as an independent country.

"Even if arms and ammunition were purchased from Europe or the Middle East, it would be impossible to import them into Hyderabad. Bombay, Madras and other sea ports were all closed to Hyderabad traffic. And it was next to impossible to get them through Goa due to the land route between Goa and Hyderabad being watched by the Indian authorities. But the Hyderabad Government totally ignored the clauses in the Standstill Agreement." The leaders of Ittehad were delivering speeches that there would be a bloodbath in the whole of South India if accession to the Union were effected. Qasim Razvi also made many irresponsible speeches. He threatened, "If the Indian Union ventures to enter Hyderabad, the invaders will see the burning everywhere of the bodies of one crore and sixty-five lakh. The Muslims will not spare others when we ourselves are not allowed to exist." With the atrocities continuing unabated, the Government of India issued a White Paper on Hyderabad on July 26, 1948. Sardar Patel declared in the Constituent Assembly that Hyderabad had become an ulcer in the heart of India and this ulcer had to be operated on. The White Paper made it unequivocally clear and without mincing words that: "The Government of India cannot afford to be a helpless spectator of orgies of misrule in Hyderabad. If the law and order situation there, which already shows signs of collapse, further deteriorates and thereby imperils peace and good order in India, the Government of India would unquestionably be involved." When on September 10, 1948, the Nizam appealed to the UNO to intervene, the Government of India was prepared for this move of the Nizam as it is indicated in a letter of Nehru to Patel on July 23, 1948.

He says, "You are aware of the fact that there is every chance of the Hyderabad State Government referring their dispute with us to the United Nations. We should not wait for this reference and then think about it. We should therefore take immediate steps to prepare our answer and to clear up our own minds as to the attitude we should take. I hope therefore the States Ministry is thinking about this and preparing for it." In September 1948, the Nizam sent a delegation to the Security Council with a complaint that the situation between Hyderabad and India had become grave and constituted a threat to peace. The delegation left via Karachi. It was now time for decisive action by the Indian Government.

On September 10, 1948, Nehru issued an ultimatum: "With great regret we intend to occupy Secunderabad." The same day England evacuated British subjects from Hyderabad and ordered all British officers to resign from the Hyderabad Army, so that they would not be forced to fight against an erstwhile British dominion (India).

Jawaharlal Nehru, in his letter to V.K. Krishna Menon, India's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, dated August 29, 1948, clearly pointed out that a military action against Hyderabad was becoming a must. He stated thus: "I am convinced that it is impossible to arrive at any solution of the Hyderabad problem by settlement or peaceful negotiation. Military action becomes essential, we call it as you have called it 'Police Action'. ... The reported reference of the Hyderabad issue to the U.N. produces a certain complication, but that is hardly a reason for our holding up any action that would otherwise be justified. There is no point in holding it up because, if the U.N. goes into this matter, it will be a somewhat prolonged affair as it usually is. A prolonged postponement would certainly have very bad results in many ways." It is interesting to note that Nehru for a long time was reluctant to solve the Hyderabad Problem at one go by Police Action in September 1948. Durga Das, a former editor of the 'Hindustan Times', narrates in his memoirs titled 'India - From Curzon to Nehru': "There were days of tenseness and high drama in New Delhi, particularly in the Cabinet. Pt. Nehru still wanted a peaceful solution, for fear of Pakistan's reaction while Patel was pressing for Police Action soon after Mountbatten left.

"The hurdle for Patel was removed when Mountbatten, who was trying for special status for Hyderabad, left on June 22, 1948. After Mountbatten left when Nizam still talked of further agreement, Patel publicly declared, 'Agreement has gone to England.' "Twice, Sardar Patel had fixed the Zero Hour for action against Hyderabad and on each occasion he was compelled to cancel it. When the Zero Hour was fixed for the third time (September 13), he was determined to see it through. He announced that the army had already moved into Hyderabad and nothing could be done to halt it. Nehru was worried whether it would provoke retaliation by Pakistan." On September 12, Jinnah died and Nehru was sure that there would be no interference from Pakistan.

Since the Nizam and his government refused to disband the Razakars and other private armies and to facilitate the return of Indian troops to Secunderabad, where they used to be stationed before, in order to restore law and order. Indian troops entered the Hyderabad Territory at 4:00 a.m. on September 13 from three sides: West, South and North.

Nehru held a question-answer session at a press conference in New Delhi on September 10, 1948, three days before the Police action. He followed it with his own statements. One of the most important aspects, he stressed, was the Razakar menace: "There is no doubt that the state of affairs in Hyderabad has been very bad and progressively worsening. Any person who does not openly submit to any demands from the Razakars plays with his life. You might have in mind at least two cases -- that of a young Muslim editor of a paper who was shot down and of another young Muslim, you may have noticed, whose hands were cut off. So you see the state of affairs in Hyderabad is sinking into a state of barbarity." In his speech in Bombay on September 15, 1948, Nehru explained that Police Action was initiated to end terror.

He said: "Our first year of freedom has seen much sorrow and suffering through out the country. During the critical period, the Father of our Nation was snatched away from our midst leaving us in deep anguish and sorrow....In Hyderabad our army is doing a magnificent job. They are rapidly advancing on all fronts. This is an indication of our strength. I hope the operation will end soon..." The final plan for the Operation Polo was based on the 'Goddard Plan', named after then then GOC-in-C, Southern Command, Lt-General Eric Norman Goddard. There were two major thrusts -- a Western thrust through the Sholapur-Hyderabad axis and the Eastern thrust along the Vijayawada-Hyderabad axis.

Thrusts were also to be made from the South to protect the railway communications and from the North in the Jalna area. The Indian Task Force commanded by Major-General J.N. Chaudhari led the thrust from Sholapur.

The first obstacle to overcome was the Naldurga Fort, which stood on the Sholapur-Secunderabad Road, about 19 km from the state border. City after city was captured; all Razakars who resisted were quickly overpowered. The unit heading northward met no resistance of any kind. They safely entered the town of Osmanabad after intense bombardment and continued northwards with the objective of turning east towards Latur.

While varying reports were pouring in from different fronts, the worst fate appeared to be that of the airfields and landing strips all over Hyderabadi territory. The airfields of Warangal, Bidar, Raichur, Adilabad and Aurangabad were being incessantly showered with heavy bombs by the Indian Air Force. They were all so defenceless and yet the bombing was so frenzied.

On day two of the operation, by the afternoon, Aurangabad was captured. The only link that the Hyderabad Government had with the outside world was through the wireless and that was with Mushtaq Ahmed, the Agent General of Hyderabad in Karachi.

Another authentic version comes from journalist Pran Seth, who had earlier reported on Kashmir and then subsequently was present at ground zero in Hyderabad. His words reveal the canvas: "On his induction as a Razakar (volunteer), a Muslim was asked to take the following oath. Only Muslims could join it. 'In the name of Allah, I do hereby pledge myself to fight to the utmost to maintain the supremacy of Muslim power in the Deccan'." "Originally, the Nizam encouraged the Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen to keep the Hindu subjects under check, but as Partition became inevitable, the Nizam, too, became its prisoner as he was helpless before its dictates. It became very powerful. It forced its own decisions on the Nizam i.e. who should be the President of the Executive Council of the Hyderabad Government or who should be made the members of the Executive Council, etc. It had become a Frankenstein's monster.

"The ruling Nizam's full name was Mir Osman Ali Khan Bahadur -- seventh in the line of succession since the establishment of the kingdom. He was a diminutive old man who succeeded to the throne in 1911. He was very proud of the special title given to him by the British Emperor -- 'His Exalted Highness'. Later, the King conferred on him another title in an autographed letter -- 'The Faithful Ally of the British Government' -- which was even more valuable to him.

"The Nizam had a standing Army of 20,000 -- all Muslims permitted by the British Government, which exercised paramountcy on the ruler through a British Resident in his Court. However, the Nizam was able to add another 20,000 irregular Force on his pay roll on one pretext or the other. Moreover, his Police Force exceeded 25,000 and was practically all-Muslim. The civil services too were two-thirds Muslims.

"In the Legislative Assembly, which Nizam was forced to set up by the British in 1946, the number of Muslims members was ten more than that of non-Muslim members out of a total of 132. The majority in that state was at the mercy of the minority. The majority community, however, was waking up to its rightful place in society. And the Razakar Force was a way devised by the Nizam to keep them under check." (Sandeep Bamzai is the Editor-In-Chief of IANS and author of 'Princestan: How Nehru, Patel and Mountbatten Made India' (Rupa), which won the Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF) Book Award 2020-21 in the non-fiction category.)
Dubai, Oct 30 : As expats from eastern UP and Bihar celebrate Chhath Puja in the UAE, it is a relatively new celebration in the country as compared to other traditional Indian festivals.

Though it is quite popular here, it has an interesting story behind it.

In 2015, Pramod Singh, a Dubai resident and a native of Siwan in Bihar, was celebrating the birth of his daughter when his mother was also in Dubai. On November 17, his mother expressed her desire to perform Chhath Puja. In a first in Dubai, Pramod along with his 4-5 family members visited the Jumeirah open beach and performed Chhath Puja and other rituals.

Then onwards, the number of devotees increased every passing year. Today, the festival is celebrated on beaches across Dubai, Sharjah and Ajman with the participation of a sizable number of devotees.

Pramod Singh, who also manages a group called 'Bhojpuria Samaj' in Dubai, said, "This is not only an effort to connect with our roots, but to introduce it to our next generation born and brought up here. Today we can see that Chhath Puja is celebrated not only on the beaches, but also in societies, labour camps and at the community level." Nabin Kumar, an engineer by profession and a native of Balia in UP, performed Chhath Puja in Abu Dhabi for the first time in 2017, and has been organising it every year since then at the Mamzar beach.

"Through Chhath Puja, we are asserting our ancestors' tradition and identity. We are thankful to the local administration, which allows us to perform the Puja following the municipality guidelines. This year, we are expecting more than 300 people on the Mamzar beach for Puja and 'Arghya'. Earlier, Pujas were performed on the two major beaches of Dubai, but now people are celebrating Chhath at many places, including private pools to local lakes," Kumar said.

Meraj Khan from Munger, Bihar, said, "After Onam, this is the only festival which is above religion and marks an occasion for all of us to get together at one place with our regional and linguistic identity. Having 'Thekua' (a traditional sweet made during Chhath) takes me back to my roots." The main challenge was to introduce Chhath Puja to the new generation born and brought up here, who never visited India during the festival.

Kumar said that to attract the younger generation, they use the term 'Thanksgiving Festival of Bihar and UP', because Thanksgiving is quite popular in the UAE due to European influence and kids are more familiar with it.

"I explained to my daughter and her friend that Chhath Puja is a way to say thanks to the sun, nature, water and air in our traditional style. We also organise musical events and other homely activities during Chhath in which we involve the youngsters," Kumar said.

As the participation of Hindi-speaking expats is growing, the local markets are also adapting to it. During Chhath, now we can easily find most ingredients required for the festival in the Indian stores.




Degradation in the Western system Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

Global TimesEleven days before the US midterm elections and amid a febrile political atmosphere, a man named David Depape with right-wing views broke into the home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in San Francisco and attacked her husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer.

The suspect is believed to have initially targeted Nancy, yelling while he searched for her, "Where's Nancy? Where's Nancy?" US President Joe Biden pointed out that the shouting echoed chants used by the rioters during the Capitol Hill riots on January 6, 2021. He condemned the attack as an act of political violence, suggesting it was a natural progression from "lies" Republicans have spread about the 2020 election, according to US media outlet The Hill.

Although the suspect is reportedly inextricably linked to US far-right forces as a believer in a host of conspiracy theories endorsed by many GOP politicians, Depape's motives remain unknown for now. With a hue of inflaming bipartisan struggle, Biden seemed eager to blame the Republicans before any more information about the suspect was revealed. Some of his fellow Democrats also accused conservative politicians of remaining silent after the horrible incident, while continuing to condemn the far right for stoking violence.

Republicans have not missed any opportunity to bash their opponents either. The conservatives are going hard in highlighting failures on crime by liberals in this year's midterm elections. Thus, it is no surprise that while speaking with Fox News, right-wing civil rights attorney Leo Terrell slammed Democrats for soft-on-crime policies.

What the attack reflects is the irrational, confrontational and destructive nature of American politics that have become increasingly prominent. When something goes wrong, the first thing that comes to the mind of some US politicians is to jump on it and blame their rivals.

The political division between the Democratic and Republican parties has widened even further. Amid increasing polarization in US politics, the two parties are using all possible chances, means, and resources they can exploit to mobilize and consolidate support.

Lu Xiang, an expert on international relations at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that he believes that Democrats and Republicans are paying attention to the even slightest slip or mistake in each other's words and actions as a source of new attack lines, even though many of these attacks are simply unscrupulous and self-contradictory.

The Democratic Party portrays itself as a defender of human rights while playing almost no constructive role in the governance of the US crime problem that threatens Americans' lives and safety. The GOP politicians accuse Democrats of failing on public safety, but push for a looser policy over gun control that could lead to more crimes.

And both parties also incite their supporters to stand firmly against the other party and its supporters rather than calling for compromise and unity. As the partisan confrontation in the US intensifies, a greater division between the people will no doubt become apparent.

The failed attempt to attack Nancy Pelosi is not an isolated incident, US politicians are becoming targets of violence and terrorism in the US. In 2021, US Capitol police investigated at least 9,000 threats against members of Congress - five years ago, the number was 902.

But if we look deeper into the political violence, people's growing frustration and discontent with US politicians are at the root of this toxic phenomenon. For many of the country's political elites, politics is just a game to advance their political and economic interests. They don't actually intend to address people's problems. Such greed and incompetence are causing public distrust and even hatred of these politicians to climb.

In addition, some extreme US politicians take advantage of the febrile mood to incite the public to attack the political elites - mainly their opponents - and the establishment violently. This has created a rising pro-violence sentiment throughout US society.

The longer these existing problems in US society prevail, the more likely people will engage in violence to demonstrate dissatisfaction. Many are concerned that violence could accompany the upcoming US midterm elections, and even more future political events in the country.
New Delhi, Oct 30 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken cognisance of the hanging bridge collapse in Gujarat's Morbi district on Sunday evening, where at least 35 people were killed and scores are missing, and announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to the next of the kin of the dead.

According to the Prime Minister's office, the Prime Minister called up Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel for a briefing on the incident.

"PM @narendramodi spoke to Gujarat CM @Bhupendrapbjp and other officials regarding the mishap in Morbi. He has sought urgent mobilisation of teams for rescue ops. He has asked that the situation be closely and continuously monitored, and extend all possible help to those affected," it said in a tweet.

In another tweet, it said that the PM "has announced an ex-gratia of Rs. 2 lakh from PMNRF for the next of kin of each of those who lost their lives in the mishap in Morbi. The injured would be given Rs. 50,000".
Islamabad, Oct 30 : Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) spokesperson Faisal Karim Kundi has called Imran Khan a "foreign-funded leader who is marching with a foreign agenda", media reports said.

Kundi, while criticising Khan, said that India -- the 'enemy' of Pakistan -- is marketing the former Prime Minister's rhetoric, The News reported.

"(Imran Khan) Niazi cannot mislead the nation by making statements against Bhutto," said the PPP leader.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that there are close to 3,000 people with the PTI chief in Muridke.

Addressing a press conference in Sialkot, Asif said that the PTI is playing into the hands of India with its long march, The News reported.

He added that 98 per cent route of the march lies in Punjab, while only 6-7 km falls in the federal government's territory.

Meanwhile, Khan, the chief of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), said on Sunday that his party is with the Pakistan Army and wants it "to be strong", Express Tribune reported.

The former premier made these comments during his address on the third day of the 'Haqeeqi Azadi' march to Islamabad.

The former ruling party has been critical of the security establishment with Khan criticising the Director General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), whose Thursday's press conference he has denounced during his addresses on the first and second day of the march.

In his message to the establishment on Sunday, Khan, however, refrained from his criticism of the ISI DG.

"India don't misunderstand, we stand with our army," he said, adding that the neighbouring country is celebrating after ISI DG's press conference as it believes the army and Imran Khan are having "a face-off", Express Tribune reported.

"I want to tell India that this army is ours and I can never go against it," the former Prime Minister said.

He added: "When General [Pervez] Musharraf removed these two corrupt parties [PML-N and PPP], people had distributed sweets because they were tired of their theft."
Jammu, Oct 30 : A drone-dropped consignment of arms and ammunition was recovered in J&K's Jammu district on Sunday, police said.

ADGP, Jammu, Mukesh Singh, told reporters that in the intervening night of October 27-28, a suspicious movement of a drone was observed in the general area of Baspur Bangla in R.S. Pura. Since the area is close to the border fence, the information was shared with all police stations and a team was put on the job.

"The technical surveillance unit was also put on the job. All the vehicles which had crossed the police checkpoints around that time were scrutinised. CCTV footage of the place and the roads leading to the general area were thoroughly checked. Physical pattern and technical analysis was pursued thoroughly.

"On the basis of above mentioned analysis, a police team of R.S. Pura picked up few suspects, who were put to sustained questioning regarding their movement in border belt. particularly during the time when the drone movement was reported," he said.

"During rounding up the suspects, Jammu Police was able to lay hands on one of the suspects, namely Chander Bose of Doda. On his questioning he could not give any satisfactory reply regarding his movement towards border on that particular time and date," the ADGP added.

Put to sustained questioning, Bose admitted that he had visited the particular above mentioned area, so as to receive consignment of weapons dropped by the drone, and that that he was working on the behest of Shamsher Singh of Camp Gole Gujral, Jammu, he said.

"Both were in touch with an OGW namely Balvinder of Jammu (Now settled in Europe).

"All the arrested persons and the OGW are working for a banned terrorist organisation. Balvinder was coordinating with both the accused in India and the handlers of the consignment in Pakistan, he added.

Recoveries made include four pistols, magazines, and 47 pistol rounds.

"This is the 4th catch of drone consignment by Jammu Police this year," the ADGP said.
Morbi : , Oct 30 (IANS) At least 60 people, including women and children, were killed and scores were missing as the hanging bridge over the Machhu dam in Gujarat's Morbi district collapsed on Sunday evening, officials said.

Many bodies had been fished out from the Machhu river and sent for for post-mortem examinations at the Morbi government hospital while Morbi MLA and Minister of State for Panchayat Brajesh Merja confirmed 60 deaths. No break-up of the deceased was available yet.

Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, who has cancelled all his programmes and rushed to Morbi to personally monitor rescue and medical services, announced Rs 4 lakh compensation to the kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 financial help to those injured in the accident.

Patel is likely to camp in Morbi till the rescue operations continue.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken cognisance of the accident and announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to the next of the kin of the dead, and Rs 50,000 for the injured.

According to a tweet by the Prime Minister's office, "PM @narendramodi spoke to Gujarat CM @Bhupendrapbjp and other officials regarding the mishap in Morbi. He has sought urgent mobilisation of teams for rescue ops. He has asked that the situation be closely and continuously monitored, and extend all possible help to those affected".

On the state government's request, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has deployed one NDRF team from Rajkot, while Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has instructed the Army rescue teams to rush to Morbi.

The rescue operation is likely to be carried out the entire night, as locals fears that children's bodies have be swept away due to the water flow in the Machhu river.

Local authorities' apprehension is that the bridge has collapsed right in the middle of the river, where the water level is 15 to 20 feet deep, and due to this the death toll is likely to rise.

A total of seven fire brigade teams were pressed into rescue services, and one State Disaster Response Force team, and two NDRF teams from Gandhinagar rushed to the spot. Local authorities have started a helpline number - 02822-243300 - on which people can seek help to know about their missing relatives.

Meanwhile, the Morbi Municipal Committee's Chief Executive Officer S.V. Zala, in a shocking revelation, said that the bridge was opened for the public after renovation without a fitness certificate from the civic body.
Chandigarh, Oct 30 : With evidence showing that ban on veterinary painkiller drug aceclofenac is overdue, SAVE -- a consortium of regional and international organisations -- has called upon the Indian government, specifically the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), to take necessary steps for its nationwide ban.

The drug aceclofenac very quickly metabolises into diclofenac in cattle, and an important new study by the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) and collaborators shows that the same is true in water buffalo as well as in cows.

Diclofenac used as painkiller for cattle heads (now banned for veterinary use in many Asian countries) is well established as the main driver of the catastrophic vulture decline across Asia -- so this finding is further proof that aceclofenac, which has already been put forward over four years ago as an unnecessary threat to vultures, should be totally banned.

Though safe alternatives (meloxicam and tolfenamic acid) are available, despite the earlier requests to the Indian government, and an ongoing Delhi High Court case, no such action has been taken so far, said SAVE.

Responding to the study, Chris Bowden, RSPB and SAVE Programme Manager, told IANS that it is already abundantly clear that this presents a major ongoing threat that is preventing vulture populations from recovering despite all the other efforts to prevent their extinction.

The Wildlife Division of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and the Forest Department of Haryana provided facilities and funding to conduct the research.

A.M. Pawde, a co-author of the paper and principal scientist and in-charge of IVRI, said, "This study alone gives ample evidence that aceclofenac almost immediately converts to diclofenac inside cattle and also buffalo, and is therefore a very serious threat to vultures that feed on carcasses of any recently treated animals." Karikalan M., another IVRI author, said, "Aceclofenac is described as a pro-drug of diclofenac, and soon after it enters the livestock, it actually becomes diclofenac, and indeed, when analysing the animal tissues, it is almost impossible to distinguish. It is effectively the same as injecting directly with diclofenac which is already banned." SAVE Chairman Rhys Green from the Cambridge University added, "Knowing just how lethal diclofenac is to vultures, and the devastating effect it has had, it seems like a very unfortunate loophole to allow aceclofenac to be manufactured, sold and used in veterinary use, undoing all the earlier efforts to secure India's vultures." John Mallord, a senior scientist of the RSPB, added, "There really doesn't seem any need to use veterinary aceclofenac, especially now that there are proven safe alternatives with very similar properties, like tolfenamic acid and meloxicam.

"We are also hopeful that paracetamol can be added to the known vulture-safe list in the near future. But some more work is needed to fully confirm this." Bivash Pandav, Director, Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), said, "Such work to test the safety of veterinary drugs for vultures is crucial, but the key step needed now is for the MoEFCC and the DCGI to convert these findings into necessary action -- and in time to prevent their extinction, and help vultures recover from the devastating 98 per cent decline -- so they can once again play their environmental role as nature's cleaners." The crash in the population of vultures in India from estimated four crore in the early 1980s to less than a lakh by 2007 is unprecedented in the animal world.

To save them from certain extinction, the government of India's Action Plan for Vulture Conservation in India, 2020-2025, which was presented to the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) secretariat in 2020, advocates the prevention of misuse of veterinary non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) by ensuring their sale only on prescription.

The vulture conservation plan with an outlay of Rs 207.50 crore, part of the Gandhinagar Declaration adopted by CMS Parties in 2020, also strongly recommends that veterinary treatment should be given only by qualified veterinarians which would prevent overuse of NSAIDs in treating livestock as toxicity of most of the drugs is dose dependent.

Also, the scientific manner of disposal of livestock carcasses will ensure that the vultures do not get exposed to the carcasses of animals that died during treatment. This should be done as soon as possible, says the five-year plan.

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)
New Delhi, Oct 30 : Amid rising air pollution in the capital, the Delhi government on Sunday banned construction and demolition activities in line with the GRAP.

The sub-Committee for invoking actions under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) of the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR & Adjoining Areas (CAQM) had held an emergency meeting on Saturday to address the deteriorating air quality and had recommended all actions as envisaged under Stage III of the GRAP - 'Severe' Air Quality of the National Capital Region.

Environment Minister Gopal Rai said: "Construction and demolition activity has been prohibited in Delhi due to the city's rising pollution. 586 teams have been formed to monitor the construction-demolition ban. Water sprinkling has been intensified in view of the pollution situation. 521 water sprinklers, 233 anti-smog guns, and 150 mobile anti-smog guns have been deployed to tackle pollution in Delhi." Rai assured that the third phase of GRAP's restrictions would be put into effect in Delhi per the CAQM's directives.

"The CAQM system had earlier announced that during this winter season, the GRAP system will be set in three days earlier based on the Air Quality Index (AQI) at the time. Right now, according to the information that we are getting from experts, after November 1, the speed of the wind is likely to be in the range of 4-8 kmph, the direction is likely to turn towards the northwest, and based on the available information, we have been told that the AQI levels are likely to cross 400, which comes in the 'severe' category.

"Today in Delhi, we held a meeting with all the stakeholders, particularly those who are engaged in the construction business - PWD, CPWD, MCD, DDA, Railways and all the agencies working in the construction sites and informed them about the ban on construction and demolition work," he said.

"According to the CAQM order, we will implement all the regulations for Delhi. This year, we have also worked towards ensuring better implementation of the order. In previous years, we had noticed that despite a ban being enforced, there were some sites where work was still ongoing," Rai said.
Srinagar, Oct 30 : A strategic conclave was held at the Army's Fire and Fury Corps on Sunday which was presided over by Northern Command chief, Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi and attended by senior officials of the command.

"The conclave was held to analyse shifting geopolitical equations in the world, in general and our neighbourhood, in particular. These call for constant monitoring and reviews as they open up unprecedented challenges and opportunities for India. From the military perspective, it requires brainstorming to come up with various options at strategic, operational and tactical levels," the army said.

The conclave deliberated on a multitude of issues, at all levels, to develop a comprehensive understanding and arrive at logical courses of action.

"GOC-in-C, Northern Command, while addressing the conclave, highlighted the need for all to remain abreast of the developments in our neighbourhood and directed that such educative conclaves should form part of continuous learning at all levels," the army said.
New Delhi, Oct 30 : A 26-year-old married woman allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself at her house in Delhi's Sultanpuri, police said on Sunday, adding her husband was arrested for subjecting her to cruelty.

A senior police official said that on October 28, they received an information about suspicious death of a woman from the Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital.

The deceased was identified as Divya, 26, a resident of P Block in Sultanpuri.

The police said that since the woman died within seven years of her marriage, they initiated an SDM-level inquiry into the matter.

The police said that the SDM, Kanjhawla was informed and the scene of crime was inspected by the district crime team. On Saturday, the executive magistrate recorded the statement of the deceased's mother, who made allegations of harassment, cruelty and dowry demand against her son-in-law and his mother.

The post-mortem test was conducted and the body was handed over to the parents of the deceased.

"PM report is pending and the doctor preserved the viscera and other exhibits for chemical analysis. We lodged an FIR under Sections 498A, 304B and 34 of the IPC at Sultanpuri police station on the basis of the statement of the deceased's mother. Rajesh, the husband of the deceased, was placed under arrest," the police said.

Further investigation in the matter is on.
New Delhi, Oct 31 : Two juveniles, who stabbed a 17-year-old boy to death, near his house in Delhi's Patel Nagar area for opposing eve-teasing were apprehended by the Delhi Police, police said on Sunday.

The deceased had slapped the juveniles who used to eve-tease his sister.

"During the investigation, both the juveniles disclosed that they used to eve-tease the sister of the deceased. A few days ago, the deceased had warned them to stay away from his sister and slapped them. In order to take revenge, both of them caught Manoj and stabbed him which caused his death," the police added.

A senior police official said that on October 28, an information was received at Patel Nagar police station that one person was brutally stabbed.

A police team was sent to the spot and the victim identified as Manoj Kumar Negi was taken to Sardar Patel hospital where he was declared brought dead.

The police recorded the statement of the father of the deceased and lodged an FIR of murder.

The police examined the CCTV footage of ten kilometre areas to get a clue about the assailants.

The police team finally received a tip-off and apprehended the juveniles. Knife used in committing the crime was also recovered from them.
Guwahati, Oct 31 : Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said that as many as 4,000 government schools in Assam will receive infrastructure boost within the next five years.

The state government will spend Rs 5,000 crore for it and as a part of that initiative, Sarma has visited five government schools in Guwahati to review their physical infrastructure.

He visited Sonaram Higher Secondary School at Bharalumukh, Cotton Collegiate Government Higher Secondary School, Kamrup Academy Higher Secondary School, Tarini Charan Girls' Higher Secondary School and Gopal Boro Government Higher Secondary School and inspected their existing infrastructure.

During his visit, the Chief Minister asked the Public Works Department to prepare a blueprint for the creation of new infrastructure in these schools keeping the provision of large open spaces and modern classrooms.

Talking to mediapersons here, Sarma said that the state government has taken a comprehensive step for infrastructure development involving 1,000 high and higher secondary schools across the state.

Under the plan, infrastructure development will be brought about in educational institutions with the right kind of intervention. He, however, added that if any educational institution has a building that is more than 100-year-old, the government will help to preserve the building as a heritage building under the plan.

Initially, as an experiment, the state government would take up 10 schools in and around Guwahati for their infrastructure development.

After the completion of work, the government would take up eight to nine schools in each Assembly constituency for their infrastructure development, and accordingly 1,000 such schools will be revamped with the creation of new and adequate infrastructure involving the financial outlay of Rs 5000 crore.

Sarma also informed that in the next phase, another 2,000 schools will be taken up for this exercise.

"Accordingly in the next 10 years, all the schools in the state will be brought under the ambit of the plan, "he added.

State Education Minister Ranoj Pegu, Education Advisor to Assam government Nani Gopal Mahanta and senior government officers accompanied the Chief Minister during his visit to the schools.




Chinese Ambassador for Disarmament Affairs Li Song addresses a meeting. Photo: file

The US in its newly released Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) made irresponsible comments and groundless speculation on China's normal modernization of nuclear forces, and brazenly "tailored" a nuclear deterrence strategy against China, which China is seriously concerned about and firmly opposes, Chinese Ambassador for Disarmament Affairs Li Song said on Friday.

In his remarks at a plenary meeting of the First Committee of the UN General Assembly, Li said China urges the US not to assess China through the prism of its hegemony in which it imagines other countries to be rivals or adversaries.

Li stressed that China is not the US, will not become another US, and will not pursue the nuclear strategy of the US. China has the capability and confidence in safeguarding its national security interests and that China will not be intimidated by nuclear blackmail orchestrated by the US, Li said.

He said China has always maintained its nuclear force at the minimum level required by its national security, and will not engage in a nuclear arms race with any other country.

The NPR released on Thursday hyped up major power competition and bloc confrontation, and was full of Cold War mentality and zero-sum mentality, which reflected the logic of hegemonism seeking absolute military superiority, Li said. This is clearly against the world's desire of preventing nuclear war and avoiding nuclear arms race, he said.

The US has further enhanced the role of nuclear weapons in its national security policy and lowered the threshold for their use, which has increasingly become the source of the risk for a future nuclear conflict, Li said.

The latest US nuclear strategy and related policies will definitely have a complex, far-reaching negative impact on global strategic security and stability, the strategic security relationship among major powers, as well as on the international and multilateral nuclear arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation processes, he warned.

Li urged the US to abandon its Cold War mentality and the logic of hegemonism, pursue a rational and responsible nuclear policy, fulfill its special and primary responsibility in nuclear disarmament, and play its due role in maintaining global strategic stability and world peace and security.

During Friday's routine press conference, Wang Wenbin, spokesperson of Chinese Foreign Ministry, said that the US has the largest nuclear arsenal in the world, and continues to upgrade its "nuclear triad" and selectively advances the international nuclear arms control process only when doing so serves to suppress the countries it sees as rivals. What's behind the US policy is its hegemonic logic of seeking absolute military superiority, which has the potential to stoke a nuclear arms race.

Global Times


Gandhinagar, Oct 31 : The Gujarat government has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to inquire into the suspension bridge collapse in Gujarat's Morbi town in which 97 persons have been killed till now. Rescue operation is underway in the Machhu river and the death toll is likely to increase further, officials said.

Government hospital doctors have told local media that the bodies of 45 children have been recovered till now which is nearly 70 per cent of the total death toll. The Morbi Government hospital has released the list of 47 deceased persons.

Municipalities Commissioner Rajkumar Beniwal is going to head the probe panel. Before leaving for Morbi, he told the local media, "All team members will reach the tragedy site on Sunday and start the investigation. The team's first task is to find out the reason behind the collapse of the suspension bridge, and based on the findings SIT will also make suggestions to avoid such incidents in future." He said there are four technical experts which are part of the team, who are good at structural design and quality control, and will collect samples of the bridge as well as its quality will be checked, whether proper standard was maintained or not.

Beniwal added that the contractor engineer's statement will be recorded and documents of various certificates will be recovered to know whether at every stage, quality approvals were taken and materials were sent for testing or not.

Even a bridge designer's certificate will be sought whether it was approved by any government agency or not, he said.

Government has not given any time frame to complete the investigation and to submit the report, but the officer said they aimed to complete the investigation at the earliest and submit the report to the state government.
Colombo, Oct 31 : Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe has assured to ensure Indian origin Tamil community in the hill country same facilities as other communities in the country.

Wickremesinghe also promised to appoint a committee to seek how best to integrate the Indian origin Tamils of hill country further into the Sri Lankan society.

The President on Sunday said this while attending an event in Colombo to accept a consignment of medicine donated by the Union Territory of Puducherry and people of India on the request of Ceylon Worker's Congress (CWC), a leading political party representing the Indian origin Tamils in central hills.

Wickremesinghe stressed that the issues faced by the Indian origin Tamils would be gradually solved as the government resolves the ethnic issue in the country.

The consignment of medicine from India received by CWC in memory of its founder, the late Saumyamoorthi Thondaman, who passed away 23 years ago on October 30.

Thondaman's great grandson, Jeewan Thondaman, CWC Secretary General and MP, handed over the stock of medicine to the President.

The President appreciated the service rendered by late Thondaman and said through non-violence he achieved citizenship for all the people of Indian origin, who stayed back after the Sirima-Shastri Pact.

"He got citizenship for some people who should have gone under Sirima-Shastri Pact but decided to stay back in Sri Lanka." British colonial leaders, brought people from Tamil Nadu to work in tea, coffee and coconut plantation and by 1948 the population was about 12,000, a nearly 15 per cent of the total population in the then Ceylon. The majority Sinhalese, who resented the increase in Indian origin Tamils in the island, demanded the successive government to send them back.

The government granted citizenship to nearly 5,000 under Ceylon Citizenship Bill but nearly 700,000 or about 11 per cent of the population remained stateless.

On October 30, 1964, then Prime Ministers of India and Ceylon, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Sirimavo Bandaranaike, inked the Sirima-Shastri Pact or the Indo-Ceylon Agreement to grant citizenship to nearly 300,000 Indians and to repatriate around 525,000 to India and to negotiate on the citizenship of the rest of 150,000.

The issue of stateless for the community remained a major problem until it was resolved in 2003 granting citizenship to all Indians who had been living in Sri Lanka since the time of the Sirima-Shastri Pact was signed.

However, the community had been facing various issues, including land, proper wages, medicine and education and they had been denied of some of the benefits enjoyed by other communities.

President Wickremesinghe, who assured same facilities to those in the community, said that education and health issues would be attended by developing schools and taking hospitals which are under plantation sector under the government.

He also promised to provide land to build houses of their own, like other communities in the island nation.
CERTiFi by Mercy College will host a Fall Cannabis Forum on Friday, November 4 at Mercy Colleges Manhattan Campus in Herald Square. The forum, focused on cannabis education, aims to equip the community with the knowledge and tools to navigate the cannabis industry. This is particularly timely as New York State continues to move toward a full rollout of the recreational cannabis market.

Dasheeda Dawson, founding director of Cannabis NYC and the Forums keynote speaker, will focus on New York City's cannabis initiative.

The event will also include moderated panels in which several industry leaders and legislators will discuss equity and entrepreneurship in the cannabis industry. Panelists include Carlene Pinto from Latinas Grow; Coss Marte from ConBody; Jeffrey Starr, a medical cannabis educator; Luis Merchan, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Flora Growth Corporation; Mary Pryor, Cannaclusive; Phillip Ellison from The Harlem Convening; Raziq Seabrook from the NYS Cannabis Chamber of Commerce; Regina L. Smith from the Harlem Business Alliance; Von Franklin from 500 Men Making a Difference; representatives from local government and more.

Gil Christie, president of leading cannabis education provider Green Flower, will also give an overview of the cannabis education courses and certificates offered through CERTiFi by Mercy College, including the Business of Cannabis certificate and the Advanced Dispensary Associate certificate.

The Division of Workforce Credentialing and Community Impact is proud to offer this public forum bringing together industry experts from the public and private sectors to provide a venue for discussing the economic opportunities and social equity implications of the emerging cannabis industry in New York, said Brian Amkraut, vice president and general manager of workforce credentialing and community impact. This event reflects Mercy Colleges overall commitment to serving the local community with educational programming that can make a different in peoples lives.

The Fall Cannabis Forum furthers Mercy College's work as a Minority-Serving and Hispanic-Serving Institution by providing pathways to economic opportunity and creating access to the cannabis industry for people of color, who have been disproportionately affected by cannabis policy.

The Fall Cannabis Forum will take place at Mercy Colleges Manhattan Campus at 47 W. 34th Street, New York NY on Friday, November 4 from 12:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. The event is free to adults ages 21+. The first 50 people to RSVP will receive a free copy of Dawsons book. Interested parties can RSVP online. Space is limited.

To learn more about CERTiFi by Mercy College, please visit certifi.mercy.edu, or contact certifi@mercy.edu or (914) 888-5CER.

About Mercy College

Founded in 1950 by the Sisters of Mercy, Mercy College is an independent, coeducational college that offers more than 90 undergraduate and graduate degree and certificate programs within five schools: Business, Education, Health and Natural Sciences, Liberal Arts and Social and Behavioral Sciences. The vibrancy of the College culture is sustained by a diverse student body from around the region. The College offers campuses in Dobbs Ferry, the Bronx and Manhattan as well as online offerings.

About CERTiFi by Mercy College

CERTiFi by Mercy College is an initiative led by Mercy Colleges Division of Workforce Credentialing and Community Impact that is designed to help learners with or without college degrees further their careers, advance their skills and gain credentials that are vital in todays workforce. Learners can reskill or upskill by enrolling in a diverse array of courses and certificate programs curated from various providers on topics including cannabis education, software development and design, insurance sales, marketing, food truck entrepreneurship, nonprofit management and small business management.
Law Office of Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP For more information about the class action lawsuit against Leadpoint Business Services, call (800) 568-8020 to speak to an experienced California employment attorney today.

The San Francisco employment law attorneys, at Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP, filed a class action lawsuit against Leadpoint Business Services alleging the company violated the California Labor Code. The lawsuit against Leadpoint Business Services is currently pending in the Santa Clara County Superior Court, Case No. 22CV404499. To read a copy of the Complaint, please click here.

According to the lawsuit filed, Leadpoint Business Services allegedly failed to fully relieve employees for their legally required thirty (30) minute meal breaks. Employees were also allegedly required, from time to time, to work in excess of four (4) hours without being provided the legally required ten (10) minute rest periods. The California Supreme Court defines off-duty rest periods as time during which an employee is relieved from all work related duties and free from employer control.

Leadpoint Business Services allegedly failed to provide accurate wages, including minimum and overtime premium payment, for the alleged missed meal and rest breaks. This resulted in employees allegedly being given inaccurate pay statements. According to California Labor Code  226, employers shall furnish each of his or her employees with an accurate itemized wage statement in writing showing, among other things, gross wages earned.

For more information about the class action lawsuit against Leadpoint Business Services, call (800) 568-8020 to speak to an experienced California employment attorney today.

Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP is a labor law firm with law offices located in San Diego County, Riverside County, Los Angeles County, Sacramento County, Santa Clara County, Orange County, and San Francisco County. The firm has a statewide practice of representing employees on a contingency basis for violations involving unpaid wages, overtime pay, discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination, and other types of illegal workplace conduct.

***THIS IS AN ATTORNEY ADVERTISEMENT***
The Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) has announced that the Montana Prevention Certification Board (MPCB) is now offering an online certification program that reflects the highest current standards of competent practice for prevention specialists and those working in related public and behavioral health capacities.

The Certified Prevention Specialist (CPS), administered by MPCB, is now available for professionals providing services in the field of behavioral health. Certification rewards those working in the field for their marketable expertise. Individuals or professionals wanting to learn more about certification can visit www.mtpreventioncertificationboard.org.

MPCB strives to advance the field of prevention as a viable and effective professional discipline to benefit all Montana communities, said Karen Sylvester, Board President. Certification indicates that prevention specialists have demonstrated their competency through experience, supervision, education, passing an examination and agreeing to adhere to a code of ethical conduct.

The purpose of prevention is to reduce negative health outcomes such as substance misuse and mental health problems through science-backed interventions. The field of prevention offers a rewarding career impacting upstream influences, reducing unhealthy behaviors, and promoting behavioral health and wellness to reduce incarceration and other negative consequences of substance misuse.

Many people work in prevention without considering themselves prevention specialists such as teachers, faith-based leaders, coalition members or community-based law enforcement officers.

DPHHS provided $100,000 over two years in federal funds to help develop the training curriculum.

Its exciting that Montana now offers a certification program to those working in prevention, DPHHS Director Charlie Brereton said. Prevention is critical, and these individuals are hard at work in communities across the state to deliver key behavioral health services. This fills another gap in the overall continuum of care, and I encourage all prevention specialists to become certified.

Brereton said theres currently about 53 prevention specialists in Montana serving all counties.

Substance use and mental health disorders disrupt daily activities and impair a persons ability to work, interact with family and friends, and fulfill other essential life functions. These two issues are among the top conditions that result in disability in the United States.

Prevention and early intervention strategies can reduce the economic burden and impact of mental health and substance use issues in Montanas communities. Prevention focuses on aiding in the development of knowledge, attitudes, skills and policies necessary to make healthy choices or change harmful behaviors.

Prevention is also broad-ranging, with the intent of alleviating many at-risk behaviors which include, but are not limited to, alcohol, tobacco and other drug abuse, crime and delinquency, vandalism, violence, child abuse, mental health problems, family conflict, depression, anxiety and suicide.

MPCB will offer the CPS credential according to the high standards set by the International Certification & Reciprocity Consortium (IC&RC). Once certified, professionals are required to strictly observe a code of ethical conduct and participate in annual continuing education to ensure evolving competence in the field. IC&RC and its member boards across the world are committed to protecting the public through the establishment of quality, competency-based certification programs for professionals engaged in prevention.

Anyone interested in finding out more information about this exciting opportunity and the Montana Prevention Specialist Certification process is invited to visit www.mtpreventioncertificationboard.org.
The National Academy for Television Arts and Sciences earlier this month announced nominees for its National High School Student Production awards, and five Montana films made the list out of more than 2,000 entries.

The National Academy for Television Arts and Sciences recognizes excellence in television with the Emmy awards, and entries for the student awards were judged and selected by industry professionals.

The five Montana films that made the shortlist were produced in collaboration with MAPS Media Institute, a nonprofit that aims to empower youth through professional media arts instruction.

In the film, Waking the Generations, students from the Fort Belknap Reservation highlight hidden details of their ancestral past, and reveal that understanding their heritage can help future generations.

I Am and I Am a Warrior are two films produced with students at the Brockton, Frazer, Poplar and Wolf Point schools on the Fort Peck Reservation.

Of these films, Craig Falcon, program director of MAPS Media Lab, said, Seeing Native youth expressing their vision and story through media arts makes my heart sing.

Peaceful as the Buffalo is a long-form nonfiction film produced by middle school students on the Fort Peck Reservation. The film follows students and community leaders as they share their perspectives on the importance of the buffalo to the Assiniboine and Sioux people.

No Ordinary Time is a short-form documentary, produced by students in the Helena College Summer Bridge Program, that explores parallels between the Spanish flu and COVID-19 pandemic.

Award recipients will be announced on Nov. 17.
Members of All Souls Church in Brattleboro make wreaths and other holiday decorations on Monday, Nov. 28, 2022, for the annual Holiday Bazaar that will be held on Saturday, Dec. 3, 2022, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The bazaar has been going on since the late '70s and people can also buy handmade g
Brattleboro, VT (05301)

Today

Some passing clouds. Low 24F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph..

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Some passing clouds. Low 24F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.
Flooding causes lost crops and the threat of local hunger even as grain export prospects are high.

Myanmar farmers lay paddy for air-ventilation before packing it into bags in Naypyidaw, Nov. 11, 2014. Credit: Associated Press

Farmers winnow paddy with help of wind following a traditional method to remove sand and other impurities in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, Nov. 5, 2016 photo. Credit: Associated Press

Flooded paddy fields in the Irrawaddy Delta of Myanmar are seen following cyclone Nargis, May 22, 2008. Credit: Associated Press

Rice crops in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar have taken a hit from flooding and conflict this year, casting a shadow on a mostly sunny outlook for Southeast Asias output of the key grain as the region deals with other potential longer term supply troubles, farm officials and researchers say.

Poverty and hunger are stalking some rural communities in peninsular Southeast Asia, also called Indochina, as a result of lost crops, hitting populations still struggling to recover from lost income and other fallout from widespread economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, the poorest Southeast Asian nations, are not major players in rice production in a sector dominated by Thailand and Vietnam, which lead the world in exports of the grain. Southeast Asia accounts for 26 percent of global rice production and 40 percent of exports, supplying populous neighbors Indonesia and the Philippines, as well as Africa and the Middle East, according the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.

But their harvest shortfalls have to be made up from other suppliers, and any serious deterioration in rice output could have ripple effects on import-dependent countries in Asia. The challenge is more acute at a time of deepening worries over food security and rising food prices in the wake of Russias invasion of Ukraine, which has removed those countries key grain exports from global supplies.

A man transports bags of rice in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Oct. 17, 2019. Credit: AFP

Cambodias National Committee for Disaster Management reported early this month that floods inundated some 770 villages in 22 provinces, including Banteay Meanchey, Battambang, Pursat, Siem Reap, Kampong Thom and Preah Vihear. More than 150,000 hectares of rice paddies were flooded more than 100,000 families were affected by the floods, a committee official told local media.

Banteay Meanchey farmer Voeun Pheap told RFA that floods destroyed more than four hectares of his farm and brought immediate hardship to his family as it wiped out his crop and the hope of paying off what he borrowed to plant.

I couldnt make much money, I lost my investments, and I am in debt, he said.

In Laos, an agriculture and forestry official in Hua Phanh province told RFA that flooding in two districts had wiped out rice crops and left 200 families with no harvest to eat or sell.

Sand is covering the rice fields all over due to heavy rain, which destroyed both rice paddies and dry rice fields, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity for safety reasons.

Families that have been affected will go hungry this year. The damage is so enormous that villagers will have to seek food from the forest or sell other crops that were not affected, the official added.

People reach out to buy subsidized rice from government officials in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, March 27, 2008. Credit: AFP

Fear, fighting leave fallow fields

More than 18 months after a military coup toppled a popular civilian government and plunged Myanmar into political and military conflict, the country of 54 million faces security threats to its rice supply on top of the environmental and economic problems faced by its neighbors.

I am too afraid to leave my home, said Myo Thant, a local farmer in the town of Shwebo in the Sagaing region, a farming region in central Myanmar that has been a main theater of fighting between ruling army junta forces and local militias opposed to army rule.

I cant fertilize the fields and I cant do irrigation work, he told RFA

The harvest will be down. We will barely have enough food for ourselves, added Myo Thant.

Farmers groups told RFA that in irrigated paddy farms across Myanmar, planting reduced due to the security challenges as well as to rising prices for fuel, fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. Growers are limiting their planting to rain-fed rice fields.

Only 60 percent of (paddy) farms will grow this year, which means that the production will be reduced by about 40 percent, Zaw Yan of the Myanmar Farmers Representative Network told RFA.

Senior Gen Min Aung Hlaing, the Myanmar junta chief, told a meeting August that of 33.2 million acres of farmland available for rice cultivation, only 15 million acres of rainy reason rice and 3 million acres of irrigated summer paddy rice are being grown.

Brighter regional outlook

This years flooding has caused crop losses and concern in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, but so far it doesnt appear to have dented the regional outlook for the grain, thanks to expected big crops and surpluses in powerhouse exporters Thailand and Vietnam. World stocks have been buoyed by Indias emergence as the top rice exporter of the grain.

In this June 5, 2015 photo, workers load sacks of imported Vietnam rice onto trucks from a ship docked at a port area in Manila, Philippines.Credit: Reuters

Although Myanmar is embroiled in conflict and largely cut off from world commerce, Cambodia exported 2.06 million tons of milled and paddy rice worth nearly $616 million in the first half of 2022, a 10 percent increase over the same period in 2021, the countrys farm ministry said in July. Laos was the worlds 25th largest rice exporter in 2020.

A report released this month by U.S. Department of Agriculture saw continued large exports from Thailand and Vietnam likely into 2023, offsetting drops in shipments of the grain from other suppliers.

While the USDA has projected that Southeast Asias rice surplus will continue, a research team at Nature Food that studied rice output in Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam suggested the region might lose its global Rice Bowl status. The threats include stagnating crop yields, limited new land for agriculture, and climate change.

Over the past decades, through renewed efforts, countries in Southeast Asia were able to increase rice yields, and the region as a whole has continued to produce a large amount of rice that exceeded regional demand, allowing a rice surplus to be exported to other countries, the study said.

At issue is whether the region will be able to retain its title as a major global rice supplier in the context of increasing global and regional rice demand, yield stagnation and limited room for cropland expansion, it warned.

Jefferson Fox of the East-West Center in Hawaii said he and other researchers interviewed 100 households in major rice-growing areas of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam and found that a key constraint on output was planting decisions based on price and labor availability and cost. Flooding and climate change were not cited.

Rice and money are offered at a Buddhist shrine in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Sept. 28, 2010. Credit: AFP

"Since about 2014 until Ukraine, rice prices have been below the ten-year average. They're not going to plant it if they're not making much money," he told RFA.

"Another thing our work has shown is that the main thing that's happened since 2020 is they've mechanized the hell out of everything. Japan led the way in making smaller combines and plows and all of that stuff, so everything is mechanized and they can use much less labor," said Fox.

Long-term damage

Rising global demand and higher prices, as well as government policies that encourage rice production in Thailand, Vietnam and others, can help address supply gaps, he added.

For farmers in Laos, however, a brighter regional or global supply outlook provides little comfort for now.

Next year, farmers cant grow rice again because the irrigation system and rice fields are damaged. If the government doesnt help fix this, the villagers cant do it because they have no money. Flooding is short term problem but the irrigation system damage is long term, said a resident of Na Mor village in Oudomxay province.

And higher prices for rice can cut two ways, encouraging more production, but pinching consumers.

Our family of five is struggling to make ends meet, said a low-income government worker in the suburbs of the Lao capital Vientiane.

We spend the majority of my income just for rice.

Translated by Samean Yun, Ye Kang Myint Maung, and Sidney Khotpanya. Written by Paul Eckert.
The coaches of the U.S. and Iranian soccer teams have said that they do not want to get caught up in a game of political football when their sides clash for a chance to reach the knockout stage of the World Cup.

"I envision the game being hotly contested for the fact that both teams want to advance to the next round -- not because of politics or because of relations between our countries," U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter said ahead of the November 29 showdown at Al-Thumama Stadium in Qatar.

"Our preparation starts with a good rest, refresh the minds, and put all the complementary and garbage things outside of our minds," said Carlos Queiroz, the Portuguese head coach of Iran's national team.

But as the two coaches attempt to keep the focus on the playing field with either team assured of advancing to the next round with an outright victory, a political fever pitch looms over the game pitting two countries that severed relations more than 40 years ago and are open rivals on the world stage.

The World Cup has been a showcase of discord in Iran since the tournament kicked off on November 20, with Tehran's deadly crackdown on ongoing anti-government demonstrations leading to fresh U.S. sanctions against Iranian officials and dividing the country's fan base.

The Iranian team has faced immense pressure from the authorities and protesters alike to take sides amid the demonstrations, which are seen as one of the greatest threats to Iran's clerical establishment since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

The nationwide demonstrations erupted following the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian-Kurdish woman who died shortly after she was arrested for allegedly violating the state-mandated requirement that women wear the hijab, or head scarf.

According to rights watchdogs, at least 450 people have been killed and more than 15,000 detained in the government crackdown.

Some fans have honored Amini's memory by wearing "Mahsa Amini-22" shirts in a nod to her age when she died.

In an apparent sign of solidarity with demonstrators, members of the Iranian team did not sing the country's national anthem ahead of their first game, a 6-2 loss to England that was blamed partly on outside distractions. But the players did join in singing what anti-government demonstrators have called the "blood anthem" ahead of the second game, a 2-0 win against Wales on November 25.

While that result was cause for mass celebration, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reported from Qatar that a group of pro-government fans who waved the flag of the Islamic republic harassed and intimidated a group of Iranian supporters who aired their grievances against the clerical regime.

Following the Wales match, a former coach of the U.S. team, Jurgen Klinsmann, came under fire for his postgame comments. Speaking as a pundit on the BBC, Klinsmann said the Iranian team "worked the referee." "They work the linesman and fourth official, they are constantly in their ear," he said. "There were a lot of incidents we didn't see. This is their culture, they take you off your game."

Queiroz -- who coached Iran during two stints from 2011 to 2019 and was once hired by U.S. Soccer to develop a road map for the United States to win a World Cup by 2010 -- responded with a torrent of tweets defending Iranian culture and his team. He said Klinsmann's comments were a "disgrace to football."

Just days before the decisive group match, the U.S. Soccer Federation triggered a row when it temporarily displayed Iran's green, white, and red flag without the emblem of the Islamic republic in a social-media post.

The Iranian government responded angrily, with Iran's hard-line Tasnim news agency calling for the U.S. team to be kicked out of the World Cup and suspended for 10 games.

The post was eventually removed, with U.S. Soccer explaining that the intention had been to show "support for the women in Iran fighting for basic human rights" by displaying the Iranian tricolor without the emblem for 24 hours.

Back in Iran, former members of the Iranian national soccer team have apparently been punished for supporting the ongoing demonstrations.

Voria Ghafouri, who has been an outspoken critic of the Iranian establishment and was surprisingly left out of this year's World Cup squad, was reportedly arrested on November 24, just days after expressing sympathy for Amini's family and calling for an end to the violent crackdown on protesters in his and Amini's native western Kurdistan region.

Iranian state media reported that the 35-year-old Ghafouri had been arrested for "insulting the national soccer team and propagandizing against the government."

Ghafouri earlier this month tweeted that "it is better to die standing than to live kneeling." In June, he was accused by an Iranian official of being a Kurdish separatist after the player tweeted the word "Kurdistan" twice.

Iranian media reported that Ghafouri has been released on bail. But rights groups said he had been transferred from western Iran to a prison in the capital, Tehran.

Pressure has also been placed on an Iranian soccer legend, Ali Daei, who said he chose not to travel to Qatar due to the government's crackdown and said on social media on November 28 he had received "numerous threats against myself and my family in recent months and days."

The Black Reward hacktivist group, which has targeted Iranian government institutions and infrastructure, added to fears that Tehran was targeting fans by leaking recordings this week purporting to reveal an Iranian pro-government militia commander saying that Qatar had provided a list of Iranians who had purchased tickets to the World Cup, allowing the Iranian authorities to identify 500 individuals known for anti-government activities.

While Iran could progress with a draw on November 29, it cannot afford to lose if it wants to advance to the last 16. The United States has no option but to win.

The U.S. players have said they were unaware that U.S. Soccer had planned to publish its controversial flag post, while also publicly declaring their support for women's rights.

The day before the big match, U.S. coach Berhalter was apologetic for the flag post but also insistent that he was not focusing on the controversies leading up to it.

"Of course, our thoughts are with the Iranian people, the whole country, the whole team, everyone, but our focus is on this match," he said on November 28.
ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- After setting the scene with an intimate portrait of the landscape that dominates the world's ninth-largest country, scholar and nuclear politics expert Togzhan Kassenova's new nonfiction work Atomic Steppe suddenly takes on the pace of a thriller.

It was on the steppes of the author's home country, Kazakhstan, that Moscow's journey toward having the world's largest nuclear arsenal began in earnest.

Kassenova's thoroughly researched retelling of the virgin test that brought the Soviet Union nuclear parity with the United States is both gripping and frightening, while her descriptions of the long-term toll borne on the land and the people in the vicinity of the Semipalatinsk Test Site after four decades of nuclear experimentation are harrowing.

Between 1949 and 1989, the Soviet Union oversaw more than 450 nuclear tests at the Belgium-sized territory known as "the polygon," more than two-thirds of the total carried out by Moscow during the Soviet period.

In the late 1980s, a Kazakh antinuclear movement was born, becoming what Kassenova describes as part of the "reemergence of Kazakh identity," a process that is taking a fresh turn after what many see as Russia's disastrous, unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

But the heart of Atomic Steppe is an examination of the political processes that saw Kazakhstan -- like Ukraine and Belarus -- give up the nuclear weapons they inherited from the union at the urging of the world's two largest nuclear powers, the United States and Russia.

But Russia's war in Ukraine, its increasingly intimidating posture toward its neighbors, and leader Vladimir Putin's nuclear saber-rattling following a series of reverses in the war have cast those decisions to disarm in a new light.

Kassenova, a Washington, D.C.-based senior fellow with the Project on International Security, Commerce, and Economic Statecraft (PISCES) at SUNY-Albany, and a fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told RFE/RL she had no doubt that the newly independent countries did what was best for them and the world.

RFE/RL: During a recent talk in Almaty, you said that the legacy of nuclear testing in northeastern Kazakhstan isn't something that people lived through but something they are living through even now. Can you talk a bit about the long-term impact on populations living in the region surrounding the polygon?

Togzhan Kassenova: Even though more than three decades have passed since the last nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk nuclear-testing site, people continue to pay the price. If you travel to the villages next to the former site, you will be confronted with the dark legacy of Soviet nuclear tests.

Studies from the Kazakh Institute of Radiation Medicine and Ecology in Semey (formerly known as Semipalatinsk) confirm that the second and third generations of people exposed to ionizing radiation in the vicinity of the former Semipalatinsk nuclear-testing site suffer from higher mortality and cancer rates.

From my own trips to the region, I would mention three observations: there are hardly any older people, many do not survive to retirement; you meet children (the fourth generation of victims) with visible health issues, such as extra or missing fingers, cancers; every single family has a tragic story or several -- parents, children, friends, or classmates who died too young.

Like the rest of rural Kazakhstan, socioeconomic conditions in the region are appalling. In some places there is no running water and no modern canalization. People must deal with poor living conditions, lack of jobs, limited medical care on top of their continued suffering from the Soviet nuclear tests. They are forced to travel to Astana or the city of Semey to receive medical treatment. It honestly baffles me how a country with a shiny capital and millions of dollars spent on image projects is not providing sufficient care for the survivors of nuclear tests.

RFE/RL: Ukraine, like Kazakhstan, gave up its nuclear arsenal at the end of the Cold War. History tells us that full-blown conflicts between nuclear-armed countries are rare. Do you think the populations of these countries should regret that decision, given what is happening in Ukraine?

Kassenova: Absolutely not. Giving up nuclear arsenals was the right decision. Let us remember the kind of challenges Kazakhstan and Ukraine faced back then. What they needed most was to enter the international community on good terms -- receive foreign direct investment, foreign technology, and access to international markets. If they had tried to push their way into a nuclear club against the established norms, they would have become pariah states.

Nuclear weapons programs wouldn't have solved their problems. In fact, they would interfere with meeting the immediate needs of Kazakhstan and Ukraine -- building up economies, overcoming sociopolitical crises in the wake of the Soviet collapse, and strengthening sovereignty. For Kazakhstan, choosing a nonnuclear path was an important part of its national identity-building [by] removing itself from the Soviet nuclear weapons program that brought so much devastation to its people.

I would also stress that Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Belarus had received security assurances of their sovereignty and territorial integrity in exchange for their decisions to become nonnuclear.

That one of the signatories of the Budapest Memorandum -- the Russian Federation -- has so blatantly violated international norms and its own promises, is a different matter.

If anything, the current global tension caused by Russia's war against Ukraine has put a single truth into sharper focus: as long as nuclear weapons exist, populations of all countries remain hostages.

RFE/RL: Astana has stayed neutral since the war began while refraining from outright criticism of Russia's actions. Given Kazakhstan's own nuclear history, how do you think its government might react to the use of a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine by Russia?

Kassenova: Kazakhstan's position is firmly aligned with international norms and instruments. I would expect that Kazakhstan's leadership would find Russia's use of a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine abhorrent.

I cannot speak for the government, but I can tell you what I heard in clear terms from the new generation of Kazakh scholars and activists. They find the threat of nuclear use by Russia beyond irresponsible. They also pose a question: should we consider a country that overtakes another country's nuclear facilities, as Russia has in Ukraine, a nuclear terrorist state?

RFE/RL: Kazakhstan has positioned itself as a leader in nuclear diplomacy, hosting high-level talks on Iran's nuclear program in the last decade and cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency to set up a Low-Enriched Uranium Bank for international use on its territory. But is it also fair to say that de-nuclearization also became part of former president Nursultan Nazarbaev's leadership cult?

Kassenova: There are several reasons why we heard little about others involved in shutting down the Semipalatinsk nuclear-testing site or negotiations on the fate of nuclear weapons. The first reason is the personification of Kazakhstan's modern history. There has been quite a bit of deliberate mythmaking around Nursultan Nazarbaev as a one-person show. I find it unfortunate that so far, the historical record was skewed towards being Nazarbaev-centric at the expense of remembering many other people who contributed to nation-building.

Having said this, it would be remiss not to give credit to the first president as he was the ultimate decision-maker. Especially in the early 1990s, Nazarbaev showed political acumen in dealing with Moscow, Washington, and other international partners. As a scholar, I worry that the discourse in Kazakhstan will swing to another extreme and Nazarbaev's good deeds will be negated because of what his figure came to represent with time: nepotism, corruption, and the suppression of political opposition.

Another related reason why some key figures were relegated to obscurity has something to do with political competition. For example, in the case of the leader of the antinuclear movement, Olzhas Suleimenov, there were worries about him becoming an alternative political figure to rival Nazarbaev. Or take, for example, Tulegen Zhukeev, the former state counselor and deputy chair of the National Security Council (Nazarbaev was chairman). Zhukeev was literally next in line after Nazarbaev tried to negotiate on nuclear issues in the early 1990s, but you won't find his name in official narratives. Why? Zhukeev left the government and joined the opposition. Somehow, Kazakhstan's context meant that all his contributions to nation-building, in general -- and specifically on nuclear matters -- were canceled out.

Part of my motivation for Atomic Steppe was to paint a more nuanced picture of Kazakhstan's nuclear history and to add names other than Nazarbaev to Kazakhstan's modern history.
Libertarians push back on claims of coordination with Democrats

The state Libertarian party on Thursday pushed back on assertions that their western congressional district candidate is coordinating with Democrats to divert votes from Republican Ryan Zinke.

The third party, through western district candidate John Lamb, has gotten more visibility this election cycle compared to those past, in part due to more than a dozen appearances with Democratic House candidate Monica Tranel at candidate forums, most of which were engineered by Tranels campaign.

This week, a conservative news website published a story titled Montana Libertarian, Democrat candidates coordinate to spoil Ryan Zinkes campaign.

The Montana Libertarian Party issued a statement on Thursday in response to that story, saying they are being used as the club with which the two major parties are beating each other.

None of this is new, the two big parties manipulate you and prod you along like cattle to the slaughter using lies and fear, Montana Libertarian Party Chair Sid Daoud said in the release. We expect even more of these Left-Right schoolyard tricks between now and the election.

The article on the right-wing Breitbart website did not include a direct allegation of coordination made by the Zinke campaign. Zinkes campaign did not respond by press time to a phone call and an email asking if it was.

In a phone interview on Thursday, Daoud called hypocrisy on Republicans, raising the state GOPs $100,000 bankroll to get the Green Party on the ballot in 2020.

How did Republicans not just stay outraged at that, that was [$100,000] of their own donations, Daoud said.

The story includes a text from a Democratic campaign volunteer to a potential voter who responded not a chance to the prospect of voting for Tranel. The volunteer, in their reply, urged the voter to consider voting for Lamb.

The Montana Democratic Party on Thursday said it has not spent any time boosting Lambs candidacy, and added the text exchange was not part of the partys strategy but a volunteer trying to carry the conversation forward.

The text urging a voter to consider Lamb was sent by a Democratic campaign volunteer, and is not part of our texting script, party spokesperson Hadley Stack said in an email on Thursday. It shouldnt be a surprise that many of our volunteers think that Ryan Zinke is the worst possible person to represent our state, and Montana voters will make this clear on November 8th.

Tranels campaign said Thursday it was a ploy by Zinke to distract voters from his disastrous past and historic unpopularity.

Lamb has explained his appearance at Tranels campaign forums as an opportunity to get in front of voters, and Daoud said Lamb isnt riding Tranels coattails on the campaign trail. Tranels campaign said Zinke was invited to a forum in each county of the western district, but declined. Zinke in an earlier interview with the Montana State News Bureau called the events a political ploy.

Daoud said Lamb has actually benefitted from both major campaigns since the primary election, with Zinke attacking the third-party candidate, rather than ignoring him, on his Libertarian credentials.

When Ryan Zinke attacks him, it brings him into the news cycle as well, Daoud said.

Political analyst and University of Montana Journalism School Director Lee Banville said major parties have loaded support on third parties before. Consider 2012, when Libertarian Senate hopeful Dan Cox pulled in 30,000 votes, while Democratic Sen. Jon Tester defeated Republican challenger U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg by 18,000. That year a hunting and angling group supporting Tester spent nearly $700,000 in mailing costs for ads against Rehberg, the Ravalli Republic reported.

The text in question and the Tranel events featuring Democratic and Libertarian candidates dont necessarily prove coordination, Banville said, but it does show a mutually beneficial arrangement for the two candidates to siphon votes from the frontrunner. Just last week, political watchers hedged their predictions for Zinke, changing their ranking of the race from a likely Republican victory to just leaning toward a GOP success.

The enemy of the enemy is my friend, Banville said. Is John Lamb allowing himself to be used by the Democratic Party? Maybe, but if its serving the interests of his party, can you blame him?

From Gazette news services
After Kyrgyz officials announced the terms of a proposed border agreement with Uzbekistan in early October, there were protests and a committee was established to oppose the border deal. Kyrgyz authorities have detained more than 20 opponents of the agreement, many of them well-known figures in the country with many supporters. The authorities also blocked the website of RFE/RLs Kyrgyz Service. Tensions are high again in Kyrgyzstan, a country that has seen three revolutions since 2005. Joining host Bruce Pannier to discuss the situation in Kyrgyzstan are Leila Nazgul Seiitbek, a lawyer and chairwoman of the NGO Freedom for Eurasia, and Saniia Toktogazieva, a constitutional lawyer and associate professor teaching international law at the American University of Central Asia in Bishkek.
In April, just months after Russian President Vladimir Putin's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, Sergei Filenko became the first person in Russia's northern Karelia region to be punished for violating a new law targeting those who purportedly "discredit" the Russian armed forces.

He was found guilty of the same infraction in June, and when it came time to pay the fine, Filenko didn't relent on his activism: He scrawled anti-war messages on the 5,000-ruble bills he deposited to settle the debt.

"I forbid this money to be spent on war and Putin's minions," he wrote on one.

Filenko, a carpenter, writer, and local activist in the regional capital, Petrozavodsk, has a long record of opposing Putin's government. In April 2021, he was detained at a protest in support of opposition leader Aleksei Navalny. A video of the incident shows him reciting a Rudyard Kipling poem as riot-police officers carried him to an awaiting van.

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But up until late last month, he had resisted fleeing Russia as hundreds of thousands of his compatriots are estimated to have done since Putin launched the war on Ukraine on February 24.

Even after Putin announced a mobilization to boost Russia's troop numbers on September 21, Filenko was hesitant.

"I thought of it like this: I won't go to the army, and they won't be able to take me away by force. Well, even if I'm taken away in handcuffs, the bus will stop somewhere for a pee break. Everyone is probably already drunk. And I would take off. But you can't hide from prison indefinitely," Filenko told RFE/RL's North.Realities.

But at the urging of a friend, Filenko became one of the last wave of Russians to flee to Finland on a tourist visa before authorities in the Nordic country effectively closed the door to Russian tourists last month.

Filenko has now joined the nearly 1,000 Russians who have applied for political asylum in Finland this year, a massive spike compared to previous years.

He now lives in a sparsely furnished apartment with four other Russian asylum seekers in the town of Imatra, about 10 kilometers from the Russian border, all of whom arrived after Putin announced the mobilization.

Filenko hopes to find work soon to support his family that remains in Russia.

"I am constantly thinking how to bring them over, where and when we can see each other again. But the main thing is to find some use for my hands," he said.

Tourist, Carpenter, Repeat Offender

Finland has long been a popular entry point for Russian travelers into the EU's Schengen area. But in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Finnish government has implemented severe restrictions on Russian tourists.

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said in August that "it is not right that while Russia is waging an aggressive, brutal war of aggression in Europe, Russians can live a normal life, travel in Europe, be tourists."

On September 30, Finland's tightened restrictions on Russian tourists took effect, with Helsinki saying that Putin's mobilization "and the rapidly increasing volume of tourists arriving in Finland and transiting via Finland endanger Finland's international position and international relations."

The move, along with similar measures by other European governments, has triggered debate in the West about whether closing borders to Russia is a justified and necessary response to Moscow's aggression or whether such restrictions punish Putin opponents trying to flee Russia and help feed the Kremlin's anti-Western propaganda.

Filenko's long track record of opposition activism is likely to make a more compelling case for asylum than those Russians who fled solely due to the Kremlin's mobilization drive.

He told North.Realities that while crossing from Russia into Finland on September 26, he was questioned for several hours by Russian border guards about his political persuasions before he was allowed through.

"They took my passport back and forth and asked questions, like whether I really believe that Navalny was poisoned," Filenko said, referring to the 2020 poisoning of the opposition leader with the chemical weapon Novichok that Navalny and Western governments attribute to the Kremlin.

When it came time to apply for political asylum, Filenko again found himself explaining his political positions in a formal asylum interview with a Finnish police official. When he told the official through an interpreter that he was a carpenter and repeat offender, the police officer straightened up and appeared perplexed, Filenko recalled.

"I had to tell about all my repeat administrative offenses, at what rallies and for what I was detained: at first I was indignant that Navalny had been poisoned, then about the occupation and invasion [of Ukraine]. With each subsequent 'repeat offense,' the policeman became friendlier," Filenko said.

'Epicenter Of Evil'

Filenko expects to receive permission to work in Finland in the next three months. In the meantime, he frequents the library in Imatra, attends Finnish lessons twice a week, and spends the bulk of the rest of his time studying the language on his own, he says.

In early October, Finnish authorities announced that Ukrainian and Russians seeking shelter in Finland would be housed separately, citing Ukrainians "relating fears caused by Russian asylum seekers being housed in the same spaces" following Putin's military mobilization.

Filenko describes how his own encounters with Ukrainian refugees in Finland triggered deep emotional responses in him.

After arriving in Finland, he spent several days in and around the city of Joensuu , meeting local friends and acquaintances and trying to figure out how to put down roots in his new environs.

While there, he went to a community center where Ukrainian refugee families would gather to drink tea and coffee, eat pastries, and let their children play.

"I sat at a table where Ukrainian women were talking and drinking tea, and I felt like a soldier who escaped from the Wehrmacht, somewhere in Switzerland with French refugees," Filenko recalled. "My country has occupied France, I don't understand how to behave."

He says he stood up and left the kitchen, "walking down the corridor, holding back my emotions."

"And then a boy runs up behind me, hugs me [by the legs], looks at me.... I also look at him and almost cry," Filenko recalls. "I feel like I am in the epicenter of evil, and nothing can be done."

Adapted from the original Russian report by Carl Schreck
Russia resumed its military blockade of Ukrainian ports on October 30, halting the supply of grain supplies largely headed to low-income nations and reigniting fears of a spiral in global food prices.

The United States immediately criticized Russia's actions, accusing it of "weaponizing food" to gain leverage in its failing invasion of Ukraine.

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, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.

Russia announced a day earlier it would suspend its participation in a UN-brokered deal that allowed Ukraine, one of the world's breadbaskets, to export grain after accusing Kyiv of staging a drone attack against its Black Sea Fleet. Ukraine has rejected the accusations.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on October 30 that he was "deeply concerned" about Russia's decision to halt its participation in the July deal, which helped reverse skyrocketing food prices that threatened to put millions at risk of starvation.

Guterres said he would delay his departure for the Arab League summit in Algiers by one day to work on saving the grain deal.

Ukraine's Infrastructure Ministry reported on October 30 that 218 ships involved in grain exports are currently blocked -- 22 loaded and stuck at ports, 95 loaded and departed from ports, and 101 awaiting inspections.

Ukraine's grain exports are a key revenue source for the country, whose economy has been decimated by Russia's eight-month war. They are also a critical source of food for countries in Africa and Asia.

Earlier in the day, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Russia to resume its participation in the deal, warning it was "exacerbating" an already dire food crisis impacting largely poor countries.

"Any act by Russia to disrupt these critical grain exports is essentially a statement that people and families around the world should pay more for food or go hungry. In suspending this arrangement, Russia is again weaponizing food in the war it started," he said.

In a post on Twitter, European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell also urged Russia to revert its decision.

The July deal allowed Ukraine to resume exports of grain, other foodstuffs, and fertilizer, including ammonia, through a safe maritime humanitarian corridor from three of its Black Sea ports.

To implement the deal, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, and the UN set up a Joint Coordination Center (JCC) to inspect vessels headed to and from Ukraine traveling along the corridor. Turkey played a major role in brokering the agreement.

Russia on October 30 announced it was suspending its participation in the JCC, including inspecting ships off Istanbul. Earlier in the day, Turkey said the JCC would continue inspecting ships on October 30 and 31.

The JCC had inspected 11 shipments on October 30 with more than 100 waiting for clearance.

Analysts have been warning for the past two months that Russian President Vladimir Putin would look for an excuse to pull out of the deal to pressure the West over its continued military aid to Ukraine.

Kyiv has used that military aid with effectiveness, driving the Russians back in the northeast, east, and southeast since launching a counteroffensive in September.

"Given Ukraine's successful counterattack, the fighting there isn't going Russia's way. Putin, who is used to engaging in dialogue from a position of strength, finds he does not have so many ways of putting pressure on the West at his disposal. Threatening to torpedo the grain deal is one of his few remaining options," Aleksandra Prokopenko, an independent analyst, wrote in a September 16 note posted on the website of Washington-based think tank Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

In a video address after Russia's announcement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called the move "a completely transparent attempt by Russia to return to the threat of large-scale famine for Africa and Asia." Zelenskiy called for Russia to be expelled from the Group of 20 leading global economies (G20).

U.S. President Joe Biden called Moscow's decision "purely outrageous."

The July 22 grain deal was intended to last 120 days with the option for renewal on November 19 "if no party objects," the UN said on October 28.

Moscow has asked the UN Security Council to meet on October 31 to discuss the reported attack on its Black Sea Fleet at the Crimean port city of Sevastopol in the early hours of October 29.

Russia's Defense Ministry said drones were used in the attack and that one Russian ship, a minesweeper, was damaged.

Ukraine's Infrastructure Ministry said Kyiv would try to continue using the Black Sea shipping corridor as long as possible.

Russian Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev said on Russian state television that Moscow was prepared to "supply up to 500,000 tons of grain to the poorest countries free of charge in the next four months."

With reporting by Reuters
Doctors for former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili have recommended against transporting him to the Tbilisi City Court building from a clinic where he has been treated since May despite his desire to take part in a hearing in a case against him.

Saakashvili had expressed his desire to be transferred to the court to attend the hearing on a charge of illegal border crossing filed last year, and it had been expected that he would speak at the trial.

But his attending physician said it would be inappropriate, based on the fact that he could not take responsibility for the possible deterioration of Saakashvili's health during the transfer.

Judge Nino Chakhnashvili decided on another postponement of the trial after receiving the doctors' recommendation.

Court hearings have been repeatedly canceled or postponed because the 54-year-old Saakashvili, who held two separate hunger strikes earlier this year, has been unable to appear in court for health reasons.

Saakashvili, who served as Georgia's president from 2004 until 2013, is the founder of the main opposition United National Movement (ENM) party.

The ENM believes that the authorities are trying to conceal the state of Saakashvili's health. Representatives of the ruling Georgian Dream party disagree, saying that Saakashvili's public appearance would only be a publicity stunt.

Saakashvili, who cannot move independently, had decided that he would arrive at the trial in a special wheelchair, according to one of his lawyers, Shavla Khachapuridze, who added that his condition was "serious" and that his defense team had been told by phone from abroad that arsenic was found in his blood.

Nika Melia, chairman of the ENM, said that had Saakashvili appeared in court it would have confirmed the conclusions of several foreign experts who have spoken about the deterioration of his health and would have confirmed the comments of people who have visited him that his condition has deteriorated sharply since his transfer from prison to the Vivamed clinic.

The authorities do not want this to be disclosed to the public because it would conflict with "propaganda" circulating in the media that Saakashvili and his defenders have exaggerated his condition, Melia said.

Saakashvili was convicted in January 2018 in absentia of abuse of office and sentenced to three years in prison. Later that year he was again convicted in absentia of abuse of office and sentenced to six years in prison.

He was arrested on October 1, 2021, after he returned to the country to rally the opposition ahead of local elections.

Saakashvili and his supporters say all his prosecutions were politically motivated.

Georgia has been plagued by political paralysis and escalating tensions between Georgian Dream and the opposition since parliamentary elections in 2020.

The crisis has been exacerbated by the arrest of Saakashvili, who doctors say suffers from severe post-traumatic stress and anorexia that most likely developed after his hunger strikes. They said in May that he needed urgent and complex neuro-psychological and physical treatment.

Even before Saakashvili was transferred to the Vivamed clinic his relatives, friends, and colleagues demanded the authorities allow him to travel abroad to receive medical treatment.
Arabian Pipes Company has announced that it has been awarded a SR22 million ($6 million) contract by Saudi oil giant Aramco to supply steel pipes for one of its projects in the kingdom.

Arabian Pipes is a leading manufacturer of welded steel pipes for oil and gas sector as well as for structural and commercial utilisation with sizes range from 6 to 48 inch.

It owns and operates two factories in the kingdom that has a total average capacity to 460,000 tonne per year.

The first plant in Riyadh manufacturing ERW pipes has a 160,000 tonne per year capacity, while the second in Jubail industrial city manufacturing LSAW pipes has an average capacity of 300,000 tonne per year.

As per the deal, the delivery of these steel pipes will be fully competed within 6 months, said Arabian Pipes Company in its filing to Saudi bourse Tadawul.

The financial impact of the contract win will be experienced in Q2 next year, it added.

Arabian Pipes currently has number of projects with total value of more than SR800 million, which will support the company's continuity during the coming period, it added.-TradeArabia News Service
In the 1970s, Congress designated thousands of acres of public land in Montana  which were managed by the US Forest Service and the BLM  as Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs). These areas were to be extensively and scientifically studied to determine whether they were suitable as Wilderness designation. Both the U.S. Forest Service and the BLM determined decades ago that some of these WSAs are non-suitable as wilderness areas, and made the recommendation to Congress to not designate them as wilderness areas. The three WSAs that were not suitable for Wilderness designation are: Middle Fork Judith WSA, Hoodoo Mountain WSA, and Wales Creek WSA.

For over 40 years these lands have been treated as if they were Wilderness areas, because they had not been released from their WSA status, due to congressional inaction. This meant recreation was thwarted on these lands and active forest management has not been occurring. In a sense, sportsmen have been locked out, and in many instances the management of these lands has been poor at best. Less than two years ago, again through a science-driven, collaborative plan revision process these lands were yet again determined to be unsuitable for Wilderness designation, yet today they still remain classified as WSAs.

Heres the good news! Montana Senator Steve Daines has a bill in Congress known as The Montana Sportsmen Conservation Act. This bill, if passed, will open thousands of public acres to Montana sportsmen and the recreating public. Releasing these lands will increase access for sportsmen of Montana and allow management agencies to create a healthy landscape by removing dead, beetle-killed timber. This would also provide for a reduced fuel load, making the lands much less a tinderbox awaiting a tremendous fire event. Under Daines bill, the land will remain public and would be managed and protected by the same laws, analysis, public input and justification prior to any action taken, and in accordance with recent land management plans.

Currently, Montana citizens and sportsmen along with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks are working on developing a new elk management plan and a large part of this effort has contained better management of public lands, increases the redistribution of our public elk herds onto public lands, and reduces the impact of elk depredation on privately owned lands. Opening these lands to better land management will help accomplish redistribution of elk from private lands to public lands, a win-win for landowners and sportsmen.

This is a common sense bill and it is way past time to release the chokehold that these WSA lands have been in for decades. Access to public lands by sportsmen and recreationists is something that we all enjoy and fight for, so lets stand behind the science and the land managing agencies and support the Montana Sportsmen Conservation Act. A link to the text of Sen. Daines bill S. 4470 Montana Sportsmen Conservation Act can be found at congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/4470?s=1&r=26.
Looking for a new podcast to binge? Let me recommend "Good Cult," a 6-part podcast about "Lifespring," a self-help humanistic empowerment group that the podcast host, River Donaghey, grew up in. Kast Media describes the podcast:

In the 1980s, half a million people went through intense, unorthodox trainings put on by a company called Lifespring. Thousands walked out as true believers. But behind the scenes, Lifespring faced dozens of lawsuits from trainees who said that after taking a seminar, they had mental breakdowns. Some spent months in the hospital. Others attempted suicide. At least four people died. GOOD CULT host River Donaghey never heard those stories when he was growing up. River was raised inside the seminars. Now, River is digging back into his own history to piece together the bizarre, untold story of Lifespring and its founder, John Hanley: a convicted felon-turned-New Age guru who created a movement that is still changing livesand ruining themto this day.

The podcast is fascinating, and it's made even better because the host, River Donaghey, is such an integral part of the story. The podcast provides a really interesting deep dive into the history of Lifespring, exposing its disturbing and dangerous content and methodologies. But the most interesting aspect of the podcast, to me, is how it reveals and documents, in real time, the host wrestling with his own contradictory feelings about and experiences of the group. If you like cult content, this podcast should not be missed!

And if you want to read more about Lifespring, here are two great articles. The first was published in D Magazine in 1988. Here, author Marty Primeau describes her experiencesincluding details about the various 'empowerment' activities that participants engage inattending one of Lifespring's five-day introductory seminars in Dallas, Texas. And the second was published in 2005 and archived on the website "Cult Education Institute." In this piece author Kirsten Marcum details how her life changed after attending a series of Vistar seminars in Minneapolis. Vistar was another self-help group that was founded by a graduate of Lifespring. Marcum gets sucked into the group as she attends seminar after seminar, and eventually finds herself exhausted from the constant recruitment and fundraising that she was required to do. She also recounts her deprogramming and explains how she eventually found her way out of the group.
Fishing the right pond

New vice president for research aims to mentor junior faculty

Julius Fridriksson loves a challenge.

Its why he was drawn to science as an undergraduate at the University of Central Florida, why he pursued speech-language pathology in grad school at the University of Arizona, why he built a massive research enterprise at the University of South Carolina, securing more than $45 million in external funding to study aphasia and aphasia recovery.

Its also why after climbing to the top of his field  and building out a research team of more than 40 faculty, post docs and graduate students at the Arnold School of Public Health  the first-generation college student from a small village in Iceland agreed to become the universitys interim vice president for research in 2021.

I'm very much challenge-driven, says Fridriksson, who was elevated to the permanent position in 2022. When we renewed my program project grant, which is very difficult to do, I started thinking, What are the next challenges? How can I take what I did with junior faculty on a smaller scale and do that at a much larger scale at the university level? 

Fridriksson talks a lot about junior faculty, and more specifically about mentorship. Along with helping the university beef up its overall research enterprise, its one of his primary goals as research chief. And his motives arent strictly professional; its also a personal mission, how he hopes to improve the outcomes for early career faculty who may be scuffling a bit as they try to get their own research going.

For a lot of faculty who get dismayed or feel overwhelmed, it's because there is nobody to show them the way, he says. We need to be more proactive mentoring our junior faculty. If we can formalize that process a bit and make it more efficient, more targeted, we can benefit not only the junior faculty members, but the research enterprise for that person.

Im very much challenge-driven. When we renewed my program project grant, which is very difficult to do, I started thinking, What are the next challenges?' Julius Fridriksson

If youve followed Fridrikssons own career over the past decade, its hard to imagine him as anything other than a rainmaker. He has been co-director of the universitys prestigious McCausland Center for Brain Imaging since 2011. He launched the Center for Aphasia Recovery in 2016, starting with a whopping $11.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. His team continues to attract major grants  that center grant was renewed last year to the tune of $12.5 million  and he himself maintains an active research agenda, even as he refocuses some of his attention on the larger university.

But he remembers what it was like trying to get a project off the ground and falling flat, not because he wasnt putting in the work but because he didnt know how to pursue funding. Prior to joining the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders as an assistant professor in 2001, he says he had never even seen a grant proposal.

As a junior faculty member there were so many times when, clearly, I was just fishing in the wrong pond  I can't tell you how many studies I started or relationships I developed that I thought were going to get somewhere but just went nowhere, he explains. As a senior faculty member looking back at all those false starts, I want to help the folks who are where I was 20 years ago.

Among other things, that means promoting the universitys Propel program, which provides in-depth grant-writing workshops for junior faculty and pairs them with senior faculty who can help them achieve funding to move their research forward.

He also preaches the importance of center grants like the National Institutes of Health grants he has secured for the Center for Aphasia Recovery. Such large-scale grants offer federal agencies more bang for their buck, he explains, because they fund ambitious projects and support multiple researchers rather than individual researchers or small teams.

These larger groups of faculty members working together offer much better return on their investment, says Fridriksson. It doesn't mean that they're going away from individualized grants, but proportionally they're going to be putting a lot more funding into center grants.

They also build communities, allowing researchers at every stage of their career to work toward a common overarching goal. And that can only boost the careers of those junior faculty Fridriksson hopes to help.

For them to be a part of something where they get continuous mentorship but also ad hoc advice about everything academia related, even teaching, it's extremely helpful, he says. I look at those folks who are in my group at the Arnold School, and I think, Had I been involved in that kind of research as a junior faculty member, it would have been so fantastic. 

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Fishing vessels of Ca Mau Province. (Photo: VNS)

Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh affirmed Vietnams all-out efforts to fight and eradicate illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing while meeting with an inspection delegation of the European Commission (EC) in Hanoi on October 28.



The host said the European Union (EU) has become a leading partner of Vietnam in various spheres, especially trade, investment, and development cooperation.



He appreciated the recommendations by the ECs Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries to help Vietnam deal with IUU fishing, noting that most of these recommendations match the countrys policy of promoting responsible fisheries and sustainable development of the industry.



Thanh underlined that Vietnam has been making all-out efforts to handle the ECs recommendations in the best possible manner to develop a sustainable, responsible, and well-controlled seafood industry. He also reaffirmed the strong commitment and joint efforts by authorities, fishermen, and businesses to prevent, end, and eradicate IUU fishing.



However, the Deputy PM noted, Vietnams fishing grounds in the East Sea are affected by many factors while its resources remain modest, so the IUU fishing combat needs great efforts, a roadmap, and time to sustainably put an end to the IUU fishing.



Given this, he called on the EC and EU member states to keep close cooperation with and timely provide technical assistance for Vietnam, with specific features of the countrys fisheries industry taken into account, to implement the recommendations.



He asked the EC to recognise Vietnams efforts against IUU fishing and the positive results obtained, and to lift the yellow card warning for the country.



At the meeting, Roberto Cesari, head of the anti-IUU fishing unit of the ECs Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, said fighting IUU fishing is an increasing priority in the EUs agenda, and that the bloc views this as a top priority in its and each of its members cooperation with partner countries.



The delegation highly values Vietnams efforts to engage the entire political system in drastic and methodological measures to combat IUU fishing, he said, noting that through random examination of coastal localities, the delegation has seen considerable progress and improvements in anti-IUU fishing actions, including boosting information transparency and improving capacity for fisheries management personnel in 28 coastal localities.



It perceived that Vietnam has taken drastic actions at the central level as seen in the issuance of many legal regulations, mechanisms, and policies for IUU fishing prevention, but the enforcement at the grassroots level is still weak.



In the time ahead, the country should have effective management mechanisms with strict legal regulations, ensure consistent and uniform enforcement from the central to local levels, stringently deal with all violations, devise an all-round plan for managing fishery resources and strictly controlling the import of fishery materials for export processing, and eradicate fishermens infringement of foreign waters, Cesari said.



The delegation is set to make another examination and assessment trip to Vietnam in the next six months, the official added.







VNS
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Welcome to Quick Q  Monday Medias weekly Q&A series dedicated to finding out more about the personalities that matter most in the media landscape.

Every week, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age asks key figures across corporate media, business, sport, federal politics, radio, television and culture to answer questions about their lives, careers, hobbies and news habits.

This weeks conversation is with Senator Mehreen Faruqi, deputy leader of The Greens.

Mehreen Faruqi is hoping to get support to halt ministerial veto rights of research grants. Credit:Dominic Lorrier

How did you get your big break?

After a decade in Sydney, I got out! I took a role at Port Macquarie Hastings Council. It was

a great place for my kids to grow up and thats where I got involved in the Greens. The rest

is history.
The biggest story of Black Adam's opening weekend wasn't the film's success but Henry Cavill's return as Superman. Although most fans knew about Cavill's appearance about a week before the film hit theaters, the actor's appearance in the movie still set the internet ablaze.

The following Monday, Henry Cavill took to Instagram to announce that he had officially returned as the strange visitor from Krypton for all future DC projects moving forward. Cavill even hinted at a potential Man of Steel sequel. There was only one problem: What would happen to The Witcher's fourth season now that its star has other obligations?

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Cavill has jumped ship on Netflix's popular series to focus his efforts on DC's movie universe. Instead of pulling the plug on the series, Netflix has opted to keep the show afloat and picked Liam Hemsworth to serve as Cavill's replacement in the role.
One of Australias largest proxy advisers, ISS, is recommending REA Group investors vote against the re-election of Optus chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin to the property giants board amid the fallout from the telcos hacking scandal.

ISS re-issued its proxy report on Friday for the REA Group AGM on November 10, and said on further review it was changing its recommendation on shareholders voting Bayer Rosmarin to the real estate listing groups board. She became a director in January this year.

REA investors have been advised to say No to Optus chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin. Credit:Brook Mitchell, Dominic Lorrimer

Given the reported significant effect of the data breach on Optus, which is owned by Singtel, Optus and Singtel shareholders should expect exclusive commitment from Ms Bayer Rosmarin to their businesses at this time, said the report.

Bayer Rosmarin will be paid $110,000 for her REA board seat. She will also be a member of REAs audit risk and compliance committee.
Thanks to Princess Diana and the next gen princesses, the royal familys ties to racing wont be unravelled by King Charles decision to sell 14 of the racehorses he inherited from his mother Queen Elizabeth.

Since Dianas sartorially controversial appearance at the Melbourne Cup in 1985, the Windsors have defined the moveable fashion feast that is racewear, with Princess Catherine, Zara Tindall and Princess Beatrice continuing to pay respect to trackside traditions.

Princess Diana in a Catherine Walker suit at Ascot raceourse in 1990; a Rebecca Vallance puff-sleeve midi-dress, $649; Siren block heel sandals, $189.95, Myer; A-esque puffa clutch, $600. Credit:Getty, supplied

Careful co-ordination, playful details and the occasional priceless heirloom help the royal family add dignity to day wear. Its a polish that leaves you confident that they wont be seen blistered and barefoot, carrying their heels back to Kensington Palace.

Here are tips inherited from members of the royal family that can be executed with ease in Australia, even if youre catching the train rather than a horsedrawn carriage to the racecourse for this spring carnival.
A global human trafficking syndicate has exploited flaws in Australian border security and the immigration system. See all 15 stories .

When she arrived in Australia from South Korea, Karen knew two English words: Hi and hello.

She was handed a piece of paper she could give to customers of the Australian brothels she was assigned to work in.

It said: Hi  I do everything and listed a range of sexual services Karen would provide.

Karen was recruited by a human trafficking syndicate led by a woman police would later describe as a ruthless organised crime boss. Her name is Mae Ja Kim, but she went by Mimi.

The syndicate recruited Karen in South Korea, promising her generous pay and conditions if she moved to Australia to be a sex worker, and they paid for Karens airfare and Australian visa.
I see that very much as a good thing, he says. Flood says even the backlash  young men turning to hypermasculine influencers such as the money-mad misogynist Andrew Tate  is a sign of healthy progress. He is optimistic because data shows that although men recognise the pressure to conform to narrow stereotypes, it also shows they agree men have a role to play in building gender equality. But strong support still exists for statements such as men are now criticised too much, theres a war on men and masculinity is under attack. Among about 25 per cent of men, theres sympathy for backlash ideas such as feminism has gone too far, men are being blamed unfairly and so on, says Flood. About 25 per cent oppose [those statements] and 50 per cent are in the moveable middle  theyre persuadable.

He is part of a mainly male group including dadvocates  such as Man Raises Boy author Rob Sturrock, Women, Men and the Whole Damn Thing author David Leser, masculinity educators Tomorrow Man and Jesuit Social Services Mens Project  gender researchers and anti-violence leaders who meet regularly online to share ideas about promoting positive masculinity and healthier, better lives for boys and men. Loading They are creating a national network to increase attention to this area of engaging men for positive change ... and to be the public voice for positive change, says Flood, whose work has revealed young men who conform to rigid masculine norms are more likely to harm themselves and others and suffer worse mental health. When issues such as fathering and family law come up, or domestic and family violence, you get the mens rights movement and the anti-feminist backlash voice. We want to be a positive alternative and more than that a positive voice for mens roles in healthy masculinity. Floods only concern is that for some boys and young men who display traits not associated with the man box of rigid male stereotypes, there is some pressure on them to start identifying as girls; and likewise girls and young women who dont feel like stereotypical young women. I worry that they hear from some quarters, Oh, you should be a boy.

I would much rather we applaud gender non-conformity in a more open-ended way. Loading This more expansive definition of masculinity will help foster better emotional health and relationships for men, reduce risky behaviour and lower the risk of self-harm, says inclusivity consultant Coleen MacKinnon. There is a huge appetite for it, she says, and recent events including the heavy emphasis on gender at the jobs and skills summit show the government is cognisant of a generational shift in societal attitudes to gender. But men must be invited to discussions; for example, about how they will benefit from change to the male breadwinner model that contributes to financial stress, a factor in male suicide.

Theres increasing awareness around mens mental health and the limitations (and contributions) of the male breadwinner  suicide is the highest cause of death amongst men. Men comprise 76 per cent of all suicides: 83 per cent linked to financial stress, says MacKinnon. One in three fathers report experiencing work-family conflict and high psychological distress. Clinical psychologist Zac Seidler, of the mens mental health and suicide prevention agency Movember, wonders whether men have been involved heavily enough in the redesign of Australian masculinity. He says mens health groups have not had enough access to policy-making. Clinical psychologist Zac Seidler, of Movember and Orygen youth mental health, says mens health agencies have not had enough access to gender equality policy-making. This has been womens work, when they say healthy masculinity, when they say masculine norms are things we need to approach and attack, none of this is happening with male collaboration, he says.

The main reason for this is gender politics and gender equity has not been a male priority in any way. It has not been sold to us. It has not been described as something worthy of our attention. Loading Seidler, whose father died by suicide, says he, Matt Tyler of The Mens Project and Michael Flood have forced our way into the conversation, but men need to be more involved in how they change the status quo. But Tyler is also optimistic that changes being ushered in at government and grassroots levels are positive. What were seeking is to promote a more flexible idea about what it means to be a man, so men and boys are free to show up as themselves, he says. Whats in it for men and boys themselves is more flourishing lives.
The Albanese government took a cautious approach in its budget last week, but the industrial relations changes it proposed two days later could be the most significant and ambitious in over a decade.

Employment Minister Tony Burke released a 249-page bill with scores of changes to the rules for employers, workers and unions in negotiating wages and conditions.

Burke said the bill, titled Secure Jobs Better Pay, will get wages moving again.

That is an attractive pitch when wages are failing to keep up with inflation. The budget says real wages will fall 2 per cent this financial year and will not recover to the level of last year for another two years.

Some aspects of the bill, such as a proposal to relax the so-called Better Off Overall Test have been welcomed both by trade unions and most employer groups.
The son of a first world war veteran. Costin grew up in depression-era Sydney and was educated at North Sydney Boys High School. In 1942, he won a cadetship to Sydney University with the nascent NSW Soil Conservation Service. 1n 1946, he began his honours year research on the ecology of the Australian Alps and Monaro region. This comprised one of the worlds first comprehensive studies of an entire large ecosystem. His work intersected with the political fight to retain snow leases in Kosciusko National Park. His monumental study took five years, completed in 1951. The resultant 860-page book, A Study of the Ecosystems of the Monaro Region of NSW  with special reference to soil erosion, was published in 1954.

Besides being a courageous scientist, advocate and nature conservationist, Costin was an exceptional scientific communicator; a prolific author of many scientific papers and books; and was a mentor and inspiration to many ecologists and conservationists.

Respected as one of the greats of Australian science and a pioneer of systems-thinking in Australia, he profoundly influenced thought and practice in forestry, farming, soil conservation and a range of other scientific disciplines. His life-long research and resultant courageous political actions were integral to the creation of several of Australias important national parks, including Kosciusko National Park.

Living at a critical moment in Australian political and environmental history, Dr Alec Baille Costin  alpine ecologist, botanist, conservationist, farmer  was widely recognised as an international authority on the ecology of high mountains and high-latitude ecosystems and the founder of alpine ecology in Australia.

In 1952-53, Costin travelled to Europe for 18 months on a scholarship, where he was strongly influenced by leading Scandinavian alpine ecologists. While in England, Costin met and married his first wife Margaret, and they returned to Australia in 1953. He then worked with the Victorian Soil Conservation Authority on overgrazed alpine catchments.

Costin joined CSIROs division of plant industry in 1955, and was based in the Snowy Mountains, where he set up long-term study sites. Half his salary was paid by the Snowy Mountains Authority (SMA, founded in 1949), which initially supported Costins work because it related to catchment protection. But later Costins ecological work led to a clash with the powerful SMA boss, Sir William Hudson. The latter eventually withdrew the SMAs funding of Costin when his advocacy saved Spencers Creek and sensitive alpine areas from inundation by a SMA dam. He was also drawn into the political battle over the continuation of grazing leases in the mountains, and his work and that of other ecologists like Dane Wimbush was key to the cessation of grazing in the National Park. This in turn led to Costin and family facing ostracism within the Jindabyne community. Despite this, and speaking of his long-time work in natural systems, Costin once said: Ive never felt lost in the bush, even when lost.

In ensuing decades, Costins seminal work led to him befriending and working with some of Australias renowned scientists and public figures. His comparative work of alpine ecosystems also meant travel in ensuing decades to the highlands of New Guinea, New Zealands southern alps, and to Macquarie Island.

On Costins relocation to Canberra in the late 1960s, at CSIROs Black Mountain laboratories he finalised a prolific body of work. He was also involved in ACT catchment work and helped develop the Australian Rangelands Research Program. For a time, he was Assistant Chief at CSIRO Plant Industry, and was integral to developing systems ecology. He also assisted the Academy of Sciences in helping identify the main plant communities in Australia that urgently needed conserving.

Costin played a key role  along with Francis Ratcliffe and Geoff Mosley  in helping form the Australian Conservation Foundation, and in getting the Australian Alps listed as a World Heritage Area. When NSW Minister of Mines, Tom Lewis, set up the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service in 1967, Costin, Harry Frith and later Geoff Mosley strongly influenced the selection of high-priority areas for representation in the new national parks.
Better protection of tenants information has been backed by NSW Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello after industry groups and renters raised concerns about a potential Optus-style data breach.

Tenants are routinely required to submit copious amounts of sensitive information to real estate agencies and third-party tenant databases when applying for rental properties.

Industry groups and renters raised their concerns about the amount of data collected during rental applications. Credit:Peter Rae

Real estate agents have almost free rein on what they can ask to collect  beyond protection against basic discrimination based on background or disability  and some ask for applications just to view a property.

Application requirements vary so much between agencies that tenants are asked to provide a broad range of information almost every time they search for a new rental.
A conservationist with dual French-Australian citizenship who was freed after he was taken hostage in Chad has described being pushed to the ground and having guns pointed at him by his alleged kidnappers.

Jerome Hugonot was working for the Sahara Conservation Fund in Wadi Fara providence, near Sudan, when he was abducted on Friday, according to Chadian government authorities. The veterinarian was released on Sunday during an operation by Chadian and French security forces.

Jerome Hugonot talks to the media at Adji Kossey military base near Chads capital, NDjamena, following his release on Sunday. Credit:Melom Francette Ndeinoudjingar

Footage captured by local media outlets shows Hugonot in good spirits as he walks across the tarmac at Adji Kossey military base near Chads capital, NDjamena, following his release, shaking the hands of local authorities and embracing one of the dignitaries.

In a brief interview with local journalists, Hugonot said he had experienced shocking and brutal moments at the hands of his abductors, who pushed him to the ground and pointed a gun at him.
When perception is reality, you do not have to edit reality. Amplify the perception. As a new Gallup poll demonstrates, even though many Americans believe that crime is rising, that is not the case. But the GOP and other politicians will exploit that perception as reality to capitalize on these manufactured fears. Meanwhile, the assassination attempt on the elected politician third in line for the presidency is blamed on the elected politician and their party's policies. At the same time, Fox news continues to stoke fears.

Check out Hayes Brown , MSNBC Opinion Columnist's take.

"A Gallup Poll released Friday morning found that 56% of Americans think a crime has increased in their local area over the last year, the most in 50 years. But as I've said before , there's often a disconnect between the perception of increased crime in an area and whether that purported increase can accurately be measured. That goes double for a climate like today's, where the GOP is determined to frame cities as liberal-created hellscapes."

What are other inaccurate poll-revealed perceptions? Check out this detailed report about perceptions and polling in Detroit, Michigan.

Check out the webpage, The Perception Gap. "Do you have a yawning Perception Gap, or are you in sync with the American public? Our study explores how Americans tend to have a distorted understanding of people on the other side of the aisle, what causes it, and why it matters."

"The conclusion? Americans have a deeply distorted understanding of each other. We call this America's "Perception Gap." Overall, Democrats and Republicans imagine almost twice as many of their political opponents as reality hold views they consider "extreme."

You can take the "Perception Gap Quiz" here.
San Francisco: The man who clubbed US House Speaker Nancy Pelosis husband in the head with a hammer, shouting Where is Nancy? after forcing his way into the couples San Francisco home, faced charges of attempted murder and other felonies a day later.

Police initially declined to offer a motive for the assault on Paul Pelosi, 82, who, according to his wifes office, underwent surgery for a skull fracture and injuries to his right arm and hands, though doctors expect a full recovery.

Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was attacked in their home. Credit:AP

But the incident stoked fears about political violence less than two weeks ahead of midterm elections on November 8 that will decide control of the House of Representatives and Senate, coming amid the most vitriolic and polarised US political climate in decades.

The 82-year-old House speaker herself, a Democrat who is second in the constitutional line of succession to the US presidency, was in Washington at the time of the assault.
Lulas win extended a wave of recent leftist triumphs across the region, including Chile, Colombia and Argentina. The president-elect will inherit a nation straining against itself after he is inaugurated on January 1, said Thomas Traumann, an independent political analyst who compared the result to Bidens 2020 victory. Supporters of candidate Jair Bolsonaro. Credit:Getty The huge challenge that Lula has will be to pacify the country, he said. People are not only polarised on political matters, but also have different values, identity and opinions. Whats more, they dont care what the other sides values, identities and opinions are. Among world leaders offering congratulations was US President Joe Biden, who in a statement highlighted the countrys free, fair, and credible elections. The European Union commended the electoral authority for its effectiveness and transparency throughout the campaign. In his congratulations Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly expressed hope for further Russian-Brazilian co-operation.

Bolsonaro had been leading throughout the first half of the count and, as soon as Lula overtook him, cars in the streets of downtown Sao Paulo began honking their horns. People in the streets of Rio de Janeiros Ipanema neighbourhood could be heard shouting, It turned! Lulas headquarters in downtown Sao Paulo hotel only erupted once the final result was announced, underscoring the tension that was a hallmark of this race. Four years waiting for this, said Gabriela Souto, one of the few supporters allowed in due to heavy security. Supporters of candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Workers Party react to the vote count. Credit:Getty Outside Bolsonaros home in Rio, ground-zero for his support base, a woman atop a truck delivered a prayer over a speaker, then sang excitedly, trying to generate some energy as the tally grew for Lula. But supporters decked out in the green and yellow of the flag barely responded. Many perked up when the national anthem played, singing along loudly with hands over their hearts.

For months, it appeared that Lula was headed for easy victory as he kindled nostalgia for his presidency, when Brazils economy was booming and welfare helped tens of millions join the middle class. But while Lula topped the October 2 first-round elections with 48 per cent of the vote, Bolsonaro was a strong second at 43 per cent, showing opinion polls significantly had underestimated his popularity. Bolsonaros administration has been widely criticised for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the worst deforestation in the Amazon rainforest in 15 years. But he has built a devoted base by presenting himself as protection from leftist policies that he says infringe on personal liberties while producing economic turmoil and moral rot. He sought to shore up support in an election year with vast government spending. We did not face an opponent, a candidate. We faced the machine of the Brazilian state put at his service so we could not win the election, Lula told the crowd in Sao Paulo. Lula built an extensive social welfare program during his tenure that helped lift tens of millions into the middle class. The man universally known as Lula also presided over an economic boom, leaving office with an approval rating above 80 per cent, prompting then US President Barack Obama to call him the most popular politician on Earth.

But he is also remembered for his administrations involvement in vast corruption revealed by sprawling investigations. Lulas arrest in 2018 kept him out of that years race against Bolsonaro, a fringe lawmaker at the time who was an outspoken fan of former US President Donald Trump. Lula was jailed for 580 days for corruption and money laundering. His convictions were later annulled by Brazils top court, which ruled the presiding judge had been biased and colluded with prosecutors. That enabled Lula to run for the nations highest office for the sixth time. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva holds hands with voters are he voted. Credit:AP Lula has pledged to boost spending on the poor, reestablish relationships with foreign governments and take bold action to eliminate illegal clear-cutting in the Amazon rainforest. We will once again monitor and do surveillance in the Amazon. We will fight every illegal activity, Lula said in his acceptance speech. At the same time we will promote sustainable development of the communities of the Amazon.

The president-elect has pledged to install a ministry for Brazils original peoples, which will be run by an indigenous person. Loading But as Lula tries to achieve these and other goals, he will be confronted by strong opposition from conservative MPs. Unemployment this year has fallen to its lowest level since 2015 and, although overall inflation slowed during the campaign, food prices are increasing at a double-digit rate. Bolsonaros welfare payments helped many Brazilians get by, but Lula has been presenting himself as the candidate more willing to sustain aid going forward and raise the minimum wage. In April, he tapped centre-right Geraldo Alckmin, a former rival, to be his running mate. It was another key part of an effort to create a broad, pro-democracy front to not just unseat Bolsonaro, but to make it easier to govern.
Scholarships in Business or Banking & Finance tenable at any UWI Campus



Bridgetown, Barbados:--- CIBC FirstCaribbean has announced four new one-off scholarships for female finance students in honour of retiring Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Colette Delaney, the first woman to head the regional bank.



In making the announcement recently, incoming CEO Mark St. Hill hailed his predecessor as a champion for women, girls and diversity and inclusion at our bank.



He said the bank could not think of a more fitting tribute to honour Delaney, a career banker who has been with the bank for the past nine years and CEO for the past four, than to offer these scholarships to four deserving young women from across the region.



The Colette Delaney Scholarship for Women in Business Studies will allow four young women across the Caribbean region to realise their dreams of pursuing studies in the field of Business or Banking & Finance at the UWI campus of their choice.



St. Hill said during her tenure Colette set up the Womens Network for females in the bank - a support group for senior females in the bank as they navigate the corporate world. She also placed renewed emphasis on developing regional people, evidenced by the number of management training programmes for senior leadership and mentorship programmes for employees at all levels that were established.



He added that she also promoted a number of regional people to the banks Senior Executive Team.



St. Hill said Colette, the immediate past Chair of the banks charitable arm, the FirstCaribbean International ComTrust Foundation, took a deep satisfaction in the impact the work of the foundation had on communities and institutions across the region, especially its award of scores of undergraduate and post-graduate scholarships every year to students of the University of the West Indies.



Delaney said she was touched and truly honoured that four deserving young women across the region will have another route to educational advancement with these scholarships offered by the bank.



Colettes appointment as Chief Executive Officer, the first woman to be appointed to the role, was a landmark in the banks history. She brought to her tenure as CEO the steady hand that the bank needed especially during turbulence caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Her ability to reassure both employees and clients of the banks stability and support helped to assuage the concerns of our various stakeholders during that testing period.
Toil and Trouble: A Women's History of the Occult is a new book from Melanie R. Anderson and Lisa Kroger that describes itself as "a celebration of magical women and nonbinary people in American history, from Salem to WitchTok." Like the authors' previous outing, Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative Fiction, Toil and Trouble is a collection of short entries about a wide range of women and gender non-conforming people in the Western world who used magic or occultism (be it allegedly real, or deliberate parlor tricks) to push back against society's rules and expectations, or otherwise claim the power that society had denied to them.

It's a neat idea  and certainly a positive premise for representation. But there's also an intrinsic trick to that setup, which is that it's broad and unwieldy (even when you mostly limit your list to people from the US and Britain, as this book does). You not only have to define what, exactly, constitutes as "magic" or "occult," but you also have to explain the male-centric context in which the things these people practiced were supposedly radical. This leads to sections like the one on Marjorie Cameron, "Hollywood's Scarlet Woman," which spends half of its six pages talking about Aleister Crowley. Similarly, the entry on Madame Marcia, "Political Psychic Advisor and Houdini's Nemesis," largely defines her in terms of her relationship to the men she served, and the ones (like Houdini) who had a grudge against her. Even the Universal Public Friend is included  which is great for gender diversity, but also strange considering that the Friend was a Quaker.

Toil and Trouble places its progressive politics front-and-center right from the book's very intro, which talks about TikTok witches casting a hex on Donald Trump in the summer of 2020. This is both one of the book's biggest selling point (in my humble opinion), and also one its struggles  as in the chapter on Joan Quigley, who served as the personal psychic advisor to First Lady Nancy Reagan of all people. Quigey inclusion certainly tracks with the broad unifying themes of the book  she's a woman who used some sort of non-Christian mysticism to claim a sense of power that she would otherwise likely be denied. But the book also tip-toes around any real critical engagement with the, well, Nancy Reagan of it all. The result is sort of "Hire more womyn prison guards!" vibe  less of a celebration of femme/gnc/enby resistance, and more hashtag #TheResistance energy. There's even a whole chapter celebrating people who monetized occult-ish practices. Again, this is certainly relevant to the book's themes. But it is also ends up being an uncritical celebration of people using capitalism to exploit spirituality for personal gain  which is a much less progressive tack.

Similarly, the book has uneven relationship with diversity and inclusion. The authors make an explicit effort in the early pages to ensure that they're being inclusive of trans- and non-binary people. Which is good! And they do a great job acknowledging these caveats and complications when discussing historical women whose magic or occult beliefs were explicitly connected to things like fertility, which would give them a sort of TERF vibe in a modern context. Similarly, the authors frequently point out that subversive spirituality practices have often just been standard religious practices appropriated from indigenous, Black American, East Asian, or other non-white or colonized cultures. Which is true! But the book again fails to critically point out any specific situations where this happened. For every entry about Black magic women (of which there are not many, let alone non-Black people of color!), there's another white occult woman whose journeys to India or exploration into "pagan" (read: indigenous Gaelic) gods and rituals is presented as a completely normal and above-the-board act of magical resistance.

To be clear: this book is trying to cover a lot of territory in a short amount of time, and it's damn near impossible to address every possible nuance that arises. That's fine! But it feels incongruous to thoughtfully address gender inclusivity, while only paying light lip service to racial diversity. It's okay for a book like this to exist from a largely Western colonial perspective; but it's weird to do that while claiming to be a progressive and deconstructionist work. The result is the Women's March of femme occultism. The only thing missing is a hollow land acknowledgement without any action to back it up.

All that being said: it's a charming book full of fascinating historical figures, if you don't scratch the surface, and it could be a great entry for someone interested but uninitiated in the intersections of feminism and magic/occultism/subversive spirituality.

Toil and Trouble: A Women's History of the Occult [Melanie R. Anderson and Lisa Kroger / Quirk Books]








Client: A woman, Tasha Storm Murry, wants Robyn to prove her man, Louis T-Bone Bennet, is innocent of gun smuggling charges.

Because T-Bone has a record and belongs to a motorcycle club, the police are perfectly willing to believe that he was stupid enough to leave a box of guns invan with the doors wide open.This is the second of my shows that includes police offers (or DA) that are willing to take, at face value, the idea that a potentially guilt person is monumentally stupid.I like to think that, if Dante worked in that department, hed say to himselfmost people are not that stupid maybe I should look a little deeper.When Dante walked into an impromptu political speech, we were introduced to additional players in this case:* Bob Bass, the son of a former mayor, who is running for City Council, based on his fathers good reputation rather than his own merits.* His opponent, Councilman Elijah Moore, who is childhood friends with the leader of T-Bones motorcycle club.* And Leo, Councilman Moore's head of security.This cast of characters made it obvious that the frame job was politically motivated.So, I assumed, of course Bobs mother Bettie was the mastermind.I was wrong.This is one of the things I enjoy about the return to the case-of-the-week format.I like guessing my way around the red herrings the writers like to set up. Its even better when Im wrong.One of the more fun twists was that it was Dante that got answers from Buffalo Joe, the leader of The Brooklyn Disciples.It was nice to see that Dante has developed a reputation separate from his father as a straight shooter.Storms godfathers are Buffalo Joe and Councilman Moore. They decided that none of the Brooklyn Disciples are allowed to date her.Unfortunately, she, like so many young people, disagreed and has fallen for T-Bone.Dante is also the one who finds out why all of this was happening to T-Bone.Weve waited a long time to see Dante work as fully part of the team. It worked really well for me.T-Bone was the bouncer at a club. Bob Bass was a client and liked to beat up prostitutes. T-Bone put a stop to it.While Bettie Bass was the person who paid off everyone in the club, she was not the mastermind behind framing T-Bone.Her late husbands hatchet man, set up the Brooklyn Disciples and the councilman.I wish that we'd been able to get to know T-Bone better. It would have made his solution of suicide by cop make more sense.Without that understanding of T-Bone, his decision seemed to come out of nowhere.Without getting to know this character specifically, we are forced fall back on assumptions based on the broad strokes of stereotypical depictions of a felon, who served in the military and turned his life around.For me, this type of character is a fighter, doing whatever he can think of to prove his innocence. Not someone who would choose suicide.Forcing a confession in the middle of a televised appearance, but not in such a way that hes guaranteed not to leave the scene.It didn't make sense to me and came when there were still options on the table.

Family Life: Robyn is ducking Mile

* * *

Did Dante manage to slip a breakfast date in there? I was rather tickled to see Robyn wiping his fingers with a napkin.The other shoe finally dropped.When Robyn doesnt answer Miles questions about what shes doing, Miles informs her he is filing for full custody.I get where Miles' is coming from, but his definition of the last straw doesn't make a lot of sense to me.Receiving a call to get Delilah (and the family) out of New York because Robyn's gotten wind of a terrorist attack doesn't, IMHO, qualify as putting Delilah in danger.If Robyn hadnt been involved in that situation, hundreds of thousands of people would have died.Her involvement in this situationDelilahs life.He wants to knowwhat Robyn is doingput his daughter in danger and Robyn isn't answering any of his questions.So taking her to court is the responsible thing to do.I think his logic is flawed but, in therms of character motivation, and writing overall, it all works beautifully.We know she's not going to answer the questions for a judge either.I'm really curious about how this will work out with a 16-year-old child in the mix. (I'm basing this on my understanding that, in the pilot she was 14.)Teens are NOT the most predictable creatures in the world.Since Delilah found out what her mother does, Delilah has never been really worried about herself. She's worried mostly for her mother.That won't stop just because Miles gets full custody.I am very curious about how this all plays out. What do you guys think?
Oslo (Norway), 30 October 2022 (SPS) - A Sahrawi delegation led by member of the National Secretariat of the Polisario Front, in charge of Europe and the European Union, Mr. Ubi Bushraya Bashir, accompanied by the representative of the Polisario Front in Norway, Ms. Senia Bashir, has held official meetings in the Norwegian capital, Oslo.

The delegation began with meetings at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The delegation also had a meeting with parliamentarians from the two major Norwegian parties, the ruling Labor Party and the opposition conservative party. The delegation met with leaders of the Norwegian trade union LO, as well as with the elected leadership of the youth of the ruling Workers' Party, and Norwegian civil society bodies.

In a statement to SPS, Ms. Senia Bashir affirmed, "this visit is part of the efforts undertaken by the Sahrawi diplomacy to enhance international solidarity with the Sahrawi cause, and to explain the situation of the Sahrawi people under occupation, after the dangerous drifting that Morocco pushed the region to by continuing its refusal to cooperate to implement the provisions of the UN-AU peace plan," noting that "Norway is a friendly country for the Sahrawi people and has outstanding positions, especially with regard to supporting the right of self-determination and protecting the sovereignty of the Sahrawi people over their natural resources."



062/T
Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca sent a message of solidarity to South Korea, after the deadly crush at a Halloween celebration in Seoul.

PM Ciuca wrote on the Twitter page of Romania's Government the following message: "The Government of Romania stands with the Republic of Korea and the Korean people in these painful times. Condolences to the bereaved families! To the injured - good health and strength!."The deadly crush occurred around 10:00 p.m. (13:00 GMT), on Saturday, near the Hamilton Hotel in Seoul, South Korea, which is located on a main boulevard surrounded by narrow, sloping alleyways. Tens of thousands of people, many dressed in costumes, celebrated Halloween for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic.At least 151 people - 97 women and 54 men - of whom 19 foreigners lost their lives, firemen told the AFP.Citizens from Iran, Uzbekistan, China and Norway are among those who lost their lives, according to the Yonhap News Agency. Two Russian citizens are among the dead, TASS reported.On Sunday morning, the authorities in Seoul indicated that 355 people are missing.
As many as 209 new cases of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 were recorded in the last 24 hours in Romania, down 143 from the previous day, with 1,354 RT-PCR and 3,529 rapid antigenic tests performed, the Health Ministry informed on Sunday.

Of the new cases, 35 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 - 72, Cluj - 19, and Brasov - 16.The highest 14-day notification rate is in Bucharest City - 0.84, followed by Cluj County - 0.62.As of Sunday, 3,286,394 cases of people infected with the novel coronavirus were confirmed in Romania.- Hospitalisations -As many as 787 people with COVID-19, up 36 from the previous reporting, are hospitalised in Romania at specialist care facilities.Out of the total number of hospitalised patients, 98 are in intensive care, including 55 minors.Of the 98 patients admitted to ICU, 88 are unvaccinated against COVID-19.- Deaths -According to the ministry, there are no reported deaths in the last 24 hours.Since the beginning of the pandemic, 67,186 people diagnosed with the SARS-CoV-2 infection have died in Romania.
How do you serve a diverse and vibrant district whose residents also face intimidating barriers and which has tremendous need?

That's the pressing question for the incumbent and two challengers vying for the West District seat on the Buffalo School Board in the election that ends Nov. 8, the first time in nearly five decades that district races have run concurrently with general elections. Jennifer Mecozzi eyes her third three-year term representing the district, but challengers Le'Candice Durham and Mustafa Abdo aim to unseat her.

This race is open only to voters in the West District, whose shape is tall and narrow and follows the Niagara River's shoreline. It includes neighborhoods like Riverside, Black Rock, Grant and Niagara streets in the upper and lower sections of the West Side, and does not mirror any Buffalo councilmanic district. Early voting, from Oct. 29 through Nov. 6, is available for district voters.

New November School Board elections in Buffalo met with just one contested race State legislation passed in 2019 has gone into effect: Buffalo's School Board elections have moved from May to November to coincide with the general election.

This slice of the School Board pie is easily the most diverse, overseeing 10 schools that include Lafayette High School, Riverside High School, International Prep, Newcomer Academy, Native American Magnet, International School 45 and bilingual Frank A. Sedita Academy. The Buffalo Teachers Federation in the past has endorsed candidates in School Board races, but has not yet this year, with its focus on contract negotiations with the district.

The tasks for prospective School Board members are daunting: Amplify West District residents' voices on districtwide problems like transportation, security, suspensions and learning loss while also addressing issues more concentrated in the district, such as language barriers facing English language learners and their parents, teacher demographics not reflecting the student population and the need for more culturally appropriate programming to welcome immigrant and refugee populations.

Mecozzi, the incumbent, emphasized her personal growth over the last six years and the continuity she would bring to the board if re-elected. She's learned to harness her personality and compromise, she said. "I have a fire in me that just won't go away," said Mecozzi, who was born and raised on the West Side. "But I've learned to cool it down a bit."

Buffalo school kids to weigh in on renaming holiday A contest in the district will let students explore the controversy surrounding the federal holiday and then make a recommendation to the School Board about how to

A mother and grandmother of children in Buffalo schools, Mecozzi emphasized the board's "equity lens." During her tenure, she has sponsored an Indigenous Peoples resolution, boosted the growth of innovative schools and pushed Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Initiatives.

"For me, equity is making sure that the community understands what's happening and what's going on," she said after an October School Board meeting.

Her passions involve a focus on English language learners and students with disabilities  Mecozzi said her son has an individualized education plan  plus confronting "needs on a whole scale," ranging from Career and Technical Education programs to prepare high school students and better options for adult education. She said she wants accountability for charter schools but has praised those which she deems transparent.

Durham's name may ring a bell: The mother of three in Buffalo schools and one in a charter school finished third behind India Walton and Byron Brown in the 2021 Democratic mayoral primary.

She said she's intimately familiar with Riverside, the neighborhood in which she lives, through service as president of her block club and with her husband through their Durham's Mobile Thrift Store. She describes Riverside as low-income and with many non-native speakers, but equipped with few translators  and she did not think Riverside's needs were being met by the current School Board.

"I haven't even heard of her and I've lived in Riverside for a few years," Durham said of Mecozzi. "She needs to be more active, more engaging."

Advocating for school safety has been a key point of her campaign, sparked by concerns from her own neighborhood. "Parents are afraid to send their children to school," Durham said, "and it's heartbreaking."

She argued for armed school security, an emphasis on teaching financial literacy and resolving the teachers contract by raising salaries. "We should be bringing more teachers in rather than scaring them away," she said, before adding that teachers should reflect their communities.

"If we're a welcoming city, and that we are, and our schools are very diverse, our teachers need to look like our students and our languages need to match," Durham said.

Abdo, a native of Somalia who spent 17 years in a Syrian refugee camp, tackled his own education head-on, arriving in Buffalo without knowing any English in 2007 before earning his master's degree from the University at Buffalo in 2021. But it was not just his educational journey that inspired him to run for a School Board seat, but also his experiences owning a small tech repair shop on Grant Street in 2013.

"It opened my eyes to the problems in the district, just hearing them talk," said Abdo, referring to his customers from Burma, Bangladesh, Somalia and other Asian and African countries.

Abdo said he's acutely aware of the school district's struggles communicating with immigrant and refugee communities. One example was how Muslim students were treated during the religious observance of Ramadan, when teachers and administrators should be aware these students may have less energy, participate less and experience different moods. The answer is not to suspend these children, Abdo said.

He said he's had parents ask countless times, "Can you read this letter for me?" He said he hoped to provide a greater level of trust between these West Side communities and the school district.
WASHINGTON, Mo.  When Kenny Lee Loudermilk crashed a vehicle five or six years ago, family said he was at least tempted to spend the insurance money on a new prop and motor that straps on your back.

Paragliding was his newest hobby, and he was all in. The Missouri River was one of his favorite routes, especially with fall colors.

Hes gone over the water a lot, said daughter Kylie, 15.

She was part of a group of more than a dozen family and friends gathered here Saturday near a boat ramp, hoping Loudermilks body would be found soon. Hes presumed dead since crashing into the river Wednesday evening.

Loudermilk, 35, of OFallon, Missouri, had taken off from a farm field in Defiance. He and a friend, flying separately, were headed to Hermann.

They were going to follow the river, said Lauren Twyford, Loudermilks girlfriend, who dropped him off and was going to pick him up at the landing point. He was all big about the scenery and the sunset and all that.

He and his friend lost contact somewhere in the flight, and something went wrong as Loudermilk approached Washington. Witnesses told police that they saw a paraglider hit the river, just down from the Highway 47 bridge.

Missouri Highway Patrol Cpl. Dallas Thompson said they got the call around 5:45 p.m. Wednesday.

We are actively still searching for the individuals body, Thompson said Saturday. We know he went into the water, underwater, and never resurfaced.

Thompson said the patrol has crew searching the surface of the river and using sonar equipment.

They are just going to have to continue to search as the days go on and hope that he comes to the surface, he said. With the temperature of the water, that could take a few days for that to happen.

Many others have volunteered to help, including some of Loudermilks colleagues from Local 562, a plumbers and pipefitters union. It was unclear to search parties if Loudermilks body sank near where he crashed or was carried downstream. One searcher on Saturday said the water was flowing at 6 mph.

Family said Loudermilk was flying with a backpack-mounted motor and prop, harnessed to an orange and black wing above him that resembled a rectangular parachute. They said he was wearing a black helmet and jacket, blue jeans and work boots.

They said Loudermilk had many hours of flying time in Missouri and other parts of the country, and he had known people who had fatal accidents.

He lives on the edge, but things scare him, said his mother, Marsha. Hes very cautious.

We think he lost power, said his father, also named Kenny. Just a freak accident.

He did what he loved, said Kevin Baker, a brother-in-law.

The family thanked everyone for their help and asked them to continue to be on the lookout. They said there would be a vigil at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the waterfront where they were gathered in Washington, at Missouri River mile marker 68.3.

Editors note: This story has been updated to correct the name of a highway.
Here are the facts. The U.S. Department of Education released the 2022 results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress last week, and the results are tragic. Missouri students have fallen even further behind. Our scores in fourth- and eighth-grade reading and math dropped by more than the national averages dropped. Fourth-grade scores are now higher than just five other states. Eighth-grade reading scores are better than seven other states and in math, better than eight.

What I find to be most concerning is that fully 40% percent of our fourth graders dont even have a partial mastery of reading. How can we possibly expect them to be able to read a science or math textbook? The same is true of eighth-grade math scores. How can we possibly expect these students to be successful in high school, let alone college or career ready?

And yet, if you head over to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education website for their take, youd be hard pressed to even find it. The slider at the top of the page lets folks know about the Blue Ribbon Commission to keep and find teachers and about an upcoming conference at the Tan-Tar-A Resort. It seems all is well at the department, and theyre ready to head to the Lake of the Ozarks for more business as usual.

Sure, there is a press release in small type on the side of the page. In the release the commissioner states that the results serve as another indicator that high-quality instruction matters. In what way? Is it something we are pursuing?

Further, the department plans to use the results to continue accelerating post-pandemic learning. Im sorry, did I miss something? Exactly where is post-pandemic learning accelerating?

And then, oddly, the release reports Missouri results, not for students scoring proficient or higher, which is the standard, but for students scoring basic or higher. I dont think many Missourians are interested in the percentage of students with just partial mastery of a subject.

The sad fact is that the department and the state Board of Education have been in denial about the condition of public education in Missouri for some time now. Our so-called state accountability system for districts and schools gives full accreditation to all but a handful of districts. A system in which 99% of districts get the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education stamp of approval is no system at all. The ship is sinking. Turning off all of the blinking red emergency lights and turning on the party lights isnt going to change that.

So, lets talk about what is not causing our steady and consistent decline.

Not enough money. Total public education revenue per pupil increases every year. This year, pandemic stimulus funds have led to a blockbuster education budget. Spending per student is likely to be well over $15,000.

Not enough teachers and staff? Since 2007, Missouri public school enrollment has declined by 45,000 students and yet weve added 2,600 teachers. And for the record, public education enrollment is expected to continue to decline for the foreseeable future. By 2030, enrollment is likely to be at least 10% lower than it is today.

A more challenging student population? The share of low-income enrollment has actually been declining in Missouri. In 2015, some 20.4% of Missouri children were living in poverty. Since then, the percentage has declined to 15.5%. Meanwhile, the percentage of students who have a disability has wavered between 12.5% and 14.5% for the past 15 years. Last year, 13.5% of Missouri students were identified as having a disability.

Then theres the pandemic. Yes, of course, that was a horrible disruption that was exacerbated by keeping schools closed for too long. But Missouris test-score decline and/or flatlining on the national assessment started a decade earlier. All scores were lower in 2019 than they were in 2009. We havent been able to get our eighth-grade passing rates (proficient or higher) into the 40% level since 2013.

Missouri has a crisis of leadership at the top. Neither the education department nor the state Board of Education is willing to speak the hard truths. They are unwilling to call out low-performing schools and districts or to assign a rating that a parent could understand, like a letter grade. They describe gut-churning test scores as informational lenses.

The Missouri Legislature has appropriated over $10 billion in state and federal funds to be distributed to districts this year. Two states  Arizona and West Virginia  are putting their state funds directly into the hands of parents, if they so choose. Would six out of 10 parents who choose how to spend their education dollars in those states accept that their children didnt even master part of the material by the end of the year? I dont think so.

Susan Pendergrass is the director of research and education policy at the Show-Me Institute.
Regarding Schmitt says Valentine supports defunding the police. Valentine calls Schmitt a habitual liar.(Oct. 26): In my opinion, Trudy Busch Valentine has no chance to win. And no matter how you feel about Eric Schmitt, Valentine doesnt deserve support either.

I believe the beer heiress is as out of touch as she is indifferent. Shes spent her life among the oligarchical class that oppresses working Americans for profit. In putting her forth, the Missouri Democratic Party has announced to liberal Missourians that our interests will never take priority over their cash flow.

A vote for Valentines hopeless campaign isnt a vote against Schmitts wretched politics. Its simply an endorsement of the same milquetoast representation the state party has long been known for. Voters deserve better. For me, theres only one good choice for the Missouri Senate race: Leave it blank.

James Cooper  Kirkwood
Regarding the editorial Trumps self-dealing should spur reforms to prevent presidential pilfering (Oct. 23): My tax dollars were used to pay the Trump Organization for overcharging the Secret Service for rooms while agents protected Donald Trump. In my mind, that constitutes the crime of price gouging.
HAMILTON, Bermuda--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The Bermuda Business Development Agencys (BDA) first in-person Bermuda Tech Summit since 2019 was hailed a great success. The fourth annual Bermuda Tech Summit was presented by the BDA, in partnership with governments Economic Development Department (EDD) and FinTech industry association, NEXT Bermuda.

The immediate economic impact of this event at the Hamilton Princess Hotel from October 26-28, which had over 300 delegates (nearly 80 from overseas) including lodging, transportation, food and beverage, retail and recreation was estimated at $527,000 and supported 115 local jobs.

Fiona Beck, independent director and BDA board member, who led a conversation with SailGP at the Bermuda Tech Summit said, The BDA continues to inspire, and the energy from SailGP for Bermuda was exciting to see. They are true world leaders in innovation and sustainability for sailing and they describe Bermuda as a pinnacle location, both on and off water. We are fortunate to have such committed partners.

John Narraway, NEXT Bermuda, Founding Committee Member said, This years summit is a realisation of several years of focused and collaborative effort to build momentum in the technology and digital assets space. We are witnessing the growth of new jobs as our member companies scale-up their local operations, hiring experienced Bermudians transitioning from the traditional finance world to take on roles in areas such as compliance, risk management and human resources.

Denis PItcher, Chief FinTech Advisor, Government of Bermuda said, The BDA has done an outstanding job of pulling together an excellent, engaging and well attended Tech Summit despite the global downturn in traditional and digital asset markets. The attendance and feedback of the event confirms that FinTech continues to have strong momentum and growth ahead which matches the strong pipeline of digital asset business, insurers and funds that are looking to get licensed in Bermuda.

Dan Thomson, CMO, InsurAce said, We did not know what to expect from the Bermuda Tech Summit, but we have been blown away by the incredible hospitality and innovation shown by local government, businesses, and individuals. InsurAce has been looking for a regulatory framework that fits with our future vision and we are delighted to be exploring the opportunity to build our business in Bermuda. We cannot wait to come back.

David Hart, BDA CEO said, On behalf of the BDA, I want to thank our partners, sponsors, speakers and engaged guests for making this such an incredible Tech Summit that showcased Bermuda's dynamic and growing tech sector and innovation leadership.

Without the generous support of our sponsors: Hub Culture, RELM, Appleby, SailGP, Carey Olsen, Jewel Bank, Walkers, and Bittrex Global; as well as Apex, Blockchain Triangle, Bloktime, Clarien, Chainproof, Coinzoom, Global Policy House, Hive, and 24 Exchange, we could not put on this in-person event. Our spirits partner was Goslings.

Day ones keynote fireside chat with Bermudas Premier and Minister of Finance, The Hon. David Burt, JP, MP and Michael Casey, Chief Content Officer, CoinDesk, was followed by a regulatory panel, a crypto lending and yield products panel, a NEXT Bermuda case study, a digital banking panel and a funds panel. Day one was rounded off with a SailGP welcome reception on the Regency Terrace.

Day two began with a conversation with SailGP, and was followed by a digital identity panel, a capital formation in a bear market panel, conversation about Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT), a (re)Insurance reimagined panel, and concluded with a panel entitled: Is the Price Right for Trust and Liquidity?

The final day began with an ESG and DABs panel followed by a panel dealing with Out of this world infrastructure, a panel Building and Nurturing a Sustainable Tech Ecosystem, and a panel about cyber security and concluded with a discussion about the future of technology. The wrap party sponsored by RELM Insurance featured live music and signature cocktails at the picturesque Fort Hamilton.

The EDDs Tech Education Day and TechAwards will be held 31 October, following which Bermuda Tech Week 2022 will officially come to a close, Mr. Hart said. The BDA looks forward to building on our success and bringing back an even better event in November 2023.

NOTE TO EDITORS

Launched on June 10, 2022, NEXT is Bermudas first digital asset business industry association. At launch, NEXT Bermuda was comprised of 14 companies fully licensed and regulated by the Bermuda Monetary Authority, including: Apex Group, Bittrex Global, Blockfi, Blockchain Triangle, Blockwrk, Circle, CrossTower, Ensuro Re, Jewel Bank, NAYMS, Relm Insurance, Stablehouse, XBTO and 24 Exchange.

CONNECTING BUSINESS

The BDA encourages direct investment and helps companies start up, re-locate, or expand their operations in our premier jurisdiction. An independent, public-private partnership, we connect you to industry professionals, regulatory officials, and key contacts in the Bermuda government to assist domicile decisions.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221030005013/en/

Stuart Roberts, Director of Communications & PR

[email protected] | +1 441 292 7774

Source: Bermuda Business Development Agency
TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Ontarios lowest-paid education workers have given five days notice of a potential province-wide strike as they remain united in their fight for student success and good jobs.

Education workers central bargaining committee will be back in mediation with the Council of Trustees Associations (CTA) and the Ford government on Tuesday, November 1 and will continue to pressure the government to accept workers reasonable, affordable, and necessary proposals for better pay and service guarantees.

We served notice to bargain June 3, the day after the provincial election and the first day we could legally do so, said Laura Walton, educational assistant and president of CUPEs Ontario School Boards Council of Unions (OSBCU). We have been urging the Ford government to reach a deal with us for 150 days, but so far they keep saying no even though they could easily afford to say yes given their $2.1 billion surplus.

With kids being sent home from school because there arent enough staff available and so many education workers relying on foodbanks, its sad that were being told the pressure of a potential strike is needed to make the Ford government take our negotiations seriously, Walton remarked.

Its been five months since we said were ready to get a deal done and two months of students facing badly under-resourced schools this year, observed Walton. When will the Ford government stop with the cuts, quit stalling, and end their threats of anti-democratic legislation? Its time for Premier Ford and Minister Lecce to recognize whats at stake for students trying to learn in the schools theyve starved of funding.

On October 3, the results of education workers historic strike vote revealed that 45,433 out of 55,000 frontline CUPE education workers cast ballots, and 43,821  an overwhelming 96.5%  voted yes to send a strong message to the Ford government:

Education cuts are not acceptable.

More frontline staff are urgently needed in schools for students to succeed.

Its time for a significant pay increase.

Were here to get a negotiated agreement that responds to the needs of students and frontline workers, concluded Walton. No one wants to strike, least of all the lowest-paid education workers who can barely pay our bills. Still, we need a significant wage increase and we deserve it. Students and parents deserve guarantees of service levels and improved staffing in schools. Doug Ford is premier of Canadas richest province and he clearly has the power and resources to accept our reasonable, affordable, and absolutely necessary proposals. It would be popular and the right thing for him to do that today.

Quick Facts:

The School Boards Collective Bargaining Act requires that workers employed by school boards give five days notice before beginning a job action. Todays notice from education workers means a strike is possible starting on Friday, November 4 if the Ford government doesnt get a deal done.

Education workers are bargaining for guarantees of:

enough educational assistants so all students would get the supports they need and so schools could stop sending kids home because there isnt an EA available;

an early childhood educator in every kindergarten classroom so every four- and five-year-old would get the play-based learning support thats especially necessary now after two years of pandemic isolation;

enough library workers to make sure school libraries are open and reading opportunities are available to kids all the time;

enough custodians to keep schools clean and enough maintenance workers and tradespeople to begin to tackle the $16 billion repair backlog; and

adequate staffing of secretaries in school offices and enough lunchroom supervisors to keep students safe.

The Ford government cut education funding by at least $800 per student over its first term. With two million students in Ontarios schools, that amounted to a $1.6 billion cut in funding last year alone.

More than 70% of Ontarios 55,000 frontline education workers are women. More than half work at least one additional job to make ends meet and 60% are laid off every summer.

From 2012 to 2021, the lowest-paid education workers have already taken an 11% wage cut.

Workers wage proposal is an increase of $3.25 per hour each year in a three-year collective agreement. The Ford governments offer was just $0.33 to $0.53 an hour  the equivalent of the cost of less than one tank of gas per month.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221030005011/en/

Ken Marciniec

CUPE Communications

[email protected]

416-803-6066 (cell)

Source: Canadian Union of Public Employees
MADRID, Oct. 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Brussels has become alert to Algeria's moves to further strengthen its ties with Russia and Iran. According to a study by the Instituto Coordenadas de Gobernanza y Economia Aplicada based on sources in the European Parliament, a large group of MEPs have warned that Algeria continues to violate human rights, as well as revealing that the African country could provide the Polisario Front with Iranian drones, which could be used against Morocco, thus increasing geopolitical tension in the area.

In a question in the European Parliament, Spanish MEP Antonio Lopez-Isturiz (EPP) said that a representative of the Polisario Front claimed that Iran will supply drones to the Polisario Front and asked what measures the EU will take to prevent the use of these drones and the escalation of conflicts in the region, asking about measures to prevent Iran from entering the Sahara and Sahel regions.

The use of such equipment in Western Sahara poses a serious risk to the already fragile security and stability of the region and the Sahel. Iran's influence in the region poses a clear risk to the 1991 UN ceasefire agreement and jeopardises the peace process, the work of the UN mission in Western Sahara and the diplomatic efforts of the UN Secretary-General's personal envoy to establish new talks with the parties. Further instability in the Sahara and the Sahel will negatively affect European security, especially those in the Mediterranean arc.

The Coordinates Institute's analysis also warns of joint Russian-Algerian naval manoeuvres, with warships from both countries, in the Mediterranean, which the Algerian government confirmed earlier this week.

The manoeuvres are in addition to other military exercises carried out by both countries in the past, both in the Caucasus and in Siberia. The Algerian army and the Russian army are also scheduled to carry out manoeuvres in the desert of the North African country in November.

Several MEPs from the European People's Party have submitted a written question to the Commission on these joint military manoeuvres. In the wake of Putin's invasion of Ukraine and against a background of increasing insecurity in the Sahel and Sahara regions, this military collaboration, according to the parliamentary question, "is extremely worrying not only for peace and security, but also for the interests of the West and the European Union".

The assessment also includes the letter that a group of MEPs have sent to the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, in which they warn that the Algerian regime is systematically acting against human rights and basic freedoms by persecuting activists who demand freedom and transparency.

Coordenadas Vice-President believes that now is the time to call for intense political and diplomatic action by Europe in the conflict, with one voice. Failure to confront this geopolitical reality now will be a serious problem in the very near future.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/instituto-de-coordenadas-report-warns-of-geopolitical-tension-in-algeria-and-of-its-close-ties-with-putin-and-iran-301662467.html

SOURCE Instituto Coordenadas
If nothing wrong happened, there should be no problem with releasing the video. Its that simple  especially when the internal report has already been shared.

But no. In a disappointing failure by recently elected Sheriff John Garcia to provide information thats necessary for public transparency, The News has been forced to resort to a lawsuit to gain access to body camera footage of Corrections Officer Daniel Piwowarczyk kicking a handcuffed inmate in, or near, his head.

It should be noted that the Erie County Sheriffs Office also initially denied The News request, under New Yorks Freedom of Information Law, for the written internal report on this incident. It relented only after the newspaper appealed that equally disappointing decision.

Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and lawsuits are increasingly the only way to get critical information that the public needs in order to determine whether government officials, including police officers, are acting in the publics best interests. Its a disgrace and it shouldnt be necessary.

The Sheriffs Office is citing privacy as the reason not to release, with no apparent justification for doing so.

In this case, during a Feb. 23 incident at the Alden jail, Piwowarczyk was among a group of officers attempting to subdue handcuffed inmate Nathaniel Oyoyo, who had been caught with a homemade weapon. Piwowarczyk said the inmate had spit on him, but also claimed that his boot struck the inmates upper right shoulder, not his head. The Sheriffs Offices internal investigation team exonerated Piwowarczyk and the Erie County District Attorneys Office, which saw the footage, chose not to prosecute, saying it could not find a crime had been committed. Sheriffs Office rules allow the use of force to prevent injury to others.

All well and good  but in that case, theres no reason to suppress the video.

Given the unfortunate history under his predecessor of jail incidents where inmates were either harmed by officers or harmed themselves  sometimes fatally  wed think Garcia would want to release exonerating evidence to the public, in order to provide reassurance that the bad old days at Erie County lockups are gone for good.

Its also troubling that the new Office of Professional Standards that investigates possible wrongdoing by officers  and was instituted by Garcia  is led by Timothy Donovan, an official from the Sheriffs Office union, which provided key support to Garcia during his Republican primary.

Finally, New York open government laws are being flagrantly abused by this and other refusals by other governmental entities to respond to Freedom of Information requests in a timely manner. The News should not have to initiate a lawsuit.

The Sheriffs Office can put an end to this now by releasing the video.

  

Whats your opinion? Send it to us at lettertoeditor@buffnews.com. Letters should be a maximum of 300 words and must convey an opinion. The column does not print poetry, announcements of community events or thank you letters. A writer or household may appear only once every 30 days. All letters are subject to fact-checking and editing.
MILLINGTON, Tenn. (Tribune News Service)  The U.S. Navy is preparing to bring a Navy Week to Atlanta during the week of Oct. 31-Nov. 6.

Atlanta Navy Week brings sailors from across the fleet to the area to emphasize the importance of the Navy to Atlanta, the state of Georgia and the nation. The week will conclude with a two-day performance by the Navy Flight Demonstration Team, the Blue Angels, at the Atlanta Air Show.

Participating Navy organizations include Sailors from Naval Reserve Center Atlanta, USS Constitution, Office of Small Business Programs, Navy Talent Acquisition Group Atlanta, Naval History & Heritage Command, Navy Band Southeast, U.S. Naval Academy, Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2, U.S. Navy Ceremonial Guard, Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, Naval Meteorology Command, U.S. Navy Parachute Team, Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 72, Strike Fighter Squadron 11 and U.S. Fleet Forces.

More than 50 sailors will participate in education and community outreach events throughout the city and surrounding areas. All participating commands will follow DOD, CDC, state, and local guidelines for safety during the current pandemic.

The Navys senior executive host is Rear Adm. Alvin Holsey, commander, Navy Personnel Command/Deputy Chief of Naval Personnel. During Atlanta Navy Week, he will participate in community engagements and speak with local businesses, civic, education and government leaders.

Im honored to represent the Navy and happy to return to Fort Valley, Holsey said. This community shaped my life and prepared me for embarking on my naval career more than 34 years ago. Its a privilege to give back to this community, and all of Georgia, by providing an opportunity for all Georgians to learn more about their Navy.

Navy Weeks are a series of outreach events coordinated by the Navy Office of Community Outreach designed to give Americans an opportunity to learn about the Navy, its people, and its importance to national security and prosperity. Since 2005, the Navy Week program has served as the Navys flagship outreach effort into areas of the country without a significant Navy presence, providing the public a firsthand look at why the Navy matters to cities like Atlanta.

My journey started at Peach County High School, and I could not be prouder to be here representing the Navy and sharing how the Navy has profoundly impacted me, Holsey added.

Atlanta Navy Week is the final Navy Week of 2022, which brings a variety of assets, equipment, and personnel to a single city for a weeklong series of engagements designed to bring Americas Navy closer to the people it protects. Each year, the program reaches more than 140 million people  about half the U.S. population.

We are excited to bring the Navy Week program to Atlanta, NAVCOs director, Cmdr. Anthony Falvo, said. Seapower and Americas Navy are more important now than ever before. The U.S. Navy remains our nations most powerful instrument of military influence, and Navy Weeks allow us to showcase how the Navy serves America at sea, in the air and ashore.

(c)2022 The Albany Herald, Ga.

Visit at www.albanyherald.com
Vladimir Putin has faced setbacks on the battlefield in Ukraine, but he might be happy to hear of cracks in the relationship between French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

After a canceled summit and a not-quite-convincing handshake and working lunch, the two leaders are struggling to rekindle the magic of Franco-German unity. And there is barely concealed joy from some quarters that the European Unions policymaking engine is sputtering. French far-right leader Marine Le Pen tweeted: Macron constantly follows Germany, but Germany doesnt follow Emmanuel Macron.

Not to mention the told-you-so tone of those who deny the existence of such an engine in the first place. Skeptical commentators have cast the idea of a Paris-Berlin axis as a largely fictitious object, conjured by pro-Europeans as a way to mask Frances decline and Germanys rise since the turn of the millennium. Paris proposes, Berlin disposes.

We should be careful not to exaggerate the Macron-Scholz cold snap. France and Germany are at the heart of Europe, but they rarely beat in unison. Before the Iraq War, Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schroeder were frequently at odds. After the financial crisis, Greeces woes led to several showdowns between Angela Merkel and her French counterparts. And as recently as 2019, it looked like Macrons European integration plans would also founder on the rocks of opposition from Madame Nein.

But nor should we celebrate the wrinkles in the relationship. Agreement among the EUs 27 members is hard enough when its two biggest economies see eye-to-eye  consider the months of negotiation to make a plan for pandemic recovery funds a reality. When they dont, things can feel gridlocked, as they currently do in Brussels.

Pierre Sellal, former French ambassador to the EU, describes the relationship as necessary, not sentimental. Whenever France or Germany try to go against or around the other, it never ends well, he tells me.

A lot of the issues currently dividing the two countries are long-running ones: Germanys preference for a U.S. security umbrella over Frances preference for French-led or European projects, its energy model based on fossil fuels versus French nuclear, and a tendency to put its own trade interests above its allies  such as its agreement to sell a stake in a Hamburg port to Chinas Cosco Shipping Holdings Co.

But if these divides are flaring up now, its because Paris and some other capitals feel Berlin is failing to grasp the extent to which it has blundered strategically in so many areas. After having endured lectures from Germany throughout the euro-zone crisis, France and others might have felt schadenfreude at seeing its economy laid low by a dependence on Russian gas and Chinese exports.

And as a painful recession now looms, there is widespread angst over Germanys refusal to change its approach. Paris and its partners have for months been pushing Berlin to accept more joint borrowing as a way to cushion the energy blow. Yet the response from Germany has so far been to prioritize its own national plans, such as domestic aid of up to 200 billion euros ($200 billion) or preparing a trade visit to China.

The answer to these issues is not to write off the relationship itself as being anachronistic or broken. There arent any viable replacements for this European engine, even at a time when the center of gravity is shifting East. France has cultivated ties with the U.K. on defense matters and with Italy on economic matters, but coalition-building can only go so far.

France and its partners should keep prodding Germany in a less selfish direction, but Paris should also fixate less on Berlins problems and a little more on changing its approach. In the best Gaullist tradition, Macron has spread the gospel of strategic autonomy and geopolitical awakening, but talk of NATOs brain-death look especially mistaken today. Paris backing of nuclear energy has been a good choice, but one undermined by the industrial-policy failures of utility EDF. On issues from supporting Ukraine to domestic economic reforms, France can do more to lead by example.

And the two sides should work to understand each others limits. Scholz and his coalition are untested and hesitant, increasing the temptation to play to a domestic audience; Macron is bogged down in parliamentary gridlock at home, making Germany a tempting punching bag. The current discontent feels like more than a momentary blip, but France and Germany should also recognize this is not the time to give Putin reasons to be cheerful.

Lionel Laurent is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering digital currencies, the European Union and France. Previously, he was a reporter for Reuters and Forbes. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.
(Tribune News Service)  A young child is among five dead after a speed boat carrying Cubans collided with a Cuba Coast Guard vessel, Cuban authorities said. The Cubans were trying to make it to the United States when the Cuban Coast Guard vessel tried to stop it, and it turned over.

In a press release, the Ministry of the Interior, or MININT, the agency overseeing the Coast Guard, said the collision happened when the government vessel was identifying the boat carrying the migrants. One man, three women and a minor died, and 23 people were rescued, MININT said.

The statement, published Saturday, said the boat sank north of Bahia Honda, a coastal town west of Havana but did not mention when the events took place. It adds that the speedboat departed from U.S. territory, violated Cuban national waters and was part of a human trafficking operation. MININT also blamed the U.S. government for the incident.

A new event with a fatal outcome occurs as a consequence of the hostile and cruel policy of the United States government against Cuba, which tolerates and encourages illegal departures from Cuba by allowing irregular migrants to remain in its territory, the statement said.

The statement explicitly blames the Cuban Adjustment Act, a 1966 law allowing most Cuban migrants to get a green card quickly, for encouraging illegal migration. The elimination of this law has been, for years, a foreign policy objective of the Cuban government.

In this way, the U.S. government does not contribute to guaranteeing safe, orderly and regular emigration, while at the same time, it tries to create situations of social unrest, MININT said.

Cubas foreign minister, Bruno Rodriguez, echoed the accusations, tweeting that the U.S. government has undeniable responsibility in encouragement of irregular migration from Cuba and human smuggling.

The admission of those succeeding in the attempt; the Cuban Adjustment Act and the economic blockade incite irregular migration and prop up those who profiteer from human smuggling, he added.

The U.S. embassy in Havana referred to the event as an accident in a tweet in Spanish sending condolences to the families.

The United States sends our condolences to the families of the Cubans who died today in an accident north of Bahia Honda, the embassy said. As we expand safe and legal pathways for migration, we warn against attempting dangerous and sometimes fatal irregular migration.

But activists and critics of the government said the collision was not an accident but a killing, drawing a parallel with the fate of 41 Cubans, including 10 children, who drowned in July 1994 when two government vessels maneuvered to sink the boat carrying the migrants, according to the survivors testimonies.

While several years apart, the two incidents happened during a mass exodus of Cubans trying to reach the United States looking for better economic conditions and political liberties. The two governments have engaged in talks to discuss the ongoing migration crisis. In September, Cuban Coast Guard officials met with their American counterparts in Havana to discuss enhancing cooperation in combating illegal migration and drug trafficking and conducting search and rescue operations, the U.S. embassy in Havana said.

Activists were quick to point out that the U.S. Coast Guard had safely interdicted and returned to Cuba 6,182 Cuban migrants in fiscal year 2022 with no fatalities during the encounters. The U.S. Coast has sent back 1,105 Cubans in October.

2022 Miami Herald.

Visit miamiherald.com .
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea  The U.S. military command in South Korea offered its condolences after a deadly surge in a Seoul nightlife district Saturday evening killed at least 153 Halloween revelers and injured more than 130 others.

A crowd of mostly young people suddenly poured into a narrow, downhill alley in the Itaewon district of the nations capital, trapping and crushing many, South Korean emergency officials said at a televised news conference Sunday morning. The area attracted partygoers celebrating one of the biggest outdoor holiday weekends since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic more than two years ago.

At least 20 foreigners died in the crush, including individuals from China, Iran, Uzbekistan and Norway, emergency officials said. Two of the dead are U.S. citizens, the U.S. Embassy in Seoul confirmed in a statement Sunday.

U.S. Forces Korea by noon Sunday had reported no service members missing although a spokesman said units were still counting their personnel. About 28,500 U.S. service members, not including Defense Department civilian employees and families, are stationed in South Korea, most of them at Camp Humphreys, about 50 miles south of Seoul.

The U.S. Eighth Army postponed all remaining Halloween events Sunday and Monday at its bases in South Korea as the country mourns the dead from Saturday night, according to a post on the command's social media accounts. Those events included a haunted house on Sunday and trick-or-treat night Monday at Camp Humphreys.

USKF conducted a "safety and well-being" accountability recall of all personnel, spokesman Wesley Hayes said in an email Sunday morning to Stars and Stripes.

The commands thoughts are with everyone impacted by last nights tragic event in Seoul, especially with the families who have lost loved ones and those who were injured, according to a post on the USFK Twitter account.

The Itaewon community has opened its arms to us for many years and is part of the reason our alliance is so strong, the statement said. During this time of grief, we will be there for you just as you have been there for us.

Hayes said USFK military police were conducting a routine, courtesy patrol in the area with Korean National Police officers during the incident and assisted with crowd control and first aid.

The U.S. military has deep roots in Itaewon, an area of bars and clubs in Seoul that caters to younger crowds and foreigners. Yongsan Garrison, prior to 2017 the headquarters for USFK and the United Nations Command, is less than a mile from Itaewon. USFK maintains a small contingent at Yongsan but has since moved to Camp Humphreys and in 2019 began handing over the sprawling base to the South Korean government.

The South Korean government in April lifted many of the social-distancing restrictions and business curfews it enacted at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Large gatherings like the one Saturday night were prohibited under those restrictions. Approximately 100,000 people gathered in Itaewon for the biggest outdoor Halloween celebration since the pandemic began, Yonhap News reported, citing law enforcement officials.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, at a news briefing Sunday, said the disaster  should not have happened and declared a period of national mourning. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo in a separate briefing an hour later said the mourning period would extend through Saturday.

Yoon ordered an investigation into the incident and said the government would conduct urgent inspections into future public events so that they are conducted in an orderly and safe manner.

President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden sent their deepest condolences to the families who lost loved ones and that the United States stands with the Republic of Korea during this tragic time, according to a White House statement. The Republic of Korea is the official name for South Korea.

We grieve with the people of the Republic of Korea and send our best wishes for a quick recovery to all those who were injured, according to the statement Sunday.

U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Philip Goldberg in a pair of tweets described the incident as a tragic loss of life and said the U.S. flag at the embassy in Seoul will at half-staff out of sorrow and respect to the Korean people.

This catastrophe marks the worst loss of life from a single incident in South Korea since a ferry capsized off the southwestern coast in 2014, killing 304 people, the majority of them high school students.
ZWEIBRUCKEN, Germany  In October 1781, a French regiment with German-speaking troops helped defeat the British at Yorktown, Va., thus ending the American Revolutionary War and assuring the United States independence.

Descendants of those who fought in the war joined local officials Saturday to honor the regiment and the two brothers who led it by unveiling a plaque in their hometown of Zweibrucken, near Germanys western border with France.

We are very proud as the city of Zweibrucken that we are part of the history of the U.S.A., the citys mayor Marlod Wosnitza told roughly three dozen people who attended the unveiling. We have a long-standing partnership with this country.

The plaque  bestowed by the Daughters of the American Revolution, a lineage-based group whose members descend from people who supported the United States independence efforts over two centuries ago  is located on the site of Christian and Wilhelm von Zweibruckens former family home near the citys center.

Christian lead the regiment, known by its French name Regiment Royal Deux-Ponts, that his father Christian IV, the Duke of Zweibrucken, assembled. It included members from the Palatinate and Saarland regions of Germany and eastern parts of France. Wilhelm served as the colonel-en-second.

Roughly a year after arriving in North America, the regiment took part in the Battle of Yorktown, which proved to be the decisive engagement of the Revolution, forcing British troops to surrender and paving the way for the Treaty of Paris in 1783.

The Palatinate chapter of the DAR in Germany paid for the plaque and worked with local authorities and DAR officials in the U.S. for over two years to get it approved. Some members of the chapter live in the nearby Kaiserslautern Military Community, the largest U.S. military community overseas, and attended Saturdays event. American flags were given to attendees and a local band played songs, including The Star-Spangled Banner and Yankee Doodle. About two dozen other members living in Germany and France also attended.

This is a specific part of our common history: French, German and American, Catherine Armand, the regent of DARs Rochambeau chapter in France, who traveled to the event from Paris, told Stars and Stripes.

Mindy Kammeyer-Price, the former reporter general of DARs National Society, flew from Atlanta, Ga., to attend.

Being in this country with these women who still remember their heritage, its all really important, Kammeyer-Price said, adding that the new plaque should help others remember this piece of American, German and French history.

It really made a difference for us, the fact that these two brothers came to the United States and were part of this decisive battle, Kammeyer-Price said. To honor them like this is really wonderful.

Mayor Wosnitza pointed out parallels between the regiments 18th century efforts and the support the U.S. and Germany are providing Ukraine today, as it fights to repel invading Russian forces.

Ukraine is in a war fighting for their independence, Wosnitza told the crowd. [The] country has to be defended by their people and by us all.

The unveiling of the plaque, which has English, German and French wording, corresponds with an exhibition in German on Duke Christian IV at the Zweibrucken City Museum that runs until March and includes information about the Regiment Royal Deux-Ponts. Museum officials are encouraging Americans to visit.
As The News considered its endorsements in the three congressional races affecting Western New York, a troubling phenomenon occurred. Only one of the three Republicans seeking office accepted an invitation to speak with our editorial board.

The two who stayed away  Nicholas Langworthy, running in the new 23rd District, and Claudia Tenney, running in the new 24th  are both election deniers who sought and received the endorsement of former President Donald Trump. The candidate who did show up  Steven Sams, running an uphill race against Rep. Brian Higgins in the 26th District  acknowledged, if reluctantly, that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election.

It hardly seems a coincidence that the candidates who dont want to talk about their campaigns are those who, two years later, are still lying or dissembling about a stolen election. Add to that list Republican gubernatorial nominee Lee Zeldin, who ignored The News invitation to meet.

We note, for the record, that in endorsing one of Zeldins opponents in Junes primary, we wrote that Zeldins congressional vote to reject electors for Biden only hours after a violent and deadly insurrection was a disqualifier. Maybe he thought showing up wasnt worth his time. Still, if he truly believed what he did was right, he had the opportunity to make a better case than he did in spring  not just to our editorial board, but to the public. He didnt even try.

No candidate is obliged to meet with any editorial board, of course. But to do so signals respect for voters  and for democracy. The thread that links these candidates is their embrace of a lie that cuts into the heart of democracy.

For clarifying context, consider the coda of Steven Spielbergs World War II film Saving Private Ryan. In it, James Ryan, now an old man, unsteadily approaches the grave of the Army captain who was killed in Normandy, France, during a dangerous expedition to save him, him being a stand-in for all the rest of us  those saved by the bravery of the millions who fought. As Capt. John H. Miller lay dying, he had implored the young private to earn the desperate sacrifices that had been made on his behalf. On our behalf.

Every day, I think of what you said to me that day on the bridge the older Ryan murmurs to the white marble cross that marks Millers grave. I hope that, at least in your eyes, Ive earned what all of you have done for me.

Surely, that remains the obligation of all who continue to benefit from the deaths of more than 400,000 Americans, most of them young men who never had the chance to grow old. Its true that we dont all live up to that mandate every day, but to purposely mislead Americans about a stolen election  in support of an ex-president who instigated a violent attempt to subvert democracy  is to violate that injunction in an unforgiveable way. It doesnt earn the sacrifice of the veterans who, together, defeated a vicious autocracy. It sneers at it.

Langworthy, Tenney, Zeldin and all the other election deniers may want voters to see that gross betrayal as nothing more than politics as usual, but its nothing of the kind.

At least, it had better not be.

  

Whats your opinion? Send it to us at lettertoeditor@buffnews.com. Letters should be a maximum of 300 words and must convey an opinion. The column does not print poetry, announcements of community events or thank you letters. A writer or household may appear only once every 30 days. All letters are subject to fact-checking and editing.
Over several days this past week, Washington Post climate reporter Brady Dennis drove more than 400 miles in five states, from Memphis to Cairo, Ill., talking with people whose lives and livelihoods are inextricably linked to the Mississippi River and with people who had come to marvel at how drastically the ongoing drought has weakened it.

Historically low water levels have caused far-reaching concerns over yet another rupture in the international supply chain and what that could mean overseas and for typical Americans. The Mississippi, after all, is the nations aquatic superhighway, carrying roughly 60% of the nations corn and soybean exports south, and critical supplies such as fertilizer and fuel back north.

But along the Mississippi, the worries these days are more visceral and immediate.

A scorching summer has given way to a dusty and disquieting fall for those who depend on the river, with few signs of relief in sight. Drive through communities that line its banks, and you will encounter a mixture of faith, frustration, anxiety and acceptance  along with agreement that few can remember a time when the mighty river has been so weakened.

Here are some of their stories:

1. Finley, Tenn.  A blessing and a curse

Jeremiah Hollingsworth climbed down from the massive combine that had been rumbling across his familys 4,200 acres, harvesting soybeans on yet another bone-dry fall day.

He stood on the land his father and grandfather had farmed, steps from the earthen levee that overlooks the Mississippi. Hed seen the rivers waters swell many times, including in 2011, when the river inundated the farm and flooded an equipment garage and multiple family homes.

But now, a shrunken, drought-stricken river was forcing hard choices. Prices for his crops had fallen as the cost to transport them spiked. Local grain elevators had run out of capacity as they competed for space on the few barges headed south.

Its halting our progress drastically, he said.

For the first time, Hollingsworth had decided to store tens of thousands of bushels of beans in plastic containers. He would sell them weeks from now when, he hoped, he could get a better price and barges could again reliably navigate to New Orleans.

Waiting was risky, but then life along these banks always has been. Those who depend on it long ago learned to take the good with the bad, to have faith that better days lie ahead.

The river is a blessing and a curse, said Hollingsworth, 45. Every year has got its differences.

2. Wickliffe, Ky.  I can handle a flood

Down a long and winding dirt road sits a concrete boat ramp stretching 200 feet down an embankment. It doesnt look like much, but its an awfully important spot to Larry Barnes.

For decades, he and his employees at Barnes Marine Services have delivered groceries and other supplies to the barge crews traversing the river. These days, that job is proving more daunting than ever.

Over a 120-mile stretch of parched river, this is the one remaining boat access ramp from where he can reliably launch a 24-foot boat full of supplies. The other ramps that dot the banks are no longer long enough to reach the shrunken river.

The water isnt even up on them, he said. Its making it tougher to do what we do.

Barnes figures his business has fallen off about 15 percent over the past month as river traffic has stalled and dredging operations have closed the river in numerous places, leaving barges backed up with nowhere to go.

Like so many others, Barnes has carried on through his share of river flooding. He also remembers past droughts, in 1980, 1988 and 2012. This bout is as rough as any he can recall.

I can handle a flood better than I can handle a drought. I think everyone on the river will tell you that, he said. Its at a standstill right now.

But experience tells him that this scourge will pass.

Itll come and go, Barnes said. You keep plugging along. And have faith. And just pray that itll start raining.

3. Osceola, Ark.  $50 million is sitting here

In the fall, the heartlands economic engine is on full display along roads up and down the river, where flat, fertile land stretches toward the horizon. Mile after mile, against the backdrop of changing leaves, farmers are harvesting endless rows of golden soybeans and corn, their tractors enveloped by clouds of dust rising from the thirsty soil.

Massive trucks loaded with grains rumble along narrow country roads, heading toward the river and the grain elevators that purchase crops and send them south toward the Gulf of Mexico.

Only when you reach the rivers edge, at places like Poinsett Rice & Grains loading facility, do the immediate impacts of the drought become startling and unmistakable.

Probably close to $50 million is sitting here, said Jeff Worsham, the ports manager, as he stood high on a loading dock, looking out over the roughly 75 barges stranded in this small offshoot of the Mississippi.

Below, trucks heavy with soybeans from nearby farms continued to pull into the grain elevator complex. But Worsham has only so much room left to put the crops he buys from farmers these days.

With restrictions on how many barges can travel on the river at a time, as well as limits on how heavily each can be loaded, the logjam isnt likely to ease anytime soon. And higher transportation costs are sure to cut into his bottom line.

Worshams quandary in this one corner of the Mississippi is a microcosm of the struggle playing out again and again these days.

Ive been here 20 years, and weve never had this issue, Worsham said. Normally, high water is what causes us pain.

Two of the facilitys loading docks were out of commission on this day, the water too low for loading barges. Nearby, Worsham pointed to massive plastic grain bags, each stuffed with about 30,000 bushels - or about 30 truck loads - of soybeans. He can store the crops there for a while, but each day they sit brings more risk.

Its the first time weve ever done that, he said.

Worsham hopes its that last time, but he isnt so sure. The river seems to experience more violent fluctuations now than it did long ago, he said.

It rises fast and falls fast. It makes it difficult because you dont know what to expect, Worsham said. Its always been unpredictable, but it just seems like its more extreme than it used to be.

4. Cairo, Ill.  A river traffic jam

Standing at the tip of Fort Defiance State Park, at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, its impossible not to encounter history.

It was here that Ulysses S. Grant helped launch efforts to give the Union control of the Mississippi River during the Civil War. And before that, where Lewis and Clark set up camp, practicing navigation skills they would need on their journey west. And where, before any of them, Native Americans populated these and other fertile lands nearby.

On a recent morning, history of another kind was being made.

Barges were parked alongside the river banks as far as the eye could see. Their tug boats, with names such as Addi Belle and Miss Deborah and Harvest Maiden, sat idle in a way that tugs on the Mississippi rarely do.

Just down the river, Casey Showers was standing on a tug that had slowly worked its way north from Vicksburg, Miss. He has spent more than six years working on the vessels that travel the river, pushing barges through the heart of the country. But this most recent trip had startled him in a way few others had.

There was no traffic, said Showers, 29. A lot of people just arent moving.

Showers, a steersman, said even many of the old-timers he encounters say water levels are lower than they can remember. But stay on the river long enough, they tell him, and you will see everything.

The river does what she wants, Showers said, We just work with her.

5. Memphis  Its going to impact all of us

Tourists still flock to the gates of Graceland and the Stax Museum of American Soul Music. From the barbecue joints to the bustling, neon-studded bars of Beale Street, a sense of normalcy reigns in Tennessees second-largest city.

Its only by the waterfront that nothing seems quite normal. In recent days, water levels here hit historic lows. The citys famed riverboats, while still running, are docked far down a steep embankment usually covered by water. Gawkers come, cameras in hand, to snap photos of the withered river.

Its the worst Ive seen in my lifetime, said John Butler on a recent afternoon. Hes a fifth-generation farmer from West Tennessee but now runs a Memphis-based educational and research nonprofit, Agricenter International.

Even in the city, his thoughts are with farmers out in the countryside.

Its feast or famine when you farm along the river, he said, explaining that this year alone, farmers grappled with soaring fertilizer prices and crippling amounts of rain early in the year, followed by scorching summer heat and now drought.

When Butler looks out at the strangely quiet river, he thinks of the crops that arent making their way south, the supplies that arent coming north and the reverberations that have yet to come.

Its going to impact all of us, Butler said. Its really catastrophic.

Nearby, at the Memphis Yacht Club, a different kind of disaster is on display.

General manager Joe Weiss points to a nearby piling, where the high-water mark from the flood of 2011 is shown. Its more than 50 feet above where he now stands. Around him, more than 80 boats are parked in their slips, mired in mud, with little hope they will escape soon.

Some owners have called recently to ask Weiss if their boats are stuck on the river bottom. Youve been in the mud for two weeks, he tells them.

Weiss said the river typically would be about 35 feet deeper at the marina than it is now. But these days are anything but typical.

Its sad, he said, but its what we are dealing with.

6. Portageville, Mo.  Sunset on the desert

People these days have been flocking to a spot known as the Old Ferry Landing, where the road runs out. And who could blame them? Here, where the mighty Mississippi once stretched from tree line to tree line, you can walk out a half mile or more on the ancient river bottom, now just dust and rock.

On a recent evening, families arrive in minivans to see the surreal sight. Couples walk their dogs, dodging the bony carcasses of long-dead fish. Teenagers take selfies. All of them grasp for words to describe the indescribable scene of a fierce river all but vanished.

Its like a desert, said John Nelson, who came 40 miles. He and his wife were exploring long-submerged tree trunks and texting relatives photos of the spectacle. Im 66, and Ive never seen it this low.

David and Terry Finley were making their third trip from their home in Arkansas to the spot on a recent evening. Something keeps drawing them back  maybe the vast emptiness that feels so unfamiliar, or the realization they might never experience this again.

You see it at its most powerful, and now, at its weakest, Terry said, her arms filled with souvenirs of driftwood as the sun set purple and orange behind her.

In the distance, other explorers were walking the arid landscape where the powerful river had once flowed. They looked like ants in the distance, against the backdrop of the sprawling riverbed.

Its surreal and eerie at the same time, Terry said. It just makes you think how small we all are.
Tom Dignam (72) called Mr Devlin a scumbag who should be hounded at every opportunity and added that he was scum of the earth

A man who posted messages on Facebook about a company owner involved in the Strokestown evictions in Co Roscommon in 2018 has been found guilty of harassment.

Pensioner Tom Dignam (72) appeared at Letterkenny Circuit Court in County Donegal having posted a series of messages on his personal Facebook account.

The messages referred to Aidan Devlin, managing director of Trinity Asset Management Services which is based in Mulhuddart in Co Dublin.

Devlin was involved in the eviction after his company were hired by KBC Bank.

The bank had bought the 33 acre farm at Falsk from the receiver following a legal battle.

Farmer Michael Anthony McGann, who owned the farm, and his siblings David and Geraldine were removed from the property on foot of a possession order during highly-publicised and distressing scenes.

Dignam was alleged to have posted a number of messages referring to Devlin and his role in the incident.

He referred to him as 'Commander in chief' of the eviction, a statement Mr Devlin said couldn't be further from the truth.

Devlin reported the matter to Gardai and Dignam, of Dooish, Ballybofey, was arrested on November 20th.

Dignam was charged that between December 10th, 2019 and November 2nd, 2020, he harassed Aidan Devlin by persistently communicating with him by posting messages on Facebook.

Although Dignam was arraigned instead of answering 'guilty or not guilty', he instead said "I am innocent."

When addressed about the law and if he understood what was happening, Dignam told the court on 22 occasions that "I do not understand what is happening."

Judge John Aylmer said that from previous encounters with Dignam he did not accept this and he said he did not deem him an "unintelligent man.'

Dignam told Judge John Aylmer: I am a living man. You have no jurisdiction over a living man.

Judge Aylmer replied: We are all living, Mr Dignan; there is no-one dead here.

Witness Aidan Devlin told the court how he had been informed about four posts on Tom Dignam's Facebook page.

He said he had been initially "indifferent" to the messages, in one of which Dignam called him a "scumbag", as he wasn't on Facebook.

However, he said when his children noticed the posts and the level of 'vitriol' that followed he became concerned.

In another post Dignam called Mr Devlin a scumbag who should be hounded at every opportunity and added that he was scum of the earth

I felt very worried, Mr Devlin said. I considered it a direct threat to my own personal safety. I felt very disturbed. I interpreted it that violence against me or my family would visit my door.

"I was frightened for my children and became concerned for myself and my wife and siblings," he added.

Ms Patricia McLaughlin BL, Counsel for the State, said one of the messages had indicated that karma would prevail and another referred to Mr Devlin as the Commander in chief of the eviction.

Mr Devlin added that his company's role was to provide assistance to financial institutions, plaintiffs and the sheriff's offices around country with, among other things, the execution of possession orders over properties.

Detective Garda Shane Killeen of Castlerea Garda Station told the court he arrested Dignam on November 20th and took him to Letterkenny Garda Station.

He showed Dignam a number of messages from Facebook and the accused confirmed it was his profile picture with a picture of himself and his pet Rottweiler dog, Tyson.

He confirmed that he was the chairperson and PRO of the Common Law Information Centre, a group involved in helping people in their dealings with the banks as well as the law and their rights.

He said all he wanted to do was to expose the wrongdoing of Mr Devlin and others when they used people from the North whom he claimed were operating without a licence.

Dignam confirmed that he had posted about Mr Devlin so his neighbours and friends know what he is doing and to get onto him.

He added that his group did not condone violence against any other man or woman.

Asked if he wished any harm on Mr Devlin, the accused said he did not and he would let the law take care of it.

The accused was asked by Judge Aylmer if he wanted to ask any questions of the two witnesses and he again replied "I do not understand what is going on."

Through the two day trial, Judge Aylmer consistently asked Dignam if he understood what was happening as well as explaining the process of the trial but again the reply was the same.

The jury a jury of six women and five men retired and deliberated for one hour and 37 minutes before returning a verdict of guilty.

Judge Aylmer said he was adjourning the final sentencing until January next.

However, he instructed that he is not to communicate in any way, including electronically or through social media with the victim Mr Devlin.

He also told Dignam that he was not to come within one kilometre of Mr Devlin's home or his place of work for a period of ten years.

When asked again if he understood the order, Dignam once again responded that he did not understand.
It is suspected that associates of Kinahan cartel gangster Peader Keating ordered the botched hit from behind bars

The scene in Tallaght where James Nellie Walsh was shot

Gangland tensions in west Dublin are on the brink of breaking point this weekend after photos were circulated on social media of a criminal who is alleged to have set up the attempted murder of James Nellie Walsh.

It is suspected that associates of Kinahan cartel gangster Peader Keating ordered the botched hit from behind bars.

But while Keating is in jail, the Tallaght man aged in his 30s is on the streets and is now a major target for Nellies associates.

They say Walsh was lured there for a drugs deal but instead he got shot. This is not expected to be unavenged, said a source.

It is understood Walsh has since been disharged from hospital after suffering minor graze injuries in the Uzi machine-gun attack.

The shooting happened in Donomore Crescent in Tallaght on Tuesday evening.

The volatile hood is involved in a number of bitter disputes, including with Kinahan cartel foot soldiers.

One bloody feud between Nellie and the west Dublin gang ignited when Nellies rivals murdered Dean Johnson (21) in August of 2013.

When innocent Johnson was killed it emerged that he had earlier swapped coats with Walsh at a nearby bar and the hitmen mistook him for the criminal.

Five days later, the leader of the rival gang was shot dead in a revenge attack.

Jason Jay Carroll (39) was fatally shot once in the face and twice in the arm at his home at Cherrywood Drive, Clondalkin, in August 2013.

Following this, Nellies associates attempted to enlist five people to murder five of their rivals at the same time.

This did not happen and, soon after, two of Walshs friends  Darragh Nugent and a second man  were killed.

The scene in Tallaght where James Nellie Walsh was shot

Nellie Walsh, who was in Mountjoy Prison at the time, was livid at the murder of his friends  but the fact that he himself was living under severe threat of being murdered in jail meant there was little he could do in response.

At the time, he was almost three years into a 10-year jail sentence for a botched hit on the life of rival Michael Frazer.

During that attack in March 2014, Nellie Walsh shot himself in the leg while fleeing the scene.

Frazer was shot in the car park of the Church of the Transfiguration, Bawnogue Road, Clondalkin, Dublin, on March 26, 2014.

A known associate of Fat Freddie Thompson, he drove to a nearby Garda station to seek sanctuary but refused to co-operate in the investigation and refused to allow them access to medical records after being treated in hospital for two bullet wounds.

Walsh later pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to possession of a gun with intent to endanger life after the DPP agreed not to proceed with a charge of the attempted murder of Michael Frazer, 37.

His 10-year sentence was backdated to when he went into custody on December 5, 2014.

Last June, the High Court ruled that more than 92,000 in bank deposits and cash seized from a slain fitness instructor who was one of Walshs closes associates before his death were the proceeds of crime.

The funds were taken from John Gibson before his death five years ago.

The High Court ruled that the money was the proceeds of crime and found an application made by the Criminal Assets Bureau in respect of it was not statute-barred as a result of Gibsons death.

Gibson was shot dead as he sat in his car outside City West Shopping Centre in Dublin on September 18, 2017.
The Irish Republican Prisoner Supporters Group released a statement in June 2017 Dowdall had been kicked off the wing for being a criminal

Ex-Sinn Fein councillor Jonathan Dowdall had already been kicked off the republican wing at Portlaoise Prison for being a criminal years before his meeting with TD Eamon O Cuiv.

Dowdall and his father Patrick had just been jailed in 2017 for the water-board torture of a man they believe had tried to defraud them and began serving their sentences with republican prisoners who enjoy special privileges behind bars.

This came to an end, however, when the media highlighted how the Dowdalls had been allowed onto the E Block where there were about 40 inmates at the time.

The Irish Republican Prisoner Supporters Group released a statement in June 2017 confirming the men had been kicked off the wing.

Criminals Jonathan and Patrick Dowdall have been expelled from E1 Republican landing in Portlaoise Prison. Since news broke of their being placed on the landing it caused outrage within Republican circles.

Deputy Eamon O Cuiv

The statement said republican prisoners taken action to protect and safeguard the integrity of republican POWs and the republican struggle itself, although did not explain why the Dowdalls were allowed on the wing in the first place.

This week Deputy O Cuiv defended his visit to Jonathan Dowdall, who is now serving a new sentence for his role in the gangland murder of mobster David Byrne at the Regency Hotel in 2016.

The political row over the TD prison visit to ex-Sinn Fein councillor Dowdall in 2020 has cast a light on the special status paramilitary prisoner enjoy behind bars.

Deputy O Cuiv has continued to visit republican prisoners and has helped in negotiations over the refurbishment of the E Block, where the number of dissident republicans is now just 10, according to Sunday World sources.

The renovations centred around fire-safety and installing in-cell toilets in the wing which now has a reduced capacity of 70.

Because the work was being carried out by contractors, the prisoners had to be moved between landings as it progressed.

Sources say the republican inmates enjoy various privileges and contact with prison management is done through their appointed officer-in-command.

The senior men on the E Block are reported to be Edward McGrath and Mairtin Manning, a grandson of Dublin City Councillor, Christy Burke.

McGrath is one of three men on the wing serving life for their part in the murder of dissident republican Peter Butterly in March 2013, along with Kevin Braney and Sharif Kelly. Butterly was lured to a meeting and shot dead in car park of The Huntsman Inn in Gormanstown, Co. Meath.

Manning is serving a seven-year-sentence after his 2019 conviction for possessing four kilos of TNT and a live hand grenade.

 Speaking to Galway Bay FMs Keith Finnegan this week, Deputy O Cuiv said:

The work I do is mainly concentrated on the Republican movement and Republican prisoners and Ive been doing that work openly for years and I think there has been very good practical results from that work and one that in my view has saved a lot of lives.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin Mr Martin defended Mr O Cuiv, saying: His motivations have always been very honourable and that needs to be said.
The man in his 20s was arrested after the priest was stabbed at a house in Ardkeen, Waterford at around 9.30am on Sunday

A man has been arrested after a priest was stabbed at a house this morning.

The man in his 20s was arrested after the priest was stabbed at a house in Ardkeen, Waterford at around 9.30am on Sunday.

The priest is recovering in hospital for serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

A Garda spokesperson said: Gardai are investigating an assault that occurred in Ardkeen, Waterford, at approximately 9:30am this morning, Sunday 30th October 2022.

A man in his 30s was assaulted during the incident and taken to Waterford University Hospital to be treated for his injuries which are understood to be serious but non-life threatening.

A man in his 20s has been arrested in relation to this incident and is currently detained at Waterford Garda station under the provisions of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984. Investigations are ongoing.

The Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, Alphonsus Cullinan, said he was very shocked and hoped the priest would make a full recovery.

Bishop Cullinan added that he is also praying for the priest's chaplaincy colleagues, who would have also been affected by the incident. It's a huge shock, he said.

More to follow...
I didnt want to have any regrets in 10 years time about not having children because I hadnt met someone. Its everything Ive ever dreamed of... 

A single mum has said all her dreams have finally come true after giving birth to miracle IVF twins against all the odds.

Rachel McGuinness (35), who embarked on a solo fertility journey welcomed her twin daughters Rosie and Rhea into the world three weeks ago after using an anonymous sperm donor from a Greek clinic.

The determined childcare worker who lives in her family home in Kilbarrack, Dublin, refused to give up on her dream of having a family just because she hadnt met the one.

The doting mums bonny babies are even more miraculous due to Rachels own fertility struggles.

Despite being diagnosed with endometriosis, a condition that is associated with an increased risk of having difficulty becoming pregnant, and with just one functioning ovary, the Dubliner fell pregnant earlier this year.

Cradling her precious newborns, Rachel first opened up about her arduous journey towards motherhood in the Sunday World last July, where she revealed she was encouraged to go and have a one-night stand to conceive a baby.

Now Rachel is encouraging women to look beyond their relationship status if they are yearning to have a baby.

You shouldnt have to wait around for one ingredient, I didnt want to have any regrets in ten years about not having any children just because I hadnt met someone. I have always wanted to be a mam, for as far back as I can remember it has been a dream of mine and now I am.

My sister asked me, is it everything you have ever dreamed of? And to be honest it is. I still cant believe they are mine  these two tiny, perfect little humans are mine.

You cant even explain the love you have for them. You think you were in love before but then you have these two babies in front of you and you would do absolutely anything for them.

I am just staring at them every second of the day, every time I look at them my heart just melts.

I cant believe it is finally my turn having waited so long seeing friends and family having babies  now my babies are here.

Little darlings Rosie and Rhea

Bravely documenting her fertility journey on her Instagram account @donor_andme to stamp out residual stigma around solo parenting, Rachel who travelled to Greece for IVF (in-vitro fertilisation) treatment revealed: I started with an Irish clinic but it was constant delays and just waiting on phone-calls and a solid plan, I was so frustrated and I just couldnt wait any longer.

I decided to book a ticket to Greece in October of last year for a consultation and it was the best thing I ever did.

One of my tubes was blocked and I only had one working ovary which I had no idea of. I had to get a procedure to remove the blockage.

Despite the complications, Rachel travelled back to Greece in January and in March she received the news that she was pregnant with twins.

They only retrieved two eggs, which I was gutted about  all I thought was what if they dont make it?

When they were fertilised with the sperm, they were two Grade A eggs. I have always wanted twins and they told me there was a chance but I was ready to have my babies.

The worst thing was waiting if the embryos had made it. When I found out it had worked and I was having twins I just couldnt believe it.

Speaking of the astronomical costs that face women and couples seeking fertility treatment, the inspirational mum is calling on the Government to do more.

The donor in Greece is free and here it costs 3,000. A round of IVF cost me 3k and my scans were free too  in Ireland I paid 1,600 on scans alone.

The day I left the clinic my card wouldnt work and they just said, dont worry, just do a bank transfer when you get home.

If that was Ireland they would have told me to go back in and taken the embryos back.

As it stands, Ireland is the only country in the EU that does not offer assistance from the State when it comes to IVF services, a single cycle of IVF can cost between 7,000 and 10,000.

Supports for access to IVF treatment will be made available to women across Ireland for the first time as part of Budget 2023.

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly secured a multi-million euro funding for the phased introduction of publicly funded IVF which will be rolled out in September of next year, but Rachel says its not enough for people caught in the grips of the cost-of-living crisis.

The Budget has said it will cover some people for fertility treatments but there are so many hidden extras. A lot of countries do offer free IVF, this country is so backwards. A lot of people dont even have the option of IVF because of money worries.

I dont know how much longer I would have been able to go if the first round hadnt of worked.

I would have loved to have my own house and it just isnt even an option when you are single. You shouldnt have to weigh up getting a mortgage or having a baby.

I was worrying about room and my mam just said, Rachel, I probably slept in a drawer when I was younger, dont even worry about that.

But that was such a stress for me: where will we live and what will we do. I am so lucky to be able to be supported and live with my mam.

Despite more women conceiving as single parents, Rachel admits that there is still judgment on those who break societal norms.

Someone said to me, Because the donor is anonymous, what if they resent you or are upset that they cant trace their father?

It was asked in a very genuine way but I have so much support and such a huge family that adores them that they wont be missing out on anything.

The beaming mum has just one piece of advice for people looking to embark on their journey towards parenthood.

Just do it, the worst thing in this world is to have regrets. I remember someone asking me before what is your worst fear? And it was not having kids or not being able to. I would have died, it would have destroyed me. I was always that person with the baby on my hip.

Looking forward to the future as a family of three Rachel says: I cannot wait for Christmas Eve and to put them in matching babygros.

Last Christmas Eve, I was sitting on the sofa and I put a message out on Instagram, I hope that this time next year I have a baby. I have to pinch myself because my dream has finally come true.
High Priestess of the Morrigan Juztina from Luxe Theatre takes part in the Puca Festival in Trim, Co Meath. Picture: Julien Behal

Dublin Fire Brigade has warned of the possibility of catastrophic injuries as a result of using fireworks this Halloween.

Assistant Chief Fire Officer John Guilfoyle urged the public to be aware of the dangers of using illegal fireworks and asked people to celebrate the festivities in a safe manner.

Mr Guilfoyle said last year the fire service received over 400 calls over a six-hour period on Halloween night.

Halloween is traditionally our busiest night of the year, the biggest concentration of activity on Halloween evening concentrates from 6pm to just shortly after midnight, he told Independent.ie.

Looking over the data, in 2021 youd be looking at 400 calls over that six-hour period and the busiest hour of that year would have been from 6pm to 7pm where we received 91 calls.

It would have been 640 in 2020. It is notable that over a 10-year period, looking at the Halloween statistics, thankfully we are seeing an overall reduction in call volumes.

I do have to stress that the call volume on Halloween is far in excess of our normal call volumes and places a huge workload on our service.

In addition to that we would also be managing our normal workload and thats our fire and ambulance emergency calls which are received in the East Regional Control Centre thats located in our Tara Street headquarters.

The ERCC handles all the fire calls for the Leinster, Cavan and Monaghan area and we also process the 999 emergency calls for Dublin city and county.

We want people to be responsible on the evening, we want people to engage with organised events and we certainly dont want people to engage with any antisocial behavior.

Mr Guilfoyle said local authorities along with the gardai have been dismantling a number of stockpiles in the run up to Halloween.

We want to stress to people not to be using fireworks, we want to communicate the danger of fireworks, and this puts additional pressure on busy accident and emergency departments. Fireworks are illegal which means you cant be certain of any particular standard, he said.

They can detonate unexpectedly and cause anything from minor to severe burns to loss of limbs or sight, so they can be catastrophic injuries that dont have to happen.

If you are going to visit a bonfire, we would advise people to keep back from it and ensure your children are supervised. You also have no real idea what the contents of a bonfire are, and they could be giving off toxic fumes and smoke.

Mr Guilfoyle asked the public not to disrupt the emergency services while theyre carrying out their necessary duties.

In my experience in the service, Ive come across incidents where weve been shouted at, verbally abused, pushed, punched, stones and missiles thrown at fire engines and to be honest all of our crews going for duty on Halloween, it is at the back of our minds that I hope Im not going to be injured today, he said.

We would ask the public to please respect the emergency services, if we are arriving at an incident and we do have to take action, were taking that because either there is a threat to life, a threat to property or theres an environmental issue.
Ms Ni Sheaghdha said Ireland needs to train more nurses and put retention measures in place as a matter of urgency

Hospitals will be in a perilous state this winter unless there is meaningful intervention from the Government and the HSE, according to Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) General secretary Phil Ni Sheaghdha.

She was speaking as the INMOs trolley watch figures showed that a total of 10,679 patients admitted to hospital had to wait on trolleys during the month of October.

We count on a daily basis the number of people who are actually admitted, so these arent people waiting before they see somebody, theyre actually sick enough to be admitted, theyve been through all the emergency department waits and theyre out the other side, she told RTEs This Week programme on Radio One.

They have to be admitted to hospital but there are no beds for them, 393 of those this month were children under the age of 16, its very concerning. We used to not count children on trolleys because it wasnt a phenomenon up until 2018.

But since 2018, we have been counting and the numbers are getting higher so what that tells us is were still very reliant on hospitals for the provision of healthcare obviously and that isnt decreasing, its increasing.

So, therefore we have to look at the bed situation. The new childrens hospital, everybody keeps quoting it as being the cure, but the problem is there isnt going to be a huge amount of additional beds.

Plus, we know that there are 13 sites around the country who look after children, theyre reporting to us that theyre not satisfied that they have the appropriate nursing or medical staff with the skills they need to look after the children.

Ms Ni Sheaghdha said Ireland needs to train more nurses and put retention measures in place as a matter of urgency as healthcare staff are a scarce resource throughout the world.

We dont train enough nurses in this country in this special discipline, when we do, Great Ormond Street are here very quickly to recruit them from us and they succeed, so we keep making the same mistakes over and over again, she said.

We do a really good job when we train our medical staff, they work very hard in our Irish public hospitals and then theyre poached. That shouldnt be happening, we should be treating them better both in training and when they qualify because theyre extremely important right now.

Meanwhile Ms Ni Sheaghdha also called for reintroduction of mandatory face masks in public settings.

The most important issue is we have a crisis right now, the hospitals are overcrowded, people are waiting 15 or 16 hours in some cases, she said.

We need to go back to basics, if the number of people who are presenting with Covid to our hospitals is increasing, the number of people getting Covid because theyre in overcrowded hospitals is increasing, we need to start really calling it and saying look mask wearing is one very simple issue which prevents transmission, lets make it mandatory.

INMO trolley watch figures showed that a total of 10,679 patients admitted to hospital had to wait on trolleys during the month of October.

It said this is the second highest October on record.

The union noted this was a more than 25pc increase on the same period last year and more than double the figures for October 2020.

Some 393 of those without a hospital bed were children under the age of 16, which is the worst month for paediatric overcrowding on record, the INMO said.
OTTAWA  Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly are among the key signatories to an open letter decrying Iran's record on women's rights.

The letter, published in Sunday's New York Times, condemns Iran's violent crackdown on recent protests and calls for the country to be removed from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.

Former prime minister Kim Campbell and human rights activist and author Nazanin Afshin-Jam are the other Canadians on a list of "key signatures" to the letter.

Iran began a four-year term on the UN's status-of-women commission earlier this year.

The letter says Iran should have been disqualified for its long-standing, systemic oppression of women, as well as its recent brutality towards human-rights protesters.

Six weeks of protests in Iran were sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was arrested for allegedly failing to properly cover her hair and died in police custody.

For every day that Iran remains a member of the UN commission, the letter says, the body loses credibility.

The other member states of the commission have a duty to "uphold its mandate and defend the very values they claim to support," it says.

Canada is not a current member of the commission, but the United States is.

Among the biggest names to have lent their support are former U.S. presidential contender Hillary Clinton, former presidential spouses Michelle Obama and Laura Bush, author Gloria Steinam, philanthropist Oprah Winfrey and Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai.

Freeland and Joly aren't the only current politicians joining the call.

New Zealand's prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, is a signatory, though her country is not a current member of the commission.

The list also features the European Central Bank's president, Christine Lagarde, ex-Australian prime minister Julia Gillard and former presidents of Liberia and Lithuania.

Story continues

"Womenled protests across Iran have been met with extreme violence. And yet, Iranian women and girls, and their allies, bravely persist. We support their struggle for fundamental freedoms and call for an immediate end to state violence and the safe release of thousands of detained citizens," the letter reads.

"This is a critical moment for leaders in the international community to vocally and unequivocally demonstrate their support for womens rights by standing in solidarity with Iranian women and girls."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 30, 2022.

The Canadian Press
Its understood there are fears that an individual travelling on a passenger ferry may have gone overboard.

Emergency crews are responding to a major incident in Belfast Lough.

The operation, which involves Belfast Harbour Police and the Coastguard, is in the very early stages.

Its understood there are fears that an individual travelling on a passenger ferry may have gone overboard.

BREAKING: A major search operation is underway just outside Belfast Harbour after reports of a person overboard on a Stena Line ferry.



RNLI; Lagan Search and Rescue and Rescue 199 Helicopter from Scotland have been tasked. @BelTel pic.twitter.com/KEUHEMPf3J  Kevin Scott (@Kscott_94) October 29, 2022

Lagan Search and Rescue crews are also attending the scene.

A Rescue 199 helicopter has been tasked from Scotland to take part in the search.

More to follow.
The Government is supporting the transport sectors efforts to stabilise the public transport workforce with funding from Budget 2022 to help standardise base wages, Transport Minister Michael Wood has announced.

Our Government is committed to making it more affordable, easier and attractive for Kiwis to use public transport, so its crucial we have the drivers in place to get the system moving, says Wood.

Improving the conditions of drivers will make it easier to recruit and retain the workforce, allowing frequent and reliable bus services.

The minimum terms and conditions were developed through discussions between operators, public transport authorities and unions on how best to improve conditions in the industry and stabilise the workforce.

The $61 million allocated in Budget 22 will support the sector to standardise minimum base wage rates towards a target rate, as agreed by public transport authorities. The intention is work towards base rates of $30 per hour for urban services and $28 per hour for regional services. Public transport authorities and operators will be able to access a share of funding if they contribute to the wage increases, and continue to apply indexation wage rates in the future.

This will help the industry transition to standard terms and conditions for bus drivers, which currently vary widely throughout the country, says Wood.

In recognition of different pay and conditions currently across the system, public transport authorities will also have the option of providing funding to operators, according to market share, to offer a penal rate for work after 9pm of 1.2x, or a $30 split shift allowance. This will deliver a level of equality between operators and regions.

The improved driver terms and conditions will be supported by the Sustainable Public Transport Framework, announced in August, that prioritises fair and equitable treatment of employees, mode-shift and improved environmental and health outcomes, says Wood

We recognise the vital role that public transport has in our everyday lives and our economic and environmental future.

We are committed to supporting public transport and I am excited to see the great sector collaboration that has been instrumental in delivering improved terms and conditions across the country. We will continue to work with the sector to on meaningful solutions to support public transport," says Wood.

Waka Kotahi will engage with public transport authorities and bus operators to tailor the implementation of the standard to best suit their operational needs.

Key points:

Budget 22 provided $61 million to support improvements to wages and conditions for public transport bus drivers in tagged operating contingency over 4 years.

Better conditions on the way for bus drivers

The $61 million allocated in Budget 22 will be used to help standardise base wage rates, as we build towards an industry standard $30ph for urban services and $28ph for regional services.

To ensure equitable outcomes for PTAs, operators and employees, the funding can also be used to support the implementation of split shift allowances and penal rates for work after 9pm.

Waka Kotahi will work with public transport authorities and operators to support implementation in each region.
The piwauwau rock wren has won Bird of the Year 2022.

After a two-week voting period filled with creative campaigning, a kakapo controversy, and even a threat of legal action, the piwauwau has risen to the pinnacle of New Zealand avian achievement.

The piwauwau win proves New Zealanders love an underbird, says Forest & Bird Chief Executive Nicola Toki.

Its been awesome to see Kiwis get to know some of their lesser-known feathered neighbours and celebrate how awesome they are.

A vote for piwauwau is a vote for climate action. As Aotearoas only true alpine bird, these tiny wrens are already feeling the impacts of warmer temperatures, which allow predators like rats and stoats to climb higher and invade their mountaintop homes.

The piwauwau received 2,894 number one votes  around 450 fewer than the korora. But once the transferable votes were applied, the piwauwau ultimately rocked the top spot.

"Were so happy piwauwau are finally having their time in the spotlight," says Stephen Day, who led the piwauwau campaign alongside Lauren Schaer and the team at Herenga a Nuku, the Outdoor Access Commission.

"Unless youd spent some time in the mountains, youd probably never heard of a rock wren until two weeks ago. Its a true underbird.



"The team here have enjoyed getting a bit silly with the memes and, of course, the rap video Wrenegade!



"Its so worth the trip to see piwauwau in the Southern Alps. They are tiny birds, chock full of character, and like so many other species, theyre threatened by pests and climate change."



The piwauwau is a cute little olive bird with a stubby tail and long legs, weighing about the same as a Mallowpuff. They have feet resembling snowshoes, with long talons like crampons for gripping onto rocks and snow. Rock wrens live above the bushline in the Southern Alps, bobbing and hopping between rocks rather than flying.



They are classified as nationally endangered and are threatened by introduced predators such as stoats, mice and rats which raid their nests. Rock wrens are one of two surviving species (along with titipounamu riflemen) from an ancient wren lineage unique to New Zealand.

Its been awesome to see enthusiasm for our native birdlife shine during these past two weeks, says Bird of the Year spokes-human Ellen Rykers.

Were stoked to see our hidden gem underbirds got some recognition! The underbirds received the biggest proportional increase in number one votes compared to 2021.

In addition to the piwauwau win, another underbird, the puteketeke Australasian crested grebe, cracked the top 10.

The voting closed at 5pm on Sunday, October 30 with 51,856 verified votes cast. Forest & Bird thanks our wonderful volunteer campaign managers and everyone who got involved in the Bird of the Year fun.
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Goat Industries Ltd.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 27, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Goat Industries Ltd. (the Company or GOAT) (CSE: GOAT) is pleased to announce that further to the Companys press releases dated September 14, 2022 and September 29, 2022, the Company has completed its acquisition (the Transaction) of 1000288601 Ontario Inc. (Ontario Co). In consideration for the transaction, the Company has issued 45,000,000 common shares at a deemed price of $0.025 per share (the Consideration Shares) to the existing shareholders of Ontario Co (the Shareholders).



With the acquisition, GOAT now controls a license for use of lithium solvent extraction technology (the Technology) in Canada from Australia-based Ekosolve Ltd. (Ekosolve).

The Technology is the culmination of four years of research and development by the faculty at the University of Melbournes Chemical Engineering Department. The Technology is positioned as a more cost-effective extraction technology than fractional crystallization, membrane filtering, MOFs, adsorption, reverse osmosis, and ion exchange.

GOAT intends on leveraging the license for the Technology to pursue commercial relationships with prospectors, explorers and producers in the lithium brine sector.

The Technology is expected to efficiently manage the processing of lithium brines to produce lithium chloride or lithium carbonate with a grade higher than 99.5% and a recovery of more than 95%.

One of the key advantages of the Technology is the high rate of lithium yield targeting, which in some instances has been shown to be over 95%. Operating costs have also been shown to be reduced by more than 90%, as much of the solvent is reclaimed. Other systems, such as adsorption traditionally achieve between 72-80% yield, fractional crystallization of 50-70%, and ion exchange up to 80%. Further, evaporation ponds are not required, which the Company believes will provide an eco-friendlier solution than traditional extraction processes.

Story continues

The license to the Technology is currently held by Ontario Co, and entitles Ontario Co to utilize the Technology within Canada on a non-exclusive basis for a period of twenty years. With the consent of Ekosolve, Ontario Co may also sublicense the Technology to third-parties. In consideration for the license, Ontario Co is required to pay an ongoing fee of five percent of the net sales of lithium chloride or lithium carbonate produced and sold utilizing the Technology.

The Transaction was completed pursuant to a share purchase agreement entered into amongst the Company, Ontario Co and the Shareholders dated October 24, 2022. The Company is at arm's length from Ontario Co and the Shareholders. The acquisition of Ontario Co neither constitutes a fundamental change, nor a change of business for the Company, nor has it resulted in a change of control of the Company within the meaning of applicable securities laws and the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange. No finders' fees or commissions were payable in connection with the acquisition of Ontario Co.

ABOUT GOAT INDUSTRIES

GOAT Industries is an investment issuer focused on investing in high-potential companies operating across a variety of sectors. The paramount goal of the Company will be to generate maximum returns from its investments.

The Companys final prospectus, financial statements and management's discussion and analysis, among other documents, are all available on its profile page on SEDAR at www.sedar.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.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of such statements under applicable securities law. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "anticipates", "plan", "continue", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "potential", "proposed", "positioned" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. The Company has provided the forward-looking statements in reliance on assumptions that it believes are reasonable at this time. All such forward-looking statements involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties (including those risk factors identified in the Companys prospectus dated February 15, 2022), certain of which are beyond the Companys control. Such risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, the Technology; expectations relating to the use of the Technology by the Company; the anticipated advantages of the Technology; and the benefits of the Technology over traditional lithium extraction processes. The reader is cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of the forward-looking statements may prove to be incorrect and the actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. Accordingly, no assurances can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do, what benefits, including the amount of proceeds, the Company will derive therefrom. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. The Company is under no obligation, 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 expressly required by applicable law.

CONTACT INFORMATION

GOAT Industries Ltd.

Investor Relations

Email: alex@goatindustries.co

Phone: 604-687-2038




COMMUTER BHPian



Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: India Posts: 531 Thanked: 928 Times

View My Garage





Re: Confused | Electric vs Petrol scooter I recently bought an Yamaha Aerox. We have a Honda Cliq in our native place too. I have completely ignored the battery bikes. If you are considering battery bikes, you should buy a high end bicycle. I have been cycling in a simple folding bike(Dahon SUV D6) for 40+ km a day with ease. It would appear impossible at first but will become a cakewalk in a few months after we start cycling. Health will be a massive bonus too when we cycle. These battery bikes can't match what a good bicycle does in what ever their propagandists pout about the battery bikes being capable of. They are extremely flimsy. Their range is fake and fickle, massively affected by the temperature and speed. The limitation of being unable to get topped up immediately is an insurmountable let off.



The supply of fuel in our country had been fully stable compare to the pathetically unstable nature of power supply which again favours the regular scooters. The fake cost calculations are temporary because these battery bikes are not taxed and electricity is heavily subsidised. Once the road tax and the electricity Tax kick in, as opposed to the current subsidy, their etherial advantage in cost disparity will be easily seen through and get even more adverse.



I too was looking for a used scooter under 3 years, 50k km mark. I too was shocked to find them selling for 70+k too. You yourself have seen the used scooter selling for 70k, would you be able to consider buying a used battery bike for even 50k? No,

These batteries will cost more than what a second hand scooter costs and will require replacement if one is confused enough to buy a used battery bike.



The drop in Fuel economy of regular scooters over a decade or even two will be negligible compared to the degradation of batteries in a battery bike.



Buy a petrol scooter or a bicycle. Battery bikes are a fad and can be ignored completely inspite of what their sales bots scream out through what they plant in media. Last edited by COMMUTER : 31st October 2022 at 07:07 .
Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, a Mubadala Health partner, has adopted the ARTIS Icono, the most advanced stroke interventional system in the region incorporating 2D and 3D imaging with artificial intelligence.

It is a potentially life-changing innovation that is now being made available for patients in the UAE who suffer from stroke, a serious condition caused by a blood clot in the brain.

With victims of ischemic stroke, the most common type of stroke, timing is crucial, said Dr Khalil Zahra, Chief of Neuro-interventional Surgery in the Neurological Institute of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. Minutes count. Typically, we aim for a maximum of about six hours from symptom onset to perform what is called a neuro-thrombectomy, a procedure that dissolves the clot in a patients brain. This new system makes that process much faster and more precise, which will save lives.

Process transformation

In traditional stroke intervention, the patient begins with a CT scan, and surgeons review imaging manually before operating to dissolve the blood clot. The ARTIS Icono transforms this process using artificial intelligence to deliver unparalleled image quality and reconstruction in real-time. Surgeons can skip a CT scan and begin treatment immediately. This saves precious time, gives surgeons far better visibility, and exposes the patient to less harmful radiation.

According to the World Health Organisation, one in four people run the risk of having a stroke in their lifetime. In the UAE, about 25% of UAE adults have hypertension, which puts our population at greater risk of having a stroke, said Dr Zahra. Here, stroke is the leading cause of disability and the third leading cause of death. It has never been more crucial to have the most innovative technology available for treating patients. This highly sophisticated system will ultimately help us give stroke victims the finest care in the world and the best possible chance of recovery.

The ARTIS Icono is only one of many technological innovations that Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, recently ranked the top smart hospital in the region by Newsweek, is using to bring patient care into the future.

Full range

The new system will be housed at the Neurological Institutes Neurovascular Medicine Programme and Stroke Centre at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, which offers a full range of the latest diagnostic and treatment options for patients with stroke and other cerebrovascular conditions.

In honour of World Stroke Day on October 29, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi encouraged the community to learn the signs of stroke using the acronym F.A.S.T.  because minutes can save lives: Face drooping, Arm weakness, Speech difficulty and Time to call 998.

Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi has been the designated stroke centre for Abu Dhabi since receiving its official designation by the Department of Health  Abu Dhabi in 2015. Their surgeons have conducted more than 500 thrombectomies in the last seven years.-- TradeArabia News Service
Pooyan Arab, director of Saskatoon Iranian Cultural Association and one of the organizers of the March in Saskatoon, says the worldwide protests put pressure on Iran's regime. (Trevor Bothorel/Radio-Canada - image credit)

Hundreds of people in Saskatoon joined other demonstrations around the world to march in solidarity with anti-government protests in Iran.

Pooyan Arab, the director of Saskatoon Iranian Cultural Association and one of the organizers of the March in Saskatoon, said people are fed up with the Iranian regime.

Trevor Bothorel/Radio-Canada

"The sequence of events that has been going on has turned even those who were a bit more cautious with the situation, to voice out their concerns, to be on the streets," Arab said.

"They're tired of just putting up with what is happening in Iran."

Saskatoon's march began at the top of University Bridge and made its way downtown to city hall.

"People are asking for some action and for some change, which is heartwarming for us," Arab said.

Trevor Bothorel/Radio-Canada

Saturday's marches marked more than six weeks of continued protests since 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in Iranian custody after being detained by morality police who took issue with how loosely she was supposedly wearing her hijab.

Police in Iran, who have enforced strict dress codes since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, have said her death was the result of a heart attack.

But many remain adamant Amini was murdered.

A number of city officials, including Mayor Charlie Clark, joined the march in Saskatoon.

"I know that you've been out and standing in solidarity with the people of Iran, with Mahsa Amini, with the very courageous protesters for many weeks and I'm very glad to be able to join with you today," Clark told the crowd.

Trevor Bothorel/Radio-Canada

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke at the protest in Ottawa, telling the crowd he and other Canadians stood with the protesters in Iran.

"They are not forgotten. Their voices are being heard," Trudeau said.

The biggest applause for the prime minister came when he discussed Iranians in Canada "who have benefited from the corrupt, from the horrific regime in Iran," saying "no more" would Canada be a safe haven.

Canada has moved to bar thousands of members of the Iranian regime and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from entering Canada.

Story continues

The events were organized by the Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims.

On Jan. 8, 2020, 176 people, including 55 Canadian citizens, were killed when Iran's Revolutionary Guard shot down the Ukrainian airliner.

On Saturday the head of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards warned protesters it would be their last day of taking to the streets.

Trevor Bothorel/Radio-Canada

Arab said a similar statement was made during protests a decade ago and it was followed up with a deadly crackdown.

"The next day protesters were shot from the rooftops by snipers," he said. "So we have had this experience before and I'm extremely worried about the turn of events and how this will proceed."

Protests around Amini's death at first focused on the state-mandated hijab, or head scarf for women.

But it quickly grew to call for the downfall of the Iran's theocracy.

Arab said the worldwide protests are meant to highlight what is happening in Iran.

"[It's] putting the spotlight and mounting pressure on the Iranian government to stop killing protesters and I think that attention has a big role to play in achieving that goal."
Senator Amy Klobuchar, a key Democratic voice on tech regulation, said she advocated for legislation that would deprive tech corporations of legal protection when they "amplify" hate speech or electoral hoaxes.

This follows the recent news circulating about Elon Musk, his takeover of Twitter, and his stance on free speech.

The Minnesota senator made it clear during an interview that she does not trust Musk to oversee the operation of the social media site, Bloomberg reported.

Read Also: Possible UK Enforcement Orders Against Four Tech Firms Might Be Implemented! Here's What ICO Shared

Depriving Tech Giants of Legal Immunity

On NBC's "Meet the Press" program, aired on Sunday, Oct. 30, Sen. Klobuchar remarked that digital giants are "making money off of this violence." The legislator was referring to the disturbing and brutal assault on 82-year-old Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Sen. Klobuchar is head of the Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee and author of antitrust legislation that targeted large tech corporations. She has argued that Congress should revoke the protection it provided to online platforms in 1996 for the information posted by third parties.

She stated that she would lower these companies' immunity in a manner that would enable people to go after them when they are earning profit from the amplification of electoral hoaxes and hate speech.

The senator went on to say that members of Congress from both parties have shown an interest in modifying this kind to the immunity clause. The mentioned clause was included in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996.

Klobuchar on Musk-Twitter Saga

The Musk-Twitter story has been making the rounds, and it was one of the subjects mentioned throughout the NBC program.

When Sen. Klobuchar was asked whether she trusted Musk to manage Twitter, which he had purchased recently, she said, "No, I do not."

WATCH: @SenAmyKlobuchar (D-Minn.) says tech companies are making money off of us. They are making money off of this violence."@chucktodd: "Now that Elon Musk runs Twitter, do you trust him?"



Klobuchar: "No, I do not." pic.twitter.com/GZK226g0QC  Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) October 30, 2022

Reportedly, Musk has stated that political figures like former President Donald Trump should be given more leeway before they are permanently banned from Twitter for their tweets.

According to Bloomberg, he has put off reinstating access to the site for those individuals who have been banned for engaging in hate speech, bullying, or disseminating election disinformation while the firm is in the process of setting up a content moderation board.

While Klobuchar acknowledged that Musk's support for establishing the said moderation board is "one good sign," she continued to express her concern.

"I think you have to have some content moderation. Because when you look at what this guy [Musk] was looking at, he was looking at just horrendous things you don't even want to talk about on your show," said the Senator during the interview.

"He was posting anti-Semitic tropes. He was showing memes that showed violence and all of this [election-denying,] pro-Trump, MAGA crowd rhetoric. That's what we're dealing with here."

Related Article: Elon Musk's Twitter Free Speech Approach Might Not Work Because of One EU Law

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Trisha Kae Andrada

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
BELLEVILLE  Maybe they do exist, maybe they don't.

But this village that straddles the Dane and Green county line sure has gotten its kicks out of little green men and silver saucers over the past 35 years.

Under a cloudless, object-free sky that soaked Belleville in sunshine, UFO Day brought more than 2,000 people to West Main Street on Saturday for a nearly 40-unit parade that paid its respects to the unknown.

There were aliens riding floats, some on UTVs, and others walking. One was hoisted high by a front-end loader, while another drove a John Deere tractor.

Kentucky, a 5-year-old miniature pony, had in its saddle a 2-foot-tall inflatable being that wore a T-shirt proclaiming: "I don't believe in humans." The unlikely duo were led down the street by Carol Rankin, 19, a member of the Belleville Busy Beavers 4-H Club, which had a float dedicated to the movie "Cowboys & Aliens."

Rankin is open to the possibility that UFOs, aliens and other planets with intelligent life may exist.

"I mean, why not believe," Rankin said. "Not everything in life is rational or explainable. Sometimes it just makes sense."

And that's the attitude this community of around 2,500 people along the Sugar River has taken since 1987. That's when several people, including local law enforcement, observed mysterious lights in the January sky just west of the village. Investigators were later brought in, media descended and an all-out frenzy ensued in this community.

And as Wisconsinites tend to do, a festival was born later that year as a way to celebrate something that could not be explained but has served as a good excuse to down hot dogs, BBQ sandwiches, bags of kettle corn and stacks of pancakes at the local bowling alley during an all-you-can-eat breakfast.

Other attractions at Saturday's one-day event included a marketplace in Library Park, craft sale in the Sugar River Senior Center and a brat stand sponsored by Primrose Lutheran Church. A 5K run attracted more than 200 participants, according to Angie Markhardt, director of the senior center.

"We must throw a good party because people keep coming back," said Markhardt, who was a junior at Belleville High School when the strange lights appeared. "We spent a lot of weekends looking for them."

The day ended with a dance and costume contest at Sugar River Lanes, but at 10 a.m., some of the youngest residents of the community gathered in the community room of the library to hear alien-themed stories from Jaclyn Berg. She had a table filled with books like "Aliens get the Sniffles Too," "Gurple and Preen," "Bloop" and "The Stray." Berg's first story was from Claire Freedman's book "Aliens Love Underpants," which brought high-pitched giggles from the squirmy crowd.

"Aliens love underpants, in every shape and size, but there are no underpants in space, so here's a big surprise," Berg read. "When underpants go missing, the aliens are to blame."

Well, that's as good of an explanation as any, right?

Belleville is not alone in its celebration of the unknown.

In the Fond du Lac County community of Dundee, Benson's Holiday Hide-a-Way, a bar located on the northern edge of Long Lake in the Northern Kettle Moraine State Forest, has been a UFO-infused destination since the 1980s when the owner of the bar observed a circular object hovering near his neighbors farm that kept frightening the cows out of the pasture. Another neighbor witnessed the event from his car while driving down the road.

Benson made the tale into legend and adorned his establishment with alien posters, models of UFOs, tinfoil hats and inflatable little green men.

Manitowoc has had Sputnikfest for decades after a piece of a Soviet satellite crashed in 1962 just north of the city's downtown, while Elmwood in northwestern Wisconsin has its own designated landing site and has had its own UFO festival since 1978 after a series of sightings in the Pierce County community located along the Eau Galle River.

National scene

This has also has been a good month for UFO news.

The New York Times reported on Friday that government officials believe surveillance operations by "foreign powers and weather balloons or other airborne clutter" may explain recent incidents of UFO reports. And on Monday, the story says, intelligence agencies are scheduled to deliver a classified document to Congress updating a report made public last year that said nearly all of the incidents remain unexplained. The original document looked at 144 incidents between 2004 and 2021 that were reported by U.S. government sources, mostly American military personnel, the Times reported.

Meanwhile, NASA has selected 16 people to take part in its independent study team on unidentified aerial phenomena or UAP. The nine-month independent project, which began Oct. 24, will lay the groundwork for future study on the nature of UAPs for NASA and other organizations. The team will identify how unclassified data gathered by civilian government entities, commercial data, and data from other sources can potentially be analyzed to shed light on UAPs. It will then recommend a roadmap for potential UAP data analysis by the agency going forward.

A full report containing the teams findings will be released to the public in mid-2023, according to a NASA press release.

Exploring the unknown in space and the atmosphere is at the heart of who we are at NASA, said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Understanding the data we have surrounding unidentified aerial phenomena is critical to helping us draw scientific conclusions about what is happening in our skies. Data is the language of scientists and makes the unexplainable, explainable.

Buying in

Back in Belleville, the believers were out in force Saturday.

Mike Treder, 37, drove his 1982 DeLorean in the parade. The car was retrofitted by Bob's Prop Shop in Dallas, Texas, to mimic the car from "Back to the Future." It included working time clocks, an array of lights, tubes and even a Flux Capacitor. As for UFOs?

"I guess if I can't identify something, it's unidentified as a flying object," said Treder, a software developer at Epic Systems Corp. in Verona.

Gary Anderson was more certain. The Milton area man was attending his first UFO Day, but brought with him Simon Galaxy III, a 5-foot-tall steel alien he had made a few years ago. The head was made from a propane tank, and the body from an air compressor tank. A series of welded pipes also helped to create the 200-pound being that stood sentry outside the Woods of Baladou, a shop in a former car dealership on West Main Street that now sells custom wooden tables and gifts and offers classes and gallery space.

"I've always loved aliens," Anderson said. "The universe goes on forever, so there has to be other people."
[Pick] I took care of you all my life... Son in his 40s who murdered his mother for nagging him
Its the night of the election. Polls have been closed for hours. Why dont Americans know the winners?

In 2020, President Donald Trump proclaimed that the lack of final results on election night could be an indicator of something nefarious and used it to assert without evidence that the election was stolen: We dont want them to find any more ballots at 4 oclock in the morning and add them to the list, he said.

In reality, however, results released on election night are unofficial and always incomplete. They inevitably change as more ballots are counted.

Unlike in many countries, elections in the U.S. are highly decentralized, complex and feature long lists of races, from president and Congress all the way down to local measures and town council seats. Some states give local election offices several weeks before Election Day to process mailed ballots, including checking signatures and verifying ID information. In other states, that process can't start until Election Day or shortly before, meaning those ballots might not get counted until the next day or even later.

Heres why results are not always known the night of an election.

SHOULD WE KNOW THE WINNERS BEFORE GOING TO BED?

Republicans in particular have pointed to perceived delays in knowing results as a reason to be suspicious about the integrity of elections.

Weve got to get our elections reformed so that every Arizonan, whether they be Democrat, Independent, or Republican, when they go to bed on Election Night they know the winner and theyre satisfied that it was a fair election. We dont have that right now, Kari Lake, the Trump-endorsed Republican candidate for governor in Arizona, said in August on Twitter.

Not knowing the winner on election night says nothing about the fairness of an election or the accuracy of results. Under Arizona law, all ballots including those that were mailed must be returned by 7 p.m. on Election Day, but officials have 20 days to finalize their counts.

In Nevada, counties have four days to count late-arriving mailed ballots and give voters two more days to fix mailed ballots that arrive in envelopes with errors or missing information. This week, the elections official in the county that includes Reno reminded voters of that extended timeline and said final, official results are unlikely until the actual canvass of the vote on Nov. 18.

It will definitely be more than the day after the election for final results of the election," said Jamie Rodriguez, Washoe County's interim registrar of voters.

WHY CAN'T WE BE LIKE FRANCE?

A close Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania last May triggered comparisons to the French presidential election, which had been held a few weeks earlier.

Trump, in a social media post two days after the Pennsylvania primary, questioned why it was taking so long to find out the winner: France, same day all paper, had VERIFIED numbers in evening, Trump wrote. U.S. is a laughing stock on Elections.

But in France there was only one contest on the ballot. Presidential and parliamentary elections are held on separate dates. In Pennsylvania, the U.S. Senate GOP primary was just one of several contests being decided, including races for governor, attorney general, Congress and state legislature.

U.S. elections also are not nationalized, but rather overseen by states and run by local officials at the county or even township level. The U.S. has some 10,000 jurisdictions charged with overseeing the voting process.

For presidential elections in France, the Ministry of Interior distributes election-related materials, including ballots, while local officials coordinate staffing of polling places. France also has a Constitutional Council that decides election-related complaints and announces results.

Noah Praetz, the former elections clerk in Cook County, Illinois, said its possible to have quick results, but the U.S. has decided to make voting accessible to everybody and let us vote on everything. He noted that ballots in the U.S. typically include dozens of offices in contrast to some countries where voters might simply back a party whose leadership then fills many of those positions.

In France, voters choose from lists of local candidates usually associated with a party. The candidate list gaining the most support will receive the most seats in the city and regional councils.

Its a fundamentally different view of democracy, Praetz said.

In addition, voters in France can vote by proxy  designating someone else to vote for them if they are unable to cast a ballot in person on Election Day, which is not allowed in the U.S.

DO MAIL BALLOTS AFFECT THE REPORTING OF RESULTS?

They can. Long before the COVID-19 pandemic, states were expanding the use of mail ballots and early in-person voting to reduce lines on Election Day and provide more flexibility to voters.

Mail ballots are subject to various security checks, varying by state. Some require voter signatures or ID information to match their registration files, while others require witnesses or notaries to affirm a voters identity.

In most states, including Florida and Georgia, the process of validating mail ballots begins well ahead of Election Day -- providing a huge advantage in reporting results quickly. That's not the case in a few political battleground states. Pennsylvania and Wisconsin officials are not allowed to begin that work until Election Day, while Michigan officials can start just two days before. This means most results being reported from these states on election night will be from in-person voting on Election Day or during the early voting period.

Counting votes and reporting the results take time, said Leigh Chapman, acting secretary of state in Pennsylvania. Election officials are focused on accuracy over speed.

WHAT OTHER FACTORS CAN SLOW RESULTS?

While most states require mail ballots to be received on or before Election Day, 19 states provide a grace period as long as ballots were sent through the mail by Election Day. Such ballots in California can be received up to seven days later.

Voters may not know the outcome of a close race for several days if a significant number of those ballots arrive at local election offices after Election Day.

This also can change results over time. If Democratic voters dominate mail voting while Republican voters largely cast ballots in person, this can mean that early results heavily favor a Republican candidate who then sees that lead slip away as the late-arriving mail ballots are counted.

WOULD HAND COUNTING HELP SPEED UP THE PROCESS?

No. Hand counting of all ballots happens primarily in small towns in the Northeast. For places with a lot of ballots, experts consider it to be more time-consuming and susceptible to human error. Hand tallies are used in post-election reviews to ensure accuracy of tabulator machines, but that usually involves only a sample of ballots and is done without the time pressure of trying to report results quickly.

Republican activists and candidates have been pushing for hand counts, based largely on conspiracy theories that voting systems were manipulated to steal the 2020 election. There is no evidence of widespread fraud or tampering of machines.

Also, hand counts would by themselves prolong the reporting of results, perhaps by several days.
Saad Ibrahim Almadi was photographed in a restaurant August 2021, about three months before he traveled to Saudi Arabia and was detained over tweets critical of the Saudi government. The 72-year-old U.S./Saudi dual citizen was sentenced this month to 16 years in a Saudi prison. (Ibrahim Almadi via AP)

The imprisonment in Saudi Arabia of a one-time Jacksonville resident who criticized the Saudi government over Twitter is drawing denunciations from government officials and free-speech activists.

Exercising the freedom of expression should never be criminalized, a U.S. State Department spokesperson told reporters when asked this week about the fate of Saad Ibrahim Almadi, a 72-year-old dual citizen of Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Almadi, who records say lived in an apartment complex near Tinseltown when he registered to vote just before Jacksonvilles 2019 elections, was sentenced this month to 16 years behind bars for charges tied to 14 tweets his son described as mild.

The sentence, spotlighted this week by a Washington Post columnist, quickly drew ridicule in the social media universe where Almadi had shared his thoughts while living in the United States.

Almadis case demonstrates how severe punishments for #FreeExpression extend to speech beyond Saudi borders, tweeted the writers group PEN America, recounting examples of other Saudis sentenced to even longer terms based on their comments.

These cases are an extension of Saudi Arabias human rights abuses, jailing social media users in the country for tweets," the advocacy group told followers. " International governments must resolutely press the Saudi government to respect #FreeExpression.

In this photo provided by Ibrahim Almadi, Saad Ibrahim Almadi sits in a restaurant in an unidentified place in the United States in August 2021. Almadi, 72, who is a citizen of both Saudi Arabia and the U.S., was arrested in Saudi Arabia last November and was recently sentenced to 16 years in prison over tweets critical of the Saudi government. (Ibrahim Almadi via AP)

The Saudi embassy in Washington didnt respond Thursday to a message seeking comment about sentencing of Almadi, who was arrested while he was visiting family in Saudi Arabia last year.

The Post reported that Almadi was charged with harboring a terrorist ideology, trying to destabilize the kingdom, and supporting and funding terrorism. The Post said he was also charged with failing to report terrorism as a result of tweets by his son on another account.

The State Department began raising the issue of his detention in December and is weighing whether new steps are needed, agency spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters.

Story continues

One option before the agency is listing the retiree as wrongfully detained, a choice that could draw in a presidential envoy who is also in charge of trying to free overseas hostages and can pull more levers to help a captive than rank-and-file consular diplomats.

There are a number of strict criteria that are involved in that choice, Patel said, but added that its not an automatic decision.

Almadis son, Ibrahim, has been pushing to have his fathers case labeled wrongful and told the Associated Press this week he didnt have confidence in the low-visibility approach the State Department first recommended.

They manipulated me. They told me to stay quiet so they can get him out, Ibrahim Almadi told the AP. I am not willing to take a gamble on the Department of State anymore.

Ibrahim Almadi told AP that Saudi authorities warned his family to stay quiet about the case and to not involve the U.S. government, and Patel said consul staff who first reached out to Almadi were initially told he didn't want them involved. Ibrahim Almadi said his father was tortured after the family contacted the State Department in March.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said Thursday that his office "is closely monitoring Mr. Almadis case. We remain in touch with the State Department and continue to advocate for his release."

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Saudi prison term for ex-Jacksonville man alarms free-speech backers
Sixth graders Tyler Drew, left, and Jayden Babin, read The Thorny Dragon together at an independent reading station, where students could read a book alone or together with other students, during Literacy on the Lawn at Westdale Middle School in Baton Rouge, La., on Friday, September 30, 2022.
Why? Why is this necessary? Wont someone think of the new polar fleece jackets with updated logos? Allan, or Jay Ay as Andrews calls her, sigh, made it very clear through repeated mentions that Airport Rail Link is gone and SRL Airport is in. She also had a lash at the Liberals for failing to deliver an upgrade of the Sunshine Station when they were in government. You know, a major redevelopment like the one Labor promised in 2018 but is battling allegations from locals its going to dud them on. But whats in a name?

BISHOP BACKLASH CBD has previously described former deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop as a red carpet and opening night staple after ending her political career. The weekend was no different. Rocking a leather hot pink dress, sparkly heels and diamante earrings, Bishop delivered the keynote speech for the Sherman Centre for Cultural Ideas Fashion Hub in London on Saturday. Julie Bishop goes to London to speak about fashion. Not everyone was impressed.

The event, organised by Sydney culture icon Dr Gene Sherman and her late husband Brian Sherman, has been celebrated for showcasing the best and brightest in Australian design and fashion. She sees it in part as a way of letting Britons know what Australias creative class is actually up to, the Financial Times wrote of the event. Over two weeks, the star-studded line-up consists of more than 40 speakers, with Romance was Born duo Luke Sales and Anna Plunkett, futurist body architect Lucy McRae, South-Sudanese-Australian photographer Atong Atem and the NGVs curator of Indigenous art Shonae Hobson all invited. Among the crowd, fashion royalty Akira Isogawa and Alistair Trung were spotted. Attendees say its been an exciting, and stimulating affair  particularly speeches from Paris-based lingerie designer Michaela Stark on new-age corsets and Melbournes rising star Courtney Holm on waste in fashion.

But Bishops appearance divided the room. She spoke about ministry colleagues who demeaned her for being fashionable, and said she was once told to change her dress style (more cardigans!) when she became the minister for aged care. She also spoke about fashion diplomacy, and how she learned to wear colours that reflect the country. White to the White House, red for China. While some attendees thought she spoke well and the speech ended in applause, others were privately furious about the focus on her own contribution to women when she decried the word feminism while in parliament. The division spilled onto social media when Bishops appearance was first announced, with renowned photographer Juno Gemes chiming in: Strange choice. Perhaps it was intentional  deliberately provocative is something Sherman has perfected.

COURIER FAIL Courier Mail columnist and Sky News regular Peter Gleeson is usually best known for his angry screeds about the dangers of wokeness. But sometimes, the News Corp tabloid treats him like a serious journalist, as was the case on Saturday, when the Courier Mail devoted its first 12 pages to his special investigation into Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. While it seemed curious choice given Gleeson had spoken at a Liberal National Party fundraiser on the Gold Coast just a week earlier, it wasnt the biggest journalism fail in the papers report. A section on former Queensland treasurer Jackie Trad contained four paragraphs copied verbatim from an analysis piece written for the ABC by now Nine reporter Josh Bavas. Now, we know imitation is the best form of flattery, but its rare for a News Corp tabloid to express its admiration for the national broadcaster quite so fondly. Gleesons employer clearly wasnt impressed. By Saturday evening, the copied paragraphs were removed online (but print never forgets), with an editors note clarifying that a previous version of the story included four paragraphs which were not the authors work, and apologising for the error.

News Corporations Code of Conduct states that plagiarism is theft, the note read. When asked if further action would be taken against Gleeson, Courier Mail editor Chris Jones said the paper had apologised after an article in which four paragraphs were not the authors work, and was currently investigating further. We are mid-investigation into the circumstances that led to this error, which we are treating with the utmost seriousness. Our code of conduct states clearly that plagiarism is theft, he said. SPINNING SAUDIS The spinners at global marketing agency FleishmanHillard have their work cut out for them this week.

In the lead-up to the mining industrys event of the year, IMARC, theyve invited select journalists to interview Saudi Arabias Minerals and Industry Minister Bandar bin Ibrahim Alkhorayef. Saudi Arabia is open for business: IMARC interview opportunity, was the headline for the email sent to the press last week. The minister has flown to Australia for the event and is keen to spread the word. But Saudi Arabia and journalists havent always had the easiest of relationships. Dare we mention slain Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi? Journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. Credit:AP Needless to say, Alkhorayefs engagement with the Australian media is sure to be a tightly managed affair.

FleishmanHillard outlined four points the minister can speak to, including the kingdoms plans to become a global leader in hydrogen. Its safe to assume the countrys executions and jailed dissidents will be firmly off the agenda. With a dash of irony, the Saudis panels including Why explore and mine in Saudi Arabia are scheduled to coincide with ESG-focused discussions such as Does mining really get the S in ESG? and Raising business integrity standards within mining. The event is already on high alert. A large safety message is splashed across its website, warning of various groups set to protest. The organisers have hired a number of security agencies and are calling on NSW Police to be on watch. Please be alert, but not alarmed, attendees have been told. CRIME FOR COSSIES

ABC crime reporter Mark Reddie announced on Twitter last week my time is up after 16 years as a journalist. From bushfires to floods & Sydneys gang war  Thank you to those who trusted me to tell their stories. Hes been saturated with well-wishes for what comes next. But what exactly will the dashing TV personality do now? Cossies! Reddie will swap the Supreme Court piece-to-cameras with his own swimwear label  co-founded by his hunky boyfriend. This isnt a knee-jerk career change. Reddie has been fascinated with the male bikini for more than a decade, penning an article titled The Speedo-lution for a boutique UK publication in 2012, making the case for trading board shorts for budgie smugglers.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size And so the countdown to Christmas begins. Its the last full month of new books and there are still masses due out. Here are just 10 of them  memoirs, novels, histories  but youll find plenty more crackers on the bulging bookshelves of your local bookshop. The Booklist is a weekly newsletter for book lovers from books editor Jason Steger. Get it delivered every Friday. Credit: Getting Lost, Annie Ernaux Fitzcarraldo, $27.99, November 15 There was almost universal rejoicing among literary types when the French writer won the Nobel Prize earlier this month. So its timely that this diary, which served as the basis for her autobiographical novel, Simple Passion, should appear in translation now. In the earlier book, she wrote of her affair with a Soviet diplomat; this is the candid account of that relationship. Rereading her diaries of the time, she found a different truth from the novel  something raw and dark, without salvation, a kind of oblation.

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Credit: Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here, Heather Rose Allen & Unwin, $32.99, November 1 To say this memoir from the Stella Prize-winning author of The Museum of Modern Love is surprising is something of an understatement. When Rose was 12, her beloved brother and grandfather were drowned, an event that has informed her life and sent her off on a search for meaning, truth and comfort. It has also opened her to some remarkable spiritual and hair-raising experiences. And, no, she has said, the title is not ironic. Credit: The Passion of Private White, Don Watson Scribner, $49.99, November 2

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A new book from Don Watson is always a treat and this is a particularly personal one to him. Watson met Neville White at university. White was conscripted to serve in Vietnam and survived, emerging with PTSD and a desire to understand more about why people differed. As an anthropologist, he has worked and lived with the Indigenous people of north-east Arnhem Land, trying to preserve them, their culture and lands, and at the same time heal himself and mates from Vietnam he encouraged to travel north. Credit: Novelist as a Vocation, Haruki Murakami Harvill Secker, $35, November 15 The latest book about a writers creative process comes from the Japanese superstar novelist whos loved by millions around the world. The book, which was first published in Japan seven years ago, consists of a series of essays Murakami began in 2010. Theres some pithy stuff here, not least his view that novelists cant be friends  writers are basically an egoistic breed, proud and highly competitive. And he puts great store by his need for physical fitness to boost his mental ability for the rigours of writing. Credit: A Brief Affair, Alex Miller

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Allen & Unwin, $32.99, November 1 The two-time Miles Franklin winners last book was Max, a wonderful memoir about his friend Max Blatt. His 13th novel, A Brief Affair, marks a welcome return to his unique sort of meaningful fiction. In it, the romantic entanglement of the title leads Frances Egan to reconsider all sorts of things in her life. She is an academic working in what used to be an asylum. The diary of a former resident who was confined in what is now her office comes to play an equally significant role in her life. Credit: Elizabeth & John, Alan Atkinson NewSouth, $39.99, November 1 You may have read Kate Grenvilles A Room Made of Leaves, which breathed fictional life into the historical figure of Elizabeth Macarthur, wife of John, the so-called father of the Australian fleece. But Alan Atkinson, author of the three-volume award-winning Europeans in Australia, makes a point of taking everything back to the beginning, to start a fresh inquiry into the lives of the couple and trawl the vast amount of material still extant. He makes the point that the internet has transformed history writing, making vastly more information easily available. Credit:

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Clarke, Holly Throsby Allen & Unwin, $32.99, November 1 I really liked Holly Throsbys first two novels, Goodwood and Cedar Valley. Theres a warm tone to the world of small towns somewhere to the south of New South Wales that she creates. Not so warm, though, that there arent mysteries to disrupt the lives of her carefully crafted characters such as poor Barney Clarke, who is taken aback when the police arrive at his rented home to search for a missing woman. Throsbys books seem to have slipped a bit under the radar, but really deserve more attention. Credit: Wandering with Intent, Kim Mahood Scribe, $35, November 1 Kim Mahood says she writes about the things shes passionate about  art, country, and the interface between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia. She was brought up in central Australia and wrote a magnificent, prize-winning memoir, Craft for a Dry Lake. These essays were written over a period of about 15 years. She acknowledges the cultural privilege she exercises, but the question is whether I exercise this privilege in a way that can be justified. Read it and judge for yourself.

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Victorian students numeracy, spelling and grammar have worsened in some year levels, according to this years NAPLAN results, while year 7 and 9 students have improved in writing.

The National Assessment Program  Literacy and Numeracy was disrupted in Victoria by outbreaks of flu and COVID this year, and results were either flat or lower than in 2021, except for in writing. But Victorian students led every jurisdiction apart from the ACT on the number of subjects in which they ranked first or second among the highest percentage of students above the national minimum standard.

This years NAPLAN test was taken entirely online by about 1.2 million students across Australia. Credit:Edwina Pickles

The Grattan Institutes Jordana Hunter called the states results a mixed bag and said there was no doubt Victorian schools and families bore the brunt of COVID disruptions. She said some students had experienced a tough couple of years, but she was hesitant to say lockdowns were the reason for the decline in results.

With effective intervention including tutoring support, it should be possible to get children back on track, she said.
An oil and gas giants application to clear more than 1000 additional kilometres of land in the Kimberley will impact some of Western Australias most vulnerable species, say conservationists.

If arranged in a line, the land in the states far north that Buru Energy has already cleared to explore for gas would stretch around 15,000 kilometres.

Aerial image of seismic lines about 45 kilometres east of Broome. Credit:Damian Kelly

The Environmental Protection Authority will now decide on whether to investigate the additional 1147 kilometres proposed, based on feedback they received from the public.

If approved by the Authority, a report will be prepared for the state government and if it goes ahead, the total land cleared would cover the distance from Perth to Narsaq in Greenland.
Chinas aid funding to the Pacific has plunged to its lowest level in at least 14 years, contradicting the common belief that the emerging superpower is pouring money into the region to gain a strategic advantage over its Western rivals.

Australia remains by far the biggest provider of development grants and loans to Pacific nations, according to the Lowy Institutes latest Pacific Aid Map, a detailed accounting of aid spending in the region.

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare signed a wide-ranging security pact with China that alarmed Western leaders. Credit:AP

Australia spent $1.23 billion on Pacific aid in 2020, well ahead of the US on $375 million and New Zealand on $350 million.

China spent just $245 million on aid to the Pacific in 2020, its lowest level since the Lowy Institute began tracking development spending in the region in 2008.
The Fair Work Commission will be able to force the federal government to take part in multi-employer wage deal negotiations for sectors it heavily funds, including aged care and childcare, under Labors new industrial relations bill.

The lever has been welcomed by unions and providers in the low-paid, feminised industries, but raises questions about the effectiveness of pursuing sector-wide wage deals if the government doesnt have enough cash to foot the pay rises needed to stem the haemorrhaging of critical staff.

The wage umpire can haul the government into multi-employer pay negotiations for childcare and aged care sectors under the industrial laws before parliament. Credit:Phil Carrick

Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke included a supported bargaining stream in the Secure Jobs, Better Pay bill he introduced to parliament last week, which makes it easier for care sector workers to band together across employers to push for higher wages, a move met with trepidation by some providers.

He has also slated a veto power for unions over multi-employer deals hatched directly between workplaces and their staff, saying the amendment was about giving bargaining power to workers over collective agreements in the care sector.
Last year, organisations notified the regulator of 900 data breaches likely to result in serious harm. That figure, experts believe, is a fraction of the total attacks because the Privacy Act excludes many organisations such as small businesses and state agencies. Globally, more than 11 billion records have been exposed over the last decade, Bloomberg found, and the severity of hacks are only getting worse.

While it feels like Australian businesses are in the midst of a hacking wave that has seen about 17 million records stolen in a spate that includes breaches on Optus, the particularly pernicious Medibank hack, and several others, this country has been swimming in a perilous ocean for years.

Late last month, Marcus Thompson, who was Australias first head of information warfare, was musing about the Optus hack at the end of an interview. He wasnt shocked that such a breach had happened, Thompson said, but he was surprised the public had suddenly started to care.

But there are reasons things feel particularly bad right now.

Previous major hacks have not had the same personal angle. Nine, which owns The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, was hit with a crippling hack early last year. A property valuation firm, LandMark White, suffered a breach so severe in 2019 that the chief executive and two board members resigned. But those breaches damaged companies, shutting down their systems, rather than directly going after the data of millions of Australians. Given the volume of data exposed in the Optus and Medibank scams, many people will now be worried about what lies ahead, as scammers weaponise the stolen information to launch a torrent of scam calls, texts and emails.

Then there is the media dynamic, with how the companies chose to disclose the breaches to the public becoming just as big a story as how the digital break-ins were carried out. Optus disclosed the breach on the public holiday to mourn the Queens death. In a day with little non-royal news around, the story took off, aided by the governments subsequent fury at the companys handling of the breach. Its size too, at about 10 million peoples records exposed, was revealed almost immediately. That has not often been the case with past breaches. Once the attacks were in the headlines, the issue was anchored in the minds of editors and readers, and the affected companies had an incentive to speak up to avoid the critical coverage that Optus endured. It is quite possible that the increased media attention has encouraged hackers to set their sights on Australia, which is a country with plenty of firms wealthy enough to pay and a corporate set that some have seen as complacent.

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Another factor to consider are legal changes, which have slowly but steadily made it harder for affected companies to stay silent on breaches. In July, laws came into effect requiring 11 critical sectors  such as broadcasting, data processing, freight, hospitals and major food stores  to swiftly report data breaches to the government. The new directives cover a lot more ground, compared up to the initial four sectors legislated in 2018. That was the same year that organisations were compelled to tell the privacy and information regulator about data breaches.
Starting in 2023, Oregon will be the first state to legalize psychedelic mushrooms for therapeutic use. But the legalization has many communities wondering about the implications legalization brings  prompting many of them to place either two-year moratoria or outright bans on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Experts say theres a lot of misconceptions.

The voters, of course, already have had their say, voting statewide in 2020 to approve Measure 109, which permitted the therapeutic use of psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms. It included a two-year delay, giving the state time to formulate some rules.

Embracing the measure requires no move from individual cities and counties. But some jurisdictions are up in arms over the measure and are returning to the voters, asking them to block the measure by enacting local bans.

In all, voters in 104 cities and 26 counties statewide will once again consider psilocybin, this time for their specific communities, in November, according to Healing Advocacy, a nonprofit dedicated to the support of regulated psilocybin therapy.

Among those with measures on the ballot in Linn County are Lebanon (Measure 22-194, a two-year moratorium) and Sweet Home (Measure 22-199, seeking a permanent ban). See the info box for the 10 cities and one county in the mid-Willamette Valley that are fronting a measure.

In Benton County, only Philomath, a city whose voters supported the 2020 effort in a 60-40 split, has put an initiative before local voters, Measure 2-138, a two-year moratorium.

Philomath city leaders stated concerns over public safety.

Meanwhile, at the state level, a volunteer advisory board made up of therapists, doctors, researchers and mycologists has worked to craft a framework for production and facilitation of the psychedelic, with a deadline for Jan. 2, when facilitators can begin applying for licenses.

Studies show the psychedelic reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety. And there is promise it could be used for addiction treatment in problematic alcohol and tobacco usage.

For some, its a treatment that works where other methods have failed.

A different kind of treatment

Mat, 42, has been searching for peace his entire life. Mid-Valley Media is withholding his last name because, as a mushroom user, he couldnt wait for the law to go into effect.

Afflicted with anxiety and depression, the Albany resident had been self-medicating since he was 12, first paint-huffing, then alcohol to cope, until it became an addiction.

Growing up, Mat didn't see a future for himself, and he couldnt find a path toward healing. He had no idea how much a small mushroom could change his life.

Psilocybin is the only thing that makes me feel like a normal person, he said.

Its difficult for Mat to recall a time before his mind didnt feel like daily torture. Some days Mat trembles with anxiety, replaying worse-case scenarios in his head. He can barely get out of bed.

When he tried psilocybin, Mat didnt expect for those feelings to subside; hed been battling them his whole life. But they did. Sometimes for months.

Its like hitting a reset button, he said.

The morning after taking psilocybin for the first time remains a vivid memory. Mat remembers walking outside in midsummer, looking at the trees and leaves flickering in the wind like it was the first time. He recalls the obvious smell of flowers in the sunshine, and he suddenly noticed things he walked by everyday but never really saw.

It was like looking through the world with new eyes, he said: My mind was clear, depression eased.

The afterglow of Mats trip can last days or sometimes months, he said.

Although he had tried plenty of over-the-counter meds, none made him feel like this. And nothing had worked so well to ease his anxiety and depression. He even attributes psilocybin to helping him quit drinking.

It gave him that elusive peace, he said.

The science behind psilocybin

Dr. Todd Korthuis is excited about how psilocybin can change medicine.

Research on the psychedelic has shown it to be effective for depression, anxiety and end-of-life anxiety, he said. There also is some preliminary research showing psilocybin effective in curbing problematic tobacco and alcohol use, he said.

An addiction medicine specialist and clinician scientist at Oregon Health Science University, Korthuis was part of research team for the Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board Rapid Evidence review.

It changes how the brain processes information about substances, he said.

Psilocybin is not addictive, Korthuis said, adding its rather safe with low risk of side effects.

This isnt going to be killing people, he said. Theres no substance without side effects, but psilocybin is very low risk.

The few documented side effects include vomiting, nausea or having a bad trip. Context, however, is everything, he said.

Like most things, certain people probably shouldnt partake. Mushrooms may trigger certain mental illnesses, like schizophrenia, to go into a state of psychosis. And there is some worry about people who may have a history of seizures, he said. This can be avoided, however, through screening processes to determine if someone is a good candidate for psilocybin, Korthuis said.

Research has shown a lot of promise for psilocybin as therapy for addicts because it works hand-in-hand with counseling, he said. This coupling has shown to be an effective treatment.

Korthuis expects the approval of Measure 109 should spur more pharmaceutical-grade clinical studies.

The legalities are complicated. The Food and Drug Administration has named psilocybin a breakthrough therapy for severe depression, but it also is currently a Schedule 1 substance by the U.S. government.

Schedule I drugs, substances, or chemicals are defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use with a high potential for abuse. Marijuana is also listed as a Schedule 1 substance.

This means psilocybin is subject to strict federal regulation and illegal in the eyes of the U.S.

Tackling misconceptions

There's a few misconceptions Korthuis likes to get out of the way when he is talking about psilocybin.

During the Lebanon City Council debate about whether to put a moratorium on the ballot, phrases like "there's too much unknown" and "can of worms" were used.

If this is a magic bullet that creates a utopia of healing and well-being, we can repeal (a ban), Philomath Councilor Theresa Nielson said at the July 25 meeting. But until then we have got to consider public safety  thats considered the well-being of all our citizens  and let each one of them have a vote.

Korthuis often hears concerns of children using psychedelics. However, Measure 109 requires them to be administered to adults in a therapeutic setting only.

Another misconception he comes across is that psilocybin will be grown like marijuana.

Measure 109 didn't legalize the personal cultivation of mushrooms. Only licensed facilities monitored by the state will be growing mushrooms, he said.

There won't be people growing fields of mushrooms, he said.

But the misconceptions dont end there.

State oversight

Theres a lot of misconceptions on what this measure does and does not do, said Angela Allbee, Oregon Psilocybin Services Section manager at Oregon Health Authority. For example, what consuming psilocybin will look like.

Allbee said psilocybin use will be highly regulated. It won't be available via retail dispensaries, like cannabis. Rather, it's administered during a supervised session.

Interested users must first visit a licensed facilitator for a prep session, she said. This is where facilitators talk about informed consent, intake and determine if a person is a good candidate for psilocybin, she said.

The session can only happen at a licensed service center. There is no offsite consumption, Allbee said.

Those who take psilocybin will have to remain at the facility until the effects wear off, which takes several hours, said Sam Chapman, president of Healing Advocacy.

That means arranging a car ride home too, he added.

To become a licensed facilitator, one must go through 120 hours of core instruction that includes topics of safety, pharmacology and neuroscience, inclusivity and accessibility, Allbee said.

Then there are another 40 hours of training and consultation, bringing the total to 160 hours to become a licensed facilitator. The students must pass two exams, she said, and OHA must approve the course material.

OHAs rules are meant to be guardrails, Allbee said. At the same time, they purposefully deviate from medicines traditional model. Thats why the only hard eligibility requirements for those seeking to become facilitators are a high school diploma, being 21 or older, residing in Oregon and passing a criminal background check.

Limiting facilitators to those with certain academic education backgrounds would discount people with different socioeconomic backgrounds and life experiences, she said.

On the other hand, Allbee said, the rules and materials were written by seasoned, credentialed experts, which she hopes will put skeptics at ease.

Part of it is looking beyond Western medicine, Allbee said. There is a lot of knowledge and experience that indigenous communities have brought.

Historical use

There are hundreds of mushroom species that contain psilocybin. But in Oregon, only one species will be legal: psilocybe cubensis.

It has a long history of safe use, said Jessie Uehling, Oregon State University mycologist and OHA psilocybin advisory member. She was one of the authors of a review paper that curated the biological and historical knowledge of psilocybin-containing fungi.

That history dates back thousands of years in South America. It also includes indigenous Mexican groups who have used the mushrooms for religious ceremonies.

Such rules as being guided by an elder or shaman, not mixing alcohol, medicine or drugs and discouraging travel have resulted in safe consumption for centuries, the article notes.

Indigenous knowledge is often neglected, Uehling said. Oregon wants to honor the historical use, seeing therapeutic benefits through multiple lenses.

Its blurring the lines between medicine, religion and science, Uehling said.

Beyond medicine

Not everyone who seeks out psilocybin will be coming in with a diagnosed mental illness. But everyone stands to benefit just the same, according to users Janice Brown and adult daughter Shaunda Brown.

When Albany resident Janice Brown tried psilocybin for the first time, she came away with a feeling of peace, patience and understanding.

She walked away with the message, All is well; you have purpose and value, she said.

It was a very introspective, intuitive experience, she said. Its not a party-type recreational drug, she said.

Janice Brown shared that experience to Albany City Council, ultimately having a hand in the citys decision to leave a proposed ban off the ballot.

The interaction lasted around seven hours, Janice Brown said, alongside her daughter and a group of others. The session involved lying down, listening to music and lots of intentional thinking and journaling, she said.

The leader of the session had multiple accolades and accredited degrees, she added, which made her feel more comfortable.

Janice Brown has seasonal affective disorder, and following the session, she was able to get off her anti-depressants.

Daughter Shaunda Brown accompanied her on the trip. She called it a spiritual experience, she said.

It was like watching myself through God's eyes,'' she said.

She describes the feeling as complete bliss and joy. She felt at peace with the world and acceptance with herself.

Shaunda Brown views taking psilocybin as an act of self-improvement rather than just for treatment, she said.

Im always trying to be a better version of myself, she said.

Because she believes you dont need to be sick to get well, Shaunda Brown views psilocybin as something that can make people more conscientious, better people.

It shifts your perspective, it raises compassion and understanding for ourselves and others she said, I think the world needs more of that.

Related articles:
WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES

Mogadishu: At least 100 people were killed and 300 injured in two car bombs that exploded outside the education ministry in Somalias capital Mogadishu, the countrys president said.

Our people who were massacred ... included mothers with their children in their arms, fathers who had medical conditions, students who were sent to study, businessmen who were struggling with the lives of their families, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said after visiting the site of blast.

A Somali soldier walks through the scene of a double car-bomb attack in Mogadishu, Somalia. Credit:AP

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, although the president blamed the Islamist group al Shabaab. Al Shabaab typically avoids claiming responsibility for attacks that results in large numbers of casualties.
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Almost one million Victorians will receive a new licence following the Optus hack in Australia.

Unknown cyber criminals targeted the telco last month, stealing the identifying details of up to ten million Australians.

Victorias Department of Transport will replace the licences for free by the end of the year and all new cards will feature an extra layer of security.

Licence numbers will remain the same but an additional number will be printed on of the back, similar to CVV numbers used on credit cards.

Anyone seeking to use their license for identification such as when applying for a loan or opening a bank account will need to provide the second number.

The details of more than 942,000 Victorian licence holders were compromised in the hack, according to the Department of Home Affairs.

A Victorian Department of Transport spokesperson said the state government has asked Optus to cover the cost of replacing its customers licences.

The second number will become a permanent feature of all new licences from November 2022.

Some five million licence holders who were not impacted by the hack will also eventually receive new cards.

By Rachael Ward in Melbourne
A voter returns a voter card after casting their ballot on the first day of in-person early voting inside a tent at a shopping center in Las Vegas on Oct. 22, 2022. (David Becker/Getty Images)

A Disturbing Movement Is Picking Up Steam on the LeftLetting Noncitizens Vote

Commentary

Voting has long been one of the privileges of American citizenship, but perhaps not for much longer. Left-wing activists are going all-in with their demands to let noncitizens vote, and Washington, D.C., just took up the charge.

The D.C. City Council advanced a bill to let anyone vote in local elections, regardless of citizenship and immigration status, as long as they live in the city for just 30 days.

The measure is so extreme, even the reliably liberal Washington Post editorial board called it radical.

If Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser signs the Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2022, an estimated 50,000 noncitizen residentsincluding those here illegallywould be free to cast ballots in local elections.

But thats not all. As the Post pointed out, there is nothing in the measure to prevent employees at embassies of governments that are openly hostile to the United States from casting ballots. Or foreign students who are studying abroad in Washington for a semester. There you have it: our nations capital is ready to hand ballots to people working against our nations interests.

Why is the district taking this reckless step? Pure politics.

The Left is looking for ways to shift the countrys politics by fundamentally changing who can vote. Even the Post concedes that progressives hope that reshaping the electorate will allow them to reshape local politics, prodding [D.C.] further to the left on issues such as rent control and spending on social programs.

D.C. is hardly the only place where the Left has realized the power that can be gained by changing the electorate. Under the euphemistic tag line of expanding democracy, left-wing activists across the country are working to hand the vote to imprisoned felons, children, and noncitizensall groups they calculate are more likely to be liberal. After all, why let the people choose their government when you can have the government choose its people?

And there are plenty to choose from. Consider that over 5 million illegal immigrants have entered the United States in just the two years since President Joe Biden was elected. Enfranchising them in local races creates a powerful perverse incentivize for politicians to excuse, or even demand, an ongoing humanitarian crisis on the border so long as it feeds a steady stream of transient voters willing to back a far-left agenda.

When the Left is accused of backing open borders for the prospect of new voters, they of course retort that it is illegal for any noncitizen to vote in federal elections. True enough, but races for Congress or the White House are hardly the only ones that matter.

Americans have seen first hand the great damage that can be done when the woke Left captures school boards and town councils. As the old saying goes, all politics is local.

At least 15 municipalities nationally have enfranchised noncitizens to vote in local races, including major cities like San Francisco and New York. The Big Apples law is virtually identical to Washingtons pending measure: anyone in the city for 30 days can vote, including illegal aliens.

That measure was challenged in court, and earlier this year a New York Supreme Court judge struck it down for violating the state constitution. Had it gone into effect, 800,000 noncitizens would have been handed the vote in New York City.

Unlike those other cities, however, Washington is a federal district answerable directly to Congress. Under the Constitution and the D.C. Home Rule Act, Congress can block bills passed and cleared by the City Council and mayor.

The question is, will it?

Conservative lawmakers in the House have denounced the measure, while Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) has already pledged a resolution to overturn it. Allowing illegal immigrants to vote is an insult to every voter in America, he said. Every single Democrat should be on the record about whether they support this insane policy.

Absolutely. The American people deserve to know where their leaders stand on an issue this important. For two years, Democrats in Congress preached about the need to save democracy.

Now, with the nations capital city preparing to hand the vote to illegal aliens and foreign operatives, will they stand up for fair and honest elections? Or will they look the other way while progressives erode the foundations of our republic?

As long as Democrats control Congress, expect the latter, even though polling shows that only 9 percent of Americans think noncitizens should be able to vote.

Perhaps there is a silver lining, though. Washington, D.C., is showing the modern Lefts true colors. The Left believes that democracy belongs to them. The rest of just live in it.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith speaks at a press conference after members were sworn into cabinet in Edmonton on Oct. 24, 2022. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press)

Alberta Premier Says Province Wont Permit Any Further Mask Mandates for K-12 Students

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has made it clear she wont tolerate any more mask mandates for students in the provinces school system because of the harmful effects she says masking has on children.

The detrimental effects of masking on the mental health, development and education of children in classroom settings is well understood, and we must turn the page on what has been an extremely difficult time for children, along with their parents and teachers, Smith wrote in a statement released Oct. 29.

Our government will not permit any further masking mandates of children in Albertas K-12 education system.

Smiths statement was in response to an Alberta Court of Kings Bench ruling issued three days earlier finding that the previous provincial governments order last winter to lift mask mandates for schools was unreasonable.

She also directed the justice minister to assess the court ruling and asked other government officials to keep her alert to any changes that undermine the governments authority on the matter.

I have directed our Justice minister to assess whether an appeal of Thursdays Kings Bench Court decision is appropriate, Premier Smith wrote in her statement.

[I] have instructed our governments ministers of Justice, Health and Education to alert me to any legislative or regulatory changes that may be necessary to reaffirm or clarify our governments full authority with respect to this and other health and education matters.

Judicial Review

Justice Grant Dunlop had ruled on Oct. 26 that former Alberta premier Jason Kenneys government acted unreasonably in February when it ordered removal of the requirement for kids to wear masks in school. Dunlop reasoned that the Public Health Act requires decisions to be made by the chief medical officer of health (CMOH) or an authorized delegate rather than elected officials.

The court had reviewed the order after the families of five immunocompromised children along with the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL), a teachers union, requested a judicial review, alleging that the removal of the mandate was discriminatory against the children.

In his ruling, Justice Dunlop also said a Feb.8 letter from Education Minister Adriana LaGrange to school authorities conveying the governments order was problematic.

LaGrange wrote, School authorities cannot deny their students access to in person education due to their personal decision to wear or not to wear a mask in schools, citing Section 3(1) of the Education Act.

Effective Monday, February 14, 2022 the masking requirements in CMOH 22-2021 will be removed and as such there will be no masking requirements for any students in schools or on school buses, LaGranges letter stated, adding that as of that date school boards will not be empowered by provincial health order or recommendations from the CMOH to require those mask mandates for students.

Justice Dunlop said that while the Education Act, specifically Section 51(2), does empower the education minister to restrict the powers of a school board, this must be done through a regulation; however, LaGranges letter was not a regulation and in fact caused widespread misunderstanding.

After dropping the mask mandates for school students in February, the Alberta government lifted mandatory mask requirements across the province on June 14.

Marnie Cathcart contributed to this report.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping attends the meeting between members of the standing committee of the Political Bureau of the 20th CCP Central Committee and Chinese and foreign journalists at The Great Hall of People in Beijing on Oct. 23, 2022. (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

All the Emperors Men: Xi Appoints Loyalists, Putting Pressure on Taiwan and US

Political shakeup in China: uncertainty with new faces

Commentary

Xi Jinping cleaned house when he appointed loyalists to the politburo and top government positions, with greater internal control and more external aggression to be expected, especially for the United States and Taiwan.

The 20th national congress of the CCP, which ended on Oct. 22, resulted in Xi being awarded a third term, cementing his role as the paramount leader of China. Although the new Chinese Communist Party (CCP) appointments, including Xis, will not be official until the next plenary session of parliament in March 2023, a government reshuffle can be inferred by which members, and in which order, accompanied Xi onto the dais at the conclusion of the congress.

World leaders, China analysts, and diplomats will now be faced with a host of new names and personalities making the coming months somewhat unpredictable. Xi remains the same, but his power has expanded to such a degree that he is now a leader with almost no equal in CCP history. While the world has had a decade to observe Xi, his behavior is expected to change with his expanded power, such as being more authoritarian in his control of China and more aggressive toward the world, particularly the United States and Taiwan.

Li Keqiang is out and Shanghai party chief Li Qiang will be the new premier and second-ranking Politburo Standing Committee member. The other top posts will be filled by men who have generally worked for Xi in the past. The most powerful organization, the Politburo Standing Committee, will include anti-corruption watchdog Zhao Leji. Ideology tsar and Xi-loyalist Wang Huning, who is already on the standing committee, was promoted to the fourth-ranking post in the government. Also in the new Standing Committee are Beijing party chief Cai Qi as well as top Xi adviser Ding Xuexiang and Guangdong province chief Li Xi. The last two, Ding and Li, were already politburo members but have been promoted to the standing committee.

Originally, Vice Premier Hu Chunhua, a protege of former leader Hu Jintao, was expected to be promoted to premier, but after failing to be included in Xis inner circle, the 24-member Politburo, he was passed over by Li Qiang who has never served as vice premier. Another prominent figure who seems to have suffered a demotion was Wang Yang, the predicted pick for number two. The snub may have resulted from Wangs association with the China Youth League faction, which Xi sees as a threat. Affiliation with this faction may also have contributed to the decision to replace Li Keqiang, Hu Chunhua, and Lu Hao. The China Youth League was closely associated with former leader Hu Jintao, who was escorted out of the party congress during the closing ceremony.

Chinas single female member of the politburo, pandemic adviser Sun Chunlan, has retired, and now all of the top positions are filled entirely by men. With nearly the entire politburo loyal to Xi, there is expected to be less infighting and less resistance to Xis policies. This suggests that as paramount leader, Xi will be free to remake China according to his own vision. Xi has already promised that his China would surpass the United States as the top economic and military power and upend the world order to one that is led by the CCP.

Both Li Keqiang and Wang Yang, who were removed from the standing committee, favored economic reforms; however, Xi no longer supports reform. This suggests that China will continue its trend of becoming closed and exerting tighter government control over the economy.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang attends a session of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on Jan. 21, 2015. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)

Xi loyalist Wang Huning is considered a leading authority on the CCPs aggressive wolf warrior diplomacy. Former foreign minister Wang Yi will now also be a member of the politburo as well as promoted to Director of the General Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission, which is Chinas top diplomatic spot. He is expected to put this wolf warrior diplomacy into action. In September, Wang Yi threatened the United Nations General Assembly that any move to obstruct Chinas cause of reunification is bound to be crushed by the wheels of history.

In his opening speech to the congress, Xi stressed security as a primary goal. By his definition, this includes territorial integrity, which spells trouble for Taiwan and for freedom of navigation in waters claimed by the CCP. Xi said that China has the right to use force to take Taiwan. He pledged to crack down hard on infiltration, sabotage, subversion, and separatist activities by hostile forces. On Oct. 22nd, the CCP released the full text of the Resolution on Party Constitution Amendment. It now contains the verbiage resolutely opposing and deterring separatists seeking Taiwan independence.

Although it is a given that Xi is now the top leader, the actual confirmation of his position as head of the government and head of the military will be in March 2023. Xi is expected to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden in November at the Group of 20 summit in Indonesia, though the CCP has refused to confirm Xis attendance. If Xi snubs the U.S. leader, this could be an indication of what we should expect in the coming year.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Americans Split on Ukraine Funding

While the majority of Americans still support sending weapons to Ukraine in its fight against Russias invasion, they are unsure about handing over federal funds, according to a new poll.

Convention of States Action, along with the Trafalgar Group, released the poll, which found that 40.3 percent of those surveyed support sending Ukraine weapons and money and 30.5 percent support sending them weapons but no money.

The poll found only 24.9 percent said to send them nothing at all.

Americans want to continue to help Ukraine defeat Putin, but when you look at the numbers, less than half of voters think that U.S. assistance should include sending more money to Ukraine, said Mark Meckler, president of the Convention of States. Voters believe the U.S. is shouldering the burden of supporting Ukraine and seem to be questioning why we are sending billions overseas while our own economy slides deeper into recession. Our nation would benefit from hearing President Biden provide a clearly defined mission and role in the U.S. support to Ukraine, and reassurances that this will not just become a never-ending conflict that drains American resources and skyrockets our nations debt.

The poll also found that 51.4 percent of those surveyed say that considering the U.S. level of commitment to Ukraine, NATO and other European countries are not doing their fair share.

The pollsters queried more than 1,000 likely midterm voters Oct. 8 through Oct. 11.

This survey comes as a shakeup of Congress in the midterm election could impact the extent of federal funding for Ukraine.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced earlier this month that U.S. military assistance to Ukraine surpassed $17.5 billion since Biden took office.

We will continue to stand with the people of Ukraine as they defend their freedom and independence with extraordinary courage and boundless determination, Blinken said in the announcement. The capabilities we are delivering are carefully calibrated to make the most difference on the battlefield and strengthen Ukraines hand at the negotiating table when the time is right. We stand United with Ukraine.

By Casey Harper
An Australian has died in a stampede in the South Korean capital that has left more than 150 people dead after a crowd became unruly.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed it had been notified of the Australians death in Seoul on Saturday night, local time.

A spokesman said consular officials were providing assistance to the deceaseds family.

They are also working to help other Australians present at the event.

The Australian government sends its condolences to the family and others affected by this tragic incident, the spokesman said.

The disaster happened as a huge crowd celebrating Halloween on Saturday night surged into an alley in a nightclub area, which is popular among young people, expatriates and travellers, in Seoul.

Our sincere condolences for all affected by this terrible tragedy, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese tweeted on Sunday before news broke of the Australians death.

Also earlier on Sunday, Ambassador to the Republic of Korea Catherine Raper joined Mr Albanese in conveying Australias condolences to the South Korean government, describing the incident as tragic.

We ask all Australians in Seoul to check in with friends and family to let them know your whereabouts, Ms Raper tweeted.

More than 80 people were injured, many seriously, in the melee around 10.30pm in Seouls Itaewon district.

Choi Sung-beom, head of the Yongsan Fire Station, said many of the victims were women in their twenties, according to Reuters.

Up to 19 foreigners were among the dead, including citizens of China, Iran, Uzbekistan and Norway.

It was the first Halloween event in Seoul in three years after the country lifted COVID-19 restrictions and social distancing.

Many of the partygoers were wearing masks and Halloween costumes. Some witnesses said the crowd had become increasingly unruly as the night wore on.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has declared a period of national mourning.

The disaster is among the countrys deadliest since a 2014 ferry sinking that killed 304 people, mainly high school students.

Australians concerned about the welfare of loved ones in Seoul can call the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Trade Consular Emergency Centre on 1300 555 135. Those outside Australia can call +61 2 6261 3305.

By Finbar OMallon in Canberra
Christina Luna, the mother of fentanyl victim Josiah Velasquez, holds a necklace pennant with his name while standing for a portrait at the Crown Hill Cemetery in Lakewood. (Timothy Hurst/The Gazette)
Bibi Netanyahu Is Poised for a Political Comeback. Heres What It Means for Bidens Agenda

With the largest source of disagreement between the United States and Israelthe Iran nuclear dealvirtually collapsed, President Joe Biden would have little to fear on the policy front from a more right-leaning government if former Prime Minister Benjamin Bibi Netanyahu returns to leadership, according to experts.

The right-wing champion of Israeli security and former prime minister has clawed his way to a strong position in the election to be decided Tuesday, Israels fifth in four years, The Wall Street Journal reported. A Netanyahu win will add a layer of rhetorical hostilities to policies that will likely remain consistent now that the nuclear agreement, which Israels leaders have consistently opposed, appears indefinitely stalled, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

People are watching this and saying, if [Yair] Lapid wins, its good for Democrats, and if Bibi wins, its good for Republicans, Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told the DCNF. That framing is flawed, according to Schanzer.

As things are right now, I dont expect things to become antagonistic, not with the Iran deal on the back burner, he said, adding that eliminating lingering prospects for a return to the Iran deal would remove probably the most contentious issue that could have been between Bibi and Biden.

Netanyahu jumped into the race after a fragmented coalition government, cobbled together by former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in 2021, collapsed amid defections and failure to reinstate a long-running citizenship law. That government only held power for a year, after four inconclusive elections saw Netanyahu slowly lose his grip on power, according to The Washington Post.

Now, polling shows Bibis Likud party just short of the 61-seat majority needed to dominate the parliament, or Knesset, according to the Post.

If it is a Netanyahu-led government, the biggest issue will be Iran, Shoshana Bryen, senior director of the Jewish Policy Center, told the DCNF.

The Biden administration still wants to find a way to deal with Iran, she said, even though prospects of a deal appear slim.

Bidens Democratic predecessor, former President Barack Obama, sparred with Netanyahu over the nuclear deal. The prime minister opposed Obamas campaign to strike a deal with Iran exchanging sanctions relief for a pledge from the Ayatollah to clamp down on Irans nuclear program, according to the Associated Press.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Actions sunset clause on restrictions to Irans uranium enrichment activities would reverse any gains accomplished, giving Iran free rein to develop a nuclear weapons program and fundamentally threaten Israels security, Netanyahu claimed, according to Times of Israel. Netanyahu pressured Trump to rip up the deal, which he did in 2018.

When Biden arrived in office, he prioritized reigniting the agreement, prompting opposition first from Likud, then from the centrist Bennett government.

But Iranian intransigence has made it questionable whether the parties can ever reach an agreement, according to the State Department. Spokesperson Ned Price said on Oct 12. reaching the deal was no longer an administration priority, indicating negotiations, after months of fits and starts, may have drawn down indefinitely.

With the deal out of the picture, Biden and Netanyahu will exchange heated rhetoric, but underlying policy trajectories will remain the same, both experts explained to the DCNF.

Schanzer suggested the Biden administration might actually collaborate with Israel on Iran, despite Bryens misgivings.

This could be fascinating to watch if the White House and the prime ministers office are able to work together to actually undermine the [Iranian] regime through sanctions and political pressure and other low intensity operations. This could be a real positive development and I think Netanyahu would welcome it, said Schanzer.

The United States and Israel have a robust history of cooperation on intelligence, counterterrorism and other security matters in spite of all their public bickering, which Netanyahu himself acknowledged in reference to Obama.

Biden may punish Israel in one way or another  mostly by pushing for negotiations with the [Palestinian Authority] or something like that, or refusing to veto a nasty vote at the UN  but both countries have bottom lines that are understood, Bryen told the DCNF. Even Lapid told Biden that Israel would not support Washington on an Iran deal.

Netanyahu will be less apt to acknowledge a future for the two-state solution with Palestine and may move on that issue independently from U.S. sanction, Schanzer speculated. However, he wont try to pull out of the Israel-Lebanon maritime agreement negotiated in part by U.S. energy envoy Amos Hochstein despite threatening to do so.

If there is a clear line of communication about expectations on both sides, these sorts of things can be handled, Schanzer told the DCNF.

As president, Biden has registered a few political wins with Israel: negotiating a handover of contested territory to Saudi Arabia and the maritime deal that may have prevented a second flare-up with Hezbollah. However, he admitted in June that the ground is not ripe to restart efforts at securing Palestinian independence, another administration goal.

Netanyahu has also broken from the interim government in floating the potential of arms transfers to Ukraine, something caretaker Prime Minister Lapid has forestalled to preserve a fragile understanding with Russia over Syrian counterterrorism operations, according to The Jerusalem Post. It remains to be seen whether the policy will carry through should Bibi become prime minister.

You see the deepening of the relationship, even when politicians disagree on on key policy issues, Schanzer told the DCNF.

The White House and Netanyahu did not immediately respond to the DCNFs request for comment.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
Britains Leadership Change Has Profound Implications for the New AUKUS Alliance

Commentary

The UKs decision to change its prime minister on Oct. 24 pushed it toward another crossroads: whether to pursue Britains revival of global trade, prestige, and influence or retire once again to the role of middling power.

The recent path toward a revival of global Britain, matched by the dawn of a new monarchical era with the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, had been heralded by many as a glimmer of hope that the West still had some potential to revive its influence and moral stature.

The selection of former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak as the next leader of the Conservative Partyand therefore as the next British prime ministerseems likely to set the UK on a path to only modest economic and strategic growth over the coming few years. This will have a significant impact on the path of the major new global alliance that the UK entered in September 2021: the Australia-UK-United States (AUKUS) pact.

All three AUKUS members are firmly embarked on paths toward more statist and globalist governance. They are therefore committed to economic policies more status quo than reformist in agenda. In other words, all three governments are committed to state-dominated economies and the perpetuation of globalist agendas, even at a time of global economic downturn and conditions that doom the viability of globalizedrather than bilateraltrade arrangements.

Two of the three AUKUS statesthe United States and the UKare firmly focused on a Euro-Atlantic agenda. That leaves Australia as the most exposed Indo-Pacific power, concerned overwhelmingly with facing a hostile Chinese regime. Clearly, the incoming Sunak government will continue to commit to global trade, now that the UK has left the European Union (EU), but will not pursue the global trade agenda of the past two Conservative prime ministers, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.

Johnson and Truss (even when Truss was a Cabinet minister, before becoming Prime Minister) were aggressive proponents of global trade deals for Britain and advocated for the UKs participation in AUKUS.

Much of the path of the Sunak government is expected to be cautious. The new prime minister has little wish to disturb the political situation further while he attempts to establish calm. Therefore many Cabinet appointments made by Trusss 49-day government may be retained, probably including the new chancellor of the exchequer, Jeremy Hunt. However, Hunt, who is committed to a retained UK presence in the EU, may clash with Prime Minister Sunak.

Moreover, Defence Secretary Ben Wallacewho has remained a quiet, steadfast, and strong advocate for the UKs improved global strategic posturethreatened to resign if the new government could not commit to the goal of committing three percent of GDP to defense. This is the litmus test for the new administration. Wallace, who had been seen as a safe pair of hands to challenge for the Conservative Party leadership when Boris Johnson resigned, has shown no personal ambition for party leadership.

Wallace has been happy to commit to his defense mission of achieving a long-term revival of the UKs strategic posture. That includes pushing for a third aircraft carrier strike group built around a much larger, and possibly nuclear-powered carrier (CVN), as well as an increase in surface and submarine fleets, a larger British army, and a more independent (from the United States) air power and space capability.

Significantly, a major indicator of whether the Sunak government will continue the global Britain posture begun by Boris Johnson, will be seen in whether the UK will tone down its almost pathological commitment to maintaining its proxy war with Russia, using Ukraine as the proxy. The irony of the Johnson and Truss administrations was that they were attempting to be committed to Britains global strategic projection in defense and foreign policy, while simultaneously distracting the UK economy and armed forces into the war against Russia.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Australias Prime Minister Scott Morrison, and U.S. President Joe Biden at a joint press conference via AVL from The Blue Room at Parliament, in Canberra, Australia, on Sept. 16, 2021. (Mick Tsikas/AAP Image)

The outgoing Truss government was committed to kick-starting the UK economy, but the inexperience of both the prime minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng mean that their initial budget was presented with little regard to the optics. Had it been better shaped, it would have avoided the resulting panic in the marketplace and the necessity for the Bank of England to intervene.

Truss had little option but to backtrack on her budget decisions and to dismiss Chancellor Kwarteng, regardless of the fact that it appeared to show a lack of resolve: the Bank of England had announced on Oct. 14 that it would end the support scheme for government debt (gilts). That would have led to a collapse of sterling if the prime minister had not reversed the tax reduction policies of her mini-budget. Doing so, however, meant that she had lost the credibility to govern.

Thus, the Bank of England essentially forced Truss from office. In the run-up to the collapse, Home Secretary Suella Braverman announced her own resignation from the Cabinet on Oct. 19, after Braverman was attacked for breaching rules by sending an official document from her personal email account. She used her resignation letter, however, to criticize Prime Minister Truss, saying she had concerns about the direction of this government.

Prime Minister Sunak, if he is to lead the Conservative Party to election victory in 2024, cannot afford any missteps. He must stabilize the government and placate the Bank of England and the trading community. At the same time, he must offer incentives to revive foreign investment and confidence in London as a global financial center. Further, he must ensure the decentralization of the economy to northern England and Scotland (in particular).

Sunak must also reassure much of the electorate, particularly in the north of England, that he is not just another London financial figure. He must revive the hopes of working Britons: that manufacturing and wealth will continue to be restored to their areas and to Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

He lost his first bid for the premiership because he did not seem committed to a low-tax economy and to the importance of Britains manufacturing base outside London.

To revive the momentum for a global Britain, begun by Johnson and Truss, Sunak must also signify a commitment to the Commonwealththe UKs unique global influence vehicleand to AUKUS.

This means cooling the UKs leadership position in the U.S.-dominated proxy war on Russia. The first Cold War1945 to 1991was caused not just by the existence of a threat to the West from the USSR, but by the combined Sino-Soviet threat. The 1972 visit to Beijing by U.S. Pres. Richard Nixon began to break that apart, by peeling Beijing from Moscow. However, many old cold warriors in the West were reluctant to believe that the Russians (as they insisted on erroneously calling the USSR) were not somehow represented by post-Soviet, anti-communist Russia.

Now the old cold warriors of the West have driven post-Soviet Russia into the arms of the Chinese regime. A new generation will, if the West retains any cohesiveness, have to sooner or later attempt to pry Moscow once again from Beijing. Continuing Boris Johnsons personal commitment to a relentless war against Russia, via Ukraine, only compounds self-inflicted injury upon the UK and the West.

Meanwhile, the new monarchy under King Charles III has already begun the task of reassuring much of the Commonwealth and allies in Africa that the UKs friendship continues, and could be extended.

One of the Kings first tasks was to meet Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Felix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo at Buckingham Palace. Tshisekedi asked the King to use his influence within the Commonwealthand with Rwanda, in particularto put an end to destabilizing actions in eastern DRC and to promote peace, security, and stability in Africas Great Lakes. Significantly, the DRC is not a member of the Commonwealth, but Rwanda is.

The Countess of Wessex separately undertook an extensive visit to Africa in October, shortly after the reign of King Charles began. She visited the DRC, Botswana, Malawi, and Ethiopia (seat of the African Union) as well.

The government of Prime Minister Truss was not ready to launch new global diplomacy at that time, but the King was ready to do so, without crossing government prerogatives.

The Crown and the new Sunak government will soon tackle the really difficult strategic challenges to Britains prestige and influence. Britain needs to show that it remains committed to improved trade with its Caribbean Commonwealth members, who suffered badly when the UK entered the EU. It will also need to reassure Australia, New Zealand, and the Indo-Pacific Commonwealth societies, at a time when they are uncertain about Britains commitment to the global Britain path which Johnson revived.

The bottom line is that NATO remains a legacy and an alliance of diminishing importance for the UK, while AUKUS offers a future-oriented global alliance.

There were rumors that the new Sunak government would back Johnson for NATO secretary generalreplacing the overreaching and inept Jens Stoltenberg. The appointment would probably allow the former prime minister to continue to indulge his anti-Russian penchant.

However, a measure of the Sunak Government will be its commitment to AUKUS and global Britain.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Coast Guard Rescuer Faces Uncertain Future After Religious Objection to Vaccine Mandate

The U.S. Coast Guard looks set to lose some of its most qualified and experienced Coast Guardsmen, including many of its esteemedand incredibly necessaryrescue swimmers as a result of the Pentagons vaccine mandate.

As of Oct. 18, the Coast Guard had received 1,250 religious accommodations requests, according to a media spokesperson. Only 12 had been approved and 1,238 had been denied.

Whats more, the Coast Guards rescue swimmers, known as aviation survival technicians, are severely short-staffed at 89 percent capacity, according to a recently retired senior rescue swimmer. Anything below 95 percent is considered critical.

This situation is set to worsen should the Coast Guard discharge the near-20 rescue swimmers currently refusing the shot because of their faith, according to aviation survival technician Anthony Gills. He spoke to The Epoch Times using a pseudonym for fear of reprisals.

Gills has almost 20 years of Coast Guard service, serving as a helicopter rescue swimmer for more than 15 years. Gills is unvaccinated, having objected to the mandate for religious reasons.

Its the unknown of whats going to happen to me from day to day that leaves me with a sense of anxiety, the feeling that I dont know what Im going to walk into on any given day, he said.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Ive stood the watch, responded on numerous SAR [search and rescue] cases, deployed to the Bahamas, and participated in response and recovery efforts for Hurricane Ian.

I know the job I have to do and I do it to the best of my ability, but its the element of the unknown part of my future that keeps me on edge, not knowing what kind of paperwork or message is going to come down thats going to have an effect on the job I love to do.

When the militarys vaccine mandate was announced in August 2021, Gills said, service members were informed of their right to file for religious accommodation. But, after some time, many requests [were] coming back denied.

Denials were nearly identical, as if the Coast Guard was using a template, he said.

The only differences were our names and the specific jobs we do, so each of us waiting expected the same thing.

Inevitably, Gillss appeal of the Coast Guards decision to separate him also came back denied. Having requested to retire at 20 years, he finds himself waiting for approval to do so.

Its that unknown that puts an undue amount of stress not only on myself, but my familymy wife and two children, Gills said. I could potentially lose my pension and all of my benefits I worked so hard for the last 19-plus years.

Whats not being said about this entire ordeal is that we have a right to refuse the vaccination thats protected by the statutes of the law and under the Constitution that we raise our right and took an oath to defend against enemies, foreign and domestic.

We not only have a choice, but we have an obligation to stand up for what we believe is right by our faith, which gives us the ability to reject the unlawful [mandate].

Unvaccinated guardsmen are considered non-deployable. Many, however, have been deployed for hurricane relief and border security. As a rescue swimmer, Gills said, when people are in a dire situation and needing help, whether or not Im vaccinated is the last thing on their mind.

I really dont think they care, given what we know now from the science and everything thats come out about this shotit doesnt really matter, he said. The shot has a growing list of side effects and does not protect [from] or prevent the spread of COVID.

Its Gillss desire to remain at his current duty station until hes able to retire in July 2023. His attorney, R. Davis Younts, said that [Gillss] desire is to serve, and his religious faith should not disqualify him from future service, particularly where the Coast Guard has engaged in a pattern of religious discrimination and hostility towards the Christian faith.

Gills emphasized that his view dont reflect those of the Department of Homeland Security or the U.S. Coast Guard.

Hurting Beyond the Jab

Rocky Rogers, a Coast Guard IT chief with more than 20 years of service, submitted his request to retire in August 2020, which allowed him to retire this past August. According to Rogers, the Coast Guard is changing rapidly in more ways than just the vaccine mandate.

I was one supervisor out of nine that dealt with transgenders in the Coast Guard, he said. As a Christian, Rogers believes in two sexes: male and female. There were scenarios where I needed help from my command or from medical staff, but they were unable to give advice or support.

For example, nobody of rank wanted their name to be associated with any administrative action or any kind of reprimand [of] a person who concluded they couldnt come to work because they didnt feel good because of all the [gender-transition] drugs they were on.

Standing by his faith, he decided in 2018 to leave the Coast Guard and begin the two-year process of retirement.

With the added burden of COVID-19 spreading in 2020 and the subsequent mandate in 2021, Rogers said he knew his retirement was just meant to be. Even though he was approved for retirement, he was still pressured to take the vaccine. Instead, he sought religious accommodation, which was initially denied.

Upon receiving the denial, Rogers appealed the decision, largely because of his approved retirement. Coast Guard regulations state that those with an approved retirement were in receipt of an administrative exemption to the mandate. But even with this official notification, Rogerss command said he had to adhere to the mandate, he said.

By the definition of accommodation, one would expect to find a common ground, Rogers said. However, the Coast Guard made it clear that if youre unvaccinated then getting you out is the only path forward.

Although the unvaccinated are considered not worldwide deployable, Rogers said, they are still sent [under] Temporary Duty [TDY] to operational units to assist with the Coast Guard mission. According to him, many operational cutters (commissioned vessels) are experiencing the brunt of staffing issues and are now using TDY orders to meet the minimum manning in order to go on deployment.

Rogers said hes also aware of Coast Guard reservist members who refused the vaccine and were expected to be processed out on Nov. 1. However, the date has been pushed forward to Dec. 1. According to Rogers, they want to pull these people into hurricane relief operations and [southern] border security.

These members of the Coast Guard are being used for the month, only to be kicked out right before the holidays, he said. And that angers me.

As members of the Coast Guard prepare for separation, Rogers said he keeps in touch with many of them, making his best attempt to help people stay positive in this time of uncertainty.

The Coast Guard didnt return requests for comment from The Epoch Times.
The Port of Churchill, closed until 2023 while the rail link to the docks is replaced, in Churchill, Man., on July 3, 2018. (The Canadian Press/John Woods)

Cory Morgan: Expanding Rail and Export Capability at Port of Churchill Would Be a Boon for Prairie Provinces

Commentary

Western Canadian oil and gas products have been sold at a discount compared to world prices for decades due to a lack of access to deepwater ports for export. With the Trans Mountain pipeline being maxed out in shipping oil to the West coast and with the pipeline expansion hopelessly delayed, the United States remains Canadas sole customer for oil and gas exports. This allows them to purchase the products at a reduced rate, as they know Canada cant sell elsewhere.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith may have found a workaround for the bottleneck with her proposal to bring Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba together to work on expanding the rail and export capability at the Port of Churchill in Manitoba. Prairie provinces could increase their ability to export goods while saying to Ottawa, What are you going do about it?

Section 121 of the Constitution is explicit in protecting the free movement of trade goods between provinces. No province should be able to tax, halt, or hinder goods coming from or going to another province. However, the constitutional clause is toothless in practice because the federal government refuses to enforce it when it may prove politically difficult for them. The governments of Quebec and B.C. have both been active in hindering efforts to get pipeline access across their provinces though they have no constitutional ability to stop them. Rather than lay down the law with Quebec, the federal government regulated the proposed Energy East pipeline to death. Rather than risk a fight with the B.C. government over the Northern Gateway pipeline, Trudeau shut it down altogether.

The world is hungry for the energy products that Canadian Prairie provinces could provide but for now, the products are landlocked. Even if Quebec and B.C. were to become receptive to new pipelines, Prime Minister Trudeau is ideologically opposed to hydrocarbon exports and wouldnt support the development of any new export infrastructure. That became clear when he absurdly told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz there was no business case for exporting liquid natural gas to Europe. Trudeau literally had a European customer sitting in front of him practically begging for our natural gas products. How much more solid can a business case get?

Premier Smiths plan to bypass Ottawa and expand the Port of Churchill surely must have some federal government powerbrokers sweating. They will lose a big hammer they have been able to wield over the Prairie provinces for a long time. If Ottawa chooses to oppose this initiative though, they could be in for a battle with not one but three premiers. The federal government will be put into a tough spot.

There are certainly some challenges in exporting products through Hudsons Bay. The shipping season is limited, the rail expansion would be very expensive to upgrade, and negotiations with First Nations that may be impacted by the expansion could be prolonged. That said, there is no indication that world energy prices are going to drop any time soon and demand is sure to be high for a long time.

A pipeline could eventually be built to Churchill, but that would take some years. Expanding the existing rail line and port capacity could be done in relatively short order though, and it wouldnt need Ottawas approval. Oil by rail can be lucrative, especially if it is being purchased at full world prices.

Its not just energy products that could benefit from an expanded port in Churchill. All manner of resources, from mined metals to potash to forestry and agricultural products, could also be exported. The port could also turn into an import hub as well, as manufactured goods could be received and distributed by rail throughout central North America.

Having an export terminal in the very centre of the country would empower the Prairie provinces like never before. Smiths proposed Sovereignty Act has rattled the Canadian establishment though the act hasnt even been drafted yet. An alliance with her fellow Prairie premiers to bypass the jealously guarded port access on the East and West coasts could shake the Confederation to its core.

The irony of it all is this potential threat to national unity could have been avoided had the federal government simply enforced the Constitution to begin with. They put the Western provinces into a corner, but Premier Smith may have found the way out.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Cuba Says at Least 5 Dead After Boat Heading to US Crashes

HAVANAA boat off northern Cuba traveling toward the United States sank Saturday after a collision with a Cuban coast guard ship, and at least five people died, Cuban officials said Saturday.

The craft reportedly flipped over after the crash near Bahia Honda, about two hours from the capital of Havana.

Among the five known dead were a minor and three women, while about two dozen people were rescued, the state media outlet Cubadebate said.

Further details were not released, with Cuban officials telling the state channel that an investigation was underway.

The incident comes amid the biggest migratory flight from the Caribbean island in four decades, spurred by a deepening economic, political and energy crisis.

Cubas Interior Ministry threw blame on the United States, saying the deaths were a another consequence of American policy toward Cuba, including the 60-year embargo.

Meanwhile, the United States sent condolences to the families of those deceased.

As we expand safe and legal pathways for migration, we warn against attempting dangerous and sometimes fatal irregular migration, said a tweet from the U.S. Embassy in Havana, which has yet to resume full operations on the island.

The vast majority of Cubans who are leaving go by plane to Nicaragua, then travel overland to the U.S. border, often in Texas and Arizona.

But a growing number have fled by boat on the dangerous 90-mile journey to the southern coast of the United States. Between October 2021 and August 2022, the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted more than 4,600 Cubans traveling by boat, almost six times more than in all of 2020.

It is the largest exodus since 1980, when around 125,000 Cubans traveled by sea to the United States over six months, known as the Mariel crisis.

By Megan Janetsky
A man uses his umbrella on Kowloon's Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront that faces Victoria Harbor and the Hong Kong Island skyline in Hong Kong on Aug. 19, 2020. (Anthony Wallace/AFP via Getty Images)

Damaging Winds Hit Eastern Australia

Residents across Australias east coast are bracing for more wild weather as communities already hit hard by flooding continue the clean-up.

A severe weather warning has been issued for Victoria, New South Wales (NSW), Australian Capital Territory, South Australia and Tasmania, with damaging winds expected for the rest of Monday.

More than 14,000 people were left without power in Victoria after damaging wind gusts hit southern parts of the state, from the South Australian border across metropolitan Melbourne to Gippsland, on Sunday night.

The SES received more than 350 calls for help in 24 hours, mostly in the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne.

The Murray River remains in flood at Echuca, although water levels are slowly subsiding.

An evacuation order has been issued for Bogong Village near Falls Creek in the states northeast, where a slow-moving landslide is active above the alpine settlement.

Across the Bass Straight, Tasmanians have been warned of the risks of flash flooding, winds of up to 110km/h and possible thunderstorms in southern parts of the state.

Frustrated police are considering whether to charge a 17-year-old Launceston P-plater for disobeying road signs after the driver and the 15-year-old passenger were rescued from flood waters.

Acting Inspector Jason Jones said the road had been clearly signposted as closed.

Its just getting to a point where we have to set an example, he said on Sunday.

We dont just shut the roads because we want to; we shut the roads because theres a genuine need to keep people away.

Authorities spent three hours rescuing the pair, who had called for help on Saturday after their 4WD became stuck in metre-high floodwater.

In NSW, damaging winds could develop across eastern parts of the state, prompting fears that trees and powerlines could fall in already saturated soil.

Coastal and elevated areas in South Australia are likely to experience damaging winds from late on Monday morning.
Aerial view of people queuing up for COVID-19 PCR testing in Tianjin, China, on Jan. 20, 2022. (VCG via Getty Images)

Diplomatic Decoupling With China

The regime in Beijing went too far in its humiliation of American diplomats

Commentary

Since at least Fall 2020, American diplomats in China have quietly suffered. So have their families. Using the excuse of the pandemic, the regime in Beijing imprisoned as many as 30 diplomats and family members in locked rooms and often squalid conditions, according to The Wall Street Journal.

These people and other arriving diplomats have also been subject to multiple and unnecessary medical tests; forced to undergo months of quarantine and family separation; and they are monitored and controlled by Chinas online health app, according to the Journals editorial board.

This abuse violates U.S. policies against using the pandemic to mistreat diplomats. A July 2020 State Department policy banned U.S. diplomatic travel to countries that forced COVID-19 testing of diplomats and families by foreigners or quarantined them in foreign government facilities.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) refused to back down and, instead of standing firm, the Biden administration caved on two occasions, signing waivers that allowed the regime in Beijing to test and quarantine U.S. diplomats and their families.

But the regime went further than even the Department of State waivers allowed. The Journal saw a 97-page memo by whistleblowers describing a nightmare of restrictions imposed on U.S. diplomats and families, including children. Along with adults, they were isolated alone in moldy fever clinic rooms, with one teen reportedly driven into mental health problems as a result.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken should be ashamed.

Americans were monitored and suspect the Chinese are collecting intelligence and DNA, according to the Journal. Diplomats think the regime altered test results to harass families and achieve more control.

A technician works at a DNA tech lab in Beijing on Aug. 22, 2018. (Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images)

According to a whistleblower complaint, the fever clinics are small, dirty rooms (weve seen pictures)some located in converted shipping containers, according to the board. The doors are locked and the windows barred. Upon arrival, individuals were required to undergo nasal and throat swabs, to provide sputum, urine and stool samples, and to submit to EKGs and CT scans.

Adult-sized nasal swabs were used on children, causing nosebleeds and requiring their forcible restraint for repeated invasive procedures. Their parents reported ongoing trauma. Detainees had to beg for water and other essentials, including soap and toilet paper, or wait for them to arrive via care packages.

Food was minimal, and one family reported their children largely received soup for every meal, according to the Journal. Detainees reported notable weight loss.

Americans had to wait weeks or months for the regime to provide the negative COVID tests needed to leave quarantine. One family spent two months in a fever clinic, during which family members had to undergo a cumulative 159 blood, throat, and nose tests. Another family lost their freedom for 69 days.

The regime denied regular medical care to American detainees, including a child who needed stitches for a deep cut, and a man with stomach pain who was later diagnosed with appendicitis.

All U.S. diplomats must use the regime health app, which tends to go red when they want to travel, impeding their movement on official business.

Whistleblowers say theyre concerned the Chinese are using the app to track their movements and employing changing definitions of close contacts to target diplomats for additional quarantine, writes the board.

U.S. Ambassador Nicholas Burns reportedly negotiated away some of the mistreatment, to his credit. But that doesnt explain why State this spring agreed to another inviolability waiver that allows Chinese contact tracing, according to the board.

Secretary of State Blinken has some explaining to do. The American people want to know why their representatives are being dragged through the mud in Beijing, apparently with the consent of the State Department.

A passenger shows a green QR code on his phone to show his health status to security upon arrival at the Wenzhou railway station in Wenzhou, China, on Feb. 28, 2020. (Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images)

The Wall Street Journal calls the regimes treatment of diplomats inhumane and shocking.

The State Department, in charge of protecting American diplomats abroad, did little in actuality, repeatedly signing waivers to allow Beijings violation of U.S. policy.

This forced whistleblowers within the State Department to go to Congress for help. Congress is leaking documents about the issue when it should be legislating an end to the abuse.

The U.S. government must stop looking the other way and kowtowing to Beijing, unless it wants the world to start treating Xi Jinping like the world emperor he wants to be.

The violation of U.S. diplomatic immunity makes clear that it is time to decouple American diplomats from China. Some diplomats are already cutting their assignments in China short, and prospective newcomers are discouraged by the mistreatment from going in the first place.

The regime in Beijing has mistreated our diplomats and their families so atrociously, and with so little sense of respect and dignity, as to require either a diplomatic decoupling or a loss of face by not only our diplomats, but America itself.

To save any sense of diplomatic self-respect upon which Americas global soft power relies, the United States must take action. We simply cannot allow U.S. diplomats to be routinely tested, caged, forced to live in squalid conditions, denied health care, and otherwise humiliated, while also holding our heads high on the international stage.

Diplomatic decoupling will weaken the U.S. diplomatic mission in China, including diplomatic services. But it will also have major repercussions for the CCP.

When we decouple our diplomats from China, we must also decouple the regimes diplomats from America. They should be sent home in equal measure. This is reciprocity, the foundation for a return of American diplomatic self-respect and eventuallyafter Chinas democratization, if that happy day ever comesnormal relations with Beijing.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
SpaceX owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks at the E3 gaming convention in Los Angeles on June 13, 2019. (Mike Blake/Reuters)

Elon Musk Mocks Twitters Human Resources Bots After Getting Management 101 Message

New Twitter owner Elon Musk appeared to mock his companys human resource bots after receiving a management 101 notice.

Musk, who acquired the social media platform for $44 billion last week, posted what he said was an autogenerated message to him and mocked it.

Hey Elon, the automated message began. Its time to start Managing @Twitter (M101)!

It added: M101 covers what it means to be a good manager at Twitter by showing you how to create opportunities for impact, help your Tweeps grow their careers, and demonstrate care for your team. The message added that Musk, who owns Twitter, has 30 days to complete the mandatory course.

Just received this email from Twitter, Musk wrote early on Sunday. This is an actual, real email that was autogenerated.

The post comes as reports, citing anonymous sources, say that Musk is planning to fire a significant number of Twitter employees, coming after he removed four of the companys top managers, including CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, general counsel Sean Edgett, and legal policy chief Vijaya Gadde.

Just received this email from Twitter. This is an actual, real email that was autogenerated  pic.twitter.com/7DQp4sNINX  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 30, 2022

Ross Gerber, an investor, told The New York Times this weekend he was told by the chief of Musks family office to expect up to 50 percent of Twitter employees to be laid off. However, other sources told the paper that a 50 percent reduction in staff is improbable because it would be catastrophic for the firms operations.

Musk has not publicly commented on the reports. Twitters communications department has not responded to a request for comment.

Biz Stone, who co-founded Twitter with Jack Dorsey, wrote on the platform that he thanked Segal, Agrawal, and Gadde for their collective contribution to Twitter and described them as massive talents.

The bird is freed, wrote Musk early on Friday, or hours after he acquired the company. It also came amid reports that he fired Twitters top management.

Meanwhile, Segal, Agrawal, and Gadde stand to receive separation payouts totaling some $122 million, research firm Equilar said on Friday.

Equilar, known for its research on executive compensation, valued Agrawals so-called golden parachute at $57.4 million, while Segals was $44.5 million and Gaddes was $20 million. In addition to those payouts, the three executives will also receive a collective $65 million from Musk in exchange for shares they held in the company he has now taken private.

Gaddes stake was the most valuable, worth $34.8 million based on the final sale price of $54.20 per share, followed by $22 million for Segal and $8.4 million for Agrawal.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Kris Ullman, president of the D.C. office of the Eagle Forum that oversees the state chapters. (Courtesy of Kris Ullman)

Federal Judge Grants Alabama Conservative Nonprofits Motion to Quash Overly Broad, Unduly Burdensome DOJ Subpoena

A federal judge has granted an Alabama conservative nonprofits motion to quash a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) subpoena that demanded all information related to the nonprofits efforts to promote a bill prohibiting puberty blockers and gender-reassignment surgery on people under 19 years of age.

The Eagle Forum of Alabama filed the motion in U.S. federal district court seeking to quash the DOJs Aug. 9 subpoena in September.

Were pleased that the judge realized how overbroad and burdensome this request was, Kris Ullman, president of the D.C. office of the Eagle Forum that oversees the non-profits state chapters, told The Epoch Times.

Its unprecedented that a 501(c)(4) group that was created in order to lobby legislators would have all of their records subpoenaed on an issue that went before the state legislature, she said in a previous interview.

The DOJ subpoena sought all information related to the nonprofits legislative work on the Alabama Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection (VCAP) Act, which became effective on May 8.

Though the Eagle Forum Chapter of Alabama had been consulting with legislators since 2019 on writing the bill, the DOJs August subpoena is calling for more than five years of records related to the organizations work on the bill, despite the nonprofit not being a party in the legal action.

The new legislation was met with lawsuits, one of which was Boe et al. v. Marshall et al. (pdf) filed in U.S. District Court on April 19 that challenged the constitutionality of the bill, claiming that the law violated the 14th Amendment right to equal protection.

Chloe Cole (L) and Scott Newgent (R), who both underwent gender-transition procedures they regret, protest at the First Do No Harm Rally in Anaheim, Calif., on Oct. 7, 2022. (Courtesy of TreVoices.org/Scott Newgent)

Ten days later on April 29, the DOJ filed a motion to join as an intervenor party to the lawsuit.

In May, Liles Burke, a U.S. judge for the Northern District of Alabama, issued a preliminary injunction to stop the state from enforcing the law until the challenge is resolved.

The bill itself prohibited puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgery for those 18 and under, and required parental notification from the schools if a staff member were to treat a child for gender dysphoria.

When the party sued the state of Alabama claiming it was unconstitutional, the judge issued an injunction against the ban on puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, Ullman said. So, right now in Alabama, young people can have access to those two things, but what they cant have access to is the surgery, and schools are still required to inform parents if their child is exhibiting gender dysphoria.

A spokesperson for Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshalls office told The Epoch Times that in November, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals will hold an oral argument in Montgomery on the state of Alabamas appeal of the federal district courts preliminary injunction of the states transgender law.

Meanwhile, the parties are presently in discovery and working toward the trial on the merits, which is currently scheduled for Aug. 23, the spokesperson said.

Because the state of Alabama is a party to the lawsuit in which the DOJ intervened, Ullman said, the state is subject to the rules of the discovery process which allows for the DOJ to request all the research that legislators used to write the bill.

There has been no indication that legislature is not cooperating, Ullman said. So, whats unusual is the DOJ going to an outside group that isnt party to the lawsuit and demanding this information. In our view, this is harassment.

Overly Broad and Unduly Burdensome

Burke granted the Eagle Forums motion to quash the DOJs subpoena, stating in his opinion that the subpoena is overly broad and unduly burdensome.

Considering the relevance (or lack thereof) of the requested material, the burden of production, the nonparties resources, and the Governments own conduct, the Court finds that the subpoenas exceed the scope of discovery, Burke said.

Burke ruled not on the constitutionality of the subpoena but on procedural grounds, Ullman explained, which leaves the door open for the DOJ to return with a subpoena requesting a narrower scope of information.

Warning From the White House

LGBT-advocacy organization The Human Rights Campaign and the White House have criticized the legislation, calling it discriminatory and antagonistic toward transgendered youth.

In April, then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that lawmakers who are contemplating these discriminatory bills have been put on notice by the DOJ and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) that laws and policies preventing care that health care professionals recommend for transgender minors may violate the Constitution and federal law.

On March 31, the DHHS Office of Population Affairs released a document titled Gender-Affirming Care and Young People, which endorses gender-reassignment surgery and hormone treatment for minors.

Most recently in September, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a gender-affirming health care bill into law, making the state a refuge for parents and children who believe gender-affirming care is the right course of treatment.

An Attack on the First Amendment

In September, several conservative public interest law firms, special interest foundations, and legislators signed off on an amicus brief filed in the U.S. District Court in support of Eagle Forum of Alabamas motion to quash the DOJs subpoena.

The subpoena follows a pattern of what Republicans have viewed as a double standard in how the DOJ treats Republicans as opposed to Democrats, such as with the Mar-a-Lago raid of former President Donald Trumps home while downplaying the significance of Hunter Bidens laptop and any investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clintons handling of an email server.

The DOJ didnt respond to The Epoch Times request for comment.

For Ullman and the Eagle Forum of Alabama, the subpoena wasnt just harassment but a direct attack on the First Amendment.

Though Burke didnt make his ruling on those grounds, its still a win, Ullman said.

This is a victory for any advocacy group that wants to speak out and petition its government, Ullman said.
Students arrive for their first day in school at the Barbara Goleman Senior High School in Miami, on August 23, 2021. (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP) (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)

Florida Ranks First on National Education Freedom Report Card

MESA, Ariz.Florida is the overall winner on a national report card that measures how well states provide access to school choice and parental input into childrens education.

Parents not only have a right to choose where children learn but what they learn, according to the 2022 Education Freedom Report Card of The Heritage Foundation, a conservative public policy organization.

The report card included a list of state educational rankings in four key study areas: education choice, regulatory freedom, transparency, and return on investment for education spending.

The top-ranked state across the board in our 2022 Educational Freedom Report Card is Florida, The Heritage Foundation said.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R), talks about school choice expansion in Arizona with Derrick Morgan, executive vice president of The Heritage Foundation, during an Education Freedom Report Card celebration in Mesa, Ariz., on Oct. 25, 2022. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)

Florida does exceptionally well in allowing parents to choose among private, charter, and district schools is home to a strong ESA program, and ranks third overall for education choice.

Florida took first place for academic transparency and second place in regulatory freedom making it one of the freest states for teachers and students to pursue education largely devoid of red tape, the think tank said.

Arizona No. 1 in School Choice

Arizona ranked first in school choice following the recent passage and implementation of expanded universal school choice legislation signed by Gov. Doug Ducey.

This is really kitchen table common sense stuff. This is something parents want, said Ducey, the guest speaker.

According to The Heritage Foundation, Arizona took first place for education choice even without its universal ESA provision, which provides public funds that can be used outside of the public school system.

For parents looking for the wildest array of education options, Arizona is the place to be.

The universal school choice program provides up to $7,000 in education scholarships to K-12 students in Arizona. The legislation prevailed despite attempts by opponents to derail the program going into effect in September.

Panel speaker Jenny Clark, founder and executive director of Love Your School in Arizona, said a signature petition to stop ESA expansion was a real wakeup call to me.

When parents get on an empowerment scholarship, theyre so darned happy they decide to stay in school choice programs.

But if people really care about fostering education and freedom, we have to care about things that are attached to particularly private school choice programs, said Lindsey Burke, director of The Heritage Foundations Center for Education Policy.

School choice includes the ability of private schools to operate as they see fit, Burke said.

Burke said education freedom applies not only to parents and children, but to teachers and whether schools offer alternative certification options and reciprocity between districts.

Left-Leaning Teaching Programs

She noted that traditional college-based teaching programs are often captured by the left and some of the most left-leaning institutions in America.

Burke said the report card also calculated the number of districts with chief diversity officers and how its replicated throughout K-12 programs.

Were seeing this over and over again in districts across the country, Burke said.

The report card also measured the proportion of districts with a chief executive officer on staff and common-core assessment programs.

While Arizona ranked fifth in regulatory freedom, with 10 percent of teachers having an alternative certification, there is full reciprocity.

Thats good, Burke said.

For Arizona school districts, 20 percent employ chief diversity officers, and Arizona is certainly not the worst of states in this regard.

Regarding regulatory freedom, Mississippi ranked No. 1 on the report card.

Although education choice is critical for the future of education freedom in this countryand some would argue it is the reform that catalyzes all other necessary reforms in K-12 education todayit is one of the many factors we assess in this report card, The Heritage Foundation stated.

Jonathan Butcher, the Will Skillman Fellow in Education at The Heritage Foundations Center for Education Policy, hailed Floridas No. 1 ranking in academic transparency, saying that what children learn in the classroom is the kind of stuff parents want to know first on.

That is, at its essence, why we felt that transparency was so important to include as a part of our report card, he said.

He alluded to an incident in a Texas school district that compared police officers to members of the Ku Klux Klan.

It took action from the governor to address the matter, with parents concerns being largely ignored by school boards.

It should not take a governor calling for something to be done in a school to do something about whats going on in a curriculum, Butcher said.

CRT in the Classroom

The report card also looked at the prevalence of critical race theory (CRT), and whether students were forced or compelled to affirm or believe any idea that violated the 1965 Civil Rights Act.

CRT isnt merely an academic field of study, it is an action plan that utilizes compelled speech in education, Butcher said.

In the final categoryreturn on investment in per-pupil spendingIdaho topped the list.

How taxpayer dollars are spent is an integral component of choice and empowerment, The Heritage Foundation said. Our report card therefore examines the return on taxpayer investments in K-12 education in the states.

Idaho took first place in this category, providing a high [return on investment] for taxpayer spending on K-12 education.
Business gives up on plan to establish Vietnam's first cargo airline

IPP Air Cargo has asked the government to end the process of licensing its application to launch what would have been the nations first cargo airline.

The companys shareholders made the decision at a meeting Wednesday and a statement was sent a day later to the Government Office and the Ministry of Transport.

Jonathan Hanh Nguyen, chairman of the airlines parent company Imex Pan Pacific Group (IPPG), told VnExpress Saturday that air cargo demand would decline given the current global turmoil.

Nguyen said air cargo fares have dropped to affordable levels for both FDI and other firms engaging in international trade.

"Thus we have decided to end our plan to avoid causing more damage to carriers that are already making losses," he said, adding that the company would resume its plan at an appropriate moment when the global market recovers and stabilizes.

The company had already completed the procedures to lease four Boeing Converted Freighters 737 800BCF. It planned to start operations from major manufacturing and export locations like Can Tho, Da Nang, Khanh Hoa, Hai Phong and Quang Ninh, connecting them with Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City as well as foreign countries.
Members of the Mississippi National Guard hand out bottled water at Thomas Cardozo Middle School in response to the water crisis in Jackson, Miss., on Sept. 1, 2022. (Brad Vest/Getty Images)

Former British Politician Criticizes Medias Framing of Jackson, Mississippi, Water Crisis

'An Absurd Narrative Mississippians Can See for Themselves'

As the finger-pointing over what caused the summer water crisis continues in Jackson, Mississippi, a proponent of the free market and individual liberty examines how local and national media coverage concocted two culpritsracism and climate changeto fit a narrative disparaging to the state while downplaying what he said is the true cause: incompetence.

For Douglas Carswell, President & CEO of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy (MCPP)a non-profit organization that advocates for low taxes, light regulation, higher standards in education, and American exceptionalismthe divide between the medias narrative and what the people of Jackson were seeing with their own eyes became a significant wake-up call for the state capital.

Douglas Carswell. (Courtesy of Douglas Carswell)

Any time something goes wrong in Mississippi, media will attribute it to events that happened 50 to 150 years ago to say that its all a consequence of white racism, Carswell told The Epoch Times. Its an off-the-shelf template that reporters dust off whenever Mississippi comes up, but I think the water crisis was a tipping point for that narrative because ordinary Mississippians could see for themselves how ridiculous it really was.

National and local media platforms blamed the water crisis on systematic racism within the majority-black city. Some reports got it entirely wrong by flat-out stating that the city had run out of water because of climate change, while, as Carswell pointed out, Jackson has one of the largest reservoirs in the southern United States.

The Romans managed to master the technology of putting water into pipes to supply a city with fresh water 2,000 years ago, Carswell said. Theres no excuse for Jackson not to master that technology today. Its incompetence, and the people of Jackson can see that.

Environmental Justice and Disinvestment

While Carswell says the city governments mismanagement is transparent, the Mississippi chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has alleged that Republican Gov. Tate Reeves disinvested funds from Jackson that could have gone to fix the problem.

The NAACP called on the Environmental Protection Agencys (EPA) recently formed Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights to investigate the matter, stating in its letter to Reeves, We have been in keen observance of the long history of Jackson getting less than its fair share of public funding from the Mississippi state budget and at times, being denied of any funding at all when it was deserved.

The NAACP filed a complaint with the EPA under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, solidifying the allegation that the water crisis was caused by racial discrimination.

The Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights didnt immediately respond to a request for comment on the investigation.

On Oct. 17, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who serves as chair of the Committee on Homeland Security and chair of the U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack, launched his own investigation into the states spending, asking Reeves for data on how it plans to distribute American Rescue Plan Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding.

President Joe Biden pledged millions to combat structural racism, which has led to equity, diversity, and inclusion departments cropping up in government agencies.

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba stated in a city press release, We know that the condition of Jacksons water system didnt happen overnight but is due to decades of disinvestment in the citys infrastructure.

However, there are many within Jackson who have been watching this play out for years and point to the city governments own underinvestment in its water infrastructure, which has led to 150,000 citizens without potable water.

According to Reeves in an Oct. 17 press release, Throughout this emergency, we have had to procure chemicals, workers, and materials for the city routinely because they were incapable of doing so.

Reeves added that the state has poured millions of dollars from taxpayers of every county into this effort to rescue the city from a crisis of incompetence.

On Oct. 20, during a traditional turkey pardoning ceremony to support a campaign designed to raise money for families in need for Thanksgiving, Reeves answered (the discussion beginning at 14:00) a question from a reporter about the problems with the citys water system.

The mayor has gone on national TV and blamed that on a lot of things, Reeves said. But what we have proven over the last 52 days is the water struggles in Jackson were specific to the incompetence of this administration.

The state stepped in on Aug. 29, Reeves said, and set up a unified command structure, naming both the Department of Health and the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency as leads.

Within 72 hours, Jacksons water was restored, Reeves said, and the boiled water notice was lifted 15 days later.

Running water systems isnt that challenging, Reeves said.

Out of his 19 years in office, with over 1,100 water systems in the state, Reeves said this has been the only time hes had to sign an emergency proclamation to ensure that water was delivered to the city.

Grotesque Incompetence

Carswell said much of the problem stemmed from a simple failure to bill its citizens.

In 2017, Jacksons water billing system collected $61 million in revenue, and the operating costs of the citys water system were about $54 million, Carswell said. That left a healthy surplus that competent management might have allocated to meet maintenance costs.

In 2022, the amount of revenue collected is likely to be closer to $40 million, Carswell said, far below running costs.

Not only is there no surplus to go toward maintenance, but there does also not seem to have been much maintenance even when there was a surplus, Carswell said. How on earth does a city water authority manage to lose almost a third of its revenue in the space of five years?

In any given city, water is what Carswell called a cash cow because it has a captive market.

Citizens are billed, and they have to give the city government a check, Carswell explained. What Jackson did is it monstrously failed to invoice people.

Several years ago, the city government contracted with an engineering firm to set up a new billing system, Carswell said, which ended in the firm being sued for $89 million, leaving consequentially more money to be spent on city attorneys than on improving the citys water system.

If a private business fails to invoice a third of its customers, it will go bankrupt, Carswell said. Here we are in Jackson with the authorities failing to generate a third of its revenue because they couldnt get their act together and issue invoices.

In addition to a failure to invoice, the city failed to have qualified personnel running the water facilities, he said.

The state repeatedly offered to help, and those offers were ignored, Carswell added. Eventually, things got so bad that the state had to step in and pick up the cost of half of it and fix things.

After the federal and state governments stepped in, the total bill came to less than $200,000, he said.

It was a minuscule amount of money to fix a problem that was overwhelmingly caused by grotesque incompetence among civic leaders in Jackson, Carswell said.

The city of Jackson didnt reply to The Epoch Times request for comment.

Dumbing Down Mississippi

Anyone in Jackson could see the incompetence, which is why I think this was a significant moment when people could for the first time in a long time honestly assess the cause of public policy in the state without constantly being beaten over the head by journalists with an agenda and absurd narrative, Carswell said.

Its not only national reporters with no connection to the state that engage in the berating, but also local journalists, he said.

Its almost as if some of the reporters who write for these papers are trying to show the world that they are somehow sophisticated by dumbing down Mississippi, Carswell said.

An example of Carswells statement could be how one local media outlet framed Reevess answering the reporters question during the turkey pardoning ceremony as a rant, omitting the part about the reporter asking the question, implying that Reevesunsolicitedwent on a tirade.

As a former elected official in the Parliament of the United Kingdom (UK) for 12 years who arrived in Mississippi with not only an outsiders view but also with a love of the state, Carswell said its unfortunate.

I think its one of the most wonderful places in America, and theres nowhere Id rather live, he said. Yet some of these journalists who write for Mississippi media organizations seem to think that their success can be measured by how often they beat down their own state.

Carswells effort as a politician in the UK was to advocate for the British exit (also known as Brexit) from the European Union that took place in 2020, he said.

Once I achieved what I wanted to get done, I quit, he said. I didnt want to be in politics for the sake of finding another excuse to live at the taxpayers expense.

Now in Mississippi where he is the president of the MCPP, Carswell said he continues to advocate for what he calls American exceptionalism, which is often mistranslated as racism in Marxist ideologies such as Critical Race Theory (CRT).

MCPP drafted a bill that made its way to and was signed by Reeves.

The bill prohibits the teaching of the divisive and racist concepts found in CRT that promote the idea that one race is inherently superior or inferior to the other.

A Sublime Inheritance

For Carswell, Americaincluding the state of Mississippiis not an archaic paradigm of racism waning into a shadow of irrelevancy but a beacon of freedom for the rest of the world being kept from its full potential only by lack of vision.

The reason we live and work in air-conditioned rooms rather than mud huts is because of decisions that were made in a courthouse in Philadelphia in 1787, and we need to make sure that the next generation of Americans appreciates that sublime inheritance because, if they forget it, America will just become a giant version of California, he said. That will be a disaster not only for the Republic but also for the free world.
Former President Barack Obama looks on during the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP26), in Glasgow, Scotland, Britain, on Nov. 8, 2021. (Yves Herman/Reuters)

Former President Obama Endorses Karen Bass for LA Mayor

LOS ANGELESFormer President Barack Obama has endorsed Karen Bass for mayor of Los Angeles.

I am asking Los Angeles to vote for Karen Bass for mayor, Obama said in a video released Oct. 29 by the Bass campaign.

I know Karen. She was with me in supporting my campaign from the beginning, and Karen Bass will deliver results.  Karen has always been on the right side of the issues we care so deeply about. She has devoted her life to serving her community, from working in the emergency room, to saving California from a budget crisis, to delivering relief during the COVID pandemic as a member of Congress, he said.

Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA) speaks at her primary night event in Hollywood, Calif., on June 7, 2022. (Kaelin Mendez/Getty Images)

Bass, a Democratic congresswoman since 2011, was an early supporter of Obamas 2008 presidential run, campaigning for him in 2007 when she was a member of the state Assembly.

I am humbled and honored to have the support of President Barack Obama, Bass said. President Obama brought us faith in our government and hope for the future of our country.

It is impossible to overstate the impact of his work leading this country for eight scandal-free years advancing social and economic justice had on the nation and the world. That impact became even more obvious when it was followed by four years of corruption and crime emanating from the Oval Office. But we as a country are fighting back. We as a city are fighting back, she continues.

President Obamas support underscores the contrast in this race and inspires our campaign as we share our plans to solve homelessness and make LA safer and more affordable for everyone during the home stretch, she added.

Rick Caruso attends the Let California Kids Hear Campaign at The Grove in Los Angeles on Aug. 12, 2019. (Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Caruso)

Peter Ragone, spokesman for developer Rick Caruso, Basss opponent in the Nov. 8 election, said: This election is about fixing homelessness, preventing crime, and ending corruption at the City Hall. Only one candidate had a track record of taking on the status quo and getting results.

Bass has received the endorsement of most state and local Democratic politicians as well as President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, while Caruso has been backed by former Mayor Richard Riordan, business groups including the Los Angeles County Business Federation, and the Los Angeles Police Protective League.

Bass apologized earlier this month for accusing Caruso during a debate of paying to receive an endorsement from the Avance Democratic Club, a local Latino political group.
Observers watch a poll worker tabulate ballots at the Allegheny County Election Warehouse after the election in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. Nov. 6, 2020. (Reuters/John Altdorfer)

GOP Activists: Thousands of Poll Watchers May Be Deployed for 2022 Midterms

Thousands of volunteers in midterm battleground states have been trained on local election procedures and to become poll watchers, a conservative group has confirmed.

Volunteers have been trained to clean voter rolls, understand changes to election procedures, and become poll watchers or even election judges, Jenny Beth Martin, the chair of Tea Party Patriots Action (TPPA), told The Washington Times.

The first part is about personal relationships, and the second is about procedures and policies, Martin told the paper. Do they use temporary staffing companies [to manage elections]? What computer systems are they using? What contracts do they have in place for that?

Martin and another trainer, Toni Shuppe, the head of Audit the Vote PA, said that about 6,000 people are in training to become poll watchers in Pennsylvania alone ahead of the midterms, a massive increase from the 500 in 2020, Shuppe said.

Shuppe also recently confirmed to Reuters that her group is focused on encouraging people to become poll watchers in the upcoming November midterm elections. The Republican National Committee (RNC) told The Washington Post last week that it and its allies have staged thousands of training sessions on how to become a poll watcher and how to lodge election-related complaints.

Andrea Raffle, the Republican National Committees (RNC) director for election integrity in Pennsylvania, told participants on the call that they had already filled 6,000 poll watcher positions in the state this year, compared with 1,000 in 2020. Raffle referred a request for comment to the RNCs national office.

The RNC has been pouring resources into recruiting observers and workers since being freed from the restrictions of a court-ordered consent decree in 2018, according to Reuters. It expects to have trained over 52,000 poll watchers and workers between November last year and the coming election; it said comparative numbers for past elections were unavailable.

The more eyes that we have on this election, the more comfortable people will be that the outcome was fair and transparent, Shuppe said, adding to the outlet that such efforts are necessary to ensure transparency so as to not repeat problems that unfolded in 2020.

Some Republican observers said they were unlawfully kicked out of polling places in Detroit, Philadelphia, and other Democrat-majority areas during the 2020 election amid allegations of voter fraud.

The endgame is to have Democrats and Republicans alike have as many eyes on [the election] as possible so that both parties are comfortable in the outcome at the end of the day, said Shuppe, who endorsed GOP Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano. We just dont want a repeat of 2020, where people are running around screaming fraud. That, to me, would be the worst possible outcome.

A spokesman for the Democratic National Committee told Reuters that the group doesnt have a national number because state party offices manage their poll watcher recruitment.

RNC and Democratic National Committee officials didnt respond by press time to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Excerpt of Interview with Dr. Yuhong Dong, Virologist and Chief Scientist of a Biotechnology Firm in Europe.

One of the most common side effects of COVID-19 is neurological and psychiatric symptoms. A few large scale studies have discovered that COVID-19 infection can increase the risk of dementia, Alzheimers and Parkinsons diseases. But there are ways to protect your brain.

COVID-19 Can Increase the Risk of Dementia by 69 Percent

In August 2022, The Lancet Psychiatry published a study on the neuropsychiatric sequelae caused by COVID-19. The study drew health records of more than 1 million people and showed that six months after the infection, symptoms of dementia went up by 33 percent [1][1].

The Journal of Alzheimers Disease recently also published a study on the association of COVID-19 with the onset of Alzheimers disease, the most common type of dementia. The researchers used the TriNetX Analytics Platform to access the health records of over 95 million patients of inpatient and outpatient visits from 68 healthcare organizations in the United States. Patients were from a diverse range of backgroundsgeographic, age, race/ethnicity, socioeconomics, and health condition. [2]

The researchers followed 6,245,282 adults (age 65 years) who visited healthcare professionals between February 2020 and May 2021 who had no prior diagnosis of Alzheimers disease and followed them for 360 days.

During the one year follow up period of the study, most of the people should be vaccinated. However this piece of information has not been clearly reported.

Patients were divided into two groups, one group was infected with COVID-19, and the other group was not infected.

The study used a 1-to-1 matching method, where a COVID-19 patient was paired up with a non-COVID-19 patient of similar characteristics, such as age, race/ethnicity, health condition, occupational exposure, etc.

After the match, there were 410,478 valid cases in each group, with a mean age of 73.7 years.

The results showed that compared to non-COVID-19 patients, COVID-19 patients had a 69 percent increased risk of developing Alzheimers disease within 360 days of diagnosis. For those who were 85 years or older, the risk increased by 89 percent.

Both findings from The Lancet Psychiatry and Journal of Alzheimers Disease came from large-scale studies done by reputable researchers. They used comparable methods that generated similar results. The main finding is that the risk of developing neuropsychiatric diseases is higher in older patients who were tracked for an extended period of time. This is pathogenically plausible.

This shows that COVID-19s related damage to the brain is an issue that should not be ignored.

COVID-19 Also Increases the Risk of Developing Parkinsons Disease

In neurodegenerative diseases, neuronal death occurs in different parts of the brain causing diseases. For example, lesions in the hippocampus can cause memory loss and symptoms of dementia; in the nigrostriatal, Parkinsons disease; and in the nerve cells which are responsible for movement, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Frontiers in Neurology published a study in June 2022 indicating COVID-19 infection not only increases the risk of Alzheimers disease but also the risk of Parkinsons disease. [3]

The study used electronic health records of 2,972,192 people, covering about half of the Danish population who were tested for COVID-19 in hospitals between February 2020 and November 2021. The researchers classified the patients according to inpatient/outpatient status, age, gender, and comorbidities to ensure the comparability of the results.

Results showed that the outpatient group who tested positive for COVID-19 had a greater risk of developing neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases compared to those who tested negative:

Alzheimers disease  3.5 times;

Parkinsons disease  2.6 times;

Ischemic stroke  2.7 times;

Cerebral hemorrhage  4.8 times.

The Danish study showed that COVID-19 can cause neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases on a large scale.

How COVID-19 Damages the Brain

Evidence suggests COVID-19 infection invades the brain in three ways and through multiple mechanisms.

Covid-19 attacks the brain in three ways:

The virus passes through olfactory nerve in the the nasal mucosa, and reaches the olfactory bulb of the brain. The virus directly breaks through the blood-brain barrier via brain vessel epithelium cells. Trojan horse methodthe virus first invades immune cells and then breaks through the blood-brain barrier through the immune cells.

Two articles published in Nature (July 2021) and Science (January 2022) suggest COVID-19 causes brain cell damage, directly and indirectly, through various mechanisms: attack brain cells directly; invade cerebral blood vessels; reduce blood flow causing ischemia and hypoxia; setting off the immune system to damage brain cells; brain inflammation; mitochondrial damage; lipid metabolism disorders; inhibition of autophagy (the ability of nerve cells to dispose of waste). [4] [5]

In June 2022, Neural Regeneration Research revealed another mechanism leading to neurological damage to the brain. [6]

COVID-19 causes the viral receptor ACE-2 to down-regulate, resulting in the over-activation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (ie, RAAS, a hormonal system that regulates body fluid and electrolyte balance, thus playing a decisive role in blood pressure). The release of pro-inflammatory molecules develops into a cytokine storm that further exacerbates neuroinflammation, synaptic loss, damage to the protective coating of the nerve cells (demyelination), and actions of neurological compounds that can kill the nerve cells (excitotoxicity).

This mechanism causes damage to the structure of the nerve cells, myelin sheath, and peripheral nerves, and cell death (necrosis), which in turn will lead to neurological sequelae, including dementia and Parkinsons disease.

COVID-19 Infection Might Not Cause Neurological Disorders

These studies indicate that not all COVID-19 patients experience neurological disorders, although the risk does exist.

COVID-19 can cause damage to the brain, but the nerve cells and the human body have self-healing mechanisms.

Infection from COVID-19 is just one of the causes of neurological disorders. The bodys ability to heal itself is the fundamental factor that can restore our health. Lifestyle changes, such as doing meditation or other ways of boosting autophagy can protect the brains ability to repair and regenerate, thereby reducing the chances of developing neurological diseases.

For some others, walking a spiritual path can also affect the mind in a positive way, thus protecting the brain.

Kindness Can Protect Brain Cells

In the field of psychology, kindness, compassion, altruism, generosity, empathy, and prosocial behavior (intent to help others) are usually grouped as positive psychology. Scientists define compassion or kindness as the sensitivity to the distress of others with a commitment to try and do something about it. [7]

In the eyes of scientists, kindness involves not only being sensitive to others sufferings but also the need to respond constructively in such situationskindness requires action, even if its just a few words of comfort.

So from the scientific point of view, does kindness have an impact on ones physical health?

The kindness of the medical staff is conducive to the recovery of the patients condition

In 1995, The Lancet published a study from the University of Toronto health system. The researchers studied 133 homeless adults who often visited an inner-city emergency department. The patients main symptoms were physical pain, confusion, and headache. [8]

The patients were randomly assigned to two groups. One group received routine care; the other group received kind and compassionate carethat is, in addition to routine medical care, trained healthcare workers followed specific standards of compassionate care, and treated patients with more respect and patience.

Results showed that kind and compassionate care significantly reduced the average number of visits per month and reduced the number of monthly return visits by about one-third.

The study indicates that compassionate care of patients results in significantly fewer relapses and revisits, along with faster and more complete recovery. This is an intuitive statistic that reflects the healing power of kindness.

Teaching children to be kind is beneficial to them and their parents

Are there benefits to being kind to others? Researchers at the University of Texas Center for BrainHealth conducted a study with an inspiring outcome.

During the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2021, 38 mothers participated in a 4-week online, self-paced curriculum in kindness. The mothers were required to practice and demonstrate to their children how to express kindness, and help them develop good behaviors.

Before and after the kindness curriculum, the mothers completed questionnaires on their resilience level and reported the childs empathy prosocial behaviors.

The researchers discovered that after completing the curriculum on teaching kindness to their children, the mothers showed greater endurance, and more resilience in the face of adversity, trauma, and other stressors. The childrens level of empathy improved significantly, and they were kinder and more understanding. [9]

The study revealed that in the process of demonstrating and teaching kindness to the children, the childrens empathy level improved, and the parents also benefited.

There are kind molecules in the human body to enhance immunity and ease brain damage

Many people think that kindness is merely a type of behavior. In fact, kindness has its corresponding material component in the human body. Scientific research has found that kindness can have positive effects on the brain and the physical body. For example:

Activity in the posterior superior temporal cortex of the brain in kind and prosocial individuals is more active. Doing good deeds causes the body to release oxytocin and endorphins, and create new neural connections. Prosocial people have higher levels of antiviral gene expression of their immune cells.

Other studies have found that a kind attitude corresponds to the oxytocin molecules in the body.

An article in the Pharmacological Reviews (October 2020) showed that oxytocin is naturally produced in the human body and can be called a good molecule. [10]

Oxytocin is generally produced in the hypothalamus and released by the pituitary gland. It plays a role in childbirth, reproduction, and social bonding.

A persons oxytocin level increases while in a state of kindness. Oxytocin enhances the bodys immunity, increases anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects, and improves the bodys ability to fight viral infections. In addition, oxytocin can reduce and alleviate brain damage and maintain the brains self-healing ability.

A 2011 study published in Psychoneuroendocrinology monitored oxytocin levels and the number of immune cells, called helper T cells, in 71 HIV-infected women. Stress usually reduces the number of helper T cells. The study showed women with a high level of oxytocin had more immune cells even while under considerable stress, and the immune system became braver under elevated stress. [11]

Performing Good Deeds Can Help Us Navigate Through the COVID-19 Pandemic

After reviewing the above studies, we can see that kindness can increase our resilience, help us recover from neuropsychiatric sequelae, and boost our immunity. This in turn will help us overcome COVID-19 and navigate the last stage of the pandemic.

Other American psychologists hold similar views.

In August 2021, Anxiety, Stress & Coping published a paper co-authored by scholars from the University of California, Los Angeles, and Stanford University. Their research showed that practicing compassion and doing good deeds foster a sense of social belonging, which can help people reduce anxiety, stress, and depression, and help us cope with the pandemic and look to the future. [12]

From a social perspective, kindness builds trust among people, reduces anxiety, and creates a positive cycle.

From an energy perspective, the theory that kindness helps people improve their health also makes sense.

According to American psychiatrist, David R. Hawkins, people in different spiritual realms possess different energy levels which manifest through the human body. [13]

When people hold different types of thoughts, it is equivalent to giving different levels of energy to the body, including the brain. It acts like a light bulbif you give it 60 watts of power, it emits 60 watts of light; and if you give it 100 watts of power, it emits 100 watts of light.

Kind people tend to have higher energy (or consciousness) levels. If energy is beneficial to the body, it is called positive energy; if energy has a counteracting effect on human health, it is called negative energy.

Source: POWER VERSES FORCE  The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior, by David R. Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D. [13] Acceptance, reason, and love correspond to positive energy levels that are beneficial to our health.

Performing good deeds can manifest in many different ways in our lives.

When we see behaviors that are detrimental to public health and our well-being, we should stand up and speak up. This is another form of being kind.

References

[1] Lancet Psychiatry

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(22)00260-7/fulltext#seccestitle150

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35987197/

Other references  https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/08/19/long-covid-brain-effects/

[2] Journal of Alzheimers Disease

https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-alzheimers-disease/jad220717#jad-89-jad220717-t001

[3] Frontiers in Neurology

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2022.904796/full

[4] Nature

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01693-6

[5] Science

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abm2052

[6] Neural Regeneration Research

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8643043/

[7] Compassion and the science of kindness: Harvard Davis Lecture 2015 (British Journal of General Practice)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4917056/

[8] A randomized trial of compassionate care for the homeless in an emergency department (Lancet May 1995)

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(95)90975-3/fulltext

[9] Parenting With a Kind Mind: Exploring Kindness as a Potentiator for Enhanced Brain Health

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8989141/

[10] Pharmacological Review  Is Oxytocin Natures Medicine?

https://pharmrev.aspetjournals.org/content/72/4/829

[11] Psychoneuroendocrinology

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306453010003124?via%3Dihub

[12] Anxiety, Stress & Coping

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10615806.2021.1950695?journalCode=gasc20

[13] David R. Hawkins

https://vortexspacetime.com/archive/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/David-R.-Hawkins-POWER-VS.-FORCE.pdf

Other references 

https://second.wiki/wiki/david_r_hawkins

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Epoch Health welcomes professional discussion and friendly debate. To submit an opinion piece, please follow these guidelines and submit through our form here.
Dr. Jose Luis Domingo, who has served as editor-in-chief of a prestigious scientific journal, Food and Chemical Toxicology (FCT), for the past seven years, said that he has essentially been forced to resign.

His resignation, he alleged, has come about because of gaping problems with scientific integrity and industry influence when it comes to scientific discussions about the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines.

Though Domingo has himself received three vaccinations (two AstraZeneca and one Pfizer), he told The Epoch Times that he has been bombarded with insults, threats, and accusations of being anti-vaccine ever since he approved the publication of a scientific paper that explores potential mechanisms of harm of injected synthetic mRNA.

Though he would have preferred to stay at the helm of the journal until the end of 2023 because he has several projects pending, Domingo has issued his resignation from the journal to maintain his scientific independence.

He told us he is first and foremost a scientist, and that he does not regret publishing the paper. Despite the attacks, he was not willing to give in to the pressure from the journals publisher.

The journals publisher, Jagna Mirska, did not respond to our request for an interview.

However, Domingo said that the journal has already picked a successor for his positionsomeone with clear ties to the pharmaceutical industry: Bryan Delaney, Ph.D.

According to his LinkedIn page, Delaney is a toxicologist who currently works for Haleon. Haleon is pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKleins new brand name for its consumer health unit.

GSK manufactures vaccines against hepatitis A and B, meningitis, tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, and human Papilloma virus, among others. It also makes brand-name antibiotics and dozens of other pharmaceuticals.

An Authority on Toxicology

Seventy-one-year-old Domingo is a distinguished professor (emeritus) of Toxicology and Environmental Health at Spains Rovira i Virgili University.

In 2014, and again in 2015, he was named an Institute for Scientific Information highly cited researcher. As a renowned authority in toxicology, Domingo has served on the editorial boards of more than 11 scientific journals, including as editor-in-chief or co-editor-in-chief of Food and Chemical Toxicology, Environmental Research, and Human and Ecological Risk Assessment.

As its website explains: Food and Chemical Toxicology is an internationally renowned journal, that publishes original research articles and reviews on toxic effects, in animals and humans, of natural or synthetic chemicals occurring in the human environment with particular emphasis on food, drugs, and chemicals, 

The journals mandate is to publish high-impact, scholarly work and serve as a multidisciplinary forum for research in toxicology.

Given its aim, and the fact that millions of people have taken injections that they were told would protect them from COVID-19 infections, Domingo wrote an editorial voicing his concerns about the need for more research on the safety of these vaccines.

He said Jagna Mirska, senior publisher at Elsevier, which is the company that owns the journal, asked him to transform the editorial into a call for submissions for research on the toxicity (or lack thereof) of the COVID-19 vaccines. So, in February 2022, Domingo issued a public call for submissions.

The Controversial Paper

As a result, in June of 2022, while Domingo was still at its helm, FCT published an extraordinary and highly technical paper called, Innate immune suppression by SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccinations: The role of G-quadruplexes, exosomes, and MicroRNAs.

This research was co-authored by a team of preeminent scientists, including Stephanie Seneff, Ph.D., a senior research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Dr. Peter McCullough, an internationally known cardiologist who has published over a hundred peer-reviewed articles during his 40-year career; and Dr. Anthony Kyriakopoulos, a Greek clinical microbiologist, medical doctor, and researcher who has a Ph.D. in medical and molecular microbiology.

Their research proposed that alterations in the vaccine mRNA may hide the mRNA from cellular defenses and promote a longer biological half-life and high production of spike protein.

In doing so, these scientists posited, mRNA vaccines may interfere with the bodys natural immune response.

They described this interference as profound impairment, which, they believe, comes about specifically because the spike protein interferes with a critical early innate immune response mechanism, called the type I interferon response. If they are correct, injected synthetic mRNA will have a variety of negative consequences on human health, including making our bodies less able to control infections and suppress cancer.

Extra Scrutiny Because of the Sensitive Nature of the Topic

Since the beginning of the pandemic, most developed countries have acted extraordinarily fast in investigating a number of aspects related to SARS-Co-V-2 and COVID-19, wrote Domingo, who said that he has been the editor-in-chief of the journal for seven years and worked as the managing editor for three years prior.

Noting that there are still an important number of gaps that need to be clarified  With respect specifically to the potential toxic effects  the published information in scientific journals is certainly rather limited.

Domingos request for papers on vaccine safety further stated that the goal in calling for research on potential toxicological effects of the vaccines, was to reduce skepticism to vaccination.

The journal FCT, which is published by Elsevier, has a high impact factor, according to the Scientific Citation Index, which means that it is a very well-established and reputable journal.

Because Domingo knew that this was a very sensitive social and scientific topic, he told us that he was particularly meticulous about the review process.

During standard peer review, two or three outside scientists familiar with the subject provide written feedback on whether a paper should be published or not.

In the case of this work, however, Domingo called on no fewer than five outside peer-reviewers. These peer-reviewers scrutinized the science with extra care. They provided detailed written feedback and required the authors to do three rounds of revisions.

After the third iteration, all five were unanimous in recommending the paper be accepted.

Backlash, But Not About the Science

About a month after the paper was published, Domingo said, he began receiving angry emails and messages. These included insults, calls to resign, demands to retract the paper, and even threats.

One email asked him how he could sleep at night, knowing that the scientific paper that he had allowed to be published would lead to the death of millions of people.

The angry messages, he said, were filled with ad hominem attacks against him and against the papers co-authors, but did not specify their scientific objections to the contents of the paper. Domingo welcomed one scientific response he did receive and told the authors his journal was willing to publish a Letter-to-Editor (LTE) from them if the LTE could pass peer review, which is the standard process for any published rebuttal. He sent the rebuttal to four reviewers, which is higher than usual, again because of the sensitive nature of the topic.

Two said it did not pass scientific muster. Two suggested the authors revise it and resubmit it. Based on this feedback, Domingo said, he should have rejected the rebuttal outright. Instead, he invited the authors to revise and resubmit. Their revision, however, was so scientifically poor that three of the four reviewers said it should not be published. Given that he, too, found that the rebuttal was not scientifically sound, he felt he had no choicein spite of what he called kind suggestions from the publisherto reject it.

Since then, pro-vaccine factions have increased their personal campaign against him, going so far as to adding false information to the Wikipedia entry about him, as well as attacking the Wikipedia page of the journal itself. Both, he said, were negatively modified by pro-vaccination activists. Indeed, an Oct. 4 version of his page, accessed via internet archive, included a subheading entitled Antivaccine controversy that accused Domingo of spreading disinformation during the pandemic. That paragraph has since been removed.

The Published Rebuttal

On Oct. 26, a rebuttal and call for retraction of the Seneff paper was published in a different scientific journal Stem Cell Reviews and Reports. In this call for retraction, a team of nine scientists, from France and Sweden, among other countries, contend that Fighting the spread of false information requires enormous effort while receiving little or no credit for this necessary work, which often ends up being threatened.

In their abstract, the scientists insist that The need for more scientific integrity is at the heart of our advocacy. They describe the Seneff et. al. paper as deadly disinformation.

The authors of the rebuttal contend that they have made a militant choice to demand retraction because the issue is not a scientific controversy, but a matter of public health.

They further state that fighting against scientific disinformation may be risky, too slow and insufficient.

They end their militant call for retraction with a quote from Joseph Biden, president of the United States, that the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated; and theyre killing people (which they emphasize by placing in italics) and say that this quote applies especially to the people who encourage the unvaccinateds beliefs.

No citation accompanies the contention that there is currently a pandemic of the unvaccinated. That statement is not scientific. It cannot be cited because it is not true. Most of the recent research shows that the vaccines do not stop the transmission of COVID-19 and the majority of deaths and hospitalizations from COVID-19 in the UK, where authorities are compiling the most accurate data are in those who have been vaccinated.

mRNA Injections Arent Safe, Scientists Say

I am honored to be collaborating with an expert team of researchers who are passionate about the goal of unraveling the toxic effects of the SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines, Seneff, with whom Jennifer has published two Epoch Times articles, told us via email. This same team has written another paper that has been accepted for publication and will appear shortly in a peer-reviewed journal, and we are working on several more papers that are either under review or soon to be submitted.

We all share the belief that the mRNA vaccines are causing harm to many people, and that vaccine mandates are irresponsible and unjustified, she continued.

It is unconscionable that those of us who seek to understand the science behind the toxicity of these vaccines face so many obstacles in our efforts to inform the public of the risks they may be taking in receiving these injections. And it is also unconscionable that responsible editors who try to publish papers such as ours that go against the narrative get banished from the publishing world.

Despite having received three vaccines, Domingo himself came down with COVID-19 in July.

With me, the vaccines did not protect sufficiently, he said.

Since the beginning of 2022, we have seen many scientists and medical doctors risking their careers, their medical licenses, and even their personal safety to fight for scientific freedom and integrity.

Jennifer Margulis Follow Jennifer Margulis, Ph.D., is an award-winning journalist and author of Your Baby, Your Way: Taking Charge of Your Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Parenting Decisions for a Happier, Healthier Family. A Fulbright awardee and mother of four, she has worked on a child survival campaign in West Africa, advocated for an end to child slavery in Pakistan on prime-time TV in France, and taught post-colonial literature to non-traditional students in inner-city Atlanta. Learn more about her at JenniferMargulis.net
HKDC Blocked from Internet After Criticizing Foreign Firms for Helping HK Government Suppress Human Rights

Scholar: Hong Kong governments retaliatory intention is crystal clear

The Hong Kong Democracy Council (HKDC), an American non-government organization with a number of exiled Hong Kong pro-democracy figures as its core members, issued a report on Oct. 25, criticizing the Hong Kong government for lobbying international companies to support the Hong Kong National Security Law (NSL). The report also revealed the names and conduct of the businesses concerned. Hours later, some people in Hong Kong reported being unable to browse the HKDC website and read the related report. Some scholars analyzed that it was the Hong Kong government that blocked the HKDC website, primarily out of revenge. This is a reflection of the Hong Kong governments fear that the report might trigger the U.S. government to put pressure on foreign firms and capital, resulting in bringing about a series of boycott effects. Or it might have a negative impact on the forthcoming international financial summit in November when Hong Hongs intention to tell the good story of Hong Kong becomes a tell the Hong Kong scandalous story instead.

Established in Sept. 2019, HKDC is an overseas organization concerned with the development of democracy in Hong Kong. It had participated in lobbying the U.S. government to pass the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act. The Chinese government announced in July last year that it would impose sanctions on organizations such as HKDC under the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law. The founder of HKDC, Samuel Chu, is the son of Chu Yiu-ming, one of the Three Founders of the Occupy Central campaign. He immigrated to the U.S. in his early years and was previously reported to be wanted by the Hong Kong police for allegedly violating the NSL. He resigned as HKDC director in August 2021.

In Sept. 2021, HKDC announced that Alex Chow Yong-kang, the former secretary-general of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, would take over as chairperson. Brian Leung Kai-ping, one of the authors of Hong Kong Nationalism and a protester of the 2019 occupation of the Legislative Council, was appointed as the executive director. Nathan Law Kun-chung, former Legislative Councillor, remains an advisor. Other appointments include Sunny Cheung Kwan-yang, a former spokesperson for the HK Higher Institutions International Affairs Delegation, and Ted Hui Chi-fung, a former legislator, as advisory members.

HKDC Website Blocked After Publication of Human Rights Report

On Oct. 25, HKDC published a report entitled Business Not As Usual: International Companies in the New Authoritarian Hong Kong, pointing out that some foreign companies in Hong Kong, at the request of the Hong Kong government, expressed their support for the NSL and incidentally foster the governments vicious actions to suppress human rights and freedoms. Such actions include selling equipment to the Hong Kong police force, closing bank accounts of Hong Kong dissidents, and the like. The report also names the companies involved and their actions in detail.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) will hold a Global Financial Leaders Investment Summit on Nov. 2. The Hong Kong government announced that about 200 financial leaders would attend. This HKDC report specifically named and criticized financial institutions such as HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Citibank, Goldman Sachs Group, Blackstone Group, and Carlyle Group, who are sending their executives to come or even as guest speakers. Such acts are construed as being used by the local authority to rationalize its authoritarian rule, as an attempt to reclaim the lost image of Hong Kong as an international city.

Just hours after the report was published, some people in Hong Kong reported being unable to browse the HKDC website or read the report. HKDC issued a statement on social media condemning the Hong Kong government for eroding internet freedom. Anna Kwok, director of HKDCs strategy and campaign, criticized in a Twitter post that with the Hong Kong governments decision to eliminate opposition and more frequent website blockades, it is not difficult to imagine that Hong Kong will establish its own Great Firewall in the future. She also said that the Hong Kong governments blockade of the HKDC website has helped them warn businesses of the new authoritarian reality in Hong Kong.

Radio Free Asia also quoted Anna Kwok, the Strategy and Campaigns Director of HKDC, who said that after the report was published, there have been voices in the U.S. Congress calling on U.S. companies to boycott the International Financial Summit to be held in Hong Kong next month. She believed that the report had gained traction.

Scholar: The HKDC Website Blocked

Benson Wong Wai-kwok, a former assistant professor of politics and international relations at Baptist University, pointed out in an interview with the Epoch Times that no doubt revenge is the prime intention of the Hong Kong government in deliberately blocking the HKDC website. It further validates the fear of the Hong Kong government about the pressure this report might have upon the U.S. government. One possible outcome is the result of bringing a series of boycotts, which turns the forthcoming international financial summit in November from telling the good Hong Kong story to telling the scandalous story about Hong Kong.

Wong believes it is time for foreign investors to decide whether to continue to do business with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)s authoritarian regime and lose their money in a series of sanctions that may be introduced by the U.S. government or to turn back down early and prepare to decouple themselves from Hong Kong and China.

Political Analyst: A Harbinger on Further Blocking of the Internet

Current affairs commentator Martin Oei described on his YouTube channel this is the first Internet shutdown since the CCPs 20th National Congress.

Earlier, the Hong Kong government had blocked the website of the British civil group Hong Kong Watch, which has long been critical of the human rights situation in Hong Kong, as a gesture of opposing the British BNO visa programme. This time, the blocked HKDC report is about international companies being lobbied to support the National Security Law rather than directly criticizing the central government. Therefore, Oei speculates that the Hong Kong government wants to use this incident to test whether it can further block the Internet on a larger scale. He estimates that after the 20th National Congress, Hong Kong will block more overseas websites, starting initially with some YouTube channels and Facebook pages carrying sensitive content. By then, foreign capital will leave Hong Kong for good.

HKDC and NGOs Write to US Officials Calling for Boycott of HK Financial Summit

Twenty overseas Hong Kong organizations, including HKDC, sent a letter on Oct. 17 to the U.S. President, Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, members of the House Financial Services Committee, Senate Banking Committee, House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Senate Foreign Relations Committee, criticizing many major U.S.-owned banks of their attending a financial summit in Hong Kong. They claimed such participation of the banks with the U.S.-sanctioned human rights abusers in Hong Kong would be seen as a sign of support for the Hong Kong governments misdeeds.

The joint letter stated that when financial institutions such as Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Blackstone Group, Goldman Sachs, and other financial institutions come and attend the Hong Kong Financial Summit, they are acting as support to the Hong Kong government. They also criticized the Hong Kong government as using the presence of senior executives of Western financial institutions to whitewash the Hong Kong governments actions over the past few years in order to reclaim Hong Kongs status as an international financial centre. The Hong Kong government even praised the executives of these financial institutions as the solid backers of Hong Kong.

The joint letter calls for action from the US government, warning JPMorgan Chase Chairman and Chief Executive Jamie Dimon, Citigroup Chief Executive Jane Fraser and others participating in the summit as violating U.S. policy, which is liable to legal and regulatory consequences.
Police tape is seen in this stock photo. (Carl Ballou/Shutterstock)

Indiana Teacher With Kill List Agrees to No-contact Order

CROWN POINT, Ind.A fifth-grade teacher in northwestern Indiana charged with felony intimidation after authorities say she told a student she had a kill list of students and staff has agreed to stay away from the school.

Angelica Carrasquillo, 25, of Griffith signed a no-contact order Friday without objection when she appeared wearing a green jail uniform in Lake Superior Court, The Times of Northwest Indiana reported.

Judge Kathleen Lang affirmed Carrasquillos not guilty plea to one felony count of intimidation.

Carrasquillo was being held with a bond set at $20,000 surety or $2,000 cash.

Court documents say Carrasquillo communicated a threat to commit murder on Oct. 12.

Once officials at the school where she was employed, St. Stanislaus in East Chicago, learned of the threat, they immediately confronted her and escorted her from the building, the Diocese of Gary said in a message to parents.

When Carrasquillo was asked why she wanted to kill herself and others, she reportedly told school officials: Im having trouble with my mental health, and sometimes the kids do not listen in the classroom. I also have trauma caused when I went to high school.

The threats came to light when a counselor overhead a fifth-grader say, I heard Ms. Carrasquillo wants to kill herself and has a list.

The student reportedly said Carrasquillo voiced the threat to him directly and told the student he was on the list.

The principal and an assistant principal said Carrasquillo gave them the name of one student on the kill list, but she did not reveal all the names, a court document said.

Carrasquillo allegedly told school officials she was only joking about it all.

East Chicago police said they are obtaining an emergency detention order for the teacher from the Lake County Prosecutors Office. She was taken into custody at her home Oct. 13.
A worker uses a torch to cut steel pipes near the coal-powered Datang International Zhangjiakou Power Station at Zhangjiakou, in China's northern Hebei Province on Nov. 12, 2021. (Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images)

Investigative Reporter Reveals CCPs Legacy of Environmental Destruction in China

During the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) 20th National Congress, Chinas ruling regime claimed that it has been more effective in managing the environment over the past decade, citing official data. However, a Chinese investigative journalist revealed a drastic deterioration of the environment in mainland China that may not recover for decades.

Zhai Qing, vice minister for the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said at a press conference that under the guidance of Xi Jinping and the thought of ecological civilization over the past 10 years, the party has made overall advances in Chinas ecological and environmental protection.

He claimed numerous achievements, including the fastest improvement in air quality in the world, the countrys improved safety rating for the drinking water of 770 million people, and the restoration and increase in population of more than 300 kinds of rare and endangered wild animals and plants.

Regarding the official claims, mainland Chinese investigative reporter Zhao Lanjian told The Epoch Times on Oct. 23 that Chinas air pollution, groundwater pollution, soil pollution, and other concerns all remain at shocking levels. Peoples anti-pollution protests have been suppressed, investigative reporters have been silenced, and only CCP officials from the Ministry of Environment brag about the state of Chinas environment.

The standards for environmental protection evaluation should first come from the establishment of the evaluation system of non-governmental organizations (NGO), so that it is possible to objectively evaluate the environmental protection results that are related to peoples lives, Zhao said.

He [Zhai] is bragging about how well the CCP manages the environment. All the questions at the press conference are prepared in advance, and its data cannot be trusted.

Predatory Development Destroys Natural Reserves

The CCPs environmental protection policies and its economic development model are contradictory, Zhao points out.

Some protected natural resource landscapes have been developed for quick commercial success in a predatory model, such as Zhangjiajie or Changbai Mountain.

Tourists are seen on sightseeing cruises at the Baofeng Lake in Zhangjiajie, China, on Sept. 1, 2013. (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

I have visited Changbai Mountain four times; the earliest visit was in 1994 and again in 2015, Zhao said, referring to a mountain in northeastern Chinas Jilin Province near the border with North Korea. I found out that the natural reserve has been plundered and artificially developed, and all the scenic spots in China are facing the same problem.

He compared the situation with other countries.

I have visited ecological parks in many countries, such as the United States and Chile, where people are not allowed to build roads nor to develop commercial tourism. However, China puts the tourist economic model in first place; puts tourism revenue from selling tickets in first place.

Zhao said that he has spent 10 years investigating the ecological status of places along Chinas Yangtze River and Yellow River in Qinghai, as well as Tibet and Inner Mongolia, and has witnessed the devastation of the same predatory development model on the natural environment.

Desertification Affecting Water Supply, Fisheries

In 2018, Zhao went to various areas of Sanjiangyuan, on the Tibetan plateau in the south of Qinghai Province, for field studies, and saw the extent of many new deserts. Compared with the maps in the past, I found out that this desert was formed in the last 30 years. Thirty years ago, it was graveyards and swamps, he said.

The existence of this desert proves that at least the ecological environment of the Sanjiangyuan area has undergone shocking changes compared with 30 years ago, Zhao said. I interviewed some experts, and they also believed that the desertification of the upper reaches of the Sanjiangyuan has actually caused the water shortage in Shanghai and the entire Yangtze River system.

Sanjiangyuan, which literally means The Source of the Three Rivers, is the birthplace of the Yangtze, Yellow, and Lancang rivers. Its known as the Chinese Water Tower and plays an important role in Chinas ecological status and national economic development.

An aerial view shows the Yangtze River approaching record-low water levels during a regional drought in Chongqing, China, on Aug. 20, 2022. (Thomas Peter/Reuters)

Everyone can see the deterioration of Chinas ecological environment now, such as the cut-off of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers and many water systems, Zhao said. The cutoff of such water systems will also affect the development of agriculture, animal husbandry, and fisheries along the rivers. Therefore, no matter how good the governments slogan is about these environmental issues, the reality is visible to everyone.

CCP leader Xi emphasized two points about the environment in his speech at the 20th National Congress: that the party will be deeply promoting the prevention and control of environmental pollution, and further promoting the ecological protection and management of important rivers, lakes, and reservoirs.

Zhao said of Xis comments: The issues of environmental protection and ecology are imminent and he had to mention it. When we noticed that the environment has changed, the environment has actually already been deteriorating to a certain extent. The development model of the entire society is on the verge of crisis.

Pollution in a river in the Tengger Desert in northwest Chinas Zhongwei, Ningxia Hui autonomous region, after releases of chemical wastewater by a paper company. After the wastewater dried up, a large number of chemical crystals appeared on the shore. (Provided by Zhao Lanjian)

Zhaos 2014 report revealed shocking pollution in the Tengger Desert. Local herdsmen pointed out that sewage ponds had appeared in the desert hinterland, with local enterprises discharging untreated wastewater into the ponds. The regime has since deleted his articles and photos from the internet.

Censoring Journalists, Protests

China has tightened control of the media since 2014, and investigative reporters have been severely suppressed, Zhao said.

At the same time, large-scale anti-pollution demonstrations by tens of thousands of people have emerged one after another across China, all of which have been brutally suppressed by the CCPs military and police.

The groundwater in 90 percent of Chinas cities is polluted because of the deep underground discharge of sewage by enterprises. And a public welfare activist has made a Map of Cancer Villages in China. Due to pollution, there are thousands of cancer villages across the country, Zhao said.

An about four-square-mile expanse of radioactive waste outside Baotou City in northern China on April 21, 2011. Strong winds whip up the cancer-causing materials dumped by producers of rare-earth minerals, iron ore, and steel, poisoning surrounding villages and farms. Chinas Ministry of Environmental Protection acknowledged that there are at least 450 pollution-related cancer villages in the country. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images)

How is Chinas current environment? he asked. The final evaluation system is in the hands of the government.

He pointed out that after Xi Jinping advocated green mountains and rivers, the local governments have not been able to restore green mountains. As a result, plastic green plants were spread from the top of the mountain layer by layer, and the bare mountain became an artificial green mountain. There were many places where green mountains were sprayed with green ink and paint.

The destruction of the entire natural environment in China, the destruction of tourism resources, and the destruction of ecological resources may not be recovered in the next few decades or even hundreds of years.

Li Yun and Luo Ya contributed to this report.
The online social media and social networking service Facebook's logo on a laptop screen in Moscow on Oct. 12, 2021. (Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images)

Judge Orders Meta to Pay $10.5 Million in Legal Fees to Washington

SEATTLEFacebook parent company Meta has been ordered to pay $10.5 million in legal fees to Washington state atop a nearly $25 million fine for repeated and intentional violations of campaign finance disclosure laws.

King County Superior Court Judge Douglass North issued the legal-fee order Friday, two days after he hit the social media giant with what is believed to be the largest campaign finance fine in U.S. history, The Seattle Times reported.

North ordered the company to pay by wire transfer, check, or money order within 30 days. The money is to go to the state Public Disclosure Commission, which enforces campaign finance laws.

North imposed the maximum fine allowed for more than 800 violations of Washingtons Fair Campaign Practices Act, passed by voters in 1972 and later strengthened by the Legislature. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson argued that the maximum was appropriate considering his office previously sued Facebook in 2018 for violating the same law.

Meta, based in Menlo Park, California, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment, the newspaper reported.

The company previously said it was assessing its options with respect to the ruling.

Washingtons transparency law requires ad sellers such as Meta to keep and make public the names and addresses of those who buy political ads, the target of such ads, how the ads were paid for and the total number of views of each ad. Ad sellers must provide the information to anyone who requests it. Television stations and newspapers have complied with the law for decades.

But Meta has repeatedly objected to the requirements, arguing unsuccessfully in court that the law is unconstitutional because it unduly burdens political speech and is virtually impossible to fully comply with. While Facebook does keep an archive of political ads that run on the platform, the archive does not disclose all the information required under Washingtons law.

In 2018, following Fergusons first lawsuit, Facebook agreed to pay $238,000 and committed to transparency in campaign finance and political advertising. It subsequently said it would stop selling political ads in the state rather than comply with the requirements.

Nevertheless, the company continued selling political ads, and Ferguson sued again in 2020.

Meta, one of the worlds wealthiest companies, reported quarterly earnings Wednesday of $4.4 billion, or $1.64 per share, on revenue of nearly $28 billion, in the three month period that ended Sept. 30.
Kheriaty Versus University of California

The following excerpt from my book, The New Abnormal, was published by the Daily Wire last week and reprinted here with permission. Enjoy

Shortly after I published the Wall Street Journal piece arguing that university vaccine mandates were unethical, the University of California, my employer, promulgated its vaccine mandate. I decided then it was time to put a stake in the ground: I filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the constitutionality of the universitys vaccine mandate on behalf of COVID-recovered individuals. It was already clear from many robust studies that natural immunity following infection was superior to vaccine-mediated immunity in terms of efficacy and duration of immunity.

At the time I was an unlikely candidate to challenge the prevailing vaccination policies. I was deeply embedded in the academic medical establishment, where I had spent my entire career. In my capacity as a psychiatric consultant on the medical wards and in the emergency department, I had suited up in PPE (personal protective equipment) to see hundreds of hospitalized COVID patients, witnessing the worst that this illness can do. Nobody needed to explain to me how bad this virus could be for some individuals, especially the elderly with co-occurring medical conditions who were at significant risk of bad outcomes when infected.

I contracted the virus in July 2020, and despite my efforts to self-isolate, passed it to my wife and five children. Living and breathing COVID for a year, I eagerly awaited a safe and effective vaccine for those that were still not immune to this virus. I happily served on the Orange County COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force, and I advocated in the Los Angeles Times that the elderly and sick be prioritized for vaccination, and that the poor, disabled, and underserved be given ready access to vaccines.

I had worked every day for over a year to develop and advance the universitys and states pandemic mitigation measures. But as the prevailing COVID policies unfolded, I became increasingly concerned, and eventually disillusioned. Our one-size-fits-all coercive mandates failed to take account of individualized risks and benefits, particularly age-stratified risks, which are central to the practice of good medicine. We ignored foundational principles of public health, like transparency and the health of the entire population. With little resistance we abandoned foundational ethical principles.

Among the most glaring failures of our response to COVID was the refusal to acknowledge the natural immunity of COVID-recovered patients in our mitigation strategies, herd-immunity estimates, and vaccine-rollout plans. The CDC estimated that by May 2021, more than 120 million Americans (36 percent) had been infected with COVID. Following the Delta-variant wave later that year, many epidemiologists estimated the number was close to half of all Americans. By the end of the Omicron wave in early 2022, that number was north of 70 percent. The good newsalmost never mentionedwas that those with previous infection had more durable and longer-lasting immunity than the vaccinated. Yet the focus remained exclusively on vaccines.

As I argued in a coauthored article, medical exemptions for most vaccine mandates were too narrowly tailored, constraining physicians discretionary judgment and seriously compromising individualized patient care. Most mandates only allowed medical exemptions for conditions included on the CDCs list of contraindications to the vaccinesa list that was never meant to be comprehensive. CDC recommendations should never have been taken as sound medical advice applicable to every patient.

Further exacerbating this problem, on Aug. 17, 2021, all licensed physicians in California received a notification from the state medical board with the heading Inappropriate Exemptions May Subject Physicians to Discipline. Physicians were informed that any doctor granting an inappropriate mask exemption or other COVID-related exemptions may be subjecting their license to disciplinary action. In what was perhaps a deliberate omission, the standard of care criteria for vaccine exemptions was never defined by the medical board. In my eighteen years as a licensed physician, I had never previously received any such notice, nor had my colleagues.

The effect was chilling: since physicians naturally interpreted other exemptions to include vaccines, it became de facto impossible to find a doctor in California willing to write a medical exemption, even if the patient had a legitimate contraindication to the COVID vaccines. One of my patients was told by his rheumatologist he should not get the COVID vaccine, since he was at low risk from COVID and in this physicians judgment his autoimmune condition elevated his risks of vaccine adverse effects.

This patient, who was subjected to a vaccine mandate at work, immediately asked this same physician for a medical exemption. The doctor replied, Im sorry, I cannot write you an exemption because Im afraid I might lose my license. I heard many stories of similar egregious violations of medical ethics under these repressive mandates and the enforcement regime that bolstered them.

As the vaccines rolled out in 2021, I spoke to many students, faculty, residents, staff, and patients who were aware of these basic immunological facts and were asking legitimate questions about vaccine mandates. Many correctly saw no medical or public health justification for subjecting themselves to the risks of the novel vaccines when they already had superior natural immunity. Others had moral concerns but did not qualify for a religious exemption, because religion was not central to their conscience-based objections.

They felt intimidated, disempowered, and vulnerable in the face of immense pressure to go along. Many physicians and nurses were afraid to speak up in the climate of coercion. Public health officials ignored inconvenient scientific findings, suppressed reasonable questions, and bullied into silence any skeptical physicians or scientists. Institutions promulgating mandates stigmatized and punished those who refused to comply. I had never seen anything like this in medicine.

Why did I file a lawsuit in federal court against my own employer? I had nothing to gain personally by this and a lot to lose professionally. I decided I could not stand by and watch the ethical disaster unfold around me without attempting to do something. In my position as Director of Medical Ethics at UCI, I had a duty to represent those whose voices were silenced and to insist upon the right of informed consent and informed refusal.

In the end, my decision to challenge these mandates came down to this question: How could I continue to call myself a medical ethicist if I failed to do what I was convinced was morally right under pressure? Projecting ahead to the required medical ethics course I taught to first and second-year medical students at the beginning of each year, I could not imagine lecturing on informed consent, moral courage, and our duty to protect patients from harm if I had failed to oppose these unjust and unscientific mandates. I simply would not have woken up each day with a clear conscience.

The university did not take kindly to my legal challenge, as you might imagine. Administrators allowed no grass to grow under their feet before responding to this dissident within the ranks. I had petitioned the court for a preliminary injunction to put the vaccine mandate on hold while the case was litigated in court. The judge declined this request, and the following day the university placed me on investigatory leave for alleged noncompliance with the vaccine mandate. Instead of waiting for the federal court to decide my case, the university immediately banned me from working on campus or working from home.

I was given no opportunity to contact my patients, students, residents, or colleagues and let them know I would suddenly disappear. An email from one of the deans, sent after I had left the office for the day, informed me that I could not return to campus the following day.

As I drove away from campus for the last time that day, I glanced at the sign on the corner near the hospital. The sign, which had been up for months, read in large block letters, HEROES WORK HERE.

Originally published on the authors Substack, republished from the Brownstone Institute

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Vietnam's Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has begun an official visit to China on the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

Trong and some high-ranking Vietnamese officials left Hanoi at around 9 a.m. and arrived in Beijing more than three hours later.

They were greeted by Liu Jianchao, director of the International Liaison Department of the Chinese Communist Party, and Vietnamese ambassador Pham Sao Mai.

Vietnam's Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong (3rd, L) is greeted by Liu Jianchao, director of the International Liaison Department of the Chinese Communist Party, at Beijing International Airport, China, October 30, 2022. Photo by Vietnam News Agency

The three day (Sunday-Tuesday) visit follows soon after Trong sent a message of congratulations to Xi on the latters re-elected as Party chief for the 20th term of the China Communist Party.

Trong said he highly valued Xis contributions to Vietnam-China relations and expressed his willingness to take the two countries' relations to new heights based on mutual interest and in the interest of peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world over.

Chinese media, citing professor Pan Jin'e from the School of Marxism under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, have remarked that Trong is the first foreign leader to visit China following the country's 20th National Congress.

"The visit of General Party Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong will help the two countries boost their political credibility and relations on all aspects," Pan said.

Vietnam is China's largest commercial partner in ASEAN and sixth largest in the world.

The two countries' bilateral trade reached $165.8 billion in 2021, up 24.6% from 2020, according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs.
Mother Helps Pass Bill Requiring California Emergency Rooms to Include Fentanyl Testing

Juli Shamash experienced a life-altering tragedy in 2018 when her son died ingesting a pill laced with fentanyl, a highly lethal synthetic opioid most people were unfamiliar with. Now Shamash has successfully advocated for a bill that mandates fentanyl tests to be included in drug screening in emergency rooms.

Authored by Sen. Melissa Melendez (RLake Elsinore), California Senate Bill 864 , also known as Tylers Law, was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Aug. 22. The law will take effect Jan. 1, 2023.

The law is named after Shamashs son Tyler, who was 19. She said that the night before Tyler passed away, he was sent to a hospital due to a suspected overdose. The hospital ran drug tests, but they all turned out negative.

Later, she found out hospital drug tests did not cover fentanyl due to it being a synthetic opioid.

A framed photo of Juli Shamash and her son Tyler. (Jackie Rios/NTD)

After Tylers death, Shamash wanted to prevent others from suffering the same heartache, so she and her family started the Drug Awareness Foundation to educate people about the dangers of fentanyl.

This year, Shamash wanted to do more by getting the fentanyl testing law passed.

I did not know anything about getting a bill passed, she told NTD, a sister media of The Epoch Times. I was a stay-at-home mom. Before that, I was an elementary school teacher, and I probably didnt pay enough attention in 10th-grade civics class, but I learned quickly.

Shamash reached out to Californias state senators one by one until Melendez responded and agreed to introduce the bill in the Senate.

Shamash met with Dr. Roneet Lev, an ER doctor and addiction specialist at Scripps Mercy Hospital, to sponsor the bill. During the legislative process, they realized doctors may not know that fentanyl requires an additional test rather than the one for regular opioids.

Dr. Roneet Lev in an online interview on Oct. 19, 2022. (Jackie Rios/NTD)

Theyre just testing for natural opioids like heroin and things like that, Shamash said.

The CDC describes fentanyl as being 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, it is the leading cause of death in the United States for people ages 18 to 24.

Fentanyl can be mixed with methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, or vaping products, as well as counterfeit Xanax, hydrocodone, or oxycodone. Many people who fatally overdose on fentanyl do so unknowingly.

A poster with Tylers photo. (Jackie Rios/NTD)

One little mistake can be fatal, Lev said. There is no safe drug supply unless you get medications from a pharmacy.

I think the most important thing is to start talking to your kids when theyre young, [telling them] that you never take any drugs that are not prescribed to you, Shamash said. You just cant experiment. Those days are long gone. One pill will kill you.

Shamash wants to have a similar law passed in every state and is now looking for a sponsor from the U.S. Congress.

Reporting by NTDs Jackie Rios
Rapper Kanye West attends the WSJ Magazine 2019 Innovator Awards at MOMA in New York City on Nov. 6, 2019. (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)

Musk Says Kanye Wests Twitter Account Restored Before Takeover

Elon Musk said Twitter had restored the account of Kanye West before he acquired the social media company for $44 billion.

They did not consult with or inform me, Musk wrote on Friday.

West, who has changed his legal name to Ye, had his Twitter account suspended earlier this month for violating the platforms policies, Twitters spokesperson confirmed to multiple media outlets. The move came after the musicians comments on Twitter were accused of being anti-Semitic.

The chief executive of Tesla, who has long been critical of the platforms content moderation policy, officially took over Twitter Thursday night. The billionaire entrepreneur fired CEO Parag Agrawal and several top executives, including the individual in charge of Twitters content moderation, Vijaya Gadde, according to multiple media reports.

Within 24 hours of completing the takeover deal, the new owner of Twitter also announced he would form a council to oversee the social media outlets content moderation decisions with widely diverse viewpoints.

No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes, Musk wrote on Friday.

A user then asked, So why did you restore already Kanye Wests account? Twitter should not be a platform to spew racism and antisemitism.

The entrepreneur replied that he wasnt involved in the decision.

Yes account was restored by Twitter before the acquisition, Musk replied.

Yet there has been no update on the rappers Twitter page as of Oct. 30.

The most recent post is from Oct. 8, when West wrote, Iranian youth are leading a revolution against 44 years of dictatorship. The world needs to support them and honor their courage.

Wests Post

In the now-deleted post, West wrote, Im a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up Im going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE. The funny thing is I actually cant 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.

West appeared to be referring to the U.S. Armed Forces heightened readiness status DEFCON 3.

Twitter pulled the post and placed Wests page under restrictions.

The account in question has been locked due to a violation of Twitters policies, a Twitter spokesperson confirmed with BuzzFeed News on Oct. 9.

West, also a fashion designer, said he had lost $2 billion in a single day due to his controversial comment.

A string of brands cut ties with West, including Adidas, Balenciaga, Foot Locker, JPMorgan Chase, Peloton, TJ Maxx, and Vogue. With the loss of Adidass deals, the superstar was knocked out of Forbes billionaire ranks, said the media outlet.

In response, the musician-turned-entrepreneur said he is buying Parler, a social media platform championing free speech.

In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves, West said in an Oct. 17 statement.
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her husband Paul Pelosi in at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican in a file image. (Tiziana Fabi/AFP via Getty Images)

Nancy Pelosi Issues Statement, Says Husbands Attacker Wanted to Confront Me

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in her first statement since her husband was attacked said that the attacker was looking for her.

Yesterday morning, a violent man broke into our family home, demanded to confront me and brutally attacked my husband Paul, Nancy Pelosi said in an Oct. 29 note to colleagues that was also posted on her website.

San Francisco Police Department officials have identified the suspect as David DePape, 42, with DePape allegedly striking Paul Pelosi, 82, with a hammer inside the Pelosi residence in California in the early hours of Friday.

Police officials say Paul Pelosi himself called 911, prompting a wellbeing check. An unidentified person opened the door for officers, who observed Paul Pelosi and the suspect grappling over a hammer. Officers commanded both to release the hammer. DePape gained control and struck Paul Pelosi at least once, Scott said. Officers then tackled DePape and disarmed him.

Paul Pelosi described DePape as a friend in the 911 call, according to dispatch audio, and also said the man was going to wait for Nancy Pelosi.

The Epoch Times has filed a records request for the 911 call.

Nancy Pelosi, 82, was in Washington at the time of the attack.

San Francisco Police Chief William Scott suggested during a press conference that the attacker was looking for Nancy Pelosi.

We also know, based on our investigation at this point, that this was not a random act. This was intentional. And its wrong. Our elected officials are here to do the business of their cities, their counties, their states, and their nation. Their families dont sign up for this, Scott told a briefing on Friday.

Unconfirmed reports said the attacker asked at one point, Wheres Nancy?

The San Francisco Police Department has not issued any updates on Saturday.

Paul Pelosi was rushed to a hospital and underwent surgery to address a fractured skull and injuries to his right arm and hands, according to Pelosis office.

Our children, our grandchildren and I are heartbroken and traumatized by the life-threatening attack on our Pop. We are grateful for the quick response of law enforcement and emergency services, and for the life-saving medical care he is receiving, Nancy Pelosi said.

Please know that the outpouring of prayers and warm wishes from so many in the Congress is a comfort to our family and is helping Paul make progress with his recovery. His condition continues to improve, she added.

The U.S. Capitol Police, which protects Nancy Pelosi, the FBI, and prosecutors are assisting local police with the investigation.

DePape was also taken to a hospital and was still being treated on Friday.

DePape will be booked on Monday on charges including attempted homicide, elder abuse, and first-degree burglary, according to police and Interim San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins.

DePape will be held accountable for his heinous crimes, Jenkins said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (L) and her husband Paul Pelosi, outside of 10 Downing Street in central London on Sept. 16, 2021. (Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images)

New Information Emerges About Suspects Background After Attack on Paul Pelosi

David DePape, the man accused of attacking House Speaker Nancy Pelosis husband with a hammer last week in the couples California home, has been mentally ill for a long time, according to a woman who identified herself as DePapes former life partner.

Oxane Taub, a nudist activist whos currently incarcerated in the California Institution for Women after being convicted on abduction charges last year, told ABC7 that DePape, 42, suffered from mental health issues.

Hello, this is Gypsy Taub. I am the ex-life partner of David DePape and the mother of his children, Oxane Gypsy Taub told the local media outlet over the weekend. He is mentally ill. He has been mentally ill for a long time.

Taub, who noted that the pair had two sons before they split seven years ago, said that DePape at one point disappeared for about a year. When he resurfaced, Taub said, he believed he was Jesus Christ.

He came back in very bad shape. He thought he was Jesus. He was constantly paranoid, thinking people were after him. And it took a good year or two to get back to, you know, being halfway normal, Taub told ABC7.

Taub said DePape had never been particularly involved in politics, but she described herself as a progressive. However, she said DePape appeared to share her left-wing views when they were involved.

When I met him, he was only 20 years old, and he didnt have any experience in politics, and he was very much in alignment with my views, and Ive always been very progressive. I absolutely admire [Democrat House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi, she said, noting that she sends her deepest apology to the Pelosi family.

Very Radical Activists

Meanwhile, journalist Michael Shellenberger wrote that he went to the alleged home of DePape in Berkeley, a city located near San Francisco that has long been a hotbed of progressive activism.

And, as I discovered yesterday, DePape lived with a notorious local nudist in a Berkeley home, complete with a Black Lives Matter sign in the window and an LGBT rainbow flag, emblazoned with a marijuana symbol, hanging from a tree. A closer look reveals the characteristics of a homeless encampment, he wrote for Substack.

Neighbors told him that people come and go from the house and the vehicles, neighbors say, in part to partake in the use of a potent psychedelic drug, ibogaine, Shellenberger wrote.

President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) depart following a meeting with the Democratic caucus at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Oct. 28, 2021. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images)

A woman named Trish told him that people who live at the home are very left-wingvery radical even.

What I know about the family is that theyre very radical activists, she told him. They seem very left. They are all about the Black Lives Matter movement. Gay pride. But theyre very detached from reality. They have called the cops on several of the neighbors, including us, claiming that we are plotting against them. Its really weird to see that they are willing to be so aggressive toward somebody else who is also a lefty.

However, mainstream media outlets stated that DePape allegedly wrote a blog that attacked Jews, black people, Democrats, COVID-19 vaccines, and media outlets.

Democrats, including President Joe Biden, were quick to link the alleged assault to Republicans, former President Donald Trump, and the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach. Biden said at a fundraising event in Pennsylvania on Oct. 28 that the attacker allegedly used the same chant as individuals who breached the Capitol.

You know, its reported that the same chant was used by this guy they have in custody that was used on Jan. 6 in the attacks on the U.S. Capitol, he said. The chant was Wheres Nancy? Wheres Nancy? Wheres Nancy? This is despicable, he said.

It isnt clear if the alleged Pelosi attacker uttered those words. Media reports, citing anonymous sources, claimed that the suspect made that statement during the incident.

DePape was arrested at the Pelosi home early on Oct. 28, officials said. San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins told reporters that she expects to file several felony charges, such as attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, and elder abuse.

San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said the attack was intentional and not random. Authorities said officers responded to a well-being check at the Pelosi home at 2:27 a.m. on Oct. 28.
Incumbent Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul participates in a debate against Republican candidate for New York Governor Lee Zeldin hosted by Spectrum News NY1, at Pace University in New York on Oct. 25, 2022. (Mary Altaffer/Pool via AP)

NY Governor Hochul Calls Herself Underdog in Upcoming Elections

New Yorks Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul, who is up for reelection, has raised eyebrows by calling herself an underdog in the race.

Hochul became the 57th governor of New York in August last year. In the upcoming November election, she will go against Republican candidate Rep. Lee Zeldin. While speaking to reporters in Queens on Friday, Hochul insisted that she is an underdog who has been in the job for a short time, reported NY State of Politics. Given that Hochul is running in New York where Democrats outnumber Republicans, and she has raised close to $50 million in the past year, her statement piqued curiosity.

I have always fought hard for 14 elections, Hochul explained. That is my mental state. I go into every single race fighting because circumstances sometimes you cant control. You dont know whats happening national. Theres a national wave.

A lot is out there. There are a lot of forces out there. So I go in with a mindset that I dont take for granted that they are a Democrat, therefore they are going to vote for me.

With less than two weeks to go for the midterm elections, Hochuls lead over Zeldin is narrowing according to a poll by Emerson College Polling-Pix11-The Hill.

Published on Friday, the poll showed Hochul having the support of 50 percent of likely voters in the state, giving her a 6 percent lead over Zeldin who garnered 44 percent support.

In addition, 4 percent of voters still remain undecided. When the poll was conducted in September, Hochul had a 15 percent lead over Zeldin.

A Red Wave in New York?

Hochul is not the only Democrat candidate whose prospects are looking shaky in the November midterms. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, who is the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), is facing tough competition from Republican Assemblyman Michael Lawler.

A defeat of the DCCC chair would turn out to be a massive win for the Republican Party. On Oct. 24, DCCC confirmed to Spectrum News 1 that they were spending $605,000 on an ad campaign against Maloneys opponent to ensure we hold a seat that is critical to Democrats maintaining the majority.

Meanwhile, Hochul is also losing support from key Democrat members. In an interview with NTD News, Dov Hikind, a Brooklyn Democrat who served as an assemblyman in the New York State Legislature for 35 years until 2018, said that he will be voting for Hochuls Republican challenger.

In a debate between Hochul and Zeldin, the NY governor failed to address rampant subway crimes and hate crimes targeting the Asian and Jewish communities.

Hikind finds it crazy that there is a 40 percent decrease in the number of people using the New York City subway system. Hochul has no clue, he said.

Speaking to the New York Post, Rep. Elise Stefanik, chair of the House Republican Conference, predicted a red wave sweeping across New York in the upcoming elections. The GOP has never had stronger candidates running across the state, she added.

We could have 15 Republicans in Congress from New York. Polls show we are leading or tied in every competitive seat in New York. Democrats are in free fall due Bidens disastrous presidency and corrupt Kathy Hochuls failed leadership, Stefanik said.
Over 20 Million Have Voted So Far Ahead of 2022 Midterms

More than 20 million Americans have cast absentee ballots or voted in-person ahead of the 2022 midterms, according to researchers in an update on Sunday morning.

Some 12.5 million have cast mail-in ballots while nearly 8 million have voted early and in-person, data from the University of Floridas Election Project shows. The project compiles voting data for states that report early voting

Florida, California, Georgia, and Texas lead the way with more than 2 million votes cast apiece. A number of states last week opened their early voting phase, while New York state and New Jersey began their early voting phases on Saturday.

Michael Bitzer, a professor at Catawba College in North Carolina who was described as an expert in early voting patterns, told Politico on Saturday that the greater turnout of early voting doesnt reflect a shift in the electorate. That article, citing Democratic analysts, asserted that young people are not turning out in large enough numbers for Democrats.

The vast majority of these early voters are typical early voters, either voting in person or by mail, Bitzer said. So were not kind of seeing folks shift their vote method from Election Day to early voting so far.

Georgias Secretary of States office, which was heavily derided by Republicans following the 2020 election for what they said was a failure to act on voter fraud, said Saturday that voters have turned out in record breaking numbers.

One in five active voters have already gotten their vote in, and we will hit the 2-million-mark next week, said Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in a news release. The strength of our voter registration system and our county election directors are on full display.

The office said that voters in the state have begun to return absentee (mail) ballots at a higher pace, and as of Friday, 144,394 ballots have been returned to county election offices, and he claimed that only 899 ballots have been rejected statewide, and those voters receive cure notices explaining how they can cure any discrepancy.

Whats at Stake

Democrats have held both chambers of Congress and the presidency for the past two years but might not have such consolidated power for much longer.

The United States Capitol building in Washington on Sept. 29, 2013. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Republicans are favored to win the House in the Nov. 8 midterm elections, bolstered by frustration over the economy and advantages in the redistricting process that takes place every 10 years; the outlook is murkier for the GOP in the Senate. Several races in key battleground states are tight, leading Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) earlier this year to declare the chances of his party winning a majority are just 5050.

The professor who runs the universitys Election Project, Michael McDonald, told ABC News that the early voting appears to be very robust as compared with previous midterm elections.

It does seem very robust, early voting  I think were looking at more like a 2018 election, definitely, he said last week.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden cast an early vote in Delaware on Saturday and spoke to reporters. Im feeling good, Biden said.

Im going to be spending the rest of this time making the case that this is not a referendum. Its a choice, a fundamental choice, Biden said. Its a choice between two very different visions for the country.

Repeating Democrat Party claims against the GOP, Biden said Friday that democracy is literally  on the ballot this year.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Saifullah Paracha at the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba in a file photo. (Counsel to Saifullah Paracha via AP)

Pakistan: Oldest Prisoner Freed From Guantanamo, Back Home

ISLAMABADA 75-year-old from Pakistan who was the oldest prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay detention center was released and returned to Pakistan on Saturday, the foreign ministry in Islamabad and the U.S. Defense Department said.

Saifullah Paracha was reunited with his family after more than 17 years in custody in the U.S. base in Cuba, the ministry added.

Paracha had been held on suspicion of ties to the al-Qaeda terrorist group since 2003, but was never charged with a crime. Last year in May, he was notified that he had been been approved for release. He was cleared by the prisoner review board, along with two other men in November 2020.

As is customary, the notification did not provide detailed reasoning for the decision and concluded only that Paracha is not a continuing threat to the United States, according to Shelby Sullivan-Bennis, who represented him at his hearing at the time.

The Department of Defense (DOD) said in its Saturday statement that the United States appreciates the willingness of Pakistan and other partners to support ongoing U.S. efforts focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing the Guantanamo Bay facility.

Detainees stand together at a fence at Camp Delta prison at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in Cuba, on Sept. 19, 2006. (Brennan Linsley/AP Photo)

In Pakistan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said it had completed an extensive inter-agency process to facilitate Parachas repatriation.

We are glad that a Pakistani citizen detained abroad is finally reunited with his family, the ministry said.

Paracha, who lived in the United States and owned property in New York City, was a wealthy businessman in Pakistan. Authorities alleged he was an al-Qaeda facilitator who helped two of the conspirators in the Sept. 11 plot with a financial transaction.

He has maintained that he didnt know they were al-Qaeda and denied any involvement in terrorism.

The United States captured Paracha in Thailand in 2003 and held him at Guantanamo since September 2004. Washington has long asserted that it can hold detainees indefinitely without charge under the international laws of war.

In November 2020, Paracha, who suffers from a number of ailments, including diabetes and a heart condition, made his eighth appearance before the review board, which was established under President Barack Obama to try to prevent the release of prisoners who authorities believed might engage in anti-U.S. hostilities upon their release from Guantanamo.

At the time, his attorney, Sullivan-Bennis, said she was more optimistic about his prospects because of President Joe Bidens election, Parachas ill health, and developments in a legal case involving his son, Uzair Paracha.

The son was convicted in 2005 in federal court in New York of providing support to terrorism, based in part on testimony from the same witnesses held at Guantanamo whom the United States relied on to justify holding the father.

In March 2020, after a judge threw out those witness accounts and the U.S. government decided not to seek a new trial, the younger Paracha was released and sent back to Pakistan.

In its statement on the elder Parachas repatriation, the DOD said 35 detainees remain at Guantanamo Bay as of Saturday, and that of 20 of them are eligible for transfer.

By Zarar Khan
Pennsylvanias Department of State Has Sent Out 249,000 Ballots to Unverified Voters in 2022 Election

In Pennsylvania, the Department of State has allowed at least 249,000 unverified voters to receive mail-in ballots for the 2022 general election, owing to an odd process for verifying the identity of those requesting mail-in ballots, where people vote first and verify their identification later.

The Department of State also recently changed directives for county election boards, creating procedural confusion and drawing fire from 15 Pennsylvania House members in the form of a letter (pdf) demanding that the department immediately correct its guidance and tell counties they may not count the ballots of unverified voters until proof of ID is received.

There are two things to know about voter registration. First, the state must follow the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA), a law that requires anyone registering to vote in federal elections to provide identification in the form of a drivers license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number. And second, HAVA requires that states verify the accuracy of the information provided by the applicant by matching their ID information to the state motor vehicle database or the federal Social Security number verification system.

But in Pennsylvania, the state has passed the work of ID verification on to the counties. Heres the order of the ID verification process in Pennsylvania for mail-in ballots:

A registered voter requests a mail-in ballot. The application requires a drivers license number or the last four digits of the voters Social Security number.

The voters identification is verified by comparing numbers on the ballot application to records at the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation or the Social Security Administration.

If the ID numbers dont match, a ballot is mailed to the voter anyway, but it comes with a non-verified (NV) designation.

Unverified voter casts ballot.

While processing ballots, the county sets aside NV ballots until they can reach out to each unverified voter and get proof of ID.

So, instead of the state verifying voter ID before sending a ballot, counties must separate NV ballots and verify identification before counting the votes on that ballot.

The Directive to register voters without verification of identity, combined with the delivery of mail ballots without verification, creates conditions that shift the burden of verification from the [Department of States] automated matching system, to county election offices where resources are already scarce, a recently released Verity Vote report stated.

Verity Vote is a group of citizen volunteers with data research and investigation backgrounds who have been reviewing elections throughout the country.

The certified 2020 election results in Pennsylvania showed Joe Biden winning, with 80,555 more votes than Donald Trump. That means that the 249,000 ballots already sent to unverified voters this year could be enough to sway the results of an election.

But its important to understand that unverified voter doesnt mean the ballots are fraudulent. Some unverified voters had ballot requests containing simple typosperhaps a drivers license number was written with transposed numbers, or a name was misspelled. When this happens, the voter must send a copy of their drivers license to the county board of elections or go in person to show their property identity information.

That verification is supposed to happen before their vote is counted.

Changing Guidance

A non-verified voter is a concern. The individual has submitted an incomplete voter registration application or an application with information that cant be verified, Pennsylvania state Rep. Frank Ryan told The Epoch Times.

The Department of State testified at our September House State Government Committee hearing that the department enters incomplete voter registration applications into the state SURE [Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors] system and tags them as non-verifiedNV and then forwards those entries in batches to the appropriate county to verify legal eligibility.

The poorly written Act 77 allows counties to send and receive mail-in and absentee ballots to and from non-verified voter applicants, and also allows five days post-election to verify the legal eligibility of those applicants.

The Department of State has overwhelmed counties with non-verified voter applicants, Ryan said.

Some county election offices have explained that they unlawfully fix the applications without contacting the applicant, override the system, and verify applicants without securing the legally required verification information, or simply ignore the non-verified record designation.

Thats why Ryan and other lawmakers sent the Oct. 25 letter to the Department of State, noting that its Deputy Secretary Jonathan Marks contradicted himself when testifying before the committee.

Marks testified that ballots are mailed to unverified applicants. But less than two weeks later, the Department of State sent out guidance informing the counties that the verification is done prior to the mailing of ballots, the letter reads.

Either the ballots are mailed to unverified applicants, or ballots are not mailed to unverified applicants. But both statements cannot be true. Due to this conflicting information, conscientious election workers could unknowingly accept and count ballots for which no verification has ever occurred.

In the letter, the lawmakers ask the Department of State to inform counties of the requirement to set the NV ballots aside and not to pre-canvass, canvass, or count any of them until the applicant provides a valid form of identification, as well as to direct counties not to fix non-matching identification.

The Department of State has yet to respond to the letter.

The Department of State didnt reply to a request for comment on whether it intends to respond to the letter or issue new guidance.

The Verity Vote report noted that first-time voters who appear at the polls in person on Election Day must provide proper identification before being handed a ballot. Those who vote by mail can get the ballot first. Pennsylvania only requires voter ID when registering to vote for the first time and when requesting a mail-in ballot.
Quebec Liberal Leader Dominique Anglade waves as she enters with her elected caucus to be sworn in during a ceremony at the legislature in Quebec City, Oct. 18, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Jacques Boissinot)

Quebec Liberals Chief Organizer Will Not Renew Mandate, Comes After Historic Defeat

The Quebec Liberal Partys chief organizer said Saturday he will not renew his mandate, an announcement that comes after the partys historic defeat in the provinces Oct. 3 election.

Jean-Francois Helms said in a social media post that he informed Leader Dominique Anglade and party president Rafael Primeau-Ferraro of his decision on Saturday morning.

The announcement comes at the end of a tumultuous week for the Liberal party.

On Thursday, one of the partys longest-serving members, Marie-Claude Nichols, was kicked out of the Liberal caucus after a disagreement over shadow cabinet positions.

Helms wrote little about the partys performance in the electionwhich saw it receive its lowest share of the popular vote since Confederation  but said he would stay in his role until analysis of the result is completed.

Out of respect for all of those who went to the front for us, we have the responsibility to learn from their experiences in order to improve ourselves. Starting with me, he wrote.

It is therefore crucial for me that a detailed report emerges from these post-mortems and that the information collected is used constructively to improve our practices, our planning, our organization and our vision and I intend to see this process through.

Helms was Anglades chief organizer during her leadership campaign in the spring of 2020, a race that was cut short after the only other candidate dropped out and Anglade won by acclamation. Helms then quickly rose the party ranks, becoming the partys chief organizer in July 2020.

In his post, Helms thanked Anglade and praised her strength, determination, positivism and pragmatism worthy of a premier.

He also called for unity in the party.

With all my heart, I urge you to remain united. I wish you the best of luck and I hope you will succeed, he wrote.

On Friday, several former Liberal cabinet ministers questioned Anglades leadership amid the Nichols expulsion.

Lise Theriault, a former deputy premier, who did not seek re-election this year, described the expulsion as unjust and said Anglade had created chaos in the Liberal party.

Former Liberal health minister Gaetan Barrette, who retired from politics this year, said the sanction was completely disproportionate and would encourage Liberal supporters to question the partys leadership.

While the Liberals remained Quebecs official Opposition after this months election, only 21 of its members were elected, down from the 27 members it had when the legislature was dissolved.

By Francois Vezina
Cameron Ortis, who was a senior intelligence official at the RCMP, leaves the courthouse in Ottawa on October 22, 2019. (The Canadian Press/Justin Tang)

RCMP Review Prompted by Employees Arrest Urges Changes to Bolster Internal Security

OTTAWAA confidential RCMP review, conducted after the arrest of a senior employee for allegedly leaking classified information, calls for a fundamental shift in the security culture of the national police force to be led at the highest levels.

The newly disclosed report makes 43 recommendations, including training updates, stricter adherence to federal security screening standards and the possible introduction of random physical searches.

The review confirms gaps in the security practices of the RCMP that could be closed or at least narrowed, says a message in the report from the joint chairs of the exercise.

The security posture of the RCMP can and should be improved to reduce the risks to the RCMP and to protect public safety, it reads.

The review, led by a retired RCMP superintendent, followed the September 2019 arrest of Cameron Jay Ortis, who was then director general of the forces National Intelligence Coordination Centre.

Ortis is accused of violating the Security of Information Act by allegedly revealing secrets to an unnamed recipient, as well as breach of trust and a computerrelated offence. A trial is slated for next year.

The review, ordered by RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki, looked at organizational factors and security issues related to personnel, physical settings and information technology, as well as the insider threat from within the force.

The resulting report, completed in June 2020, was disclosed only recently to The Canadian Press in response to an Access to Information request filed 19 months ago.

Several portions of the 78page document were considered too sensitive to release.

The report says a management plan was being drafted to map out how the force could make changes. In response to questions about progress on specific measures, the RCMP indicated the effort is still underway.

The RCMP is committed to addressing the recommendations resulting from the review which provides the organization with an opportunity to modernize our security practices and posture, said Mountie spokeswoman Robin Percival.

We continue to examine and adapt our security posture to protect the RCMPs information, assets, and people given the ever evolving landscape facing a national police force.

The review team drew on the knowledge of experts across the RCMP and examined past audits, evaluations and securityincident files.

It also looked at information from the investigation of Ortis, known as Project Ace, on a needtoknow basis, the report says.

This information was supplemented through 53 employee interviews that allowed the team to study the breaches Ortis is suspected of perpetrating, which, in turn, informed efforts to identify vulnerabilities.

However, some individuals could not be interviewed in order to preserve the integrity of the criminal investigation.

Among the reports key findings:

 security awareness training was not mandatory at the RCMP, and the training that did exist was out of date;

 a pervasive attitude that security restrictions were something that needed to be worked around to get the job done;

 although the RCMP processed requests for security clearance updates and upgrades, limited resources were directed toward scrutinizing new hires, meaning delays and backlogs concerning updates for current employees;

 a lack of standards on management of information technology assets, including portable storage devices;

 approval for access to computer systems, such as the Canadian Top Secret Network, was being granted even when an employees duties did not require access;

 a sense that employees were reluctant to report security incidents because they were afraid of the consequences to themselves or to colleagues; and

 organizationlevel factors, including poor management practices, inefficient communication between different areas of the RCMP, and a persistent belief that existing security controls were sufficient, contributed to the creation of opportunities for exploitation.

The report stresses that the allegations against Ortis have not been proven in court. But the review team concluded he was able to gain and hold the trust of a number of senior leaders.

The level of trust and confidence Ortis garnered appears to have resulted in the common Insider Threat warning signs that surfaced well in advance of Ortis arrest being missed.

The report says the purported breach by Ortis could prompt valued partners to deny the RCMP access to sensitive material crucial to fighting crime, protecting public safety and preserving national security.

The effort and cost to reestablish lost access and capabilities can be considerable, the report says.

As such, it was important to undertake a critical internal examination of not only broad security issues, but the environment inside the RCMP that was a critical factor in how the events unfolded.

The report recommended numerous changes, including steps to:

 strengthen the role and influence of the RCMPs chief security officer;

 implement the Treasury Board standard on security screening to the greatest extent possible;

 develop specific mandatory training solutions to address insider threats and increase knowledge and awareness of security responsibilities;

 have the Department of Justice provide guidance on how to conduct random physical security checks;

 consolidate the number of highsecurity zones with classified networks and printing locations to a strict minimum;

 conduct an analysis of positions requiring access to the Canadian Top Secret Network;

 integrate physical security controls into future buildings from the outset;

 create a new policy centre for insider threats within the departmental security branch;

 develop a program to provide continuous assurance of an individuals reliability when warranted;

 implement an online means to submit an anonymous security incident report; and

 update security clearance forms to include vulnerabilities and pressures that RCMP employees may be experiencing.

The vast majority of employees of the RCMP are dedicated and loyal but, as Ortis alleged actions demonstrate, we can no longer trust without regularly verifying, says the message from the reviews joint chairs.

The report reveals the criminal and administrative investigations and various internal processes triggered by the Ortis case have resulted in millions of dollars in additional costs for a force struggling to meet the core policing elements of its mandate.

It concludes that implementing the recommendations must be done in conjunction with a clear shift in the security culture of the RCMP led by the highest echelon of the organization.

But the report cautions it is impossible to remove all security risks.

Even where the RCMP has made prudent risk decisions, puts the right security controls in place, and enables a robust, riskaware security culture, it cannot completely guard itself from employees making individual decisions to use their knowledge, privilege, and access rights to circumvent these controls and harm the organization and Canadians.

By Jim Bronskill
Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) said that the companys mental wellbeing programme, Salama, has been recognised as the Best Employee Benefits and Wellbeing Strategy at the GOV HR Awards 2022.



EGA substantially expanded its mental wellbeing programme for employees during the challenges of Covid-19. Today more than 170 EGA employees are trained mental health first-aiders and mental health advocates, supporting professional on-site mental health resources. Salama, which is largely led by volunteers, also provides awareness sessions and workshops on key mental wellbeing issues, encouraging employees to prioritise their mental health and removing perceived stigma.



EGA has a bold aspiration to eliminate the risk of harm, while also fostering mental wellbeing, as part of fulfilling its purpose  Together, innovating aluminium to make modern life possible.



Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of EGA said: At EGA, we are now aiming to be the benchmark for the safeguarding of mental wellbeing in the global aluminium industry. We are focused on creating a psychologically-safe environment, with support available to those who need it, and a culture that encourages open discussions about mental wellbeing. This is also good for business as companies that focus on the mental wellbeing of employees are more likely to foster innovation, and attract and retain the best talent.



Mental wellbeing is defined as a state in which an individual realises their potential, is able to manage normal day-to-day stresses, and is able to contribute productively.



Salama  the name is derived from the Arabic word for peace was launched as the Employee Assistance Programme in 2017, providing EGA staff and their families access to practical advice and resources to tackle personal issues.  TradeArabia News Service
The Vietnam-China relations would move to a new stage of development with the official visit of General Party Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong that began Sunday, Vietnam ambassador to China said.

Trong arrived in Beijing on Sunday afternoon, beginning his official three-day visit to the country per an invitation by his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

General Party Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong (C) is at Beijing International Airport, China, October 30, 2022. Photo by Vietnam News Agency

In an interview with Vietnam News Agency, ambassador Pham Sao Mai said Trong's visit is the first by a Vietnamese high-ranking Party and state official to China ever since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out.

It is Trong's first overseas trip after the sixth plenum of Vietnam's 13th Party Central Committee, while Trong is also the first foreign leader to visit China after the latter's 20th National Congress.

The latest time the two Party leaders met was in November 2017, when Xi officially visited Vietnam and attended the APEC Summit in Da Nang.

The Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic cooperation partnership has continued to stay on the path of stable and positive development, and has achieved several important achievements on the political, economic-commercial cooperation, and Covid-19 fighting field, Mai said.

China was the first country to establish diplomatic relations with Vietnam, on January 18, 1950, Mai added. Over the next seven decades, the two countries have been supporting each other side by side, contributing to the success of their development of communism.

"The Party and the state highly value this and never forget this," Deputy Prime Ministr Pham Binh Minh once wrote in an article in 2020 for the 70th year anniversary of the Vietnam-China establishment of diplomatic relations.

Mai said the traditional, friendly relations between Vietnam and China was built by generations of leaders and the people. Despite the ups and downs of relations, cooperation and friendship remain to be centerstage, and are further developed on all fields, from politics to economy, culture, security and defense areas.

China's President Xi Jinping (L) is with Vietnamese Party Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in Hanoi, November 2017. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy

China continues to be Vietnam's largest commercial partner and is the second largest export market for Vietnam, while Vietnam remains to be China's largest commercial partner in ASEAN and the sixth largest for China globally.

Bilateral trade turnover between the two countries reached $165.9 billion in 2021, a 24.6% increase compared to 2020. In the first eight months of this year, bilateral trade turnover reached $117 billion, a 10.8% increase year-on-year. China also has over 140 investment projects in Vietnam, whose total capital reached $1.4 billion, ranking in 4th place among countries and territories investing in Vietnam.

Regarding borders, both countries have had legal documents regarding land border, and also bolstered security at the border.

The two countries also reached mutual understanding regarding dispute management, maintaining peace and stability at sea in accordance with international law and promoting negotiation mechanisms regarding issues at sea.

Mai said both Vietnam and China have constantly performed exchanges to bolster mutual political trust.

"In the midst of complex development in both global and regional situations, as well as the negative impacts the Covid-19 pandemic caused to the global political and economic scene, the official visit has an important meaning when it comes to promoting and deepening the Vietnam-China relations," Mai said.
19th-century miniatures kept loved ones close

Parents often keep a photo of their children in a wallet or purse. Although worn and wrinkled, the photo keeps their children close to them as they go about their daily life. Families in the 18th and 19th centuries had the same wish, and so miniature paintings grew in popularity among prosperous early Americans.

Usually no more than two inches, a miniature was made to be held in the hands of a single viewer to create a sense of intimacy with a loved one when physical proximity was not possible, either for engaged couples or loved ones separated by war. Placed into small frames, the miniatures could be pinned inside a jacket or placed in a pocket for easy access to look at throughout the day.

According to the website of the Weibold Studio, conservators of miniature portraits, the paintings were made to tighten emotional bonds with special people:

Portrait miniatures might have been exchanged by an engaged couple, or worn to remember someone who lived far away, or who had perhaps died. Some even contain a lock of the loved ones haireither underneath the portrait or displayed on the back intricately woven with seed pearls or golden threads.

Many of the finest American portraitists, such as Gilbert Stuart, popularized the art form by bringing European miniaturists to the United States to satisfy the prosperous citizens who wished to wear and display these intimate pieces.

Making It Small

Portrait miniatures developed in the 16th and 17th centuries. The most common technique used a watercolor-based paint on ivory, although some were painted on stretched vellum. Others were created with oils on copper.

At the height of the popularity the miniatures in the mid-1800s, miniaturists in the United States tried to replicate the look of an oil portrait. And, as these portraits popularity grew, miniaturists improved their skills, especially in stronger coloring, more detail, sharper focus, and a high finish.

On the right, a close-up of the face shows hatching to blend the rose-colored cheek with the rest of the face. Eliza Izard (Mrs. Thomas Pinckney Jr.), 1801, by Edward Greene Malbone. Watercolor on ivory; 2 7/8 inches by 2 3/8 inches. (Public Domain)

For those wishing to take up the skill, manuals promoted learning to bring out the subjects luminous flesh as the defining feature of the portrait; it was a painstaking process. Artists used the most translucent shades of watercolor the painter could achieve, applied in sheer layers to allow the ivory to shine through, according to the Morgan Library & Museums analysis of its collection.

Highlights in the face were executed by either leaving the ivory bare, or delicately removing painted layers to expose the support. Thus, the pale complexion was rendered in ivory, itself a material of luxury that implied a conflation of precious material with desirable appearance.

The most popular technique was painting with gouache (an opaque watercolor) on ivory, a challenging task that required meticulous preparation of the ivory and special painting techniques. If an artist were to simply paint directly onto the ivory, the colors would blend together and lose definition. Thinly sliced along the grain, the ivory was cleaned to remove all organic oils and sanded in preparation for miniature painting. Artists used painting techniques such as hatching (short lines overlapping to show gradations in color) and stippling (repeated dots of color) to avoid muddying colors.

Skilled craftsmanship was used on the casework, called a portrait box, to present the portrait at its best and complete the commission. Thin sheets of ivory were attached to pieces of laid paper (finely textured paper) so the artists could manipulate the piece while painting, according to The Gibbes Museums description of casework.

Once finished, the paper was trimmed to fit a case and allow the ivory to fit snuggly against the glass, protecting it from dust and moisture. To keep the ivory from shifting, other pieces of paper, often playing cards or scraps, were layered beneath the painting.

Colored glass was added to some miniature cases to elevate the richness of the object.

A self-portrait by miniature artist Edward Green Malbone, circa 1798. Corcoran Gallery of Art. (Public Domain)

The Artist, Both Admired and Amenable

As the foremost American miniaturist, Edward Greene Malbone was widely admired by both American and British artists, and he made a name for himself as a master of the miniature portrait.

Self-taught, Malbone left his home in Rhode Island to work as a miniaturist alongside painter and friend Washington Allston (17791843) in Boston. Allston remarked on Malbones amenable disposition and his way of using his artistic skills to bring out the inner goodness in those who posed for him: He had the happy talent  of elevating the character without impairing the likeness [of his sitters].

As his skills grew, Malbone traveled up and down the East Coast gaining popularity. For a time, he honed his skills in England but returned to the United States to work in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1801. Now in great demand, Malbone began his most prolific period of work, completing three miniatures a week.

Malbones miniatures provide insight into the sitters character and spirit in a unique way. In his portrait of Eliza Izard, for example, he used a hatching technique, with small strokes and a mix of colors. Even though her skin looks smooth, closer study reveals small lines of color layered over one another to create a subtle blush in her cheek.

Several miniature portraits at the Smithsonian American Art Museum provide details about Malbone and his subjects. As word spread among families and friends, the artists commissions grew. Susannah Russell was a descendant of the Conde and Bourbon houses, and counted several French kings in her lineage, including Louis IV.

Miniature of Mrs. John Corlis (Susannah Conde Russell), 1795, by Edward Greene Malbone. Watercolor on oval ivory; 2 3/4 inches by 2 1/4 inches. Smithsonian American Art Museum. (Public Domain)

John Corlis, who had his miniature done in 1795, was a merchant-ship owner based in Providence, Rhode Island. From 1792 to 1810, the fleet traveled between the United States, the Caribbean islands, and Hamburg, Germany.

Miniature of John Corlis, 1795, by Edward Greene Malbone. Watercolor on oval ivory; 2 3/4 inches by 2 1/4 inches. Smithsonian American Art Museum. (Public Domain)

Joseph Manigault was a plantation owner and a member of the South Carolina legislature. The artist completed a miniature of his wife, Charlotte Drayton.

Miniature of Mrs. Joseph Manigault (Charlotte Drayton), circa 1801, by Edward Greene Malbone. Watercolor on oval ivory; 2 3/4 inches by 2 1/4 inches. Smithsonian American Art Museum. (Public Domain)

Malbone painted miniatures of several members of the Poinsett family during his trip to Charleston between 1801 and 1802. He did a miniature of Dr. Elisha Poinsett, who was the father of Joel R. Poinsett, who was a member of the House of Representatives and secretary of war to President Martin Van Buren.

Miniature of Dr. Elisha Poinsett, circa 18011802, by Edward Greene Malbone. Watercolor on oval ivory; 2 3/4 inches by 2 1/4 inches. Smithsonian American Art Museum. (Public Domain)

Susan Poinsett was recuperating from a lengthy illness at the time of her portrait, but her recovery was brief and she died two years later. The small portrait shows a wan young woman with sad eyes.

Miniature of Susan Poinsett, circa 18011802, by Edward Greene Malbone. Watercolor on oval ivory; 2 3/4 inches by 2 1/4 inches. Smithsonian American Art Museum. (Public Domain)

Henry Bounetheau, a leading miniaturist in Charleston, showed his great respect and admiration for Malbone by having him do the portraits of Bounetheaus own family, including an aunt. It is not clear which of his aunts appears in this miniature.

Miniature of Henry B. Bounetheaus aunt, circa 1804, by Edward Greene Malbone. Watercolor on oval ivory; 2 3/4 inches by 2 1/4 inches. Smithsonian American Art Museum. (Public Domain)

By Todays Standards

Although not as expensive as a full-length portrait, the price for such an emotional connection was not cheap, yet by the 1830s, newspapers carried ads for miniaturists. Often, a portrait painter offered a two-for-one to bring in clients to pose. As the full-size portrait was being done, the miniaturist who partnered with a portrait artist would complete a smaller likeness.

According to Malbones account book, he painted a Mr. Lawrence in December 1803 and was paid $70 for his efforts on Christmas Day. In todays dollars, commissions for artists to complete an ivory miniature would range between $450 and $13,500 with an average of $1,325. The cost would take in the reputation and skill of the artist, the materials used, and the quality of the casework. The price might go down if multiple family members had their miniatures made, and whether a full-scale portrait would also be ordered.

Miniature of Mr. Lawrence of Boston, 1803, by Edward Greene Malbone. Watercolor on oval ivory; 2 3/4 inches by 2 1/4 inches. Smithsonian American Art Museum. (Public Domain)

A historical marker in Savannah, Georgia, offers great praise of his skill: Today Malbone is acknowledged to be the finest miniaturist his country has yet produced, and among the greatest of all time anywhere.
Narcotic detectives seized about 12,000 suspected fentanyl pills that were packaged in bags of candy at Los Angeles International Airport in California on Oct. 19, 2022. (Courtesy of Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department)

Spotlighting Americas Fentanyl Crisis on Red Ribbon Week

News Analysis

Thirty-seven Octobers ago, Mexican drug cartels kidnapped, tortured, and murdered Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent Enrique Kiki Camarena. People began wearing red ribbons to honor Camarenas sacrifice, and Red Ribbon Week was born, observed annually in late October.

Symbols can make us mindful and across the Midwest, 15 landmarks will light red in recognition that drugs killed more than 108,000 Americans last year, according to Justin King, DEA Omaha Division Special Agent in Charge.

One Pill Can Kill

The DEA and other law enforcement agencies seized more than 10.2 million fentanyl pills and approximately 980 pounds of fentanyl powder this summer between May 23 and Sept. 8. Thats more than 35 million lethal doses, the DEA said.

One that got through killed Jacob Lampe. The 23-year-old Westfield, Indiana, man died on July 13. Along with fentanyl, the autopsy found a combination of morphine and three other chemicals in his system, according to court records. Police investigating Lampes death found he was chatting on CashApp with someone calling himself Bennylapdance1, whos actually Benjamin Ingram, court records said. Ingram was charged with dealing a narcotic drug resulting in death and faces up to 40 years in prison.

Fentanyls icy fingers reached the idyllic Coeur DAlene, Idaho, to snatch the life from a 16-year-old identified as G.D., on August 28, 2020. Earlier that month, Antoinne James Holmes, 23, of Cusick, Washington, sold G.D. the fentanyl that killed him. Earlier this month, Holmes was sentenced to more than 12 years in federal prison, the DEA said.

Whats Fentanyl?

Illicit fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 to 100 times more potent than heroin. Its cheaper and easier to manufacture and more addictive. It also carries a greater risk of overdose, especially for young people with no experience using opioids, Dr. P. Todd Korthuis, a medical school professor at Oregon Health and Science University said in a March op-ed.

Pharmaceutical fentanyl was developed for severe pain management and prescribed as skin patches or lozenges. Yes, prescription fentanyl can be diverted for misuse, but most cases of fentanyl-related overdoses in the U.S. are from illegally made fentanyl that is sold by drug dealers; the precursor ingredients are manufactured in communist China and shipped to Mexican drug cartels, according to the DEA. The Sinaloa and CJNG cartels in Mexico produce fentanyl and fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills with those chemicals from China, the DEA says.

Fentanyl is smuggled by mules who transport the drug across the border from Mexico. In October, a federal grand jury returned a two-count indictment against a 19-year-old Laredo, Texas, resident Ivan Eleodoro Garciahe over allegedly transporting fentanyl pills disguised as oxycodone. Garciahe allegedly drove his 2014 Ford Taurus into a Border Patrol checkpoint north of Laredo. Drug dogs alerted at the rear of his car, where agents found 13 bags of blue pills, prosecutors said. At first, agents thought they were oxycodone pills because each pill was embossed with the letter M. A quick field test found them to be counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl, the Justice Department said. Garcia faces up to life in prison and a $10 million fine.

The Decriminalization Question

Oregon and Colorado are among the states that tried decriminalizingor at least de-felonizingpossession of small amounts of fentanyl. Since then fentanyl deaths have surged in both states. Oregons overdose death rate went up 41 percent in 2021; while Colorados rate of increase of fentanyl was second in the country from 2019 to 2021, according to nonprofit Families against Fentanyl.

We have the second highest increase in fentanyl deaths in the country, so were lagging behind nearly all other states dealing with this crisis. Thats something I attribute to policy, like legislators decriminalizing the possession amounts and sending a clear signal to dealers this is a place you can more easily peddle your drugs, Matt Solomon, a Republican running for Colorado State Senate told the Epoch Times. 

Oregon voters approved Ballot Measure 110 in 2020, decriminalizing small amounts of narcotics. In 2021, the Oregon state legislature made it official when it slashed criminal penalties for possession of one gram of fentanyl to a misdemeanor.

Last year, Oregon overdose deaths increased 41 percent, compared to a 16 percent increase nationwide, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

Risk-taking is a normal part of teen development, according to Korthuis. But, pills purchased on the internet or from friends could be counterfeit and might contain fentanyl.

Theyre unforgiving and they can lead to fatal overdose at first exposure, Korthuis wrote in his op-ed.

Recovery specialists in rural Oregon used to see five nonfatal overdoses per month, Korthuis said. Now its 40 to 50 a month.

In 2019, the Democrat-dominated Colorado legislature reduced the penalty for fentanyl possession to a misdemeanor for anything under four grams. The state saw a huge increase in fentanyl deaths: from 81 in 2017, to 912 in 2021, National Center for Health Statistics figures show.

In the last hour of this years session, the Colorado legislature reversed itself and re-felonized fentanyl and other synthetic opiates, something prosecutors across the state begged lawmakers to do.

Fentanyl is now the leading cause of death among Americans aged 18 to 45, says Families Against Fentanyl.

Cleaning Up the Mess

Cleaning up an apartment contaminated with fentanyl or methamphetamine looks like something out of Breaking Bad, Mike Bolton with the Bloomington (Indiana) Housing Authority told Epoch Times.

Bolton is a certified fentanyl remediator. All too frequently he pulls on a hazmat suit, enters an apartment, and cleans up the mess left behind from drug labs.

Its so lethal in such small amounts. No amount is okay, Bolton said.

Not so long ago they found a meth lab next to their office and hired a firm to clean up the mess. The cost was staggering, so Bolton took the training and started doing it himself. They scrub the air, the walls, and every other surface. Occasionally its so pervasive that they have to gut the unit to make it habitable for humans.

After quieting down for a decade, fentanyl is making a huge surge, Bolton said, becoming more prevalent than all the other drugs combined.
Suspect Sought in Shooting in Front of 7-Eleven in San Diego

SAN DIEGOAuthorities sought the publics help Oct. 30 in identifying a suspect who allegedly shot a man in the upper thigh during a fight in front of a 7-Eleven in the Teralta West Community of San Diego.

The 29-year-old victim and the suspect were arguing, which turned into a fight at about 10 p.m. Oct. 29 in front of the store at 4350 University Avenue, the San Diego Police Department reported.

The suspect left the area, returned a short time later, and allegedly shot the victim in the upper thigh. He was last seen running northbound on 44th Street. Paramedics rushed the victim to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The suspect was described as a clean-shaven, 5-feet-10-inch tall man between the ages of 35 and 39, weighing about 200 pounds with straight dark brown hair. He was last seen wearing a black hoodie with yellow lettering and dark pants.

He was also seen driving a late-model, black four-door sedan with tinted windows.

Police urged anyone with information regarding the shooting to call them at 619-531-2000 or 858-484-3154.
A person prepares to cast their ballot at the Metropolitan-Multi Service Center in Houston on Feb. 25, 2022. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Texas Election Integrity Inspectors Sent to Harris County to Monitor Vote

Inspectors from the Texas Secretary of State and Attorney Generals Election Integrity Team have been sent to Harris County to observe and monitor voting processes.

Inspectors were sent after numerous voting irregularities were reported after the 2020 election and 2022 March primary election and after the state began auditing Harris Countys 2020 election procedures.

In a letter to Harris County Elections Administrator Clifford Tatum dated Oct. 18, Chad Ennis, director of the Forensic Audit Division in the Secretary of States Office, said his offices ongoing audit of Harris County has revealed serious breaches of proper elections records management in the handling of Mobile Ballot Boxes (MBBs) during the November 2020 General Election.

He also noted that his office received cooperation from the three other counties being audited, but we cannot say the same of our experience working with your predecessor, who was forced to resign after the March primary election.

The former county election administrator, Isabel Longoria, resigned after 10,000 ballots hadnt been counted, and after other election irregularities and problems were uncovered including not counting all the votes within the timeframe established by law.

It was only after Tatum came into office, Ennis said, that his office received any level of cooperation. However, the records Tatums office provided leave many questions unanswered, he said.

According to his offices audit, pollbook and provisional data provided by Harris County dont match the number of counted votes recorded (CVRs) in the MBBs. The countys audit logs dont reflect the creation of the MBBs ultimately tabulated or enable us to trace the votes tabulated back to the polling location without significant breaks in the chain of custody. Numerous other deficiencies exist, including voter records that dont match pollbook information, indicating excess votes were recorded. There were also a least 14 locations where chain-of-custody documentation is lacking at best and missing at worst, he wrote.

The Secretary of States Office has dispatched election security trainers to Harris County to assist the county throughout the election period from early voting, which began Monday, to Election Day, and through tabulation. They will observe the central count during the election cycle to ensure the county establishes appropriate procedures, he said.

Attorney General Ken Paxtons office has dispatched a task force to Harris County to be available at all times throughout the election process to immediately respond to any legal issues identified by the Secretary of State, inspectors, poll watchers, or voters.

The task force consists of lawyers, investigators, support staff, and other resources to ensure the election runs transparently and securely.

Paxtons office is encouraging Texans to send information about alleged violations of the Texas Election Code via email to electionintegrity2022@oag.texas.gov.

His office also published a public service announcement educating Texans about their voting rights.

It states that while all legally registered voters have the right to vote however they choose, It is a crime for anyone assisting you while voting to suggest, by word, sign, or gesture, how you should vote.

When it comes to avoiding ballot fraud, the PSA warns, An elections official will rarely approach you at your home or outside of your polling place to offer assistance or take your ballot. Do not give your ballot to any person you do not trust.

It also states, It is a crime for a vote harvester to collect your mail ballot from you. If you are physically incapable of depositing your own ballot in the mail, you have the right to request assistance from someone you trust.

Secretary of State John Scott announced in July that his office would be auditing Harris Countys 2020 and 2022 elections after the 2022 midterm elections. His office already began auditing the 2020 election results and processes in Harris, Cameron, Eastland, and Guadalupe counties.

The audits stem from the Election Integrity Protection Act of 2021, which the legislature passed and Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law. It requires the Secretary of States office to conduct an audit of the elections held in four counties during the previous two years.

By Bethany Blankley
The Genius of Cate Blanchett in Tar

Commentary

Getting right to the point, the masterful film Tar includes one of the best takedowns of identity politics Ive ever heard. The conductor is invited to teach a master class in music at the Juilliard Conservatory. Its pretty obvious from the way the students are scattered out throughout the room that they are not that interested in what the famed conductor at the height of her career has to say.

A master class is supposed to be about adoring students and an experienced achiever revealing all the important secrets of success. In this case, the students were aloof and seemingly under duress for being forced to be there at all, not that the teacher knew this.

Why might this be? You need to know something about academic music in such high circles. For decades they have cultivated a loathing of audiences, a bitter opposition to the economics of high-end classical music, and a deep resentment of the canon of musical mastery of the past. Identity politics has provided this set an added justification. Western music has long been dominated by powerful white elites who, in new and enlightened times, deserve our scorn.

Attending the best schools, Lydia Tar knew much of this and checked all the boxes in her bioall boxes but one. She is a woman in a male-dominated field. She studied indigenous music in some far-flung place, celebrating the neglected genius of its structures. She rose up the ranks against all odds. What she did not expect when she walked into that room was that she would meet with the presumption that she was herself regarded as the power to overthrow.

Sensing a lack of responsiveness from the students, she calls on the kid in the front row and accounts for the piece of music that they are trying to conduct, a typical new composition without tonality and coherent rhythm, the usual deconstructionist drivel that has dominated these schools for decades.

So she decides to take it on, explaining that a conductor can only make sense of a composition if the composer himself or herself has a clear and confident message to deliver. She observes that this seems to be lacking in the piece they are working on.

It was a mild criticism but tensions began to rise. So she starts to explain further and asks a student, Why is this piece not, for example, a Kyrie, from the B Minor Mass? She zeroes in on the kid and demands an answer. He says he doesnt know anything about Bach, in a graduate level course at Julliard! This is really too much for Lydia, and she wants to know why. The kid explains that Bach had twenty children, with the implication that he was an exploitative monster in his personal life. He further explains that he is personally done with the whole white, male, cisgender patriarchy.

Nonplussed, Lydia then goes to the piano to try to explain to him the beauty of even the simplest Bach melody but the effort is hopeless. The kid has already identified her as the enemy to hate and overthrowa typical punk who knows nothing but still believes in his own moral superiority. She then delivers the devastating line, which I must summarize because I cannot quote directly.

Cate Blanchett poses with the Coppa Volpi for Best Actress for Tar during the award winners photocall at the 79th Venice International Film Festival, in Venice, Italy, on Sept. 10, 2022. (Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images)

She says: the problem with dismissing art or literature or any other creation based on the race, gender, and sexual orientation of the creator is that the critic should then expect that his or her work can be similarly dismissed on the same grounds. Filling in the blanks, if he can dismiss Bach on those grounds, similarly this student could be written off on grounds of race and sexual orientation.

Boom! Thats exactly it. What goes around comes around for the purveyors of identity politics. They are trying to reverse historical injustices but they only end up creating more for themselves later. Instead of fairness and equality, we end up with only more hate based on identity. It doesnt create community. It only creates more arbitrary division.

The student is so upset at having his worldview disturbed that he storms out after calling her the B word. She thinks nothing of it. She figures that this is just part of his education.

Later, it turns out that someone was filming the whole exchange and took out selective portions to make it look like a moment of power abuse with sexual overtones. This ridiculous TikToky video is deployed on social media in the context of other iffy situations going on in her life. In a matter of weeks, Lydia finds herself unseated from her fame and success. Canceled, as they say, and left with no one to defend her.

This deeply tragic film features other great scenes such as one in a taxi when Lydia is arguing over the legacy of Alma Mahler, Gustavs wife until she dumped him for more fashionable Viennese achievers. Her assistant trots out the usual line that Alma is the victim because she was forced to give up composing as a condition of marriage. Lydia wont hear it because she knows full well that Alma was not in fact very good and that even her melodies that remain today are entirely filled out with brilliant orchestrations by Gustav himself!

So you can see what kind of person we have here with Lydia. She competed and won in a mans world entirely due to her own intelligence and talent. She is proud of that and refuses to wallow in fashionably fake victimhood. She has zero interest in woke philosophy. She will be called Maestro, not Maestra! That and other personal eccentricities lead to her undoing.

There is so much more to this extraordinary film and plenty about which to write, but let me just summarize with the following observation. It is very difficult to make a film about classical music that is realistic, especially when it involves conducting. Think back to the wonderful film Amadeus. As good as it was, the lead character was an awful and unmusical conductor. For anyone educated in this realm, that was a huge distraction.

There are actors. There are musicians. They are not usually the same person. This is a major problem for this genre. Cate Blanchett overcame this by spending two years of lockdowns learning piano, studying music reading and scores, and then actually conducting real orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic. Im just in awe of the achievement here. She actually pulls it off. She is wholly believable because it is all real.

In fact, there is already an album based on the movie in which she conducts both Mahlers 5th Symphony and Edward Elgars cello concerto. Indeed, I would judge this to be the most successful film about the realities of the classical music world ever made, including both its majesty and its internal viciousness, along with a devastating critique of the current moment in cultural history together with its moral purism which is nothing but a leftist reimagining of 17th-century puritanism (complete with witch burnings) under a new ideological guise.

The film is nothing short of a triumph, and the blistering attack on woke ideology is just a bonus element of a movie that really is for the ages. As a final observation, Im deeply encouraged that such an intelligent and subtle film could be made today. If Blanchett doesnt win every award for her performance, there is something very wrong.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
The Only Way Democrats Win This Time Is If They Cheat: Former NYC Police Commissioner

Bernard Kerik stumps for Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania governor race

MANHEIM, PA. An enthusiastic Lancaster, Pennsylvania crowd of more than 400 people broke into chants at least 10 times Saturday, during a campaign rally for Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano.

Doug for Gov! Doug for gov! they spontaneously shouted throughout the rally. But their whistles and applause turned to rapt attention when Bernard Kerik started his speech with a recollection of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. At the time, Kerik was the New York City Police Commissioner. He was on the grounds of the Twin Towers when the second airplane struck.

Years later, Kerik worked for former President Donald Trump as chief investigator for the legal team looking at the 2020 election. He met Mastriano while preparing for the high-profile Nov. 25, 2020, Pennsylvania Senate Hearing that questioned the election. The hearing was held in Gettysburg and featured testimony from former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, an attorney.

Politics is a dirty, dirty business, Kerik said. But he noticed Mastriano had the respect of his peers during preparation for the hearing. Ive never been in a room with 20 different legislators, and every single one of them looks at one man and says, that guy is going to be the next governor of the state of Pennsylvania.

Rebbie and Doug Mastriano Republican candidate for governor, at a campaign rally in Manheim, Pa. on Oct. 29, 2022. (Beth Brelje/The Epoch Times)

He offered his perspective on investigating the 2020 election.

Its different for me because its personal, Kerik said. I witnessed what happened in the election. When the mainstream media says its all a big lie, Im the guy that had to collect the affidavits from the people that witnessed voter and election fraud. Im the guy that had to help put those hearings together. Im the guy that talked to a number of different lawyers, that were right here in Pennsylvania, in Pittsburgh. Republican lawyers that were not allowed to watch what was going on at the polls. So people can say all day long, There was no voter and election fraud. Thats B.S. and I know it.

Kerik said it is important for voters to talk to friends and get people out to vote, but it is also important to pay attention on election day.

Remember this. The only way the Democrats are going to win this time is cheating, Kerik said. We need to make sure we have people at the polls. We need to make sure we can get to the courts and get to the courts on time. We need to make sure there are no mistakes like there was in 2020.

Leadership Required to Curb Crime

Kerik also talked about what it takes to address crime by looking back at the high crime rate in New York when former mayor Rudy Giuliani came into office.

We were averaging more than 2,000 murders per year. New York City was the murder capital of the United States, Kerik said. In eight years, under Rudy Giuliani, we reduced the violent crime by 65 percent. We dropped the murder rate by 70 percent. And we dropped the murder rate in the black community by almost 80 percent.

He looks at todays high crime rates in large cities like Chicago Atlanta, Minneapolis, Portland, Seattle, and Philadelphia and sees Democrats leading each one.

I hear people say crime is out of control. Theres nothing you can do about it, Kerik said.

With 439 murders in Philadelphia year to date in 2022, Kerik looks to State Attorney General Josh Shapiro, the Democrat candidate for governor, and asks why he hasnt used his authority to step in and replace soft-on-crime city leaders. He named Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner.

Last week Republican members of the Pennsylvania House announced they were seeking to impeach Krasner for failing to enforce the law.

So I have one question for Josh Shapiro. Why is Larry Krasner still there? Why is anybody still in place? Kerik asked. Dont tell me it cant be fixed. Dont tell me it cant be done. It can be done with the right leadership. That leader, he said is Mastriano.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping (bottom left), Li Zhanshu, and Wang Huning (right), look on as former leader Hu Jintao (center) speaks to Xi as he is helped to leave early from the closing session of the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party at The Great Hall of People in Beijing, China, on Oct. 22, 2022. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

The Story of Two 20th Communist Party Congresses

Commentary

The Hang Seng Index (HSI)the main Hong Kong market indexhit a new low since 2009 after the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), although some Hong Kong observers predicted that the congress would have been good for the HSI in the short term.

The congress has many worrying signals. It resolved that the party constitution should explicitly state the core position of Xi Jinping in the party and its central committee, as well as the guiding position of Xis thoughts on socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era. What is more, Xi was named peoples leader for the first time since Mao Zedong and Hua Guofeng. In other words, the CCP, which had vowed not to engage in a personal cult again after the Cultural Revolution, broke its own word on the excuse of the common wish of the whole nation.

The resurrected extreme leftism does not stop here. The concept of struggle was re-introduced, requiring party members to develop the spirit of struggle, improve their struggle skills, and continuously seize new victories in the great struggle, which is tantamount to giving legitimacy to wolf-warriors in both domestic and diplomatic affairs. The great rejuvenation will take the form of a new Cultural Revolution.

Moreover, the stress on common prosperity, meaning the mandatory dispossession of private property, and the forceful removal of ex-party secretary Hu Jintao during the congress allegedly because of his untimely flipping of the meeting documents, all point to Xis status as Mao Zedong in the 21st century.

It is interesting to note that there was another epoch-marking 20th national congress of the Soviet communist party. Convened in 1956, three years after the death of Stalin, the Soviet Union congress was well-known for its secret report by first secretary Khrushchev, who denounced Stalin and his personal cult and promoted the peaceful coexistence of capitalism and communism. Not all agreed with Khrushchevs reform ideas, and some members of the communist bloc, like China, branded him as a revisionist. Mao ordered the party to dig deeper into the roots of revisionism, resulting in the tragedy of the Cultural Revolution.

Besides the Cultural Revolution, the Soviet Unions 20th congress also had historical relevance to Chinas 20th congress. We should discuss this connection through Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union. Opinions about him differ. Whereas the west tends to praise him for his reform policy that led to the liberalization of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, which won him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990, the CCP sees him as a threat to communism, as his reform was a harbinger of the Soviet Unions demise. The CCP took one step further by linking Gorbachev to Khrushchev. The story of Yakovlev, the godfather of glasnost, is always cited. He was well-versed in the Marxist-Leninist classics and considered such dogmas getting dimmer and dimmer every year. He attended the 20th congress of the Soviet Union communist party and considered Khrushchevs report decisive in correcting wrong perceptions. As a result, Gorbachev and his reform fellows were perceived to be a continuation of Khrushchevs wrong policy that began at the 20th congress, leading to the demise of the first communist regime in human history.

The fall of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe after the June Fourth massacre led the CCP to intensify its ideological work to prevent China from becoming another Soviet Union. In other words, its worry arising from revisionism rooted in the Soviet Unions 20th congress still haunts the CCP after the Cultural Revolution, and this is the real cause behind the coming of another Cultural Revolution. This explains the statement in Xis report of the 20th congress that the Party will never change its quality, color, and impression, the partys denunciation of universal values, and its necessary struggle against historical nihilism (which highlights the importance of upholding correct history that affirms the partys leadership).

As a Hongkonger, my question is: how should Hongkongers survive in this tough time of renewed leftist struggles? The ways acceptable to the regime include praise the great leader (like chief executive John Lee Ka-chiu who said that every word of Xi Jinping is a treasure) and act like a wolf-warrior (like deputy chief secretary Warner Cheuk Wing-hing who wrote passionate Facebook posts). Anything beyond these may risk infringing the national security law.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Fox News host Sean Hannity speaks during a taping of his show, "Hannity," in New York, on Aug. 7, 2019. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)

Things That We Have Never Seen Before: Pollsters Tell Hannity Black and Hispanic Voters Are Moving to GOP in Droves

Two pollsters told Fox News host Sean Hannity Friday night that black and Hispanic voters are moving to the GOP droves, particularly in Pennsylvania and Georgia.

We consistently see where the African American vote, about 20 percent or more, are going for Republican candidates, Matt Towery, chairman of InsiderAdvantage, told Hannity when asked about Georgia and Pennsylvania, two states which could decide control of the Senate.

When it comes to either Hispanic, Latino or what we call other, sometimes its 60-something percent for the Republican, Towery continued. These are things that weve never seen before. Ive never seen Republican candidates getting 20 percent of the African American vote this close to an election. I certainly have never seen Hispanic, Latinos or other races trending Republican like Im seeing in this particular year.

Asian-American voters apparently turned against Democrats in the recall campaign against San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin. Some Republicans believe that reported discrimination against Asian Americans in academic admissions is one issue driving the shift of Asian Americans to vote for GOP candidates.

Republican Rep. Mayra Flores of Texas won a special election in a congressional district President Joe Biden carried by 13 points in June. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas told the Daily Wire Democrats were privately panicking about the loss of Hispanic voters to the GOP.

Robert Cahaly of Trafalgar noted that Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia and Republican Senate nominees Dr. Mehmet Oz of Pennsylvania and Herschel Walker of Georgia were performing well with black voters.

The two states you mentioned are particularly interesting, with Walker doing 23 percent among black voters. Governor Kemp is doing 20, Cahaly said. What is really fascinating how well Oz is doing. Weve got Oz in the 30s and the only one in the country breaking 20 percent with African American women.

Former President Donald Trump won 13 percent of the black vote nationwide in the 2020 presidential election, according to CNNs exit poll.

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Top Colorado Republican Lawmaker Dies Suddenly: Officials

One of Colorados top lawmakers died suddenly on Oct. 30, it was announced by the states Republican Party.

Colorado House Minority Leader Hugh McKean, a Republican, died at his home, Colorado Republicans confirmed in a statement. House Republicans described the 55-year-olds death as tragic and sudden.

Funeral services are being planned for McKean, who was running for his fourth term in office, according to the statement.

Hugh was fiercely passionate about two things in his extraordinary life; serving the great state of Colorado and spending time with his family, whom he adoredAiden McKean, 21, Hanna McKean, 23, and his dearest partner and friend Amy Parks, the statement reads.

His cause of death wasnt disclosed by press time. The House Republican statement said that an autopsy is currently underway.

Roger Hudson, McKeans deputy chief of staff, told the Denver Post that McKean recently said he had pain in the left side of his body, saying that it was likely an injury related to a house he was building. Hudson said the pain reportedly got worse overnight.

McKean was recently at a rally for Republican Senate candidate Joe ODea on Oct. 29, according to Hudson.

An autopsy was scheduled for Oct. 30, he confirmed to the paper.

McKean was elected to the Loveland City Council in 2009 before he was elected to the Colorado House in 2016, according to local Colorado media outlets. He was elected leader of the Republican caucus in the state House in 2020.

It is with great sadness we announce the sudden passing of House Minority Leader Hugh McKean. Hugh was fiercely passionate about serving the great state of Colorado and will be missed dearly. Funeral services are being planned and details will be made public once finalized. pic.twitter.com/Yw7ARMTnJv  Colorado House Republicans (@COHouseGOP) October 30, 2022

The Colorado secretary of states website states that he was running unopposed in the forthcoming midterm elections.

Hugh spoke about Coloradans not in the abstract but as real living people with jobs, loves, and real-life successes and problems. Families facing hardships were not faceless pie graphs on a page to Hugh, Republicans said in their statement. He saw the faces of his own children, of his parents, long-time neighbors, and of Coloradans that he would always call friends.

Public service wasnt a 9-to-5 job for Hugh; he lived life believing good enough would never be enough for those who would live with the consequences of bad government.

Colorado Democratic Speaker of the House Alec Garnett told local media: Emily and I are shocked and heartbroken by the passing of Minority Leader Hugh McKean. We will miss his kindness, the joy that he brought to the capitol every day, and the care that he showed every person he ever met.

Other details about his death werent provided by press time.
Trudeau Joins Families of Flight 752 in Canada-Wide Protests Against Iranian Regime

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stood with the families of the victims of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 on Saturday as they lent their voices to the worldwide calls for revolution in Iran through a series of coordinated protests across Canada.

But even as Trudeau touted Canadas new sanctions against the Iranian regime, some activists called on the federal government needs to go further to show it will no longer tolerate the countrys human-rights abuses.

Throngs of demonstrators lined the streets in 10 cities ranging from Halifax to Vancouver as part of a worldwide human chain organized by the Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims.

Organizers said the events were being held in solidarity with antigovernment protests in Iran sparked by the Sept. 16 death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the countrys morality police. Amini died after being detained for allegedly violating the countrys strict Islamic dress code for women.

In Ottawa, hundreds of protesters stomped their feet in unison and chanted Aminis name outside the National Art Gallery.

As the Prime Minister, his wife and several Liberal members of Parliament joined the crowd, he was greeted with boisterous applause, but also chants urging Canada to take action against the Iranian regime.

Trudeau said the government has moved forward with unprecedented sanctions and made leadership of the Iranian regime inadmissible to Canada.

We know there are people in Canada now who have benefited from the corrupt, from the horrific regime in Iran and who are hiding amongst  this beautiful community, Trudeau said.

Taking advantage of Canadas freedoms, Canadas opportunities, and using the riches they stole from the Iranian people to live a good life in Canada. Well, we say no more.

The crowd responded to his comments with an uproarious cheer and chants of kick them out.

The prime minister said his government will be working to make sure Canada is never again a safe haven for killers, murderers, and those responsible for the oppression of Iranian people.

After his speech, Trudeau led hundreds of protesters in a march across the Alexandra Bridge between Ottawa and Gatineau, Que.

The protesters stood shoulder to shoulder across the entire half-a-kilometre span of the provincial border crossing, where the prime minister joined in chanting justice in Iran and stop killing in Iran.

Earlier this month, Trudeau announced that more than 10,000 members of Irans Revolutionary Guard will be forever barred from Canada as part of tough new immigration measures.

But some critics said the move was too little, too late.

The prime minister came under scrutiny from some in the Iranian community last month for not attending rallies in the immediate aftermath of Aminis death. The critics pointed out the prime minister did, however, find time to go bungee jumping while other politicians stood in solidarity with their cause.

Toronto organizer Amirali Alavi called on Trudeau to back up his support for Saturdays protest with substantive action, such as expelling Irans ambassador from Canada.

We are here to ask our government and Canada to stand on the right side of history, said Alavi, a board member of the Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims. Stop negotiating with the regime in Iran while people are fighting in the streets.

Crowds clustered along stretches of Torontos main artery of Yonge Street on Saturday chanting women, life, freedom as passing cars blared their horns.

At a midtown intersection, demonstrators held pictures of loved ones who were among the 176 people, including 55 Canadian citizens, killed on Jan. 8, 2020 when Irans Revolutionary Guard shot down a Ukrainian airliner.

Arash Morattab, who lost his brother and sister-in-law in the crash, said the victims of Flight 752 have common cause with the protest movement that has rocked Iran for nearly a month and a half.

We are all victims of a regime that started killing people from the first days of them coming into power, and this keeps going until now, said Morattab. They killed our beloved ones in January 2020, and now they kill other people that fight for their rights.

The fight for justice is particularly resonant for women in Iran who continue to be denied freedom, said protester Sara Ahmadi. She said she ran into problems with the regime because she wasnt legally married to her common-law partner, who was killed in the plane crash.

Women dont have any rights in my country, Ahmadi said. Its not just about the hijab. Its about everything.

The protests in Iran first focused on the state-mandated hijab, or head scarf for women, but quickly grew into calls for the downfall of the countrys theocracy. At least 270 people have been killed and 14,000 have been arrested in the protests that have swept over 125 Iranian cities, according to the group Human Rights Activists in Iran.

The Iranian government has repeatedly alleged that foreign powers have orchestrated the protests, but have not provided evidence to support the claim.

Similar protests unfolded on Saturday in cities such as Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg and London, Ont.

In Halifax, the show of support for the people of Iran moved some demonstrators to tears, said Reza Rahimi, who lost his mother-in-law when Flight 752 was shot down.

(Locals and) immigrants from every nation and every race were standing beside us, Rahimi said.

Three years after losing my mother-in-law abroad, Im not saying its let us move onwe would never move onbut it will help us put something on the pain.

By Adina Bresge and Laura Osman
Ambassador to Argentina Duong Quoc Thanh presents a certificate of merit of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations (VUFO) to the ICAV in recognition of its contributions to Vietnam. (Photo: VNA)

In her remarks, ICAV Chairwoman Poldi Maria Sosa reviewed operations of the institute over the past years, saying its diverse activities are intended to promote the history, culture and achievements of Vietnam, thereby contributing to the enhancement of understanding between the two countries.

Apart from photo and painting exhibitions, talks and film screening, the institute has organised trips to Vietnam for many delegations, including university lecturers, doctors, engineers and artists, among others.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Argentina Duong Quoc Thanh lauded diverse activities organised by the ICAV even amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which, he said, have helped to deepen the traditional relationship between the two countries people.

He urged the institute to raise more practical initiatives to intensify exchanges between the two countries and promote the image of Vietnam in Argentina.

On this occasion, the diplomat presented a certificate of merit of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations (VUFO) to the ICAV in recognition of its contributions to Vietnam./.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Paul Pelosi (L) arrive for the Recording Academy and Clive Davis pre-Grammy gala at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Jan. 25, 2020. (Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump Responds to Attack Targeting Paul Pelosi

Former President Donald Trump on Sunday responded to the alleged attack against House Speaker Nancy Pelosis (D-Calif.) husband Paul Pelosi by saying its a terrible thing that happened.

The 45th president tied the attack, which occurred early Friday morning, at Pelosis home to Democrat policies around crime.

These people are crazy. Theyre going to release stone-cold killers out of the jails. Nobody knows why. I mean, they need room or something. Yeah, with Paul Pelosi, thats a terrible thing; with all of them, its a terrible thing, he said in an interview with Americano Media this weekend. Look at whats happened to San Francisco, generally, look at what is happening in Chicago. It was far worse than Afghanistan, Trump said during the interview.

Trump added that when I had Afghanistan  we went without one soldier being shot and you look at what happens in Chicago in one weekend; last weekend was brutal. It was like a warzone. No, we have to give the police back their dignity, their respect. They can solve the problem.

Today if a police officer says something thats slightly out of line its like, you know, the end of his life, the end of his pension, the end of his family, Trump also said. We cant do that. We have to give the police back their authority and their power and their respect because this country is out of control and you look atand theyre Democrat-run cities almost exclusively.

Then-President Donald Trump comes out of the Oval Office for his departure from the White House in Washington, on Sept. 16, 2019. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

After the attack, top Democrats sought to tie the incident to Republican political rhetoric and the breach of the Capitol on Jan. 6. Police have to establish a motive in the attack, but officials told reporters Friday that the attack appeared to have been premeditated.

President Joe Biden told a fundraiser in Pennsylvania on Friday that the suspect, David DePape, allegedly used the same chant as individuals who breached the Capitol.

You know, its reported that the same chant was used by this guy they have in custody that was used on Jan. 6 in the attacks on the U.S. Capitol, he said. The chant was Wheres Nancy? Wheres Nancy? Wheres Nancy? This is despicable, the president said.

Its not clear if the alleged Pelosi attacker uttered those words. Some reports, citing anonymous sources, claimed that the suspect made that statement during the incident.

DePape was arrested at the Pelosi home on early Friday, officials said. San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins told reporters that she expected to file several felony charges such as attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, and elder abuse.

San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said the attack was intentional and not random. Authorities said that officers responded to a well-being check at the Pelosi home at 2:27 a.m. on Friday.
U.S. Congress, CECC, and Human Rights Groups Urge US Capital Giants to Boycott the Upcoming Global Investment Summit Hong Kong

The upcoming Global Financial Leaders Investment Summit in Hong Kong will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel on Nov 2, and at Hong Kong HKEX Connect Hall on Nov 3. Some of the said attendees include senior executives of Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and other U.S. financial institutions.

The U.S. Congress and Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) issued statements urging the active finance groups to reconsider their decision to attend the summit. CECC also criticized the capital giants for whitewashing the Hong Kong government and violating human rights if they attended.

CECC co-chairman Rep. Jim McGovern and Senator Jeff Merkley stated on Oct 27. They had called on the senior executives of U.S. financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley to reconsider their attendance at the Global Financial Leaders Investment Summit in Hong Kong.

NEWS: Im calling on big bank leaders from @GoldmanSachs @BlackRock @Citi @MorganStanley to cancel their visit to Hong Kong, where they plan to meet with the same people who have been dismantling freedom and democracy in Hong Kong. https://t.co/sZNEFJhz8B  Rep. Jim McGovern (@RepMcGovern) October 27, 2022

The statement warned the groups that they would be bobbing to the Chinese Community Party (CCP) and legitimizing their dismantling of Hong Kongs autonomy, press freedom, and the rule of law by attending the event.

Additionally, they would become a political cover for Hong Kongs chief executive, John Lee Ka-chiu, who is sanctioned by the United States.

The groups said by attending the event, the attendees would not only be accomplices in violating Hongkongers human rights in Hong Kong but also actively undermining the democratic political processes of other countries and exporting an illiberal model of international order.

The statement also pointed out that if the invited financial institutions expanded their investment in the authoritarian government, they would be harming the national interests of the United States, accelerating further the tear-down of Hong Kongs autonomy and its peoples rights to freedom. CECC warned that the financial corporation groups would force the U.S. Congress to react.

Previously, 20 human rights organizations in the United States had jointly released a statement and wrote to the U.S. government and Congress.

The organizations condemned major U.S. capital giants for attending the upcoming Global Financial Leaders Investment Summit in Hong Kong and gathering with human rights violators the U.S. government had sanctioned.

The 20 human rights organizations urged the U.S. government to act promptly.
Members of the U.K. military and Border Force extinguish a blaze from a firebomb, targeting a Border Force center in Dover, England, on Oct. 30, 2022. (Peter Nicholls/Reuters)

UK Illegal Immigrants Processing Centre Attacked With Incendiary Devices

A UK Home Office facility housing illegal immigrants has been attacked with incendiary devices, police reported.

According to Kent Police, officers were called to The Viaduct, Dover, at 11.22 a.m. on Oct. 30, where two to three incendiary devices had caused a fire.

One minor injury was reported and the suspect has been identified and located, police said.

According to a Reuters photographer who was at the scene, the attacker threw three petrol bombs at the facility, one of which failed to go off.

He then drove to a nearby petrol station, tied an improvised noose around his neck, attached it to a metal pole, and drove off, killing himself, the photographer said.

Nathalie Elphicke, the Conservative MP for Dover, also said the attacker had committed suicide.

But police were unable to confirm reports that the suspect had died and said inquiries were ongoing.

A Home Office spokesman said: We are aware of an incident at Western Jet Foil, Dover, and police are in attendance. It would not be appropriate to comment further at this stage.

Tensions Running High

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick called it a serious incident, adding he is being kept updated on the situation by the police.

Elphicke, the local MP, said she was deeply shocked.

She told LBC radio that the processing centre is a well-known facility where illegal immigrants are taken to after they cross the English Channel in small boats.

Elphicke said tensions have been running high over immigration and she had raised her concerns with the immigration minister earlier this week.

She mentioned a case a week ago when illegal immigrants who had arrived on the Dover beach entered a house nearby, with someone eventually apprehended in a womans bedroom.

Continuing Crisis

Nearly 40,000 illegal immigrants have arrived in the UK in small boats so far this year, provisional figures show.

The number of illegal crossings has soared in recent years, with 28,526 people detected in 2021, compared to 8,466 in 2020, 1,843 in 2019, and 299 in 2018, according to figures from the Home Office.

A total of 990 illegal immigrants arrived in Dover after crossing the Channel on Oct. 29, government figures show.

It is the highest number of arrivals in one day for a number of weeks, with more crossings taking place on Sunday morning.

The highest number of illegal crossings in a single day was set on Aug. 22, when 1,295 people arrived in the country.

PA Media and Reuters contributed to this report.
Screengrab from a video posted by Just Stop Oil of one of their activists being dragged off the street at Harleyford Street, just off Kennington Park Road, London, on Oct. 29, 2022. (PA Media/Just Stop Oil)

UK Police Urge Public Not to Directly Intervene With Road-Blocking Climate Protests

Members of the public should not directly intervene with climate activists blocking roads, and should contact the police instead, a UK police boss has said.

On Oct. 29, when activists from the Just Stop Oil group simultaneously blocked four roads in London, furious motorists dragged some protesters out of the way.

Commenting on the incident, Matt Twist, assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, urged people not to take the law into their own hands.

Twist said the climate groups month-long road-blocking campaign has caused significant disruption and frustration among the public in London, and has diverted police away from dealing with knife crime, burglaries, and safeguarding.

He said the force has arrested 651 people while responding to Just Stop Oil stunts since Oct. 1, accounting for more than 7,900 officer shifts.

Frustration and Anger

The senior police officer said: I completely understand the frustration and anger felt by the public who are seriously disrupted by a relatively small number of protesters and their deliberate tactics.

They are affecting peoples businesses, their lives, whether they are on their way to a doctor, a long-awaited hospital appointment, on their way to work, to interviews, or to collect children; I know communities and the public of London have had enough of a very small number of people disrupting them.

But he urged the public not to directly intervene but to call the police.

Twist said police officers need to collect evidence of offences before making arrests and moving protesters, stressing this is key for successful prosecutions.

We are determined to bring to justice to all of those who have caused significant and unreasonable disruption to London, or caused damage to buildings, property, or valuables, he said.

Furious Drivers

Just Stop Oil, an offshoot of Extinction Rebellion, has been urging the UK government to begin the process of winding down fossil fuel production in the country.

The group said on Oct. 29 that 61 of its supporters walked onto Charing Cross Road, Kensington High Street, Harleyford Street, and Blackfriars Road, and sat down holding banners, causing traffic delays at mid-day.

The protest outside Oval Station in Harleyford Street, south London, sparked heated scenes as drivers remonstrated with activists and forcibly tried to move them.

Drivers dragged protesters out of the road but they persistently returned to retake their places.

One driver appeared to accelerate towards them before stopping while another mounted the pavement to get around them.

The police later said officers had removed the protesters and the roads were open again, and a total of 33 people had been arrested and taken into custody.

PA Media contributed to this report.
Saifullah Paracha at the Guantanamo Bay detention center in an undated image. (Counsel to Saifullah Paracha via AP)

US Releases Oldest Detainee From Guantanamo Bay After 17 Years With No Charges

The United States announced it has released its oldest detainee at Guantanamo Bay detention camp and repatriated him to Pakistan.

Pakistani national Saifullah Paracha, 75, was first detained at the facility in 2003. He was said to have provided substantive financial support to the al-Qaeda and Taliban terrorist groups in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, and was also alleged to have been in contact with prominent terrorists, including Osama bin Laden and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. His son was found guilty of laundering $200,000 into America from Pakistan for al-Qaeda.

He has never been charged before a military commission or any other tribunal with a crime against the United States. He was held as a law of war detainee.

The U.S. Department of Defense announced on Saturday that it completed the requirements for responsible transfer in consultation with its Pakistani partners.

The United States appreciates the willingness of Pakistan and other partners to support ongoing U.S. efforts focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing the Guantanamo Bay facility, it added.

The Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs also released a statement on Saturday confirming Parachas release and arrival in Pakistan.

The Foreign Ministry completed an extensive inter-agency process to facilitate repatriation of Mr. Paracha. We are glad that a Pakistani citizen detained abroad is finally reunited with his family, the ministry stated.

The Pentagon said a review committee had determined in May 2021 that Paracha was no longer necessary to protect against a continuing significant threat to the security of the United States, and that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Sept. 12 notified Congress that he intended to repatriate Paracha to Pakistan.

The same review committee had also determined in May 2021 that two other Guantanamo Bay detaineesAbdul Rabbani of Pakistan and Uthman Abdul al-Rahim Uthman of Yemenwere unnecessarily held at the facility, neither of whom were charged with a crime by the United States.

The main gate at the prison at the U.S. Guantanamo Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on Oct. 16, 2018. (Sylvie Lanteaume/AFP via Getty Images)

Reprieve, a prisoner advocacy group working with Paracha, celebrated the latest news as a huge win but noted that Paracha is returning to his homeland and family as a frail old man, after being taken in the prime of his life.

That injustice can never be rectified, the group said, adding that Paracha once described life at Guantanamo as being alive in your own grave.'

U.S. embrace of indefinite detention without trial has done lasting damage, the group said, advocating for the closure of Gitmo.

According to Reprieves version of events, Saifullah was a successful businessman and philanthropist, kidnapped by U.S. personnel while in Thailand on a business trip. He was rendered to Bagram air base, a U.S. black site notorious for horrific torture of detainees. A year later, he was flown to Guantanamo in shackles. His health severely deteriorated during U.S. custody, including two heart attacks. He was unanimously cleared for release in May 2021 by U.S. security agencies but has only now been released and repatriated to Pakistan.

According to the Pentagon, 35 detainees remain at Guantanamo Bay. Another 20 are eligible for transfer; three are eligible for a Periodic Review Board; nine are involved in the military commissions process; and three detainees have been convicted in military commissions, the department stated.
Children's books containing transgender and homosexual content on display at the library in Columbia, Tenn., in 2022. (Courtesy of Aaron Miller)

What Some Schools Are Teaching Kids Is So Obscene, Parental Rights Activists Cant Even Read It on TV

Parents and parental rights advocates seeking to shed light on what is being taught in schools say television stations wont even broadcast whats in their school curriculums because its too obscene.

It is against the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) guidelines to describe sexual conduct or feature any grossly offensive language on a radio or television broadcast. Parental rights in education advocates told The Daily Caller News Foundation that television and radio stations do not allow them to talk about the obscene curriculums and books allowed in schools.

When my kids were younger or just in my earlier life, I cant think of a time that I would be talking about a childrens book, and I couldnt discuss it on the radio, Erika Sanzi, director of outreach at Parents Defending Education, told the DCNF. This is a new phenomenon where you cannot discuss what is in a book used for children.

Sanzi told the DCNF that a producer at a television station told her she could not discuss the different types of sex that 10-year-olds learn in the Human Growth and Development curriculum of a Wisconsin school district due to FCC regulations.

There was anal sex, oral sex and vaginal sex, Sanzi told the DCNF. She was like, oh, my God, like you cant say that. The main thing that she was telling me was that I couldnt use explicit terms for body parts and I couldnt describe these different types of sex that that the kids learn about.

Sanzi said other television stations and radio stations have made similar requests, citing FCC guidelines.

Schools around the country often feature sexually explicit content in their curriculums; the New Jersey Department of Educations sexual education standards teaches fifth graders all the ways pregnancy can be achieved and introduces eighth graders to all the types of sex, including anal sex.

Some school districts feature books such as Gender Queer, which depicts illustrations of the main characters masturbating and receiving oral sex, and This Book Is Gay, which teaches boy-on-boy sex and is described as an instruction manual for LGBTQ students.

Scarlett Johnson, head of Ozaukee, Wisconsins Moms For Liberty chapter, was told by a cameraman for WISN 12 News that the station could not air footage of her signs featuring images and language used in a Wauwatosa School Districts sexual education curriculum because it was too obscene, she told the DCNF.

He said I am going to have to blur the images so much that no one will be able to tell what theyre looking at. The language on there, there was anal sex, there was erection, wet dreams, Johnson told the DCNF. There were the graphic images of the condoms and then the images of the vulva, vagina, penis. And they all came straight from the curriculum.

Johnson said to that because she cannot talk about the graphic images and material in schools, she is forced to talk about different aspects of sexual education curriculums that do not give the entire picture.

Because of that, we never talked about the real issues. Im just getting upset about it and upset that its always oh, you just dont want to read some some kindergarten book about gay parents or princess boys, Johnson told the DCNF. Its so much more than that.

Under FCC guidelines, obscene content is always prohibited, while indecent and profane content is not allowed to be aired between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. when there is a reasonable risk that children may be in the audience. Sanzi said she understands parents who raise concerns that the content not appropriate for public broadcast is in school curriculums.

I certainly can understand why a parent would say if you cant say it on the radio, and you cant say it on TV and you cant read it in a public board meeting, perhaps its not appropriate for our eight-year-olds, Sanzi told the DCNF.

The FCC, New Jersey Department of Education, Hillsborough School District, Wauwatosa School District, and WISN 12 did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundations request for comment.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
On Feb. 2, 2006, Anita Moorjani lay in the intensive care unit of a hospital in her home city of Hong Kong. She was in a coma. Her eyes were swollen shut, and her breathing was labored. With open lesions dotting her skin, massively enlarged lymph nodes, and organs failing, her frail body had been ravaged by Hodgkins lymphoma.

Yet somehow, by late March of that year, she was dancing and drinking champagne at a wedding, and in July 2006 she received a clean bill of health.

Moorjani attributes her rapid turn-around and recovery to a profound change in her mind and heart. Hers is one of the most famous near-death experiences (NDEs) recorded. Like many NDEers, during her coma she felt she had left her body.

In her book, Dying to Be Me, and on the NDE Research Foundation website, she reported accurately hearing a conversation between her husband and a doctor that took place some 40 feet from where her body lay. She felt free from the suffering of the body and that she was in a different dimension where I was engulfed in a total feeling of love.

I became aware that if I chose life, my body would heal very quickly. I would see a difference in not months or weeks, but days.  Anita Moorjani, near-death experiencer

She was given a choice to come back to life or to die. I became aware that if I chose life, my body would heal very quickly. I would see a difference in not months or weeks, but days! she wrote. That is, indeed, what happened after she awoke from her coma.

She also realized that fear had caused her cancer, and that love could cure it.

When people have medical treatments for illnesses, it rids the illness only from their body but not from their energy, so the illness returns, she said. I realized if I went back, it would be with a very healthy energy.

Peter Ko, MD, an assistant clinical professor at the University of California, heard about Moorjanis recovery and decided to investigate. With her permission, he gained access to her medical records, and he summarized what he discovered in those files.

He concluded: Her recovery was certainly remarkable. Based on my own experience and opinions of several colleagues, I am unable to attribute her dramatic recovery to her chemotherapy.

Jeffrey Long, MD, is an oncologist practicing in Houma, Louisiana. He also studies NDEs and founded the NDERF website, where Moorjani first shared her experience publicly.

His reaction to her story was thus: As a doctor that treats cancer, I am fascinated by Anitas astounding recovery after being very near death from her malignancy. The NDE literature contains other accounts of remarkable and even apparently medically inexplicable healing following a NDE. I hope Anitas sharing of her experience will encourage more research into this fascinating aspect of NDE.

As a doctor that treats cancer, I am fascinated by Anitas astounding recovery after being very near death from her malignancy.  Jeffrey Long, MD

Moorjani had tried alternative treatments and only received chemotherapy for the first time at the critical moment in February 2006. Her oncologist at the Hong Kong Sanatorium Hospital, T.K. Chan, told South China Morning Post: Hodgkins disease is quite curable. It can have a dramatic response to chemotherapy.  Whether the spiritual experience helped, Im not in a position to say.  It was a remarkable recovery. But I feel it was the chemotherapy, definitely, and the emergency draining of the chest.

It was a remarkable recovery. But I feel it was the chemotherapy.  T.K. Chan, oncologist , Hong Kong Sanatorium Hospital

Ko told the Post: I have difficulty with terms such as miraculous cure and spontaneous remission, but her recovery was remarkable.  Either her mind or body was able to send a message to the cancer cells to turn off the mutated genes. Chemotherapy does work well with Hodgkins but Ive never seen it work like this.

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
Staff work in a busy Lygon Street cafe in Melbourne, Australia, on Oct. 22, 2021. (William West/AFP via Getty Images)

Workplace Laws Concern for Key Senator

Concerns have been raised about the governments proposed amendments to workplace laws, with parliamentarians worried the changes are too rushed.

Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke is pushing to have businesses legally required to reach an agreement with employees who request flexible work hours and multi-employer bargaining.

The minister wants the legislation passed by the end of the year.

But independent senator David Pocock has expressed concerns over drafting errors in the bill.

The key senator says one such error is whether a majority of workers per employer or a majority across workers of all employers involved in multi-employer bargaining is needed.

Business groups are worried about an increase in strikes and job losses, and the opposition has branded the bill  possibly the worst legislation this country will ever see.

Labor is rushing the sloppy bill through the parliament, Liberal senator Michaelia Cash said.

This is nothing more and nothing less than the Labor Party delivering to their union paymasters.

Burke has committed to introducing amendments to the bill covering multi-employer bargaining.

But Senator Pocock is proposing to split the non-controversial elements of the bill and pass the first tranche before Christmas to allow more time for parliament to consider further changes.

The split would include making gender equity an objective of the Fair Work Act, establishing two new expert panels for the Fair Work Commission and banning pay secrecy clauses.

It warrants more scrutiny, Senator Pocock told reporters on Monday.

There are parts of it that weve seen for the first time on Thursday.

To look through hundreds of pages and then to get out and consult with my community, I dont think three weeks is enough.

Senator Pocock wants to look at the detail surrounding what the laws would mean for small businesses and get further information on the impact of multi-employer bargaining.

Thats relatively new, and we want to look at the details, he said.

But he hasnt ruled out voting for the full tranche when it comes before the Senate this year, saying hell look at every piece of legislation on its merits and consult widely.

The government needs the support of one crossbench member alongside the Greens to pass the bill in the Senate.
In this special episode, we sat down with Casey Fleming, CEO of business warfare and counterintelligence company BlackOps Partners. He sheds light on a new report by the Institute for Security and Technology called REWIRED: How Digital Technologies Shape Cognition and Democracy. How is this happening, whos behind it, and what can be done?

Fleming said: Rewiring is actually rewiring the brain. And its called psychological warfarecognitive warfare is the new termand it all falls underneath hybrid warfare. And thats really to control the minds and the souls of the audience or the population. So its basically rewiring the brain, and its accelerated and exacerbated by social media.

Youre in World War III today. Its called hybrid warfare. Were not aware of it, we dont understand it.  But hybrid warfare, youre in it, youve been in it, and its peaking, and its maturing at this point. Eventually, itll go to conventional warfare at some point, and we may be several years away from that, but understand that our enemy has declared us their enemy. And so therefore, they are our enemy. And we are in a hybrid war, and you need to understand that, he added.

As for what can be done, Fleming said: We need Americans to realize that theyre Americans. And whether theyre left, right, or center, that they are Americans and they need to vote for people in office that are going to fix this. Thats how we work. Thats how we operate. Were a democracy, and the way we change is through voting. We need those people in state, federal, local government that are going to address this thing. Its called foreign influenceunder the umbrella of foreign influence. Also, the big data piece of it is not necessarily foreign influence, although the data that they collect is being sold to nation states for foreign influence. Big tech needs to have laws. Big tech says, No, well regulate ourselves, we can do a better job. Well, they certainly havent. And, again, we as Americans cannot, should not, allow that our data be collected and our privacy be violated for other companies to exploit that, and to make money and keep us addicted on their platform. So the way that it would look is voting people into office that are going to fix that and uphold human rights and individual rights on privacy, he added.

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Criticising the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of trying to engineer political crisis in States, Congress leader and former North Goa District Congress Committee President Vijay Bhike accused it of using tax-payers money to buy opposition party MLAs in the country.

Bhike on Saturday also said the government has failed to honour its commitment on the social welfare schemes in the State.

In the name of development, the BJP and its leaders are shopping for MLAs. They are using tax-payers money to buy off MLAs of the opposition parties. They have done it in Goa and recently they have tried it in Telangana, Bhike said.

The former North Goa District Congress Committee (NGDCC) Chief was addressing a news conference along with NGDCC General Secretary Mithali Gadekar in the party office in Mapusa.

Speaking further, Bhike said the BJP-led government was using crores of rupees to buy MLAs and using agencies like CBI and ED to pressurise the legislators to give in and join them.

He said the BJP-led government was carrying forward the same welfare schemes launched by the Congress by renaming it but could not pay the beneficiaries on time.

The beneficiaries of Griha Aadhar, Ladli Laxmi and other social welfare schemes are not paid for months together. The money from here goes to other States to buy off MLAs, he alleged.

He said the recent attempt to poach MLAs in Telangana clearly shows the shamelessness of the BJP in trying to throttle democratic institutions in the country.

Bhike said people demanded basic needs such as regular electricity and water supply and good roads but the BJP-led government in the State has failed to deliver even this.
Three more laser shooting galleries were opened in Dnipro, Lviv and Bila Tserkva for training and instructing the military of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Nikita Izmaylov, an investor in the neobank sportbank and a shareholder of the Ukrainian branch of the international holding company Parimatch, who supported the project of the U-Hero Charitable Foundation, reported about this on his Facebook page.

"In addition to donating money collected by Serhiy Prytula for revenge, that is, kamikaze drones, we finance the arrangement of innovation laser shooting galleries, where territorial defense (TrO) fighters train and then often hit "zero." And just yesterday I received a message from the U-Hero Foundation that with our support three shooting galleries were deployed: in Dnipro, Lviv and Bila Tserkva. Victory is near!" wrote Nykyta Izmaylov.

The U-hero Charitable Foundation arranges laser shooting galleries in different cities of Ukraine. These are multimedia tactical and firearms training complexes that allow improving the quality of theoretical, tactical and firearms training of territorial defense fighters and their ability to handle all types of light and heavy weapons. The shooting galleries provide an opportunity to create conditions close to real-life and master all kinds of modern weapons without risks to health and life. The Parimatch shareholder and investor of sportbank is one of major donors to the Foundation's project.

"After the war began, people who had never held weapons in their hands lined up at military recruitment offices and received assault rifles to fight back against the enemy. According to statistics, during the first 10 days of the war more than 100,000 Ukrainians joined the territorial defense. The TrO fighters were a serious help to the military, their role in the defense of Kiev oblast at the beginning of the war can hardly be overestimated. Therefore, they need to constantly train, improve their skills, namely their ability to handle weapons. And laser shooting galleries are a great alternative to real ranges," said Nykyta Izmaylov. According to the shareholder of Parimatch, in addition to Dnipro, Lviv and Bila Tserkva, the specialized multimedia platforms were deployed in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Poltava. The organizers have plans for Odesa, Mykolaiv, Rivne and Sumy in the near future.

One of the main advantages of the multimedia shooting platforms is significant cost savings. A complete shooting gallery costs EUR 15,000. While the training of grenade launchers alone costs EUR 32 million, which is the cost of ammunition for training. In all, U-Hero plans to open 32 laser shooting galleries for territorial defense fighters. Experts estimate that this will allow more than 50,000 TrO fighters to be trained within just six months.

"Personally, I immediately liked the idea of building such laser shooting galleries from a purely practical point of view. This is a high-quality, innovative project that allows you to safely and effectively train a large number of fighters in a short time. Laser shooting galleries are highly rated by professional servicemen, and I trust their opinion," said Nykyta Izmaylov.

Synopsis. Nykyta Izmaylov is a Ukrainian investor, banker, and founder of specialized fin-tech Fund N1. The N1 Fund's portfolio includes the neobank sportbank, the payment system Asquad, a startup with the Tap-to-Phone technology Transenix and some other fin-tech projects. From 2012 to 2016, Nykyta Izmaylov was the CFO of PMBL (Parimatch) and later became a shareholder of Parimatch. Currently, Nykyta Izmaylov's leading business is sportbank. Three years of the neobanks activity resulted in 500,000 clients, a loan portfolio of UAH 1 billion, 100,000 savings accounts for about UAH 100 million and about 15,000 deposits for more than UAH 100 million.
The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, will meet the leadership of the Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, to seek their support ahead of the forthcoming presidential election.

Tinubu will meet the groups leader, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, and other Afenifere leaders on Sunday (today) in Akure, the Ondo State capital.

This was disclosed in a statement issued by the Director, Media & Publicity, APC Presidential Campaign Council, Bayo Onanuga, on Sunday..

The APC flag-bearer will present his recently launched 80-page action plan to the Yoruba leaders during the visit.

He added that Tinubu will also be in Lagos on Tuesday to discuss economic plans and strategies with the chambers of commerce in the South West.

The statement read: The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress will on Sunday be in Akure, Ondo State to pay a courtesy visit to Pa Reuben Fasoranti and the leadership of Afenifere, the Yoruba cultural and political organisation.

During the visit, he will also present his Action Plan on how he intends to tackle the economic and other problems the country is grappling with.

The APC torch bearer will similarly speak on his plans today before the Yoruba group, led by Pa Reuben Fasoranti.

He will on Tuesday in Lagos discuss with the chambers of commerce in the South West on how he intends to improve the economy of Nigeria, to achieve a double-digit growth.

Recall the Yoruba socio-political organization has declared support for the candidate of Labour Party, Peter Obi, saying that the presidency is not the personal property of the Yorubas.
Addis Ababa, 30 October 2022: Ethiopian Airlines, Africas leading carrier, has launched a new flight to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, via Victoria Falls starting from 30 October 2022. Ethiopian has started four weekly flights to Bulawayo, a third destination city in Zimbabwe after Harare and Victoria Falls and a third new destination opened after the pandemic. With the addition of Bulawayo, Ethiopian global destinations reach 131. The new flight will be operated with B787 on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Bulawayo, also known as The City of Kings is rich in cultural history and is the second largest city in Zimbabwe after the capital, Harare.

Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO Mesfin Tasew, said We are continually growing our network in Africa to provide affordable and convenient air connectivity and facilitate trade within Africa and beyond. The commencement of flights to Bulawayo is crucial in connecting Southern Africa to the world with our 130 destinations in five continents. We are glad to serve Bulawayo, the industrial hub of Zimbabwe and Southern Africa accelerating trade with our cargo and passenger services. Our flights to multiple cities in a country indicate our solid commitment to serve our customers and support our continent as the best pan African carrier.

Bulawayo is an important trade and tourist hub for travelers from all corners of the world and Ethiopian will provide the best connectivity service along with African flavored hospitality. Ethiopian has been flying to two other cities in Zimbabwe Harare and Victoria falls, with its first flight to Harare in 1980. The airlines new flight to Bulawayo is aimed at providing convenient and affordable service to the growing post pandemic business and leisure travelers to and from Bulawayo and the Southern African region.

Bulawayo is the second largest city with the second largest airport in the country. The suitable geographical location, road infrastructure and hotel businesses have made the city a center of tourism. The city also hosts international trade fair where people from different parts of the world gather attracting tourists and business travelers. However, the airport is underutilized with only few carriers operating to Bulawayo. Ethiopian Airlines commencement of flights brings about additional connectivity options with competitive fares for the people of Bulawayo and the southern African region.

Ethiopian Airlines growing connectivity is backing the utilization of the huge potential of the continents tourism industry. The new flight to Bulawayo will add convenience to travelers, thereby activating the trade activities in the industrial hub of southern Africa.

About Ethiopian

Ethiopian Airlines (Ethiopian) is the fastest growing Airline in Africa. In its seventy-five plus years of operation, Ethiopian has become one of the continents leading carriers, unrivalled in efficiency and operational success. Ethiopian commands the lions share of the Pan African passenger and cargo network operating the youngest and most modern fleet to more than 130 international passenger and cargo destinations across five continents. Ethiopians fleet includes ultra-modern and environmentally friendly aircraft such as Boeing 787-8, Boeing 787-9, Airbus A350, Boeing 777-300ER, Boeing 777-200LR, Boeing 777-200, Boeing 737-800, Boeing 737-8, Freighter, Bombardier Dash 8-400 double cabin with an average fleet age of seven years. In fact, Ethiopian is the first airline in Africa to own and operate these aircraft. Ethiopian is currently implementing a 15-year strategic plan called Vision 2025 that will see it become the leading aviation group in Africa with Seven business units: Ethiopian International Services; Ethiopian Cargo & Logistics Services; Ethiopian MRO Services; Ethiopian Aviation Academy; Ethiopian ADD Hub Ground Services, Ethiopian Airports Services and Ethiopian Express Services (Domestic). Ethiopian is a multi-award-winning airline registering an average growth of 25% in the seven years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. For additional information, please visit www.ethiopianairlines.com

Email: [email protected] Tel: (251-11)517-8913/165/529/

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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EthiopianAirlines Twitter: https://twitter.com/flyethiopian

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fly.ethiopian/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCV26xfT57LiOgrZM45ouCg/featured LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethiopian-airlines/

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Attacker confesses to stabbing wrong person

PHUKET: The person responsible for stabbing and killing a man outside the popular Grocery Store in Talat Yai yesterday (Oct 29) has confessed to police that he attacked the wrong person.

deathcrimepolice

By Eakkapop Thongtub

Sunday 30 October 2022, 12:21PM

The attack took place at the popular store on Ongsimphai Road around 6:30am yesterday morning. The victim, Mr Charoen Pan-ngern, was found unconscious by police and medical workers at the scene. He had been stabbed four times in the stomach. He was rushed to Phuket Provincial Hospital but later pronounced dead.

Around noon yesterday, 35-year-old Pannawit Thepbutra surrendered to police and later confessed that he had infact killed the wrong person, stating Charoen resembled somebody else he had previously had an altercation with that he intended to attack.

Pannawit, who works as a graphic designer, explained how he had a quarrel with a person by the name of Mr Nit a couple of months ago outside the same store. Mistaking Charoen for this person yesterday morning, Pannawit confronted him as he was still aggrieved by the previous exchange he had with Nit.

Charoen tried to explain he was not the person Pannawait believed him to be, angering the latter who then proceeded to attack him with a 30cm knife, stabbing him four times in the stomach and leaving him in a pool of blood before fleeing the scene.

After surrendering yesterday, Pannawit led police through a reenactment at the scene including where the attack took place and where he had hidden his clothing at a childrens play area within the store.

Pannawait then retraced his escape route all the way back to Phanason village in Wichit, which is where he lived.

Police have arrested Pannawit although have yet to confirm the full charges against him.
First direct IKAR flight from Moscow lands in Phuket

PHUKET: The inaugural flight of IKAR Airlines from Moscow touched down in Phuket today (Oct 30), marking the resumption of direct charter flights from the Russian capital.

RussiantourismCOVID-19

By The Phuket News

Sunday 30 October 2022, 03:58PM

Flight EO3477 from Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport landed at gate 11 at Phuket International Airport at approximately 1:30pm with 449 passengers on-board.

On disembarking, passengers were greeted by Pongsak Srimai, Staff Administrative Officer at Phuket Airport, along with representatives of the Airports of Thailand (AoT), which manages Phuket International Airport.

The SVO-HKT route (Sheremetyevo  Phuket) sees Ikar Airlines LLC, operating as Pegas Touristik, resumes direct flights from the Russian capital.

Separately, Russias largest airline and flag carrier Aeroflot resumes its daily direct 9-hour flight service from Moscow to Phuket today. Its first direct flight in almost three years before the COVID-19 pandemic grounded the majority of worldwide air travel is expected to land at Phuket International Airport at 9:20pm this evening.
Phuket Opinion: The road ahead

PHUKET: Phuket is now on the verge of November. The winds are starting to change, now predominantly coming from the northeast, marking the end of a rainy season that has caused so much pain.

opiniontourismSafetytransportpatongconstruction

By The Phuket News

Sunday 30 October 2022, 09:00AM

Motorbikes continue up Patong Hill after more earth gave way at the site on Friday night (Oct 28). Photo: Phuket Info Center

The coming months will be our first chance to glimpse what tourism recovery we can truly expect. Since the COVID entry measures were dropped entirely on Oct 1 the number of international arrivals at Phuket airport has jumped by just under 1,000 each day, on average.

No one expected tourists to return to visit the island in droves, and the floods this month dampened any hope of a boost in domestic tourists. Yet it is what Phuket is offering, and at what prices, that will attract tourists, and determine our immediate future. This applies for both domestic and international tourism.

Phuket is no longer an unspoilt tropical paradise. People no longer come here to get away from it all. They come here for a break or simply for the novelty that they have never visited here before. Thats it.

For these types of tourists there are expectations of what their stay will be like. Their expected quality of stay reaches beyond the hotel or resort. The overall impression and experience across the island is the key factor in determining how long they will stay, or even whether they will return. This includes the dining, the beaches, the shopping, the overall cleanliness of the place, how they are treated, the transport, and yes, even the roads.

What Phuket is currently offering in these respects leaves much room for improvement. While many of these factors are for the local people to provide, the general state of the island is the governments responsibility. In this, and especially in the management of transport infrastructure, the state has failed.

Key tourism figures for years warned the Thai government that you cannot keep taking the money generated by a tourism island such as Phuket without investing back into the islands infrastructure. The consequences as recently as March this year were branded inevitable. With the collapse of the road over Patong Hill, officials are now staring down the barrel of what those warnings meant.

Of note, Phuket officials, including the current Phuket Governor, have been left to stand in front of the cameras as point men as they scramble to come up with solutions to providing safe road access to Patong. By no coincidence, Bangkok officials who have overseen the appropriation of tourism income generated by Phuket for decades have been nowhere to be seen. Most people are pretty sure they will turn up when the road finally reopens.

With no statements from anyone from the central government, who are usually willing to jump in and take the glory for any support provided, there is no indication of what pressure local officials are under to have the road over Patong Hill reopened as quickly as possible.

To this, the announcement yesterday that immediate roadworks now underway will see the road reopen to cars within 45-60 days is not inspiring. That timeline is possible only if more space is created by scraping away more at the hillside to make room for lanes away from the danger zone.

It also leaves very little time for properly shoring up the embankment that has already collapsed in a way that inspires confidence that the road will not collapse again.

Apparently this type of gambling is legal in Thailand. And with this, officials are hoping to inspire confidence among tourists to use the road to travel over hill once it reopens. Ladies and gentlemen, place your bets.
Phuket students offer free repairs and haircuts to flood victims

PHUKET: A group of students from Phuket Polytechnic College have come together under an initiative to provide assistance to those affected by the recent floods across the island.

charity

By The Phuket News

Sunday 30 October 2022, 03:00PM

Under the initiative known as Fix it Community Renovation Center - Volunteer Spirit, the students will be providing repair services for motorbikes and home electronic appliances such as microwaves, toasters and kettles while also offering free haircuts to citizens.

Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew presided over a ceremony to launch the initiative at Lim hu Tai Su Shrine in Ratsada yesterday (Oct 29).

He was joined by Kraphu Nilwan, Director of Phuket Polytechnic College, Saroj Angkhanapilas, Mayor of Phuket City, members of the Phuket City Council, teachers, educational personnel and full-time and short-term students.

Getting into the spirit of things, Governor Narong himself received a free hair cut by the students after the opening ceremony to launch the initiative.
Police nab key member of scam gang

AYUTTHAYA: A key member of a call centre scam gang who masqueraded as a senior police officer to dupe three victims into transferring over B150 million has been arrested in Ayutthaya province.

crimepolice

By Bangkok Post

Sunday 30 October 2022, 11:04AM

Chonwicha Pansamut, 32, a call centre scammer posing as a senior police officer to dupe victims, is arrested in Wang Noi district, Ayutthaya. Photo: Supplied/ Wassayos Ngamkham

Officers from the Police Cyber Taskforce (PCT) and investigators from the Metropolitan Police Bureau (MPB) caught Chonwicha Pansamut, 32, in tambon Sanabtueb in Ayutthayas Wang Noi district on Friday (Oct 28), Pol Maj Gen Theeradet Thamsuthee, chief of investigation at the Metropolitan Police Bureau, said yesterday.

The arresting team seized 16 assets from the suspect, including bank accounts, gold ornaments, cash, watches and mobile phones. He was charged with colluding in public fraud, illegal assembly, transnational crime, putting false information into a computer system, money laundering and related offences, reports the Bangkok Post.

Pol Maj Gen Theeradet said PCT police earlier sought approval from the Samut Prakan Provincial court to issue 58 warrants for call centre scammers preying on victims.

Authorities have obtained evidence that a prime suspect in three major scam cases in which victims had been lured into transferring more than B150mn to his scam gangs bank accounts was Mr Chonwicha, who claimed to be the chief of Muang district police in Chiang Rai.

On Oct 17, PCT investigators went to Cambodias Poipet town to join Cambodian police in raiding a building housing centre scammers.

However, Taiwanese gang leaders fled with their Thai employees, working as scammers, via a secret channel in the building. Mr Chonwicha was among the scammers.

The PCT team later learned the suspect had returned to Thailand. They began tracing his whereabouts, leading to his arrest in Ayutthaya. During questioning, Mr Chonwicha admitted all charges, said Pol Maj Gen Theeradet.

The suspect admitted colluding with other scammers into luring victims into transferring money to his gang.

Before joining the scam gang, he sneaked across the border to Cambodia via a natural border pass to work as an administrator of a gambling website in Poipet town in November last year.

In February this year, he began working as a phone call scammer in the second line of phone scam operations. He posed as a police lieutenant in Muang district of Chiang Rai province.

Taiwanese scam gang leaders were satisfied with his performance and promoted him to be a senior staff in the third line of the scam operation in which he posed as a police colonel.

He would lure victims into wiring B7-8mn a month to his gang.

Pol Maj Gen Theeradet said the suspect was also responsible for three major cases. In the first case, he managed to lure Ms Ampha, a retired teacher, into transferring him B11mn in April this year.

In the second case, the suspect duped stock investor Wichai into transferring B41mn to his gang in July.

The third major victim was a doctor in Chumphon province who was duped into transferring B101mn to the gang, said Pol Maj Gen Theeradet. He withheld the surnames of the victims.

The suspect said his gang had about 50-60 Thai staff. During the 1-3 months he was at work, Chonwicha was paid about B20,000 per month.

After that his salary rose to B30,000 plus 3% in commission fees from the money he deceived from victims.

His commission fees were B2mn from swindling the three major victims. Since joining the scam gang, he earned about B4mn.

He spent around one million baht to build a house in Thailand and gave his relatives about B1mn.

He bought gold ornaments for about B500,000 and the rest financed his personal expenses and online gambling.

The suspect was handed over to cybercrime police. Authorities will seize his assets.
Poor face challenges as living costs rise

The rise of food and energy bills has had a profound impact on families from our poorest communities in Phuket, who live hand to mouth. Rising fuel costs mean many of the fishing boats cannot afford to leave the pier, and therefore the crew, often migrant workers, do not get paid and their families do not eat. Growing children, pregnant women and the elderly have been the most affected.

Community

By The Phuket News

Sunday 30 October 2022, 11:00AM

Sansan Myat Shwe (GSPT) (3rd from left); Pam Ong, GM of Courtyard by Marriott Phuket Town (5th from left); Chantal Fernandes (6th from left); Dr Supalak Laongpetch, Vachira Hospital Deputy Medical Director (7th from left); joined by Dr Suthee Kittithornkul, Nephrologist; Ratchanee Thipsungnoen, Head Nurse of Hemodialysis; Nittaya Chamnitna, Hemodialysis Nurse.

Since 2010, the Good Shepherd Phuket Town (GSPT) have been supporting these poor communities. Unable to access healthcare and mainstream education, migrant children fall prey to human traffickers and are vulnerable to labour and sexual exploitation. The Good Shepherd have always believed that giving these young people an opportunity to access an education can break this cycle of abject poverty.

The charity-run GSPT school has been open for 12 years and this year saw a sharp increase in the number of children enrolling. Student numbers have grown from 240 to 320, ranging in age from 5 to 18. Until recently, younger students were being taught in the playground as there was insufficient classroom space.

The school relies solely on donations from the Phuket community to sustain its commitment to provide for these vulnerable children. A simple school lunch might only cost a mere B30 per student but with rising food costs, this has increased to B40 which now amounts to a staggering B230,000 per month for lunch alone. This meal is often the only food a child eats that day.

Fundraising that brings Phuket together

During the COVID pandemic, GSPT lost many of its donors and therefore fundraising is at the core of the survival of the school.

In celebration of Queen Elizabeths Golden Jubilee last June, a Gala Ball was held in the beautiful ballroom at the prestigious Courtyard by Marriott in Phuket Town. Together with General Manager Pam Ong and her team, the event raised over B1 million. Proceeds were used to buy a haemodialysis machine for the public Vachira Phuket Hospital as well as going towards the running of the GSPT school.

Additionally, the school was grateful to receive a kind donation from Cecilia Warren and Wayne Scanlan through Steve Pearce at the Phuket Veterans Association. Not only are such events invaluable to bring Phuketians together and make connections, they are contributing to a cause which actually changes the lives of children in our wider island community.

Re-use, re-purpose, recycle!

GSPT run two Thrift Charity Stores on Phuket. The first Pre-Loved Charity Store opened in Cherng Talay at the Lifestyle Village and is kindly sponsored by Blue Tree Phuket. In the South, Pre Loved Too located in Rawai Art Village is sponsored by the beautiful Pettit family; Patrizia, Robert and Jordan.

The stores are an excellent opportunity to donate your pre-loved clothes, toys and household items. Even torn or damaged clothes can be re-used by the amazing Sam McCue and her team Seeds of Change to be transformed into beautiful elephants or bags. Pop in to have a forage around the stores, you are guaranteed to find something  or a few things! Each store is run by a dedicated team of supporters, who ensure that every baht goes directly to the GSPT school. If you have a few hours spare a week, they are always looking for additional help.

Get into the festive spirit

For the third Christmas in a row, Joel Adams Theatrix theatre company and the Underwood Familys Junkyard Theatre are excited to host a Charity Pantomime! The show will be held on Dec 10 and 11.

Nothing will put you in the festive spirit more than the lively tradition of panto. This year, a traditional tale will be given a modern twist as Jack and the Beanstalk meets Star Wars. There will be plenty of opportunities to support, both on and off the stage, so contact below for more information and no experience is needed. As usual, there will be laughs galore and a fantastic opportunity to watch live theatre at the innovative and exciting venue, the Junkyard Theatre.

No Christmas preparations would be complete without a stroll through a Christmas Market. On Saturday, Dec 10, Blue Tree Phuket will be hosting their annual Wansao Christmas Market. If you are a creative artisan and unique vendor, this is a wonderful opportunity to sell your wares and also for customers to get ahead with their Christmas shopping!

Give a Helping Hand

GSPT School Support Program is always looking for people to donate their time to support these underprivileged students. Now in its third year, its holistic and well-rounded approach focuses on learning and speaking English, living skills, computer literacy, arts and music.

Currently, the school is looking for a yoga instructor or someone to play games with the children once a week. If you are interested in applying for this rewarding opportunity, then please get in touch below. It is an exciting chance to build relationships with those less fortunate in our community and with these special children who have such a lot to give.

By Lauren Baxter

For more information on any of these activities please contact phuketcharity@gmail.com or whatsapp +66898742942.
Thirty-one percent of currently or previously married Egyptian women aged between 15 and 49 were subjected to some form of physical, sexual, or psychological abuse by their spouses in 2021, according to the Egyptian Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS).
MADI ALLARD, Stonington, Field Hockey, Senior; Allard made four saves in a penalty shootout, helping Stonington defeat Canton in the Class S semifinals. Most of the game was played in a steady snow. Stonington later lost in the title game to North Branford.

DREW DENONCOUR, Chariho, Boys Soccer, Senior; DeNoncour made a save in the final 30 seconds to preserve a 2-1 win for the Chargers in the Division II championship game. DeNoncour was named the games MVP as Chariho won the D-II title for the second straight year.

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Egypt's House of Representatives approved on Tuesday a $6 billion loan agreement with the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation to help the country meets it basic food commodity needs of imported wheat, fuel products, and petroleum derivatives.
The two car bombs that exploded at Somalias education ministry, next to a busy market intersection, killed at least 100 people and wounded 300, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said on Sunday, warning the death toll could rise.

Mogadishus K5 intersection is normally teeming with people buying and selling everything from food, clothing and water to foreign currency and khat, a mild narcotic leaf, but it was quiet on Sunday, when emergency workers were still cleaning blood from the streets and buildings.

Saturdays attack was the deadliest since a truck bomb exploded at the same intersection in October 2017, killing more than 500 people.

No one immediately claimed responsibility, but Mohamud blamed the Islamist al Qaeda-linked group al Shabaab.

The chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, condemned the attack and urged the international community to redouble its efforts to ensure robust international support to Somalias institutions in their struggle to defeat terrorist groups.

The first of the explosions hit the education ministry at around 2 p.m. The second hit as ambulances arrived and people gathered to help the victims.

Mohamed Moalim, who owns a small restaurant near the intersection, said his wife, Fardawsa Mohamed, a mother of six, rushed to the scene after the first explosion to try to help.

We failed to stop her, he said. She was killed by the second blast.

President Mohamud said some of the wounded were in a serious condition and the death toll could rise.

Our people who were massacred  included mothers with their children in their arms, fathers who had medical conditions, students who were sent to study, businessmen who were struggling with the lives of their families, he said after visiting the scene.

Al Shabaab militants, who are seeking to topple the government and establish their own rule based on an extreme interpretation of Islamic law, frequently stage attacks in Mogadishu and elsewhere. But the group typically avoids claiming responsibility for attacks that result in large numbers of casualties.

With support from the United States and allied local militias, the president has launched an offensive against al Shabaab, although results have been limited.

Abdullahi Aden said his friend, Ilyas Mohamed Warsame, was killed while travelling in his three-wheeled tuk tuk taxi to see relatives before returning to his home in Britain.

We recognised the number plate of the tuk tuk, which was now rubble, Aden said.

Exhausted and desperate, we found his body at midnight last night in hospital, he said. I cant get the image out of my mind.

SOURCE: REUTERS
The death toll from flooding and rain-induced landslides in the Philippines has climbed to 48, the countrys disaster agency said on Sunday, with 22 others recorded missing after tropical storm Nalgae inundated many parts of the archipelago.

Some 40 people were reported injured, while nearly 170,000 were sheltering in evacuation centres, government data showed, as the storm exited land areas after barrelling across the country over the weekend, including the capital, Manila.

Most of the casualties were recorded in the southern autonomous region of Bangsamoro, where 40 died due to landslides, with 10 still missing, the disaster agency said.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr on Saturday ordered urgent aid distribution in hard-hit areas.

Nalgae, which made landfall five times, is this years second-most deadly cyclone to hit the Philippines, which sees an average of 20 tropical storms annually.

The Philippine weather bureau said Nalgae was tracking westward and it could re-intensify into a typhoon over the South China Sea while heading toward southern China.

SOURCE: REUTERS
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has been urged to increase Garda numbers to tackle rural crime.

Farmers have raised a recurring problem of gangs of men with dogs going on to farms and threatening livestock.

The Irish Farmers Association (IFA) said that in a recent incident in Tipperary a farmer encountered men with dogs lamping on his land, and was badly beaten when he engaged with them.

The farmer was left with injuries including facial lacerations and fractured ribs.

More than 250 farmers attended a meeting last week in Adare, Co Limerick, to tackle the issue, and hundreds have attended community meetings around the country, with many expressing fears for their safety.

IFA deputy president Brian Rushe said he is seeking a meeting with Ms McEntee.

He is to ask the minister to change laws in relation to trespass tied into owners and occupiers liability insurance.

The meetings hear calls for additional Garda patrols and the need for more visibility of gardai, he said.

Despite assurances that recruitment is ongoing, the failure to get enough replacements for those retiring is leading to gaps in resources.
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[October 29, 2022] TOP RANKED ROSEN LAW FIRM Encourages Compass Minerals International, Inc. Investors with Losses in Excess of $100K to Secure Counsel Before Important Deadline in Securities Class Action - CMP

WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, announces the filing of a class action lawsuit on behalf of purchasers of the securities of Compass Minerals International, Inc. (NYSE: CMP) between October 31, 2017 and November 18, 2018, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"). A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than December 20, 2022. SO WHAT: If you purchased Compass Minerals securities during the Class Period you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement. WHAT TO DO NEXT: To join the Compass Minerals class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=8924 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] or [email protected] for information on the class action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than December 20, 2022. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. WHY ROSEN LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources or any meaningful peer recognition. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved the largest ever securitis class action settlement against a Chinese Company. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs' Bar. Many of the firm's attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.



DETAILS OF THE CASE: According to the lawsuit, throughout the Class Period, defendants repeatedly assured investors that the continuous mining and continuous haulage ("CMCH") upgrade at the Goderich mine, the largest underground rock salt mine in the world located in Ontario, Canada, was on track to materially reduce costs and boost Compass Minerals' operating results starting in 2018. However, defendants' statements were misleading because they failed to tell investors that costs at the Goderich mine were increasing rather than decreasing. The Compass Materials class action lawsuit further alleges that defendants also misrepresented the amount of salt Compass Minerals was able to produce at Goderich using the new CMCH equipment and failed to disclose how the known and ongoing production shortfalls it was experiencing were reasonably expected to reduce its future operating income. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages. To join the Compass Minerals class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=8924 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] or [email protected] for information on the class action.

No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff. Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/. Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221029005002/en/

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These aren't additions to the local homicide count . . . Yet.

However . . . The October death investigations provide a reality check for life in our cowtown and a reminder that we remain in the midst of a historic murder spike.



Here are the reports . . .



Suspicious death 24th and Topping



This morning a few minutes before 9:00 am officers were dispatched to 24th and Topping near the park by the pond on a dead body.



On arrival officers were led to a deceased person located by the pond on the east side of Topping. A person walking in the park this morning located the deceased person and called for police.



Based on the location of the deceased and the possibility of it being suspicious officers notified detectives who have begun a suspicious death investigation. Because the scene is outdoors and theres only one opportunity to completely process the scene they have requested crime scene investigators to come to the scene for processing.



Detectives are talking with additional people who were at the scene when officers arrived. The medical examiner will make the final determination of cause of death in conjunction with the detectives and crime scene investigators who are processing the scene at this time.



If anyone saw anything or has any information they are asked to call the Homicide Unit directly at 816-234-5043, or the TIPS hotline anonymously at 816-474-TIPS.

###############

Just now . . .



Suspicious Death 5600 block of Paloma



This morning just before 10am officers were called to a residence in the 5600 block of Paloma on what was believed to be human remains located in a backyard there.



The resident called police when he noticed his dog digging in the back yard. He went to check on his dog and located what he thought was human skeletal remains so he called police.



Officers contacted detectives who have begun a suspicious death investigation. Crime scene investigators as well as the medical examiners office will be processing the scene for evidence as well as making a determination of cause of death.



At this time it is not known what the gender or age of the deceased is, or any estimation how long the remains have been there. The medical examiner will be working through all the evidence to make that determination.



If anyone has any information they are asked to call the Homicide Unit directly at 816-234-5043, or the TIPS hotline anonymously at 816-474-TIPS.

################

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . .

KCPD investigating two suspicious deaths Sunday morning KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Kansas City Police Department is investigating two separate death investigations Sunday morning. Police were called to a scene at 24th and Toping where they said a person walking in Blue Valley Park Sunday morning found the dead person near a pond and alerted police Detectives requested crime scene investigators to the scene because of the outdoor location.

2 people found dead under suspicious circumstances Sunday morning in separate locations in KCMO KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Police are investigating after two people were found dead under suspicious circumstances in two different locations Sunday. A person walking in Blue Valley Park near 24th and Topping found a dead body near a pond, according to the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department. Around 9 a.m.

Resident calls KCPD after finding human skeletal remains in backyard KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - A resident in the 5600 block of Paloma called police Sunday morning after finding his dog digging up what appeared to be human skeletal remains in his backyard. Police said the call came in at 10 a.m. Officers have contacted detectives who have begun a suspicious death investigation.

Developing . . .
Today's reminder that the uptick in violence across the nation doesn't really respect lines on a map.

Accordingly, here's the story of a suburban family suffering a crushing loss and asking the public to help police with the investigation.



Check-it . . .



Police say on Oct 21, an intruder broke in and stabbed the young man to death. Charles was able to make a 911 call telling dispatchers he didn't know who his attacker was. He would later die at the scene . . . If you know anything you're asked to reach out to the Merriam police.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .
Dr Mahmoud Mohieldin, the UN climate change high-level champion for Egypt, said that enhancing investments in renewables and emissions reduction projects will help achieve the net zero target.

Mohieldin remarks came during his speech via video to the event titled "Economist's Impact Sustainable Week: Countdown to COP27" held in Abu Dhabi.

The event was attended by John Kerry, US special presidential envoy for climate; Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber, UAE minister of industry and advanced technology; and a number of high-level officials, heads of companies and businessmen from all over the world.

Mohieldin, who is also the UN special envoy on financing 2030 sustainable development agenda, said that achieving net zero is not impossible, but it requires a pragmatic approach, scientific solutions and unifying regional and international efforts.

It also requires dealing realistically with the energy sector's challenges including with the failure in some cases around the world to make adequate transitions in the sector, he added.

Net zero refers to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to the point where they are equal to the amount being removed from the atmosphere.

Mohieldin highlighted the importance of the wisely managing the energy sector transition, especially when it comes to implementing new technologies.

He pointed to the necessity of investing in scientific research, developing energy technologies, seizing the opportunities related to solar energy, wind, green hydrogen and other green alternatives.

He explained that current crises, especially the war in Ukraine, proved the urgent need to diversify energy sources and enhance regional cooperation in this field.

Mohieldin said that financing the energy sector transition should not depend only on governments, pointing to the importance of public-private-partnerships (PPPs). He also praised the role of the private sector in financing and implementing mitigation measures in developed and developing countries.

The climate champion stressed that the energy sector transition requires scaling up and increasing PPPs, enhancing the joint work between state and non-state actors, and depending more on think tanks and scientific research centres in finding solutions that catalyst climate action.

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Ukraine has received 28 M-55S tanks from Slovenia.

According to the Slovenian media outlet 24ur.com, the tanks were in the reserve of the Slovenian army.

Instead, the country will receive 40 military vehicles from Germany.

Slovenias Ministry of Defense confirmed that the tanks were successfully delivered to Ukraine.

Read also: Pentagon provides additional defense aid package to Ukraine

M-55S tanks are a modernized version of the Soviet T-55s.

Earlier, the country sent over 35 BVP M80A infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine.

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From February 24 to October 30, the Armed Forces of Ukraine eliminated about 71,200 Russian invaders, including 950 in the past day alone.

Thats according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Ukrinform reports.

Also, Ukraines defenders destroyed 2,672 enemy tanks (+13 in the past day), 5,453 (+52) armored combat vehicles, 1,724 (+16) artillery systems, 383 (+3) multiple rocket launchers, 197 (+2) air defense systems, 274 (+1) warplanes, 252 (+0) helicopters, 1,412 (+6) UAVs of operational-tactical level, 352 (+1) cruise missiles, 16 (+0) warships/cutters, 4,120 (+13) trucks and tankers, and 154 (+2) units of specialized equipment.

The Russians suffered the greatest losses in the Donetsk and Lyman directions. The incoming data on enemy losses is being verified.
In Ukraine, 248 children are currently considered missing since the Russian full-scale invasion. Meanwhile, 7,049 children have been found.

The press service of the Prosecutor General's Office reported this on Telegram, sharing data from the "Children of War" state portal, according to Ukrinform.

"Data on affected children as of October 30, 2022: 248 - missing, 9,441 - deported, 7,049 - found, 96 - returned," the PGO said.

In turn, juvenile prosecutors said 430 children had been killed as a result of the Russian armed aggression in Ukraine. As of the morning of October 30, a total of 823 children were wounded, which marks no change in stats. So, in total, more than 1,253 children in Ukraine were affected as a result of the full-scale war, the Prosecutor General's Office clarified.

It is noted that these numbers are not final, as work is ongoing to verify incoming reports from the zones of active hostilities, temporarily captured and liberated areas.

"The largest numbers of affected children were reported in Donetsk region (420), Kharkiv region (260), Kyiv region (116), Mykolaiv region (77), Zaporizhia region (70), Chernihiv region (68), Luhansk region (64), Kherson region (58), and Dnipropetrovsk region (31). A total of 2,688 educational facilities were damaged, of which 331 were completely destroyed," the statement specifies.

Citizens can provide information about a war crime against a child through the single evidence hub: warcrimes.gov.ua and by phone: +380961004438, +380683235856. In turn, "Children of War" is a platform collecting reports and offering information on children who suffered as a result of the Russian war on Ukraine.

As reported, on October 29, the Prosecutor Generals Office announced that Russian troops had killed 430 children and wounded another 823 in Ukraine.
On October 29, 2022, a total of 10 civilians were killed and 13 injured in Russian attacks on the territory of Ukraine.

The relevant statement was made by Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Kyrylo Tymoshenko on Telegram, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

In particular, 10 civilians were killed (five bodies were discovered of those who had been killed earlier) and eight injured in the Donetsk region, two injured in the Zaporizhzhia region, two injured in the Kherson region, and one injured in the Kharkiv region.

A reminder that, in September 2022, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) confirmed that about 15,000 civilians had been killed or injured in the war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine.

mk
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky held another meeting of the Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief on Sunday.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky wrote this on Telegram, Ukrinform reports.

"We are working for victory without days off. I held another meeting of the Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. The main issues. We discussed the operational situation at the front. We heard information regarding possible actions of the enemy in the near future. We focused in detail on the issue of providing our army with ammunition and repairing military equipment," the president wrote.

In addition, according to him, measures to protect infrastructure and energy facilities were analyzed in detail during the meeting. "We will withstand. We will prove to the whole world that we are invincible, Zelensky stated.

According to the Presidents Office, the meeting was attended by: Head of the Office of the President Andriy Yermak, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov, Minister of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhny, Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate Kyrylo Budanov, Head of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine Oleksandr Lytvynenko, Commander of the Ground Forces of the AFU Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander of the Air Forces of the AFU Mykola Oleshchuk and commanders of the troops of operational directions. The meeting was also attended by: Minister of Internal Affairs Denys Monastyrskyi, Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba, Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov, Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov, heads of law enforcement agencies and security agencies.

On February 24, Russia began a new stage of the war against Ukraine  a full-scale invasion.

Photo credit: Presidents Office

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A dozen of pilots have already been selected by Ukraines Air Force for training on Western fighter jets.

Thats according to the spokesman for the Air Force, Yuriy Ihnat, Ukrinform reports with reference to ArmyInform.

These are young pilots with knowledge of the English language and powerful combat experience, the report reads.

Ihnat noted that the issue of providing Ukraine with Western-type fighter jets, possibly F15s and F16s, remains urgent. Ukrainian pilots are ready to leave for training as soon as tomorrow. It is up to the Western partners, who are to finally decide on the type of aircraft that can be provided to the embattled country.

"Unfortunately, today's aviation  Soviet-type MiGs and Sus  does not meet the military threats posed by the occupying power, which is shelling Ukraine with powerful cruise missiles. The military-political leadership and diplomacy are working in all directions to speed up the pace of such deliveries, said the spokesman.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, citing the Armed Forces spokesman, more than 300 Shahed-136 one-way attack drones have been shot down since September 13.

Photo: Ministry of Defense of Ukraine
The Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday that Moscow has moved to suspend its implementation of a U.N.-brokered grain deal which has seen more than 9 million tons of grain exported from Ukraine and has brought down global food prices.

The ministry cited an alleged Ukrainian drone attack against Russia's Black Sea Fleet ships moored off the coast of occupied Crimea, which Russia says took place early Saturday, as the reason for the move. Ukraine has denied the attack.

The Russian declaration came one day after U.N. chief Antonio Guterres urged Russia and Ukraine to renew the deal. Guterres also urged other countries, mainly in the West, to expedite the removal of obstacles blocking Russian grain and fertilizer exports.

The U.N. chief underlined the urgency of renewing the deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July, which expires on Nov. 19, ``to contribute to food security across the world, and to cushion the suffering that this global cost-of-living crisis is inflicting on billions of people,'' his spokesman said.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia has said that before Moscow discusses a renewal ``Russia needs to see the export of its grain and fertilizers in the world market, which has never happened since the beginning of the deal.''

Earlier Saturday, Ukraine and Russia offered differing versions on the Crimea drone attack in which at least one Russian ship suffered damage in Sevastopol, a major port, on the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014.

The Russian Defense Ministry said a minesweeper had ``minor damage'' during an alleged pre-dawn Ukrainian attack on navy and civilian vessels docked in Sevastopol, which hosts the headquarters of Russia's Black Sea Fleet. The ministry claimed Russian forces had ``repelled'' 16 attacking drones.

An adviser to Ukraine's Interior Ministry claimed that ``careless handling of explosives'' had caused blasts on four warships in Russia's Black Sea Fleet. Anton Gerashchenko wrote on Telegram that the vessels included a frigate, a landing ship and a ship that carried cruise missiles used in a deadly July attack on a western Ukrainian city.

In other developments on Saturday, Russian troops moved large numbers of sick and wounded comrades from hospitals in Ukraine's southern Kherson region and stripped the facilities of medical equipment, Ukrainian military officials said as their forces fought to retake a province overrun by invading soldiers early in the war.

Kremlin-installed authorities in the mostly Russian-occupied region had previously urged civilians to leave the city of Kherson, the region's capital _ and reportedly joined the tens of thousands of residents who fled to other Russia-held areas ahead of an expected Ukrainian advance.

``The so-called evacuation of invaders from the temporarily occupied territory of the Kherson region, including from medical institutions, continues,`` the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said.

The military's claims could not be independently verified. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address that the Russians were ``dismantling the entire health care system'' in Kherson and other occupied areas.

``The occupiers have decided to close medical institutions in the cities, take away equipment, ambulances. just everything,`` Zelenskyy said. ``They put pressure on the doctors who still remained in the occupied areas for them to move to the territory of Russia.``

Kherson is one of four regions in Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin illegally annexed last month and where he subsequently declared martial law. The others are Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia.

As Kyiv's forces sought gains in the south, Russia kept up its shelling and missile attacks in the country's east, Ukrainian authorities said Saturday. Three more civilians died and eight more were wounded in the Donetsk region, which has again become a front-line hotspot as Russian soldiers try to capture the city of Bakhmut.

Western analysts have long identified Bakhmut as an important target in Russia's stalled eastern offensive, one that would pave the way for Moscow's forces to threaten Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, the two largest Ukrainian-held cities remaining in the long-embattled Donbas region.

Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk province make up the Donbas. Pro-Russia separatists have controlled parts of both provinces since 2014.

In the northeastern Kharkiv region, where Russia's troops retreated last month and Ukrainian troops clawed back broad swaths of territory, Russian shelling overnight wounded three civilians, the region's Ukrainian governor said.

Gov. Oleh Syniehubov wrote on Telegram said that two women in their 40s and a 60-year-old man were wounded near Kupiansk, a town that served as a resupply hub for Russian forces before Ukrainian troops regained control.

In neighboring Luhansk province, Gov. Serhii Haidai said that Ukrainian forces have shelled the entire length of the Kreminna-Svatove highway, where the Russians set up their main line of defense after their withdrawal from the Kharkiv region.

A Russian shelling attack Saturday also hit ``critical infrastructure'' in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region, the Ukrainian governor of the illegally annexed province said. Around a quarter of the region, including the local capital, also called Zaporizhzhia, remains under Ukrainian military control.

Writing on Telegram, Gov. Oleksandr Starukh later said an industrial building was struck and there were no casualties.

In the latest swap, 52 Ukrainians, including two former defenders of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, were released Saturday as part of a prisoner exchange with Russia, according to Andriy Yermak, a senior official at Ukraine's presidential office. The steelworks in that bombed-out port city now symbolize Ukrainian resistance.

Among those released were the head of the surgical department of the military hospital at Mariupol, who was at Azovstal, and a young military surgeon, Yermak said.

Also released, he said, was a sailor who defended Ukraine's Snake Island, a strategic Black Sea outpost seized by Russia in the opening hours of the war. Others coming home were Ukrainian soldiers captured by Moscow near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant _ the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster in 1986 _ which Russian forces briefly occupied from February to March.

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Dutch high-tech companies unwittingly sell their technology to firms founded by the Russian military intelligence agency.

This is confirmed by a spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense after statements on the issue, voiced by Jan Swillens, head of the Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD), Ukrinform reports citing NOS.

According to Swillens, the Russian secret service has set up dozens of firms that operate in the Netherlands as 'front companies' to evade Western sanctions. Those companies buy technology only to smuggle it to Russia for military purposes, the official says.

The Dutch high-tech sector can count itself among the international top, with big names such as NXP and ASML.

Swillens has called on Dutch high-tech companies to conduct more thorough research into their customers and to inquire about the actual end users of their products, not to unknowingly cooperate with the Russian military.

As reported earlier, Dutch law enforcement detained a 55-year-old man on suspicion of supplying microchips to Russia in circumvention of sanctions.

The microchips in question can be used in the defense industry. Therefore, due to international sanctions, they must not be sold to Russian companies.

The man claimed he was selling the products to other countries. His bank accounts and trading inventory were seized.
The previous Italian government led by Mario Draghi allocated a significant batch of heavy weapons to Ukraine, which was kept secret until recently.

As La Repubblica reports, the military aid package endorsed by the Draghi government included two M270 multiple rocket launchers, six 155mm PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzers, 20 to 30 units of 155mm modernized M109L self-propelled howitzers, and dozens of M113 armored personnel carriers.

La Repubblica notes that "a complicated operation to move arms and ammunition across Europe took place without incidents in the strictest secrecy."

As reported, on October 17, before the end of the tenure, Mario Draghi's government provided Ukraine with a new military aid package, the details of which were not disclosed.

Draghi's successor as Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, said that Italy would continue to fully support Ukraine in its resistance to Russian aggression.

Photo credit: www.repubblica.it

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Baykar CEO Haluk Bayraktar has stated that his companys drones will soon be able to counter Iranian-made kamikaze drones, which Russia uses to attack infrastructure facilities in Ukraine, using air-to-air missiles.

"Soon our Bayraktar TB2 and Akncs will have air-to-air missiles; not only to engage drones but other enemy aircraft... we are conducting our tests," Bayraktar said during SAHA Expo defense fair in Istanbul, Daily Sabah informs.

He also announced that a contract was signed between Turkish rocket and missile-making giant Roketsan and Baykar for the integration of the Sungur air defense missile to combat drones.

Sungur is a proven ammunition, especially against moving targets such as helicopters and drones. Using it from our unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as an air-to-air missile will be a game changer, Murat Ikinci, Roketsan general manager said at the fair.

As noted, integration of such missiles to Aknc and Bayraktar TB2 combat drones can lead to the creation of a low-cost air patrol concept in eliminating threats such as attack helicopters and enemy drones, including kamikaze drones, instead of using high-cost air-to-air missiles.

The kamikazes are slow, noisy and deployed at low altitudes, making them "easy targets," Bayraktar said.

"In any case, you need to be ready with your countermeasures... We fully support Ukraine to defend their sovereignty," he added.

Earlier, Bayraktar stated that his company planned to complete the construction of its drone production plant in Ukraine in two years.

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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expresses his strong support to the renewal and full implementation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which expires on November 22.

According to an Ukrinform correspondent, his spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, said this in a statement on Friday.

"We underline the urgency of doing so to contribute to food security across the world, and to cushion the suffering that this global cost-of-living crisis is inflicting on billions of people," the statement reads.

Dujarric recalled that exports of grains and other food products under the Black Sea Grain Initiative has surpassed 9 million tonnes, with the close monitoring and coordination of the Joint Coordination Centre, comprising representatives from the Russian Federation, Turkey, Ukraine and the UN under the terms of the agreement.

The resumption of exports has significantly contributed to lower prices of wheat and other commodities, Dujarric said. According to UN estimates, the reduction of prices for staple foods has indirectly prevented some 100 million people from falling into extreme poverty.

The initial duration of the agreement to facilitate grains and fertilizer exports from Ukraine is 120 days and can be extended automatically on November 19 if no party objects, Dujarric said.

According to him, "the United Nations is fully committed to continuing to work with all parties to ensure that we reach this goal."

Governments, shipping companies, grain and fertilizer traders and farmers all over the world are now looking for clarity on the future, he added.

In Istanbul on July 22, at the United Nations' proposal, Ukraine, Turkey and Guterres signed the Initiative on the Safe Transportation of Grain and Foodstuffs from the ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi.

The first ship with Ukrainian food left the port of Odesa on August 1.
Ukraine remains a reliable partner for the civilized world and is ready to continue shipping agricultural products to ensure global food security.

In its statement released on Facebook, the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine outlined its stance on Russia's decision to withdraw from the Initiative on the Safe Transportation of Grain and Foodstuffs from Ukrainian Ports.

"We would like to emphasize that the implementation of the Initiative is exclusively humanitarian in nature. That is why the Ukrainian side did not stop the corridor even after Russian attacks on July 23 (the day after the signing of the Initiative), on September 23  [the attack] on the port of Odesa, as well as recent attacks on the energy infrastructure which cut the port infrastructure power off," reads the statement.

Read also: UN says in contact with Russia on grain deal

From August 1, from the moment the first ship left the Ukrainian port of Odesa until today, Ukraine has managed to export more than 9 million tonnes of foodstuffs, of which more than 5 million tonnes  to the countries of Africa and Asia. As part of the UN World Food Programme, 190,000 tonnes of Ukrainian wheat were delivered to countries on the brink of famine.

"At the same time, we emphasize that Ukraine remains a reliable partner for the civilized world and is ready to continue promptly collecting and shipping agricultural products to ensure global food security," the Ministry of Infrastructure added.

As reported, Russia accused Ukraine and Britain of "terrorist attacks against ships of the Black Sea Fleet and civilian vessels involved in guaranteeing the security of the grain corridor" and announced its withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba called on the international community not to allow Russia to block the grain corridor, which ensures food security for millions of people, under a false pretext.

On the morning of October 29, explosions rang out in temporarily occupied Sevastopol. Ukraine does not confirm its involvement.

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Europe continues to import Ukrainian grain through the land corridor, and Russia should reconsider its decision to withdraw from the "grain agreement".

"For its part, Europe continues its solidarity lanes across the continent. More than half of the Ukrainian grain crops needed for global food security have managed to leave Ukraine this way," Catherine Colonna, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France, posted on Twitter.

The minister also emphasized that Russia should reconsider its decision to withdraw from the "grain agreement".

"Having suspended participation in the grain agreement, Russia exacerbates the global food crisis caused by its aggression against Ukraine. Russia should reconsider this decision which has grave consequences," Colonna added.

As reported, Russia announced its withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative on Saturday in response to a drone attack on Sevastopol Bay, during which warships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet were damaged.

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The movement of 218 ships participating in the "grain initiative" is currently practically blocked.

"Due to the fact that, as of October 30, the Ukrainian side does not have permits from the Joint Coordination Center to pass through the safe corridor and carry out inspections, 218 vessels are actually blocked in their current positions," the press service of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine posted on Facebook.

In particular, 95 ships were already loaded and left Ukrainian ports awaiting inspection for heading to the final consumer; 101 empty ships are awaiting inspection at the entrance to Ukrainian ports; 22 loaded ships are waiting to leave Ukrainian ports.

It is underscored that the implementation of the Initiative on the Safe Transportation of Grain and Foodstuffs from Ukrainian Ports is exclusively humanitarian in nature, and Ukraine as a party to the Initiative has not violated any of its provisions.

In particular, the Ukrainian side did not stop the movement of ships through the grain corridor even after Russian attacks on port and energy infrastructure. In addition, 15 cases of Russian UAVs and aircraft approaching the prohibited distance to civilian ships participating in the initiative were recorded.

"At the same time, we note that the actual blockade of the grain corridor by the Russian Federation began back in September. This was manifested in the artificial delay and reduction in the number of inspections, which led to the creation of a queue of 176 ships with 2.1 million tonnes of agricultural products on board. Thus, Russia's intention to provoke mass starvation in the needy countries of Africa and Asia, as well as to create acute food shortages all over the world, becomes obvious," the Ministry added.

In this context, it is underlined that Ukraine managed to export more than 9 million tonnes of foodstuffs, of which more than 5 million tonnes  to the countries of Africa and Asia from the moment the first ship left a Ukrainian port. As part of the UN World Food Programme, 190,000 tonnes of Ukrainian wheat were delivered to countries on the brink of famine.

It is emphasized that Ukraine remains a reliable partner for the civilized world and is ready to continue promptly collecting and shipping agricultural products to ensure global food security.

As reported, Russia accused Ukraine and Britain of "terrorist attacks against ships of the Black Sea Fleet and civilian vessels involved in guaranteeing the security of the grain corridor" and announced its withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba called on the international community not to allow Russia to block the grain corridor, which ensures food security for millions of people, under a false pretext.

On the morning of October 29, explosions rang out in temporarily occupied Sevastopol. Ukraine does not confirm its involvement.

Ukraine, Turkey, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres signed the Initiative on the Safe Transportation of Grain and Foodstuffs from the Ukrainian ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk, and Pivdennyi at the proposal of the United Nations in Istanbul on July 22. Guterres called for an extension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative which was scheduled to expire on November 22.

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President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine keeps under personal control the issue of preventing Iran from further supplying weapons to the Russian Federation.

Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, spoke of this on the air of the national telethon, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"Today, we put the Iran issue on the agenda. Today, certain processes, certain negotiations are underway. I would not like to announce them now," said the NSDC secretary.

At the same time, he noted that the task of the Ukrainian authorities is to prevent attacks on Ukrainian cities and military positions by Iranian munitions or weapons.

Read also: Bayraktar maker could help Ukraine counter Iranian drones

"Everyone whos supposed to deal with this issue is working on it. This issue is under the Presidents control," Danilov added, noting that it is necessary to hear Iran's position.

At the same time, he emphasized that if the supply of Iranian weapons to Russia continues, Irans situation in the international arena will become more difficult.

As reported, U.S. officials said in August that Iran had provided Russia with a batch of one-way attack drones. Russia recently employed these drones en masse, regularly terrorizing Ukrainian cities.

Kyiv authorities are calling on the international community to provide more air defense systems to Ukraine to protect its infrastructure against Iranian-made drones.

Read also: Kuleba demands Iran stop supplying Russia with drones used to kill civilians in Ukraine

The Verkhovna Rada condemned the Islamic Republic of Iran's support for the armed aggression pursued by the Russian Federation against Ukraine.
Thousands of Ukrainians, Iranians, and Burmese gathered in the center of New York on Broadway to protest against tyranny.

As an Ukrinform correspondent reports from New York, all three local communities agreed in advance to hold a joint rally on Sunday.

People carrying the national flags of the three countries chanted in different languages "Freedom to Iran! Freedom to Ukraine! Freedom to Myanmar!

"Today, our countries are fighting for freedom against tyranny: the Iranian and Burmese peoples  against their own dictatorial regimes, Ukraine  against Russian tyranny," said Artur Zgurov, co-organizer of the rally, representative of Ukraine.

Member of the Kyiv City Council Dinara Habibullayeva, who was in the USA for volunteer aid reasons and took part in the rally, called the Russian, Iranian, and Burmese regimes the "axis of evil" against which our peoples were fighting.

The rally participants chanted her words: "Russia is a terrorist state!"

Mass protests engulfed Iran due to the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she had been detained by Iran's so-called morality police. The regime in Tehran resorted to a brutal crackdown on protests, as well as other restrictive measures, including blocking the Internet.

In Myanmar, the local population protests massively against the military coup that took place in the country on February 1.

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Al-Ahram: India and Egypt share a close civilizational and historic relationship which was further strengthened through our active role in the Non-Aligned Movement. What is the current status of the relations and what are the future prospects?

Subrahmanyam Jaishankar: As you have rightly pointed out, our two countries have long had a close and comfortable relationship. This is reflected in our political consultations, defence exchanges, commerce and investments, and people-to-people contacts. However, the turbulent global situation makes a compelling case for an upgraded relationship. Even during the Covid pandemic, we helped each other in supply of medicines, vaccines, etc. In the context of the Ukraine conflict, we have explored each other as sources of food and fertilizer security. All realists would plan for a volatile and uncertain world in the near term. That means creating reliable and long-term relationships, especially in domains that directly affect the welfare of the people. Moreover, as independent-minded countries, India and Egypt have a responsibility to temper down a polarized global scenario. All in all, this points to much closer cooperation in the days to come. That was certainly reflected in the talks that I had with the Egyptian leadership.

AA: There are many similarities between our cultures, with our people sharing love for music, arts, and literature. Indian movies have left a deep impression on Egyptians for many decades and young people are also following Bollywood and TV serials closely. Similarly, yoga is also becoming very popular in Egypt. What role has Indias soft power played in bringing together the people of Egypt and India?

SJ: I remember the first time I came to Egypt. It was almost 15 years ago and I was a tourist. Many people I met here were more knowledgeable about Indian films than even I was. In the years that have passed, we have seen the spread of many other aspects of culture. Yoga is the most prominent. Our movies and television dramas have generated an even greater following. Indian restaurants are quite common place. As I look at the world. I can see that its enormous cultural diversity is now expressing itself more fully. We are no longer allowing one continent or culture to set standards for all others. This is a key aspect of the democratization of the global order.

AA: Despite its huge population, India not only overcame the COVID-19 pandemic but also created a model for the world to deal with a future public health crisis. Could you please elaborate on the aspects contributing to India's success in managing COVID-19 and its success in vaccine development and administration?

SJ: We took the Covid pandemic as a collective challenge for the entire society. Prime Minister Narendra Modi led from the front. In the initial stages, like so many other countries, we had no wherewithal to deal with Covid. Literally, in a matter of weeks and months, we started producing masks, PPES, ventilators and medicines. We set up dedicated Covid centres on a massive scale. When it came to vaccination, the Modi Government encouraged the production of 'Made in India' vaccines very early. We also supported a vaccine that was invented by an Indian company. And while doing vaccination at home, took a conscious decision to also supply to others who did not have early access. Not least, India created a digital platform called Co-WIN that ensured that the vaccination process was efficiently organized. Through that, we could get more than 2 billion vaccinations done very smoothly. Certainly. we have established a reputation as the pharmacy of the world. But equally, the big achievement was in digital delivery on a massive scale. There are lessons for other developing countries, perhaps even for the developed, in this experience.

AA: In recent years, India has emerged as a global leader in renewable energy and has also set ambitious targets to fight climate change. We have also heard that India is developing ambitious plans for electric vehicles, green hydrogen, and a strategy for decarbonization. Can you please tell us about the targets set by India to reduce the use of fossil fuels and also steps to encourage EVs and green hydrogen?

SJ: We believe that climate change should be addressed effectively and seriously, keeping in mind common but differentiated responsibilities. Prime Minister Modi has called for a mass movement aimed at promoting a Lifestyle for Environment (LIFE). India today is pursuing a climate-friendly and cleaner path than those whose development preceded us. We have committed to reducing the emissions intensity of our GDP by 45 percent by 2030 from the 2005 level. In addition, the technology transfer and low-cost international finance, we seek to achieve 50 percent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil sources by 2030. An additional carbon sink of 2.5-3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent will be created through additional forest and tree cover. Enhanced investments in development programs will address adaptation in sectors vulnerable to climate change. Obviously, we are looking at additional funds from developed countries as also domestic mobilization. Our long-term goal is to reach net-zero by 2070. In all of this, the difference that Electric Vehicles and Green Hydrogen can make are appreciable. Government policies promote both goals strongly. Our businesses are also taking up the challenge. These are areas for collaboration between India and Egypt. I should also mention two key international initiatives that India is globally promoting: the International Solar Alliance and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.

AA: The Indian economy has been one of the fastest growing economies in the last few years and has emerged as the 5th largest economy in the world with a GDP of over $3.2 trillion in 2022. India is also a global leader in IT, Pharmaceuticals, Engineering, etc. In light of this, how do you think India's rise will impact the world in general and how can Egypt utilize Indian expertise?

SJ: We are already the fifth-largest economy in the world in nominal terms. In the next few years, we will be the third largest. But more importantly, there will be many sectors where our capabilities will be globally competitive. To my mind, these like IT, Pharma, or Engineering can become areas of business collaboration.

AA: India is regarded as an excellent example of Unity in Diversity, where people from different religious and linguistic backgrounds live together in peace and harmony. In the midst of a turbulent world and constant warfare in many regions, what can the world learn from Indias syncretic culture? Also, could you explain how this has contributed to the shaping of India's Foreign Policy?

SJ: India's celebration of the diversity of every kind is a true expression of democracy. Nowadays, there is a global debate about who is a real democracy and who is not. At the end of the day, the right yardstick of judgment is whether society values the range of its diversity or pushes for uniformity and political correctness. At a global level, this debate will express itself as cultural re-balancing.

AA: The volume of trade exchange between Egypt and India has reached record levels in FY 2021-22. As mentioned during the recently held India-Egypt Business Council, this number seems likely to grow further, given the increasing cooperation between the two countries. How do you see the possibility of achieving that?

SJ: We need to take a promotional and problem-solving approach to grow trade. Both sides should address market access barriers more effectively. At the same time, greater investment will also generate greater trade.

AA: India has developed immense expertise in the field of information technology. India is also becoming an expert in the domain of renewable energy. How do you see the opportunities for cooperation between India and Egypt in these sectors?

SJ: Presently. Indian companies are providing IT services through data centres located mainly in the Gulf. However, IT is a sector that India is known for in terms of quality, reliability and affordability. Egypt needs to attract Indian IT companies through policies that allow foreign IT companies to quickly set up data centres locally in Egypt. There are ongoing discussions to set up local IT Development Centers in Egypt by some well-known Indian IT companies. However, these are still at the discussion stage and I am hopeful that it may soon materialize.

As you may be aware, some Indian companies in the field of renewable energy have already signed MoUs with SCEZ and other entities in Egypt, for setting-up Green Hydrogen projects. I am confident that Green Hydrogen is a promising sector and it is quite likely that more Indian companies will join in investing in this sector in Egypt in the future.

AA: In your opinion, what are some of the major problems that Indian investors face in Egypt? Are you optimistic that this visit might prove instrumental in easing some of these issues?

SJ: I understand that the most common issues raised by investors are the issue of work visa renewal and residence permits. It would be useful if Indian companies/workers are provided with a quicker service of extension of their work visas and permits which would only attract more companies to set up shop in Egypt. It would also be a good gesture in Egypt's endeavour to attract FDIS by being friendlier towards foreign workers and foreign technicians. That would eventually improve the overall ease of doing business as well.

This visit definitely provided us an opportunity to review the entire gamut of our bilateral and multilateral relations and to exchange views covering a whole range of issues of mutual interest. I am confident that these engagements would definitely go a long way in improving our trade relations as well.
Heat waves, intensified by climate change, have cost the global economy trillions of dollars in the last 30 years, a study published Friday found, with poor countries paying the steepest price.

And those lopsided economic effects contribute to widening inequalities around the world, according to the research.

"The cost of extreme heat from climate change so far has been disproportionately borne by the countries and regions least culpable for global warming," Dartmouth College professor Justin Mankin, one of the authors of the study published in the journal Science Advances, told AFP. "And that's an insane tragedy."

"Climate change is playing out on a landscape of economic inequality, and it is acting to amplify that inequality," he said.

Periods of extreme heat cost the global economy about $16 trillion dollars between 1992 and 2013, the study calculated.

But while the richest countries have lost about 1.5 percent of their annual per capita GDPs dealing with heat waves, poorer countries have lost about 6.7 percent of their annual per capita GDPs.

The reason for that disparity is simple: poor countries are often situated closer to the tropics, where temperatures are warmer anyway. During heat waves, they become even hotter.

The study comes just days ahead of the start of the COP27 climate summit in Egypt, where the question of compensation for countries which are disproportionately vulnerable to but least responsible for climate change is expected to be one of the key topics.

The costs of heat waves come from several factors: effects on agriculture, strains on health systems, less productive workforces and physical damage to infrastructure, such as melting roads.

"Cost of inaction"

Study researchers examined five days of weather considered extreme for a specific region each year.

"The general idea is to use variation in extreme heat, which is effectively randomly assigned to all these economic regions, and see the extent to which that accounts for variation in economic growth" in a given region, Mankin explained.

"Then the second part is to say, 'ok, how has human-caused warming influenced extreme heat?'" he added.

Despite these calculations, the study results almost certainly underestimate the true cost of extreme heat, according to the paper -- only studying five days per year does not reflect the increased frequency of such heat events, and not all potential costs were included.

Previous studies on the subject had focused on the costs of heat to specific sectors, though scientists say it is important to look at the price tag of climate change wholistically.

"You want to know what those costs are, so that you have a frame of reference against which to compare the cost of action," Mankin said, such as establishing cooling centers or installing air conditioners, versus "the cost of inaction."

"The dividends economically of responding to the five hottest days of the year could be quite great," he said.

But according to Mankin, the most important response is to reduce carbon emissions to slow down global warming at the source.

"We need to adapt to the climate we have now, and we also need to deeply invest in mitigation," he said.

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SainteSoline, France, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Oct, 2022 ) :Thousands of demonstrators defied an official ban to march on Saturday against the deployment of new water storage infrastructure for agricultural irrigation in western France, some clashing with police.

Clashes between paramilitary gendarmes and demonstrators erupted with Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin reporting that 61 officers had been hurt, 22 seriously.

"Bassines Non Merci", which organised the protest, said around 30 demonstrators had been injured. Of them, 10 had to seek medical treatment and three were hospitalised.

The pressure group brings together environmental associations, trade unions and anti-capitalist groups against what it claims is a "water grab" by the "agro-industry" in western France.

Local officials said six people were arrested during the protest and that 4,000 people had turned up for the banned demonstration. Organisers put the turnout at 7,000.

The deployment of giant water "basins" is underway in the village of Sainte-Soline, in the Deux-Sevres department, to irrigate crops, which opponents claim distorts access to water amid drought conditions.

Around 1,500 police were deployed, according to the prefect of the Deux-Sevres department Emmanuelle Dubee.

Dubee said on Friday she had wanted to limit possible "acts of violence", referring to the clashes between demonstrators and security forces that marred a previous rally in March.

The Sainte-Soline water reserve is the second of 16 such installations, part of a project developed by a group of 400 farmers organised in a water cooperative to significantly reduce mains water usage in summer.

The open-air craters, covered with a plastic tarpaulin, are filled by pumping water from surface groundwater in winter and can store up to 650,000 square metres of water.

This water is used for irrigation in summer, when rainfall is scarcer.

Opponents claim the "megabasins" are wrongly reserved for large export-oriented grain farms and deprive the community of access to the essential resource.
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Kigali, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Oct, 2022 ) :Rwanda on Sunday "noted with regret" the decision by the Democratic Republic of Congo to expel its ambassador as relations between the Central African neighbours worsened.

The authorities in Kinshasa on Saturday announced they were expelling the Rwandan envoy Vincent Karega as M23 rebels they accuse Kigali of supporting made fresh gains in the east of the troubled DR Congo.

"It is regrettable the Government of the DRC continues to scapegoat Rwanda to cover up and distract from their own governance and security failures," Kigali said in a statement, adding that Rwandan forces at its border with DRC were on high alert.

The latest advance by rebel fighters prompted the UN peacekeeping mission there to increase its "troop alert level" and boost support for the army.

DRC government spokesman Patrick Muyaya said that in recent days "a massive arrival of elements" from Rwanda "to support the M23 terrorists" against DRC's troops had been observed.

But Rwanda denied backing the militia and accused its neighbour of military escalation.

"Of particular concern is the continued collusion between the Congolese armed forces with the FDLR, and their attempts to target the border area with heavy weaponry," it said, referring to a Rwandan Hutu rebel group based in the DRC.

Relations between the two countries have been strained since the mass arrival in the eastern DRC of Rwandan Hutus accused of slaughtering Tutsis during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

Kinshasa has regularly accused Rwanda of carrying out incursions into its territory, and of backing armed groups there. Kigali has denied involvement.
New York, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Oct, 2022 ) :First, Elon Musk revolutionized the automobile industry, then he tackled space travel. By taking control of Twitter, the eccentric billionaire now wields a nearly untold level of influence.

In using his fortune to grab hold of such an important platform, experts say, he has even inserted himself squarely in today's global political conversation.

"He is not just expressing views on an instrument of communication, he now owns it and sets the policy of how that instrument will be used," Jeffrey Winters, a specialist in elites and oligarchs at Northwestern University, told AFP.

The question now is what he will do with that power, starting with the topic on everyone's mind: Whether or not Musk will allow former US president Donald Trump to return to the site.

Without anyone to answer to, Musk "is going to change the constellation of political voices that are going to be expressed through Twitter," Winters said.

According to the professor, Musk represents a typical oligarch -- a person whose fortune lends them social and political power not available to an average citizen -- though Musk does not have any governments or militaries under his control.

In the business world, Musk's bona fides as an innovator are well-established.

"He goes into directions that people just never go in, and he creates brand new products that proved to be highly effective and successful," said Nicholas Colas, co-founder of DataTrek Research.

Musk did not invent the electric car, but with Tesla, "he showed it was possible in a big scalable way," Colas explained.

With SpaceX, Musk introduced internet satellites and reusable rockets, technologies that were "something that's been promised but never really delivered until he came along," Colas added.

For Colas, Musk can in some ways be compared with inventors as prolific as Thomas Edison or iconic Apple founder Steve Jobs.

He has proven at least that he knows how to make money: Tesla is by far the highest-valued car company on the stock market and SpaceX is worth more than $125 billion.

So when the richest man in the world gives his two cents on a business matter, such as his opinion on a company or on cryptocurrency, like an oracle -- his fans listen.

He can shake up the markets with just a few words.

In 2021, when Musk edited his Twitter bio to simply say "#bitcoin," the price of the virtual Currency temporarily soared 20 percent.

He could have stuck to his role as a businessman and adopted a low profile. According to Winters, that's what most rich people do, fearing hostile reactions to their wealth.

They employ lawyers and lobbyists to discreetly protect their interests, sometimes financing political campaigns.

But "Elon Musk is unafraid to be very rich and very visible," Winters said.
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Sunday visited the Karish gas rig in the Mediterranean for the first time since his country signed a historic maritime demarcation deal with Lebanon.

Standing at the Karish rig, where gas production started on Wednesday, Lapid said the natural gas field "is the energy and economic future" of Israel.

"From here flows the gas that promises a lower cost of living," he said in a video statement, adding revenues from gas production would "lower energy prices in Israel, turn Israel into a regional energy supplier, and help Europe take on its energy crisis."

Energean, a London-headquartered energy giant, holds gas production rights from Karish. Natural gas from the field has been "providing electricity to customers in Israel since last weekend," according to a separate statement released by Lapid's office on Sunday.

The maritime deal, signed on Thursday, sets a sea boundary between Israel and Lebanon, which have been technically in a state of war since the statehood of Israel in 1948.

Under the US-brokered deal, Israel will keep its control over the Karish gas field. Israel would receive 17 percent of the profits from the Qana natural gas field, which will be under Lebanese control.

Under the deal, the Qana field will be explored by the French energy giant Total.

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WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 30th October, 2022) US President Joe Biden, who turns 80 next month, has voted early in the midterm elections, US media report.

Biden cast his ballot on Saturday in Wilmington, in his home state of Delaware, alongside his 18-year-old granddaughter Natalie Biden, according to CBS. Natalie Biden was voting for the first time.

"I'm going to be spending the rest of the time making the case that this is not a referendum. It is a choice. A fundamental choice," Biden said, as quoted by NBC. "A choice between two very different visions for the country.

"

Earlier this week, US Elections Project data showed that more than 7.8 million Americans had cast ballots in early voting in the US midterm elections, exceeding the record set in the 2018 midterms and in prior electoral contests.

US voters go to the polls on November 8 to cast ballots in the midterm elections, with the Democratic Party's narrow control of Congress hanging in the balance. 34 of the 100 seats in the US Senate - and all 435 House seats - are up for election this year, in addition to statewide and local positions.
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MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 30th October, 2022) Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed condolences to his South Korean counterpart Yoon Suk-yeol over a stampede in Seoul which killed at least 153 people and injured 103 others, the Kremlin said on Sunday.

The stampede occurred in a narrow downhill alley near Hamilton Hotel in Itaewon on Saturday evening after tens of thousands of people gathered in the district to hold Halloween celebrations.

"Please accept my deep condolences over the death of a large number of people after such a tragic incident in Seoul. I ask you to pass the words of sincere sympathy and support to the families and friends of the victims, as well as wishes for a speedy recovery to all those wounded," the telegram read.

Among those deceased were 20 foreigners, including four Russian nationals, the Russian Embassy in Seoul said.
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WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 30th October, 2022) Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov says it is unfair to accuse Russia of halting its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, since the withdrawal from the deal was caused by reckless action of the Ukrainian authorities.

On Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that Russia was suspending its participation in the grain deal following Ukraine's drone attack targeting vessels of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Saturday that Washington was urging Russia to resume its participation in the grain initiative. Blinken accused Moscow of "weaponizing food" and said that Russia's withdrawal from the Istanbul deal was "directly impacting low- and middle-income countries and global food prices."

"Washington's reaction to the terrorist attack on the port of Sevastopol is truly outrageous. We have not seen any condemnation of the reckless actions of the Kiev regime," Antonov said in comments to the media on Saturday.

He pointed out that there is a "complete disregard for the revealed signs of the involvement of British military specialists" in organizing the drone attack.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday that preparation of the morning drone attack on Sevastopol was carried out under the guidance of UK specialists in the city of Ochakov.

Antonov emphasized that Russia cannot continue its participation in the grain initiative amid serious security concerns.

"In suspending the implementation of the deal, it is unfair to condemn Russia. This happened because of the reckless actions of the Ukrainian authorities. As for the insinuations about 'provoking' hunger, we would like to recall our repeated calls to send food cargo, first of all, to countries in need. However, instead, a good half of all dry cargo ships under the 'grain scheme' went to developed countries," Antonov said.

According to the Russian ambassador, Somalia, Ethiopia, Yemen, Sudan and Afghanistan received only about 3% of agricultural products as part of the grain initiative.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 30th October, 2022) The Prosecutor General's Office of Russia did not send a request to the country's media watchdog, Roskomnadzor, to block the Telegram messenger domain (t.me), a spokesperson said.

On Saturday, the watchdog said it had restricted access to the t.me domain based on a request from the Russian Prosecutor General's Office.

Later in the day, Roskomnadzor ruled out the restriction of access to the Telegram social network in Russia.

"The Russian Prosecutor General's Office did not send a request to block the t.me domain," a spokesperson said.

According to a Sputnik correspondent, the t.me domain belonging to Telegram has disappeared from the registry of resources restricted by Roskomnadzor, but is still unavailable.
ANKARA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 30th October, 2022) Turkey is conducting "telephone diplomacy" with Russia on the situation with the grain deal at all levels, but details are not disclosed, a source in Istanbul told Sputnik.

On Saturday, the Russian defense ministry said that Moscow was suspending its participation in the grain deal following Ukraine's drone attack on vessels of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol.

"At all levels," a source said when asked whether Ankara is conducting telephone conversations with Moscow on the situation with the grain deal.

The source noted that "the situation is complicated" when asked whether any details of Ankara's "telephone diplomacy" would be made public.

"In such difficult moments, details should not be disclosed. The process is underway," the source added, refusing to specify when Turkey's official position on the situation would be made public.

According to the source, there is no clarity on the fate of the grain deal yet, but there are still hopes to find a consensus.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th October, 2022) At least one person died and over a dozen others were injured during unrest near the Grand Makki Mosque in Zahedan, the capital of Iran's southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan province, the Tasnim news agency reports.

Unknown individuals opened fire near the mosque on Friday, stones were also thrown at passing cars, according to Iranian media reports.

Tasnim said that at least one person was killed near the mosque and 14 others were injured.

Mass riots began in Iran in mid-September in connection with the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who passed away while in police custody after being detained for wearing an "improper" hijab.

Tehran believes the unrest was planned by foreign powers.

The Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran said in a Friday statement that, according to its information, riots and protests in Iran over the death of Amini were completely planned and implemented by the intelligence services of the United States, England, Israel and Saudi Arabia.

On Friday, Iranian media reported that the death of a 16-year-old Iranian girl, Sarina Saedi, who passed away at a hospital from a potential drug overdose on Thursday, has been purposefully linked by some media to the ongoing unrest in Iran in an attempt to further fuel the protests.
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MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 30th October, 2022) Finland's National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has obtained intelligence information that weapons supplied to Kiev, including assault rifles, have been smuggled to criminals in Finland, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands, NBI Detective Superintendent Christer Ahlgren said on Sunday.

"Weapons shipped to Ukraine have also been found in Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands," Ahlgren told Finnish broadcaster Yle.

The data mostly concerns assault rifles, and further information has not been disclosed due to the confidentiality of the ongoing investigation, according to the report.

"We've seen signs of these weapons already finding their way to Finland ... Ukraine has received a large volume of weapons and that's good, but we're going to be dealing with these arms for decades and pay the price here," Ahlgren was quoted by the broadcaster.

This summer, the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) issued a warning that the proliferation of firearms and explosives in Ukraine could lead to an increase in armament trafficked into Europe via established smuggling routes or online platforms.
A local resident looks at the damage from Saturday's terrorist attack in Mogadishu (AFP or licensors)

As twin car bomb explosions kill over 100 people in Somalias capital of Mogadishu, Pope Francis prays that God may convert the hearts of the violent.

By Nathan Morley & Devin Watkins

Twin car bomb explosions on Saturday outside Somalia's Education Ministry building in Mogadishu killed at least 100 people and injured more than 300 others.

On Sunday, Pope Francis prayed for the victims of the terrorist attack while speaking at the Angelus prayer.

As we celebrate Christ's victory over evil and death, we pray for the victims of the terrorist attack in Mogadishu which killed more than 100 people, including many children. May God convert the hearts of the violent!

Death toll likely to rise

The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group claimed responsibility for this latest outrage, which killed women, children, and several pensioners.

After visiting the scene of the atrocity, the Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said the number of fatalities would likely rise in the coming days.

President Mohamud declared an all-out war against the militants, and vowed to step up the offensive against terrorists behind a series of attacks across the country.

Giving details of the attack, police said a vehicle loaded with explosives drove into the education ministry building. Another explosion occurred later in the same area.

Journalists and police officers were also among the casualties, according to a spokesperson of the Somali Police Force.

Ongoing anti-terror offensive

Saturdays explosions came as the Somali president and leaders of the federal member states were meeting to examine ongoing offensive actions against al-Shabab.

The incident occurred at the exact location where a lorry packed with explosives exploded in October 2017, killing 587 people, mostly civilians.

Meanwhile, the United Nations mission in Somalia, UNSOM, pledged to stand resolutely with all Somalis against terrorism.
Here is a summary of some of the top Native American-related news stories in the U.S. this week:

Lawmakers Consider Seating Cherokee Nation Delegate in US House

Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. is urging Congress to honor a bargain made nearly 200 years ago to seat a Cherokee delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The 1835 Treaty of New Echota set terms for the tribe's removal from Georgia to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma and included a Cherokee delegate to Congress.

"The carefully constructed promise...was in fact critical to secure the agreement of the Cherokee People," Hoskin told the House Rules Committee Wednesday, reminding them the treaty led to the deaths of thousands of Cherokees along the 1,000-mile Trail of Tears.

"The Treaty of New Echota is a living, valid treaty, and the delegate provision is intact," he said. "Lapse of time cannot abrogate a treaty."

The Cherokee Nation has selected former President Barack Obama adviser Kimberly Teehee to fill the seat. If confirmed, Teehee would join six nonvoting delegates representing the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States Virgin Islands.

"This can and should be done as quickly as possible," Committee Chairman James McGovern said. Lawmakers may first examine whether the treaty applies to other federally recognized Cherokee tribes in Oklahoma and North Carolina.

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FBI Head to Congress: Oklahoma Caseload Is Draining Agency Resources

FBI Director Christopher Wray says his agency's caseloads in Oklahoma increased dramatically following a U.S. Supreme Court decision giving federal and tribal governments, not the state, authority to prosecute violent crimes by or against Native Americans in more than 40% of Oklahoma.

The 2020 decision in McGirt v. Oklahoma blocked state government prosecutorial authorities in areas of eastern Oklahoma because, the court ruled, Congress never disestablished the Muscogee (Creek) Nation there.

"In response the FBI surged national resources to ensure it was able to address its mission requirements to investigate major crimes in the newly designated Tribal Territory," Wray told members of the House Committee on Homeland Security Tuesday. "These surges subsequently caused resource strains on other investigative programs and threats."

In June 2022, Supreme Court justices reversed McGirt, ruling in Castro v. Huerta that "the Federal Government and the State have concurrent jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed by non-Indians against Indians in Indian country."

That decision has taken some of the pressure off the FBI, Wray said, and could reduce agency caseloads in Oklahoma by up to 20%.

"This would free FBI resources to return to other national threat issues, while still providing Tribal communities with the FBI law enforcement services they've historically relied on," he said.

Tribes regard the Castro-Huerta decision as an attack on their sovereignty.

Harvard Museum to Return Native American Hair Samples

Harvard University has apologized for holding and is pledging to return to tribes and families hundreds of hair samples taken from Native American children in the federal boarding school system.

In 1930, physical anthropologist and Colorado State Museum curator George Woodbury launched a study of the structure of Native American hair to determine Native Americans' racial origins.

He collected hair samples from hundreds of Native American children in federal boarding schools, comparing them to hair samples from indigenous individuals in Canada, Asia, Central America, South America and Oceania, as well as mummified remains found in Colorado. And he took them with him when he became a lecturer at Harvard in 1935.

"We recognize that for many Native American communities, hair holds cultural and spiritual significance, and the Museum is fully committed to the return of hair back to families and tribal communities," Jane Pickering, director of Harvard's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, said November 10.

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California to Honor Indigenous Northern California Tribes

State and tribal officials in California have broken ground on a monument honoring the Miwok and Nisenan peoples of Northern California. It will replace a statue of the controversial Spanish Catholic missionary Junipero Serra, which protestors toppled in July 2020 at the height of protests following the killing of George Floyd.

Serra was an 18th century Spanish missionary who founded a string of Roman Catholic missions in California to convert Indigenous peoples. In 2015, the Vatican canonized him as a saint. But for many Native Americans, Serra is a symbol of colonial oppression.

Serra's statue in the state capital Sacramento will be replaced with a bronze statue of the late William "Bill" Franklin, a well-known Miwok tribe member whom Assemblyman James C. Ramos called a "fierce protector and preservationist" of cultural dances and other ceremonies.

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Feds Seize Purported Native American Scalp from New England Auction Dealer

The FBI is investigating whether an artifact up for sale by a Maine auction house is as advertsed: a Native American scalp.

Acting on a tip, investigators got a search warrant and seized from Poulin's Antiques and Auctions an item labeled as a "Mescallaro [sic] Apache scalp."

The 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act criminalizes the purchase, sale or transport of Native American remains.

"There is a process underway to determine whether the item is human, whether it is Native American, and whether, if Native American, the remains are that of a person who was a member of a particular tribe," Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney Joel Casey said.

No charges have been filed against the auction house, he added.

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California Tribes Hail Dam Removal Plan After 20-Year Fight

The largest dam removal in US history has received final federal approval in a major victory for environmentalists and Native American communities. The four dams along the border of California and Oregon have been blamed for the decline of salmon and other species. VOA reporter Matt Dibble filed this story:


The demolition of houses was carried out in a predominantly Muslim locality in Fatehpur Beri in New Delhi.

Waquar Hasan | TwoCircles.net

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NEW DELHI  Several residents were beaten up and got injured when the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) razed over 25 houses on Friday in southwest Delhis Kharak Riwara Satbari area without any prior notice issued to the residents, said a team of activists who visited the site on Thursday said.

The team learnt that not only did the DDA not issue any prior notice but it also refused to produce the relevant court orders when the people demanded it, said the team in a statement on Thursday.

The team consisted of the activists associated with human rights groups; Akash Bhattacharya from All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU), Anupradha from All India Lawyers for Justice (AILAJ), Naushad Ahmed Raza from All India Student Association (AISA), and Suman Ghosh from All India Progressive Women Association (AIPWA).

DDA demolished 25 houses in south west Delhi's Fatehpur Beri, a Muslim locality on Friday during namaz time without any prior notice. Residents said they were not allowed to take out their household appliances and were threatened and beaten by the police force when they objected. pic.twitter.com/23P6qBpIq7  Waquar Hasan (@WaqarHasan1231) October 27, 2022

According to the team, to carry out the demolitions, the Delhi Police resorted to the lathi charge injuring several people including women, and male policemen manhandled the protesting women residents. The residents of the demolished houses were not even given time to rescue their household goods. The DDA officers have threatened to come back with bulldozers after Diwali and demolish more houses.

TwoCircles.net has seen a court order passed by the Delhi High Court on 19 March 2019 directing to inspect the land in question, located at the Revenue Estate of Village Satbari, near Johod, popularly known as Kharak Rewada, New Delhi, and to take immediate action, in accordance with law, for removal of the unauthorized constructions.

The court order was passed on the petition filed by Capital Land Builders Pvt Ltd. On 4 February 2021, the court again asked for a status report from the administration in this regard.

However, a member of the team Akash Bhattacharya told TwoCircles.net that the residents were not shown any court order nor were they given the notice before carrying out the demolition.

Residents did not know anything about the demolition. The officials came and started demolishing houses. They were not even given time to take out their household appliances, Bhattacharya said.

These people were living on the land for around 15-20 years and mostly work as labourers. Around 6000 people are living in the area and over 75% of them are Muslims. They were availing of government facilities such as electricity and water. All of them have electricity. They have bought the land based on the power of attorney and have documents in this regard. However, they dont have other documents related to the land. Few people have other documents. However, it does not mean that the demolition is legal. You have to serve the notice before carrying out the demolition. Police brutality is also wrong, Bhattacharya said.

According to the team, the police demolished the houses during the time of Friday prayers. They allegedly told the residents that they would face the bulldozing that Muslims of Uttar Pradesh are having to deal with, under the Yogi government.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has brought in a policy of bulldozing houses belonging to the person accused of some crime. The government has mostly used bulldozers against Muslims and demolished the houses of many members of the minority community. The government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in other states such as Madhya Pradesh (MP) and the Delhi municipal corporation also carried out demolition drives on different occasions.

In Fatehpur Beri, the local MLA Kartar Singh Tanwar, belonging to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) also refused to intervene on behalf of the residents when the demolition drive was carried out.

Delhi chapter of the CPI-ML (Liberation) (Communist Party of India Marxist-Leninist) (Liberation) termed the DDAs action as anti-poor and anti-Muslim. It condemned the DDAs refusal to serve any prior notice and thereby gave the residents a chance to approach the court and seek a stay.

We also condemn the brutal police action. We demand that there should be no further demolition without prior notice, due compensation should be given to the victims of this sudden demolition, and the guilty policemen should be punished, said the CPI-ML.

Waquar Hasan is a journalist based in Delhi. He covers human rights abuses and hate crimes. He tweets @WaqarHasan1231
Dialogue between Egypt and Turkey to normalise ties has come to a stop, as Turkish practices in the conflict-torn Libya remain unchanged, according to Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.





Cairo and Ankara held two rounds of exploratory talks last year  headed by the Egyptian and Turkish deputy foreign ministers  in a bid to mend their ruptured relations.

The split between the two countries dates to the 2013 ouster of Egypts late Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsi, who was backed by the government of Tayyip Erdogan, Turkeys president and then prime minister.

"The two exploratory meetings allowed the chance to express our concerns about the regional situations. This path has not resumed, as there have no changes in terms of Turkey's practices in Libya," Shoukry said on Saturday in an interview with Saudi TV news channel Al-Arabiya.

The crisis in Libya, which borders Egypt to west, has further strained relations between the two countries as Turkey has introduced thousands of paid Syrian fighters into the conflict as well as continued its support to the outgoing Government of National Unity (GNU), which is headed by Abdel-Hamid Dbeibah.

The situation heated up in early October after the Tripoli-based GNU government signed a series of preliminary economic agreements with Turkey that might include energy exploration in maritime areas.

Egypt asserts the GNUs mandate has expired and is not authorised to sign such deals.

Egypts assertion follows a no-confidence vote in the government by Libyas parliament in September 2021, the GNUs failure to hold agreed-upon elections in December 2021 and the parliaments appointment of Fathi Bashagha as Prime Minister in February 2022.

However, Dbeibah's administration  installed in February 2021 as part of a UN-led peace process  has so far prevented Bashagha from taking office, arguing that the next administration should be the product of elections.

Shoukry said that this situation violates the UN-brokered Skhirat agreement  which defines the authority and duration of Libyas interim government  adding that the international community for one reason or another, does not raise its voice to clarify this matter.

There is another government that cannot assume its responsibilities, Egypts top diplomat said.

The principle of respecting the legislative institution is being overlooked, he noted in reference to the parliaments no-confidence motion.

This matter, said Shoukry, further complicates the situation in Libya and makes it more difficult to reach a common agreement between Libyan parties in order to hold the long-awaited elections.

If we want an international system based on rules, these rules should be respected without duplicity, he said, adding these rules should be implemented when it comes to any region, any conflict or any political situation, and not to be averted or disregarded, which we feel in Libya.

Shoukry, In addition, lamented the international community for not taking any "strict" action" to ensure the exit of foreign forces from Libya.

Libya was plunged into chaos following the 2011 overthrow and killing of president Muammar Gaddafi in a Western-backed uprising, with myriad-armed groups and foreign powers moving to fill the power vacuum.

Libya has been struggling to reach an agreement between its rival administrations to hold the national elections.

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There has been huge increase in death toll from the two successive car bombings in Somalia Saturday.

At least 100 were killed and close to 300 others were injured in the two car bombings according to Somalias President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

Mohamud made the announcement after visiting the site of the attack in the early hours of Sunday. He appealed to the international community to send doctors and medical supplies to treat the wounded.

Mohamud urged the public to go to the hospitals and donate blood for those injured in the attack.

He also vowed to give free education to the children left behind by the victims killed in Saturdays attacks as well as the children of deceased victims of other al-Shabab attacks.

The car bombings targeted the Education Ministry, located at one of the busiest intersections in the capital.

In a tweet before visiting the site, Mohamud condemned the attack, saying it was a cruel & cowardly terrorist attack on innocent people by the morally bankrupt & criminal Al-Shabab group.

He vowed the attack will not discourage efforts by the government and the countrys people.

Our government & brave people will continue to defend #Somalia against evil, he tweeted.

Among those killed in the explosions is local journalist Mohamed Isse Koona. VOA Somali reporter Abdulkadir Mohamed Abdulle, and Reuters photojournalist Feisal Omar were wounded in the explosions.

The attack took place at Zobe junction, site of the October 14, 2017, truck bombing, the deadliest single day terror attack in Africa, which killed and injured 1,000 people. In that attack al-Shabab did not claim responsibility, although an al-Shabab operative was convicted and later executed for coordinating the attack.

This time al-Shabab immediately claimed responsibility for the bombings.

This latest attack comes as government forces supported by local fighters continue multifront offensives to recover territories from the group in south-central Somalia.
The African Union on Sunday said it was worried about the deteriorating security situation in the troubled eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where rebels have made fresh gains.

In a joint statement, AU Chairman Macky Sall and AU Commission Chair Moussa Faki Mahamat said expressed "extreme concern" at the failing security and appealed for calm and dialogue.

They called "on all the parties to establish an immediate cease-fire, respect international law, the safety and security of civilians," the statement said.

The M23 rebels seized more territory in the vast, mineral-rich DRC on Saturday, prompting the U.N. peacekeeping mission to increase its "troop alert level" and boost support for the army.

The latest advance came as diplomatic relations between neighbors DRC and Rwanda worsened. The authorities in Kinshasa, who accuse Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebels, on Saturday announced the Rwandan ambassador would be expelled, a move Kigali said was regrettable.

The AU urged all the parties to engage "in a constructive dialogue" to ensure peace in the troubled region.

M23, a mostly Congolese Tutsi group, resumed fighting in late 2021 after lying dormant for years, accusing the government of having failed to honor an agreement over the demobilization of its fighters.

It has since captured swaths of territory in North Kivu, including the key town of Bunagana on the Ugandan border in June.
Moscow has suspended implementation of a U.N.-brokered grain export deal that has allowed more than 9 million tons of grain to be shipped from Ukraine, helping to ease the global food crisis and lower prices.

The Russian Defense Ministry blamed an alleged Ukrainian drone attack against ships of Russias Black Sea Fleet anchored off the coast of occupied Crimea for its exit from the agreement. Russia said the attack took place early Saturday; Ukraine has denied the attack.

In connection with the actions of Ukrainian armed forces... the Russian side cannot guarantee the safety of civilian dry cargo ships participating in the Black Sea initiative, and suspends its implementation from today for an indefinite period,'' the Russian statement said.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement, In suspending this arrangement, Russia is again weaponizing food in the war it started, directly impacting low- and middle-income countries and global food prices, and exacerbating already dire humanitarian crises and food insecurity.

Blinken said the U.S. urges the Government of Russia to resume its participation in the Initiative, fully comply with the arrangement, and work to ensure that people around the world continue to be able to receive the benefits facilitated by the Initiative.

The Russian declaration came one day after U.N. chief Antonio Guterres urged Russia and Ukraine to renew the grain deal.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the Russian move predictable. He accused Moscow of blockading ships carrying grain since September, The Associated Press reported. Currently, he said, 176 vessels are backed up at sea, carrying more than 2 million tons of food.

This is a transparent attempt by Russia to return to the threat of large-scale famine in Africa and Asia, Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly video address. He called for a tough response against Russia from international bodies like the U.N. and the G-20.

Speaking to reporters in Delaware Sunday, U.S. President Joe Biden called Russias decision to suspend its participation from the Ukrainian grain deal purely outrageous and said it would increase starvation.

"There's no merit to what they're doing. The U.N. negotiated that deal and that should be the end of it," Biden said.

In a comment Saturday, U.N. Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the United Nations is in touch with the Russian authorities on the matter.

It is vital that all parties refrain from any action that would imperil the Black Sea Grain Initiative which is a critical humanitarian effort that is clearly having a positive impact on access to food for millions of people around the world," Dujarric said.

The Joint Coordination Center, which implements the grain deal, in a statement released Saturday, said it is reviewing recent developments, assessing the impact on JCCs operations and is discussing next steps.

Ukraines foreign minister accused Moscow of using a "false pretext" Saturday to suspend its participation in the Black Sea grain corridor.

Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter, "I call on all states to demand Russia to stop its hunger games and recommit to its obligations."

Dmitry Polyansky, Russias first deputy representative to the U.N., also said Saturday that Russia had requested a meeting Monday of the U.N. Security Council because of the alleged attack on the Black Sea Fleet and the security of the grain corridor, the AP reported.

The Russian Defense Ministry accused the British navy of blowing up the Nord Stream gas pipelines last month. Moscow did not provide any evidence to back up its claims that a leading NATO member had sabotaged critical Russian infrastructure that delivers much-needed gas to Europe.

London denied the claims and responded Saturday, saying, To detract from their disastrous handling of the illegal invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Ministry of Defense is resorting to peddling false claims of an epic scale.

Russia claims that British specialists from the same unit that took part in the planning, provision, and implementation of a terrorist attack in the Baltic Sea on September 26 also directed Ukrainian drones against Russia ships in Crimea early Saturday.

"Today at 4:20 a.m., the Kyiv regime carried out a terrorist attack on ships of the Black Sea Fleet and civilian ships that were on the outer and inner roadsteads [protected bodies of water] of the Sevastopol base, Igor Konashenkov, chief spokesman of the Russian Defense Ministry said. He added that the air targets were destroyed by Russia forces.

Konashenkov asserted the Black Sea Fleet ships that were attacked were there to secure the grain corridor as part of the international initiative to export agricultural products from Ukrainian ports.

In a statement Friday, Swedish lead prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist said in reference to the damaged gas pipeline, "I've decided together with the security police to carry out a number of additional investigations at the scene of the crime." Swedish armed forces are scouting the area around the two damaged Nord Stream pipelines with minesweepers.

Sweden and Denmark have both concluded that four leaks on Nord Stream 1 and 2 were caused by explosions, but they have not said who might be responsible. World leaders have called it an act of sabotage.

VOA U.N. correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this story. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife took to the streets Saturday in Ottawa with other demonstrators to show their support for protesters in Iran.

The demonstration in Ottawa attended by Trudeau and Sophie Gregoire Trudeau was one of several held in Canada and around the world Saturday in support of Iranians who are protesting the death in September of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in police custody. She had been arrested for wearing her head scarf improperly.

In Iran Saturday, Hossein Salami, head of Irans Revolutionary Guard, warned protesters not to stage any more demonstrations.

He said the demonstrations were a sinister plan  hatched  in the White House and the Zionist regime.

Iranians ignored his warning and took to the streets again on Saturday.
Thousands of demonstrators defied an official ban to march Saturday against the deployment of new water storage infrastructure for agricultural irrigation in western France, some clashing with police.

Clashes between paramilitary gendarmes and demonstrators erupted with Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin reporting that 61 officers had been hurt, 22 seriously.

"Bassines Non Merci," which organized the protest, said around 30 demonstrators had been injured. Of them, 10 had to seek medical treatment and three were hospitalized.

The group brings together environmental associations, trade unions and anti-capitalist groups against what it claims is a "water grab" by the "agro-industry" in western France.

Local officials said six people were arrested during the protest and that 4,000 people had turned up for the banned demonstration. Organizers put the turnout at 7,000.

The deployment of giant water "basins" is underway in the village of Sainte-Soline, in the Deux-Sevres department, to irrigate crops, which opponents claim distorts access to water amid drought conditions.

Around 1,500 police were deployed, according to the prefect of the Deux-Sevres department Emmanuelle Dubee.

Dubee said Friday she had wanted to limit possible "acts of violence," referring to the clashes between demonstrators and security forces that marred a previous rally in March.

The Sainte-Soline water reserve is the second of 16 such installations, part of a project developed by a group of 400 farmers organized in a water cooperative to significantly reduce water usage in the summer.

The open-air craters, covered with a plastic tarpaulin, are filled by pumping water from surface groundwater in winter and can store up to 650,000 square meters of water.

This water is used for irrigation in summer, when rainfall is scarcer.

Opponents claim the "mega-basins" are wrongly reserved for large export-oriented grain farms and deprive the community of access to essential resources.
Iranian students demonstrated at dozens of universities Sunday as protests sparked by the death of a young woman in police custody continued.

There were some reports of clashes between demonstrators and security services.

At Tehrans Islamic Azad University, plainclothes forces armed with rifles and sticks attacked a large gathering of students, VOAs Persian service reported.

Protests in Iran erupted after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.

The Kurdish woman was detained in the capital, Tehran, September 13 for allegedly wearing her head scarf  or hijab  "improperly." She died while custody three days later, with police reporting she had a heart attack. Her family says she had no history of heart trouble.

Rights groups say more than 200 people have died during the protests and hundreds, if not thousands, have been arrested. Analysts say the protests have become one of the most serious challenges to the Islamic Republic in its history.



VOA Persian Service contributed to this report.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has given Rwandan ambassador Vincent Karenga 48-hours to leave the country in retaliation for Rwanda's alleged support of the M23 rebels in the Congo's eastern provinces.

"This is, in part, due to the persistence of (Karenga's) country to attack the DRC and to support the terrorist movements of the M23, government spokesman Patrick Muyaya said in a televised statement Saturday evening.

The rebel group, which Congo authorities accuse Rwanda of backing but Rwanda denies, seized the town of Kiwanja in eastern Congo Saturday, effectively cutting North Kivu's capital Goma off from the upper half of the province.

Three Kiwanja residents told Reuters that droves of fighters entered the town without significant resistance after a short spat of gunfire Saturday morning.

A U.N. intervention brigade, which has been supporting government forces, said in a statement that four peacekeepers were wounded in the fighting. The statement did not comment on the fate of the town.

"Attacks against U.N. peacekeepers may constitute war crimes," it said. "(The mission) calls on this rebel group to immediately cease all belligerence and warns that it stands ready to respond vigorously in the event of further aggression."

The Congolese army contingent protecting the town had departed the previous day, residents said. The army has conducted strategic retreats from populated areas to move fighting away from towns and protect civilians.

Kivu Security Tracker, which maps unrest in eastern Congo, said the army retreated Saturday from positions at Rumangabo, their largest camp in the area, and that M23 had surrounded the local U.N. peacekeeper camp and the Virunga National Park.

Saidi Balikwisha Emil, a member of North Kivu's provincial parliament, said in a WhatsApp message: "The fall of Kiwanja and elsewhere is a national disgrace, especially for those of us who spend entire days on social networks casting aspersions on our army."

"Kiwanja (is) an important entity that opens the direct way to Goma," he added.

Neither General Sylvain Ekenge, the army's national spokesman, nor Colonel Ndjike Kaiko, the army's spokesman for North Kivu, immediately responded to calls and messages requesting comment.

Unrest in North Kivu has broken months of relative calm in eastern Congo after the resumption of clashes between the army and the M23 militants.

Army forces have clashed with rebel fighters several times since fighting resumed Oct. 20, killing at least four civilians and forcing more than 23,000 people to flee their homes, according to the United Nations. Both groups have accused the other of initiating the violence.

When it formed in 2012, M23 was the newest in a series of ethnic Tutsi-led insurgencies to rise against Congolese forces.
Mexican artisans are struggling to preserve the traditional manufacture of paper cut-out decorations long used in altars for the Day of the Dead.

Defying increasingly popular mass-production techniques, second-generation paper cutter Yuridia Torres Alfaro, 49, still makes her own stencils at her family's workshop in Xochimilco, on the rural southern edge of Mexico City.

As she has since she was a child, Torres Alfaro punched stunningly sharp chisels into thick piles of tissue paper at her business, Papel Picado Xochimilco.

While others use longer-lasting plastic sheets, laser cutters or pre-made stencils, Torres Alfaro does each step by hand, as Mexican specialists have been doing for 200 years.

In 1988, her father, a retired schoolteacher, got a big order for sheets  which usually depict festive skeletons, skulls, grim reapers or Catrinas  to decorate city government offices.

"The business was born 34 years ago, we were very little then, and we started helping in getting the work done," Torres Alfaro recalled.

Begun in the 1800s, experts say papel picado using tissue paper is probably a continuation of a far older pre-Hispanic tradition of painting ceremonial figures on paper made of fig-bark sheets. Mexican artisans adopted imported tissue paper because it was cheap and thin enough so that, with sharp tools, extreme care and a lot of skill, dozens of sheets can be cut at the same time.

But the most important part is the stencil: its design designates the parts to be cut out, leaving an intricate, airy web of paper that is sometimes strung from buildings or across streets. More commonly, it is hung above Day of the Dead altars that Mexican families use to commemorate  and commune with  deceased relatives.

The holiday begins Oct. 31, remembering those who died in accidents; it continues Nov. 1 to mark those died in childhood, and then those who died as adults on Nov. 2.

Traditionally, the bright colors of the paper had different meanings: Orange signified mourning, blue was for those who drowned, yellow was for the elderly deceased and green for those who died young.

But many Mexicans  who also use the decorations at other times of year, stringing them at roof-height along streets  now prefer to buy plastic, which lasts longer in the sun and the rain.

Still other producers have tried to use mass-produced stencils, which means that tens of thousands of sheets might bear exactly the same design.

"Stencils began to appear for making papel picado, because it is a lot of work if you have to supply a lot of people," said Torres Alfaro, who still hand-cuts her own stencils with original designs.

"We wanted to keep doing it the traditional way, because it allows us to make small, personalized lots, and keep creating a new design every day," she says.

Another rival was the U.S. holiday Halloween, which roughly coincides with Day of the Dead. Because it is flashier and more marketable  costumes, movies, parties and candy  Halloween has gained popularity in Mexico.

"For some time now, there has been a bit more Halloween," said Torres Alfaro. "We do more traditional Mexican things. That is part of the work, to put Mexican things in papel picado. If we do Halloween things, it's only on order" from customers.

Still others have tried to use 21st-century technology, employing computer-generated designs and laser cutters.

But Torres Alfaro says that concentrating so much on the cutting leaves out the most important part: the delicate webs of paper left behind.

"There are some laser machines that are gaining popularity, but we have checked them and the costs are the same, the machines still cut hole-by-hole and they can't cut that many sheets," she said.

"The (ready-made) stencils and the laser machine have their downsides," she said. "Papel picado is based on what can be cut, and what can't, and that is the magic of papel picado."
Michel Aoun, the 89-year-old Christian president who presided over Lebanon's cataclysmic financial meltdown and the deadly Beirut port blast, vacated the presidential palace Sunday, leaving a void at the top of a failing state.

Parliament has so far been unable to agree on a successor in the role, which has the power to sign bills into law, appoint new prime ministers and greenlight government formations before they are voted on by parliament.

Like during more than half of Aoun's time in office, Lebanon is currently governed by a caretaker cabinet as the premier-designate has been trying for six months to form a government.

Sunday Aoun approved the resignation of Najib Mikati's government, which however remains in office in a caretaker capacity, a judicial source said.

Dozens of supporters gathered at Baabda Palace to say farewell to Aoun, wearing the orange associated with his Free Patriotic Movement party and carrying portraits of him as president and from decades ago when he served as army commander.

One 73-year-old man in the army fatigues he wore when serving under Aoun in the civil war told Reuters he wished Aoun could have three more years in office.

Therese Younes, a 16-year-old who had come with other teenagers, said she had backed Aoun since she was eight and was sad to see him go.

"If I was 18 years old, I would have left the country.

There's no Lebanon left after Michel Aoun," said Younes.

Aoun is a deeply divisive figure, adored by many Christians who viewed him as their defender in Lebanon's sectarian system but accused by critics of enabling corruption and helping armed group Hezbollah gain influence.

Aoun secured the presidency in 2016, endorsed by both Hezbollah and rival Maronite Christian politician Samir Geagea in a deal that brought then-leading Sunni politician Saad al-Hariri back as prime minister.

The six-year term that followed saw Lebanon's army fight off Islamist militants on the Syrian border in 2017 with Hezbollahs help, a new electoral law passed in 2018 and top energy companies begin exploratory drilling in offshore blocks in 2020.

In his final week in the palace, he signed onto a U.S.-mediated deal delineating Lebanon's southern maritime border with Israel.

His fans have hailed those achievements, but his critics say those modest successes pale in comparison to the 2019 financial meltdown, which has pushed more than 80% of the population into poverty and prompted widespread anti-government protests.

Aoun's term was also marked by the massive blast at the Beirut port in 2020 that killed more than 220 people. Aoun later said he had known about the chemicals stored there and referred the file to other authorities to take action. Victims' families said he should have done more.

He told Reuters in an interview on Saturday that his presidential powers were not wide enough to address the economic crisis.

"He was by far the worst president in Lebanon's history" said Michel Meouchi, a lawyer and father. "I prefer a void in the presidency to him."

Aoun's path to the presidency began in the 1975-1990 civil war, during which he served as commander of Lebanon's army and the head of one of two rival governments.

He returned to Beirut after 15 years in exile, once Syrian forces withdrew under international pressure following the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.

In 2006, the FPM formed an alliance with Hezbollah, which lent important Christian backing to the armed group.

In his interview with Reuters, Aoun credited Hezbollah for its "useful" role in acting as a "deterrent" against any Israeli attacks during the maritime border talks.

He said his departure on Sunday, one day before his term officially ends, was not the end of his political career.
Partygoers in costumes fleeing in panic, desperate attempts at first aid on the sidewalks, scores of bodies lined up under makeshift shrouds: in Seoul's lively Itaewon district, a Halloween festival turned tragic Saturday.

Nearly 150 people were killed in a crowd surge and stampede, the cause of which is still unclear, in this popular, cosmopolitan district of the South Korean capital, located close to a former U.S. military base, renowned for its bars and clubs.

Tens of thousands of people  mostly young, and many wearing elaborate Halloween costumes  had descended upon the district Saturday night, for the first major Halloween celebration since most COVID-19 restrictions were lifted.

"My friend said something terrible is happening outside," said Jeon Ga-eul, 30, who was having a drink at a bar at the moment the stampede hit.

"I said what are you talking about? And then I went outside to see and there were people doing CPR in the street."

The district, which was immortalized by the popular 2020 K-Drama hit Itaewon Class, is a warren of steeply sloping, twisted alleyways on either side of the main road.

The crowd was exceptionally dense Saturday night, eyewitnesses told AFP, with Jeon saying that even ahead of the disaster, he had felt unsafe.

"There were so many people just being pushed around and I got caught in the crowd and I couldnt get out at first too," he said.

"I felt like an accident was bound to happen."

Bystanders help

The stampede took place in a narrow alley near the Hamilton Hotel in Itaewon.

Faced with a huge number of victims, the first emergency responders were asking passersby to administer first aid and perform CPR on victims in the streets, just next to the chaos.

The bodies of people who had been crushed or trampled to death lay in rows, covered with blankets or makeshift shrouds.

Hundreds of ambulances lined up in front of the Soon Chun Hyang University Hospital, which is near Itaewon and where a large number of the victims were taken.

At the scene, which had been cordoned off by the police and was bathed in the red from hundreds of flashing lights, music continued to play from some bars.

Dazed passersby sat on the sidewalk, checking their phones. Others comforted themselves, hugging each other even as others  seemingly unaware of the scale of the tragedy that had unfolded just next to them, continued to celebrate.

Police investigators scoured the debris-strewn alleyways.

"It's always crowded, but nothing like this has ever happened before," Ju Young Possamai, 24, a bartender in the Itaewon district told AFP.

I've been to a lot of Halloween parties in Korea," he said, adding, "I never thought that something like this could happen in Korea, especially in Itaewon."
The Senate  Egypt's consultative upper house  gave on Sunday final approval for legislative amendments to the 2003 telecommunications law.

A report prepared by the House's Telecommunications and Information Technology Committee said the changes to the law would ban the import, manufacturing, assembly, possession, use, operation, installation or marketing of any telecom equipment that is considered a threat to national security.

According to the report, the move comes to fight the growing phenomenon of citizens possessing, using and operating equipment considered a threat to national security.

"The bill comes to help preserve the country's cyber security as part of national and economic security," said the report.

Amendments state that violators implicated in importing, manufacturing, assembling and marketing any telecom equipment without getting a prior license from the National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA) shall face imprisonment from one to five years, as well as a fine of EGP 2 to 5 million.

Those convicted of possessing, installing, operating or using any telecom equipment without obtaining a prior license from NTRA shall face imprisonment and a fine between EGP 100,000 and 200,000.

The Senate's deputy speaker Phoebe Fawzi said "there has been a lot of chaos on the telecom market in recent years, leading some to use equipment in getting information that is really considered a threat to national security and a big danger to personal and social lives of citizens."

"Some of this equipment poses a threat to social and religious traditions and values, and so the changes to the telecom law come to fight this bad phenomenon and tighten control on the telecom equipment market," said Fawzi.

The Senate's Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee Mohamed Shawki said rapid developments on the telecom market have made it a necessity to draft the new legislation.

"There are rapid developments on the telecom market and so it is important that the law regulating this sector be updated to impose control and stand up to chaos," said Shawki, adding that "the amendments also come to stem the growing phenomenon of citizens possessing, operating and installing telecom equipment without getting the necessary licensing from NTRA and other concerned authorities."

Wafdist senator Hani Sarrieddin was the only member who rejected the amendments, arguing that "some of the bill's articles are vague and have not even specified what types of telecom equipment would be banned by the legislation."

The amendments will be referred to the House of Representatives to be finally discussed and passed.

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At least 130 people were killed in India after a colonial-era pedestrian bridge collapsed, sending scores of people tumbling into the river below, police said Monday.

Authorities said nearly 500 people, including women and children, were celebrating a religious festival on and around the nearly 150-year-old suspension bridge in Morbi in western India when cables supporting it snapped soon after dark on Sunday.

This brought the rickety structure in the state of Gujarat crashing into the river, spilling scores of people into the water while others clung desperately to the wreckage.

"The death toll now stands at 130," Morbi superintendent of police Rahul Tripathi told AFP, adding that around 15 other people were being treated in hospital.

The bridge over the Machchhu river around 200 kilometers (120 miles) west of Gujarat's main city, Ahmedabad, had only reopened several days earlier after months of repairs.

"People fell on top of each other after the bridge collapsed," one witness told local media. "People had flocked to the bridge for rituals and because of the Diwali festival. Many children and women were among the victims."

News reports showed videos  which could not be independently verified  of people hanging on to what remained of the bridge or trying to swim to safety in the dark.

P. Dekavadiya, the head of police in Morbi, told AFP by phone that more than 130 people had been rescued.

'No certificate'

The suspension bridge, 233 meters (764 feet) long and 1.5 meters wide, was inaugurated in 1880 by the British colonial authorities and made with materials shipped from England, reports said.

Broadcaster NDTV reported that it reopened on Wednesday after seven months of repairs despite not having a safety certificate, and that video footage from Saturday showed it swaying wildly.

Authorities quickly launched a rescue operation following the collapse, with boats and divers deployed to search for missing people late into the night.

Dozens of soldiers from the Indian Army and Navy were also called for the rescue operation.

Authorities were planning to stop the water supply to the river from the nearby check dam and use pumps to de-water the river to speed up the search operation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was touring his home state of Gujarat at the time, announced compensation for those killed and injured in the accident.

Modi "sought urgent mobilization of teams for rescue (operations)", his office tweeted.

"He has asked that the situation be closely and continuously monitored, and (for authorities to) extend all possible help to those affected."

The Gujarat government on its official website describes the bridge as "an engineering marvel built at the turn of the century".

Accidents from old and poorly maintained infrastructure including bridges are common in India.

In 2016 the collapse of a flyover onto a busy street in the eastern city of Kolkata killed at least 26 people.

In 2011 at least 32 people were killed when a bridge packed with festival crowds collapsed near the hill town of Darjeeling in India's northeast.

Less than a week later around 30 people were killed when a footbridge over a river in the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh collapsed.

In 2006 at least 34 people were killed when a 150-year-old bridge collapsed on a passenger train in the railway station in the eastern state of Bihar. .
Several thousand black-clad fascist sympathizers chanted and sang in praise of the late Italian dictator Benito Mussolini on Sunday as they marched to his crypt, 100 years after Mussolini entered Rome and completed a bloodless coup that gave rise to two decades of fascist rule.

The crowd of 2,000 to 4,000 marchers, many sporting fascist symbols and singing hymns from Italy's colonial era, was larger than in the recent past, as the fascist nostalgics celebrated the centenary of the March on Rome.

On October 28, 1922, black-shirted fascists entered the Italian capital, launching a putsch that culminated two days later when Italy's king handed Mussolini the mandate to start a new government.

The crowd in Predappio, Mussolini's birthplace and final resting place in the northern Emilia-Romagna region, also was apparently emboldened by the fact that a party with neo-fascist roots is heading an Italian government for the first time since World War II.

Organizers warned participants, who arrived from as far away as Rome, Belgium and the United States, not to flash the Roman salute used by the Fascists, or they would risk prosecution. Still, some couldn't resist as the crowd stopped outside the cemetery where Mussolini is buried to listen to prayers and greetings from Mussolini's great-granddaughter, Orsola.

"After 100 years, we are still here to pay homage to the man this state wanted, and who we will never stop admiring," Orsola Mussolini said, to cheers.

She listed her great-grandfather's accomplishments, citing an infrastructure boom that built schools, hospitals and public buildings, reclaimed malaria-infested swamps for cities, and the extension of a pension system to nongovernment workers. She was joined by her sister Vittoria, who led the crowd in a prayer.

The crowd gave a final shout of "Duce, Duce, Duce!" Mussolini's honorific as Italy's dictator.

Anti-fascist campaigners held a march in Predappio on Friday to mark the anniversary of the liberation of the town  and to prevent the fascists from marching on the exact anniversary of the March on Rome.

Inside the cemetery on Sunday, admirers lined up a handful at a time to enter his crypt, tucked away in a back corner. Each was given a memory card signed by his great-grandaughters with a photo of a smiling Mussolini holding his gloved hand high in a Roman salute. "History will prove me right," the card reads.

Italy's failure to fully come to terms with its fascist past has never been more stark than now, as Italy's new premier, Giorgia Meloni, seeks to distance her far-right Brothers of Italy party from its neo-fascist roots.

This week, she decried fascism's anti-democratic nature and called its racial laws, which sent thousands of Italian Jews to Nazi death camps, "a low point." Historians would also add Mussolini's alliance with Nazi Germany and Japan in World War II and his disastrous colonial campaign in Africa to fascism's devastating legacies.

Now in power, Meloni is seeking a moderate course for a new center-right government that includes Matteo Salvini's League party and Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia. But her victory gives far-right activists a sense of vindication.

"I would have voted for Lucifer if he could beat the left," said organizer Mirko Santarelli, who heads the Ravenna chapter of the Arditi, an organization that began as a World War I veterans group and has evolved to include caretaking Mussolini's memory. "I am happy there is a Meloni government, because there is nothing worse than the Italian left. It is not the government that reflects my ideas, but it is better than nothing."

He said he would like to see the new Italian government do away with laws that prosecute incitement to hatred and violence motivated by race, ethnicity, religion and nationality. It includes use of emblems and symbols  many of which were present in Sunday's march.

Santarelli said the law punishes "the crime of opinion."

"It is used as castor oil by the left to make us keep quiet. When I am asked my opinion of Mussolini, and it is clear I speak well of him, I risk being denounced," Santarelli said.

Lawyer Francesco Minutillo, a far-right activist who represents the organizers, said Italy's high court established that manifestations are permissible as long as they are commemorative "and don't meet the criteria that risks the reconstitution of the fascist party."

Still, he said, magistrates in recent years have opened investigations into similar manifestations in Predappio and elsewhere to make sure they don't violate the law. One such case was closed without charges last week.

To avoid having their message misrepresented, Santarelli asked the rank and file present not to speak to journalists. Most complied.

A young American man wearing a T-shirt with a hand-drawn swastika inside a heart and the words "Brand New Dream,'' plus a fascist fez, said he had timed his European vacation to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the March on Rome so he could participate in the march in Predappio. He declined to identify himself, other than to say he was from New Jersey, and lamented there was no fascist group back home to join.

Rachele Massimi traveled with a group four hours from Rome on Sunday to participate in the event, bringing her 3-year-old who watched from a stroller.

"It's historic," Massimi said. "It's a memory."
The U.N. Mideast envoy said 2022 is on course to be the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank since the U.N. started tracking fatalities in 2005, and he called for immediate action to calm "an explosive situation" and move toward renewing Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

Tor Wennesland told the U.N. Security Council that "mounting hopelessness, anger and tension have once again erupted into a deadly cycle of violence that is increasingly difficult to contain," and "too many people, overwhelmingly Palestinian have been killed and injured."

In a grim assessment, the special coordinator for the Middle East peace process said the downward spiral in the West Bank and current volatile situation stem from decades of violence that has taken a toll on Israelis and Palestinians, the prolonged absence of negotiations, and the failure to resolve key issues fueling the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Wennesland said his message to Palestinian officials and factions, Israeli officials and the international community in recent weeks has been clear: "The immediate priority is to work to calm the situation and reverse the negative trends on the ground" but the goal must be "to empower and strengthen the Palestinian Authority and build towards a return to a political process."

In the past month, the U.N. envoy said 32 Palestinians including six children were killed by Israeli security forces and 311 injured during demonstrations, clashes, search-and-arrest operations, attacks and alleged attacks against Israelis. Two Israeli forces personnel were killed, and 25 Israeli civilians were injured by Palestinians during shooting and ramming attacks, clashes, the throwing of stones and Molotov cocktails and other incidents during the same period, he said.

Wennesland said the month saw "a spike in fatal violence" that has 2022 on track to be the deadliest in the West Bank.

More than 125 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli-Palestinian fighting in the West Bank and east Jerusalem this year. The fighting has surged since a series of Palestinian attacks killed 19 people in Israel in the spring. The Israeli army says most of the Palestinians killed have been militants. But stone-throwing youths protesting the incursions and others not involved in confrontations have also been killed.

Ongoing Israeli arrest raids in the West Bank pose a serious challenge to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Palestinian Authority. Abbas relies on security cooperation with Israel, particularly against his Islamic militant rivals, to remain in power. At the same time, this cooperation is deeply unpopular among Palestinians who chafe against Israel's open-ended occupation, now in its 56th year.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war and has built more than 130 settlements there, many of which resemble small towns, with apartment blocks, shopping malls and industrial zones. The Palestinians want the West Bank to form the main part of their future state. Most countries view the settlements as a violation of international law.

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. ambassador, delivered an impassioned address to the Security Council Friday, saying: "Our people, our children, our youth are being killed, and they will not die in vain."

"What happens next is your responsibility," he told council members. "We knocked on every door, searched for any avenue leading to freedom and dignity, justice and redress, shared peace and security."

Yet, Mansour said that 75 years after the British partition of Palestine, its people are still waiting "for their turn to be free," and he accused Israel of "trying to destroy the state of Palestine."

The Palestinian ambassador challenged the Security Council to protect and promote the two-state solution, and he raised a series of questions that allude to the possibility of further bloodshed and a decadeslong fight for freedom if necessary, and possible legal action at the International Court of Justice on Israel's occupation.

"Either we live side by side, or I fear we might die side by side," Mansour said of Israel. "Help us live.  Our people will not disappear, they will not renege their national identity, they will not accept subjugation. The Palestinian people will be free."

Israel's U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan countered that the message in Abbas' speech to world leaders last month and Mansour's statement Friday were the same: "It is a message of false victimhood, lies of oppression and fictions of aggression."

"Israel is in the midst of a terror wave," he told the council. "Since the start of this year alone, there have been over 4,000 Palestinian terror attacks perpetrated against Israelis  car ramming, rock throwing, fire bombings, stabbing, shootings, rockets, and many other acts of Palestinian violence have been become a fact of life for millions of Israelis."

Erdan said "the Palestinian Authority may play victim here at the council" but he said on the streets of the West Bank cities of Jenin and Nablus they "praise terrorists."

Palestinian leaders say they want peace, but Erdan said "they consistently refused to sit down at the negotiating table with Israel and have rejected every peace plan placed before them."

At the General Assembly last month, Abbas launched a campaign for full membership in the United Nations "while bypassing the negotiating table," Erdan said. Palestine is currently a non-member observer state at the U.N.

Erdan stressed that "peace can only be achieved through direct negotiations and mutual  I repeat mutual  concessions."
The Russian Defense Ministry says Moscow has suspended its implementation of a U.N.-brokered grain export deal that has allowed more than 9 million tons of grain to be exported from Ukraine, lowering global food prices.

The Kremlin said it will no longer guarantee the safety of cargo ships participating in the U.N.-led initiative, citing as the reason for its exit an alleged Ukrainian drone attack against Russias Black Sea Fleet ships anchored off the coast of occupied Crimea. Russia said the attack took place early Saturday.

Russian government official Dmitry Polyanskiy said on Twitter, After attempt of Ukranian [sic] drone attack against Russian military ships ensuring safe functioning of #graindeal, which according to Russian MoDs (Ministry of Defense) data was carried out with UK support, Russia suspends participation in the deal. UN SG @antonioguterres will be shortly officially notified.

Ukraine has denied the attack. The Russian declaration came one day after U.N. chief Antonio Guterres urged Russia and Ukraine to renew the grain deal.

Speaking to reporters in Delaware Sunday, U.S. President Joe Biden called Russias decision to suspend its participation from the Ukrainian grain deal purely outrageous and said it would increase starvation.

"There's no merit to what they're doing. The U.N. negotiated that deal and that should be the end of it," Biden said.

A local resident buys food products over a shop counter, lit by a candle, on the outskirts of Bakhmut, the site of the heaviest battle against the Russian troops in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 28, 2022.

In a comment Saturday, U.N. Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the United Nations is in touch with the Russian authorities on the matter.

It is vital that all parties refrain from any action that would imperil the Black Sea Grain Initiative which is a critical humanitarian effort that is clearly having a positive impact on access to food for millions of people around the world," Dujarric said.

The Joint Coordination Center, which implements the grain deal, in a statement released Saturday, said it is reviewing recent developments, assessing the impact on JCCs operations and is discussing next steps.

Ukraines foreign minister accused Moscow of using a "false pretext" Saturday to suspend its participation in the Black Sea grain corridor.

Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter, "I call on all states to demand Russia to stop its hunger games and recommit to its obligations."

FILE - A Ukrainian serviceman stands in front of silos of grain at Odesa Black Sea port, in Odesa, Ukraine, July 29, 2022. On Oct. 29, Russia ended a U.N.-brokered deal allowing Ukraine to export grain by sea.

The Russian Defense Ministry accused the British royal navy of blowing up the Nord Stream gas pipelines last month. Moscow did not provide any evidence to back up its claims that a leading NATO member had sabotaged critical Russian infrastructure that delivers much needed gas to Europe.

London denied the claims and responded Saturday, saying on Twitter, To detract from their disastrous handling of the illegal invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Ministry of Defense is resorting to peddling false claims of an epic scale.

Russia claims that British specialists from the same unit that took part in the planning, provision, and implementation of a terrorist attack in the Baltic Sea on September 26 also directed Ukrainian drones against Russia ships in Crimea early Saturday.

"Today at 4:20 a.m., the Kyiv regime carried out a terrorist attack on ships of the Black Sea Fleet and civilian ships that were on the outer and inner roadsteads [protected bodies of water] of the Sevastopol base, Igor Konashenkov, chief spokesman of the Russian Defense Ministry said. He added that the air targets were destroyed by Russian forces.

Konashenkov asserted the Black Sea Fleet ships that were attacked were there to secure the grain corridor as part of the international initiative to export agricultural products from Ukrainian ports.

In a statement Friday, Swedish lead prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist said in reference to the damaged gas pipeline, "I've decided together with the security police to carry out a number of additional investigations at the scene of the crime." Swedish armed forces are scouting the area around the two damaged Nord Stream pipelines with minesweepers.

Sweden and Denmark have both concluded that four leaks on Nord Stream 1 and 2 were caused by explosions, but they have not said who might be responsible. World leaders have called it an act of sabotage.

People, who arrived from Russia-annexed Kherson wait for further evacuation into Russia at the Dzhankoi's railway station in Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014, Oct. 21, 2022, as a Russian soldier stands by.

On other fronts, Russian authorities in the occupied territories of Ukraine are dismantling the regions health care systems, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily address Friday.

The occupiers have decided to close medical institutions in the cities, take away equipment, ambulances - just everything. ... They put pressure on the doctors who still remained in the occupied areas for them to move to the territory of Russia, the president said.

Russia is turning the Kherson region into a zone without civilization, without elementary things available in most countries of the world, said Zelenskyy. Before the arrival of Russia, this region, like all other regions of Ukraine, was completely normal and safe, all social services for people were guaranteed there. ... Life was guaranteed there.

And now Russia is trying to make the Kherson region literally an exclusion zone, the president said. The world must react to this.

The Kherson region was also the focus of Britains Defense Ministrys intelligence update Saturday. The report said that earlier in the week, Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-appointed governor of the Kherson region, claimed more than 70,000 people had left Kherson city.

The update said Saldo also claimed that Russia had removed the remains of a well-known 18th century Russian statesman, Prince Grigory Potemkin, from his tomb in Kherson's cathedral to east of the Dnipro.

In the Russian national identity, the report said, Potemkin is heavily associated with the Russian conquest of Ukrainian lands in the 18th century and highlights the weight Putin almost certainly places on perceived historical justification for the invasion.



VOA U.N. correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this story. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
WASHINGTON  The wave of young men fleeing Russia to avoid forced service in the Ukraine war has created a conundrum for the nations neighbors, which are torn between a desire to encourage resisters to President Vladimir Putins war effort and a fear of admitting Russian agents bent on undermining their societies.

The result has been a mishmash of responses across Europe, with some countries such as Georgia, Germany and Armenia welcoming the draft evaders, and others  such as the Baltic countries, Poland and Finland  slamming shut their doors.

Estimates of the number of men who have fled Russia since Putin announced a partial mobilization September 21 range as high as 400,000, on top of the several hundred thousand Russians who had left since the beginning of the war in February because of increasingly harsh restrictions on basic freedoms.

The exodus has tested the patience and capacity of neighboring countries, several of which were already straining to accommodate more than 5 million Ukrainians who have fled to EU countries in the face of the Russian military assault.

Feelings toward the new arrivals are complicated by the fact that many are reluctant to admit they are avoiding conscription and say they are simply coming to enjoy a neighboring countrys hospitality. That has led to mixed feelings, particularly in Georgia, which considers its breakaway territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia to have been under Russian occupation since 2008.

A few are more forthright, such as one man who received his draft notice immediately after crossing the Larsi checkpoint into Georgia. He asked to be identified only as Igor for fear of Russian retaliation.

"I will try to hide, I will resist. Better to serve years in prison than go to war and die or kill others, he told VOA. If they send me to Ukraine, I will probably choose the way of sabotage.

An August poll by the National Democratic Institute, a nonprofit American NGO, found a majority of Georgians believe Russia is acting to tear their country apart and 76 percent said Russia is a major threat to its neighbors. Nevertheless, the Georgian government doesnt consider the Russian draft evaders a threat to the nations security, although President Salome Zourabichvili has suggested a possible revision of the visa rules with Russia.

Security risks

The analysis is very different in Latvia, whose foreign minister, Edgars Rinkevics, told VOA the fleeing Russians are security risks, those are counterintelligence risks. Those are risks of penetration, not only of people who are fleeing but also people who could be used for further covert operations.

Estonias foreign minister, Urmas Reinsalu, expressed similar concerns, telling VOA he would advise all countries to be very cautious about whom they are letting in from Russia, and whom not.

Officials of Ukraine tell us that the saboteurs and operatives of the Russian security services entered Ukraine months, years before the war, he said. Also, many of the operatives of [the] Russian security services responsible for poisonings, explosions, et cetera, used tourist visas and false identities.

Moral perspective

Aside from security concerns, Baltic leaders base their judgment on what they call a moral perspective. They say Russia is a state sponsor of terrorism and is committing war crimes in a genocidal war in Ukraine.

It would be immoral to accept business or even leisure activities of the aggressor state's citizens as if nothing has happened, Reinsalu said. There is a genocide going on, sponsored literally by the tax money of these people who would like to go in any direction to leave Russia.

Countries like his also say there is no proof that the majority of would-be refugees are legitimately fleeing political persecution rather than military obligations or the discomfort of economic sanctions.

Viola von Cramon, who represents Germany in the European Parliament, told VOA she believes protection and asylum from the Russian government should be granted to those who need it. But she also called for proper security checks and clearances.

There are people who had to flee, but they are not all dissidents. There are also opportunists who were benefiting from the regime, and there will be a lot of FSB agents as well, she said, referring to the Russian intelligence agency.

Fight for hearts and minds

Several European countries, including France, Hungary, Luxembourg and Austria, share the view of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who has said the Ukraine conflict is not the war of the Russian people. This is the war of Vladimir Putin.

They believe far-reaching restrictions on admissions of Russians could not only endanger those who face real threats at home but also prompt a nationalistic backlash, estranging future generations of Russians and causing the West to lose their hearts and minds.

Leaders from Eastern European and Nordic countries acknowledge the risks of a hardline policy toward those fleeing Russia but have little faith that the Russian people can be persuaded to share their values.

Indeed, a recent survey by independent Moscow-based pollster Levada Center  which was labeled a foreign agent by Moscow in 2016  found that support in Russia for the military campaign in Ukraine stood at 72 percent in September, down only slightly from earlier in the war.

We can of course argue about the percentage, but the hearts and minds of the Russian people  as opinion polls are showing  are with Vladimir Putin, Rinkevics said. The choice is not how to transform Russia. The only choice now is how to defeat Russia.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis is also skeptical about the hearts and minds argument.

We got a 2008 war in Georgia, a 2014 occupation of Crimea and now we have a full-scale war in Ukraine, he told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in an August 31 interview. So that's how many hearts and minds weve won in Russia. Its time to wake up.

While EU leaders struggle to agree on how to treat the Russian emigres, they moved in September to suspend a visa agreement that has facilitated entry to the EUs Schengen zone for millions of Russians since 2007.

The Kremlin dismissed decisions like that as hysteria. Russia did not officially close its borders after September 21, as had been feared by many rushing out of the country.
BLANTYRE  In Malawi, protesters and opposition supporters chanted and marched Thursday in the commercial capital, Blantyre, to protest the high cost of living and alleged corruption.

The demonstrators presented a petition to the office of President Lazarus Chakwera.

Joshua Chisa Mbele, leader of Action Against Impunity, a network of civil rights organizations behind the protest, accused the government of mishandling money Malawi received to fight COVID-19, among other alleged transgressions.

"We are tired of a government which is stealing day and night," he said. "We have lost so much resources for the past two years. We lost the COVID money and we cannot take it anymore. We are saying that they should leave the office and go home."

Mbele also said Chakwera has failed to fulfill promises he made during his campaign two years ago, when he vowed to ensure food security to all Malawians and create one million jobs in the country once he was in power.

There was no immediate comment from the government on the concerns raised by the protesters.

Earlier this week, Chakwera fired Minister of Agriculture Robin Lowe and his deputy Madalitso Kambauwa Wirima over what the president called "incompetence and gross negligence."

The president blamed the two for facilitating a fertilizer procurement deal which saw Malawi's government lose about $725,000 to a British company that failed to supply the commodity.

The issue was among those listed as grounds for Thursday's demonstration. Malawi's opposition parties supported the protest, saying it was justified.

Protester Rebecca Mwale said the situation in the country was growing worse, with food prices unreasonably high and medicines in short supply.

Mbele said he hopes Chakwera responds to the concerns once he sees the protesters' petition, which was presented to his office.

"In the petition, we are saying that we want to see action. We have heard enough, we have spoken enough, we want to see action. We want Chakwera to show leadership. We want him to take action so that we preserve what is remaining as people's assets," Mbele said.

Similar protests are expected Friday in Malawi's capital, Lilongwe, where protesters plan to march to the state house to present a petition directly to Chakwera.
JOHANNESBURG  South African investigators have arrested the former head of the country's national power provider, Eskom, on corruption charges. South African analysts say while this is a significant step toward tackling state graft, it won't fix the country's worsening energy crisis.

Matshela Koko, the former head of state power provider Eskom, was charged Thursday with multiple counts related to corruption, fraud and money laundering.

The lawyer leading the charge for the National Prosecuting Authority, Andrea Johnson, said in a statement, This arrest is about accountability and rule of law  it is imperative for the country and its people that we serve without fear, favor or prejudice.

Kokos wife, two stepdaughters and other officials under his tenure also were charged in the complex case, which involves more than $121 million in power station construction contracts.

Analysts say the charges show growing momentum in efforts to tackle widespread corruption in state institutions.

I think what this sends out is [the message] that if you are in a position of power and authority and you commit corruption, that the precedent has been clearly set that you can and will be held accountable, said Gareth Newham, head of justice and violence prevention for the Institute of Security Studies in Pretoria. So, it's a very important principle that has now been established, and one of those lacking for too long in South Africa.

Eskom was just one institution targeted in state graft  called state capture  under the nearly decade-long tenure of former president Jacob Zuma that was investigated by a judicial inquiry.

Among the inquirys recommendations was to strengthen the National Prosecuting Authority.

Current President Cyril Ramaphosa has done just that, by adding an independent directorate to the authority and giving it more resources, as part of his anti-corruption mandate.

Newham said the investigation into Koko exemplifies the potential of a strengthened public prosecutor.

I think it shows that the hard work that has been undertaken within the National Prosecuting Authorities since the beginning of 2019 is starting to pay off, he said.

Koko has maintained his innocence, and his arrest doesnt mean a political win for Ramaphosa.

Analysts point out that other high-ranking officials implicated in the graft inquiry continue to hold offices under Ramaphosas watch.

He has the authority as the president of the country, as the leader of the administration to remove certain people now on all levels of government which he's not doing, said Ina Gouws, a political scientist at the University of the Free State.If he's waiting for the National Prosecuting Authority to do his job for him, when it comes to getting rid of caterers who are implicated in corruption, then you can imagine how badly that goes for the country.

The trial, set to take place in March, will not fix Eskom and the countrys energy crisis.

The utility is billions of dollars in debt and implementing daily blackouts due to breakdowns at power stations.

The recovery of funds from the likes of people that have been arrested recently is quite frankly, trivial at this stage, said Clyde Mallinson, an independent energy expert. If Eskom had an infinite budget, as we speak, and if they had an infinite amount of coal, we would still be where we sit at the moment, because it's time that we've lost.

While the public may welcome the prospect of accountability for corruption at Eskom, Mallinson said they cant expect the blackouts to end any time soon.
Moscow has suspended implementation of a U.N.-brokered grain export deal that has allowed more than 9 million tons of grain to be shipped from Ukraine, helping to ease the global food crisis and lower prices.

The Russian Defense Ministry blamed an alleged Ukrainian drone attack against ships of Russias Black Sea Fleet anchored off the coast of occupied Crimea for its exit from the agreement. Russia said the attack took place early Saturday; Ukraine has denied the attack.

In connection with the actions of Ukrainian armed forces ... the Russian side cannot guarantee the safety of civilian dry cargo ships participating in the Black Sea initiative, and suspends its implementation from today for an indefinite period,'' the Russian statement said.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement, In suspending this arrangement, Russia is again weaponizing food in the war it started, directly impacting low- and middle-income countries and global food prices, and exacerbating already dire humanitarian crises and food insecurity.

Blinken said the U.S. urges the Government of Russia to resume its participation in the Initiative, fully comply with the arrangement, and work to ensure that people around the world continue to be able to receive the benefits facilitated by the Initiative.

The Russian declaration came one day after U.N. chief Antonio Guterres urged Russia and Ukraine to renew the grain deal.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the Russian move predictable. He accused Moscow of blockading ships carrying grain since September, The Associated Press reported. Currently, he said, 176 vessels are backed up at sea, carrying more than 2 million tons of food.

This is a transparent attempt by Russia to return to the threat of large-scale famine in Africa and Asia, Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly video address. He called for a tough response against Russia from international bodies like the U.N. and the G-20.

Speaking to reporters in Delaware Sunday, U.S. President Joe Biden called Russias decision to suspend its participation from the Ukrainian grain deal purely outrageous and said it would increase starvation.

"There's no merit to what they're doing. The U.N. negotiated that deal and that should be the end of it," Biden said.

In a comment Saturday, U.N. Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the United Nations is in touch with the Russian authorities on the matter.

It is vital that all parties refrain from any action that would imperil the Black Sea Grain Initiative which is a critical humanitarian effort that is clearly having a positive impact on access to food for millions of people around the world," Dujarric said.

The Joint Coordination Center, which implements the grain deal, in a statement released Saturday, said it is reviewing recent developments, assessing the impact on JCCs operations and is discussing next steps.

Ukraines foreign minister accused Moscow of using a "false pretext" Saturday to suspend its participation in the Black Sea grain corridor.

Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter, "I call on all states to demand Russia to stop its hunger games and recommit to its obligations." [[ https://twitter.com/DmytroKuleba/status/1586378441548759042 ]]

Dmitry Polyansky, Russias first deputy representative to the U.N., also said Saturday that Russia had requested a meeting Monday of the U.N. Security Council because of the alleged attack on the Black Sea Fleet and the security of the grain corridor, the AP reported.

The Russian Defense Ministry accused the British navy of blowing up the Nord Stream gas pipelines last month. Moscow did not provide any evidence to back up its claims that a leading NATO member had sabotaged critical Russian infrastructure that delivers much-needed gas to Europe.

London denied the claims and responded Saturday, saying, To detract from their disastrous handling of the illegal invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Ministry of Defense is resorting to peddling false claims of an epic scale.

Russia claims that British specialists from the same unit that took part in the planning, provision, and implementation of a terrorist attack in the Baltic Sea on September 26 also directed Ukrainian drones against Russia ships in Crimea early Saturday.

"Today at 4:20 a.m., the Kyiv regime carried out a terrorist attack on ships of the Black Sea Fleet and civilian ships that were on the outer and inner roadsteads [protected bodies of water] of the Sevastopol base, Igor Konashenkov, chief spokesman of the Russian Defense Ministry said. He added that the air targets were destroyed by Russia forces.

Konashenkov asserted the Black Sea Fleet ships that were attacked were there to secure the grain corridor as part of the international initiative to export agricultural products from Ukrainian ports.

In a statement Friday, Swedish lead prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist said in reference to the damaged gas pipeline, "I've decided together with the security police to carry out a number of additional investigations at the scene of the crime." Swedish armed forces are scouting the area around the two damaged Nord Stream pipelines with minesweepers.

Sweden and Denmark have both concluded that four leaks on Nord Stream 1 and 2 were caused by explosions, but they have not said who might be responsible. World leaders have called it an act of sabotage.

VOA U.N. correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this story. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
KYIV / NEW YORK  "(A) bulk carrier loaded with 40 tons of grain was supposed to leave the Ukraine port today," Ukraine Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov tweeted.



"These foodstuffs were intended for Ethiopians that are on the verge of famine. But due to the blockage of the 'grain corridor' by Russia the export is impossible," the minister said.

The Infrastructure Ministry said 218 vessels were "effectively blocked" by the Russian decision to withdraw from the grain shipping agreement.

The agreement had already allowed more than nine million tons of Ukrainian grain to be exported and was due to be renewed on November 19.

On Saturday Russia announced its suspension in the grain agreement after accusing Kyiv of a "massive" drone attack on the Black Sea Fleet near Sevastopol.

Ukraine has neither denied nor confirmed it was behind the attack while Ukrainian military suggested that Russians themselves may have been responsible for the explosions.

Ukraine's foreign minister said on Twitter that Russia was blocking "two million tons of grain on 176 vessels already at sea" that he said was "enough to feed seven million people."



He accused Moscow of having planned to "resume its hunger games" in advance and said the Black Sea explosions were "220 kilometers away from the grain corridor."

Russia's defense ministry alleged Sunday the attack drones had "Canadian-made navigation modules," saying it had recovered debris from some of the weapons in the sea. There has been no third party verification of this claim.

Moscow also asserted that British navy "specialists" had helped coordinate what it called a terrorist attack. Britain denied the claim.

Moscow asked the U.N. Security Council to meet on Monday to discuss the Sevastopol attack, Deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy wrote on Twitter.

US President Joe Biden called Russia's effective grain stoppage "purely outrageous" while Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Moscow was "weaponing food."

Wheat prices on international commodities markets are expected to soar on Monday as a result, analysts said.

For hungry countries in Africa, the market's action mean even more depleted national financial resources. As well as the shipping halt preventing desperately needed food from getting to the continent.

EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell said Sunday he and UN SecGen Guterres had spoken on coordinating action to keep exports flowing from Ukraine, adding "Russia must go back to agreement."

This report was prepared using data from Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has called for the expansion of efforts to manufacture renewable energy components, especially wind turbines and solar panels, to enhance the contribution of renewable energy sources in the country.

El-Sisi made the remarks on Sunday in a meeting with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mohamed Shaker, presidential spokesman Bassam Rady said in a statement.

The meeting touched on the projects executed by the Ministry of Electricity nationwide, especially in the new and renewable energy sectors, as well as electricity linkage projects with neighboring countries.

Shaker reviewed the projects that aim to generate electricity from new and renewable energy sources, which are implemented in cooperation with foreign companies, the statement said.

This comes within the framework of Egypt's strategy for integrated and sustainable energy that targets increasing the contribution of renewable energy to the electric energy mix to reach 42 percent by 2035.

The spokesman noted that the president was briefed on the latest updates in electricity linkage projects with neighboring countries, especially Saudi Arabia, Greece and Cyprus.

Egypt, Cyprus, and Greece signed a major deal to link their power grids in October last year as the three countries have worked on intensifying their trilateral cooperation mechanisms over the past decade.

In mid-October, Egypt signed an accord with Cyprus on linkage between the two countries electricity transmission networks. Two days earlier, Egypt also signed with Greece an agreement on an undersea cable that will transmit power from North Africa to Europe.

Earlier in the same month, Egypt and Saudi Arabia awarded contracts to two companies for the implementation of a project to link their power grids and allow the exchange of up to 3,000 MW of electricity at a value of $1.8 billion.

Since 2014, the Egyptian government has been working to expand renewable energy sources to ensure energy security and has partnered with development banks to attract private investments in the renewable energy sector.

Under its Integrated Sustainable Energy Strategy (ISES), Egypt aims to increase the supply of electricity generated from renewable sources to 42 percent by 2035.

Egypt aims in the coming years to reduce carbon emissions, promote the use of renewable energy sources, and use alternative energy forms as part of the National Climate Strategy 2050 announced by the government in May.

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As the campaign winds down, one result is already clear: Candidate debates were less common this year, prompting at least one lament about the loss of a valuable democratic institution. Debates are often portrayed this way  as sacred rites of democracy, offering citizens a unique opportunity to evaluate the men and women who seek the honor of representing them, and candidates who decline to participate risk accusations of arrogance, cowardice or underhandedness. But general-election debates in contests for high office seldom affect voters ultimate choice at the ballot box. And considering the way US debates actually operate, thats actually a good thing.

Consider two highlights of the last few weeks. In Georgia, the news was challenger Herschel Walker showing his honorary sheriffs badge to the camera during his faceoff against Senator Raphael Warnock. In Pennsylvania, the news was less about what the candidates said than about how they spoke, as Senate candidate John Fetterman had speaking problems while debating his opponent Mehmet Oz.

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Ideally, citizens would use debates to help them determine which candidate best matches the policy positions and personal qualities they seek in a representative. Debates contribute meaningfully to civic life when they allow voters to better understand how each candidate would act if elected. They can also provide a platform for leaders to make promises and commitments against which their subsequent performance in office can be usefully judged.

But in practice, debates function as just one more venue for battle in the endless war between Team Red and Team Blue. Loyal partisans bask in the pleasurable emotions that arise when watching their candidates attack their opponents right to their faces. They sometimes indulge the fantasy that such moments will fatally expose the other partys obvious dishonesty or incompetence.

Meanwhile, journalists and pundits treat debates like martial-arts bouts for which they play the role of both referee and scorekeeper, confidently declaring winners and losers based on their own perceptions of whether either candidates performance beat expectations. These expectations often reflect existing media perceptions of the candidates stylistic strengths and weaknesses. Politicians with a reputation for poor rhetorical skills or outright nuttiness may gain extra credit for completing a debate without seeming to embarrass themselves. But candidates viewed as having more polish, intellect and experience are held to a higher standard.

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Because so many in the media view debates through the lens of expectations, they get the most excited when something unexpected happens. If a candidate pulls off a clever one-liner or commits a verbal gaffe on live television, it will predictably become an endlessly discussed and replayed post-debate news story. Indeed, the history of memorable debate moments in US politics is mostly a parade of zingers and blunders.

But is this a sound way to evaluate a candidates ability to lead? Some of the most famous debate losses have been suffered by politicians with successful and sometimes distinguished careers in public life  Al Gore, Michael Dukakis and Gerald Ford in bygone decades; Mitt Romney, Rick Perry and Marco Rubio more recently  usually because of a single comment or exchange that lacked much substantive importance. Even the fact that participants can rebound from losing one debate to achieve a comeback win in their next faceoff against the same opponent, as both Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama did in their presidential re-election campaigns, confirms that debate performance is an unreliable measure of a candidates fitness to govern.

Unfortunately, these media interpretations can matter. Most debates are viewed as relatively uneventful in retrospect, and wont change many voters minds. But when a media consensus forms that one participant was the decisive winner, that candidate may enjoy a subsequent boost in popularity over his or her opponent. Political science research has found that voters views of the candidates are likely to be swayed by the tone of post-debate media coverage, not just by their own impressions of the debate itself.

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Journalists fondness for debates is understandable, not least because they are the traditional campaign event in which members of the press play the most central role. But its past time for other citizens to wonder how much to value debates, or whether to mourn their apparent decline. Voters need good substantive information upon which to base their electoral choices. If candidates arent judged on that basis, then debates arent worth much.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

David A. Hopkins is an associate professor of political science at Boston College and the author of Red Fighting Blue: How Geography and Electoral Rules Polarize American Politics.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

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The worlds infrastructure to pump crude out of the ground is creaking, and nowhere is that more apparent than off the west coast of Africa. Years of under-investment, theft, sabotage and civil strife have combined with harsh operating conditions to undermine the regions oil production, sending it into a slump from which it may never recover.

In 2010, west African countries were pumping close to 5.5 million barrels a day of crude and condensate, about 7% of global production. By 2021, that had fallen to little more than 3.5 million barrels a day, and the regions share of the total had dropped by two percentage points. This year will see levels fall further.

West Africas two big producers, Nigeria and Angola, are both struggling with fields in long-term decline. But the problems dont stop there.

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The output cuts agreed by the OPEC+ group of oil producers in 2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic appear to have resulted in permanent losses of production capacity for the two west African giants. Neither has been able to restore the output that was shut between April and June 2020, even as their targets began to rise in early 2021.

Production data from Nigerias upstream petroleum regulator show crude output dropping below 1 million barrels a day in August and September. Thats barely half the level seen in the first months of 2020 before the OPEC+ cuts. Even when output targets began to rise, Nigerias production continued to go in the opposite direction.

The country will boost output by 500,000 barrels a day by the end of November, according to Nigerian National Petroleum Co. Chief Executive Officer Mele Kyari. Thats a tall order and would take production to a level that it has not reached in more than two and a half years. Im not convinced it can get there.

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Even if the target is reached, maintaining output at that level looks challenging. Upstream investment onshore and in shallow waters is almost non-existent, while spending in deeper waters will do little more than slow the decline.

But an even bigger problem is posed by the lack of security for oil infrastructure. Rampant theft of crude from the pipelines that crisscross the Niger river delta region have forced producers to shut wells. The situation has gotten so bad in recent months that one of the biggest pipelines carrying crude across the region  the 180,000 barrel a day Trans-Niger Pipeline  was forced to shut in June after flows slowed to a trickle.

Vessel-tracking data used to monitor the countrys oil exports show that shipments from the terminals that handle crude produced in the Niger river delta region have slumped in recent months.

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While the Bonny and Brass terminals remain shut, Shell Plc restarted shipments from Forcados earlier this month after a 10-week closure. That should help in meeting Kyaris target, but more needs to be done to protect pipelines. The government is now turning to those who previously sabotaged oil infrastructure to provide protection. It also looks set to require the installation of surveillance equipment that detects losses from pipelines in real time, a demand that will raise the cost of production in the region.

Meanwhile, production is also falling further south in Angola. When the nation joined OPEC in 2007, it was within a whisker of pumping 2 million barrels a day of crude. 15 years on, it is struggling to keep output at half that level. New projects are mostly tapping fields near those already in operation, making use of spare capacity on floating production units as it becomes available to stem the decline in output. But there are no new offshore production hubs under development that will reverse the decline anytime soon.

Tying nearby fields to existing vessels may help for a while, but pretty soon Angola is going to need major new investment to prevent its production from slipping below 1 million barrels a day.

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Although the regions two big producers are struggling, the west African oil producers club may soon be able to welcome a new member. Angolas southern neighbor Namibia hopes that recent discoveries by Shell and TotalEnergies SE off its coast will herald long-awaited oil production. But will Namibias prospects be bright enough to outshine the waning outlook for Nigeria and Angola? I doubt it.

Maybe Russias self-destruction as a destination for upstream investment will encourage oil majors to look again at prospects off west Africa. Recent successes in Namibia and across the Atlantic off Guyana  the other flank of the rift that opened between Africa and South America in the Jurassic Period  may cause a rethink. It cant come too soon for the oil-dependent economies of Angola and Nigeria.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Julian Lee is an oil strategist for Bloomberg First Word. Previously, he was a senior analyst at the Centre for Global Energy Studies.

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Denmark will hold early elections on Tuesday as voters struggle with soaring living costs. However, it isnt sky-high power bills that threaten to push Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen from office, but the fallout from a decision she made two years ago. Her order to cull 17 million mink at the height of the coronavirus pandemic was condemned by political rivals and later found to be unlawful. Frederiksens minority government has tried unsuccessfully to shake off the scandal ever since.

1. What happened?

Frederiksen, 44, made the controversial cull order in November 2020 after coronavirus was detected at some mink farms and experts warned it could potentially mutate into a deadlier strain and make future vaccines less effective. Denmark had the worlds largest population of the small animals, whose soft fur is used in clothes and furnishings. There was no legal basis for the cull when it began and, as it progressed, public outrage grew and the countrys food and veterinary affairs minister quit. Parliament eventually passed a bill giving legal cover to the cull but, by then, millions of healthy animals had been slaughtered. It later emerged that the decomposing bodies of buried mink were threatening to contaminate local water supplies, forcing the government to exhume them. Frederiksen avoided an impeachment trial, but a party that had backed the government in parliament withdrew its support and new elections were set for Nov. 1 -- seven months before the deadline.

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2. Did the cull really cause this crisis?

Its not the whole story. While Frederiksen received praise in some quarters for showing strong leadership during the pandemic, rivals have painted her as power-hungry and authoritarian. She was criticized for a lack of contrition over the cull, though she personally was cleared of any illegal behavior. Trust in her cabinet was further eroded after revelations during a parliamentary probe that she and several key government employees had deleted text messages from their phones. Frederiksen said that, as a woman in power, she was treated more harshly than a man would have been in the same situation.

3. Who is likely to form the next government?

Polls suggest that neither Frederiksens Social Democrats nor the center-right opposition will secure a majority in the assembly. If thats the case, for one of the two blocs to take power, it would have to strike a deal with a newly emerged kingmaker -- the centrist Moderates party established in June by former Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen. Frederiksen has proposed to recruit several other parties into what would be Denmarks first grand coalition government in more than four decades, and Lokke Rasmussen has signaled support. But the idea has been rebuffed by rival parties reluctant to be seen ruling with her after the mink scandal. The election campaign has highlighted discontent with parts of her governments record, including an inability to fix labor shortages in health care.

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4. What remains of the mink industry?

The government funded a support package estimated at about 19 billion kroner ($2.5 billion) to bail out the countrys 3,000 mink farmers. A temporary ban on mink farming in Denmark was due to expire at the end of 2022. However, there may be no way back for the industry, which was effectively wiped out by the cull and lacks the breeding animals needed to restock farms. Kopenhagen Fur, the worlds largest auction house for furs, announced it would close down and liquidate its assets after the cull.

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As the elderly woman hesitated at the top of the auditorium steps, a college student in a blue suit and pink tie materialized, lending his arm and guiding her to a seat. The womans slightly less hobbled friend beamed at the display of youthful gallantry. It was not the only Norman Rockwell moment I observed at a debate earlier this month in Gettysburg, Pa., that great rampart of American republicanism.

Three candidates for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives  an incumbent Republican, a Democratic challenger and a libertarian outsider  responded to questions posed by a local worthy. The politicians were mostly polite. The crowd of about 200, largely older and overwhelmingly White, was mostly respectful. The evening seemed to provide a respite from the tortured politics of 2022.

Until the poison was released. About midway through the hourlong debate, after local taxes and infrastructure and education received their two cents, the moderator posed the question that doubles as an open wound: Do you think the 2020 election was free and fair?

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Representative Dan Moul, who has been in office since 2007, gave an answer perfectly designed to undermine democratic faith. Whos ever going to know? he replied.

Describing former President Donald Trumps crowd of 30,000 at a 2020 rally in nearby Lancaster, Moul said it seemed improbable that such a popular figure could have lost the election. (Almost 7 million votes were cast in Pennsylvania in 2020; Joe Biden received about 80,000 more than Trump.)

Moul also reported having seen government footage from cameras mounted on government buildings with people walking up to drop boxes at 3, 4 oclock in the morning with handfuls of ballots and shoving them in.

After the debate, I asked Moul where I could obtain the government footage he had described. He said he didnt have access to it. He directed me instead to watch a thoroughly debunked conspiracy movie produced by a professional propagandist.

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Trump-inspired election denial is, of course, part of the national landscape. Mouls claims echo not only Trump but the commonwealths top Republican leaders, including gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano, a White Christian nationalist who was at the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Like the contours of the Gettysburg debate, with its customary format and folkways, the shape of local politics in 2022 is eminently familiar: Meetings are convened. Petitions are presented. Campaigns are waged. Votes are taken. It might be easy to convince yourself that nothing has gone awry.

But the content of local government has grown ugly and dangerous. In small towns and counties across Pennsylvania, the pernicious shockwaves of 2020 are not a distant phenomenon. Local officials, many of them Republicans trying to do an honest job, are increasingly squeezed between the lies of Republican elites and relentless attacks from local activists who treat the lies as to-do lists.

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The resulting pressure, directed at local targets with no easy means of escape, is immense. These people just contrived one thing after another, Gary Eichelberger, a Republican commissioner in Cumberland County, told me when I first spoke to him not long after the Jan. 6 attack.

Cumberland is in the south-central part of the states geographic T (basically all the area outside metro Philadelphia and Pittsburgh). Pennsylvania Republicans have dominated the T for generations. It has proved to be fertile ground for conspiracy theorists. They started rumors that there were bags of ballots coming in, phony ballots that were coming in, and they had people observing our building and circling our building, Eichelberger said. They were chasing our mailman.

The delusions proved too profitable to abandon. Theyre just going to keep coming back and coming back, Eichelberger told me last month. At least for the ringleaders, it does not appear that theyre really seeking facts and answers. Theyre trying to keep this ball rolling.

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MAGA activists, spurred by a state group called Audit the Vote PA  whose audit is riddled with errors, according to one investigative report  are pressure-testing these folks to see how far they can push them, said Kyle Miller of Protect Democracy, a nonprofit group founded after the 2016 election.

Elected officials who prove uncooperative face accusations of corruption and the prospect of MAGA challenges for local offices, with control of local election infrastructure included in the spoils. In the meantime, MAGA activists spread rumors and demand actions to confirm voter fraud that no credible investigators can detect. They overwhelm local governments with information requests about suspicious ballots, phantom voters and compromised election machinery.

Forrest Lehman, election director of Lycoming County, said he has spent hundreds of hours responding to conspiracy-fueled demands for information. By his calculation, Pennsylvania has lost some 600 years of collective election administration experience in the past couple years, with election directors or deputy directors resigning in more than half of Pennsylvanias 67 counties.

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In Luzerne County, where Trump beat Joe Biden 57% to 42% in 2020, the county election director left in August. He had lasted eight months in the job, which is two months longer than his predecessor made it.

Threats of violence are common. Ive become more of a recluse, Melanie Ostrander, the election director of Washington County, south of Pittsburgh, told me. You kind of worry when you go out.

Small-town government is under siege. And until elections produce the kind of results that MAGA activists approve of, it will likely remain so. Audit the Vote PA is training poll watchers to supervise Pennsylvania election sites. Mastriano has proposed requiring every Pennsylvania voter to re-register, a move that would make it easier to exclude those inclined to vote incorrectly. If elected governor, he has promised to appoint a secretary of state who will manage elections from a reliably MAGA perspective. Republicans in the Pennsylvania General Assembly are ginning up a constitutional amendment to tighten restrictions on voting.

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Of course, if Mastriano or Trump-endorsed Senate candidate Mehmet Oz lose their elections in November  Mastriano has trailed consistently in polls while Oz appears to be in a tight race  the result will be further proof that the system is corrupt and needs to be overthrown. Rolling Stone reports that Trump and other Republicans are already preparing to wage a legal and activist crusade against the election integrity of Democratic strongholds, including Philadelphia. Public officials who refuse to join the MAGA chorus will be subject to renewed attacks.

In testimony last year before the US Senate, former Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt, a Republican, described the symbiosis between elites and activists as a vicious cycle in which elected officials lie to their constituents and the deceived constituents then demand action to fix something that never happened to begin with. Then elected officials use those demands as an excuse to do something.

Pennsylvania was once a bastion of Republican moderates such as governors Dick Thornburgh and Tom Ridge. But the party belongs to the likes of Trump and Mastriano now. The consequences of that transformation threaten to warp the party, the commonwealth and the nation for years to come.

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***

The agenda for the Oct. 20 county commissioners meeting in Washington County was neither surprising nor contentious. Prayer, pledge of allegiance, approval of meeting minutes. There were commendations for a couple of sheriff deputies (punctuated by jokes about a remarkably unruly law-enforcement canine in attendance). Then followed a series of rapid-fire unanimous votes by the two Republicans and one Democrat approving contracts for software upgrades, real-estate appraisals, disability insurance and the like. The commission, led by Republican Diana Irey Vaughan, moved efficiently.

As at every meeting, time was set aside for public comments. The citizens who rose to speak, however, were markedly less interested in county affairs. One way or another, public comments were all variations on the theme of Donald Trump, who won 61% of the vote in Washington County in 2020.

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A woman respectfully requested that the commissioners instruct the elections director to segregate any undated mail ballots for next months election. (The validity of undated ballots is a source of bubbling conflict in the state; the county had already decided to segregate those ballots from others, pending clearer legal guidance.) That was as close to a local issue as the public comments produced.

A man rose to criticize false claims of election fraud, then segued into a tally of close Trump associates who have been convicted of crimes. A woman delivered an impressively learned sermon on the nature and history of fascism. Another woman, articulate and forceful, lambasted the commissioners for failing to open up voting machines to public inspection, and for generally destroying the sanctity of the vote in Washington County.

So do something! Count something by hand! she urged them. You cant just let this go on like this. I mean, why would we think that the 2022 midterms are going to be any different?

It was actually a slow day at the commission, comment-wise. Since the 2020 election, local citizens have been showing up at meetings, every other week, to demand that their local government refashion itself to serve the lies and confirm the conspiracy theories that animate them. Their frustration is palpable. So are their threats.

Election integrity is the No. 1 issue, but as it stands right now, every one of you has to go, one activist told the commissioners at their meeting on Dec. 16, 2021. The people are fed up and theyre not taking this. Im just trying to give you advice because were not going to go anywhere  and theres a lot of us. Most cant come because of work, but dont underestimate the support of this. That is my friendly advice.

Before he turned from the microphone, he offered a final comment: Merry Christmas.

Bracken Burns was a Democratic commissioner in the county until 2012. He presided at meetings literally every other week for 16 years, he said. Few people bothered to attend, and those who did were generally looking for help with a specific local problem.

After November 2020, the character of the meetings changed. Ive been to a couple of them, Bracken said, and they just make me physically ill.

Attacks on county government, which serves more than 200,000 residents, are also coming from inside the house. Brenda Davis, the clerk of courts, has waged a persistent war on the commissioners, promoting conspiracy theories and bucking commission directions. Davis, who eventually was held in contempt for refusing to follow a court order, was part of a MAGA wave that swept local elections in 2019. She is also a local promoter of Douglas Frank, an Ohio election conspiracist with whom Washington County commissioners agreed to meet last February.

Frank, whose work has been repeatedly exposed as junk, claimed the countys election was hacked and that county voting machines were subject to control chips. The commissioners found him unpersuasive. Their resistance merely provided additional evidence that local government, like state government and federal government, cant be trusted.

Commissioner Diana Irey Vaughan has grown accustomed to functioning in an ever-expanding fog of doubt. Still, she moves quickly and decisively, extending crisp, warm, greetings to the people she encounters walking the halls of government. After 27 years in office, she exudes confidence and competence. A registered Republican since she moved to the area in 1984, she might object to being likened to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but Vaughan has a similar woman-in-charge aura. She bluntly labels persistent falsehoods about the election, many of them generated by her own party, as propaganda.

Whether creators and consumers of propaganda will join to end Vaughans political career is an issue for next years elections. The story next year in Pennsylvania is going to be what happens in local primaries for county commissioner when you have election-denying candidates running, said Forrest Lehman, the elections director of Lycoming County. They want to be in charge of the elections.

Like some local officials elsewhere in the state, Vaughan took the initiative to review allegations of irregularities, spending hours investigating. I personally looked into over 500 allegations of wrongdoing, she said. Only two, she said, had any potential merit, and neither indicated systemic fraud. She turned her findings over to the district attorney.

My own party slammed down on my desk a list of individuals who they claimed were deceased but had voted, Vaughan told me. We found every one of those individuals very much alive.

Vaughans detective work produced only scorn from people who want their fantasies confirmed. For many of her constituents, the knot of lies and resentments, which they press and knead like worry beads, is too tight for even the most dedicated public official to unravel.

At the county commission meeting I attended, after the local woman had implored the commissioners to just do something, I followed her to the exit and asked if she would speak to me. She asked who I was writing for. After rolling her eyes at my answer, she said I wouldnt dare go against the narrative of the powerful mainstream media.

I asked her if there was something larger than an election that she feared had been stolen from her. (There is ample research that lost social status, and fear of further losses, is a driver of MAGA political reaction.) She accused me  perhaps justly this time  of seeking to impose a narrative on her.

Then she made an offer: If I would first agree to watch a film about voting machines, she would agree to speak to me.

We eyed each other for a while in silence. Her preferred conspiracy film was different from the more popular one I had been encouraged to watch earlier in the week in Gettysburg. I hadnt heard of it. I envisioned the tedium of sitting through more polarizing nonsense. And I imagined the Berlin Wall of mental checkpoints that would meet any question that I posed to her.

I told her that I wouldnt watch a conspiracy movie as a precondition to conversation, no doubt confirming her suspicions about the system. We did not speak again.

***

Democracy promotion used to be a project of US institutions engaged in foreign nations. Democracy groups are now working in Pennsylvania and other states as well. I spoke with half a dozen leaders in the movement over the past month. Each was working on safeguarding the 2022 election in Pennsylvania. The high stakes and heavy workload had not induced despair. But confidence was not overflowing.

Normally, truth is the answer to lies, said Al Schmidt, the former Republican commissioner in Philadelphia who now runs the Committee of Seventy, a good-government organization founded in Philadelphia more than a century ago. But weve only seen that to be of limited success. Its a lot easier to fool someone than to convince someone that theyve been fooled. And weve had about a third of Americans who have been fooled for a very long time.

Conservative activists have been producing bogus allegations of voter fraud for decades. There is a well-traveled claim, for example, that a state election in Missouri in 2010 was decided by 50 votes cast illegally by citizens of Somalia. A Missouri court found in 2010 that credible evidence proves that there was no voter misconduct and there was no voter fraud with regard to this election.

Yet the lie about dark-skinned foreigners casting illegal votes still motors around the propaganda track. You can read it, right now, on the website of the Heritage Foundation, where a Supreme Court justice spoke just last week. The false claim about Somalis appears under the byline of Hans von Spakovsky, a Heritage senior legal fellow who testified under oath in 2018 that he doesnt know of a single US election decided by noncitizen votes.

Trump may be a singular liar, but he has had many allies in his campaign to discredit democracy. His own attorney general, William Barr, was lauded for contradicting Trumps claims of widespread fraud in December 2020. But Barr had previously spread scurrilous claims about mail ballots and fraud, actively sowing doubt about the 2020 election before votes were cast. He then permitted Trumps lies to fester for weeks after the election before finally stating that the election was legitimate.

Fighting falsehoods has grown more difficult as the media has fractured and right-wing infotainment has become a closed loop. Most democracy organizations are focused elsewhere  on blunting the most egregious, public symptoms of anti-democratic fervor, such as intimidation efforts or laws and administrative actions designed to restrict voting. Addressing root causes of American conservative disaffection is largely beyond their capacity.

The job of democracy activists, nearly all of whom work for nonpartisan organizations, is further complicated by the reality that American democracy is increasingly a partisan commitment. We are a nonpartisan organization, said Al Schmidt, and Im very sensitive to perceptions that we would be considered anything other than nonpartisan. Thats a challenge when so much of the propaganda seeking to undermine confidence in elections is coming from my party, the Republican Party.

Many groups, including Common Cause and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, participate in an Election Protection Coalition, which is modeled on efforts that began during the 2020 election, when it became increasingly apparent that Trump did not intend to relinquish power voluntarily. The various groups have divisions of labor  communications, courts, voter registration and the like.

Kadida Kenner is chief executive officer of the New Pennsylvania Project, a voting-rights organization that primarily does voter registration. Democracy, she said, remains too abstract to mobilize many of the people her group seeks to engage. We cant get to the nitty-gritty of civic education if we cant get past the first few obstacles, which are the pocketbook issues, she told me.

Democracy needs active institutions to promote its interests and defend it against enemies, foreign and domestic. But the work of repair is going to have to extend beyond institutions, courthouses and big cities. The US Capitol was attacked on Jan. 6, 2021. Local county seats are fending off less violent, but no less insidious, attacks on a regular basis  with far fewer resources to blunt the blows. Conservative counties, where many credible leaders will face MAGA opponents in GOP primaries, are especially worrisome.

Coaxing tens of millions of Americans back to democratic commitments is a grueling task. I missed a quiet opportunity with the woman I met in Washington County. I dont mean to suggest that I would have breached her formidable defenses; of the two of us, she was likely the more certain of her beliefs. But the ebb and flow of democracy takes more effort one day than another. The cost of little failures  unrepaired frays, unventured conversations  is higher today than it was 20 years ago, or 40.

By its nature, democratic work falls to ordinary people, town by town, citizen by citizen. A Gettysburg Republican told me that the real conflict in her local party is not over Trump or his lies about voter fraud. Neither topic, she said, is much discussed. Instead, the division is between those Republicans who look at Democratic neighbors as civic equals and viable friends, and those who consider Democrats an enemy that must be crushed. In Gettysburg, a battle rages. The tide appears to run against the republic. The consequence of failure is a whirlwind.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Francis Wilkinson is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering U.S. politics and policy. Previously, he was an editor for the Week, a writer for Rolling Stone, a communications consultant and a political media strategist.

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Loading... Mike White and Garrett Wilson had a big day for the New York Jets on Sunday. (Adam Hunger/AP)

The Jets aren't going back to Zach Wilson anytime soon, Josh Jacobs is on a fascinating contract run, and the NFC East is lording over the conference.
Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has directed maintaining the strategic reserves of basic commodities and monitoring their market prices to ensure the stability of the countrys food security status.

Related Egyptian pound closes at 24 against USD on Sunday

The presidents directives to the government aim to ensure meeting citizens needs for basic commodities in the required quantities, maintain appropriate prices, and ensure they are available at government outlets nationwide, presidential spokesman Bassam Rady noted in a statement on Sunday.

El-Sisi made the remarks in a meeting with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and Minister of Supply and Internal Trade Ali Moselhi to follow up on the availability of strategic commodities across the country, Rady said.

During the meeting, Moselhi affirmed the availability of strategic reserves of wheat until April next year, which marks the beginning of the new wheat harvest season, the statement said.

However, the state is required to import 1 million tonnes of wheat over the coming period to ensure the availability of wheat reserves beyond April, Moselhi said on the sidelines of a press conference today.

Reserves of sugar and oil are sufficient until next February and the beginning of May respectively, Moselhi said in his meeting with El-Sisi.

The country also has reserves of meat and poultry for the coming 12 and five months respectively, he added.

The supply minister also stressed that Egypt has self-sufficiency in rice, noting that so the state has so far received 197,000 tons of rice from local farmers during the current rice supply season, which started late in August and extends until 15 December.

During the presser, Moselhi underscored the ban on rice exports that the government extended earlier this month under any circumstances to ensure availability of rice for citizens all year round.

He warned that rice stored in nonaccredited warehouses or transported without approval from the ministrys directorates will be confiscated.

The minister also warned that manipulation of rice is punishable by a fine ranging from EGP 10,000 to EGP 2 million.

Egypt, which has achieved self-sufficiency in rice in recent years, produces around 5 million tonnes of rice annually, Moselhi said earlier this month.

The state has repeatedly stressed its aim to secure strategic stockpiles of commodities for at least six months, especially amid the Russia-Ukraine crisis, which caused food and energy prices worldwide to soar.

Egypt, which used to depend on Russia and Ukraine for 80 percent of its imported wheat, has worked on diversifying its wheat import sources to meet its citizens needs.

The governments Consumer Protection Agency (CPA) said on Sunday it will intensify its monitoring campaigns on markets nationwide to prevent any price gouging and prevent sellers from using the current crisis to raise the prices of commodities unjustifiably.

In a statement, the CPA said it seized large quantities of rice, sugar, and flour from unidentified sources and without bills.

The CPA urged citizens to immediately report any violations that harm consumers through the agencys hotline 19588.

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Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size This story is part of the October 30 edition of Sunday Life. See all 13 stories . Melissa Doyle is no stranger to labels. There are the obvious: journalist, wife, mother. Then theres the one she cant shake.

I read it just last night  former Sunrise host  and I think, Is that what I am forever? Im super proud of it. It was an extraordinary part of my career, but you do kind of go, Ive done a few other things, too. I left Sunrise over nine years ago and I still get comments on social media We miss you on Sunrise, which is lovely, but you realise that people still see you in a certain way. Im sure there are actors out there  not that Im likening myself to one  but those whove had a defining role. I mean, Rachel from Friends will always be Rachel from Friends, whereas in real life Jennifer [Aniston] has done so many other amazing things. But I take it as a compliment. As proud as Mel is of her 11-year reign as the Queen of Australian brekky TV, this neat little label doesnt quite cover the magnitude of a career spanning more than three decades across TV, radio and print, not to mention additional flagship presenting roles for Today Tonight, Sunday Night and This Is Your Life. But Mels illustrious career didnt give her immunity to the challenges the last few years have thrown at us all. In mid-2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Mel found herself in a discombobulated state: shed just turned 50, her eldest child Nick was about to fly the coop to study in the United States, and she had lost her

job at Channel Seven after 25 years. I was always adamant that my job didnt define me, that I was much more than what I did, she says. But when it changes, you realise that so much of yourself is wrapped up in your job. Its a huge part of who you are, especially if youve been doing it a long time. You go to a party and meet someone and the first thing they say is, What do you do? Its part of how we relate to one another, so it took a bit of adjustment.

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Loss of identity is something we all experience at one point  and lets be honest, a hell of a lot of people did over the past few years. But it can also be a gift. Change is a good thing. It lets you explore other things. Maybe its all part of the bigger picture. Aje Simone jacket dress, $475 Credit:Hugh Stewart Whats abundantly clear is that Mels mind runs at a hundred miles an hour, and she admits shes always thinking about the next story. Along with her trademark sunny disposition, theres a dogged determination that comes with being a perpetually curious journalist. Loading During those early lockdowns, when most of us were concocting Zoom quizzes or making impressive dents in our wine cabinets, she was ready to drive her family crazy with her next all-consuming project: a book on resilience. The finished product, 15 Seconds of Brave: The Wisdom of Survivors, is a reminder that at the root of Mels many achievements, shes a brilliant storyteller. It features eight survivors stories and how they dealt with complex and harrowing issues that include insurmountable grief, alcoholism, crippling depression, and becoming paraplegic. Youd be forgiven for thinking the book could be a particularly gruelling exercise in toxic positivity; instead, it manages to achieve a balance between heartbreaking and heartwarming while including tangible coping mechanisms for everyday life. Something thats immediately apparent is that her subjects arent

just case studies to Mel  theyre her friends. I have this habit when

I interview people of keeping some of them. When theyve shared a harrowing experience, I find it hard to just say thanks very much and walk away. And, you know, some of them came to me through Sunday Night

and were tough interviews to do. I felt a duty of care in the aftermath of them sharing everything.

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Among the exceptional people featured are Danny Abdallah, the father who lost three of his children and niece to a drunk driver; Grace Akallo, a former Ugandan child soldier; and Kat Barlow, a beautifully sanguine mother whose son, Noah, has a rare terminal disease. I have this habit when I interview people of keeping some of them. When theyve shared a harrowing experience, I find it hard to just say thanks very much and walk away. Mel explains that if these survivors can get through the worst experiences imaginable, then surely we can apply their attitudes and methods to areas in our own lives when we feel off-kilter. Her own motto for lifes setbacks is simple: control the controllable. But she also has her secret weapon  the unwavering support of her family. Ginger & Smart Novelist jacket, $465, and pants, $345. Credit:Hugh Stewart Mel met her husband, John Dunlop, when she was just 23 and theyre now in their 27th year of marriage, with two grown-up children, Nick, 21, and Talia, 18. While Mel says they dont overanalyse matters, it appears good old-fashioned compatibility is the linchpin to their successful marriage.

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John is the steady, sensible one. Im the one with 400 million ideas and am constantly going Oh my god, Im going to do this and Lets try that. He just looks at me with that look like, Okay, just sit down for a minute, dear. He knows when the bills are due and where the keys are and reminds me about the important things in life when I forget. Im so grateful to him. Theres no way I could have got up at stupid oclock for so many years, or moved onto Sunday Night and travelled the world, or all the things Ive done in my career without him supporting me 100 per cent. They are a tight-knit family and, like many mothers, Mel is discovering the double-edged poignancy of an empty (or at least emptier) nest since Nick left home in late 2020. She says her feelings are reminiscent of the kids starting school. But there is also so much joy to be had in Mels evolving relationship with her children. Its funny; you raise them to fly the nest but forget to get yourself ready. We just got off the phone to Nick and hes doing well, she says. Its hard having him living on the other side of the world, but thank goodness for FaceTime. Talia is never allowed to leave  ever. Shes at uni in Sydney so shes still at home. Its funny; you raise them to fly the nest but forget to get yourself ready. Loading When they start school, its the same. You spend all this time getting them ready, but I remember dropping them off and bursting into tears. Its the same with Nick leaving home. We were so excited and kept making sure he was on top of it and enthused and he went off, fist pumping the air and John and I looked at each other and went, Oh my god! Its an odd feeling.

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Ive loved the changing relationship [with Nick and Talia], the redefining of it all. Now theyre able to have different conversations and theyre both lovely young humans, so the fact theyre mine is a bonus. Ginger & Smart Novelist jacket, $465, and Novelist pants, $345. Credit:Hugh Stewart With her profile, Mel has lived over half her life in the public eye, but says she largely manages to avoid being negatively affected by it. All my friends are from my life in other areas  I dont socialise in the flash circles. Theyre from school or uni or mothers group. I feel like I just lead a very normal life. I will get upset if somethings written thats untrue or is trying to poke a bear, but Ive also got to the point where I know the truth and I know the people that matter in my life  and if they know the truth, thats all that matters. That probably sounds a bit flippant, but I value the opinions of those who matter to me and if someone else wants to make some dumb comment then, whatever. Everyone kept saying to me, How do you feel about turning 50? And I thought, What do you mean? I feel fine. Another topic that has lit a fire within Mel in the past few years is the subject of ageing. While she has a talent for capturing the zeitgeist, she says her ongoing projects reflect how shes feeling at that given time.

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Australian intelligence helped stop a massive amount of liquid methamphetamine leaving Hong Kong for New South Wales hidden in cartons of coconut water, which would have led to millions of street deals close to $1.6 billion.

Information gathered by Australian Federal Police officers based in Mexico led Hong Kong Customs and Excise officials to X-ray a shipping container, in which they found 1.8 tonnes of the drug last week. It was Hong Kongs largest meth bust.

Police are working to identify the criminals involved in the plot to smuggle the drugs from Central America to Australia via Hong Kong.

A tip from Australian police led to a massive meth seizure in Hong Kong

The AFPs senior officer in Mexico, Detective Superintendent Patrick Gordon, said the meth could have been sold as 18 million street-level deals.
WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are warned that the following story contains an image of a deceased person.

Several vigils and rallies have been planned around the country and overseas for Cassius Turvey, the 15-year-old Noongar boy who died after allegedly being chased and bashed with a metal pole in Perths north-east last week.

Jack Brearley, 21, is accused of his murder and will appear in court next month.

His grieving mother has thanked Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for condemning her sons alleged murder as racially motivated at a gathering at Midlands Weeip Park.
Higher taxes on gas exporters are on the agenda after Treasurer Jim Chalmers said he would look at an official review of resources taxes while warning of the need for sensible tax reform to make the budget more sustainable.

In a sign the government is open to increasing the petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT) arrangements to collect more revenue from gas exporters, Chalmers said he would take really seriously the advice of a Treasury review into the issue when it delivers its findings.

Treasurer Dr Jim Chalmers has signalled a preparedness to consider changes to the PRRT pending the findings of a Treasury review. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

I do understand that there is a substantial part of the community that would prefer that PRRT take was higher, Chalmers told ABC Insiders on Sunday.

We havent been working up an option to do that  to change the PRRT arrangements  but the Treasury has been commissioned by my predecessor and by his predecessor to do some of this work around the taxing point in the PRRT.
Suspected jihadists have ambushed and killed 13 soldiers in Burkina Faso's eastern province, security sources told AFP on Sunday in the latest violence to shake the insurgency-torn west African nation.

Four members of the defence forces were also wounded in Saturday's attack along the road linking Fada N'Gourma with Natiaboani, one of the sources said.

"Reinforcements have been deployed to secure the zone and carry out a search," a second source added, confirming the casualty toll. The unit that came under fire had been sent to relieve a detachment from Natiaboani.

The ambush comes after the powerful Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM), which is linked to Al-Qaeda, claimed Friday it carried out an attack on a military base in Djibo, a major northern town that has been under a jihadist blockade for three months.

The army said at least 10 soldiers died and 50 were wounded in that "terrorist" assault on the 14th regiment on Monday.

The army added it killed 18 "terrorists" in mopping-up operations.

GSIM also claimed responsibility for an attack on a supply convoy heading for Djibo on September 26 that left 37 dead -- 27 of them soldiers. Dozens of truck drivers are still missing.

That assault helped trigger the latest coup in Burkina just four days later, led by young army captain Ibrahim Traore.

He became interim president on October 21, vowing to win back territory from jihadists.

It was Burkina's second coup in eight months, driven by a seven-year insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives and driven nearly two million people from their homes.

The new government on Wednesday declared securing the Sahel state's territory would be top priority.

More than a third of national territory remains outside government control.

The authorities also launched a drive to recruit 50,000 civilian defence volunteers to back up the army as the number of attacks increases.

A UN envoy warned this week that 4.9 million people, or a fifth of Burkina's population, need urgent aid as many "mothers were forced to feed their children with leaves and salt".

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Treasurer Jim Chalmers will consider increasing tax on gas companies and has kept the door open to imposing price controls as part of a mandatory code of conduct for the industry, as the government faces mounting pressure to intervene to get power prices under control.

There is no clear timeline for when soaring power prices will begin to moderate, with last weeks budget forecasting a 56 per cent increase in electricity prices over two years, including a 20 per cent hike by late this year. Gas prices are also expected to increase 44 per cent in the next 18 months.

Jim Chalmers. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Chalmers signalled the government would consider strengthening the petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT) arrangements to collect more revenue from gas exporters, saying he would take seriously the advice of a Treasury review into the issue, commissioned by the former Coalition government.

I do understand that there is a substantial part of the community that would prefer that PRRT take was higher, Chalmers told ABC Insiders on Sunday.
The development of an effective vaccine for malaria has proved to be far more challenging than developing a vaccine to protect people from COVID-19. Several different COVID-19 vaccines were developed and approved for use within a year of the diseases emergence.

In contrast, it took over 30 years of intensive research and numerous clinical trials by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and partners before the first malaria vaccine, Mosquirix, was approved for use by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2021.

Creating a vaccine for a vector-borne disease such as malaria is very challenging. The parasite takes on different forms in different hosts. And its constantly evolving to evade the human immune system and control interventions.

In a major step towards the equitable roll-out of Mosquirix, the WHO awarded the vaccine prequalification status in September 2022. The prequalification step follows approval. It ensures that only good quality products are procured and distributed by United Nations agencies and other major donors.

Most recently, researchers from Burkina Faso and Oxford Universitys Jenner Institute, the same institution that developed the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, made their own revelation. They released very encouraging data from a clinical trial assessing the novel R21 malaria vaccine.

Like Mosquirix, the R21 vaccine targets the sporozoite. This is the malaria parasite stage that is transferred to humans when the malaria-infected female Anopheles mosquito is taking a blood meal.

When effective, both vaccines ensure that the sporozoites are destroyed before they enter the liver. It effectively prevents malaria infection by halting the parasite life cycle in the human host.

The fight against malaria has been significantly strengthened with the addition of malaria vaccines to the suite of prevention measures.

These vaccines have the potential to reduce malaria-related illness and and death in children under the age of five, one of the populations currently most affected by malaria.

What Studies Show

Both vaccines, Mosquirix and R21, target the same parasite stage and use the same malaria proteins. But Oxfords R21 vaccine contains a higher number of these malaria proteins.

And it uses a different adjuvant, a chemical substance that stimulates the bodys immune response. These two factors are thought to improve the efficacy of the R21 vaccine by causing a stronger immune response.

The preliminary data are drawn from a two-year study involving 409 children aged five to 17 months. The children received a booster dose 12 months after receiving the first three doses of the vaccine.

The data suggest that the R21 vaccine resulted in a higher level of protection than Mosquirix.

Eight out of every 10 children who received four doses of the R21 vaccine did not develop malaria over the trial period, making this malaria vaccine the first to meet the WHO minimum efficacy target of 75% for 12 months in the target population of young African children.

These Study Results Are Encouraging.

But researchers have cautioned against a direct comparison between the performance of the R21 and Mosquirix vaccines. Unlike the Mosquirix vaccine, the R21 vaccine was given to children before the start of the malaria season.

And it was only tested on a small number of children from one region in Burkina Faso. In addition, a number of control and prevention measures were in place.

A larger study is needed to confirm vaccine efficacy in African children across the continent. This study must be done in regions with differing malaria transmission intensities, differing levels of malnutrition and anaemia in the target populations, and varying coverage of control interventions.

Four thousand eight hundred children from four African countries, two of which have malaria transmission all year round, have been enrolled in a phase 3 clinical trial.

The aim of this trial is to demonstrate vaccine safety and efficacy in a larger, more diverse group of children. The researchers from the Jenner Institute expect the R21 vaccine to be approved for use next year, as long as no unexpected safety concerns are raised in this larger trial.

Manufacturing and distribution bottlenecks prevented the timely and equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. To avoid a repeat, the University of Oxford has signed a manufacturing agreement with the Serum Institute of India, the largest manufacturer of vaccines globally.

Under this agreement, the Serum Institute has agreed to supply at least 200 million doses annually. This is significantly more than the 15 million to 18 million doses of Mosquirix that GlaxoSmithKline is contracted to produce every year until 2028.

But, according to the WHO, this quantity is far lower than the projected demand for vaccines. To increase manufacturing capacity, the Jenner Institute is in talks with African vaccine manufacturers.

Moving Forward

Getting the vaccines manufactured is only the first step.

Other hurdles include ensuring that countries can procure the vaccines, that there is equitable delivery of the vaccines to the requesting countries, and that there is prompt vaccines distribution to all healthcare facilities within the malaria risk areas. And most importantly, that there is optimal uptake of the vaccines.

Misinformation, vaccine hesitancy and safety concerns have contributed to a lower rate of vaccination against COVID-19, particularly among children.

For a malaria vaccine to have an impact, health promotion is key. Awareness campaigns must address safety concerns, while emphasising expected positive impacts of the vaccine.

These campaigns must target both healthcare professionals and affected communities. They must be delivered before and during vaccine roll-out to ensure any new misinformation or concerns are promptly and effectively addressed.

* This story was published in the Conversation

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Allentown, PA (18103)

Today

Breezy with clouds and some sun..

Tonight

Turning out mainly clear with gradually diminishing winds. Colder compared to previous nights.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  Russia resumed its blockade of Ukrainian ports on Sunday, cutting off urgently needed grain exports to hungry parts of the world in what U.S. President Joe Biden called a really outrageous act.

Biden warned that global hunger could increase because of Russias suspension of a U.N.-brokered deal to allow safe passage of ships carrying grain from Ukraine, one of the world's breadbaskets.

Its really outrageous, Biden said Saturday in Wilmington, Delaware. Theres no merit to what theyre doing. The U.N. negotiated that deal and that should be the end of it.

Biden spoke hours after Russia announced it would immediately halt participation in the grain deal, alleging that Ukraine staged a drone attack Saturday against Russias Black Sea Fleet off the coast of occupied Crimea. Ukraine has denied the attack, saying that Russia mishandled its own weapons.

Ukraine's Infrastructure Ministry reported Sunday that 218 ships involved in grain exports have been blocked  22 loaded and stuck at ports, 95 loaded and departed from ports, and 101 awaiting inspections.

One of the blocked ships, carrying 40,000 tons of wheat for Ethiopia under a U.N. aid program, could not leave Ukraine on Sunday as a result of Russias blockage of the grain corridor, Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraines minister of infrastructure, said on Twitter. The ship, Ikaria Angel, was stuck in the Black Sea port of Chornomorsk.

The Istanbul-based UN center coordinating the ship passages later said the Ikaria Angel was among six vessels that began moving out but hadn't yet entered a humanitarian corridor. The center reported on plans to move and inspect other ships on Monday but it wasn't clear whether Russia would agree.

The grain initiative  an example of rare wartime cooperation between Ukraine and Russia  has allowed more than 9 million tons of grain in 397 ships to safely leave Ukrainian ports since it was signed in July. U.N. chief Antonio Guterres had urged Russia and Ukraine on Friday to renew the deal when it expires Nov. 19. The grain agreement has brought down global food prices about 15% from their peak in March, according to the U.N.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskky expressed outrage at Russia's decision. Referring to the Ikaria Angel, he said in his nightly video address Sunday, This bulk ship with wheat for the U.N. food program and other vessels with agricultural products are forced to wait, because Russia is blackmailing the world with hunger.

Two initiatives to revive the grain deal were reported Sunday.

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar was in talks with his counterparts to solve the problem and to continue the grain initiative, his agency said, adding that no more grain ships would leave Ukraine but those already waiting near Istanbul would be inspected on Sunday or Monday.

At the United Nations in New York, Guterres delayed a trip by a day to engage in talks aimed at ending Russias suspension of the grain export deal. Russia also requested a meeting Monday of the U.N. Security Council to discuss the topic.

Analysts say Russia's withdrawal shows that it sees the grain deal as another way to pressure Ukraine.

By leaving the deal now and putting the blame on Ukraine, it aims to slow Ukrainian attacks around the Black Sea, said Mario Bikarski, a Economist Intelligence Unit analyst. Russia could be hoping that Ukraines Western allies might ask it to focus its forces elsewhere to save the grain deal, he said.

More conflicting details emerged Sunday about the alleged attack on Russia's Black Sea Fleet.

The city council of Mariupol, a Ukrainian port now controlled by Russia, claimed on Telegram that Ukrainian special services had destroyed at least three Russian warships near the city of Sevastopol on the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula.

But an adviser to Ukraines Interior Ministry claimed that the Russians' careless handling of explosives had caused blasts on four Russian warships. Anton Gerashchenko wrote on Telegram that the vessels included a frigate, a landing ship and a ship that carried cruise missiles.

Reports have surfaced for months of Ukrainian sabotage of Russian warplanes and ammunition depots on Crimea and Zelenskky has vowed repeatedly to recapture the strategic Black Sea peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014.

Russia's Defense Ministry claimed Sunday that one Ukrainian drone that reportedly attacked Sevastopol appeared to emanate from a civilian ship carrying agricultural products from Ukraine. The ministry claimed an inspection of the wreckage showed the drones used Canadian-made navigation and their launch point was the Ukrainian coast near the port of Odesa.

Independent verification of each side's claims was not possible.

Ukraine appears to have targeted the Black Sea Fleet and other Russian military infrastructure on Crimea  far from the front lines but a critical launching pad for attacks against Ukraine  since the spring, although it often doesn't confirm its responsibility.

On the battlefront, Russian missile attacks kept pounding key front-line hot spots in Ukraine. The Russians shelled seven Ukrainian regions over the past 24 hours, killing at least five civilians and wounding nine more, Ukraines presidential office said.

In the eastern Donetsk region, where the fighting is ongoing near the cities of Bakhmut and Avdiivka, eight cities and villages were shelled.

In areas that Ukraine has recaptured, residents are still recovering bodies of killed civilians, Donetsk Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said.

Over the past 24 hours alone, in three de-occupied towns and villages, we found abandoned bodies of Ukrainian civilians, Kyrylenko said.

Ukraines Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskiy said Sunday that Russian forces were mining territories they leave behind twice as densely as during the first months of the war.

Power outages were reported Sunday in the occupied Ukrainian city of Enerhodar, home to the closed Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe's largest. Ukrainian and Russian officials traded blame for the shelling that caused the blackout.

Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
DOYLESTOWN, Pa. -- "Arwen was like our miracle baby."

Arwen Avetta is 13 years old.

She likes jewelry, movies, artwork, and just being a teenager in Doylestown with her three sisters, and her parents by her side.

"She is not your average 13-year-old at all. She's an extremely confident child. She always has been," said her mom, Amy Avetta.

That confidence is what's gotten her through seven months at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

It's because Arwen was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia this year.

"Our whole world just completely changed," said Avetta.

The Avetta parents take turns spending nights by Arwen's side at the hospital.

"She enjoys getting one on one time with me and my husband because one of us is always there," said Avetta.

But Arwen misses being home. She misses her sisters, her friends, and can't wait to play outside.

"Being outside in nature is the number one thing that she misses, seeing the sky and the trees," said Avetta.

And a bone marrow donor could make that a reality for Arwen.

"Bone marrow donation can be extremely successful and be the key that saves someone's life and lets them go on to live a healthy life," said Avetta.

And it's all possible through websites like Bethematch.org and Giftoflife.org.

They're just two of the many ways donors can find that person whose life they'll change forever.

People, just like Arwen.

"She just sees herself as loved, special, strong. She knows that she's got to be tough," said Avetta.
Columbus Area Historical Society

1972

Ten students from Dickason Elementary School competed at the Columbia County District Conservation and Environmental Awareness Speaking Contest in Portage. Speakers were Eugene Kidd, Barb Dilley, Mark Woodward, Elisa Van Horn, Vicki Hughes, Lori Salzwedel, Danny Durow, Caroline Feuling, Robin Van Fleet, and Tad Monthie.

Columbus Council 1609 Knights of Columbus was presented with the Star Council Trophy Award, the highest award that can be achieved in the organization. The award was achieved under the leadership of Grand Knight Sylvester Ballweg.

1982

A recent decision by the citys Park Board to disband and turn management responsibilities of local parks to the city was to take place Jan. 1, 1983. It was suggested that the city create a Parks and Recreation Commission. The Commission would seek the experience of Park Board, Recreation Committee, and city Department of Public Works members to assist the new commission.

Columbus Community Hospital was commended by the American Hospital Association for its ability to control costs. Room rates in Columbus were lower than area hospitals average of $150 for a semi-private room.

1992

The Columbus Care Center opened their new patio area in memory of John Platz, a former resident of the care facility. His wife, Margaret Platz donated money for lawn furniture for the patio.

Craig Kadinger was recognized as one of 100 Real Heroes in a Nationwide Award Program. Kadinger was nominated for his involvement with the Columbus High School Students Against Driving Drunk Chapter, the first SADD Chapter in the state.

2002

Harvey Paulson, Rio, celebrated his 103rd birthday. He was born on Oct. 23, 1899, in St. Croix County and moved to Rio in 1907, when his father became part owner of the Rio Hardware Store. Paulson was part of the hardware business for 63 years.

Columbus City Council held a special meeting to consider the 96-unit multi-family planned

Follow us on Facebook at Columbus, WI Area Historical Society, or email museumcahs@gmail.com. The Columbus WI Area Historical Society is looking for a new home for its museum. If anyone has ideas on where to locate, contact Peter Kaland, society president.
The European Union on Sunday urged Russia to reverse its decision to suspend participation in a vital Ukraine grain export deal.

"Russia's decision to suspend participation in the Black Sea deal puts at risks the main export route of much needed grain and fertilisers to address the global food crisis caused by its war against Ukraine," the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell tweeted. "The EU urges Russia to revert its decision."

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British sociologist Martin Albrow is interviewed after his new book's launch ceremony in London, Britain, April 6, 2022. [Xinhua/Li Ying]

"The global future of the human species ... is an issue which commands the attention of people everywhere in the world. There are so many things that need to be done. So China can take the lead on that," Martin Albrow, a fellow of the British Academy of Social Sciences, said.

LONDON, Oct. 29 (Xinhua)  Chinese President Xi Jinping's vision of a human community with a shared future has been an "outstanding" theoretical achievement of global significance, a renowned British sociologist said.

"When you talk about a shared human future, you talk about the things that we can do together in the future, not a future where we are all the same," Martin Albrow, a fellow of the British Academy of Social Sciences, told Xinhua.

Albrow has made multiple visits to China since the 1980s and has been closely watching China's development.

A pioneer in the study of globalization in the West, he has been focusing his research on China's development, systems and governance in recent years.

Albrow told Xinhua that he first came across the idea of a human community with a shared future in the book "Xi Jinping: The Governance of China," and that he was impressed most by Xi's "logical and theoretical exploration of concepts."

"For the future, you have to have ideas developing all the time," he said. "And this is what Xi Jinping does. He is, from that point of view, absolutely outstanding."

Photo taken on April 10, 2018 shows Professor Martin Albrow holding his book, China's Role in a Shared Human Future, at the 2018 London Book Fair in London, Britain. [Xinhua/Ray Tang]

That is how he started off with years of research into this idea, having published two books in recent years, titled "China's Role in a Shared Human Future: Towards Theory for Global Leadership" in 2018 and "China and the Shared Human Future: Exploring Common Values and Goals" lately.

At the launch of his new book in April, Albrow said the idea of building a human community with a shared future was to update the age old Chinese idea of harmony without uniformity, between cultures, including all people.

In his new book, the British scholar wrote that the COVID-19 has shown to perfection that it is imperative for human beings to work together to meet global challenges and build a human community with a shared future, and that it is also imperative for all in the world to recognize that mankind has a shared destiny and future and must therefore look out for each other and marshal a collective response to global challenges.

At present, China offers the world qualities that can mobilize other countries to meet global threats, he noted.

Aerial photo taken on June 30, 2022 shows a China-Europe freight train pulling out of the Tuanjiecun station in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. [Xinhua/Tang Yi]

China now, with its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), is for the first time in its history taking its unique national experience into a wider world far beyond its traditional boundaries, Albrow said in his book.

The proposal's main difference from the Western-inspired models of governance is that it looks to shared goals rather than the imposition of rules, and it approaches other cultures in the spirit of finding common goals and shared projects, he added.

"The global future of the human species ... is an issue which commands the attention of people everywhere in the world. There are so many things that need to be done. So China can take the lead on that," Albrow said.

This echoed his words during a previous interview with Xinhua, in which he said: "Belt and Road provides the world with two important examples of how to build a community of shared future. Firstly it shows that technologies cross boundaries. They are the products of human ingenuity and efforts that can benefit all who care to make use of them. Secondly, it is the exact opposite to isolation. China and the other nations joining in the Belt and Road agreements are using their sovereign rights and power to work towards goals that all can share and help to meet global challenges that face us all."

Aerial photo shows a Fuxing bullet train running through Nanxihe grand bridge on the China-Laos Railway in southwest China's Yunnan Province, June 2, 2022. [Xinhua/Jiang Wenyao]

"China has this fabric of ideas which holds it together ... It is also held together by its past and its culture," the expert said. "China has a theoretically-led government system. This is one of the most extraordinary strengths of it."

The global future "is an issue which commands the attention of people everywhere in the world, not just people of this country or that country," Albrow noted.

Tackling such big global issues as climate change, nuclear security and deforestation needs "the focus for collective activities, which go beyond national boundaries," he said.

(Source: Xinhua)
US President Joe Biden has warned that global hunger could increase because of Russia's suspension of a UN-brokered deal to allow safe passage for ships carrying Ukrainian grain.

``It's really outrageous,'' said Biden speaking in Wilmington, Delaware, on Saturday. ``There's no merit to what they're doing. The UN negotiated that deal and that should be the end of it.''

Biden spoke hours after Russia announced it would immediately halt participation in the agreement, alleging that Ukraine staged a drone attack Saturday against Russia's Black Sea Fleet ships off the coast of occupied Crimea.

Ukraine has denied the attack, saying that Russia mishandled its own weapons.

The grain initiative has allowed more than 9 million tons of grain in 397 ships to safely leave Ukrainian ports since it was signed in July, and the UN chief on Friday urged Russia and Ukraine to renew the deal when it expires in late November.

The grain agreement has succeeded in bringing down global food prices, which have fallen about 15% from their peak in March, according to the United Nations.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the decision predictable and said Russia has been deliberately aggravating the food crisis since September.

Currently, some 176 ships loaded with grain are being prevented from sailing from Ukraine's ports, he said.

``This is food for more than 7 million consumers. . Why is it that a handful of people somewhere in the Kremlin can decide whether there will be food on the tables of people in Egypt or Bangladesh?'' he said Saturday in his nightly address to the nation.

Other Ukrainian officials were more vehement, with one saying that Russia has started a real-life ``hunger games'' for the world's poor.

A ship with 40,000 tons of grains bound for Ethiopia under the United Nations aid program could not leave Ukraine on Sunday as a result of Russia's suspension of the deal, said Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraine's minister of infrastructure.

Russia's action is facing international condemnation. European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell urged Russia to reverse its decision in a tweet Sunday.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary general, said the world body is in touch with Russian authorities about the decision and that it's vital all parties refrain from any actions that would impede the grain initiative.

Russia had been setting conditions to withdraw from the deal for some time, the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank said.

The institute said even if Ukraine did order an attack Saturday on Russia's Black Sea Fleet, that would have been proportionate to Russia's intense bombing campaign against Ukrainian civilian targets and energy infrastructure in recent weeks.

Earlier this month, Moscow intensified its missile and drone strikes on Ukraine's power stations, waterworks and other key infrastructure, damaging 40% of Ukraine's electric system and forcing the government to implement rolling blackouts.

Kyiv's mayor said the Ukrainian capital's power system was operating in "emergency mode.''

The Kremlin said it was ready for peace talks but stressed that they should be held with Washington, which Russia views as Kyiv's "mastermind,'' Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman told Russian state television on Sunday.

"Obviously, the deciding vote belongs to Washington . It is impossible to talk about something, for example, with Kyiv,'' he said.

Such a demand is unlikely to be accepted by the governments in Ukraine or the US.

As diplomats focused on ships full of grain, Russian missile attacks kept pounding key front-line hot spots in Ukraine.

The Russians have shelled seven Ukrainian regions over the past 24 hours, killing at least five civilians and wounding nine more, Ukraine's presidential office said.

In the eastern Donetsk region, where the fighting is ongoing near the cities of Bakhmut and Avdiivka, eight cities and villages were shelled.

In addition, in areas recaptured by Ukraine, residents are still recovering bodies of killed civilians, Donetsk Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said.

"Over the past 24 hours alone, in three de-occupied towns and villages, we found abandoned bodies of Ukrainian civilians,'' Kirilenko said.

"The Russians are ignoring all principles of war. Every week we discover either individual or mass graves of civilians.''

Ukraine's Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskiy also said Sunday that Russian forces were mining territories they leave behind twice as densely as during the first months of the war.

"Virtually everything in the recently de-occupied territories has been mined,'' Monastyrskiy told Ukrainian television.

Power outages were reported in the occupied Ukrainian city of Enerhodar, home to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe's largest. Ukrainian and Russian officials traded blame for the shelling that caused the blackout.

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Music to the ears of teachers and pupils as free digital platform launches

Every child and young person in Wales will have free access to a new bilingual digital music platform to help them discover their first musical notes.

Charanga Cymru is a bilingual digital platform which is now available free of charge to all schools in Wales as a teaching and learning resource to support the National Plan for Music Education.

It has been developed through partnership work between the Welsh Government, Charanga and the Welsh Local Government Association.

To help teachers become familiar with the new platform, a resource pack for six weeks of work will be provided initially for each of the progression steps in the Expressive Arts Area in the Curriculum for Wales.

Children can enjoy singing, listening and responding, improvising, and creating new music.

The platform includes an extensive training and professional development plan for teachers and practitioners to ensure that they feel confident to use the platform to support the delivery of music tuition during classroom learning. The content includes videos and personalised teaching and learning features.

For the first time, this platform will be available free of charge to schools across Wales, thanks to Welsh Government funding. Normally, schools must pay a subscription fee to access Charanga  a service that is already widely used in schools across the UK.

All teachers in Wales will be able to register and access the platform from 27 October.

The launch of the platform supports the National Music Service for Wales in widening access to music tuition and education, ensuring more children and young people can benefit from opportunities to learn to play an instrument as well as singing and making music in our schools and communities.

The Minister for Education and the Welsh Language, Jeremy Miles said: Charanga is recognised internationally as a fantastic digital music education resource.

Im delighted were able to build on this success with a fully bilingual version that is bespoke to Wales, which includes culturally-rich content and contributions from Welsh musicians.

Im delighted that every teacher and pupil will be able to access this engaging resource free of charge which will inspire our young people to develop their musical talent.

This is the latest step in our implementation of the National Plan for Music Education, and an important way in which we are making access to music education available to all, regardless of their background or where they live.

Councillor Ian Roberts (Flintshire), WLGA Spokesperson for Education said: As the new National Music service for Wales is rolled out, this is just the start of what we will have to offer children, young people and communities across Wales over the next three years as part of the National Music Plan.

Charanga is a special resource that will support the teaching of music to children and young people in the classroom and give them this first opportunity of what music and instruments can give them.

Mari Lloyd Pritchard, Co-ordinator of the National Music Service for Wales, said: It is important to emphasise that this is a digital platform that is special to us in Wales.

It is not simply a translation of the platform in England and Scotland, but there is content that is completely Welsh and that shows the wealth of experience and fresh talents we have here.

Not everyone has the confidence and musical expertise to be able to teach music in class, but Charanga is suitable for everyone. Our hope is that this, coupled with the invaluable support of local music services, will become an integral part of the schools musical life.

Mark Burke, Founder of Charanga added: It has been an absolute pleasure to work with Welsh Government, WLGA, CAGAC and teachers across Wales to develop this innovative platform.

Providing access to high-quality educational technology will greatly support the Welsh Governments investment in professional development for teachers and its ambitious plan to put musical instruments into the hands of thousands of children.

The team here at Charanga is delighted to be a part of the project.
Spectacular music and displays at British Military Tattoo

An evening of spectacular music and military displays in Wrexham has been praised for its fitting tribute and inspiration.

The British Military Tattoo returned to the city last week with its show The North Wales Military Music Pageant A Reel of Remembrance. It w was in aid of the Not Forgotten Veterans Charity.

The audience was entertained and inspired by performances from The Regimental Band and Corps of Drums of The Royal Welsh, The Regimental Mascots of The British Army The Royal Welch Fusiliers Corps of Drums and The Massed Military Wives Choir and Soloist Ava Gordon Butler.

Other performances on the night included:

The British International Tattoo Pipes and Drums

Liverpool Concert Orchestra and Canzonetta Choir

Military Drill Displays form The Military preparation College of Training

Batala Bangor representing The Commonwealth

Emma May School of Irish Dance

White Rose Highland Dancers

Roberts Bakery Band

Before the musical spectacular there were military displays from all three armed services and a wide selection of stands and activities for the whole family to enjoy.

Cllr Beverley Parry Jones, Armed Forces Champion, who attended the event said: This was a particularly poignant event as we followed a musical journey through each decade of the former Queens reign.

There were stirring musical performances throughout the evening and it was a thoroughly enjoyable event.

As we approach the British Legion Poppy Appeal and Remembrance Sunday it was a fitting tribute to our armed forces and brings to the front of our minds the ultimate sacrifice made on our behalf so that we can enjoy the freedom that we have today.

The Mayor of Wrexham, Cllr Brian Cameron was also in attendance. Speaking after the event, he said: What a truly inspiring event and such an honour to see it here in Wrexham where our armed forces are particularly close to our hearts.

Its been an eventful year for the armed services and I would like to thank everyone that has been involved in all the events that have been held.

Organiser, Gareth Butler, said: We were really excited about bringing this event to Wrexham once again and had increased the number of tickets available following the success of last years event.

Wrexham didnt disappoint and it proved to be a really uplifting and reflective event and was an evening to remember.

I very much hope that we can gain enough support to make this an annual event for the area and already have our show The Mighty Atlantic Commemorating The Battle of The Atlantic written and cast for July 15th 2023.
The Russian government has accused Britain of playing a major role in the September 26 blowing up of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines.

Powerful underwater explosions blew gaping holes in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, which carry Russian natural gas 760-miles under the Baltic Sea to Germany. The pipelines have a joint annual capacity to provide 110 billion cubic metres of gas, more than 50 percent of Russias normal gas export volumes.

Map of the Nord-Stream pipelines [Photo by FactsWithoutBias1 / CC BY-SA 4.0

On Saturday, a spokesperson for Russias defence ministry said, According to available information, representatives of this unit of the British Navy took part in the planning, provision and implementation of a terrorist attack in the Baltic Sea on September 26 this year blowing up the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines. The unit of the British Navy referred to, as the spokesperson later detailed, were British operatives in the city of Ochakiv, Mykolaiv region, Ukraine.

The explosions destroyed tens of billions of dollars in infrastructure vital to financing Russias economy, and powering and heating European industry and households. Russias state-owned energy company Gazprom is the main owner of the pipelines. The leaks took place on international waters, but of the four explosions two of them were in the Danish exclusive economic zone and two in the Swedish zone, close to the Baltic Sea island of Bornholm.

Nord Stream 1 had been operating for nearly 11 years, while Nord Stream 2 contained gas but had not yet been brought into commercial operation, owing to pressure by Washington on Germany and other EU powers.

The spokesperson also alleged UK involvement in Saturdays attacks on Russian ships in the Black Sea. He stated, At 4.20am today, the Kyiv regime carried out a terrorist attack on Black Sea Fleet ships and civilian vessels.

Preparation for the terrorist act and training of military personnel of the Ukrainian 73rd Special Operations Centre Marine Unit was carried out under the guidance of British specialists who were in the city of Ochakiv, Mykolaiv region, Ukraine.

It should be stressed that the Black Sea Fleet vessels that suffered the terrorist attack are involved in ensuring the security of the grain corridor as part of the international initiative to export agricultural products from Ukrainian ports.

Britains Ministry of Defence denied the accusations, saying they were made to distract from Russias disastrous handling of the illegal invasion of Ukraine.

Russias statement comes after weeks of insinuations by Britain and other NATO allies that the blowing up of its own pipeline was an act of sabotage by Russia. The incident has been used to further ramp up hostilities between NATO and Russia, with the activation of NATO's Article 5 collective defence clause being mooted.

US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said just days after the explosions that an Article 5 response could not be ruled out, adding, Ill reiterate that we have been in touch with our European allies and partners about the apparent sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline. We are supporting European efforts to investigate this.

Before the NATO defence ministers meeting earlier this month, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg threatened, Any deliberate attack against Allies critical infrastructure would be met with a united and determined response We have doubled our presence in the Baltic and North Seas to over 30 ships, supported by maritime patrol aircraft and undersea capabilities. He pledged further steps would be taken to protect Western infrastructure, before also stating, We will never give up the privilege of defining exactly where the threshold for Article 5 goes. That will be a decision we make as allies taking into account the precise context.

The propaganda that Russia is an imminent danger to NATOs security and energy infrastructure fed into claims that a foreign powerand everyone knows this means Russiamay have sabotaged the German rail network, halting train services across northern Germany on October 8. Services were grounded after two cables critical to the running of the network were cut in two places. Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht, while visiting German troops in Lithuania, demanded that NATO bolster security against Russia. The fact is that we, Nato, must do more for our common security because we cannot know how far Putins delusions of grandeur can go, she declared.

From the standpoint of who benefits, the accusation that Britain was responsible, or played a critical role in the bombing of Nord Stream, is far more credible than claims of Russia rendering inoperable tens of billions of dollars worth of key infrastructure it has been developing over almost three decades since 1997. Moreover, given the UKs intimate relationship with the United States on military and intelligence operations, it is impossible to conceive of Britain blowing up Nord Stream without the direct approval of Washington.

Well ahead of Russias invasion of Ukraine, British ships were involved in major provocations against Russia in the Black Sea. In June 2021, a British warship entered waters claimed by Russia near Crimea, a peninsula in the Black Sea. In response, a Russian border patrol boat fired several warning shots and a Russian fighter jet bombed the path of the British destroyer HMS Defender.

The Type 45 destroyer HMS Defender leaves Portsmouth naval base on May 1, 2021 for exercises in Scotland, prior to deployment to the Mediterranean, Black Sea and Indo-Pacific region as part of NATO's UK-led Carrier Strike Group 21. Just over seven weeks later, on June 23, 2021, HMS Defender was involved in a major provocation with the Russian armed forces in the Black Sea. [Photo: WSWS]

Since 2019, the Royal Navy and forces from other NATO countries led by the US have held a series of operations in the Baltic Sea region. On June 25, 2019 the Royal Navy reported, A British-led expeditionary group that includes the Baltic states will carry out a series of integrated military activities across their part of northern Europe. Britains expertise in sea operations in the Baltic would mean its forces would have no problem disabling Nord Stream. The Royal Navy statement continued, Covert amphibious raids, urban ambushes and counter-mine training will mark an action-packed third stage of Baltic Protector, on which more than 3,000 British troops and 16 navy ships are currently deployed.

Just two days before Russia invaded Ukraine, Defence Minister Ben Wallace announced after a summit with the British led Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF)involving Denmark, Estonia, Finland and Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway and SwedenWe have ... agreed to undertake a series of integrated military activities across our part of northern Europe, at sea, on land and in the air. He added, For example, we will shortly conduct an exercise demonstrating JEF nations freedom of movement in the Baltic Sea.

In June, just three months before the Nord Stream explosions, NATO conducted its BALTOPS 22 exercise with Britain playing a major role. NATO listed Fourteen NATO allies, two NATO partner nations, over 45 ships, more than 75 aircraft, and approximately 7,000 personnel which took part. The Royal Navy said, Destroyer HMS Defender provides the firepower and leading-edge technology, while six of the smallest craft in the Royal Navys inventory  Archer, Charger, Explorer, Exploit, Ranger and Smiter  provide the speed, agility and numbers to swarm around participants in Baltops 22. HMS Defender was the destroyer involved in the June 2021 standoff near Crimea.

The claims that Russia destroyed the pipelines are an important second string to NATOs propaganda against Moscow, reinforcing claims that a Russian nuclear attack is the main threat to the world, allowing for an escalation of the war in the naval arenain which the UK is already playing a leading part.

On October 3, days after the Nord Stream attacks, the Royal Navy sent a frigate to the North Sea. The ship would work with the Norwegian navy to reassure those working near the gas pipelines. Wallace said at the time of the operation, and after meeting again with the JEF, the group condemned the blatant attacks against civilian infrastructure.

He stated that Britain will acquire two specialist ships to protect undersea cables and pipes, with the first multi-role survey ship for seabed warfare operational by the end of 2023.
The last four weeks have seen escalating levels of violencethe worst since the Second Intifada that started in September 2000against Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank by both Israeli security forces and far right settler groups, acting in concert.

Few days pass without reports of Israeli forces killing Palestinians, with two killed near the northern city of Nablus on Friday, and another shot in Hebron on Saturday after allegedly killing an Israeli in the southern city that has long been roiled by the provocative actions of religious zealots.

Mourners carry the bodies of Palestinians who were among five killed in an overnight Israeli raid, during their funeral in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus. Palestinian health officials say five Palestinians were killed and 20 were wounded. October 25, 2022. [AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed]

The violence follows months of almost daily wide-scale raids and arrest operations on the northern cities of Nablus and Jenin. These were placed under the security and administrative control of the Palestinian Authority (PA) by the Oslo Accords. The accompanying curfews, roadblocks and tight restrictions on movement have brought economic life to a standstill.

Operation Break the Wave was launched in April by the then Prime Minister Naftali Bennett after a spate of attacks by desperate Palestinians, with little known association to each other or any armed groups, killed 19 Israeli Jews. He put the military on high alert, dispatched extra troops to the West Bank and called on people to carry arms.

Bennett said, Whoever has a gun license, this is the time to carry a gun, giving the green light to ultra-nationalist and settler groups to set up militias and go on the rampage. It was a declaration of war on the Palestinians.

At least 175 Palestinians have been killed this year, more than 44 in the last two months, making 2022 the deadliest in the last 16 years. Hundreds more have been injured, while at least 1,500 people have been arrested, leaving detention centres full to overflowing.

Defence for Children International  Palestine reported that 29 children have been killed by Israeli soldiers, explaining, All of the children were killed after being shot with live ammunition in their upper extremities. This is evidence of intentional killing.

Jenin has been subjected to almost daily raids that have killed 40 people since March. It was in Jenin that Shireen Abu-Akleh, the US-Palestinian journalist working for Al-Jazeera Arabic, was murdered by Israeli forces as she covered the clashes. The city is home to an impoverished refugee camp and a centre of Palestinian opposition to the repressive regime of Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority. Hamas influence has grown.

Nablus, which is surrounded by Israeli settlements, has become a focus of Israeli military activity in support of armed settlers that have staged one provocation after another against the Palestinians, attacking their vehicles, homes, property and olive groves.

Tensions mounted after 100 armed settlers blocked the citys southern entrance near the town of Huwwara to recite prayers on October 4, at the start of Yom Kippur. Huwwara has been subjected to dozens of attacks over the past year. The provocationdescribed by the settlers as the civil besiegement of Nabluswas closely coordinated with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that closed the gate to the city.

These ultra-nationalists have since maintained their siege, preventing Palestinians from entering or leaving the city. Their aim is to force the government to carry out a massive operation against terror in Nablus, akin to that carried out against Jenin in April 2002 that killed more than 50 Palestinians.

On October 12, the military seized on the shooting of an Israeli soldier by a militant group known as Lions Den. The soldier was protecting settlers from Shavei Shomron, west of Nablus, who were staging a blockade of the city. Nablus entire population was subjected to collective punishment, with the security forces only allowing Palestinians to enter or leave after checking their identities and belongings, causing hours-long delays.

Such is the ferocity of the opposition the IDF has encountered that Israel has deployed not just snipers but droneshitherto only used against targets in Gaza, Lebanon and Syriaand planted an explosive device to kill Tamer al-Kilani, a Lions Den militant.

The Lions Den militia is made up of largely young and politically unaffiliated Palestinians born after the Second Intifada and increasingly frustrated by the refusal of President Mahmoud Abbas Fatah-dominated PA to defend them against Israel. It has recently started targeting Israeli soldiers and settlers.

The despotic and corrupt PA is widely reviled as Israels subcontractor in enforcing the decades-long occupation and increasing poverty while a handful of the Palestinian elite grow ever wealthier. It has been unable to hold elections to replace the 87-year-old and ailing president and disbanded the Palestinian Legislative Council. The arrest in September by PA security forces of Hamas fighter Musab Shtayyah at Israels behest led to widespread demonstrations in Nablus against the PA.

Control status of the West Bank as per the Oslo Accords. Area A (green): full Palestinian control; Area B (dark red): joint Palestinian and Israeli control; Area C (pink): full Israeli control; East Jerusalem (purple): full Israeli control, annexed in 1980 [Photo by SoWhAt249 / CC BY-SA 4.0

According to a report in Haaretz, settlers have taken advantage of the militarys blockade of Nablus to mount more than 100 attacks on Palestinians, mostly around Huwwara.

On October 25, after a two-week siege of Nablus and the surrounding district, Israeli security forces stormed the Old City in one of the largest operations in years, killing five Palestinians and wounding 20. According to the Maan news agency, Israeli forces also aimed their fire at PA security forces, injuring four officers.

Israels Prime Minister Yair Lapid, speaking on television, said, Israel will never be deterred from acting for its security. Defence Minister Benny Gantz pledged that the military would continue its crackdown on the Lions Den and other armed groups, tweeting, There arent and wont be sanctuary cities for terrorists.

The Palestinians responded to this latest assault by bringing the West Bank to a halt, closing schools, businesses and offices, with the funeral processions drawing thousands of mourners, and leading to clashes with the security forces.

Tensions have also been rising in East Jerusalem:

* Jewish extremists were allowed into the al-Aqsa mosque compound in record breaking numbers during the recent Jewish holy days. This and restrictions placed on the entry of Muslim worshippers has raised fears of an attempt to take over the compound.

* The killing of an Israeli soldier and the wounding of another on October 8 by Udai Tamimi at a checkpoint in Shuafat, a refugee camp, led to raids, the closure of the camp, the spraying of foul-smelling skunk water and the firing of tear gas as the IDF sought Tamimi. Remaining at large for 11 days, he emerged to shoot at Israeli soldiers guarding the Maaleh Adumim settlement before being killed by the IDF. His death prompted angry demonstrations and a general strike on October 20 that hit businesses, schools, universities and transport across the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

* Israeli settlers, led by the fascistic legislator Itamar Ben-Gvir, have poured into Sheikh Jarrah, an East Jerusalem neighbourhood. Ben-Gvirs Jewish Power has been gaining support in opinion polls and is aligned with former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, seeking a return to power in the November 1 elections. The settlers aim is to terrorize Palestinians out of the city. Jewish Power has already established an armed militia in southern Israel and is seeking to form another in Bat Yam, a suburb of Tel Aviv, which has witnessed several violent attacks on Palestinians by far-right groups.

Columnist Amos Harel warned in Haaretz, Theres a danger that the events will slither across the Green Line again, including possible clashes in the mixed (Jewish-Arab) cities, as occurred in May 2021 when Israels pounding of the densely populated and impoverished territory of Gaza with bombs, missiles and shells led to widespread unrest in Jerusalem and Israels mixed towns and cities.

Tensions have been deliberately whipped up by Israels promotion of communalist and ethno-religious politics, including the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, Israels Arab citizens and migrant workers. This is in no small part due to the ever-increasing gap between rich and poorone of the most extreme in the OECD group of rich countriesthat has made the state reliant on the right-wing settlers and extreme nationalist zealots that now dominate the political arena. It testifies to the moral bankruptcy of the Zionist project and the dead-end of its reactionary perspective of carving out a sectarian Jewish capitalist state in the Middle East.

Israels brutal suppression of the Palestinians would not be possible without the political, diplomatic and military support of US imperialism and the European powers, alongside Egypt, the other Arab bourgeois states and the Palestinian bourgeois nationalists, secular and clerical, who appeal to the very Arab bourgeois forces and the imperialist-controlled United Nations that have utterly betrayed the Palestinian people. It poses the urgent necessity of building sections of the International Committee of the Fourth International to fight for the program of socialist internationalism, the unity of the Arab and Jewish working class, and a common struggle against capitalism and imperialism.
Iranian protesters rallied again Sunday, defying an order by the powerful Revolutionary Guards to stop the demonstrations, now in their seventh week, sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini.

Students gathered overnight and Sunday across Iran, even after Major General Hossein Salami, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, had warned demonstrators: "Do not come to the streets!"

Amini, 22, died in custody on September 16 after her arrest in Tehran for an alleged breach of Iran's strict dress rules for women, triggering a wave of unrest and a state response on the "riots" that Amnesty International calls a "brutal crackdown".

Security forces on Sunday fired gunshots and tear gas at a gathering of students in the flashpoint western city of Sanandaj, where videos showed billowing clouds of smoke amid chants of "freedom", the Norway-based Hengaw organisation reported.

It also posted a video with the sound of echoing gunfire, and of a 12-year-old girl wailing with her bloody arm peppered with metal pellets, in reports AFP could not independently verify.

Security forces have struggled to contain the protests, which started with women taking to the streets and burning their hijab headscarves and which have evolved into a broader campaign to end the Islamic republic founded in 1979.

Over 160 Killed

Students had protested on Saturday at campuses in Tehran, Kerman in the country's south, and the western city of Kermanshah, among others, online videos showed.

"Each person getting killed is followed by a thousand people!" protesters shouted at the funeral of a demonstrator on Saturday in Arak, southwest of Tehran, footage published by the 1500tasvir social media channel showed, adding that the crowd was later dispersed with tear gas.

Demonstrations on Sunday were reported in multiple universities including the capital as well as in Mazandaran and Mashhad, where Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR) said crowds chanted "Death to the dictator".

IHR said Friday that at least 160 protesters, including more than two dozen children, had been killed since protests began.

At least another 93 people were killed during separate demonstrations that erupted on September 30 in the southeastern city of Zahedan over the reported rape of a teenage girl by a police commander, according to the rights group.

In Amini's hometown of Saqez, security forces in plain clothes broke up a protest at a vocational college, where officers "attacked the students and abducted a number of them", Hengaw said.

Journalist Protest

Hundreds have been detained, and on Sunday more than 300 Iranian journalists and photojournalists signed a statement condemning authorities for "arresting colleagues and stripping them of their civil rights after their detentions".

Reformist daily Sazandegi said Sunday that "more than 20 journalists are still in detention", while the Tehran journalists' association dismissed the "security approach" as "illegal" and "in conflict with press freedom".

Tehran has sought to portray the protest movement as a plot hatched by its arch-enemy the United States, charging that some journalists had received "training courses" with the aim of changing power in Tehran.

According to local media, a report by the security services referred to journalist Elaheh Mohammadi from the Sazandegi paper and photographer Niloufar Hamedi of the daily Shargh, who helped publicise Amini's case and who have been detained for weeks.

Both their outlets challenged the report, with Shargh editor Mehdi Rahmanian insisting that "our journalist and our newspaper... acted within the framework of the journalistic mission".

The protests in Iran have been mirrored by scores of rallies of support in cities worldwide.

On Saturday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau marched with protesters in the capital Ottawa, telling Iranian activists that "we will stand with you".

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Regional powers poured record amounts of cash into the Pacific Islands during the coronavirus pandemic to help them weather the economic fallout as competition for influence heats up between China and the West.

An annual study released by Australia's Lowy Institute on Monday showed financial assistance to the Pacific Islands rose 47 percent in 2020 versus the year before.

Lead researcher Alexandre Dayant told AFP that "there was a massive increase in loans". Total financing soared to $4.2 billion -- the highest figure on record and roughly equivalent to Fiji's gross domestic product.

Much of the spending splurge was driven by crisis as tourism and trade-dependent islands across the region suffered with countries closing their borders to keep out the virus.

"The Pacific was facing massive, massive support needs, they were facing massive economic contraction," Dayant said.

Collectively, the Pacific Island economies shrank 6.4 percent in 2020, twice as much as the world average, according to figures from the International Monetary Fund.

The Asian Development Bank, which is led by Japan and the United States, was among institutions dramatically increasing assistance.

Much of the help came in the form of direct loans, easing short-term fiscal pressures, but potentially storing up problems for down the track.

"Slush fund"

However, China's spending in the Pacific actually fell in 2020 despite Beijing stepping up efforts to boost ties over the past decade with high-profile infrastructure projects.

"Fewer and fewer countries are signing Chinese loans in the Pacific, only Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu have signed new loans," said Dayant.

But two Pacific nations that broke diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 2019 in favour of Beijing received a boost in Chinese funding.

"China is investing quite a lot in the Solomon Islands and the same thing in Kiribati," Dayant said.

Beijing's relations with the Solomons have deepened considerably since 2020, with Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare increasingly looking to China as a partner.

The Chinese are "transferring funds directly to the Solomon Islands Constituency Development Fund, which is a slush fund that members of parliament use for their constituencies", Dayant added.

Critics have suggested this money was effectively used to buy the support of key politicians. Sogavare this year signed a landmark pact with Beijing that could allow Chinese security forces to deploy to the Solomon Islands.

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KYODO NEWS - Oct 30, 2022 - 11:12 | All, Japan

A study by Japanese universities found that children associate the traits of kindness and intelligence with traditional gender stereotypes of femininity and masculinity as early as between 4 and 7 years old.

The findings, published early this month in the journal Scientific Reports, looked at 565 Japanese boys and girls and discovered that girls start believing when they are age 4 that they are nicer than boys, while more boys believe they are comparatively smarter by the time they turn 7.

The researchers, whose report was published online on Oct. 11, sought to discover the origin of stereotypes in Japan, which the World Economic Forum this year placed at 116 out of 146 countries in terms of a gender gap.

The authors noted that fixed gender roles foster and entrench gender disparities. It starts at a young age when children are steered toward certain types of classes, which later affects their occupations as adults. An example is the field of science, where fewer women work than men.

In the study, researchers from institutions including Kyoto University told the group of children hypothetical stories of adults and children displaying "nice" or "smart" traits. Using photos and stick figures of both genders, the children were asked to choose the gender they associated with each of those characteristics.

More than 70 percent of girls from all age groups saw kindness as a female trait.

Regarding intelligence, no gender differences were observed for 4- to 6-year-old children, but by the time they hit the age of 7, there was a shift, with more boys linking it with their gender than girls.

The research team was surprised to discover that Japanese children start associating "brilliance" as a male trait later than children in the United States, ranked 27th in the World Economic Forum report. Outside studies show that most American children start doing so when they are 6 years old, it said.

Parental attitudes did not seem to affect the children's responses about intelligence in the study.

The authors speculated that one reason could be that Japanese parents do not expect stereotypical gender abilities, particularly intellectual ones, until their children are of school age, thus treating their preschool children equally.

Further studies on parental gender attitudes toward older children are necessary, they said.

Yusuke Moriguchi, a Kyoto University associate professor who was involved in the research, noted how casually stereotypes could mark children.

"Of-the-cuff remarks by parents and educators may influence children's thoughts. I want to mitigate gender assumptions by finding the origins of stereotypes."
HEFEI, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Clinicians have found in a new study that removing blood clots within 12 hours after the onset of a stroke can noticeably improve patients' health and reduce death rates.

Produced by Xinhua Global Service
Madi Prewett & Grant Troutt . Credit: Megan Kay Photography.

Megan Kay Photography

Madison Prewett has married the man of her dreams.

The former Bachelor contestant wed Grant Troutt on Saturday at his parents' home in Dallas, Texas. The pair exchanged vows in front of 400 friends and family members, including Bachelor Nation favorites Ben Higgins, Victoria Fuller, Hannah Ann Sluss and Kelley Flanagan.

"We chose this location because it's unique and special to us and having all our friends and family there means so much," Prewett, 26, exclusively tells PEOPLE of the celebration, which was photographed by Megan Kay Photography and filmed by The Crakes. "I have always wanted to get married in the fall and we wanted a short engagement, so it couldn't be more perfect."

The romantic occasion comes three months after Prewett and Troutt's whirlwind engagement, which occurred just eight months into their relationship. They worked with Whitney Bailey of Engaged Events to create an unforgettable romantic event.

Madi Prewett & Grant Troutt . Credit: Megan Kay Photography.

Megan Kay Photography

RELATED: All the Celebrity Weddings of 2022

For Prewett, it was crucial that her wedding was "as unique to me as possible"  though, she did borrow some decor inspiration from a fellow Bachelor Nation star.

For more Madison Prewett's wedding, listen below to our daily podcast PEOPLE Every Day.

"Raven Gates Gottschalk also got married in Dallas and we are using the same florist, Something Pretty Florals," she shares of Gates Gottschalk, who was also in attendance for the ceremony. "Hers was stunning, so we got a lot of inspiration from that."

Prewett held a bridal brunch a day before Saturday's wedding. And along with Troutt, a 26-year-old speaker and minister to athletes and churches, the couple hosted a rehearsal dinner Friday evening for family and friends.

Madi Prewett & Grant Troutt . Credit: Megan Kay Photography.

Megan Kay Photography

RELATED: Madison Prewett on Why She Was 'on the Same Page' with Grant Troutt About Premarital Couples Counseling

Getting ready for the big day ahead, Prewett wore a "special" customized robe from Victoria's Secret, featuring her new last name on the back, as she got her hair and makeup done. Her bridal party  which was comprised of two maids of honors and six bridesmaids  also wore comfy cami sets from Victoria's Secret before slipping into their gowns from The Bar.

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Prewett's hair was done by her trusted stylist Chrissy Rasmussen from The Habit Salon. The reality star "couldn't imagine having anyone else do my hair for my wedding day," she says.

As for her makeup, she recruited Makeup by Natalie Mas for the task because the artist always makes her "feel glamorous while still feeling like myself."

Madi Prewett & Grant Troutt . Credit: Megan Kay Photography.

Megan Kay Photography

Prewett walked down the aisle to "When God Made You," by NewSong, wearing a custom-made dress by Nardos Design. The brand specially created all her wedding weekend looks. (Musical duo Caleb and Kelsey sang during the ceremony.)

Never miss a story  sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

At the reception, Prewett and Troutt's "classy and elegant" theme continued. The tables were decorated with florals arranged by Something Pretty Floral as well as candles and charger plates with menus on top. The menus were designed by Sincerely Addison who also designed the couple's invitations, seating chart and programs.

Jordan Kahn served as the reception band. But when they shared their first dance, Prewett and Troutt danced to "Set of 2" by Brandon Lake.

Madi Prewett & Grant Troutt . Credit: Megan Kay Photography.

Megan Kay Photography

Guests were also treated to an assortment of food, including beef tenderloin and herb-roasted roasted chicken.

But the pair's wedding cake was the star of the show. "I wanted our wedding cake to be the centerpiece of our reception. I chose to keep it all white with gold details," she shares. "I had heard about Fancy Cakes by Lauren and was told she was the best. When Grant and I did our cake tasting not only did they taste amazing, but she was also able to make my vision come to life!"

RELATED: Inside Bachelor Alum Madison Prewett's Fun-Filled Bachelorette Party

Madi Prewett & Grant Troutt . Credit: Megan Kay Photography.

Megan Kay Photography

At the end of the day, Prewett and Troutt are aware their day wouldn't have been a success without their families fully in their corners.

"Truly, none of this would have been possible without the support of our families," she says. "They mean the world to us and we feel so grateful for all of their help during this time!"

After the wedding, Prewett says the newlyweds will be spending two nights in Dallas and then going to Cabo for a week," which she's "so excited" for. But more importantly, the newlyweds cannot wait to see what the future has in store for them.

"What we are most excited for is a lifetime together," she concludes. "We are most looking forward to walking out God's purpose for our life together. We can't wait to get plugged into a local church and host community in our new home!"
Arizona Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake. AP Photo/Matt York

Election deniers are running in key battleground states during the 2022 midterms.

Kari Lake and Mark Finchem are going for two positions that could influence election procedures in Arizona.

Experts told the NYT that election deniers could refuse election results in the 2024 presidential race.

As midterms draw near, Republicans poised to win vital races in battleground states are some of the most outspoken critics of American election integrity, and believe that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump.

In particular, two GOP candidates in the battleground state of Arizona  Kari Lake and Mark Finchem  could become the state's next governor and secretary of state, respectively.

Midterm races are setting up the battle for 2024, experts told The New York Times, and if Lake and Finchem were to win their elections, they could potentially refuse to accept a presidential election that does not result in a Republican winner.

"It would be completely unprecedented," said Nathaniel Persily, an elections expert at Stanford University. Persily also described these potential legal issues as scenarios that "our system is incapable of handling."

As governor, Lake could refuse to certify the election by signing what is known as an "certificate of ascertainment," the Times reported. The certificate, which would be sent to Washington, DC, with the state's electors, provides a final tally of votes for each candidate.

As secretary of state, Finchem could revise election procedures that would alter rules that deal with everything from voter registration to election certification procedures. Finchem has also expressed interest in abandoning voting machines and using hand-counted ballots during elections. The lengthy hand-counting process could result in more errors.

Both Finchem and Lake could also refuse to canvass the election, which entails preparing official tally results for the state.

Representatives for Lake and Finchem did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.

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Lake told CNN this month that she would certify the results of a "fair, honest and transparent election," but previously said on the campaign trail that she would not have certified the results of the 2020 election  even though no evidence of widespread fraud was ever uncovered.

Finchem also told PBS via text message this month that he would certify the election "as long as all lawful votes are counted and all votes cast are under the law" on October 20. Finchem has also expressed doubt about the results of the 2020 election.

Former president Donald Trump has endorsed both Finchem and Lake.

An NBC analysis found that 60% of Republican candidates in five key battleground states, including Arizona, deny that President Joe Biden won the 2020 election.

Dozens of states, many of which are Republican-led, have introduced 229 bills since January 2021 that would interfere or alter election procedures, with 50 bills passed since January 2021, according to a report from the States United Democracy Center. In one of these introduced laws, proposed in Arizona in January, state legislators would have the power to change the election results.

The bill, HB 2596, would also get rid of most early and absentee voting, and require that state lawmakers meet after the election to review and potentially reject the results of the election. HB 2569 is currently sitting in the state House, but has not progressed since February.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Now departing: eight new countries, and 11 new destinations.

Courtesy of Qatar Airways

JetBlue and Qatar Airways expanded their codeshare agreement this week, making it easier to fly to new destinations across the globe on a single ticket.

The expanded agreement will make it easier for customers to fly to 11 new destinations in eight countries throughout Africa and Asia when purchasing a single JetBlue ticket, according to the airline. All flights will go through Dohas Hamad International Airport.

Together with Qatar Airways, were connecting more customers to more outstanding destinations, all while providing them with industry-leading experiences onboard our two airlines, Robin Hayes, the chief executive officer of JetBlue, said in a statement. Qatar Airways is already our top internationally-based partner for connecting customers across the Americas to its worldwide network, and as we continue to strengthen our relationship were giving travelers a variety of fresh choices for flying to new corners of the globe.

The new cities include popular destinations like Phuket and Bangkok in Thailand, Cairo and Alexandria in Egypt, Jakarta and Denpasar-Bali in Indonesia, and Windhoek, Namibia.

As part of the codeshare agreement, travelers will be able to experience reciprocal benefits through each airlines loyalty program. TrueBlue members, for example, will be able to earn points on codeshare flights. And eventually, JetBlue said customers will be able to redeem points on either carriers flights.

JetBlue and Qatar Airways have been partners since 2011 with a codeshare agreement in place to destinations across the world, including more than 50 within JetBlues network in the United States, the Caribbean, and Latin America. This new agreement adds several more cities to the partnership.

Qatar Airways, which is one of the safest airlines in the world, introduced new fare classes last year: unbundled Economy Lite and Business Lite fares. The airline is also known for its Qsuites and is consistently voted as having the best business class in the world.

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JetBlue has codeshare agreements in place with other international airlines as well, including Irish carrier Aer Lingus.

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Kanye Ye West posted the graphic post-lynching photo of civil rights icon Emmett Till to Instagram Sunday alongside a long, antisemitic screed against Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel.

You tried to bankrupt adidas and me at the same time  You tried to destroy my life after all the money Ive made for the business people, the rapper wrote on an Instagram post Sunday, appearing to use the phrase business people in place of Jewish people. And now eeeeveryone knows how much power you Business people actually have.

The post continues the saga between Ye and Emanuel after Emanuel wrote an opinion piece for the Financial Times earlier this month arguing that the rappers mental health challenges do not excuse his antisemitic remarks.

Also Read:

Quentin Tarantino Denies Kanye Ye Wests Claim That He Came Up With Idea for Django Unchained (Video)

Millions of people affected by mental illness do not perpetuate hateful ideologies, the Endeavor CEO, who is Jewish, wrote, urging companies to sever ties with the artist due to his hateful comments. Others brush his comments off as just words, but hateful words far too easily become hateful actions.

In response, Ye posted a message to Emanuel saying, Ari Emanuel, I lost 2 billion dollars in one day and Im still alive, West wrote. This is love speech. I still love you. God still loves you. The money is not who I am. The people is who I am.

In the midst of the controversy, the artists non-accredited private school Donda Academy abruptly closed Thursday  an event that likely sparked the post targeting Emanuel.

Ari Emanuel, the post begins. Can you find a place for the Donda Academy kids to go to school thats properly zoned for a school? I got about 60 children that have no place to be as they look to transfer.

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The artist continued by stating, This is what modern post social media #Blackmirror warfare looks likethe children are not even off limits, before identifying economic lynching, digital lynching and bankrupting my social credit score as examples of the warfare. There is no explicit mention of Till in the post, though, only references to lynching.

He then made a plea to Emanuels brother, former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, to help him save the school which he says he bus[es] underprivileged kids in from all over. RahmYoure a very powerful Business person, he wrote. Here I amThe once richest black man in the world asking the very person who is destroying me to at least help these Children

Also Read:

All the Brands That Have Dropped Kanye Ye West So Far
Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, presides over the closing meeting of the 37th session of the 13th NPC Standing Committee, Oct. 30, 2022. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

BEIJING, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) concluded its 37th session Sunday in Beijing.

At the closing meeting, lawmakers voted to adopt a revised Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women, a Yellow River protection law, and a revised Animal Husbandry Law.

They also adopted a decision to remove Chen Wenqing from the post of minister of state security, and appoint Chen Yixin to the position.

President Xi Jinping signed four presidential orders to promulgate the laws and the decision.

Li Zhanshu, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, presided over the closing meeting.

Lawmakers ratified several treaties on international judicial assistance in criminal matters, reports on deputy qualifications, and personnel related bills, among others.

Addressing the meeting, Li called on relevant authorities to step up the promotion of the newly adopted laws, improve supporting measures, and ensure that the laws are effectively implemented.

Li said to study and implement the guiding principles of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is the primary political task at present and for some time to come.

The NPC and its standing committee, as well as all its special committees and administrative bodies ought to focus on the CPC Central Committee's major decisions for the present and for some time to come, and carry out their work in accordance with the law, said Li.

He called on them to rally more closely around the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, and fully implement the guiding principles of the 20th CPC National Congress in all aspects and throughout the entire process of the work of the people's congresses.

Li also chaired a meeting of the Council of Chairpersons of the NPC Standing Committee before the closing meeting. 
LeBron James #6 of the Los Angeles Lakers looks on during the game against the Indiana Pacers

Ron Hoskins/NBAE via Getty Images

LeBron James is speaking out concerning a new report on the recent uptick of hate speech on Twitter.

After Elon Musk completed his $44 billion acquisition of the social media company on Friday, a slew of anonymous user accounts emerged on Twitter, exhibiting racial slurs including Nazi memes and the N-word to test out the limit of the company's new moderation policies, The Washington Post reported.

"I don't know Elon Musk and, tbh, I couldn't care less who owns Twitter. But I will say that if this is true, I hope he and his people take this very seriously because this is scary AF. So many damn unfit people saying hate speech is free speech," said James, 37, citing the new research included in a Business Insider article.

I dont know Elon Musk and, tbh, I could care less who owns twitter. But I will say that if this is true, I hope he and his people take this very seriously because this is scary AF. So many damn unfit people saying hate speech is free speech. https://t.co/Sy0jvXIBnC  LeBron James (@KingJames) October 29, 2022

The Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) tweeted on Friday, "over the last 12 hours, the use of the N-word has increased nearly 500% from the previous average."

RELATED: Elon Musk Says Kanye West's Twitter Was Reinstated Before He Took Over the Company

Musk, 51, has previously sparked concerns over his seemingly relaxed attitude towards content moderation, which includes his thoughts on reversing Donald Trump's permanent ban.

But shortly before the Twitter takeover was finalized, Musk issued a public letter to advertisers, assuring them that he didn't want the platform to "become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!"

In one of his first tweets on Friday morning, he celebrated the purchase by writing, "The bird is free."

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RELATED: Elon Musk Buys Twitter for $44B Following Legal Battle with Company, Fires Top Execs: Reports

He also replied to a Tweet from an account that has spread unfounded claims about the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election, according to NBC News. In response to the user's concern that Twitter was removing followers and preventing their content from being seen, Musk replied, "I will be digging in more today."

Never miss a story  sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

The Washington Post reported that some hateful and explicit messages had been taken down later on Friday.
Lewis Hamilton said an engine problem derailed his chances of beating Max Verstappen to pole position for Sundays Mexican Grand Prix.

A day after his Red Bull team were fined 6million for breaching Formula Ones financial rules last year, Verstappen delivered a breathless lap in the thin Mexico City air to take the qualifying spoils.

George Russell finished second, 0.304 seconds behind Verstappen, with Hamilton 0.309secs further back.

Best qualifying result of the year. Proud  pic.twitter.com/6OgHtrOzU4  Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) October 29, 2022

Hamilton finished runner-up to Verstappen at last weekends United States Grand Prix before promptly ruling out any hope of ending the campaign with a victory ahead of the final three rounds.

However, just six days later, Hamilton, armed with a new front wing on his Mercedes, had a machine capable of taking the fight to Verstappen and Red Bull.

Hamiltons first lap in Q3 was deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 3. He then complained about the lack of speed from his machinery.

I have got drivability issues, he reported to his race engineer, Peter Bonnington over the radio. Power dropping out.

Hamilton retuned to the track for his final run, and was just 0.014secs adrift of Verstappen after the second sector.

But the seven-time world champion was unable to carry his pace through the final third of the lap, finishing a distant three tenths back.

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We had some problems with the engine towards the end, and there was definitely a bit of performance left on the table, said Hamilton.

The problem started to appear in Q2, and then after that, every run in Q3. I was dropping out of power on the exit of corners. It felt like an ignition issue but I will find out more from the team.

Lewis Hamilton missed out on pole by 0.309 seconds in Mexico (Moises Castillo/AP)

I did the best I could and losing that first lap made the last one very difficult. I had to be very reserved to make sure it was clean and I wasnt as able to push as hard as I would have liked.

But nonetheless, it is not a bad position to start from and I hope we can fix the engine problem.

The 811-metre charge to the first corner resembles the longest on the F1 calendar, and Hamilton is hopeful he will be able to take advantage of a tow off Verstappens Red Bull at a track which sits 2,250 metres above sea level.

Hamilton might also be encouraged that the last two races at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez have been won from third on the grid.

But the British driver warned: These guys (Red Bull) have been rapid all year long, and we are still losing out to them through straight-line speed.

It will be difficult to get by, but we will give it our best shot and Turn 1 is an opportunity. We will go for it.

The moment @Max33Verstappen become our 11th different polesitter in the last 11 trips to Mexico!#MexicoGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/FpxQze9qJ9  Formula 1 (@F1) October 29, 2022

Hamiltons team-mate Russell, fastest in both second and third practice, was also in a position to challenge for pole.

But he ran wide through the stadium section, scuppering his hopes of claiming both his and Mercedes second top spot in qualifying of the year.

Sorry guys, said a deflated Russell over the radio.

He added afterwards: The team deserved more today. Theyve produced a really great car. I feel like it was our pole to have, but it was just a terrible lap from my side.

Verstappen has already sewn up his second title but he will surpass Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel and claim the record of most victories in a single campaign if he triumphs for a 14th time in 2022 on Sunday.

The home crowd, however, will be desperate to see the other Red Bull triumph, with 350,000 spectators in Mexicos capital this weekend to cheer on Sergio Perez at the 20th round of 22. Perez will start from fourth on the grid.
German flags on display outside the Reichstag building in Berlin. Getty Images

Russian naval officers discussed nuking Berlin and two military bases in Germany, per Der Spiegel.

The US military uses both bases, Ramstein and Buchel.

The Times of London reported that the chatter may have been intended to spook Germany and the West.

Russian naval officers discussed nuking Berlin and two German military bases during a training exercise last year in a possible attempt to scare Germany and erode support for Ukraine, Der Spiegel reported.

Citing several German security-service sources, Der Spiegel reported that Russian officers had mentioned three potential targets for nuclear strikes, including the German capital of Berlin, which has a population of 3.6 million.

Der Spiegel said the other targets mentioned were the Ramstein Air Base in southwestern Germany, which serves as a headquarters for the United States Air Forces in Europe, and the Buchel Air Base, which is believed to be home to about 20 US nuclear warheads.

According to The Times of London, the messages were intercepted while Russian warships were conducting maneuvers in the Baltic at the end of last year  months before Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine.

The Times noted that while it may not indicate that Russia had concrete plans to nuke German soil, adding that this sort of chatter isn't unusual in military exercises, it might have been intended to scare Germany and the West.

Reuters reported that deeply held fears of a nuclear war in Germany, felt strongly during the Cold War, have begun to reemerge. The news agency said that demand for private bunkers has soared.

Towns near US military bases, such as Ramstein, are particularly nervous, Reuters reported. Klaus Weichel, the mayor of Kaiserslautern, which neighbors Ramstein, told the news agency: "It is only understandable that fears are making a comeback."

He added that Russia's nuclear rhetoric has the purpose of stirring up fears in a bid to prevent Western nations from backing Ukraine.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Getaway House's Eastern Catskills location was the perfect one-night escape from New York City for this mother-daughter vacation.

Courtesy of Getaway

I've always loved traveling with my mom, whether that means trying out a new restaurant in a neighboring town or taking a trip across the globe. Since I was young, we've always treasured our Girls' Nights (a trademarked event when my dad and brother were out of town), Girls' Days (day trips to New York City or Los Angeles, depending on where we were living at the time), and, of course, Girls' Trips (that one is pretty self-explanatory). And since it's been about 10 years since I've lived at home, I relish every chance I get one-on-one time with either of my parents. So when my mom and I booked a trip to the Getaway House Cabins in the Eastern Catskills of New York, I had no doubt we'd have fun.

Located just outside the town of Catskill, this cluster of Getaway House cabins, as with the rest of the company's tiny homes and campgrounds, is just remote enough to feel like a true escape. The cabins are, unsurprisingly, quite small (between 140 to 200 square feet). Ours featured two queen-size bunk beds (although one queen bed is also available), a table and chairs, a kitchenette, and a bathroom, with just enough room for two people to stand. We moved about the cabin with relative ease, in part, I suppose, because we know each other's habits and can practically predict the other's movements, a sort of mother-daughter superpower, if you will.

Courtesy of Getaway

To book: getaway.house



Related: The 10 Best Mother-daughter Getaways in the U.S.

I imagine it would feel much smaller if I were in one of these tiny homes with a stranger or even an acquaintance. But, it was that petite space that made the experience so unique.

My mom is one of the people in my life with whom Im closest, emotionally, so it was interesting, almost surreal, even, to experience more physical closeness with each other than we have in years.

During our one-night stay in the cabin, we sat at the table with our laptops to go over a writing project Id been working on over a glass of wine, cozied up in our respective sleeping areas, and chatted from our bunk beds. In the morning, we sat in the Adirondack chairs outside and sipped some coffee before hitting the road. Since there was nowhere to go except the one room we shared, it was a chance to get deep and talk, laugh, ask questions, and tell stories without interruptions or distractions. And, if you really want to commit to unplugging, Getaway provides a cell phone lockbox to prevent the temptation to check Instagram while youre out in nature. (We chose to trust ourselves to scroll in moderation.)

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Would we have gotten on each others nerves if wed stayed another night? I want to say no, and Im sure wed have been fine, but, respectfully, one night was just enough time (and mom, if youre reading this, I know youd agree).

Madeline Diamond The author and her mother outside their Getaway House Cabin.

During the rest of our trip, I felt much more aware of my surroundings than I probably would have if we had stayed in a traditional hotel.

When we visited Opus 40, a sculpture park in Saugerties, New York, the morning after checking out of the cabin, I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by the sprawling meadows and mountainous stone structures built in a bluestone quarry. The vastness of the nature we experienced at the sculpture park and during our drive back to New York City was not lost on me, which left me feeling extra appreciative upon returning to my own rather small Brooklyn apartment.

I don't imagine that I'll be spending all my upcoming vacations in tiny homes, remote cabins, or a combination of the two; there's just so much more of the world that I'd like to see, and, of course, a little extra space is nice. But the night I spent cozied up in bunk beds with my mom was an unexpectedly beautiful way to reconnect. And for that, I'm more than grateful.



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In the Tokyo International Film Festivals competition section with Tel-Aviv/Beirut, Michale Boganim (Odessa, Odessa, Land of Oblivion) has directed a historical drama set against the backdrop of the IsraeliLebanese conflict in 1982 and 2006. Set in Northern Israel, the film tells the journey of two families on each side of the border whose fate intertwined because of the war raging in Lebanon. In particular, it sheds light on the little-known story of Lebanese people who collaborated with the Israeli army to fight Hezbollah. She spoke to Variety about her work.



Why pick this topic and why tell this piece of recent history now?



I experienced war myself. I was very shocked by it. Also, because my father experienced war, I began to realize that this war is trans generational. It can repeat and repeat and repeat.

More from Variety



And then I discovered a story of this Lebanese people while living in Israel. It was by chance that I went to restaurant in north of Israel at the time and started to ask questions of these people. They told me their stories. I didnt know about these Lebanese people who escaped Lebanon, because they collaborated with Israel.



In the first half of your film, people are crossing the border all the time. That seems very fluid, but from 2000 onwards, you make the point that only the dead can cross the border.



When there was no war, when there was peace, they closed the border instead of opening it. Its very contradictory that the border opens only when there was war.



You shot during the pandemic and you didnt shoot in Israel, but used Cyprus instead. Was that a deliberate choice?

It was a choice because it was the only way for me to be able to gather Israelis and independent actors. It may be the first time in history that you have Lebanese and Israeli actors working together. I cannot go in Lebanon because Im Israeli.

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One of the lead actors was living in Paris, so that was easy. And some were living in Cyprus, because theres a big Lebanese community in Cyprus that escaped the war.



Youve done documentaries before, including one in part of East Asia, Macau.

That was a documentary I made for Arte. And basically, it was one day in Macau from morning to morning. To see the different aspects, I was following different characters. I found the city completely contradictory, contradictory between the religious aspects and the completely depraved aspect with the casinos and the prostitution. I was very lucky because I was able to shoot inside the biggest casino and even to interview some people from the triads.



How does your work flip between documentary and fiction films?



I think they are all influenced by each other. If you saw [documentary] Odessa, Odessa its all also very staged, and very scripted. And my fiction films are all based on real stories. I also did a film about Chernobyl. I always like to go with political and real stories and to mix reality and fiction. There is not so much difference. Just when you say to the producer that youre doing fiction, they put your 40 people on set and huge trucks. When you do documentary, five people. The Macau film is very cinematic and we did it with just five people.

Did you have any pressure either from distributors or from producers to try and take a particular angle? To be more neutral? Or to be less neutral and take a political position?

No, but I was trying myself too. And I dont know if its the right choice. [As audiences] were often expecting a film to take a side. Yet in this film, there is no side, there is only victims.



I dont think its right to seize on a situation like that because for many people who are enrolled to the army, its not really their choice. The country is made like that and they are also victims of it. And when you have a son, a soldier that dies, its also sad. Is it not? Theyre young people. Theyre 18. Sometimes its not their decision. In the film the son signs up because the system of influence is like that. He said if I dont do the army, I wouldnt be considered like a deserter. I will lose my friends or will not be able to come back to the country.



What are you working on next?

Im trying to do film in New York, about the Orthodox community. Its a fiction premise, but it was based on real people. Ive met with a lot of people that are in this between world. They left the Orthodox community and have created a whole society of ex orthodox.



I also have a project in Poland about women. Its the story of women that were in prison during Solidarnosc [Solidarity] period in Gdansk, and there was a lot of abuse inside this prison by the Russians. You see the brutality of the Russians, how they treated people even at that time.

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Travis Japan - Photo: Jonathan Weiner (Courtesy of Capitol Records)

Travis Japan, a 7-member dance and performance pop group from Tokyo, has released their much-anticipated debut single JUST DANCE!, produced by Sam Bergeson.

The group formed 10 years ago through an audition and has since been managed by Japans most prestigious talent agency, Johnny & Associates. They are known for their many accomplishments prior to their debut, including selling out three consecutive arena shows in Japan. The official music video for Just Dance! was directed by Gil Green.

Travis Japan was originally formed when Travis Payne, Michael Jacksons choreographer, was asked by Johnny & Associates to help them form a group that would be able to grow on a global scale. The group was named Travis Japan after Travis himself.

The group has been active since 2017 with its current seven members, performing original songs and live concerts in arena-scale venues. Their incredible dancing abilities and outgoing personalities have made them highly popular after polishing their skills during countless lessons to aim for a worldwide debut.

Having spent time in the United States, the band further improved their performance and English language skills while sharing living quarters. Travis Japan participated in the World of Dance, the worlds largest urban dance competition right after arriving in the U.S. After qualifying in 3rd place, Travis Japan scored 4th at the U.S. level in the team division, and 9th at the world competition held in July.

This was followed by an appearance on the popular American TV audition program Americas Got Talent, performing their signature song, My Dreamy Hollywood in English and managing to excite the audience with their perfect dance formations, synchronized moves, as well as a stunning acrobatic display and an acapella performance. The group received a standing ovation  not only from the judges but also the audience  sending the group to the semi-final stage.

Buy or stream Just Dance!

For the latest music news and exclusive features, check out uDiscover Music.

uDiscover Music is operated by Universal Music Group (UMG). Some recording artists included in uDiscover Music articles are affiliated with UMG.
Leon Neal/Getty Images

British politicians demanded answers on Sunday after a U.K. tabloid claimed Russian spies hacked ex-Prime Minister Liz Truss phone while she was the nations foreign minister.

If true, the shocking revelation could have exposed the U.Ks secrets in the middle of the continents deadliest conflict in decades.

King Charles Spins the Revolving Door, Out With Liz Truss and in With Rishi Sunak

The Mail on Sundays report claimed the hack was discovered over the summer as Truss campaigned to replace Boris Johnson as prime minister, with Johnson ordering the hack be kept secret. Some of the information gathered includes conversations surrounding the war in Ukraine and discussions between Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng, the countrys eventual Chancellor.

The claim has led U.K. politicians to pile on, wondering whether both whether there was adequate security, and whether Johnson wanted to boost his foreign secretarys bid to succeed him.

Was Liz Trusss phone hacked by Russia, was there a news blackout and if so why? asked Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesperson Layla Moran, according to the Associated Press. If it turns out this information was withheld from the public to protect Liz Truss leadership bid, that would be unforgivable.

A Labour Party spokesperson also questioned the countrys security defenses. Its why cybersecurity has to be taken so seriously by everyone across government, the role of hostile states, Yvette Cooper told Sky News. But also the allegations about whether a Cabinet minister has been using a personal phone for serious government business, and serious questions about why this information or this story has been leaked or briefed right now.

The British government defended the countrys security protocols despite The Mail on Sundays report, saying it had robust systems in place to protect against cyber threats and held regular security briefings for ministers, according to Reuters.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Conflict in Dearborn over LGBTQ books in public schools has drawn national attention among Muslims as liberals and conservatives clash over differing views on religion while political candidates in Michigan campaign in the diverse Detroit suburb.

Amid concern about negative perceptions of the city, Dearborn City Council voted 5-1 Tuesday night to approve a resolution introduced by Councilman Mustapha Hammoud affirming that Dearborn is a welcoming place open to all and does not discriminate against anyone, including on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Councilman Ken Paris opposed the resolution, calling it repetitive. Also last week, a liberal Islamic group, Muslims for Progressive Values, issued a statement expressing support for queer Muslims in Dearborn and criticizing another Muslim group that's more socially conservative, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Michigan, for supporting the protesters.

"My goal is always to affirm that the city of Dearborn welcomes everyone and will not stand for discrimination against any groups or people," Hammoud told the Free Press. "This moment was important based on the national and international media coverage, to show our community will always uphold state and federal laws."

Over the past month, there have been three events in Dearborn where protesters, many expressing anti-gay views with signs and remarks, demonstrated against Dearborn Public Schools for not banning certain books and LGBTQ materials in classrooms. About 1,000 jammed Stout Middle School for an Oct. 13 board meeting during which LGBTQ speakers were jeered. Most of the protesters were Arab American Muslims, joined by some white conservative Christians who have helped initiate the movement. So far, the district has pulled six books for review, several of which have LGBTQ themes.

Wadeea Alzabah, 22, a Dearborn resident, holds a sign that reads "If Democracy matters we're the majority," inside the Dearborn Schools Administrative Service Center during the Dearborn Board of Education meeting in Dearborn on Oct. 10, 2022.

Protest leaders have become increasingly outspoken this month, telling Dearborn residents to vote Republican and attacking Democrats who oppose the protests, such as Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud and U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, who is running to represent Dearborn. A video posted Oct. 21 by one of the protest leaders, Hassan Chami, urging people not to vote for Tlaib has been retweeted thousands of times. There have been concerns expressed by longtime Arab American leaders that the GOP is stirring up religious extremism and promoting far right preachers in Dearborn; Republicans and the protesters counter that they're about protecting the children and are not targeting gay people.

Statewide Democratic and Republican candidates have flocked to Dearborn over the past couple of weeks to speak to Arab American voters. The city is about 47% Arab American, census data shows. On Thursday night, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel, both of whom have been criticized by the protesters, spoke in Dearborn at the annual dinner of the Arab American American Political Action Committee (AAPAC). The Republican nominee for Attorney General Matthew DePerno and Republican nominee for Secretary of State Kristina Karamo have also visited Dearborn over the past week trying to win over voters upset with Democrats. Republican candidate for governor Tudor Dixon plans to rally Sunday in Dearborn at Fairlane Banquet Center along with former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard.

Last Friday, a group of Muslim voters from Dearborn attended a rally for Dixon in Flat Rock. One of them, Khalil Othman, declared to the crowd that he has switched from Democrat to Republican over the books issue.

"It's all due to the the sexually explicit books and content in our schools," Othman, a father of five, told the Free Press. "The whole Democratic establishment and leadership stayed silent and quiet and left the parents alone, fighting the issue. ... That was a red line for me."

Dearborn City Councilman Mustapha Hammoud introduced a resolution passed 5-1 by City Council on Oct. 25, 2022, that affirmed Dearborn is a welcoming city for all, including LGBTQ people.

Dixon and Whitmer clashed over the books issue during their debate last week.

"Parents have risen up," Dixon said, praising protesters against books they see as explicit.

Whitmer responded by saying parents have the right to opt out their children from certain materials, but also added that all students have a right to feel safe.

"It is with a really heavy heart that I see politicians try to wedge communities against one another," Whitmer said. "It is dangerous and it is selfish. ... We need to bring down the temperature."

The discussion in Dearborn has taken an ugly turn at times, with some making threats and posting derogatory cartoons at established Arab American leaders if they support Democrats. Osama Siblani, a longtime leader with AAPAC and publisher of The Arab American News in Dearborn, has been targeted in recent weeks by protest leaders. One of them recently posted a cartoon depicting Siblani being whipped by Nessel as a rickshaw driver while behind her a drag queen appears to buy something from three Islamic clerics at a lemonade stand for 25 cents, a sign above them reading: "For Sale: The Muslim Vote."

Nessel, who is a lesbian, first became well-known as an attorney representing a lesbian couple seeking to adopt children in a case that led to the U.S. Supreme Court legalizing same-sex marriage.

Siblani is standing firm.

"If there is any doubt out there with anyone where I stand in this election, I would like to clear it out once and for all, especially to the sick, crazy and homophobic people out there," Siblani wrote on Facebook. "I stand strongly and firmly with our Attorney General Dana Nessel."

Conservatives and clerics praise protesters

The protesters in Dearborn who stormed a school board meeting Oct. 10 and shut it down  the first time in recent memory a meeting of elected officials in Dearborn was ended by a show of force  are now being applauded across the U.S. and around the world by some conservative Islamic clerics, but criticized by progressive Muslims.

At the same time, the protesters are being hailed by a wide range of conservative Christian writers, including some who have been known previously for attacking Islam. Some of the prominent commentators on the right who have publicly praised the Muslim demonstrators in Dearborn include Christopher Rufo, Dinesh D'Souza, Steve Bannon and Rod Dreher, who previously has been critical of conservative movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood. A number of conservative media outlets, including Fox News, Newsmax and Breitbart, have run stories sympathetic to the protesters. And on social media, accounts with far-right views expressed solidarity with those in the Muslim community who have similar views about LGBTQ educational materials.

"Something very interesting is going on in Dearborn," conservative writer D'Souza said in a five-minute video supporting the protesters that was titled "Muslim parents rise up against gay indoctrination."

"The Biden administration has been pushing all this explicit gay activist literature on the schools. This is horrific."

He said "the Muslims have taken the lead" in fighting back.

In the Muslim world, clerics with Salafi, Deobandi and other right-wing schools of thought have also praised the protesters.

"Muslims of Dearborn, Michigan Standing Firm for the Protection of our Children: Islam Vs. The Secular LGBTQ Agenda," read the title of a news release from Hizb ut-Tahrir America, a branch of a religious group that has been banned in several nations, including Russia, Egypt and Turkey. "All eyes are on Dearborn, Michigan  home to the largest concentrated Arab-American population in the country  as parents, primarily by Muslim parents, en masse protest the circulation of elicit LGBTQ books across the citys public-school system."

The group, which calls for a caliphate system to rule the world, hailed the Dearborn protests as "a visible first for the Muslim community in America."

Mufti Yasir Nadeem, a Chicago cleric with 1.9 million followers on Facebook who was educated at a Deobandi school and is founder and director of Darul Uloom Online, wrote on Twitter: "The Dearborn school incident is a strong message by Muslims to their own "social justice warriors" who have sold the community to the leftists. A political alliance with the liberal left is an alliance with a bigger Satan. Disown all such contractors!"

Siraaj Muhammad, the acting executive director of Muslim Matters, a conservative religious site, also praised the Muslim protesters in Dearborn.

More:LGBTQ and faith communities struggle for unity in Dearborn, Hamtramck

More:Protesters shut down Dearborn school board meeting over LGBTQ books

"The country is looking at Dearborn, Michigan because they found something in the Muslims they haven't seen elsewhere in socially conservative circles in a long time  backbone," Muhammad wrote on Facebook. "It is when we stand up, forcefully, confidently, relentlessly, unflinchingly, that we gain respect."

Yasir Qadhi, a Dallas-based preacher who is a popular conservative Islamic cleric in the U.S., linked to a video of the protests at the Oct. 10 board meeting, writing on Twitter: "People of all different faiths coming together to stop indoctrination of children in schools. Conservative Christians and Jews need to understand that Muslims are their allies in wanting a purer and morally upright society."

Progressives support LGBTQ community in Dearborn

But others in the Muslim community have differing views.

Muslims for Progressive Values (MPV) said in its statement that it stands in "solidarity with the Queer Muslim community in Dearborn, Michigan, across the United States, and across the greater Muslim world."

"For 15 years," the group said, "MPV has been devoted to promoting the rights of Queer people both within and outside the Muslim community in accordance with Gods command to celebrate the diversity in their creation and to follow the way of love and acceptance of all their creations."

The group, which is based in Washington D.C., also took at aim at CAIR Michigan for backing the protesters and pushing what they said was hatred. Leaders with CAIR have been active in alerting parents about the books, visiting mosques and warning them their religious rights may be threatened by certain LGBTQ materials. At the Oct. 10 board meeting, a woman handed out CAIR Michigan flyers that expressed their concerns and offered assistance.

"With the recent pamphlet distributed by CAIR Michigan, we recognize the limitations that 15 years of grassroots advocacy and education has on such a virulent and unfounded hatred that has been allowed to persist within the American Muslim community for far too long," said Muslims for Progressive Values. "We condemn the pamphlet distributed by the Michigan Chapter of CAIR at a local school board meeting in Dearborn, Michigan as inhumane and un-Islamic in a multitude of ways. To attempt to restrict knowledge and ban books is to disregard the Islamic right to freedom of expression and the promotion of critical thinking. ... We want to remind Queer Muslims everywhere to know their rights in the face of such hatred and gross misuse of faith. Remember that your rights come, not from otherhumans, but from God. Therefore no one on this earth can take away your rights."

Dearborn police officers Al Grzegorek, left, and John Ashcroft, middle, stand next to community member Wahib Alzabah and others inside the Dearborn Schools Administrative Service Center during a Board of Education meeting over LGBTQ books and other educational materials on Oct. 10, 2022.

After facing some criticism, CAIR has reiterated its support of the protesters. CAIR's national communications director, Ibrahim Hooper, posted a statement explaining why CAIR Michigan stands with Dearborn parents that claims the books were pornographic. An op-ed by CAIR Michigan's executive director echoing that statement was later published.

The school district has removed for review six books from circulation: "Push" by Sapphire, "All Boys Aren't Blue" by George M. Johnson, "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold, "Eleanor & Park" by Rainbow Rowell, "Red, White and Royal Blue" by Casey McQuiston and "This Book is Gay" by Juno Dawson.

Arabic-language abortion flyers draw concerns

Another concern among Democrats in the Arab American community is an Arabic-language flyer that has been circulating online, opposing an upcoming statewide ballot proposal. Abortion rights advocates say the flyer, which some of the protest leaders have posted to their social media accounts, presents inaccurate information about Proposal 3, which would protect abortion and other reproductive rights if passed in Michigan's Nov. 8 election.

"There is an organized campaign against the (Proposal) 3 targeting our Arab community ... full of scandalous lies and claims that are not connected to reality," said Abed Hammoud, a Dearborn attorney and former federal prosecutor who helped found AAPAC, on Facebook.

The Arabic flyer is titled "The Assembly of the people of Dearborn for civil and principled participation," Hammoud said. The flyer makes the inaccurate claim the proposal will allow sexual assaults of children, he said.

More:Michigan doctor's mom died during childbirth after she couldn't get an abortion

"Be careful of the misinformation campaign surrounding Proposal 3, especially through Arabic flyers full of outright lies," Hammoud said. "Do your research and make your decision after reading the proposal in English or Arabic."

Reproductive Freedom for All has been placing Arabic-language ads supporting Proposal 3 aimed at Arab American voters. And they recently released a video featuring Dr. Yahya Basha, a Royal Oak doctor whose mother died decades ago in Syria after not being able to get an abortion.

Below is a copy of the resolution introduced by Councilman Mustapha Hammoud passed by Dearborn City Council on Oct. 25 that reaffirms the city is open to all and doesnt discriminate against any group, including because of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Contact Niraj Warikoo: nwarikoo@freepress.com or Twitter @nwarikoo.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Dearborn LQBTQ books spur national debate among Muslims, conservatives
In case you need some good news today, leave it to Dick Van Dyke to cheer you up! The legendary actor with a heart of gold is already in the giving spirit, despite Christmas and winter being far away still. In photos obtained by DailyMail, Van Dyke was seen buying several red plaid winter coats, but not for himself.

He bought the plush, warm coats to drop off at his favorite nonprofit organization, the Malibu Community Labor Exchange. This amazing nonprofit helps match employers and those looking for work, along with helping people get back on their feet.

More from SheKnows

He was also seen dropping off the coats personally, ensuring they got there safely and will be distributed to those who need them. If your hearts didnt explode right then and there, youre lying.

This isnt the only good deed Van Dyke has done recently. Just weeks prior, he was seen handing out $5 bills to those in need by the Labor Exchange in Malibu. It touched so many hearts, seeing him at 96 and still helping everyone he can. One of those at the scene said, Just call him angel from God.

Click here to read the full article.

After his addiction to alcohol, the Dick Van Dyke star went on to dedicate his life to helping those in need, doing good deeds whenever he can, and even opening the Dick Van Dyke Addiction Treatment Center in New York.

Back in 2014, he was honored with the Prince Rainier III Humanitarian Award at the Princess Grace Foundation, which honored his decades of humanitarian efforts. This humanitarian work consists of over 20 years of volunteer work at the Midnight Mission in Los Angeles, which helps provide homeless programs and services. Per The Hollywood Reporter, he also helped with campaigns to increase funding for music and art programs in schools, along with being a spokesperson for the Cell Therapy Foundation for adult stem cell research and treatments, and the National Reyes Syndrome Foundation.

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Before you go, click here to see the best candid celebrity photos youve never seen.



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David E. Dix

Free is one of the magic words in advertising. That was what I was taught when studying for a masters degree in journalism at the Newhouse School of Journalism in Syracuse long ago.

Free is what Hiram College and its Garfield Center are charging for admission to hear retired General Wesley Clark, one of the American militarys most brilliant minds, talk about Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Clark is the former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, whose superb leadership proved essential to imposing a peaceful solution in the late 1990s when Yugoslavia dissolved into Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro and Slovenia and a brutal war broke out.

Thanks to Russian leader Vladimir Putin and his invasion of Ukraine, a sovereign nation, Europe and NATO are once again confronting a brutal war that left unchecked may expand to the Baltic nations of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.

General Clarks talk, Analyzing the Impact of the Ukrainian War: NATO, Russia, and the Future of European Security, will provide important insights. It will occur at 5 p.m. Thursday at the Kennedy Center on the Hiram College campus. Seats can be reserved by visiting Hiram Colleges events website.

Retired General Wesley Clark

First in his class at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Clark earned three degrees from the University of Oxford in England where he was a Rhodes Scholars. He has received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Defense Distinguished Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters, a Silver Star, a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.

The beautiful Hiram College campus is easy to negotiate and Kennedy Center provides a welcoming environment. Janet and I are making our reservations and encourage others to do the same. The general serves as CEO of Wesley Clark & Associates and as a commentator on TV.

An American challenge

At the recent ceremonies for Hirams Garfield Society, we were pleased to observe the induction of our friends, Jane Preston Rose and Appellate Court Judge John Eklund.

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Claude M. Steele, the prestigious speaker, said the 1960s marked a big turning point for the United States and Americans are now struggling to live up to the consequences.

Steele, professor of psychology at Stanford University, said the Civil Rights Act of 1964 committed the country to becoming color blind and the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 eliminated the national origins quota system opening to the door to immigrants from Asia, Latin America and Africa.

The demographic changes brought by the Immigration and Naturalization Act have left Americas long dominant white, Eurocentric population feeling threatened because they may soon no longer constitute the majority, although they will remain by far the largest group. Add that to the Civil Rights Act, which legally removed the privileged position of whites regarding African Americans. The upshot is a double whammy for white Americans and some whose fears have become political fodder for many aspirants to political office.

Professor Steele, an African-American and a 1967 graduate of Hiram College, prescribed trust-building between races and nationalities as the way to keep the American democracy from falling apart at the seams.

I think we are up to it, he said, but he acknowledged that creating a diverse America that functions as a true democracy will require perseverance and open-mindedness.

Riddle Block watercolor

Architect Alan Ambuske has given a duplicate of his beautiful watercolor of Riddle Block #1 to Eric Hummel, the builder who with the assistance of investors and the city of Ravenna, redeveloped and restored Ravennas signature building that is now owned by Portage County.

Eric said he has asked Alans assistance in restoring the buildings of the Portage County Historical Society on North Chestnut Street.

"The Portage County Historical Society is the recipient of a $625,000 grant obtained by the Societys very worthy board," Eric said.

Alans original watercolor of Riddle Block #1 was accepted in the Ohio Plein Air Society juried show at the Schumacher Gallery in Columbus. The show opened Sept. 6 and continues through Dec. 9 The theme for the exhibit is A Brush with the Past: Painting Ohios History.

Alan, who retired from his successful architecture practice that focused on medical facilities, is enjoying painting and sketching, and has self-published books containing his wonderful sketches and colorings of scenes he and Gail have visited in Europe, North America and Asia. His plans are to donate the proceeds of the sale of his Riddle Block #1 watercolor to the Portage County Historical Society.

David E. Dix is a retired publisher of the Record-Courier.

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: General Wesley Clark speaking on Ukraine at Hiram College Nov. 3
It's time to harvest rice in Yunnan Province, and rice harvesters are helping to make the process quicker and more efficient...

Produced by Xinhua Global Service
Former US President Barack Obama speaks at a rally to support Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers and Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Wisconsin Mandela Barnes on October 29, 2022 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Obama gave a fired-up speech criticizing Sen. Johnson for being out of touch with Wisconsin voters.

He rebuked the senator for supporting tax breaks for private plane owners while wanting to undermine Social Security.

The former president has been stepping into the spotlight to rally support for Democrats ahead of the midterms.

Former President Barack Obama delivered an impassioned rebuke of GOP Sen. Ron Johnson at a rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Saturday.

The former president hit out at the incumbent senator for supporting a tax plan allowing people to write off the cost of private planes while also supporting a plan that Obama said puts Medicare and Social Security "on the chopping block."

Obama asked the crowd to consider "who is going to fight for you" as he spoke in support of Democratic challenger Wisconsin Lt. Gov Mandela Barnes.

The video excerpt from the speech went viral on social media, receiving 7.7 million views at the time of writing.

Obama said that Johnson's "adult children bought not one, not two, but three private planes. Because apparently, carpooling wasn't an option. You need three? Meanwhile, Sen. Johnson voted to raise the retirement age to 70, supported a plan that would put Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block every single year."

Johnson has previously suggested that Social Security and Medicare should no longer be federal entitlement programs and instead should be approved by Congress annually as discretionary spending.

Obama pointed out that members of the crowd and their family members were likely on Social Security.

"You know why they have Social Security? Because they worked for it. They worked hard jobs for it. They have chapped hands for it. They had long hours and sore backs and bad knees to get that security," Obama said.

"And if Ron Johnson does not understand that, if he understands giving tax breaks for private planes more than he understands making sure that seniors who've worked all their lives are able to retire with dignity and respect, he is not the person who is thinking about you and knows you and sees you, and he should not be your senator for Wisconsin."

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The former president's oratory received intense applause from the crowd, and videos of it were shared widely on social media.

It was Obama's second rally appearance over the weekend, as the former president has stepped into the spotlight to raise support for Democrats ahead of the midterm elections.

The former president is seen as his party's top communicator to base voters, and strategists say Obama is the only leader that can motivate crowds without also angering the other side, according to The Washington Post.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The Republican Party has a long and rich history. It is the party that led us through the Civil War and the abolishment of slavery. It gave us the 13th Amendment, freeing men and women from the bondage of slavery, the 14th Amendment granting equal protection under the law for all citizens regardless of ethnicity, and the 15th Amendment granting African American men the right to vote.

Theodore Roosevelt took on big business in defense of labor. Roosevelt did not believe in handouts. What he did believe in was fairness. Roosevelt believed everyone deserved a seat at the table to play the hand dealt to them. Some will make the best of their opportunity while others will squander their opportunity but at least they had a chance.

Dwight Eisenhower understood that government had the power to provide the infrastructure to allow small and large businesses to grow and prosper. While he might not have endorsed overt government involvement, he did understand the fair treatment of all people.

William Lee Sease says this nation must be truthful about its exceptionalities as well as its warts.

My long past image of a Republican is one of constraint guided by careful thought. Someone who carried themselves with a reserved dignity and slow to engage in upheaval. They required a strong convincing reason to upset the status quo. Somewhere and somehow all this went off the rails. In trying to understand the shifting of the dynamics of the party, the following circumstances are available for consideration.

While Barry Goldwaters libertarian views might have shifted the party to a more conservative viewpoint, that is certainly not what took the party off the rails. After all, conservatism with integrity has an important role to play when debating the national concerns that shapes the status of this nation.

The demise of the party began with the presidency of Richard Nixon. Fortunately at time, he was surrounded by a Republican Party in Congress that by and large kept its integrity intact, but Nixon had no problem whatsoever throwing integrity out the window. This is evidenced by three major events. First came the southern strategy. Nixon recognized the resentment that brewed up from the civil rights movement, particularly in the South. His strategy was to play upon these grievances, fuel them with rhetoric and use those votes to obtain office. Second, came the Vietnam War. While previous administrations, two of which where Democratic, deceived Americans about our involvement and strategy in Vietnam, history shows that, unlike previous administrations, Nixon did so without regret or conscience. Finally, there is the fiasco of Watergate, which speaks for itself.

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However, it is probably Nixons twisting the anger and resentment generated by the liberation of Black people in the South that proved to be the most damaging. Lee Atwater, a young, aggressive, and often mean spirited political operative saw the success of the Nixon strategy and used it with a high level of success to the advantage of such politicians as Strom Thurman, Lindsey Graham, Ronald Reagan and George H. Bush. Although, George H. Bush was not enamored with Atwaters tactics and took steps to distance himself from Atwater. Atwater died in 1991, but it did not take long for Newt Gingrich to take up his tactics. As a result of his questionable personal conduct, Bill Clinton became an easy target for Gingrich. Gingrich used this opportunity to stoke even more resentment, fear and anger among those who were becoming the base of the party. He laid the foundation for the Tea Party, which found its footing during the Barak Obama administration. While many consider Obama a man of intelligence and integrity beyond measure, he is a Black man and his presence paved the way for the old grievances of the 1960s to resurrect.

Donald Trump took what Lee Atwater had built, enhanced by Newt Gingrich and turned it into a bona fide weapon. He viciously attacked his opponents and rivals. He lies and deceives with impunity, makes up facts to support his needs and does so while holding the Republican Party hostage. However, the Republican Party set itself up for such a takeover. It had spent years building a base of people consumed with grievances and fear.

Some GOP members have walked into a dynamic that places our government at risk. When the founding fathers debated the contents of the constitution in 1787, they had significant differences and beliefs, but gave us a model for recognizing and debating differences while keeping government intact. The model is now in jeopardy.

William Lee Sease is author of "Holy Crap!!! Is Anyone Thinking About the Children?" He lives in Burnsville.`

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Sease: Demise of GOP Party began with presidency of Richard Nixon
Anne Gieske and Steven Blesi were identified as the two U.S. nationals among the dead after a Halloween stampede killed more than 150 people in Seouls Itaewon neighborhood on Saturday.

Blesi was a Kennesaw State University junior, and just two months into a study abroad program in South Korea. He had reportedly long-dreamed of attending school in the eastern country, but was delayed for a couple of years while the pandemic minimized international travel, according to The Washington Post. The Georgia native finally realized the milestone in August, when he hopped aboard a plane from Atlanta to Seoul. He had a passion for international business and aspired to be multilingual and work in East Asia.

It was like it stabbed like a hundred million times simultaneously, Blesis father, Steve, told The New York Times. It was like your world just collapsing. It was numb and devastating all at the same time.

Blesi was attending the traditional festivities in all black, sans costume, according to his father.

I texted him maybe a half-hour before all this happened, and I said, I know youre out and about. Be safe, Steve Blesi told the outlet. I never got a reply to that.

Our son was in the area of stampede in Seoul, we still have not heard from him. Authorities are trying to help. If anyone has any news please share. pic.twitter.com/E5qKkzUBfU  Steve Blesi (@steve_blesi) October 30, 2022

Gieske, a 20-year-old University of Kentucky nursing student, had just celebrated her birthday on Oct. 28 in South Koreas capital city, days before the incident. She was also studying abroad, along with two other students and a faculty member. They were confirmed to be safe, according to a statement by the university president, Eli Capilouto.

The University of Kentucky community is grieving the tragic loss of one of our students, Anne Gieske, who was studying abroad in Seoul, South Korea, and was killed in this weekends tragedy, wrote Capilouto. We have been in contact with her family and will provide whatever support we cannow and in the days aheadas they cope with this indescribable loss. (The Daily Beast reached out to both families for comment.)

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More than 20 foreign nationals from 10 different countries were involved in the horrific crush Saturday night, when 100,000 people celebrated the holiday in the district. The majority of those killed were in their 20s and 30s.

Jill and I are devastated to learn that at least two Americans are among so many who lost their lives in Seoul, Biden said on Sunday. Our hearts go out to their loved ones in this time of grief, and we continue to pray for the recovery of all who were injured.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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By Soo-hyang Choi, Daewoung Kim and Hongji Kim

SEOUL (Reuters) - Shocked family members collected bodies, parents searched for children and a country sought answers on Sunday after at least 153 people were crushed to death when a crowd in South Korea surged in an alleyway during Halloween festivities.

President Yoon Suk-yeol declared a period of national mourning and designated Seoul's popular Itaewon district a disaster zone after the Saturday night disaster.

"This news came like a bolt from the blue sky," said a father who burst into tears as he collected his daughter's body from a morgue in the nation's capital.

A huge crowd celebrating in Itaewon surged into an alley, killing at least 153 people, most of them in their 20s, emergency officials said, adding the death toll could rise.

The partiers, some still in their teens and many in Halloween costumes, were ready to enjoy the bars, nightclubs and restaurants where the revelry routinely spills over into narrow and often steep side streets.

Instead, the street became filled with people crying for help, while emergency workers desperately sought to free trapped bodies and perform CPR on people splayed across the debris-littered ground.

Choi Sung-beom, head of the Yongsan Fire Station, told a briefing at the scene 82 people were injured, 19 of them seriously. The deaths included 22 foreigners, he said.

Families and friends desperately sought word of loved ones at community centres turned into facilities for missing people.

At least 90% of the victims had been identified by midday, with delays affecting some foreign nationals and teenagers who did not yet have identification cards, the Interior Ministry said.

Makeshift memorials began appearing near the site, with onlookers leaving flowers and notes.

President Yoon expressed condolences to the victims and his wishes for a speedy recovery to the many injured in one of the South Korea's worst disasters and the world's worst stampedes in decades.

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"This is truly tragic," he said in a statement, vowing an investigation into the cause of the disaster. "A tragedy and disaster that should not have happened took place in the heart of Seoul last night."

GRAPHIC: Over 150 killed in Seoul Halloween stampede (https://graphics.reuters.com/SOUTHKOREA-STAMPEDE/akpeqgnexpr/graphic.jpg)

UNRULINESS, THEN CHAOS

South Korean tech and mobile game firms including Kakao and NCSOFT pulled their Halloween promotions after the tragedy, while amusement park Everland cancelled Halloween-themed events. Many regional governments and organisations have cancelled or reduced festivals and other celebrations.

The crush of partygoers came as Itaewon, a symbol of freewheeling nightlife in the South Korean capital for decades that was just starting to thrive after more than two years of COVID-19 restrictions, with trendy restaurants and shops replacing seedy establishments.

It was the first Halloween event in Seoul in three years to be virtually free of COVID-19 restrictions and social distancing. Many of the partygoers were wearing masks and Halloween costumes.

Twenty-four hours before, there were already warning signs that the festivities were attracting dangerous numbers of people, and victims and their relatives questioned an apparent lack of crowd control.

Early on Sunday costumes and personal belongings mingled with blood spots in the narrow street. Survivors huddled under emergency blankets amid throngs of emergency workers, police, and media.

Many of those killed were near a nightclub, Choi said. The foreigners killed included people from China, Iran, Uzbekistan and Norway, he said.

Witnesses described the crowd becoming increasingly unruly and agitated as the evening deepened. Chaos erupted just before the 10:20 p.m. (1320 GMT) stampede, with police on hand for the event at times struggling to control the crowds, witnesses said.

Moon Ju-young, 21, said there were clear signs of trouble in the alley before the incident. He told Reuters it was more than 10 times as crowded as usual.

Social media footage showed hundreds of people packed in the narrow, sloped alley crushed and immobile as emergency officials and police tried to pull them free.

Choi, the Yongsan district fire chief, said all the deaths were likely from the crush in the alley.

MAKESHIFT MORGUE

Fire officials and witnesses said people continued to pour into the alley after it was already packed wall-to-wall, when those at the top of the slope fell, sending people below them toppling over others.

One woman said her daughter, pulled from the crush of people, survived after being trapped for more than an hour.

A makeshift morgue was set up in a building next to the scene. About four dozen bodies were wheeled out on wheeled stretchers and moved to a government facility to identify the victims, according to a Reuters witness.

The Itaewon district is popular with young South Koreans and expatriates alike, its dozens of bars and restaurants packed on Saturday for Halloween after businesses had suffered a sharp decline over three years of the pandemic.

"You would see big crowds at Christmas and fireworks ... but this was several ten-folds bigger than any of that," Park Jung-hoon, 21, told Reuters from the scene.

International leaders offered condolences, including U.S. President Joe Biden and China's Xi Jinping, who noted that Chinese were among the dead and injured.

With the easing of the COVID pandemic, curfews on bars and restaurants and a limit of 10 people for private gatherings were lifted in April. An outdoor mask mandate was dropped in May.

President Yoon held an emergency meeting with senior aides and ordered a task force be set up to secure resources to treat the injured and launch a thorough investigation into the cause of the disaster.

The disaster is the country's deadliest since a 2014 ferry sinking that killed 304 people, mainly high school students.

The sinking of the Sewol, and criticism of the official response, sent shockwaves across South Korea, prompting widespread soul-searching over safety measures in the country that are likely to be renewed in the wake of Saturday's crush.

(Reporting by Soo-hyang Choi, Heekyong Yang, Hyonhee Shin, Choonsik Yoo, Ju-min Park, Daewoung Kim, Hong-ji Kim, and Josh Smith; Writing by Josh Smith and Jack Kim; Editing by William Mallard)
As the war in Ukraine continued to escalate, the Bezhenar family made the difficult decision to leave the country in July. They had to leave everything behind  their business, their home, and even their pets, which devastated their 10-year-old daughter.

"We could not take any animals that we have," Maria Bezhenar, a mom of three, told CBS News. "We asked my brother-in-law to watch over the animals and the youngest one, Agnessa, she was crying every time. She says, 'I want to go back home. My animals are there, my cats are there.' And we couldn't help her."

Bezhenar and her husband, Aleksander, first moved to Romania with their three daughters, Eleanor, Agnessa, and Angelina, as well as Bezhenar's mother. They could only stay temporarily, so, they decided to move to the United States. They promised Agnessa they would adopt a cat once they got there.

10-year-old Agnessa was devastated to leave behind her beloved cat, Arsenii, when her family fled Ukraine. / Credit: Maria Beznehar

Bezhenar found a program, UkraineTakeShelter.com, which helps refugees find housing in the U.S., and she connected with Geoffry Peters in Cloverdale, California.

Peters has dedicated his life to working for charities, and is now on the board of a fundraising agency for nonprofits. His newest mission was helping a family from Ukraine move to the U.S.

"Can you imagine your life being turned upside down and you have to leave a country you've never left before, ride on an airplane you've never done before? Arrive in a new country, learn a language," Peters told CBS News. "I mean, it's like starting from scratch, only it's on steroids. It's like everything moving 100 miles an hour."

Geoffry Peters offered a home to the Bezhenar family after meeting them through a website that connects Ukrainian refugees with housing. / Credit: Maria Beznehar

Peters had a second home for the Bezhenars and helped them expedite their move to the U.S. But they arrived a little too quickly  Peters and his wife were on vacation when they got there in July.

"The house was an empty house," he said. "So, we contacted all of our friends in the community here in Cloverdale, California and literally they furnished the entire house from top to bottom. Beds for every person in the family, kitchenware, utensils, plates."

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His grandchildren greeted the family with signs at the airport and drove them to Cloverdale, where they saw how generous the community had been, Bezhenar said, calling the moment "unbelievable."

Eventually, Peters and his wife arrived home and met the Bezhenars, and they formed a connection. "When we saw them, they became like our father and mother. I call him 'adoptive father,'" Bezhenar said.

Since coming to the U.S., the family has made many changes. They've gotten their California drivers licenses. The girls have enrolled in school  the two eldest in junior college. And Aleksander is working to restart his career selling and installing wallpaper. They even adopted a new cat, but Agnessa still felt one thing was still missing  their beloved cat, Arsenii.

As fate would have it, Bezhenar befriended a flight attendant on the way to the U.S.. She kept in touch with her and asked if she knew anyone who could help.

"I asked her if she knows something about the cats, how cats can fly and what documents cats need. And she says, 'I don't really know about this, but my friend who is another flight attendant from Hawaii, she must know everything about that,'" Bezhenar recalls.

A flight attendant connected the family with an animal rescue. Someone from the rescue was in Greece on vacation, and offered to travel to pick up Arsenii and bring him to San Francisco, where the family reunited with their beloved pet. / Credit: Maria Bezhenar

That second flight attendant knew people who worked for an animal rescue. They contacted someone from the rescue, who was already in Europe on vacation. She volunteered to tack on some extra travel  to pick up Arsenii, bringing him to all the way to California.

"She just decided to travel to Bucharest to do everything needed for the cat, and she brought the cat back to Greece and from Greece to Montreal and from Montreal to Seattle and from Seattle to San Francisco. That was a long journey," Bezhenar said.

This time, the Bezhenar family were the ones waiting at the airport with signs: "Welcome home Arsenii." Agnessa cried tears of joy.

They left many things behind in Ukraine, but in California, they gained family. "We are surrounded by good people here," Bezhenar said.

Police describe attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband, identify suspect under arrest

David Sedaris | Sunday on 60 Minutes

North Korea fires more short-range missiles amid nuclear testing concerns
The 50-year-old married man arrested on Friday in connection with the 2017 Delphi murders has now been pictured for the first time  more than five years on from the double slaying of teenage best friends Libby German and Abby Williams.

Richard Matthew Allen, from Delphi, Indiana, was taken into custody at around midnight and booked into Carroll County Jail. He has since been moved to a state facility for his own safety.

Local outlet FOX59 has now obtained a state-issued photo of Mr Allen, with a government source confirming that it depicts the man now behind bars.

The photo bears some likeness to the police sketches of the suspect which were released to the public over the course of the investigation  while the teenagers killer remained at large.

It is currently unclear what the accusations against Mr Allen consist of but law enforcement sources have described it as a major development in the high-profile case that has rocked the small, close-knit community of Delphi and gone unsolved for more than half a decade.

Libbys sister Kelsi German tweeted on Friday before the arrest was made public that today is the day they had been waiting for.

Just know how grateful I am for all of you. No comments for now, any questions please refer to the Carroll county prosecutors office. There is tentatively a press conference Monday at 10am. We will say more then. Today is the day, she said.

Indiana State Police and members of the victims families are slated to hold a press conference on Monday morning to provide an update on the case.

Before his sudden arrest on Friday, Mr Allens name had never before been publicly linked to the murders.

Heres what we know about him:

Who is Richard Allen?

It is not clear what information has led to Mr Allens arrest now, more than five years on from the 2017 slayings.

In August, Indiana State Police were spotted searching the Wabash River in Peru  around 40 minutes east of Delphi  in connection to the case.

Story continues

At the time of the murders, Mr Allen would have been 44 years old.

The 50-year-old is a local resident of Delphi, where the teenage girls lived with their families.

Richard Allen, a 50-year-old married man from Delphi, is pictured in a state-issued photo (Indiana State Police)

According to online records, Mr Allen has lived in Delphi since at least 2006, and in Indiana his whole adult life.

He is married and works as a pharmacy technician, receiving his most recent pharmaceutical licence in February 2018  one year on from the murders.

A local resident told Fox59 that Mr Allen currently works at the local CVS store  coming into contact with members of the community as part of his job.

When I will go into CVS as a customer myself, he would say do you need any help? I would be like no, said Chandler Underhill, the manager of the local Brick & Mortar Pub, where he said Mr Allen was a regular.

Just like a normal guy that Ive seen for the last couple years, not really thinking anything.

Mr Underhill said that Mr Allen always seemed normal when he would come into the pub where he works.

I would talk; he wouldnt say much. He seems like a normal guy, he said.

One of my servers was telling me that he wouldnt speak much.

Police sketches released in 2019 (left) and 2017 (right) in the search for the killer (Indiana State Police)

Mr Allen appears to have no prior criminal record.

However, the Carroll County Jail record lists Mr Allen as also going by the alias of Craigh Ross Rentfrow.

What happened to Libby and Abby?

Libby and Abby went missing on 13 February 2017 after they set off on a hike along the Monon High Bridge Trail in Delphi, Indiana.

Their bodies were discovered the next day in a wooded area around half a mile off the trail.

For years, police have refused to say how the girls died and have revealed few details about the crime scene.

However, shocking new details about the murders came to light in a search warrant application obtained by podcast The Murder Sheet and shared with The Independent back in May.

The warrant, filed by an FBI agent investigating the murders back in 2017 and partly redacted, was to carry out a search on the home of a local man Ronald Logan.

Libby German (left) and Abby Williams (right) pictured together (Facebook)

In it, the agent revealed that the girls had lost a lot of blood during their deaths and that their killer is believed to have moved and staged their bodies, before taking some sort of souvenir from the scene.

For the first time, the warrant also revealed that the teenagers had been killed by some type of weapon. The word for the weapon was redacted in the document.

The murderer would have been covered in the victims blood in the aftermath of the slayings due to the large amount of blood was lost by the victims at the crime scene, it reads.

Because of the nature of the victims wounds, it is nearly certain the perpetrator of the crime would have gotten blood on his person/clothing.

Chilling footage of suspect

On the day the girls went missing, Libby had posted photos on Snapchat of her and Abby walking along the trail.

The happy image of the two best friends is believed to be the last photo of them before they died.

In a move that propelled the investigation forward, Libby also captured a grainy video on her phone of a man dressed in blue jeans, a blue jacket and a cap walking along the abandoned railroad bridge.

Investigators released a grainy image from the video and a chilling audio of the man telling the two girls: Go down the hill.

This grainy image was taken on Libbys phone on the trail the day the girls went missing. Investigators believe the man is the killer (Indiana State Police)

Investigators have long suspected that this man is the girls killer and have praised the girls for documenting the video as evidence.

Up until now, the man has never been identified.

Police gave the description of the man as a white male aged between 16 and 40 years old, between 5 6 and 5 10 in height and weighing between 180 and 200 pounds.

Multiple police sketches were circulated of a man matching the description of the man in the footage.

Other names tied to the case

The arrest of Mr Allen marks the very first time his name has been publicly tied to the unsolved murders.

Over the years, authorities have honed in on several other men.

A 27-year-old Indiana man fell under the spotlight last year when the online account he used to groom underage girls online was tied to the teenage victims. His home had been searched on suspicion of child porn charges just two weeks after the 2017 murders.

In December 2021, Indiana State Police announced that officials had uncovered a fake online profile called anthony_shots.

Kegan Anthony Kline is the man behind the fake anthony_shots account (Miami County Sheriffs Office)

The profile was used from 2016 to 2017 on platforms including Snapchat and Instagram and used photos of a known male model, portraying him as being extremely wealthy and owning numerous sports cars.

Investigators said the person behind the account was Kegan Anthony Kline, 27-year-old man with addresses in Kokomo and Peru, close to Delphi.

According to an affidavit, Kline posed as the model in order to groom underage girls and get them to send nude photos and their addresses and try to get them to meet him. The male model whose photos were used had no connection to the case.

Kline was arrested on charges of child sexual abuse images and child exploitation tied to the account in 2020.

He allegedly admitted to investigators that he groomed underage girls online.

The affidavit said that Indiana State Police and the FBI carried out a search warrant on 25 February 2017 - less than two weeks after Abby and Libby were murdered - at Klines home in Peru after tracking down the user of the anthony_shots profile to the property.

Ron Logan lied to investigators about where he was the day Libby and Abby went missing (Carroll County Sheriffs Office)

Kline allegedly told investigators he would use social media accounts to talk to underage girls and had exchanged messages with and received about 100 sexual photos and about 20 sexually explicit videos from around 15 underage girls.

However, he denied any knowledge or involvement in the two teenagers deaths.

Kline was charged with 30 felonies in 2020 over the case.

The documents, filed in 2020 and heavily redacted, do not mention the murders of Libby and Abby and he was not accused of involvement in their deaths.

Libbys grandmother Becky Patty told The Independent in December that the teenager had never mentioned speaking to anyone online prior to her death and that there had never been any indication that the two girls had arranged to meet anyone online the day they were killed.

Investigators urged anyone who had communicated with, met, or attempted to meet the individual posing as anthony_shots to come forward with information.

Prior to this, Ronald Logan had previously been on police radar, according to the 2017 search warrant application.

Mr Logan owned the land on which Libby and Abbys bodies were found and his home was just 1,400 feet from the crime scene.

The families of Libby German and Abby Williams are expected to be at the press conference on Monday (AP)

The warrant application cites multiple complaints that he was violent towards women and that he owned multiple weapons, including handguns and knives.

Mr Logan also allegedly lied about where he was at the time that the teenagers disappeared, claiming he was out of the area with a friend on the afternoon of 13 February when cellphone location data actually placed him in the area around the trail.

The document also says that his voice was not inconsistent with the man captured in the video by Libby.

Mr Logan was never charged and he died in 2020, before the case was solved.

It is currently unclear if Mr Allen has any connection to Mr Logan or Kline or to the anthony_shots account.
The grandmother of one of the Delphi murder victims has spoken out after a 50-year-old local man was finally arrested more than five years on from the 2017 killings.

Becky Patty, the grandmother of Libby German, shared a heartbreaking Facebook post on Saturday where she said that her family now has a very difficult path ahead of them and questioned: Where do we go from here?

I guess I am kind of at a loss. Every morning I get up - get my coffee - and start looking for which photo will be the today is the day post, she said.

Now I sit here not needing to do it because at long last we have a face to go with our monster. I sit here wondering - now what. Where do we go from here? I realize our lives have again made a big change - we have a very difficult path to start down.

It is a path we will gladly face as we know each step taken is one step closer to our monster being convicted. Knowing that makes that walk so much easier.

Ms Patty went on to thank people for their support after the case rumbled on for more than half a decade with no arrests made and no one held accountable for the murders of her granddaughter and her best friend Abby Williams.

I want to thank everyone who has supported and prayed for our girls daily for 51/2 years - who never gave up! she said.

Who grew to love them. I know they are smiling down on the world today knowing it is now a little bit safer. Thank you.

On Friday, both Ms Patty and Libbys sister Kelsi German posted online that today is the day as it emerged that a man had been arrested in connection to the murders.

Richard Matthew Allen, from Delphi, Indiana, was taken into custody at around midnight and booked into Carroll County Jail. He has since been moved to a state facility for his own safety.

It is currently unclear what the accusations against Mr Allen consist of but law enforcement sources have described it as a major development in the high-profile case that has rocked the small, close-knit community of Delphi.

Story continues

A state-issued photo of Mr Allen, obtained by Fox 59, reveals that the 50-year-old bears some likeness to the police sketches of the suspect which were released to the public over the course of the investigation.

Libby German and Abby Williams were killed after heading off on a walk in their hometown of Delphi, Indiana (AP)

Mr Allen, a married pharmaceutical technician who currently works at the local CVS store, had never before been publicly linked to the murders.

Shocked local residents told Fox 59 that he always seemed just like a normal guy.

Mr Allen appears to have no prior criminal record though jail records list him as also going by the alias of Craigh Ross Rentfrow.

Indiana State Police plan to hold a press conference on Monday morning to provide an update on the case that has gone unsolved for more than half a decade.

Best friends Libby, 14, and Abby, 13, set off on a hike along the Monon High Bridge Trail in Delphi, Indiana, back on 13 February 2017.

The teenagers failed to show up when a family member arrived to pick them up later that day and they were reported missing.

The next day  Valentines Day 2017  their bodies were discovered in a wooded area around half a mile off the trail.

For years, police have refused to say how the girls died and have revealed few details about the crime scene.

Investigators have long been searching for a man captured on Libbys cellphone before she died.

A grainy video shows a man dressed in blue jeans, a blue jacket and a cap walking along the abandoned railroad bridge.

Investigators released a still image from the video and a chilling audio of the man telling the two girls: Go down the hill.

Richard Allen was arrested on Friday in connection to the murders (Indiana State Police)

Prior to capturing the man believed to be their killer, Libby had also posted a photo on Snapchat of the girls walking along the bridge.

The killer is believed to have moved and staged the victims bodies, before taking some sort of souvenir from the scene, according to a search warrant application filed by an FBI agent in 201.

The partly redacted document, obtained by podcast The Murder Sheet and shared with The Independent back in May, was to carry out a search on the home of a local man Ronald Logan.

It revealed that the girls had lost a lot of blood during their deaths and had been killed by some type of weapon, with the word redacted. The murderer would have been covered in the victims blood in the aftermath of the slayings due to the large amount of blood was lost by the victims at the crime scene, it reads.

Mr Logan owned the land on which Libby and Abbys bodies were found and his home was just 1,400 feet from the crime scene. He also allegedly lied about where he was at the time that the teenagers disappeared, claiming he was out of the area with a friend when cellphone location data actually placed him in the area around the trail.

Mr Logan was never charged and he died in 2020.

It is not clear what information has led to Mr Allens arrest now, more than five years on from the 2017 slayings.

This grainy image was taken on Libbys phone on the trail the day the girls went missing. Investigators believe the man is the killer (Indiana State Police)

In August, Indiana State Police were spotted searching the Wabash River in Peru  around 40 minutes east of Delphi  in connection to the case.

Investigators have also been seeking information about an online catfishing account which is believed to have been in communication with one of the victims around the time of their deaths.

Kegan Anthony Kline, a 27-year-old man with addresses in Kokomo and Peru, allegedly confessed to using the fake social media account @anthony_shots to groom underage girls online and get them to send him nude photos and to arrange to meet him.

Klines home was also searched on suspicion of child porn charges just two weeks after the 2017 murders.

He has denied any involvement in the murders.

In December, Indiana State Police announced details of the fake account to the public and urged anyone who had communicated with, met, or attempted to meet the individual posing as @anthony_shots to come forward with information.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Democratic challenger Nan Whaley debated abortion access during a Cleveland.com editorial board.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine believes that a 10-year-old rape victim could have gotten an abortion in Ohio rather than fleeing to Indiana.

But if doctors disagree, Ohio legislators must clarify that law, DeWine told the Cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer editorial board Thursday.

The video conference was likely his only joint appearance with Democratic challenger Nan Whaley, the former mayor of Dayton, after DeWine skipped debates and declined an interview with USA TODAY Network editorial editors from around Ohio.

Abortion has become a key debate in the gubernatorial race since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June. Hours later, Ohio imposed a 2019 law that banned doctors from performing abortions after cardiac activity is detected, which is about six weeks into pregnancy.

Ohio's six-week abortion ban, which DeWine signed into law, is now on hold by a court order. Republican Attorney General Dave Yost is appealing the judge's decision.

Ohio's GOP-controlled Legislature is expected to pass abortion legislation later this year. Some are advocating for banning the procedure at conception. Others are more interested in clarifying exemptions to save the mother's life. Doctors who illegally perform abortions face criminal penalties and loss of their medical licenses, so the ambiguity has real consequences for physicians and patients alike, opponents of the law say.

Will DeWine sign a near-total abortion ban?

DeWine dodged questions from Whaley and the media about whether he would sign a bill banning all or nearly all abortions in the state. But he did hint that the threat of a constitutional amendment on abortion access could rein in GOP lawmakers.

"I want to protect human life. I'm not going to deviate," DeWine said. "But we also have to understand and the Legislature, I'm sure is going to consider the fact that, in Ohio, we have the right to referendum. We have the right for the people to go to the ballot."

Advocates for abortion access are working on a constitutional amendment that voters could see as soon as 2023 or 2024.

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DeWine said lawmakers should "aim to achieve something in the passage of a bill that will be sustainable for a number of years."

Could the 10-year-old rape victim have gotten an abortion in Ohio? Is the law clear?

Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Christian Jenkins recently blocked Ohio's six-week abortion ban, in part, because he determined that the law was too vague.

Cancer patients were unable to obtain abortions to continue treatment  either because of the law's limitations or confusion surrounding it, according to court affidavits. With no exception for rape or incest, sexual assault victims sought abortions elsewhere.

DeWine, a former county prosecutor and attorney general, said he believes a 10-year-old rape victim who traveled to Indiana for an abortion could have obtained one in Ohio instead.

"My belief would be that that 10-year-old would have been able to have an abortion in Ohio because of that (exception)," DeWine told the editorial board. "If I was wrong, and we're going to hear more from medical professionals, then these are the things that we will need to work out, that the Legislature will work out as it debates this bill."

Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, recently told the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau that clarifying when doctors can perform abortions to save Ohioans' lives is a top priority for the final months of the year. DeWine said he would urge legislators to "clear up all ambiguity."

But Whaley contends that the ambiguity has already had real-life consequences.

"This isn't a bill, governor," Whaley said. "This is a law that you already signed that had implications in the state."

More:Do 10-year-olds meet 'life of mother' abortion exemptions? Ohio lawmakers, doctors divided

Is Nan Whaley 'radical' on abortion?

DeWine said Thursday that Whaley's position on abortion access is "radical" and outside what most Ohioans support. In a 2017 Columbus Dispatch candidate survey, Whaley checked the box marked "abortion should be legal with no exceptions." Whaley was running in the Democratic primary for governor at the time.

"That's a radical position," DeWine told the Cleveland.com editorial board. "You're the one who is out of the mainstream of what Ohioans think."

On the 2022 campaign trail, Whaley has said that she supports abortion access in line with Roe v. Wade, which permitted the procedure up to viability. If elected, Whaley promised to push for a constitutional amendment to codify Roe.

"Clear the deck on what the Statehouse did. Put Roe into the (state) Constitution. That should be the law of Ohio," Whaley told the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau last week.

Jessie Balmert is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Akron Beacon Journal, Cincinnati Enquirer, Columbus Dispatch and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Is Ohio abortion law clear? Gov. Mike DeWine, Nan Whaley disagree
NBC

Jack Harlow may have been hosting Saturday Night Live this week, but the sketch-comedy shows best offering conveniently omitted him. Given all the Kanye West news this week, including a string of antisemitic outbursts, the subsequent loss of his business deals, and comparing himself to George Floyd, SNL chose to highlight the most absurd West happening: getting kicked out of Skechers.

Yes, after losing his deal with Adidas West apparently showed up uninvited to the California headquarters of Skechers, demanded a meeting, and was quickly shown the door. So, SNL aired a mock PSA for Skechers where they took a bit of a victory lap.

Here at Skechers, we pride ourselves on two things: making stylish, comfortable shoes at an affordable price, and having zero tolerance for antisemitism, said Cecily Strongs Skechers exec, in a red power suit, later adding, Like the rest of the country, we were appalled by Kanyes horrific comments and we vowed to never work with him in any capacity. Butcan we also point out that of all the companies he could have approached and been rejected by, he chose Skechers.

She proceeded to describe Skechers as a hip, edgy company in voiceover, as images of three elderly people wearing Skechers was shown.

SNL Tries (Again) to Make Us Forget They Let Elon Musk Host

Kanye came to Skechers, and Skechers said no, boasted Chloe Finemans Skechers VP. Do you realize how insanely satisfying that is?

The funniest line of the bit came (naturally) from Bowen Yangs Skechers director, who said, Now I noticed we havent heard anything from Crocs. Im not saying Crocs is antisemitic, I just think its interesting we havent heard from them

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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A chorus of international condemnation echoed Sunday over Russia's sudden decision to halt participation in a grain export deal with Ukraine, raising fears of a global food crisis.

The Russian Defense Ministry, citing an alleged Ukraine drone attack on Russia's Black Sea Fleet off the coast of occupied Crimea, announced the suspension Saturday. Ukraine denied the attack, blaming Russia for mishandling its own weapons.

"Russia is blackmailing the world with hunger, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell Fontelles implored Russia to rethink the move. "The EU urges Russia to revert its decision," he tweeted Sunday.

President Joe Biden weighed in Saturday, calling the decision "outrageous" and expressing concern that global hunger could increase. Theres no merit to what theyre doing. The U.N. negotiated that deal and that should be the end of it," he said.

The International Rescue Committee, a humanitarian aid organization, estimates 345 million people will encounter acute food insecurity this year.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused Russia of "again weaponizing food in the war it started, directly impacting low- and middle-income countries and global food prices and exacerbating already dire humanitarian crises and food insecurity."

The suspension had an immediate impact: A ship with 40,000 tons of grains bound for Ethiopia could not leave Ukraine Sunday, said Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraines minister of infrastructure.

More than 9 million tons of grain in 397 ships have safely left Ukrainian ports since the deal was signed in July after much wrangling, lifting a Russian blockade in the Black Sea that kept Ukrainian cargo ships docked. The agreement, due to come up for renewal Nov. 19, has lowered global food prices, which have fallen by about 15% from their peak in March, according to the United Nations. Turkey and the U.N., which brokered the deal, are trying to revive it.

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'TEST FOR OUR ENDURANCE': Will brutal winter weather be a game-changer for Ukraine or Russia?

A Ukrainian soldier inspects a Russian tank that was damaged in recent fighting near the recently retaken village of Kamianka in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine on Oct. 30, 2022.

Latest developments:

Russia requested a meeting Monday of the U.N. Security Council because of the alleged attack on the Black Sea Fleet, said Dmitry Polyansky, Russias first deputy representative to the U.N.

Russian missiles killed at least five people and wounded nine, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office. Russia is trying to capture the city of Bakhmut in the eastern part of Ukraine, and several villages in the area have been shelled.

Ukraine and Russia have conducted another prisoner exchange; each side got back about 50 of their citizens. Andriy Yermak, Ukraine's presidential chief of staff, said on Telegram that military surgeons are among those his country is getting back.

Boxer Vasiliy Lomachenko, whose quest for the undisputed lightweight championship was interrupted by military service in his native Ukraine because of the war, won a unanimous decision over Jamaine Ortiz on Saturday in New York and remains on course for a title fight. In the meantime, Lomachenko will rejoin the Ukrainian forces.

Tens of thousands of Czechs, many of them waving Czech, Ukrainian and EU flags, showed their solidarity with Ukraine and their support for democratic values at a rally in Prague.

Legitimate claim or tactical move? Russia blames Ukraine for grain deal decision

Russia was ready Sunday to deflect blame for its unpopular decision to stop participating in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, the deal that has allowed Ukraine to ship millions of tons of grain and ease an international food crisis.

Russian authorities said they pulled out of the agreement in response to what they called an Ukrainian attack Saturday that destroyed at least three warships near Sevastopol in Kremlin-annexed Crimea. The Russian Defense Ministry said Sunday it found wreckage of drones used by Ukraine in the attack, adding that British operatives were also involved. No evidence was provided for either claim.

Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraines Interior Ministry, attributed the blasts that damaged the ships to the Russians careless handling of explosives.

Ukraine has shown the ability to strike deep into Russian-occupied territory, particularly Crimea. But some analysts see withdrawing from the agreement as a tactical move.

By leaving the deal now and putting the blame on Ukraine, it aims to slow Ukrainian attacks around the Black Sea, said Mario Bikarski, an Economist Intelligence Unit analyst, adding that Russia could be hoping Kyiv's Western allies ask for the focus to shift elsewhere to save the grain deal.

Russians reportedly clearing out hospitals in Kherson

Russian troops were moving sick and wounded comrades from hospitals in Ukraines southern Kherson region and stripped the facilities of medical equipment, Ukrainian officials said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video that Russians were "dismantling the entire health care system" in Kherson and other occupied areas.

"The occupiers have decided to close medical institutions in the cities, take away equipment, ambulances. just everything," Zelenskyy said. "They put pressure on the doctors who still remained in the occupied areas for them to move to the territory of Russia."

Kherson is one of four regions in Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin illegally annexed last month before declaring martial law in them. The others are Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia.

Russia recruiting convicts with illnesses such as HIV, hepatitis C

Reports of Russia enlisting mercenaries recruited from prisons have surfaced for weeks. Now it appears some of them are infected with serious diseases.

The British Defense Ministry cited an online posting from Yevgeny Prigozhin, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, in which the reputed head of the private military company the Wagner Group seems to acknowledge recruiting convicted Russians with illnesses such as HIV and hepatitis C. Both can be transmitted through the blood, a much more likely scenario in war than in a normal setting.

With Russia's troops in need of replenishment, the ministry said Wagner has lowered the standards it had in previous wars, in which it mostly relied on experienced professional soldiers.

"The admission of prisoners with serious medical concerns highlights an approach which now prioritizes numbers over experience or quality,'' the ministry said Sunday in an intelligence update.

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Grain deal: Zelenskyy says Russia 'blackmailing the world with hunger'
ADDIS ABABA, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Saturday called the donor community for funding to provide lifesaving support to conflict and drought affected children in Ethiopia.

The UN Children's Fund, in its latest Ethiopia Humanitarian Situation Report issued Saturday, said its Humanitarian Action for Children (HAC) 2022 currently requires 532.3 million U.S. dollars to meet the critical humanitarian needs of children, adolescents, women, and men in Ethiopia.

It said the requirements represents an increase of over 281 million U.S. dollars from 2021, primarily due to the expanding conflict in northern Ethiopia, increased needs due to climatic shocks including severe drought, failed harvests, public health emergencies, and deepening food insecurity across the country.

To date, 201.6 million U.S. dollars has been received towards the appeal, representing, with the carry forward from 2021, only 38 percent of the required needs to reach children and their families with critical lifesaving support, it said.

Within the appeal, funding dedicated to the Northern Ethiopia Response Plan is budgeted at 223.1 million U.S. dollars and fully incorporated in the HAC.

Furthermore, due to the severe drought that has impacted close to 17 million people across four regions in south and southeastern parts of Ethiopia, another 202.9 million U.S. dollars within the HAC has been dedicated to the drought response.

"The UNICEF appeals for support to close the remaining gaps and to ensure that children and their caregivers receive lifesaving support," the report read.

Meanwhile, the UNICEF commended its donors who have already provided critical support towards UNICEF's HAC, including China, Australia, Canada, and the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), among others.

According to the UNICEF, the ongoing conflict in northern Ethiopia has led to an increasingly volatile security environment and a deteriorating humanitarian situation across the Afar, Amhara, and Tigray regions.

It further emphasized that the effects of drought and conflict continue to converge in eastern and southern Ethiopia, driving displacement and disrupting pastoralist and agro-pastoralist livelihoods. 
The film 'The Perfect Storm' is based on a nor'easter from Atlantic Canada

This Day In Weather History is a daily podcast by Chris Mei from The Weather Network, featuring stories about people, communities and events and how weather impacted them.

--

On Oct. 29, 1991, a low-pressure system developed off the coast of Atlantic Canada, eventually leading to the formation of a storm without any names, yet many of them. The system is known by the 1991 Perfect Storm, the No-Name Storm, and the Halloween Gale/Storm.

The perfect storm was a nor'easter that was eventually absorbed Hurricane Grace. On Oct. 30, the system reached peak intensity. That day, a buoy near Halifax reported a 30.7-metre wave, making it the highest one recorded on the Scotian Shelf (Nova Scotia's oceanic shelf).

Perfect Storm Oceanfront flooding

"Oceanfront flooding in Ocean City, N.J." Courtesy of Wikipedia

The nor'easter impacted the northeastern United States, mid-Atlantic states, and Eastern Canada.

In the United States, the storm brought high waves from North Carolina to Maine, causing damage to beachfront areas. The flooding damaged or destroyed hundreds of homes, and the strong winds left around 38,000 people without power.

The Halloween Storm caused 13 deaths, including six people who were on board Andrea Gail, a swordfishing boat. Andrea Gail was travelling from Gloucester, Mass., to Nova Scotia and encountered high seas in the middle of the storm. On Oct. 28, the boat made its final radio contact around 290 km northeast of Sable Island.

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The boat turned around but sank on her way back to Gloucester. Pieces of the boat washed ashore over the weeks that followed. Sebastian Junger wrote a best-selling, non-fiction book called The Perfect Storm (1997), which was also subsequently turned into a movie with the same name.

The storm produced huge waves off the coast of Atlantic Canada. The waves destroyed three boats near Nova Scotia, and nine boats in Newfoundland and Labrador.

The No-Name Storm made landfall in Nova Scotia, knocking out power for 20,000 people in Pictou County. Areas in Newfoundland were also left without power. The storm also brought a record 116 cm of snow to Newfoundland, causing traffic accidents across the province.

To learn more about the 1991 Perfect Storm, listen to today's episode of "This Day In Weather History."

Subscribe to 'This Day in Weather History': Apple Podcasts | Amazon Alexa | Google Assistant | Spotify | Google Podcasts | iHeartRadio | Overcast'
Oct. 30godwit, research, nome, USGS, bar-tailed godwit, migration

This is the time of year when Alaska's migratory birds uproot and move to warmer places. But one shorebird in particular made history this past week after it was tracked flying thousands of miles nonstop to the southern hemisphere, drawing international attention and potentially giving scientists new insight into the future of a declining population of shorebirds.

Earlier this week, a bar-tailed godwit, tagged as "B6, completed its migration from the Western Alaska coast to Southern Australia, a non-stop journey of nearly 8,500 miles completed in 11 days.

"Good godwit! Bird flies 8,425 miles NON-STOP from Alaska to Australia..." read a headline in the Daily Mail.

The center of attention: a four-month-old shorebird weighing just 600 grams  a little more than a pound, or slightly heavier than a can of beans. The journey, tracked for the first time using a real-time solar-powered transmitter, is being described as a world record.

Lee Tibbitts, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey's Alaska Science Center, has been researching these birds for decades and was part of the team that began observational studies about 40 years ago, before technology enabled satellite tracking.

Prior to this work, nobody really believed that nonstop migration across the Pacific Ocean was possible, said Dan Ruthrauff, a USGS research wildlife biologist who helped tag B6.

B6 is the first tagged Alaska-breeding bar-tailed godwit chick whose migration was successfully tracked. Not only did it complete its migration, but it flew nearly 1,600 miles further than its species' typical migration route from Alaska to New Zealand  something Ruthrauff hypothesizes could have been a result of strong easterly winds.

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"They don't land on the water. They don't glide. This is flapping flight for a week and a half," he said. "It's crazy and I think is just tangible enough that we can appreciate it and have our minds properly blown."

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godwit, research, nome, USGS, bar-tailed godwit, migration

Ruthrauff and Jesse Conklin, a researcher with Germany's Max Planck Institute of Ornithology, set out in Nome in late June to find and follow bar-tailed godwit chicks at their breeding grounds. Jim Johnson, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, supported the project from Nome.

"It seemed like a great plan and we should have known better," Ruthrauff said. "Nobody's tried this before because it was bloody difficult."

Ruthrauff's hope for this project was to figure out why some subspecies of godwits are experiencing a tanking population while the godwits that breed in Alaska are doing okay. He guesses the population declines can be attributed to severe habitat loss and destruction of important migratory stopover sites, primarily in the Yellow Sea region of China.

According to an article on shorebird population by The Wildlife Society, shorebird populations have declined by about 40 percent across North America over the last 50 years, despite receiving federal protections in the U.S. and Canada.

While there are 100,000 bar-tailed godwits that breed in Alaska, they occur at such low densities and have incredible camouflage  which only added to the project's difficulties Ruthrauff said. He and Conklin spent weeks hiking in the tundra east of Nome trying to capture chicks for their study and B6 was a part of their "Hail Mary" brood.

"They go from a little teeny puffball that fits inside a golf ball sized egg to flying to Tasmania in four months," Ruthrauff said. " I mean, that's another crazy phenomenal thing."

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The chick was just one of three that was fitted with a transmitter this summer. The other two transmitters are still sending signals from the tundra on the Seward Peninsula. Ruthrauff guesses that they were too loose and fell off of the birds before their migration.

The transmitter, attached using surgical-grade silicon tubing, weighs just five grams and fits like a fanny pack, Ruthrauff said. The antenna trails off from the bird's tail and is fitted with a solar panel.

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Once fitted with the transmitter, all that was left for Ruthrauff and his team to do was to wait.

During that time, B6 moved to its staging area on the Kuskokwim Delta and stayed there for about six weeks, fattening up on clams, worms and berries for the trip  much like a bear getting ready for hibernation.

"It's pretty crazy how much bigger they get," Ruthrauff said. "It's mostly just fat  little butter balls."

[Perseverance pushes a shorebird flying from Alaska to its final destination an ocean away]

In preparation for the trip, these birds increase the size of their gizzard, stomach, kidney, liver and length of their intestine in oder to metabolize the foods that they're eating, Ruthrauff said. As they approach time to migrate, the digestive tract begins to atrophy while their heart and pectoral muscles increase in size.

Bar-tailed godwit chicks migrate without their adult counterparts and are known to take advantage of weather systems along their route.

Set up with a "smokin'" tailwind, B6 departed Alaska on Oct. 12.

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After learning of the godwit's arrival to Australia on Oct. 23, Ruthrauff poured a Scotch to toast B6 and sent the picture to his colleagues.

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For Milo Burcham, a wildlife photographer and retired wildlife biologist, migratory birds help connect Alaska with other communities around the world.

"What this illustrates is that we're all connected and it all matters," he said. "They're adaptable to some point but if you take away some of these stepping stones that they need to do these epic migrations, we're gonna lose them, we'll lose this."

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Ruthrauff hopes this year's study will help conserve migratory shorebirds.

In New Zealand, people are celebrating the return of their beloved shorebirds. Last year in Nelson, a city on the South Island of New Zealand, church bells rang and cathedral staff read prayers of thanks upon their arrival, according to the Guardian.

Near Auckland, the Pukorokoro Miranda Shorebird Centre hosted a spring migration day and even sells commemorative tea towels.

B6s rise to fame has also given new momentum for the godwits in their quest for New Zealand's coveted Bird of the Year crown. (Hurry, voting ends Monday.)

"People in New Zealand really love their migratory birds because they don't have that many species that migrate there," Tibbitts said.

Around 2007, a bar-tailed godwit known as "E7 was tagged in New Zealand via an implant. E7 was the first tracked godwit to make the complete flight cycle between New Zealand, China and Alaska.

"We always joked that she should have had her own agent, because she had so many books written about her and articles and it was just remarkable, she was so famous," Tibbitts said. "(This chick) kind of rekindled the whole thing."
Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba pictured in 2016

Trained at prestigious military academies around the world, the son of Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has turned out to be an army general who has gained notoriety for politically explosive tweets that have sent local and regional politics into a tailspin.

Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba boasted that his army could capture the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, in under two weeks, and warned Egypt's rivals that Uganda would enter any war on the side of the North African state, while on the domestic front he shows interest in succeeding his 78-year-old father. He has defied an order to stop stoking controversy on Twitter by tweeting: "I am an adult and NO ONE will ban me from anything!"

Ugandan investigative journalist Solomon Serwanjja said the tweeting showed that Gen Kainerugaba - commonly referred to as Muhoozi, meaning "avenger" - is a serving military officer with political ambitions.

"He wants to prove a point to his supporters that he can be independent and make decisions on his own. He however, remains a son who has to heed to his father's instructions," he said.

In power since 1986, Mr Museveni has long been suspected of grooming the 48-year-old general to succeed him to entrench what critics call monarchic rule in Uganda.

"That family controls Uganda. His mother is in the cabinet, and he is the prince, waiting to succeed his father," said Peter Kagwanja of the Kenya-based Africa Policy Institute.

Like former US President Donald Trump once did, the general uses Twitter to raise his profile.

Prof Kagwanja regards him as an "agent provocateur" who tweets to gain access to African leaders, and to advance Uganda's political objectives: "Muhoozi provokes, then his father arranges for him to go and apologise, and in this way he is introduced into the circles of leaders."

This strategy was on display when Gen Kainerugaba riled Ethiopia's government when he came out in strong support of Egypt at a time when it is in a bitter dispute with Ethiopia over a mega dam being built on a tributary of the River Nile.

Story continues

He later hailed the "unconquerable spirit" of the Tigrayan forces involved in a brutal war with Ethiopia's federal troops, and said that "those who raped our Tigrayan sisters and killed our brothers must be punished!"

Far from turning him into a pariah in Ethiopia, the tweets opened the way for him to visit the country to meet Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and senior military officials earlier this year.

It led to the general changing his tune, hailing Mr Abiy - who, at 46, is younger than him - as "my brother", and saying that "we believe in African solutions to African problems", expressing a view similar to that of the Ethiopian leader to cement his credentials as a pan-Africanist.

'Father and son work together'

Gen Kainerugaba is fond of using family terms, revealing in the process how he views various African leaders and what his relationship with them is like.

He describes Rwanda's President Paul Kagame as "my uncle", and has visited him on his farm. When a dispute led to the closure of the Rwanda-Uganda border, he tried to mend relations by arranging a meeting between his father and "uncle".

President Museveni (L) sent his son (C) to Sandhurst, an elite military academy in the UK

When it came to Kenya, Gen Kainerugaba tweeted that he had spoken to former President Uhuru Kenyatta after he stepped down at the end of his two terms in August: "My only problem with my beloved big brother is that he didn't stand for a third term. We would have won easily!"

This caused a furore among Kenyans on Twitter, who accused the general of attempting to undermine their democracy.

Prof Kagwanja said the general's intervention came against the backdrop of strained relations as the Ugandan president disapproved of Mr Kenyatta backing veteran opposition politician Raila Odinga in the election campaign, seeing him as an "imperialist project" of Western powers.

Mr Museveni preferred William Ruto, who went on to win the presidency after a bitter contest.

"The tweet was to appease Kenyatta so as not to lose him because he is still an important actor in Kenyan politics," Prof Kagwanja said.

"Father and son were working together. Muhoozi projects himself as the opposite to his father, of being a chaotic person - that makes his father look good."

Gen Kainerugaba also put out a more incendiary tweet to his more than 600,000 followers, saying that it "wouldn't take us, my army and me, 2 weeks to capture [Kenya's capital] Nairobi".

Prof Kagwanja said the tweet evoked memories of then-Ugandan dictator Idi Amin's claims in the 1970s that a large part of Kenya belonged to Uganda, and was a reminder of the need to resolve the long-running dispute between Uganda and Kenya over the rock island of Migingo.

As he faced a backlash from Kenyans who trolled him for his "reckless" comments, the army commander urged them to "relax": "I would never beat up the Kenyan army because my father told me never to attempt it!"

The Kenyan government did not publicly comment, but as the controversy continued to escalate, Mr Museveni was forced to phone Mr Ruto to apologise for his son's "mistake".

This paved the way for Mr Ruto to attend celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of Uganda's independence, and for Gen Kainerugaba to offer his "unreserved and complete support in solving old outstanding problems".

With the Ugandan military also expressing concern about their "tweeting general", Mr Museveni moved to placate them by sacking him as commander of land forces.

"Senior generals raised the issue of discipline, a fundamental in the army, and Mr Museveni had no choice," Mr Serwanjja said.

"If it was someone else, they would have been court-martialled."

But Mr Museveni also seized the opportunity to promote his son to the highest-ranking officer - a four-star general - while retaining him as his adviser.

'Overly ambitious'

After graduating from the UK's elite Sandhurst military academy, Gen Kainerugaba began to climb the ranks in the Ugandan army, which he officially joined in 1999. Married with four children, he makes much of his Christian faith and family values on Twitter.

He played a pivotal role in the formation of the Special Forces Command (SFC), a unit responsible for his father's security. It has also been accused of widespread human rights abuses - including detaining and torturing opposition activists.

"Muhoozi rose through the ranks to command his father's bodyguards in 2008, a post he held until 2017. He returned to the unit during the violent 2020 election season," wrote Ugandan journalist Musinguzi Blanshe in The Africa Report.

Mr Serwanjja said that after being sacked as commander of land forces, it was unclear how much influence the general now wielded in the military.

What is clear is that Mr Museveni has dashed any hopes that his son had of succeeding him in the 2026 election after his old comrades - including the vice-president and interior minister - launched a campaign for him to seek office again.

This was a major blow for the myriad groups that had sprung up on Twitter - under hashtags such as #MKArmy and #MK26 - to rally support for the general to take over from his father.

"All those who want me to stand in 2026 retweet, all those who don't like," he said in a Tweet in May.

Muhoozi Kainerugaba wants to take on musician-turned-opposition leader Bobi Wine's popularity by wooing the youth vote

This was backed up by a grassroots campaign that saw celebrations to mark the general's 48 birthday in April, and his support for various initiatives in what appeared to be a bid to boost his profile, especially among the youth.

"Muhoozi has got a big army of young people. His supporters are trying to tap into the young electorate," Mr Serwanjja said.

This is seen as vital to counter the growing popularity of young opposition leaders like musician-turned politician Bobi Wine whom the general tries to belittle by referring to him in Swahili as "Kabobi", meaning "small Bobi".

Mr Serwanjja feels the general is being "overly ambitious" in his hopes to get on the ballot for 2026: "President Museveni will stop at nothing, including sacrificing his own, to stay in power."

And if Mr Museveni confirms that he will run for the presidency, his son - known as Generational Supreme Leader to some of his Twitter followers - is almost certain to campaign for him.
Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel on Sunday said linking Republican rhetoric to political violence is unfair amid questions over the motive behind Fridays attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosis (D-Calif.) husband.

After Paul Pelosi was attacked at home Friday by an intruder looking for the Speaker, some Democrats tied the incident  and the rise of political violence nationwide  to extreme GOP rhetoric.

Well, I think thats unfair. I think this is a deranged individual. You cant say people saying, lets fire Pelosi or lets take back the House is saying go do violence. Its just unfair, McDaniel said on Fox News Sunday with host Shannon Bream.

And I think we all need to recognize violence is up across the board, the RNC Chairwoman added, noting an attack earlier this year at a campaign event for New Yorks GOP gubernatorial nominee and Rep. Lee Zeldin (R), as well as a threat against conservative Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh after the court overturned Roe v. Wade this summer.

McDaniel instead suggested Democratic policies were to blame for the uptick in political violence.

But, of course, we wish Paul Pelosi a recovery. We dont like this at all across the board. We dont want to see attacks on any politician from any political background, McDaniel said.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) responded to Paul Pelosis attack with similar sentiments, expressing sympathies for the family but writing on Twitter that violence and crime are rampant in Joe Bidens America.

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) hit back, writing YOU called for Nancy Pelosi to be executed, @RepMTG. YOU said she should be hung for treason. And now that someone listened, youre making Paul Pelosis attack about YOU. This is what Republicans stand for, America. Its sick.

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Workers prepare raw materials for vinegar making at a vinegar factory in Chishui, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Oct. 28, 2022. Chishui is celebrated for its sun vinegar, which has maintained a traditional making process. The production techniques of the Chishui vinegar, featuring the sunning process, was listed as a provincial intangible cultural heritage of Guizhou in 2009, and a national one in 2021. The vinegar is noted for its unique flavor also because of its time-tested recipe that include some herbal medicines.

The local government pins great importance to the inheritance of vinegar making skills as well as the publicity of their products. Through "on-line + off-line" information and sales campaigns, Chishui sun vinegar has gained a new life in this mountainous city. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

A worker prepares raw materials for vinegar making at a vinegar factory in Chishui, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Oct. 28, 2022. Chishui is celebrated for its sun vinegar, which has maintained a traditional making process. The production techniques of the Chishui vinegar, featuring the sunning process, was listed as a provincial intangible cultural heritage of Guizhou in 2009, and a national one in 2021. The vinegar is noted for its unique flavor also because of its time-tested recipe that include some herbal medicines.

The local government pins great importance to the inheritance of vinegar making skills as well as the publicity of their products. Through "on-line + off-line" information and sales campaigns, Chishui sun vinegar has gained a new life in this mountainous city. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

A worker checks the maturity of vinegar in process at a vinegar factory in Chishui, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Oct. 28, 2022. Chishui is celebrated for its sun vinegar, which has maintained a traditional making process. The production techniques of the Chishui vinegar, featuring the sunning process, was listed as a provincial intangible cultural heritage of Guizhou in 2009, and a national one in 2021. The vinegar is noted for its unique flavor also because of its time-tested recipe that include some herbal medicines.

The local government pins great importance to the inheritance of vinegar making skills as well as the publicity of their products. Through "on-line + off-line" information and sales campaigns, Chishui sun vinegar has gained a new life in this mountainous city. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

This aerial photo taken on Oct. 28, 2022 shows workers operating at the sunning field of a vinegar factory in Chishui, southwest China's Guizhou Province. Chishui is celebrated for its sun vinegar, which has maintained a traditional making process. The production techniques of the Chishui vinegar, featuring the sunning process, was listed as a provincial intangible cultural heritage of Guizhou in 2009, and a national one in 2021. The vinegar is noted for its unique flavor also because of its time-tested recipe that include some herbal medicines.

The local government pins great importance to the inheritance of vinegar making skills as well as the publicity of their products. Through "on-line + off-line" information and sales campaigns, Chishui sun vinegar has gained a new life in this mountainous city. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

This aerial photo taken on Oct. 28, 2022 shows the sunning field of a vinegar factory in Chishui, southwest China's Guizhou Province. Chishui is celebrated for its sun vinegar, which has maintained a traditional making process. The production techniques of the Chishui vinegar, featuring the sunning process, was listed as a provincial intangible cultural heritage of Guizhou in 2009, and a national one in 2021. The vinegar is noted for its unique flavor also because of its time-tested recipe that include some herbal medicines.

The local government pins great importance to the inheritance of vinegar making skills as well as the publicity of their products. Through "on-line + off-line" information and sales campaigns, Chishui sun vinegar has gained a new life in this mountainous city. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

A worker moves bottled vinegar at a vinegar factory in Chishui, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Oct. 28, 2022. Chishui is celebrated for its sun vinegar, which has maintained a traditional making process. The production techniques of the Chishui vinegar, featuring the sunning process, was listed as a provincial intangible cultural heritage of Guizhou in 2009, and a national one in 2021. The vinegar is noted for its unique flavor also because of its time-tested recipe that include some herbal medicines.

The local government pins great importance to the inheritance of vinegar making skills as well as the publicity of their products. Through "on-line + off-line" information and sales campaigns, Chishui sun vinegar has gained a new life in this mountainous city. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

Workers move raw materials at the sunning field of a vinegar factory in Chishui, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Oct. 28, 2022. Chishui is celebrated for its sun vinegar, which has maintained a traditional making process. The production techniques of the Chishui vinegar, featuring the sunning process, was listed as a provincial intangible cultural heritage of Guizhou in 2009, and a national one in 2021. The vinegar is noted for its unique flavor also because of its time-tested recipe that include some herbal medicines.

The local government pins great importance to the inheritance of vinegar making skills as well as the publicity of their products. Through "on-line + off-line" information and sales campaigns, Chishui sun vinegar has gained a new life in this mountainous city. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

A worker displays mature vinegar at a vinegar factory in Chishui, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Oct. 28, 2022. Chishui is celebrated for its sun vinegar, which has maintained a traditional making process. The production techniques of the Chishui vinegar, featuring the sunning process, was listed as a provincial intangible cultural heritage of Guizhou in 2009, and a national one in 2021. The vinegar is noted for its unique flavor also because of its time-tested recipe that include some herbal medicines.

The local government pins great importance to the inheritance of vinegar making skills as well as the publicity of their products. Through "on-line + off-line" information and sales campaigns, Chishui sun vinegar has gained a new life in this mountainous city. (Photo by Wang Changyu/Xinhua)

Two women promote vinegar products via livestreaming at a vinegar factory in Chishui, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Oct. 28, 2022. Chishui is celebrated for its sun vinegar, which has maintained a traditional making process. The production techniques of the Chishui vinegar, featuring the sunning process, was listed as a provincial intangible cultural heritage of Guizhou in 2009, and a national one in 2021. The vinegar is noted for its unique flavor also because of its time-tested recipe that include some herbal medicines.

The local government pins great importance to the inheritance of vinegar making skills as well as the publicity of their products. Through "on-line + off-line" information and sales campaigns, Chishui sun vinegar has gained a new life in this mountainous city. (Photo by Wang Changyu/Xinhua)
Hisashi Takeuchi, managing director of Maruti Suzuki, remarked on the sidelines of the laying of the foundation stone ceremony for the C-295 cargo aircraft production plant in Gujarat's Vadodara that the rapidly expanding Indian market has enormous business potential. "India is a growing market and there is a huge business potential here. For most of the companies abroad, this is a good market to enter into. It is a wise decision for any company to come to India," Hisashi Takeuchi, MD, Maruti Suzuki on the Tata-Airbus project.

Over the Aatma Nirbhar Bharat initiative taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Takeuchi said, "Two months back in August, in Gujarat we marked 40 years of Suzuki Motor Corporation in India.. like this setup and what we can say is .. this is a collaboration of Japanese working culture and Indian working culture and the match is perfect. I hope that this kind of good matching will help the industry to grow further."

Speaking further on future plans of Suzuki in India, he said, "We have expanded our Gujarat operations with EV production and battery factory we set up in Gujarat. Also at the same time, in Harayana`s Kharkhoda we have already started construction of our new factory there."

As India-Japan ties touch 70 years, Maruti Suzuki MD highlighted, "We are celebrating 70 years of our cooperation. We have a long history of progression between the two countries. The combination of these two cultures is a good match and will be strengthened further in the future."

On the bullet train project in Gujarat, he said, "Bullet train project in Gujarat is a very very important project. It`s a national project and Japan is strongly supporting it. I am hoping that it becomes a huge success."

This comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the C-295 transport aircraft manufacturing facility in Gujarat`s Vadodara Sunday. Earlier, praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s strong leadership, Japanese PM Fumio Kishida attributed the success of Maruti Suzuki to the people and the Indian government.

While attending an event virtually in Gujarat`s Gandhinagar to mark 40 years of Suzuki Motor Corporation in India, the Japanese PM Fumio Kishida Minister, "We owe the success of Maruti Suzuki to the support of the people and government of India. Recently the Indian economic growth has been further accelerating due to various assistance measures for the manufacturing sector, guided by the strong leadership of PM Modi."

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the success of Maruti-Suzuki signifies the strong India-Japan partnership. PM Modi on Sunday laid the foundation stone of the Maruti Suzuki Vehicle Manufacturing Facility for Haryana and Suzuki EV Battery Plant for Hansalpur in Gujarat at the event in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

Recalling former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe`s efforts to take India-Japan ties to another level, Prime Minister said, "In the last eight years, this relationship between our two countries has reached new heights."

"Today, from the bullet train in Gujarat-Maharashtra to the Rudraksha center in Banaras, many development projects are examples of Indo-Japan friendship. And when it comes to this friendship, every Indian definitely remembers our friend, former Prime Minister Late Shinzo Abe. "He expressed hope that in continuation of Abe`s legacy, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will take forward the relationship between the two nations.

"When Abe Shan came to Gujarat, the time he spent here is fondly remembered by the people of Gujarat. Today PM Kishida is taking forward the efforts he made to bring our countries closer," PM Modi said.

PM Modi stressed that the relations that exist between Gujarat and Japan have always been higher than only diplomatic ties. "I remember when the Vibrant Gujarat Summit was started in 2009, since then Japan has been associated with it as a partner country," the Prime Minister said. "The success of Maruti-Suzuki also signifies the strong India-Japan partnership. In the last eight years, these relations between our two countries have reached new heights," he added.

The Prime Minister further spoke extensively about the benefits of electric vehicles. "One of the great features of electric vehicles is that they are silent. Be it a 2-wheeler or a 4-wheeler, they don`t make any noise. This silence is not only about its engineering, but it is also the beginning of a silent revolution in the country."

(With inputs from ANI)
India's biggest automaker Maruti Suzuki has issued a recall for 9,925 units of three of its models namely the Maruti Suzuki Wagon R, Celerio, and Ignis. The recall from the homegrown automaker is to address a problem with the rear brake assembly pin. The recall affects the vehicle manufactured between August 3 and 1 September 2022. The company said that the recall has been issued considering the safety of consumers.

Maruti Suzuki stated in its filing that it does not believe the loud travelling in these cars is caused by a problem with the rear brake assembly pin. Long-term braking performance issues could result from this malfunction. The business has chosen to recall certain devices and have them retested in order to protect the safety of the customers.

Also read: Toyota Innova HyCross hybrid MPV to launch soon: All you need to know- Price, Mileage and more

It is suspected that there is a possible defect in the rear brake assembly pin (Part), which in a certain case, may break and cause a peculiar noise. There may be a possibility of an impact on brake performance in the long run. Considering the safety of customers and out of abundant precaution, Company has decided to recall the suspected vehicles for inspection and replacement of the faulty part, free of cost, Maruti Suzuki said in its BSE filing.

The recall comes right after the company had the highest-ever sales in the second quarter. The increased sales of the Indian automaker can be credited to its new SUVs like Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara and the 2022 Maruti Suzuki Brezza. While other models like the facelift Maruti Suzuki Baleno, Swift, Dzire with other models contributing to the sales number.

The Grand Vitara, which replaced Maruti's prior compact SUV S-Cross, clocks over 55,000 bookings within days of its launch in late September. The Brezza was introduced on June 30. Due to its dominance in the small car sector, Maruti Suzuki has a market share of almost 40 percent.
The Japanese automaker Toyota is all set to launch arguably the most popular MPV in India in its new avatar in the international market. Yes, we are talking about the Toyota Innova HyCross hybrid. The car model is well-known in the Indian market. However, the company has announced the launch in the Indonesian market and teased the MPV multiple times revealing its details. Besides the official information, there multiple details of the car have also been leaked before the official launch, and here's all you need to know about the upcoming Toyota Innova HyCross hybrid:

Toyota Innova HyCross: Design

The new Toyota Innova HyCross hybrid will have a sleek modern design to suit modern customers' needs. The teaser image revealed shows the car has the same basic design of the headlamp with slight changes, hexagonal radiator grille among other changes. Moreover, it gets LED headlamp clusters to add to modern looks. Based on the information MPV will be based on TNGA-C monocoque architecture to support the front-wheel-drive system of the car.

Also read: New Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara, 2022 Brezza becomes a HIT in India: 2 lakh bookings received

Toyota Innova HyCross: Features

The Toyota Innova HyCross hybrid is expected to go big with the interiors and features. The car is expected to have a touchscreen infotainment system loaded with connectivity features among other things. Moreover, the interiors will be plush with adequate designing.

Toyota Innova HyCross: Powertrain

It is anticipated that the Toyota Innova HyCross will feature a 2.0-litre, powerful hybrid powertrain. With the Innova HyCross, Toyota India is probably going to stick with gasoline alone, which is a significant shift for the Innova sub-brand, which has always favoured diesel. The petrol-powered hybrid engine is anticipated to have fuel economy that surpasses that of a diesel engine and includes a dedicated all-electric mode for quick city excursions. However, the power output of the engine is not known yet.

Toyota Innova HyCross: Expected Price

The Toyota Innova Crysta in India is sold with a starting price of Rs 17.68 lakh (ex-showroom). Considering the pricing the new Toyota Innova HyCross hybrid is expected to be priced in the vicinity of Rs 20 lakh upon launch in India.
In order to respond to emergencies, Haryana will soon establish district-specific helipad facilities, said Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala on Saturday. Additionally, inclusive arrangements will be made to guarantee that these helipads have suitable night-landing amenities. He stated this while presiding over a meeting with representatives from the Civil Aviation Department. The state administration has begun making efforts in this area. According to a formal statement, he provided the relevant officers with the required instructions during the meeting.

The deputy chief minister said recently, a Civil Aviation Ministers' Conference was held during which the need to build a helipad in every district of each state across the country was discussed in detail.

Also read: IndiGo plane fire: DGCA blames 'engine stall', increased airflow for incident at Delhi Airport

In this direction, the Haryana government had expressed its desire to take the first initiative by setting up district-wise helipad facilities to tackle emergencies. Chautala said the Haryana government has always been at the fore in implementing the schemes and concepts launched by the central government in the state. The plan to set up helipads in every district will also be implemented soon, he said.

For this, instructions have been given to the Home Department and the Director General of Police to develop infrastructure. Certainly, Haryana will become the first state in which every district will have helipad facilities, he added.

Chautala said the possibility of setting up a helipad in the district police lines should also be worked out for ensuring a safe landing facility. With the development of this type of infrastructure, helicopter landings can be done in war and emergency-like situations, he said. Besides this, setting up of helipads in the police lines, all arrangements will also be made for the security of these helipads.

Chautala said under the regional connectivity scheme, Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN), an action plan is being prepared to tie up with seven other states to identify new routes from Hisar by April next year to strengthen air connectivity. With the success of this action plan, the citizens of the state will get wide access to air travel, he added. He said that an institute would be set up in Haryana for imparting airport security training. He directed the officials to earmark the places in Hisar, Sirsa, and Pinjore for this.

With inputs from PTI
An IndiGo plane that attempted to take off on Friday night at the Delhi airport experienced an "engine stall" that caused a spike in airflow and a brief fire in the engine exhaust, as per DGCA. A notice that an engine on the plane with 184 people on board that was scheduled to fly to Bengaluru had failed was followed by a tremendous noise. No one on board the aeroplane was hurt, according to regulator sources. The A320 ceo aircraft VT-IFM operating flight 6E-2131 aborted takeoff at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) here due to a fire in one of its engines. The plane returned to the bay and passengers were deboarded safely.

Also read: Indigo plane fire: Aviation Ministry directs DGCA to furnish report on incident at Delhi International Airport

Videos posted on social media showed fire in one of the plane's engines and sparks flying before the takeoff was aborted. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is probing the incident that happened at around 10 pm on Friday.

The investigation so far has revealed that "no. 2 engine stall" occurred leading to the surging of the airflow in the engine. Due to the surge, a momentary fire was seen in the engine exhaust, the sources said. The sources also said the crew used one fire extinguisher bottle in the no.2 engine to extinguish the fire. Earlier in the day, DGCA chief Arun Kumar said the regulator will take suitable follow-up action after conducting a detailed probe into the incident.

"The priority is to carry out a detailed investigation of the incident and ascertain the reasons for the fire in the engine. Fortunately, the fire was extinguished swiftly and the aircraft is now grounded," he said. He also said the engine that caught fire was an IAEV2500. It was manufactured by IAE International Aero Engines AG.

"DGCA will do a detailed study to check whether there have been any such incidents pertaining to these engines before. After the investigation, suitable follow-up action will be taken," he said.

Soon after the incident that took place around 10 pm on Friday, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) said officials concerned at DGCA have been directed to "look into this and furnish a report at the earliest".

In a statement issued early Saturday morning, IndiGo said the aircraft experienced a technical issue while on take-off roll, immediately after which the pilot aborted the takeoff and the aircraft safely returned to the bay. All passengers and crew are safe and an alternate aircraft was arranged to operate the flight, which took off at 12.16 am on Saturday, it added.

With inputs from PTI
Chhat Puja 2022 Sandhya Arghya: The blessed Chhath Puja is celebrated to worship the Sun God. Devotees express gratitude to the almighty Lord Surya, who is regarded as the universe's creator and the source of life on Earth, during Chhath Puja. In Bihar, Jharkhand, and the eastern regions of eastern Uttar Pradesh, this festival, also known as Maha Parv, is one of the most blessed ones. Throughout the festival's four days, Lord Surya is worshipped and given Arghya along with Chhati Maiya.

The celebration began on October 28 with Nahay Khay and continued through October 31 with Kharna (Panchami) or Lohanda and Sandhya Arghya.

It is said that during Chhath, deities grant all of the devotees wishes and bestow happiness and good health upon their children.

Chhath Puja 2022: Sandhya Arghya sunset time

This morning, October 30, is Chhath Puja's third day. The Shashthi Tithi will start on October 30 at 05:49 am and end on October 31 at 03:27 am. The sun will set on Sunday, October 30, at 5:38 PM, and rise on Monday, October 31, at 6:32 AM, according to Drik Panchang.

Chhath Puja 2022: Sandhya Arghya rituals

- The prasad items are carried to the ghat where Sandhya arghya is offered to the Sun God and Chhathi Maiyya in bamboo baskets.

- Devotees abstain from eating and drinking on this day. When Usha arghya is offered to Surya Bhagwan and Chhathi Maiyya in the morning on the fourth or last day of Chhath, the nirjala fast does not end.

- On the final day of Chhath, prasad from the bamboo baskets is first consumed by vratis before being shared with the rest of the family.

Also Read: Happy Chhath Puja 2022: Wishes, Images, Whatsapp messages to share with your loved ones

Chhath Puja 2022: Sandhya Arghya prasad

The soops are used to keep a variety of satvik food items, including rice, sugarcane, thekua/pakwan/tikri, fresh fruits, dry fruits, peda, mithai, wheat, jaggery, almonds, coconuts, ghee, makhana, aruwa, paddy, lemon, gagal, apples, oranges, bodi, cardamom, and green ginger.

Thekua, a sweet treat consisting of flour, sugar, or jaggery, is considered to be the most important prasad of Chhath Puja. The tradition of preparing prasad involves both the vrati and other family members.

Also Read: Chhath Puja 2022: DO NOT make this mistake during Chhath puja, remember these do's and don'ts during this festival

Legend has it that Chhathi Mata blesses her worshippers with long life and protects the children from harm. Only during the month of Chhath is an Arghya (offering) made to the setting Sun. On the third day, the fasting lasts all night.
Aries

There will be love, emotional fulfilment and security in your relationship. Be open and honest about your feelings and emotions. Be flexible, and don't expect too much from the people around you. Listen to your heart in matters of love. You may be offered help from an older male colleague you trust. There is a need to organise your finances and balance the expenditures. Proper planning, roadmap and strategy will be required this week.

Taurus

Your love life may not be smooth this week, and there might be disagreements and arguments within the family or with the spouse. Brace yourself for some unpleasant news on the personal front. Be careful of your safety and environment. However, your work will balance things out, and everything will run smoothly. Your work will be appreciated, and your ideas will be well received. Communicate clearly with your colleagues.

Gemini

You will have a good time with your partner by your side. You will know how to appreciate and enjoy what life has to offer. Maintain an optimistic attitude in relationships and family matters. There will be a career-related opportunity emerging in front of you that you may explore further. You may receive pleasant unexpected news or a surprise. Establish clear plans and strategies for achieving your dream.

Cancer

Gear up and get going. Maximise your potential and be ready to take on any challenge. You will be optimistic about your work and projects. It's a great time to initiate and start something new. There will be a money-making opportunity, so be prepared to identify and grab it with both hands. There will be love and understanding in your relationship, but you will have little time for romance as you will be immersed in your work, planning and strategising. Appreciate and reciprocate the love and affection you get from people around you.

Leo

A stable and happy family life is foreseen, and your loved ones will help you unwind. There will be good news related to children. You will be loved and taken care of. Professionally, there will be no stopping you. Your position in your office or workplace will strengthen, and those against you will surrender to your might. Those looking for a suitable job are likely to get one. Be practical and judicious with money.

Virgo

Some added responsibilities at home and work might make you feel fatigued and overworked. Share the load and communicate your needs to those who understand. Dont shy away from asking for help. You will remain focused on work and deadlines. Your ideas and project will flourish, and there is a possibility of financial rewards like a bonus or promotion. Dont get too absorbed in work; take time out for yourself and do some self-care.

Libra

Your relationship with your partner will be loving and meaningful. Try and resolve any differences amicably. For singles, it is time to let go of painful past experiences. Meet people and open yourself for love. You may feel stressed out or under pressure at work & financially; it could be a challenging time. Step back, reassess, and take time away from your hectic routine to recharge and plan your future course of action.

Scorpio

There will be strong connections, understanding, and groundedness in relationships. The formalisation of marriage or engagement of someone in the family is also foreseen. This is a good time to make investments but adhere to conventional methods. There could be a change of job or improvement in the position. Change of work location or transfer is foreseen. Your finances will improve.

Sagittarius

The cards foresee professional growth. You can expect a promotion or a bonus. You will be successful in a project or a business venture and win applause for the same. Be ready to be rewarded for your past efforts. Your relationship with your spouse will be sensitive, and you might be unable to explain whats happening. Try to control emotional outbursts, as they may hurt the sentiments of those you love and care for.

Capricorn

Your projects will thrive, and there will be growth. Make sure there is a balance, as your personal life may take priority over work. At work, there will be new opportunities, promotion & recognition. You will receive good news related to money and finances. There may have been a rough time in your relationship; gather your strength & focus on bringing it back on track. Show support towards each other and spend time together, excluding others.

Aquarius

You will be full of confidence and determination to take on new tasks and challenges that may come your way. Projects will gain momentum but dont be hasty in making career-led decisions. Financially, money is coming in but be careful with your spending. There could be confusion or misunderstanding with your partner. Try to distinguish between reality and fantasy. Your love interest or potential partner may express their love and affection; however, they may not be ready yet to commit.

Pisces

You will be content with your work, the money flow and the acknowledgement coming your way. Your position in the organisation will be secure. Investments in a home, property or small business are indicated and may bring future dividends. Your partner will be loving and supportive towards your ambitions. You will witness deeper commitments and stability in love. If settling down is what you desire, things may start moving in that direction.

(These Tarot Card predictions are by Chhavi Upadhyay, who is a Delhibased, intuitive Tarot Practitioner & Consultant)
Five persons were killed and two others suffered serious injuries after a dilapidated ground-plus-two-storey building collapsed on Sunday in Amravati city of Maharashtra, around 150 kms from here, a senior police official said.

The incident occurred around 2 pm, the official said. The Maharashtra government announced Rs 5 lakh financial aid to the families of each deceased.

"The building located in Prabhat Chowk area of the city collapsed, killing five persons and injuring two others," Amravati Police Commissioner Dr Arti Singh said.

On being alerted, police personnel and an Emergency Response team rushed to the spot and launched a rescue operation, she said. Most of the tenements in the building were vacant as its residents had already shifted. There were five shops on the ground floor, and some interior work was going on in one of the units selling bags, another official said.

People trapped under the debris were rescued and rushed to the hospital, where five of them were declared dead, he said. The rescue work is still on, District Collector Pavneet Kaur said, adding that the incident will be investigated and strict action will be taken against those responsible.

A civic official said the Amravati Municipal Corporation (AMC) had issued a notice for the demolition of the building in July this year as it had become old and dilapidated.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis expressed grief over the incident and announced on Twitter that Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has decided to provide a financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh to the families of each deceased from the CM Relief Fund. The medical expenses of the injured persons would be borne by the state government, he added.

The divisional commissioner has been instructed to conduct an inquiry into the incident, Fadnavis tweeted.
New Delhi: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao claims that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is attempting to buy 20-30 TRS MLAs to destabilise the state government. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) issued a 'charge sheet' against the BJP on Saturday (October 29) for miserably failing the country and being indifferent to Telangana. TRS working president and minister K. T. Rama Rao (KTR) issued the charge sheet ahead of the November 3 Munugode Assembly by-election. The minister slammed the BJP-led central government for what he called broken promises and outright lies.

Rao mentioned the TRS MLAs case while speaking at a poll rally in the bypoll-bound Munugode Rao segment, saying "brokers" from Delhi came and tried to bribe the MLAs with Rs 100 crore each. The offer, however, was turned down by the legislators, who are true sons of the soil. "You have seen yesterday. (BJP thinks) KCR is talking loudly. Let's see his (political) end. They have sent brokers to buy each MLA for Rs 100 crore. They wanted to buy 20 or 30 MLAs and topple KCR's government and encroach Telangana so that they can implement privatisation as per their will, Rao claimed. His remarks come a day after three people were arrested and remanded in custody for attempting to "poach" four TRS legislators.

Also Read: PM Modi is joking: PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti hits out at PM Narendra Modis comment on Kashmir Youth

Rao paraded all the four legislators in the public meeting. Based on a complaint by P Rohith Reddy, one of the TRS legislators, cases under relevant sections - criminal conspiracy, offering bribe and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 - were filed against Ramachandra Bharati alias Satish Sharma, Nanda Kumar and Simhayaji Swamy -- on October 26 night.

BJP trying to 'buy' 20-30 TRS MLAs, topple government, alleges Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao  Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) October 30, 2022

Also Read: TRS MLAs poaching case: Anti-Corruption Bureau sends 3 accused to 14-day judicial remand

KTR slammed the ruling dispensation at the centre in the charge sheet, mentioning a slew of current issues. According to him, the TRS is filing the charge sheet on behalf of various disgruntled sections of society. The TRS leader claimed that the BJP government has not given Telangana a single rupee in the last eight years.

"We are asking for votes by showcasing the development done in the last eight years and promising what we will do to Munugode if we win. On the contrary, the BJP is resorting to personal abuses and making degrading remarks on our honourable chief minister," KTR said. The charge sheet has mentioned that the BJP did not get moved by the plight of fluoride victims in Munugode nor they safeguarded the livelihood of weavers. It also speaks about the ruling BJP`s gross injustice towards Telangana like dishonouring the reorganisation act promises, and the party`s decisions against the interests of Telangana.

(With agencies inputs)
ULAN BATOR, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia's National Agency for Meteorology and Environmental Monitoring on Sunday issued a warning of heavy snow and snowstorms.

As of Sunday morning, the western provinces of Bayan-Ulgii, Uvs and Govi-Altai, the northern provinces of Khuvsgul and Selenge, and the central areas of Tuv province and the national capital Ulan Bator have seen 1-20 cm of snow, the weather monitoring agency said, adding that the snowstorms are reducing visibility.

The volatile weather is expected to continue across large parts of the country in the coming days, it said, urging drivers and nomadic herders to take extra precautions against possible disasters. 
As expats from eastern UP and Bihar celebrate Chhath Puja in the UAE, it is a relatively new celebration in the country as compared to other traditional Indian festivals. Though it is quite popular here, it has an interesting story behind it. In 2015, Pramod Singh, a Dubai resident and a native of Siwan in Bihar, was celebrating the birth of his daughter when his mother was also in Dubai. On November 17, his mother expressed her desire to perform Chhath Puja. In a first in Dubai, Pramod along with his 4-5 family members visited the Jumeirah open beach and performed Chhath Puja and other rituals.

Then onwards, the number of devotees increased every passing year. Today, the festival is celebrated on beaches across Dubai, Sharjah and Ajman with the participation of a sizable number of devotees. Pramod Singh, who also manages a group called `Bhojpuria Samaj` in Dubai, said, "This is not only an effort to connect with our roots, but to introduce it to our next generation born and brought up here. Today we can see that Chhath Puja is celebrated not only on the beaches, but also in societies, labour camps and at the community level."

Nabin Kumar, an engineer by profession and a native of Balia in UP, performed Chhath Puja in Abu Dhabi for the first time in 2017, and has been organising it every year since then at the Mamzar beach.

"Through Chhath Puja, we are asserting our ancestors` tradition and identity. We are thankful to the local administration, which allows us to perform the Puja following the municipality guidelines. This year, we are expecting more than 300 people on the Mamzar beach for Puja and `Arghya`. Earlier, Pujas were performed on the two major beaches of Dubai, but now people are celebrating Chhath at many places, including private pools to local lakes," Kumar said.

Meraj Khan from Munger, Bihar, said, "After Onam, this is the only festival which is above religion and marks an occasion for all of us to get together at one place with our regional and linguistic identity. Having `Thekua` (a traditional sweet made during Chhath) takes me back to my roots."

The main challenge was to introduce Chhath Puja to the new generation born and brought up here, who never visited India during the festival.

Kumar said that to attract the younger generation, they use the term `Thanksgiving Festival of Bihar and UP`, because Thanksgiving is quite popular in the UAE due to European influence and kids are more familiar with it.

"I explained to my daughter and her friend that Chhath Puja is a way to say thanks to the sun, nature, water and air in our traditional style. We also organise musical events and other homely activities during Chhath in which we involve the youngsters," Kumar said.

As the participation of Hindi-speaking expats is growing, the local markets are also adapting to it. During Chhath, now we can easily find most ingredients required for the festival in the Indian stores.
Two juveniles, who stabbed a 17-year-old boy to death, near his house in Delhi`s Patel Nagar area for opposing eve-teasing were apprehended by the Delhi Police, police said on Sunday. The deceased had slapped the juveniles who used to eve-tease his sister. "During the investigation, both the juveniles disclosed that they used to eve-tease the sister of the deceased. A few days ago, the deceased had warned them to stay away from his sister and slapped them. In order to take revenge, both of them caught Manoj and stabbed him which caused his death," the police added.

A senior police official said that on October 28, an information was received at Patel Nagar police station that one person was brutally stabbed. A police team was sent to the spot and the victim identified as Manoj Kumar Negi was taken to Sardar Patel hospital where he was declared brought dead.

The police recorded the statement of the father of the deceased and lodged an FIR of murder. The police examined the CCTV footage of ten kilometre areas to get a clue about the assailants.

A young life lost, again. Reason - he was protesting against two youths allegedly molesting her sister. Both the youths have been arrested. #Delhi #PatelNagar pic.twitter.com/lOVKm4agZa  Aman Dwivedi (@amandwivedi48) October 29, 2022

The police team finally received a tip-off and apprehended the juveniles. Knife used in committing the crime was also recovered from them.
New Delhi: In the midst of a controversy over Delhi's excise policy, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is visiting Gujarat on Sunday, stated that the policy would generate Rs 4,000-5,000 crore, but that revenue would be lost due to the intervention of Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena. "Excise policy of AAP was supposed to generate revenue of Rs 4000-5000 crore but just two days before its implementation LG made many changes to it due to which 300-400 shops could not be opened. Their licence fees and revenue did not come. This is the reason behind less revenue," Kejriwal told reporters here.

This comes after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla chastised the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over new RTI disclosures in the Excise Policy scam case. Poonawalla claimed that the AAP's 'New Liquor Policy' resulted in a massive loss. He stated that there has been a loss of Rs 2,000-2,300 crore in 288 days.

Also Read: 'Time to leave behind old challenges, benefit from new possibilities': PM Modi at J-K Rozgar Mela

"AAP`s New Liquor Policy caused a loss of almost Rs 2000-2300 crore. The previous liquor policy had earned Rs 768 crore in September alone which means nearly Rs 25 crore per day, while the new policy could earn Rs 5,036 crore in 7.5 months meaning Rs 14.4 crore a day," BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla stated that the new policy should have resulted in a profit rather than a loss of Rs 8 crore per day.

Also Read: India doing wonders in space sector: PM Modi hails ISRO in Mann Ki Baat; check key points

Poonawalla went on to say that this was just the "tip of the iceberg," and that the "Sharab ghotaala" was much bigger. "There are many other losses due to the corruption and commissions taken by the AAP leaders and middlemen to make "Sharab policy for the Sharab mafia," he said. He also accused the AAP government of using this money in the Punjab elections, and that it is now being used for Gujarat.

(With ANI inputs)
New Delhi: Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena on Saturday (October 29) called out the lies and bluff being publicised by Delhi Minister Gopal Rai and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal pertaining to the "Red Light On, Gaddi Off" campaign, informed the official sources.

According to sources, LG sent the file about the "Red Light On, Gaddi Off" campaign to the Chief Minister with advice to reconsider the proposal in light of observations made by him (LG) on the file.

Pointing out the inhuman and exploitative use of Civil Defence Volunteers (CDVs) at extremely polluted traffic intersections and sites, the LG highlighted, "the basic premise of the campaign which seeks to risk the health of `few individuals` `on the assumption` of protecting the `health of many` is faulty and does not appear to have any parallel in any other civilized metropolitan city".

As per sources, the LG further added that any effective and sustainable solution to this longstanding problem would involve technological interventions and not ad hoc steps, "year after year and in the long run technological solutions need to be found for enforcement of such measures, rather than deploying humans and putting them at risk," he observed.

Delhi LG VK Saxena further noted that though air pollution threatens all, the poor and marginalised sections of society bear greater and disproportionate impacts of the pollution, often created by those well-offs.

The deployment of CD volunteers under the proposed campaign seems to reinforce and perpetuate the same inequality, which is unfortunate and in contravention of the basic right to life and equality.

The LG has also highlighted that the "Outcome of the previous campaigns is not reflected in the proposal and there is no impact assessment report provided to support the effectiveness of the earlier campaigns in improving air quality in the city".

According to sources, the LG has simultaneously unmasked the blatant lies and called out the bluff being run by Arvind Kejriwal, Gopal Rai, and the Aam Aadmi Party by alluding to facts.

"It is seen that the above proposal was pending at the level of Hon`ble CM for more than 10 days w.e.f. 11.10.2022 to 21.10.2022 and the file was received in my office only on 21.10.2022," he noted.

Hitting out at Aam Admi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal`s remark stating that the Delhi LG should not politicise the health of the citizens in the national capital, LG VK Saxena said that "false accusations" and "political insinuations" on part of the Minister is unbecoming.

"I am constrained to mention that such frivolous behaviour entailing baseless allegations, false accusations, and political insinuations, on the part of a Minister is unbecoming, to say the least. That it was done against a constitutional authority, solely for political one-upmanship and publicity is extremely improper and unfortunate," the LG noted.

According to sources, Delhi LG VK Saxena advised Delhi CM and his Ministers to refrain from such antics and observed that publicising issues prematurely and making political allegations even before the matter is submitted or while it is under consideration, violates the basic principles of governance and at the same time restricts/obstructs the constitutional right of formulating an independent opinion on the subject.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday said people of different faiths and communities celebrate their festivals in amity and harmony in the state. Banerjee was addressing a gathering after inaugurating a Jagaddhatri Puja in Posta area of Kolkata.

"Bengal is known across the world for its unique spirit, where different festivals are held with equal gusto amid harmony. Here people celebrate festivals such as Durga Puja, Kali Puja, Diwali, Chhath, Eid and Christmas in an enthusiastic manner, she said. West Bengal is the place where people of one faith follow their own rituals but they have high regard for the religious practices of others, the Trinamool Congress supremo said.

"We don't want riots, we want people to live in harmony. We want every human being to live with dignity. This country belongs to us. This country should be saved by all of us," Banerjee said. The chief minister also inaugurated Chhath puja celebrations by members of the Bihari community at Doighat on the bank of the river Hooghly in Hastings area. She said Chhath is a big festival in Bengal and her government has granted a holiday on the occasion.
New Delhi: The Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Delhi has put its national flag at half-mast over the horrific incident in Seoul`s Itaewon on Saturday night during Halloween celebrations. At least 151 people were killed when a large crowd pushed forward on a narrow street during Halloween festivities. The dead included 19 foreigners. The nationalities of the foreigners who were killed in South Korea include those from Iran, Uzbekistan, China and Norway, as per South Korea`s Yonhap news agency.

The death toll may rise further as the condition of 19 out of the total injured is critical. The Embassy of Korea put its national flag fly half-mast after the President of South Korea declares national mourning.

"Flying the national flag at half-mast after our president declared national mourning on unfortunate stampede," a senior official of the Korean embassy told ANI.

"We are checking if any family member or relative of any Korean residing in India is affected in the stampede," an Embassy official told ANI.

The officials at the embassy are in deep sorrow and stressed most of the thousands of people gathered to celebrate Halloween in Seoul are young people in their 20s. Moreover, all officials of the Embassy in Delhi were told to wear a black ribbon.

"All officials instructed to wear black ribbon and officials and events under national condolence emergency," as per an official at the Korean embassy in Delhi.

External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar also expresses condolences over the Seoul tragedy. "Deeply shocked at the loss of so many young lives due to the stampede in Seoul. Our condolences to the families of those who lost their dear ones. We stand in solidarity with the Republic of Korea during this difficult time," he tweeted.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol vowed an investigation. "We will have relevant ministries such as the Ministry of the Interior and Safety conduct emergency inspections not only for Halloween events but also for local festivals and thoroughly manage them so they are conducted in an orderly and safe manner," Yoon said in a television statement on Sunday. At least 1,00,000 people were celebrating Halloween in Itaewon, central Seoul, popular for its nightlife.
New Delhi: The National Disaster Response Force on Sunday, October 30, 2022 rushed three teams to Gujarat's Morbi district where at least 60 people were killed after a suspension bridge over a river collapsed. NDRF Director General (DG) Atul Karwal told PTI that the three teams have been moved from state capital Gandhinagar (two teams) and Vadodara (one team). He said each of the three teams comprises 30 rescuers and four boats and is led by senior officers. Another team will be airlifted in some time and it will move via road from Rajkot to the accident site, Karwal said.

Indian Naval Station Valsura in Jamnagar, Gujarat has sent a team of more than 40 personnel for rescue operations including marine commandos and seamen who are good swimmers: Defence officials#MorbiBridgeCollapse October 30, 2022

Gandhinagar is about 240 kilometres from Morbi, Vadodara is more than 300 kilometres away and Rajkot is about 70 kilometres away. Officials said a Gujarat State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) team closer to Morbi was the first to reach the accident site and the NDRF was mobilised around 7:30 pm.

Also Read: Gujarat Morbi Bridge Collapse LIVE Updates: Death toll rises to 60, rescue ops on

NDRF rescuers will take around four-five hours to reach the spot, they said. The NDRF has asked the state government to ensure that its vehicles are given priority clearance on roads so that they can reach the spot as soon as possible.

The British-era suspension bridge on the Machchhu river was crammed with people when it collapsed around 6:30 pm. Several people standing on the bridge fell into the river, according to local officials. The bridge was reopened for the public on October 26 after extensive repairs and renovation.
New Delhi: The Congress will launch a massive 'Gujarat Parivartan Sankalp Yatra' in five zones of the poll-bound state on Monday, with 145 public meetings and 95 rallies planned along the 5,400-kilometer route. The yatra will begin on October 31 from Vadgam, Bhuj, Somnath, Vadgam, Fagvel, and Jambusar to commemorate Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's birth anniversary and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's death anniversary, according to party leaders. Senior party leaders will launch and participate in the yatra, including Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, his Chhattisgarh counterpart Bhupesh Baghel, former Madhya Pradesh chief ministers Digvijaya Singh and Kamal Nath, and Congress MLA Sachin Pilot, among others.

"The Congress' 'Parivartan Sankalp Yatra' will begin in five zones of Gujarat, with 145 public meetings and 95 rallies planned along the way. The yatra, which will cover 5,432 kilometres, aims to make direct contact with 4.5 million people "Jagdish Thakor, the state Congress president, stated. More than one million party workers will participate in the yatra, and the opposition party will spread the message of 11 promises that it has made when elected to power, he said. The Bhuj-Rajkot leg of the yatra will be launched by Digvijay Singh, while the Somnath leg will be launched by Karnataka leader B K Hariprasad.

Also Read: Live Updates: Overbridge collapses in Gujarat's Morbi, 30 dead, over 500 people fall in Machchhu River

Gehlot will launch the yatra from Vadgam in Banaskantha district, Pilot from Fagvel in Kheda district and Pawan Khera from Jambusar in Bharuch district of south Gujarat. Senior Gujarat Congress leader Siddharth Patel said the people of Gujarat were agitated by the "BJP's misrule, wrong policy and clumsy administration" for the past three decades. The Congress has promised to provide free treatment of up to Rs 10 lakh, farmers' debt waiver of up to Rs 3 lakh, electricity bill waiver, 10 lakh government jobs to youth, unemployment allowance of Rs 3,000 per month, opening of 3,000 government English medium schools, Rs 4 lakh compensation for COVID-19 deaths, among other things.

Also Read: BJP trying to topple Telangana government: CM K Chandrasekhar Raos BIG allegation

(With PTI inputs)
New Delhi: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday (October 29, 2022) reacted to the Gujarat government's announcement to form a panel to implement the Uniform Civil Code and said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was raising the issue of UCC to get votes in the upcoming Assembly elections in the state. Addressing an election rally at Vadgam in Gujarat's Banaskantha district, the Hyderabad MP said the Union government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had told the Supreme Court that enacting the UCC was the Centre's purview and not that of the states. He asked if the "exclusion" of Muslims and Christians from income tax benefits for Hindu Undivided Family wasn't against the principle of equality.

"Isn't it true that Babasaheb Ambedkar said that Uniform Civil Code should be voluntary and not mandatory?... But the BJP only wants to move ahead with its Hindutva agenda and it has the habit of raising such issues before elections to get votes," he alleged.

A law commission had in 2018 said that the UCC was neither necessary nor desirable, he said.

"For a Muslim, marriage is a contract, for a Hindu, it is living forever after, for a Christian, it is 'I do'. This is India's pluralism which has been made possible through Articles 25, 26, 14, 19 and 20 (of the Constitution). Can anyone make a law against Article 29 (which protects the interests of minority groups) by enacting the UCC?" Owaisi asked.

"I would like to ask the prime minister why Muslims and Christians are excluded from the benefit of income tax rebate under Hindu Undivided Family? Isn't it against the right to equality?" the AIMIM chief asked.

Earlier on Saturday, the Gujarat government said that it has decided to form a committee to implement the Uniform Civil Code. The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting which could be the last meeting under the present BJP government as Assembly elections are expected to be announced in the state by the next week.

"The committee will be headed by a retired High Court judge and have three to four members. Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel has been given powers by the cabinet to select members of the committee," Union minister Parshottam Rupala said.

The committee will be formed before the model code of conduct for elections comes into force, he added.

Rupala asserted that the proposed UCC will not violate the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution.

The Hindu Marriage Act and Muslim personal laws will be covered under the UCC as these laws are not part of the Constitution, the Union minister added.

"We do not intend to override the fundamental rights of the people. UCC is about resolving discrepancies which arise in civil disputes, such as wife or daughter's claim on husband or father's property. We had received many representations from people about such issues," Rupala said.

The decision had nothing to do with the coming Assembly polls, he claimed, and dismissed the criticism by the opposition that the ruling BJP was trying to polarize Hindu votes by promising UCC.

The committee will evaluate various aspects related to the UCC and submit its report, based on which the state government will take a final decision about its implementation, Rupala said.

No deadline has been set for the committee to submit its report as of now, he said.

Gujarat Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi said the decision was taken as per the provisions of Article 44 of Part 4 of the Constitution which expects the state government to apply common law for all citizens.

"This is a historic decision by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel. Our government has honoured the wish of common people as well as BJP workers to have such a code," Sanghavi said.

Earlier, BJP governments in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh had announced the implementation of the UCC in their states.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday laid the foundation stone of the C-295 transport aircraft manufacturing plant in Gujarat`s Vadodara and said that India is boosting its capabilities with the mantra of Make in India and Make for the globe approach.The Prime Minister also emphasized that India will also be the manufacturer of big passenger planes in the world in the future.

"We are taking huge strides towards making India a big manufacturing hub in the world. India is making its fighter plane, tanks, and submarine, and the medicines and vaccines made in India are saving lakhs of lives in the world today. Electronic gadgets, phones and cars made in India are spread in numerous countries of the world. With Make in India, Make for the globe approach India is boosting its capabilities with this mantra," PM Modi said while addressing after laying the foundation stone of the C-295 transport aircraft for the Indian Air Force which will be manufactured by Tata-Airbus.

"India will also be the manufacturer of transport planes. It is being started in India today. I see the time when the big passenger planes of the world will be made in India. `Made in India` will be carved on them," he said.The Prime Minister said that the facility that was launched today in Gujarat has the power to "transform the defence and aerospace sectors of India"."The facility that has been launched in Vadodara today has the power to transform the defence and aerospace sectors of India. It is for the first time that such a big investment is being done in the defence aerospace sector of the country," he said.

Apart from making 40 aircraft, this facility at Vadodara would be manufacturing additional aircraft for Air Force requirements and exports, as per Defence Secretary Aramane Giridhar.With the launch of the C295 aircraft manufacturing facility, India will enter an illustrious league of about only a dozen nations with the capacity to manufacture military transport aircraft.

Currently, the US, Japan, UK, Russia, France, Italy, Spain, Ukraine, Brazil, China, and Japan has that capacity.Tata-Airbus combine had said that C-295 manufacturing is "the first Make in India aerospace programme in the private sector involving the full development of a complete industrial ecosystem; from manufacture to assembly, test and qualification, to delivery and maintenance of the complete lifecycle of the aircraft."Under the terms of the deal, 16 C-295 aircraft are scheduled to be delivered between September 2023 and August 2025 in flyaway condition, while the remaining 40 aircraft will be manufactured at the Vadodara facility.In another first, "indigenous content in the planes will be the highest ever in India, and 96 per cent of the work that Airbus does in Spain will now be done at the new facility.

"The Vadodara facility will be initially geared to manufacture 8 aircraft per year, but it has been designed such that it can also cater to the additional needs of Indian armed forces or exports.As per Defence Ministry, following the delivery of 56 aircraft to IAS, the combine will be allowed to sell India-built C295 aircraft to civil operators and to countries cleared by the government.

It is believed that the Vadodara facility will replicate the success of Brahmos in missile exports.Big boost to the Make in India: India has embarked on a massive transformation of its defence sector through the ambitious Make in India program of the Modi government. Several projects for the domestic manufacturing of various defence platforms like missiles, field guns, tanks, aircraft carriers, drones, fighter planes, tanks, and helicopters are currently underway and are fulfilling the defence modernization needs of the Indian armed forces.

However, military transport aircraft was one of the critical missing links in the entire defence industrial complex chain. The JV between Tata and Airbus has plugged that missing piece and will significantly boost the Make in India program of the Narendra Modi government. The Indian Armed forces will no longer have to depend on the old Avro planes of the 1960 generation for their transportation needs.
Rescuers work at the site of a stampede accident in Itaewon, a district of Seoul, South Korea, Oct. 30, 2022. (NEWSIS via Xinhua)

The stampede was believed to have happened near a narrow alley next to a hotel in the famous nightclub Itaewon district in Seoul Saturday night. It was said that the partygoers at the front fell and the people at the back were crushed.



SEOUL, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- At least 146 people were killed and 150 others injured in a stampede that occurred Saturday night at Itaewon, a district of the South Korean capital Seoul, during Halloween gatherings, local authorities said early Sunday morning.

Local media reported earlier that about 50 people were suspected to have gone into cardiac arrest in the accident. More than 140 first-aid vehicles had been sent to the scene to rescue the injured.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted fire authorities as reporting that at least 149 people, including two foreigners, had been confirmed dead, and 76 others were injured, 19 of them seriously. The number of deaths could rise further.

Rescuers work at the site of a stampede accident in Itaewon, a district of Seoul, South Korea, Oct. 30, 2022. (NEWSIS via Xinhua)

The accident was believed to have happened near a narrow alley next to a hotel in the famous nightclub Itaewon district Saturday night. It was said that the partygoers at the front fell, and the people at the back were crushed.

Several large Halloween gatherings took place at Itaewon and the police estimated that roughly 100,000 people had participated in the Halloween parties.

Shortly after the stampede took place, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol convened two emergency meetings and ordered officials to secure enough hospital beds for the injured, establish an accident management headquarters, and properly deal with the aftermath including identifying the dead and investigating the cause of the accident. 
New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday (October 30) expressed his shock over the Halloween stampede incident in South Korea that led to the loss of young lives. Extending condolence to bereaved families Jaishankar said India is standing in solidarity with the Republic of Korea during this difficult time.

"Deeply shocked at the loss of so many young lives due to the stampede in Seoul. Our condolences to the families of those who lost their dear ones. We stand in solidarity with the Republic of Korea during this difficult time," tweeted the external affair minister.

Deeply shocked at the loss of so many young lives due to the stampede in Seoul. Our condolences to the families of those who lost their dear ones. We stand in solidarity with the Republic of Korea during this difficult time.  Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) October 30, 2022

Seoul Halloween stampede kills 151

The death toll in the horrific Seoul Halloween stampede rose to 151, with 19 of the victims identified as foreigners, South Korea`s Yonhap news agency reported citing fire authorities. During a briefing, Choi Seong-beom, the head of the fire department in Yongsan, said the death toll from Saturday`s accident rose to 151, which included 19 foreigners. Their nationalities include those from Iran, Uzbekistan, China and Norway, Choi added.

The agency also reported that the victims in their 20s accounted for the age group most affected by the horrific Seoul Halloween stampede. Moreover, the agency, citing the Seoul metropolitan government, said on Sunday it has received about 270 reports of missing persons related to the deadly stampede during Halloween parties in the Itaewon district.

The incident reportedly occurred when a large group of people rushed to an Itaewon bar after hearing an unidentified celebrity was visiting there, Al Jazeera reported citing the local media. Social media footage showed several people being assisted by rescue officials and private citizens at the scene, and many rescue officials performing CPR on people lying in poor condition on the streets.

The packed Halloween festivities in South Korea`s capital of Seoul took place after Covid restrictions were removed, the local officials said. The festivities marked the participation of more than a lakh visitors and the number of casualties is only expected to rise.

Emergency officials received at least 81 calls from people with breathing difficulty, "South Korea`s Yonhap News Agency reported.A large crowd pushed forward on a narrow street during Halloween festivities, resulting in dozens needing first aid.

South Korea`s President Yoon Suk-yeol ordered the dispatch of the emergency medical team to the area and said hospital beds should be prepared to minimize casualties, his office said.

Numerous people had trouble breathing when the chaotic stampede occurred as dozens were seen giving CPR to people lying lifeless on streets post-incident. South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol presided over an emergency response meeting Sunday over the deadly stampede, as per the officials.

"Shortly after the accident, Yoon came to the presidential office in Yongsan and presided over a response meeting related to the Seoul Itaewon Halloween accident," the presidential office said.

"The top priority is transporting and rescuing the patients and providing prompt medical treatment for the affected people," local media reported quoting Yoon as saying. Authorities are still looking into the exact cause of the accident as the investigation is underway.

Emergency forces were dispatched following the crowd surge which resulted in fatalities. Firefighters and police officers also reached the Itaewon neighbourhood in Seoul to bring the situation under control.

(With ANI inputs)
New Delhi: Rajasthan Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot claimed on Sunday that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is buying MLAs to topple elected governments in states, similar to how goats are purchased for Eid celebrations. He claimed that the BJP used money power to bring down governments in Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh, and had unsuccessfully tried to unseat him in Rajasthan. He was speaking at a rally in the Gujarat town of Khedbrahma, Sabarkantha district, where Assembly elections are scheduled for the end of the year.

The Congress' manifesto for the Assembly polls will be released by November 8, he added. "The BJP's acts are weakening democracy. They topple state governments and form their own government after buying MLAs. Using the money received through electoral bonds, they buy MLAs just like people buy goats from bakra mandis during Eid," Gehlot said. "The BJP first toppled the Congress government in Arunachal Pradesh and formed their own government. The same thing happened in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Each MLA was paid nearly Rs 35 crore. Though they tried to do the same in Rajasthan recently, they could not succeed because all MLAs remained united," he claimed.

Also Read: RSS real coffee, BJP just the frothy top, says Prashant Kishore's BIG STATEMENT

He also expressed anger at the recent defection of Khedbrahma Congress MLA Ashvin Kotval to the ruling BJP. Before Khedbrahma, Gehlot and other senior Congress leaders addressed a rally in Virampur village in Banaskantha in north Gujarat. During the Virampur rally, Gehlot said the Congress will announce its poll manifesto for Gujarat on November 8, adding that it will focus mainly on social security, such as free healthcare, education and employment. "We will implement Rajasthan's social security model in Gujarat. We provide Rs 10 lakh medical insurance to each family. We also run a free kitchen where anyone can get a meal for Rs 8. Instead of 100 days, we provide 125 days of employment under the MNREGA," he said.

Also Read: Home Ministry seeks stringent actions by States and UTs against predatory loan apps
New Delhi: BJP MP Manoj Tiwari, on Sunday, criticised Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over the Chhath Puja preparations. Taking a dig at Kejriwal's Gujarat tour, he said to ANI, "As pollution rises, CM Kejriwal should've stayed in Delhi to prepare for Chhath Puja, instead he's touring Gujarat as he doesn't want to facilitate devotees here. If he isn't concerned about Delhi, he should go to Punjab & become CM there." Meanwhile, there is a war of words over pollution in the Yamuna river and preparations at ghats for the festival.

As pollution rises, CM Kejriwal should've stayed in Delhi to prepare for Chhath Puja, instead he's touring Gujarat as he doesn't want to facilitate devotees here. If he isn't concerned about Delhi,he should go to Punjab&become CM there: Manoj Tiwari, BJP MP from North-East Delhi pic.twitter.com/odfKRVyLFz  ANI (@ANI) October 30, 2022

BJP MP Parvesh Verma shared several videos on Twitter and said devotees were sad that water was not available at the temporary ponds created for them to celebrate the festival.

Also Read: Chhath Puja 2022: No offerings allowed to be immersed in Yamuna as per NGT

He also shared purported videos of the Yamuna carrying froth due to pollution since 2015 and said "those 5 years will never come", referring to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's promise to clean the river.

Senior AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh also shared a video of froth in the Yamuna river at the Mathura barrage in Uttar Pradesh, taking a dig at the BJP. This prompted Verma to hit back at Singh, saying the Yamuna flowed from Delhi towards UP and questioning the AAP MP's education.

Delhi Congress president Anil Kumar accompanied by many Chhath devotees staged a protest at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) office near ITO alleging lack of preparations at the ghats and restrictions on celebrating the festival at only designated places along the Yamuna.

Kumar also alleged Revenue Minister Kailash Gahlot and AAP MLAs avoided meeting women devotees who had gone to the AAP office.

Some BJP leaders alleged that people at Najafgarh were prevented from celebrating Chhath by officials.

The LG had earlier written a letter to the chief minister asking him to take care of froth in the Yamuna due to pollution.

The festival will start with huge congregations of devotees at around 1,100 ghats prepared at designated places along the Yamuna as well as other water bodies and artificial ponds across the city on Sunday afternoon.

The revenue department is the nodal agency for Chhath Puja arrangements and all other government and civic agencies are working in close coordination to make the festival a success, officials had said earlier.

The department has made arrangements for tents, chairs, tables, lighting, sound system, CCTV, LED screens, power backup etc at all the 1,100 puja sites.

The department will also ensure other facilities such as primary health services, deployment of ambulances, and mobile toilet vans, the officials said.

(With agency inputs)
Kerala police on Sunday seized ganja from the security staff room of a school in Kothamangalam, Ernakulam district. Five people who had reached the school to buy the contraband were arrested by the Kothamangalam police who acted on a tip-off. The Kothamangalam police however said that the school`s security staff, who had kept the ganja in their room for sale, are absconding.

According to the police, the arrested people reached the security room of the school to buy the narcotic substance.

Also Read: Greater Noida police arrests 3 for trafficking drugs through social media

The state government has started a campaign against drug abuse after rise in incidents of drug usage in the state. The anti-drug campaign named `Yodha` was inaugurated by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. However, the seizure of ganja from the guard room of the school has stunned the authorities.

While speaking to IANS, the principal of the school said, "We never knew that our security staff would indulge in such an act. The school has taken a proper background check on these people but never suspected that such a dirty business was taking place in this school."

The Kerala police have stepped up their ante to arrest the security staff who are absconding from the school and their residences.
New Delhi: Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday for emphasising the country's first bio-village in his monthly 'Mann Ki Baat' radio broadcast (October 30). In collaboration with the Bio-Technology department, the Tripura Renewable Energy Development Authority (TREDA) has established the country's first bio-village at Daspara, in the Sepahijala district, about 25 kilometres from here. "I am delighted to see the Prime Minister highlighting and promoting the state's first bio-village, work on which began about two years ago." The concept of a bio-village is environmentally friendly. "The irrigation and lighting systems are solar-powered," according to the chief minister.

Solar power is used to meet the energy needs of 64 Daspara families. The Bio-Technology department has encouraged villagers who were previously solely reliant on agriculture and fishing to establish piggeries and begin goat-rearing. On Sunday's radio programme, the Prime Minister made a special mention of the successful implementation of the bio-village concept in the northeastern state and praised the authorities' efforts. Nonrenewable energy sources can benefit remote areas of the state because transporting electrical energy is expensive and not economically viable, according to the chief minister. We will work more on solar energy in the future, he said.

Also Read: WATCH: Delhi Jal Board Director takes bath in Yamuna water, shows river NOT toxic

Daspara is one of the first bio-villages that has been developed based on the bio-village 2.0 conceptualised in Tripura to attain sustainable development goals. Work has started for setting up ten bio-village solar hamlets, especially in tribal-dominated areas, to promote solar energy in a big way, said an official of TREDA. Former Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb also thanked the Prime Minister for acknowledging the state's successful implementation of the first bio-village. Thank you PM Narendra Modiji for recognising the small village of Tripura which is India's first Bio-Village in Mann Ki Baat today. The people of Tripura are thankful for your special attention towards Tripura, Deb said in a tweet.

Today listened to 94th edition of Hon'ble PM Shri @narendramodi ji's #MannKiBaat at booth no- 35 under 8- Town Bordowali constituency.



The Hon'ble PM has appreciated 'Bio Village-2' project developed at Charilam constituency.



His words will definitely encourage us. pic.twitter.com/e5Clx1R62f  Prof.(Dr.) Manik Saha (@DrManikSaha2) October 30, 2022

(With agaencies inputs)
New Delhi: Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray on Saturday (October 29, 2022) slammed Chief Minister Eknath Shinde for the loss of the Tata-Airbus project and said that Maharashtra was going backwards because of his "betrayal" and "demonic ambition". Addressing a press conference, Aaditya, a former Maharashtra minister, said his Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) had "worked perfectly well" with the Centre than the current dispensation.

"When we talk about the double engine government during the time of the MVA government, our double engine with the Centre worked perfectly well," Aaditya, whose father Uddhav Thackeray leads a faction of the Shiv Sena, said at a press conference.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), notably, uses the term "double engine government" for the party or its ally's government at the Centre and the state.

"After this unconstitutional government came to power, one engine has failed and whatever investment that was to come to Maharashtra is going to other states," Aaditya said.

He further said that Subhash Desai, who served as the state industries minister from 2014-2022, had brought in investments worth Rs 6.6 lakh crore during his tenure.

"When we went to Davos, myself, Desai and Nitin Raut could bring in investment to the tune of Rs 80,000 crore," he stated.

"The important aspect is that it was the same Central government. So, if the MVA government and the Centre could work and bring investment to Maharashtra, then why did their engine fail?" he asked.

The Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government has been facing flak after a consortium of European aviation firm Airbus and the Tata group selected Vadodara in Gujarat for a Rs 22,000-crore project to manufacture military aircraft.

Aaditya claimed that this was the fourth major project for which other states were chosen over Maharashtra.

The Vedanta-Foxconn semiconductor project, the Medical Device Park, the Bulk Drugs Park and Tata-Airbus projects were planned in Maharashtra, but have now chosen other states, he said.

"No investor has any faith in the government. Be it law and order, investment or agriculture, the focus is only on politics," he said.

Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA did not take 'any decision': Maha minister on Tata-Airbus project

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Industries Minister Uday Samant on Saturday said that the erstwhile MVA government under Uddhav Thackeray did not take any decision on the Tata-Airbus military transport aircraft project.

Samant said no meeting on the project was held with Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation, the state government's nodal investment promotion agency, while talks had taken place at the "local level" with MIHAN, also called Multi-Modal International Passenger and Cargo Hub Airport at Nagpur.

"No discussion was held by the (previous) government with regards to Airbus. I can say with responsibility there is no official mention at the government level with Airbus regarding the (aircraft) plant," Samant reiterated at a press conference here.

Speaking on the Vedanta Foxconn semiconductor project, which too moved to Gujarat, Samant said Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had called the joint venture and asked them to execute a memorandum of understanding, while the previous MVA government had done nothing on the issue.

Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had met officials of the firm in Mumbai, he added.

Attacking the previous government under Uddhav Thackeray, Samant said 74 MOUs were signed but none took off, while approval for a proposal for a Rs 25,638 paper plant in the state was given on October 20 by the Shinde dispensation.

He further said the Shinde government was taking efforts to revive the bulk drugs park project proposed to be set up in Raigad by taking the local population in confidence, while the previous MVA dispensation had done nothing to get the project to take off.

The minister reiterated that a "big project" that will generate employment will be brought to the state in the coming months.

He also said the state government was making efforts to revive a multi-billion dollar refinery project in Barsu in Konkan's Ratnagiri district in place of the Nanar plan that was called off due to protests.

Maharashtra will get major big-ticket investments in coming days: Eknath Shinde

Amid the blame game between the government and Opposition over the 'loss' of the Tata consortium-Airbus project, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Saturday said the state will get major investments in the coming days.

"In the coming days, the state will get major industries," Shinde said at a function.

"There has been a discussion going on about the industries in the state and our industries minister is speaking on this issue. I don't want to comment on it. (But) The government will not fall short in generating employment for the youth," he added.

(With agency inputs)
A 38-year-old man was arrested for allegedly having sex with a buffalo calf in Maharashtra's Pune city, police said on Saturday. The incident took place in Deccan area of the city on Friday, and the accused was spotted by passersby who beat him till he fell unconscious, an official said.

The accused, who hails from Nepal, was rushed to Sassoon General Hospital in an injured state, he said. "Based on the evidence submitted by locals, we have registered an FIR against the man under section 377 (unnatural sex) and other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Cruelty Against Animals Act," a senior inspector of Deccan Police Station said. He will be arrested once he is discharged from the hospital where he is undergoing treatment, the official added.
New Delhi: The Election Commission on Saturday barred Telangana energy minister Guntakandla Jagadish Reddy from campaigning in the Munugode assembly by-election for 48 hours for violating the poll code after he allegedly threatened to stop welfare schemes if people do not vote for the ruling TRS candidate. The poll panel deplored the minister's statement and censured him for the violation. Though Reddy denied the charge, the EC said the tone and tenor of his speech "are in the nature of intimidation of voters".

"Commission orders under Article 324 of the Constitution ... To prohibit him from holding any public meetings, public processions, public rallies, road shows and interviews ... In connection with or having an impact on ongoing by-election ... For 48 hours from 7:00 pm," it said.

The by-election is on November 3.

In its show cause notice to Reddy on Friday, the EC had cited a complaint submitted by a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader.

The notice quotes the English translation of the minister's speech made on October 25 in which he said, "The election is not between Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy and Rajgopal Reddy, it is the election for whether to continue the pension of Rs 2,000 or not, it is for whether to continue Rythu Bandhu or not, whether to continue free 24-hour electricity or not... ."

" If anyone is not interested in pension, he can vote for (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi, if anyone wants schemes, vote for KCR (Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao)," he had said.

In his reply, the minister said he has never delivered any speech stating that all welfare schemes will be stopped if people do not vote for the contesting candidate.

He claimed that it was an attempt by him to explain the welfare schemes provided by the state government.

He claimed that the BJP leader's allegations are vague, false, concocted and untrue.

But EC said it is convinced that the tone and tenor of the speech made by Reddy "is in the nature of intimidation of voters" and thus is a violation of the Model Code of Conduct.
Mathura: Nearly 7,500 madrasas were found running without recognition in a recent survey conducted by the Uttar Pradesh government, said a state minister on Saturday.

"Now a high-powered committee will decide about them," minister Dharm Pal Singh told reporters.

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants madrasa students to hold the Quran in one hand and a laptop in another.

He said the Mathura DM has been instructed to free the Waqf land from unauthorised possession and develop hospitals, schools and parks over it.

The Yogi Adityanath-led government has undertaken a survey of unrecognised madrassas in the state to gather information about the number of teachers, curriculum, and basic facilities available there. The survey was held with the aim to bring theological schools into the mainstream. However, proprietors of the Islamic seminaries feared repression, a possibility rejected by the government.
New Delhi: The vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat" led to the decision to celebrate Sardar Patel's birth anniversary, October 31, as Rashtriya Ekta Diwas every year. Since 2014, Rashtriya Ekta Diwas has been celebrated with great zeal across the country. It has gained widespread acceptance in the last eight years, and the day is now considered on par with other important national holidays such as Independence Day and Republic Day. Because of the magnitude of its impact, the PM's celebration of the day has become a tradition that all future Prime Ministers would not want to miss out on.

The official celebrations, in which the PM takes part, take place at the Statue of Unity, which the PM dedicated to the nation on Rashtriya Ekta Diwas in 2018. The location and the celebration of the day have become so inextricably linked that this association has as much recall value as Kartavya Path for Republic Day and Red Fort for Independence Day.

Also Read: India doing wonders in space sector: PM Modi hails ISRO in Mann Ki Baat; check key points

This year, too, the Prime Minister will take part in the Rashtriya Ekta Diwas celebrations at the Statue of Unity. A Rashtriya Ekta Diwas Parade will take place during the celebration, with contingents from the BSF and five state police forces, one from each zone. A performance by an Ambaji tribal children's musical band will be a highlight of the programme. Members of the Band used to beg at the Ambaji temple. The Prime Minister had previously encouraged these children when they performed in front of him during his visit to Ambaji last month. On this day, PM Modi's 'Run for Unity' is also organised across the country.

Also Read: Delhi Excise Policy: This is reason behind loss says CM Arvind Kejriwal

(With ANI inputs)
HARBIN, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province saw its foreign trade in goods grow by 30.5 percent year on year to 190.15 billion yuan (about 26.5 billion U.S. dollars) in the first three quarters of this year, customs data showed.

The province's exports rose by 17.2 percent year on year to 36.36 billion yuan, while its imports saw an increase of 34.1 percent to 153.79 billion yuan in the January-September period, according to Harbin customs in the provincial capital.

During the period, Heilongjiang's imports and exports to countries along the Belt and Road reached 149.79 billion yuan, up 38.5 percent, accounting for 78.8 percent of the province's total foreign trade value. Trade with members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership rose 20.8 percent.

The export of goods, including labor-intensive products and agricultural products, saw an increase during the period. The province also saw a growth in the import of agricultural products, iron ore, mechanical and electronic products, and sawn timber. 
Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday, October 30, 2022, was all praise for the current Chief Justice of India, U.U. Lalit, and said that he has been able to restore public confidence in the country`s judicial system as evident during the last two months.

"I do not know whether this is the right platform to congratulate the current Chief Justice of India, U.U. Lait. But I must say that public confidence in the country`s judicial system has been restored a lot during the last two months. The court is like a religious place. People knock on the legal doors hoping for justice. So, it is important that the confidence of the people in the judicial system prevails," the chief minister said while addressing the 14th convocation of the West Bengal National University of Judicial Sciences here on Sunday afternoon.

Chief Justice of India U.U. Lalit, Calcutta High Court`s Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava and the Chief Justice of Bangladesh Hasan Foez Siddique were present on occasion. Her speech had a latent apprehension about the threats faced by the federal system of democracy in India.

"Social prestige is everything to us. We lose everything if we lose our social prestige. So, I will request all associated with the judicial system to ensure the federal system of democracy prevails," said the chief minister.

Without making direct reference to the Union government and BJP, the chief minister said that unnecessary harassment of the people has increased manifold these days. "All the democratic powers are being killed by a section of people. If this goes on then it might move towards a presidential form of government. Where will democracy prevail then? So, please protect democracy, and that is my only request," the chief minister said.

Speaking on the occasion, Mamata Banerjee also launched a scathing attack against the media and claimed that it is often running a parallel trial. "This cannot happen. The media cannot dictate the judicial system," she added.
Hyderabad: The MLAs poaching case in Telangana has taken a new turn after it emerged on Sunday, October 30, 2022, that the KCR government had withdrawn the general consent earlier given to the Central Bureau of Investigation. The state government issued GO on August 30, 2022, which came to light today. The Telangana Government has withdrawn general consent earlier given to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the state.

This was informed by the Additional Advocate General (AAG) to the Telangana High Court during arguments on a petition filed by the BJP seeking a CBI or SIT investigation into the TRS MLAs poaching case for a fair probe. The notification dated August 30, 2022, was released by the state government today which stated that prior consent will be required on a case-to-case basis for probe in any case.

This comes after the Bharatiya Janata Party moved Telangana High Court seeking the transfer of the TRS MLAs poaching case to the CBI. The Cyberabad Police had arrested the three persons Ramachandra Bharati alias Satish Sharma, Nandu Kumar and Simhayaji the farmhouse in Ranga Reddy on Wednesday evening, after being informed by the TRS MLAs about the poaching bid, which the leaders alleged was done by the BJP.

Also Read: BJP trying to topple Telangana government: CM K Chandrasekhar Raos BIG allegation

The government`s Home (Special) Department had issued an order-G.O.Ms.No.51 on August 30 withdrawing all previous general consents issued by it under Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, the AAG informed the court.

The Telangana High Court, hearing the plea by Cyberabad Police seeking the arrest and remand of the three accused, on Saturday ordered the three accused in the MLA poaching case to surrender before the Cyberabad police commissioner for further investigation.

Also Read: TRS MLAs poaching case: Anti-Corruption Bureau sends 3 accused to 14-day judicial remand

However, in a writ petition filed by the BJP in the case, the High Court has stayed the investigation in the TRS MLAs poaching case and ordered Cyberabad police to file a counter in this matter. HC has ruled that further decision will be taken whether CBI or police or SIT will investigate the matter.The HC had issued notices to the Cyberabad police and state government. Notably, TRS had alleged that the BJP is attempting to poach the MLAs by luring them with money, posts and contracts.

Following a complaint of TRS MLA Pilot Rohith Reddy on Wednesday, an FIR was registered at the Moinabad Police Station under Sections 120-B, 171-B r/w 171-E 506 r/w 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 8 of Prevention of Corruption Act-1988.In the FIR, Reddy alleged that Ramachandra Bharati who came to Hyderbad from Delhi and Nandu Kumar of Hyderabad, both allegedly belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party had met him and offered him Rs 100 crore to join the BJP.

According to the FIR, MLA Rohith Reddy also alleged that they were threatened that criminal cases will be foisted against him and raids by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) if they did not join the BJP. Moreover, Union minister and BJP leader G Kishan Reddy refuted the TRS MLAs` poaching allegations and said it shows the fear the TRS is looming under and demanded the probe be conducted by sitting High Court judges.
Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Police have said that 40 foreign terrorists have been killed in the Kashmir region so far in 2022, most of those belonging to either Lashkar Toiba or Jaish-e-Mohammad terror outfits. The Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police said that most of the leadership of these terror outfits has been wiped out. He also said that there has been an evident drop in the terror outfit recruitments in the Kashmir Valley as well. There is also a leadership crisis among these terror groups in the Valley, he added.

"We have managed to destroy the structure of these terror outfits. Pakistan always wants foreign terrorists to hold command of outfits like Lashkar and Jaish. But we have had successful operations this year in which around 40 foreign Pakistani terrorists have been neutralised in various operations. Pakistan is still trying to infiltrate more terrorists into the region and some of these attempts have been successful. We are keeping an on that too and soon they will be dismantled too," said J&K DGP Dilbag Singh.

The DGP has also said that since the winter is approaching, there would be more attempts made by Pakistan to send across more foreign terrorists into the Kashmir Valley. ''The terrorists from across the border will try to infiltrate before the winter and snowfall. But the counter-infiltration grid has been made stronger and no such attempt would be successful,'' DGP said.

Also Read: 'Time to leave behind old challenges, benefit from new possibilities': PM Modi at J-K Rozgar Mela

According to Jammu and Kashmir Police, the terror recruitment in the Valley has come down as well. The Police say that they have managed to kill most of the top commanders of the terror outfits which has led to a decline in terror outfit recruitment as well. "The youngsters of the Valley are preferring to make their careers in various fields. The stone pelting has completely stopped and come to an end and the local terror recruitment too has dropped to almost zero," he added.

One of the Major concerns for the security forces in the valley is readymade IEDs. Police are working on a strategy to bust this new strategy. "The readymade IEDs are low cost for terrorists and in fact, a new strategy aimed at inflicting maximum damage to forces and less to militants. This is a new strategy by militants. Such consignments were seized in Jammu that were airdropped through drones," he said.
Hyderabad: Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) special court Judge on Sunday sent the three accused in the MLA poaching case to 14 days of judicial custody to Chanchalguda jail. The Cyberabad Police produced the three accused in the TRS MLAs poaching case in front of the Judge of ACB court following the Telangana High court`s orders. Earlier on October 29, Telangana High Court ordered the three accused in the MLA poaching case to surrender before the police for further investigation. The High Court heard the plea by Cyberabad Police seeking the arrest and remand of the three accused in the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MLAs poaching case. HC's order came after Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) court had rejected the remand request of the three accused in the case. Cyberabad Police had moved to the HC challenging the ACB court order.

The Cyberabad Police had arrested the three persons Ramachandra Bharati alias Satish Sharma, Nanda Kumar, and Simhayaji Swamyat from a farmhouse in Ranga Reddy district on Wednesday evening, after being informed by the TRS MLAs about the poaching bid, which the leaders alleged was done by the BJP.

Also Read: BJP trying to 'BUY' 4 TRS MLAs, say Cyberabad police after farmhouse raid

Police released all the three accused in the TRS MLA poaching case on Thursday following orders of the ACB court.

Telangana | Cyberabad police produced the three accused in TRS MLAs poaching case in front of the Judge of ACB court following HC orders. ACB Judge ordered 14 days of judicial remand to the three accused and they were taken to Chanchalguda prison, Hyderabad. (29.10) pic.twitter.com/hjhIVhPchW  ANI (@ANI) October 29, 2022

TRS says BJP trying to poach MLAs

Notably, TRS had alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is attempting to poach the MLAs by luring them with money and contracts. Following a complaint by TRS MLA Pilot Rohith Reddy on Wednesday, an FIR was registered at the Moinabad Police Station under Sections 120-B, 171-B r/w 171-E 506 r/w 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 8 of Prevention of Corruption Act-1988.In the FIR, Reddy alleged that Ramachandra Bharati who came to Hyderbad from Delhi, and Nanda Kumar of Hyderabad, both belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party, had met him and offered him Rs 100 crore to join the BJP.

According to the FIR, MLA Rohith Reddy also alleged that they were threatened that criminal cases will be foisted against him and raids by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) if they did not join the BJP.

BJP seeks CBI probe into allegations

Meanwhile, the BJP has moved to the Telangana High Court seeking a CBI probe into the allegations.

Moreover, Union Minister and BJP leader G Kishan Reddy refuted the TRS MLAs` poaching allegations and said it shows the fear the TRS is looming under and demanded the probe be conducted by sitting High Court judges.
New Delhi: The third day of Chhath puja, also known as Sandhya Arghya is being celebrated today. Thousands of people of Delhi have been gathered today's evening (Sunday, October 30, 2022) at national capitals Kalindi Kunj Ghat to offer prayers and take a holy dip to the setting sun. As a part of the ritual, the fasting people gathered in ghats to offer Arghya to the setting Sun for the prosperity of their families.

#WATCH | Delhi: Huge crowd of devotees gather at the national capital's Kalindi Kunj ghat to offer prayers on #ChhathPooja pic.twitter.com/2Xy42xqlEe October 30, 2022

This year, Delhis Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took extra measures for the Chhath Puja devotees and prepared 1,100 locations across the city where the Chhath Puja could be offered. Furthermore, the Delhi government had also allocated 25 crores for the formation of ghats and to provide better amenities for devotees. To provide better facilities to the devotees, Delhis Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena urged CM Kejriwal to ensure cleanliness at the Chhath Puja Ghats before, during and after the religious ceremony.

Also Read: Chhath Puja 2022: No offerings allowed to be immersed in Yamuna as per NGT

Chhath Puja is an ancient Hindu Vedic festival that is mainly celebrated in Bihar, Jharkhand and Eastern Uttar Pradesh in India and Nepal. Also referred to as Surya Shashti, Chhath, Mahaparv, Chhath Parv, Dala Puja, Pratihar and Dala Chhath, the four-day-long festival is dedicated to the deity Surya and Shashthi Devi.

A full-day fast without water is observed on the third main day of Chhath Puja. The main ritual of the day is to offer Arghya to the setting Sun. On the fourth and final day of Chhath, Dusri Arghya is given to the rising Sun and it is known as Usha Arghya. The 36 hours long fast is broken after giving Arghya to the Sun.
Mumbai: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday accused the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) of indulging in the politics of appeasement after the latter's mouthpiece 'Saamana' carried an article on "Marathi Muslims" supporting the former chief minister. 'Saamana' carried a front-page article on October 22 about the Marathi Muslim Seva Sangh backing Uddhav Thackeray, adding that the outfit is active in Mumbai, Konkan, Marathwada, Vidarbha, and western Maharashtra.

"The Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Party wants to garner Marathi and Muslim votes, but it cleverly played with the words by calling them Marathi Muslims," Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar said at a press conference.

Also Read: Maharastra minister blames Uddhav-led MVA for Tata-Airbus project moving to Gujarat

He said his party would organise 'Jagar Mumbaicha Yatra' in November to spread awareness among the residents of the metropolis about this "politics of appeasement" as well as "corruption" in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.

Shelar said Thackeray was getting frustrated as he was staring at defeat in the BMC polls. The city's civic body, currently under an administrator after the terms of corporators ended, has been ruled by the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena for several years now.

Mumbai BJP President accused Uddhav of 'appeasement'

"This is appeasement. Balasaheb (Thackeray) never believed in garnering votes in the name of religion and caste. Why did you (Uddhav) ditch this? Why do you have to seek votes in the name of caste and religion," Shelar questioned.

"Then why can't you (Uddhav) have Marathi Jains, Marathi north Indians? Why the fissure between Marathi and Gujarati? Why did you quit Marathi Hindu?", Shelar added.

'BJP stands for Marathi-Mumbaikar'

Asserting that the BJP stood for "Marathi-Mumbaikar", Shelar said his party will not ask for votes in the name of caste and religion but in the name of development.

Shelar also labelled former state environment minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aditya Thackeray's tour of rain-affected areas in Maharashtra as "teaser and tokenism". The BJP leader questioned why farm loans were not cleared by the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi despite assurances.
New Delhi: Ananya Panday, the Gen-Z actress of Bollywood turns 24 today. Last night, most of the Bollywood attended Orry's Halloween bash. From Janhvi Kapoor to Aryan Khan, celebs attended the bash in spooky outfits. On the other hand, birthday girl Ananya Panday stepped in dressed like 'Poo' and fans are shocked.

Days after B-town celebrities got over with Diwali parties, celebs attended another bash in the city and had a blast together under one roof in Mumbai on Saturday night. Almost everybody was dressed as an onscreen character or one from the books for the party. The party was thrown by Janhvi Kapoor's good friend-rumored boyfriend Orhan Awatramani, popularly known as Orry.

Ananya Panday walked into the party wearing Kareena's popular look from 'Kabhie Khushi Kabhi Gham,' as Poo! She slayed in a pink crop top and paired it with a beige mini skirt, just like Bebo's intro scene in the film. Ananya is obsessed with Kareena and Karisma as she has mentioned a million times before but this look of the actress got mixed reactions from the audience.

One wrote, "Same dress wore by Kareena Kapoor in kbhi khushi kbhi gum, ananya or Kareena in halloween party (laughing emojis)", while the other wrote, "Ye poo ko kyu ki hai copy ?" One social media user commented, "Poo has officially puked" ad other one wrote, "Dresssing up as an icon indian character is very creative what a beauty..."

Other then her, the bash was attended by Aryan Khan, Sara Ali Khan, Ibrahim Khan, Navya Naveli Nanda, Shanaya Kapoor, Janhvi Kapoor and others.
There is plenty of malware out there ready to hack into someone's phone and steal sensitive details like bank account numbers and OTP etc. One such malware is Drinik which has come again to haunt Indian banks and their customers. Cyber analysts have discovered an upgraded version of the Drinik malware that has put the data of 18 bank customers at risk. Drinik malware is targeting banks through the Accessibility Service of the banking apps. Once it gains access to the app, it disables incoming calls to interrupt the login and steal data. The malware is targeting 18 banks including SBI, said reports.

Also, the malware which has been in existence since 2016 has now come as an app disguised as an Income Tax app. It's available as an APK named iAssist claiming to be the official tax management app for the Income Tax department. Once a user mistakenly installs the app, it seeks permissions to read, receive and send SMS as well as takes access to the users call log. It also takes access to read and write the external storage. Once the victim grants all permissions, the malware disables the Google Play Protect feature and takes control of the smartphone.

Also Read: Twitter Job Cut: Elon Musk asks managers to prepare list of employees to be laid off

It then opens the genuine Indian income tax site and pushes for biometric verification. When the user enters a PIN, the malware steals it by screen recording using MediaProjection and sends the details to hackers. Since the latest version of Drinik only targets victims with legitimate income tax site accounts, it indicates that the hackers have access to critical data.

Once the victim is logged in, the app displays a message saying the user is eligible for a tax refund of Rs 57,100 from all previous tax miscalculations and asks them to click on Apply to receive a refund in a registered bank account. If the user clicks on apply option, the malware redirects to a phishing website and prompts the victim to submit details such as name, Aadhaar, PAN, Account number, Credit card number, CVV, and PIN among other details.

Also Read: T20 World Cup 2022: Balochistan artist draws Virat Kohli's stunning sand art; pic goes viral

This way, the victims end up losing their savings and critical data in the garb of the fake tax refund. Users are advised to install apps only from the play store and that too after checking the publisher's name. One should also have an active anti-virus installed on their smartphone. If you think that any app is asking for permissions which are not required, immediately uninstall the app.

It may be recalled that last month, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) issued a safety advisory against another trojan named SOVA which was affecting smartphones.
With a journey on one of the most breathtaking tracks through the Alps, a Swiss railway company on Saturday claimed the title of the longest passenger train in history. 100 carriages made up the 1.9-kilometer (1.2-mile) Albula/Bernina train that the Rhaetian Railway company operated between Preda and Berguen. The route, which crosses 48 bridges, including the curving Landwasser Viaduct, and passes through 22 tunnels, some of which wind through mountains, was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008. The entire journey took over an hour. Rail enthusiasts lined the valley to watch the train's 25 sections wind their way about 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) through the Alps. Rhaetian Railway director Renato Fasciati said the record attempt was intended to highlight some of Switzerland's engineering achievements and to celebrate 175 years of Swiss railways.

India's Longest train: Super Vasuki

When talking about long trains it is hard to keep the mind off the name Super Vasuki, the longest freight train ever, operated by Indian Railways. The 3.5-km-long Super Vasuki freight train, which is the longest and heaviest in all of India, just underwent a test run between Rajnandgao in Nagpur and Korba in Chhattisgarh with 295 loaded wagons carrying over 27,000 tonnes of coal. Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw posted a video of the train going past the Kothari Road station on his Twitter account. In contrast, Australia's BHP Iron Ore is the world's longest freight train with a length of 7.352 kilometres (also the longest train overall).

Watch Video of India's Longest train: Super Vasuki

Super Vasuki - India's longest (3.5km) loaded train run with 6 Locos & 295 wagons and of 25,962 tonnes gross weight.#AmritMahotsav pic.twitter.com/3oeTAivToY  Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) August 16, 2022

India's Longest train vs World's longest passenger train

India's longest train the Super Vasuki is 3.5-km-long which when compared to the world's longest passenger train is almost twice in length. Moreover, the massive length of the train is composed of 295 loaded wagons which is almost thrice the carriages pulled by the world's longest passenger train.

With inputs from agencies
The Vande Bharat Express train running on the Mumbai-Gandhinagar route has been in three accidents in the first month after its launch. All three incidents were caused by cattle on tracks. Considering the frequency of the accidents and the reason behind them. Western Railway has warned cattle owners in the region to control the movement of their cattle and not let them come near the railway tracks. If found in violation, strict action will be taken against the cattle owners following the due procedure and law. The Western Railway CPRO said in a statement, "Western Railway appeals to cattle owners/cattle grazers to not let their cattle come near the railway land/tracks. Stringent action will be taken under the law against the violators."

Also read: Delhi Metro revises train timings for 'Run for Unity' on October 31; Check updated time table

It is to be noted that the Vande Bharat train on the Mumbai-Gandhinagar route was damaged on 29 October 2022 in a cattle run-over incident. The incident occurred near the Atul in Mumbai Central while the train was on its journey from Mumbai Central to Gandhinagar. Due to the accident, the train was detained for 15 minutes resulting in a delay in services. After the accident, the nose cone of the train broke. However, the train didn't have any mechanical damage.

Western Railway appeals to cattle owners/cattle grazers to not let their cattle come near the railway land/tracks. Stringent action will be taken under the law against the violators: Western Railway CPRO https://t.co/kRFFVFQ23a  ANI (@ANI) October 29, 2022

Earlier, the nose of the Vande Bharat train was damaged after it collided with cattle on the same route. This incident occurred between Ahmedabad's Vatva and Maninagar stations, but, the train travelled without the panel to Gandhinagar Capital station and again to Mumbai Central. However, no functional part of the train was damaged. At the time, the Western Railway said in a statement that the nose of the train was sacrificial by design.

Following the previous incident Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said in a statement, "All railway tracks in the country still on ground, on surface. Problem of cattle thus persists. However, trains are being designed to tackle such issues. Even after yesterday's incident, nothing happened to the Vande Bharat train, frthe ont part was repaired." It is worth noting that there are four Vande Bharat Express trains operating in India now. While the government plans on launching more such trains.

With ANI inputs
Cai Qi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and a member of the CPC Central Committee Secretariat, speaks at a meeting on the promotion of the guiding principles of the 20th National Congress of the CPC in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 30, 2022. (Xinhua/Ding Haitao)

BEIJING, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Senior Communist Party of China (CPC) official Cai Qi has urged efforts to effectively promote the guiding principles of the 20th National Congress of the CPC.

Cai, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and a member of the CPC Central Committee Secretariat, made the remarks on Sunday at a meeting on the promotion of the guiding principles.

In his speech, Cai emphasized that publicity activities ought to be meticulously organized and carried out, so as to inspire all Party members and officials to align their thinking with the guiding principles of the congress, and strive in unity to build a modern socialist country in all respects and advance the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts.

Central publicity teams should promote the guiding principles comprehensively, accurately and profoundly, and help Party members, officials and the public deepen understanding of the guiding principles, he said.

The meeting was presided over by Li Shulei, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee. 
New Delhi: Mega Star Chiranjeevi on Sunday responded to actress Samantha's touching post on her medical condition, an autoimmune disorder known as Myositis, by wishing her a speedy recovery and saying that he was certain that she would overcome this challenge too!

Taking to Twitter on Sunday, Chiranjeevi wrote: "Dear Sam, From time to time, challenges do come into our lives, perhaps to allow us to discover our own inner strength. You are a wonderful girl with an even greater inner strength. I am sure you shall overcome this challenge too, very soon."

"Wishing you all the courage and conviction. May the force be with you." The Mega Star also wished the young actress a speedy recovery.

On Saturday, Samantha informed her fans and followers on social media that she had been diagnosed with an autoimmune condition called Myositis.

The actress, while explaining her state of mind, had said that her doctors were confident that she would make a complete recovery very soon.
New Delhi: The Moto X40, a new addition to Motorola's X series of smartphones, is about to go on sale. After its outage, the Moto X40 will replace the Moto Edge X30, which made its debut in Chinese markets last year. While providing a few specifics about the impending smartphone, a Lenovo executive teased the Moto X40 in the interim.

According to sources, the Moto X40 will probably have a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 CPU. This smartphone was previously spotted in the China Compulsory Certification database, also known as 3C, with the model number XT2301-5. (Also Read: 5 smartphones from top brands to launch in November- in PICS)

Lenovo's general manager Chen Jin already teased the Moto X40's specifications via a post on the Chinese microblogging platform Weibo. Although he didn't reveal any other information regarding the phone, it is assumed that the Moto Edge X30's successor may be in the works. (Also Read: Nokia G60 5G launch in India soon; check smartphone's price, specs & other details)

According to media sources, the Moto X40 may have a 50MP primary camera, an FHD+ display, and an as-yet-unannounced Snapdragon CPU, which at the time of writing is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset.

Motorola is developing a phone with the model number XT2301-5, and the company just got China's 3C certification for the same model, which listed details including compatibility for 68W fast charging. It's possible, though, that the Motorola phone may ultimately debut in China as the Moto X40 later this year.

However, Motorola is anticipated to release the Moto X40 to worldwide markets, including India, so this phone won't be limited to China alone. According to reports, the Motorola X40 could debut in March of next year in India and other countries as the Motorola Moto Edge 40 Pro.
New Delhi: Popular streaming giant Netflix has announced to roll out the Profile Transfer feature in India that will allow users to transfer their personalised recommendations, viewing history, My List, saved games, and other preferences to a new account when they start their own membership. The step is aimed to curb password sharing problem which Netflix has been grappling for a long time.

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We will never transfer your payment information, and Children profiles cannot be transferred. All saved games and game progress connected to a profile will move to the new account, Netflix added.

ALSO READ | World Savings Day: 7 Savings TIPS you can take for better and secure future

Also, Netflix recently announced that it is planning to crack down on password sharing beginning in 2023.

Earlier, Netflix had launched its first ads-based subscription model in some countries. It is a low-cost pack which shows ads before and during the shows.

Here are steps to use Netflixs Profile Transfer feature in India:

Open Netflix in a web browser and sign into the account that has the profile you want to start a new account with. Visit the Account page in the Netflix account that you have opened. You can find this option in the profile selection drop-down on the homepage of the account. Go to the Profiles and Parental Controls section. Select the profile you want to start a new account with. Now select the Transfer link in the Transfer Profile section. Next, enter the email address and password you would like to use for the new account. Lastly, follow the prompts on the screen to finish setting up the new account.

Once Netflix has transferred the profile, it will show a prompt on screen to notify users.
New Delhi: The richest man in the world, Elon Musk, now owns Twitter. Since the buyout, Twitter is likely undergoing tremendous change. One of the trickiest transactions in the annals of acquisitions was the purchase of Twitter. However, it has now been finished, and if Musk's past tweets are any indication, a lot will change on the microblogging platform.

Before the big Twitter vs Musk fight ever started, one of these improvements was already in motion. The wider deployment, however, is taking place right now. More users are now being given access to Twitter's "downvote" tool. (Also Read: Good news for WhatsApp users! You can download PAN card, driver's license, marksheet & RC among others; here's HOW)

The downvote button on Twitter is different from YouTube's dislike button. Instead of straight posts, this function is for replies to posts. This is how Twitter responds to offensive language and off-topic comments. There will be no front-end mechanism for counting downvotes, and they won't be made public. (Also Read: Explained: Is Elon Musk vs Twitter deal nears close? Here're TURNING POINTS of this buyout)

Users have the option to downvote a response if they believe it is not adding to the debate on Twitter. Downvotes are private, as guaranteed by the platform. The author of the Tweet and no one else will have access to these votes, which are private. With the downvote feedback option, Twitter promises to "prioritise higher-quality content for you and everyone on Twitter."

The new downvote option will soon be available to Twitter users on iOS and Android. This feature is supported even on the Twitter website. Keep in mind that while upvotes will appear as likes, downvotes will not be accessible to the general public.

It is anticipated that the platform would move in a new direction after Twitter's leadership changes. Musk published a letter outlining his plan to purchase the platform and his future plans for it. Twitter, in Musk's opinion, will serve as a forum for constructive debate. He reiterated in the letter that he has long supported the right to free expression.

He did make clear, though, that individuals who break the law and the platform's rules will face repercussions. In order to improve community communication, the platform will be introducing more features.
New Delhi: The ongoing anti-Hijab in parts of Iran has entered its seventh week. With hundreds of people losing lives in the demonstration across the country, a 19-year-old celebrity, Mehrshad Shahidi lost his life on Wednesday, October 26, 2022, in police custody, reportedly beaten to death with batons at the IRGC Intelligences detention centre, according to the local media.

Shahidi, a celebrity chef, also known as Irans Jamie Oliver, had 25,000 followers on Instagram and posted videos of himself cooking. He died a day before his 20th birthday, as per the reports.

According to his family, Shahidi was killed after receiving blows to his skull and told the media, our son lost his life as a result of receiving baton blows to his head after his arrest, but we have been under pressure by the regime to say that he has died of a heart attack.

Meanwhile, the Iranian authorities have dismissed the claims of killing the chef under custody and said that the cause of his death shall be announced later. On Friday, Chief Justice of the province, Abdolmehdi Mousavi, said that there are no signs of fractures in the arms, legs, skull, or any brain injury.

Deputy Governor of the province, Behnam Nazari, meanwhile, is quoted as saying that the rumors are being spread by anti-Iran media, but no bullets have been shot at Mehrshad Shahidi.

Protests for Shahidi's burial have erupted, with thousands rallying on Saturday. Security personnel allegedly used tear gas to disperse the demonstrators, who chanted, "Everyone who is killed will be supported by thousands more."

An Iranian political expert, Dr. Reza Taghizadeh, claimed that the killing was triggering a "second and even stronger wave of national protests against the regime in the same manner Mahsa Amini's death did a month earlier."

Riots erupted across Iran in response to Mahsa Amini's heinous death, which occurred after she was beaten to death by the IRGC for failing to wear the country's strict hijab requirements. The first photos of Mahsa Amini were released by Niloofar Hamedi triggering protests in Tehran which then spread to other countries with at least 234 protesters, including 29 children, killed by security forces in crackdowns.
Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping has chosen an entirely new team after winning the historic third term through the 20th National Congress in order to lessen the likelihood that he will face a political challenge. This is because the top leader is likely to enact more hardline policies in Beijing regarding the economy, foreign relations, and human rights. The seven most significant figures in China now make up the new Standing Committee of the party, which is chaired by Xi. The six were hand-selected by the president and are fiercely devoted to him. According to Hong Kong Post, dissent has no place in this odd `democratic` system. Senior leaders` names that circulated in the months leading up to the Congress were not included in the final list.

They comprised Hu Chunhua and Wang Yang, two credible candidates for the standing committee. Both were completely barred from power despite having a reputation for being reasonably pro-reform and experimentation.

Also Read: UK summons Chinese diplomat over assault on protester on China consulate grounds

He was not included in the 25-person Politburo, but Wang, a former member of the previous Standing Committee, didn`t even make it onto the Central Committee list of more than 200 members, Hong Kong Post reported.

No woman in top leadership position

In the Communist Party of China`s Politburo Standing Committee, key advisers to Xi were promoted, but for the first time in years, no woman was able to secure a place in the top leadership position. All of the selected members are weak political underlings with no family ties in order to lessen the likelihood that Xi will face a political challenge. Wang Huning, a nationalist theorist who was close to previous presidents, is the lone exception.

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, on Thursday stressed promoting the great founding spirit of the Party and the spirit of Yan'an, and striving in unity for fulfilling the goals and tasks set by the 20th CPC National Congress. pic.twitter.com/Yf88MbL9rV October 27, 2022

Li Qiang will officially be the most significant member of the group chosen to the Standing Committee, but in reality, he might be the least `powerful`. He was the second person to take the stage after Xi last week and will succeed Li Keqiang as premier when he officially steps down in March.

Hu Jintao was recently hauled out of the 20th Party Congress by Xi Jinping in an unseemly manner, further demonstrating the Chinese leader`s desire to maintain total power. After being elected to China`s third term as president, Xi has already begun to expel the party`s veteran leaders.

Earlier in 2015, Xi assisted in the detention of Ling Jihua, a top assistant who belonged to the same influential network of past leaders as himself. In addition to being expelled from the congress, it was said that Xi planned the entire incident to publicly embarrass his predecessor--possibly as a warm-up before using party discipline measures followed by legal action against him, according to the Hong Kong Post.

Xi Jinping as 'core' of Chinese power

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has shown at the 20th National Congress that Chairman Xi Jinping is the center of Chinese power and that no one will dare challenge him.

In order to demonstrate that he may now act whenever he pleases, Xi packed the Politburo Standing Committee with his close cronies, claims ethnic Mongolian rights campaigner Xi Haiming, who lives in Germany. A Chinese journalist, who wished to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation, claimed that China is now firmly back in the Mao era.
Kyiv: Russia announced Saturday that it will immediately suspend its implementation of a U.N.-brokered grain deal that has seen more than 9 million tonnes of grain exported from Ukraine during the war and has brought down soaring global food prices. Ukraine accused Russia of creating a world "hunger games". The Russian Defence Ministry cited an alleged Ukrainian drone attack Saturday against Russia's Black Sea Fleet ships moored off the coast of occupied Crimea as the reason for the move. Ukraine has denied the attack, saying that the Russians mishandled their own weapons.

The Russian declaration came one day after U.N. Chief Antonio Guterres urged Russia and Ukraine to renew the grain export deal, which was scheduled to expire on Nov. 19.

Guterres also urged other countries, mainly in the West, to expedite the removal of obstacles blocking Russian grain and fertiliser exports.

The U.N. Chief said the grain deal "brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July" helps "to cushion the suffering that this global cost-of-living crisis is inflicting on billions of people," his spokesman said.

U.N. Officials were in touch with Russian authorities over the announced suspension.

"It is vital that all parties refrain from any action that would imperil the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which is a critical humanitarian effort that is clearly having a positive impact on access to food for millions of people," said Guterres' spokesman, Stephane Dujarric.

Zelenskyy calls move 'predictable'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the Russian move "predictable." He accused Moscow of "blockading" ships carrying grain since September. Currently, he said, 176 vessels are backed up at sea, carrying more than 2 million tonnes of food.

"This is a transparent attempt by Russia to return to the threat of large-scale famine in Africa and Asia," Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly video address.

He called for a tough response against Russia from international bodies like the U.N. And the G-20.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, accused Russia of playing "hunger games" by imperiling global food shipments.

Blinken says suspension was 'regrettable'

In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the suspension was regrettable and urged "all parties to keep this essential, life-saving Initiative functioning."

"Any act by Russia to disrupt these critical grain exports is essentially a statement that people and families around the world should pay more for food or go hungry," Blinken said in a statement Saturday night.

"In suspending this arrangement, Russia is again weaponising food in the war it started, directly impacting low- and middle-income countries and global food prices, and exacerbating already dire humanitarian crises and food insecurity."

Russia's Foreign Ministry on Saturday accused British specialists of being involved in the alleged attack by drones on Russian ships in Crimea. Britain's Defense Ministry had no immediate comment on the claim.

"In connection with the actions of Ukrainian armed forces, led by British specialists, directed, among other things, against Russian ships that ensure the functioning of the humanitarian corridor in question (which cannot be qualified otherwise than as a terrorist attack), the Russian side cannot guarantee the safety of civilian dry cargo ships participating in the Black Sea initiative, and suspends its implementation from today for an indefinite period," the Russian statement said.

Ukraine's Ministry of Infrastructure said that Ukraine has never threatened the Black Sea grain corridor which "is exclusively humanitarian in nature," and would continue to try to keep shipments going.

It said since the first ship left Odesa on Aug. 1, more than 9 million tonnes of food have been exported, including more than 5 million tonnes to African and Asian countries. As part of the U.N. World Food Programme, it said, 190 thousand tons of wheat have been sent to countries where there is hunger.

Russia also requested a meeting Monday of the U.N. Security Council because of the alleged attack on the Black Sea Fleet and the security of the grain corridor, said Dmitry Polyansky, Russia's first deputy representative to the U.N.

Russia's agriculture minister said Moscow stands ready to "fully replace Ukrainian grain and deliver supplies at affordable prices to all interested countries."

In remarks carried by the state Rossiya 24 TV channel, Dmitry Patrushev said Moscow was prepared to "supply up to 500,000 tonnes of grain to the poorest countries free of charge in the next four months," with the help of Turkey.

Earlier Saturday, Ukraine and Russia offered differing versions on the Crimea drone attack in which at least one Russian ship suffered damage in Sevastopol, a key port on the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014.

The Russian Defense Ministry said a minesweeper had "minor damage" during an alleged pre-dawn Ukrainian attack on navy and civilian vessels docked in Sevastopol, which hosts the headquarters of Russia's Black Sea Fleet.

The ministry claimed Russian forces had "repelled" 16 attacking drones.

The governor of the Sevastopol region, Mikhail Razvozhaev, claimed the port saw a "massive attack" by air and sea drones.

He provided no evidence, saying all video would be seized for security reasons.

But an adviser to Ukraine's Interior Ministry claimed that "careless handling of explosives" had caused blasts on four warships in Russia's Black Sea Fleet.

Anton Gerashchenko wrote on Telegram that the vessels included a frigate, a landing ship and a ship that carried cruise missiles used in a deadly July attack on a western Ukrainian city.

In other developments on Saturday, Russian troops moved large numbers of sick and wounded comrades from hospitals in Ukraine's southern Kherson region and stripped the facilities of medical equipment, Ukrainian officials said as their forces fought to retake the province.

Kremlin-installed authorities in the mostly Russian-occupied region have urged civilians to leave the city of Kherson, the region's capital and reportedly joined the tens of thousands who have fled to other Russia-held areas.

Zelenskyy accuses Russians of 'dismantling entire healthcare system'

Zelenskyy said the Russians were "dismantling the entire health care system" in Kherson and other occupied areas.

"The occupiers have decided to close medical institutions in the cities, take away equipment, ambulances. Just everything," Zelenskyy said.

Kherson is one of four regions in Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin illegally annexed last month and where he subsequently declared martial law. The others are Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia.

As Kyiv's forces sought gains in the south, Russia kept up its shelling and missile attacks in the country's east.

Three more civilians died and eight more were wounded in the Donetsk region, as Russian soldiers try to capture the city of Bakhmut, an important target in Russia's stalled eastern offensive.

Russian shelling also hit an industrial building in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region.

In the latest prisoner exchange, 50 Ukrainian soldiers, including two former defenders of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, and two civilians were released Saturday as part of a swap with Russia, who received 50 Russian soldiers, both sides reported.
SEOUL: At least 151 people, mostly teenagers and young adults in their 20s, were killed in a crush when a huge crowd celebrating Halloween surged into an alley in a nightlife area of the South Korean capital Seoul on Saturday night, emergency officials said. A further 65 people were injured in the melee in Seoul's Itaewon district, Choi Sung-beom, head of the Yongsan Fire Station, said in a briefing at the scene. Nineteen of the injured were in serious condition and receiving emergency treatment, the officials said, adding the death toll could rise.

South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol declared a period of national mourning on Sunday and expressed condolences to the victims

"This is truly tragic," he said in a statement. "A tragedy and disaster that should not have happened took place in the heart of Seoul last night."

It was the first Halloween event in Seoul in three years after the country lifted COVID restrictions and social distancing. Many of the partygoers were wearing masks and Halloween costumes.

Some witnesses described the crowd becoming increasingly unruly and agitated as the evening deepened. The incident took place at about 10:20 p.m. (1320 GMT).

"A number of people fell during a Halloween festival, and we have a large number of casualties," Choi said. Many of those killed were near a nightclub.

Many of the victims were women in their twenties, Choi said.

Witnesses described chaotic scenes moments before the stampede, with the police on hand in anticipation of the Halloween event at times having trouble maintaining control of the crowds.

Moon Ju-young, 21, said there were clear signs of trouble in the alleys before the incident.

"It was at least more than 10 times crowded than usual," he said.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT  At least 149 people, mostly teenagers and young adults in their 20s, were killed in South Korea when a crowd celebrating Halloween surged into an alley in a night-life area of Seoul https://t.co/ZBB3cKhxO5 pic.twitter.com/evlVibGuUw  Reuters (@Reuters) October 29, 2022

Social media footage showed hundreds of people packed in the narrow, sloped alley crushed and immobile as emergency officials and police tried to pull them free.

Choi, the Yongsan district fire chief, said all the deaths were likely from the crush in the single narrow alley.

Other footage showed chaotic scenes of fire officials and citizens treating dozens of people who appeared to be unconscious.

Fire officials and witnesses said people continued to pour into the narrow alley that was already packed wall-to-wall, when those at the top of the sloped street fell, sending people below them toppling over others.

An unnamed woman who said she was the mother of a survivor said her daughter and others were trapped for more than an hour before being pulled from the crush of people in the alley.

A Reuters witness said a makeshift morgue was set up in a building adjacent to the scene. About four dozen bodies were carried out later on wheeled stretchers and moved to a government facility to identify the victims, according to the witness.

The Itaewon district is popular with young South Koreans and expatriates alike, its dozens of bars and restaurants packed on Saturday for Halloween after businesses had suffered a sharp decline over three years of the pandemic.

"You would see big crowds at Christmas and fireworks ... but this was several ten-folds bigger than any of that," Park Jung-hoon, 21, told Reuters from the scene.

Two foreigners were among the dead, and others were transferred to nearby hospitals.

With the easing of the COVID pandemic, curfews on bars and restaurants and a limit of 10 people for private gatherings were lifted in April. An outdoor mask mandate was dropped in May.

Authorities said they were investigating the exact cause of the incident.

The disaster is among the country's deadliest since a 2014 ferry sinking that killed 304 people, mainly high school students.

The sinking of the Sewol, and criticism of the official response, sent shockwaves across South Korea and prompted widespread soul-searching over safety measures in the country that are likely to be renewed in the wake of Saturday's crush.

President Yoon presided over an emergency meeting with senior aides and ordered a task force be set up to secure resources to treat the injured and to launch a thorough investigation into the cause of the disaster.
Responding to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif`s claim that PTI chairman sought talks on the new army chief`s appointment, he said that he does not talk to "boot polishers", local media reported.

"I spoke to those with whom Shehbaz hid in the trunk of the car to speak," said Imran. He also questioned why he would send a message to the premier, he said while addressing the long march participants at Murdike, Geo News reported.

The former prime minister also said that he was not raised in a "military dictator`s nursery", Geo News reported.

"I do not call Ayub Khan daddy like Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. I am not like Nawaz Sharif who build General Jilani`s home and pressed General Ziaul Haq`s knees to become a minister," said the PTI leader, Geo News reported.

On the Indian media`s coverage of his attack on military officials, the PTI chief told the neighbouring country`s media that his party is standing with the army.

"I came to power with the people`s power not because of the establishment," claimed Imran Khan, adding that he only seeks rule of law in the country and the protection of the people`s rights.

Continuing his attack on the coalition government, the PTI chief said that "former dictator Pervez Musharraf harmed the country by giving an NRO to these parties."
New Delhi: A former Britain's Royal Navy lieutenant has claimed that she faced "a constant campaign of sexual bullying" and "physical assaults" on submarines. She also said that the male crew members on submarines were "like vultures whenever a new female would come in". A UK newspaper carried claims on Saturday (October 29, 2022) by former Navy Lt Sophie Brook that the men kept a "crush depth rape list" ranking female colleagues in the order they should be raped in the case of a catastrophic event.

Brook, 30, reportedly left the Royal Navy earlier this year and was later given a suspended jail sentence for sharing in an email sensitive information about her submarine's movement.

The newspaper quoted another, anonymous, navy whistleblower as saying women were constantly pestered for sex aboard submarines.

Women, notably, make up about 10% of full-time Royal Navy personnel and have been eligible to serve on submarines since 2011.

Meanwhile, the head of Britain's Royal Navy said he is "deeply disturbed" by allegations and that he has ordered an investigation.

Adm Ben Key said "these allegations are abhorrent".

"Sexual assault and harassment have no place in the Royal Navy and will not be tolerated," he said in a statement.

"I have directed my senior team to investigate these allegations thoroughly. Anyone who is found culpable will be held accountable for their actions regardless of their rank or status," Key said.

My response to recent allegations in the press on inappropriate behaviour in the Submarine Service: pic.twitter.com/HYQJklPjEk  First Sea Lord (@FirstSeaLord) October 28, 2022

The Ministry of Defence did not comment on specific allegations but said it accepted that more needs to be done about inappropriate behaviour.

(With agency inputs)
A Cambodian official hails CIIE as an important opportunity for foreign companies to strengthen relationship with Chinese partners, adding that China has proved to be a great partner of the world.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
Islamabad: A 75-year-old Pakistani Guantanamo Bay prisoner suspected of links to Al-Qaeda has been released after 18 years and returned to Pakistan on Saturday, officials said. Saif Ullah Paracha, the oldest prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, was held on suspicion of ties to Al-Qaeda since 2003 but was never charged with a crime. The Foreign Office (FO) in a statement confirmed that Paracha has reached Pakistan. Saif Ullah Paracha, a Pakistani national, who was detained in Guantanamo Bay, has been released and reached Pakistan on Saturday, the statement said.

"The Foreign Ministry completed an extensive inter-agency process to facilitate the repatriation of Paracha. We are glad that a Pakistani citizen detained abroad is finally reunited with his family," the FO said.

Known as the oldest prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, his release was approved in May last year.

Separately, Foreign Minister Bilawal-Bhutto Zardari also tweeted about his release.

Mr. Paracha, who was detained in Guantanamo Bay , has been released & reached on Saturday. The Foreign Ministry completed an extensive inter-agency process to facilitate repatriation of Mr. Paracha. We are glad that a citizen detained abroad is reunited with his family. https://t.co/VSTOTAbuMP  BilawalBhuttoZardari (@BBhuttoZardari) October 29, 2022

Paracha, who lived in the US and owned property in New York City, was a wealthy businessman in Pakistan. He was captured by the US in Thailand in 2003 and had been detained at Guantanamo since September 2004.

Saif Ullah Paracha was accused of being an Al-Qaeda "facilitator"

He was accused of being an Al-Qaeda "facilitator" who helped two of the conspirators in the September 11 plot with a financial transaction.

But Paracha, who suffers from a number of ailments including diabetes and a heart condition, has denied his involvement in terrorism, saying he did not know the men he was dealing with were Al-Qaeda members.

However, the US has long asserted that it can hold detainees indefinitely without charge under the international laws of war.

Paracha's son had also been arrested on the charge of helping suspected militants to get into the US through faulty documents months before his father's arrest, Dawn newspaper reported.

He was sentenced to 30 years in jail in 2005 by the federal court in New York, however, a judge threw out witness accounts in March 2020.

Uzair Paracha, a graduate of Pakistan's prestigious Institute of Business Administration, was sent back to Pakistan in 2021 after the US government decided not to seek a new trial.
Islamabad: A female journalist attending former prime minister Imran Khan's long march died on Sunday after being crushed under his container, according to Pakistan's media reports. The deceased was identified as Channel 5 reporter Sadaf Naeem. After the tragic incident, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman called off activities for the day. "We are ending today's march due to an accident. We have decided to stop here, Khan said. Khan also sent his condolences to the family of the deceased and said that he would pray for the departed soul.

The long march would start from Kamoke on its fourth day on Monday. Earlier, it was planned to reach Gujranwala by the end of its third day. Geo News reported that Sadaf was hit by the container carrying Khan but it was not confirmed. She was trying to interview Khan for her TV channel, Dunya TV reported. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, while reacting to the death of the journalist, said that he was deeply saddened by the death of the reporter.

Also Read: Pakistan flags 'prolonged delays' in projects with China

He further wrote in his tweet that Sadaf Naeem was a dynamic and hardworking reporter, adding that he prays for the forgiveness of the deceased and patience for the family. Information Minister Maryyium Aurangzeb expressed shock over Sadaf's death and questioned how the reporter was run over by the container-carrying truck used by Khan. "I personally know her. She was a hard-working journalist and was killed while trying to interview Imran Khan which is shocking," she said.

Also Read: Seoul Halloween stampede: A look at recent crowd rushes across the world
BAKU, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- At least two people were killed, and 23 others injured after a bus overturned en route from the capital Baku to northwestern Gazakh district on Saturday, according to Azerbaijan's law enforcement authorities.

The driver's losing control of the bus was established as the preliminary cause of the accident, police said.

A total of 23 people, including 19 women, were hospitalized with different injuries, health authorities announced. Ten medical crews were dispatched to the scene.

The investigation is still underway. 
TEHRAN, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- At least 5 Iranians died in the Halloween stampede in the South Korean capital Seoul, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani said on Sunday.

Five Iranian citizens have been among the victims of the incident so far, Kanaani said, adding that the Iranian embassy in Seoul has been following up on the situation of Iranians and more information on the status of possible injured or missing Iranians will be announced later.

He expressed condolences to the victims' families and sent his sympathies to the people of South Korea over the stampede.

At least 151 people were killed and 82 others injured in a stampede that occurred Saturday night at Itaewon, a district of Seoul, during Halloween gatherings. 
BEIJING, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of political parties and governments as well as heads of state worldwide have sent congratulations to Xi Jinping on his election as general secretary of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Calling China a close friend and reliable development partner for the Maldives, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih said he believes that under Xi's leadership, the friendship and close cooperation between the two countries, which have lasted for half a century, will be further strengthened and better benefit both countries and their people.

Iraq-China cooperation has been fruitful and will make new contributions to both countries' efforts to realize development and stability and improve the well-being of their people, said Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid.

President of Cape Verde Jose Maria Neves expressed his willingness to work with Xi to continuously and firmly push forward the development of the friendly and cooperative relations between Cape Verde and China.

Xi's election fully reflects the Chinese people's deep pride in the great achievements China has made in the new era and their complete trust in him, said President of the Central African Republic Faustin-Archange Touadera.

Xi's election demonstrates that he has the full trust of the CPC members and the Chinese people, and enjoys full recognition for his great leadership and outstanding contributions, said Chad's Transitional President Mahamat Idriss Deby.

Commending Xi's outstanding capability, courage to take responsibility, perseverance and selfless work, Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh said Xi has led China to become a global model of development in all aspects.

Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde expressed her firm belief that under the strong and wise leadership of the CPC, the major decisions made at the 20th CPC National Congress will be successfully implemented and that China's goal of building a modern socialist country in all respects will surely be achieved, with positive influence on the world.

Extending his sincerest and warmest congratulations to Xi on his election, Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo wished Xi success in leading the new historical journey of China. 
This photo taken on Oct. 22, 2022 shows the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Chen Jianli)

BEIJING, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of political parties and governments as well as heads of state worldwide have sent congratulations to Xi Jinping on his election as general secretary of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, also chairman of the Justice and Development Party, said that he was pleased to hear of Xi's election as general secretary of the Central Committee of the CPC and expressed his heartfelt congratulations, adding that he would like to further deepen Turkiye-China relations for the benefit of the people of the two countries.

The Chinese path to modernization offers a new option for Namibia and other developing countries to achieve peaceful development, said Hage Geingob, president of the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) party of Namibia and Namibian president, adding that he is confident that under Xi's strong leadership, China will successfully cope with high winds and even storms and continue to make remarkable achievements in development.

The Congolese Labor Party believes that Xi's election will usher in a new era and lay a more solid foundation for China's development and the building of a human community with a shared future, said Denis Sassou Nguesso, chairman of the Central Committee of the Congolese Labor Party and president of the Republic of the Congo.

Expressing his belief that under the CPC's leadership, China will become a great modern socialist country in all respects, Sultan of Brunei Darussalam Haji Hassanal Bolkiah said he expects that China will continue to play its strategic leading role as a major country and bring more benefits to the people of the two countries.

Extending his warmest congratulations on Xi's election, the Fourth King of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck said that under Xi's strong leadership, China has achieved unprecedented stability and prosperity and made important contributions to safeguarding world peace and development.

King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain said he looks forward to working with Xi to strengthen and consolidate Bahrain-China cooperation in various fields, so as to bring more benefits to the two countries and their people.

Noting that Xi has led China to gain major achievements in various fields, consolidating and enhancing China's status and influence in international and regional affairs, Moroccan King Mohammed VI said he looks forward to working with Xi to continue to consolidate the two countries' strategic partnership. 
A man arrives at a polling station to cast his ballot in Brasilia, Brazil, Oct. 30, 2022.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Sunday kicked off their contest in a presidential runoff election. (Photo by Lucio Tavora/Xinhua)

BRASILIA, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Sunday kicked off their contest in a presidential runoff election.

According to Brazilian electoral law, a candidate must obtain more than half of the votes to be elected in the first round. Neither the incumbent Bolsonaro nor Lula secured enough votes in the first round held on Oct. 2.

Bolsonaro had 43.3 percent of valid votes compared to 48.3 percent for Lula, the Superior Electoral Court announced after the first poll earlier this month. 

People line up to cast their ballots outside a polling station in Brasilia, Brazil, Oct. 30, 2022.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Sunday kicked off their contest in a presidential runoff election. (Photo by Lucio Tavora/Xinhua)

A woman casts her ballot at a polling station in Brasilia, Brazil, Oct. 30, 2022.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Sunday kicked off their contest in a presidential runoff election. (Photo by Lucio Tavora/Xinhua)

Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva votes at a polling station in Sao Bernardo do Campo, Sao Paulo state, Brazil, on Oct. 30, 2022.

On Sunday, Brazilians went to the polls to vote for the next president and vice president, as well as governors and deputy governors in 12 Brazilian states. The contested runoff pits President Jair Bolsonaro (Liberal Party), who is seeking reelection, against former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Workers' Party). (Xinhua/Rahel Patrasso)

Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva gestures at a polling station in Sao Bernardo do Campo, Sao Paulo state, Brazil, on Oct. 30, 2022.

On Sunday, Brazilians went to the polls to vote for the next president and vice president, as well as governors and deputy governors in 12 Brazilian states. The contested runoff pits President Jair Bolsonaro (Liberal Party), who is seeking reelection, against former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Workers' Party). (Xinhua/Rahel Patrasso)

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (C) leaves a polling station after voting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Oct. 30, 2022.

On Sunday, Brazilians went to the polls to vote for the next president and vice president, as well as governors and deputy governors in 12 Brazilian states. The contested runoff pits President Jair Bolsonaro (Liberal Party), who is seeking reelection, against former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Workers' Party). (Xinhua/Wang Tiancong)

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (C) arrives to vote at a polling station in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Oct. 30, 2022.

On Sunday, Brazilians went to the polls to vote for the next president and vice president, as well as governors and deputy governors in 12 Brazilian states. The contested runoff pits President Jair Bolsonaro (Liberal Party), who is seeking reelection, against former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Workers' Party). (Xinhua/Wang Tiancong)
Staff members of the United Nations in Namibia received Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) diagnosis at a UN Staff Day event in Windhoek, Namibia, on Oct. 25, 2022. (Photo by Musa C Kaseke/Xinhua)

The Chinese medical team in Namibia, on the occasion of UN Staff Day, promoted Traditional Chinese Medicine and therapy to more than 50 UN staff members with an aim for good health and well-being.



WINDHOEK, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese medical team in Namibia continued to promote Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and therapy as more than 50 staff members of the United Nations (UN) in Namibia recently experienced various TCM techniques at the UN Namibia headquarters in Windhoek, capital of Namibia.

Currently handling more than 40 to 50 patients daily at the TCM Clinic at the Katutura Hospital in Windhoek, the team earlier this week took time off to share the magic and benefits of TCM with staff members of the UN Namibia, who were celebrating the UN Staff Day, which is a tradition that began in 1953 and a festival for all staff around the globe.

"This opportunity that was presented to us gave us the chance to further spread the magical benefits and knowledge of TCM to those who did not know about it," Chinese team leader Zhou Haijiang told Xinhua.

At the event, Zhou and his team had the opportunity to also perform therapies that included acupuncture, massotherapy, and cupping, as well as introduce eight Chinese fitness skills which can be practiced easily anywhere in one's own space.

"The techniques that we use in TCM have no side effects and they often prove to be beneficial in comparison to Western Medicine," he said while administering acupuncture to a sitting volunteer.

The United Nations Resident Coordinator in Namibia Sen Pang, who was ecstatic about the whole experience, said the celebrations were a chance for staff to have a pause from work, come together as friends and enjoy the wonderful diversity.

"While we spare no efforts to support the Namibian government to achieve its Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), we also need to achieve SDG3 for ourselves and our families: Good Health and Well-being. The staff well-being of the UN agencies has always been on my priority list, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic," said Pang. "I am privileged to have my compatriots the Chinese medical team to the UN house with us. Just as we address cross-cutting economic challenges in a coordinative way, TCM treats the human body through a holistic approach."

Staff members of the United Nations in Namibia participated in a Chinese fitness exercise introduced by the Chinese medical team at a UN Staff Day event in Windhoek, Namibia, on Oct. 25, 2022. (Photo by Musa C Kaseke/Xinhua)

Following a soothing massage from the Chinese team, UN Resident Coordinator Office member Christophine Iyambo told Xinhua that her experience was very interesting as she was a bit tense.

"The massage made me relax, even though it was short," she said, adding that she will go to the TCM clinic for further therapy.

Equally impressed, Justa Kurz, also a staff, said despite being hesitant at first, she had her first experience with acupuncture on her arm. "It was quite a nice experience. I didn't feel anything. After the needles were in, there was a little bit of tingling in my body, but no other effects or pain and I feel good actually. Thank you," she said.

Meanwhile, Special Assistant to the UN Resident Coordinator Zhang Junjie said while the UN through its specialized agencies, funds, and programs works in collaboration with the Namibian government toward ending poverty, reduction of inequality and a path toward sustainable development, the Chinese medical team's work is also similar as it compliments some of UN goals, in particular SDG3.

China has sent a total of 14 medical teams to Namibia since 1996. The medical teams have been committed to assisting the health sector in Namibia while maintaining a friendship between the two countries. The next medical team is expected to commence in the next four months after the current batch finishes off. 
Climate activists take part in a protest in New York, the United States, on Oct. 29, 2022. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)

Participants urge BlackRock management to refrain from making new fossil-fuel investments and urge the New York state government to adequately fund climate action.



NEW YORK, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Climate activists from multiple non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are implementing week-long protests against climate change and inequality ahead of the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Sandy.

Activists briefly shut down the escalators at BlackRock, the world's largest financier of fossil fuels, according to a post on the social media account of one of the NGOs, New York Communities for Change.

Participants urged BlackRock management to refrain from making new fossil-fuel investments and urged the New York state government to adequately fund climate action.

Climate activists take part in a protest in New York, the United States, on Oct. 29, 2022. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)

Protesters Tuesday temporarily blocked a section of New York City's Park Avenue and called for measures to tax the rich for a statewide Green New Deal.

Activists also interrupted an interview of U.S. Senator Ted Cruz with talk show The View at ABC News on Monday, protesting ABC News' coverage on climate change.

Some protesters were arrested on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to media reports and social media posts.

Hurricane Sandy hit New York City on Oct. 29, 2012 with 44 local residents killed and around 19 billion U.S. dollars of damage inflicted, according to the New York City government. 
This photo taken on Oct. 22, 2022 shows the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Zhang Yuwei)

BEIJING, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of political parties and governments as well as heads of state worldwide have sent congratulations to Xi Jinping on his election as general secretary of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Calling China a close friend and reliable development partner for the Maldives, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih said he believes that under Xi's leadership, the friendship and close cooperation between the two countries, which have lasted for half a century, will be further strengthened and better benefit both countries and their people.

Iraq-China cooperation has been fruitful and will make new contributions to both countries' efforts to realize development and stability and improve the well-being of their people, said Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid.

President of Cape Verde Jose Maria Neves expressed his willingness to work with Xi to continuously and firmly push forward the development of friendly and cooperative relations between Cape Verde and China.

Xi's election fully reflects the Chinese people's deep pride in the great achievements China has made in the new era and their complete trust in him, said President of the Central African Republic Faustin-Archange Touadera.

Xi's election demonstrates that he has the full trust of the CPC members and the Chinese people, and enjoys full recognition for his great leadership and outstanding contributions, said Chad's Transitional President Mahamat Idriss Deby.

Commending Xi's outstanding capability, courage to take responsibility, perseverance and selfless work, Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh said Xi has led China to become a global model of development in all aspects.

Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde expressed her firm belief that under the strong and wise leadership of the CPC, the major decisions made at the 20th CPC National Congress will be successfully implemented and that China's goal of building a modern socialist country in all respects will surely be achieved, with positive influence on the world.

Extending his sincerest and warmest congratulations to Xi on his election, Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo wished Xi success in leading the new historical journey of China. 
People visit a pyramid-shaped artwork during the "Forever Is Now" exhibition held at the Giza pyramids complex in Giza, Egypt, Oct. 27, 2022. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

by Mahmoud Fouly

CAIRO, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Against the backdrop of the three Great Pyramids of Giza and their plateau, an open-air art exhibition featuring a dozen contemporary art installations is held in the southwest of Cairo, Egypt.

The "Forever Is Now" exhibition is meant to combine ancient history and cultural heritage represented in the pyramids with contemporary art, drawing a link between the past, the present and the future.

One of the installations is a six-meter-tall unfinished obelisk by Emirati conceptual artist Zeinab Alhashemi. Made of stainless steel and camel hides, the obelisk symbolizes the well-known ancient Unfinished Obelisk located in Upper Egypt's Aswan.

Another piece is "Secrets of Time" by Tunisian artist eL Seed. The artwork consists of a gate-like string curtain of hanging ropes surrounded by an iron frame, on which there was a quote of late Egyptian novelist Radwa Ashour in Arabic calligraphy: "Time does not disclose its secrets to humankind."

Photo shows the artwork "Pantheon of Deities" by Egyptian artist Therese Antoine during the "Forever Is Now" exhibition held at the Giza Pyramids complex in Giza, Egypt, Oct. 27, 2022. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)



EL Seed explained that his artwork is meant to celebrate the mystery and greatness of the Pyramids of Giza whose construction remains a secret till today.

"The piece is meant to offer a new experience, as anyone can open this curtain of ropes and rediscover the pyramids in a new way," el Seed told Xinhua near his artwork.

"The pyramids in the background are more important than the artwork. The background gives value to the piece. My piece of work will perish while the pyramids will remain," the Tunisian artist added.

Not far from el Seed's piece, an artwork by Spanish artist SpY named "ORB: Under the Same Sun" features a four-meter-diameter ball, or orb, of chrome steel with mirrors of reinforced safety glass reflecting the pyramids, the sky and the surroundings.

A little further, a three-piece work by Jwan Yosef, a Syrian-born Swedish painter and artist, represents a huge 3D figure of the artist's own face sinking into the sand, with only its nose, the lips and the chin emerging from the sand and facing the sky.

The limestone artwork, "Vital Sands," takes a novel approach to the traditional self-portrait genre by depicting being submerged in the remedial sands of time.

Yosef said he was having a conversation with "one of the most ancient and iconic monuments in the world" through his piece.

People visit the artwork "ORB: Under the Same Sun" by Spanish artist SpY during the "Forever Is Now" exhibition held at the Giza Pyramids complex in Giza, Egypt, Oct. 27, 2022. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

"To have that dialogue with your own work is just incredible, and to be able to portray that it's just been an amazing experience," he added.

"Forever Is Now" is organized by Art D'Egypte company, an Egyptian platform dedicated to art and heritage, under the auspices of Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The month-long event kicked off on Oct. 27 and will remain open to visitors until the end of November, featuring works of artists from 11 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Italy, Cameroon and France.

Chief organizer Nadine Abdel-Ghaffar, also founder of Art D'Egypte, said this year's exhibition is different because it comes ahead of Egypt's hosting of the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, noting that a couple of the artworks here also feature environmental sustainability.

"Every year, Art D'Egypte holds a local art exhibition at a different archeological site. But when it comes to the pyramids, we thought we should invite the whole world to participate, not only Egyptian artists," she said.

"This has given greater influence to the event because every foreign artist acts as an ambassador for Egypt back home," the organizer told Xinhua.

Photo shows the artwork "Spirit of Hathor" by British-American artist Natalie Clark during the "Forever Is Now" exhibition held at the Giza Pyramids complex in Giza, Egypt, Oct. 27, 2022. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)



In her artwork named "Pantheon of Deities," Egyptian artist Therese Antoine sculpted five marble columns representing obelisks that refer to significant deities of the Old Kingdom of ancient Egypt. On top of each column lies the symbol of the deity, made of either stainless steel or iron.

Meanwhile, British-American artist Natalie Clark displays a piece called "Spirit of Hathor," referring to the goddess of the sky, women, fertility and love in ancient Egypt. The installation shows two pairs of interlocking horns made of Corten steel with the upper two horns holding the marble sun. The piece represents "the feminine divine and female empowerment" as Clark says.

Visitors were impressed by the open-air exhibition surrounding the Pyramids of Giza.

"I think it's great to combine classical buildings and stuff from ancient past with modern art. And I think it really enriches both pieces," 22-year-old Dutch tourist Fenna Visser told Xinhua, adding that such an event helps visitors learn more about Egyptian culture and history. 
UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has decided to alter his travel plans to focus his efforts on saving the Black Sea Grain Initiative, said his spokesman on Sunday.

Russia on Saturday announced the suspension of its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative following an attack on the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

The initial duration of the agreement is 120 days and expires on Nov. 19. The parties had agreed that the deal could be extended automatically on the condition that no party objects.

"The secretary-general is deeply concerned about the ongoing situation regarding the Black Sea Grain Initiative. He has decided to delay his departure for the Arab League (AL) summit in Algiers by a day to focus on the issue," said Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman, in a statement.

Guterres continues to engage in intense contact to end the Russian suspension of its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative. The same engagement is also aimed at the renewal and full implementation of the initiative to facilitate exports of food and fertilizer from Ukraine and the removal of the remaining obstacles to the exports of Russian food and fertilizer, said the statement.

Guterres was initially scheduled to leave on Monday for the AL summit. 
A boy developing symptoms of cholera receives treatment in a field hospital set up by the Lebanese Ministry of Health in the town of Bibnin in Akkar, in northern Lebanon, on Oct. 27. 2022. (Photo by Khaled Habashiti/Xinhua)



BEIRUT, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese caretaker Health Minister Firass Abiad warned on Sunday that cholera could become "endemic" in Lebanon if the country fails to curb the spread of its infection, the National News Agency reported.

Making the remarks during a visit to public hospitals in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon, Abiad urged Lebanon to grasp the "golden opportunity" to stop the transmission, as "the epidemic is still in its infancy and can be stopped."

A woman developing symptoms of cholera receives treatment in a field hospital set up by the Lebanese Ministry of Health in the town of Bibnin in Akkar, in northern Lebanon, on Oct. 27. 2022. (Photo by Khaled Habashiti/Xinhua)



The health ministry has been monitoring preparedness work in securing enough hospital beds for a possible surge in cholera inpatients, Abia added.

He warned that the epidemic would not only impact Lebanon's health sector but also agri-products exports and tourism.

Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal disease that can kill within hours if left untreated, and the supply of safe water and sanitation is critical to the prevention and control of its transmission, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Nurses prepares intravenous drips for cholera patients in a field hospital set up by the Lebanese Ministry of Health in the town of Bibnin in Akkar, in northern Lebanon, on Oct. 27. 2022. (Photo by Khaled Habashiti/Xinhua)

The WHO published a fact sheet on cholera in March, saying a cholera-endemic area is an area where confirmed cholera cases were detected during the last three years with evidence of local transmission, meaning the cases are not imported from elsewhere.



The ministry's updated Cholera Surveillance Report on Saturday shows that the country logged 10 new confirmed cases and one new death, bringing the respective totals to 381 and 17.

A child developing symptoms of cholera receives treatment in a field hospital set up by the Lebanese Ministry of Health in the town of Bibnin in Akka, in northern Lebanon, on Oct. 27. 2022. (Photo by Khaled Habashiti/Xinhua)



The WHO said in its report that on Oct. 6, the Lebanese Health Ministry notified it of two lab culture-confirmed cholera cases reported from the northern part of the country, which represents the first cholera outbreak in Lebanon since 1993. 
ADDIS ABABA, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) has condemned the deadly terrorist attack in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.

"IGAD is deeply saddened by the loss of lives caused by the terrorist attack in Mogadishu, Somalia; and condemns this heinous crime in the strongest terms," the eight-member East African bloc said late Saturday.

Twin car bomb explosions targeting Somalia's Education Ministry building on Saturday killed at least 100 people and injured more than 300 others, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said Sunday.

"We express our heartfelt condolences to the government and people of Somalia, and to the bereaved families and wish the injured speedy recovery," IGAD said in a statement issued via Twitter.

The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group claimed responsibility for the attack.

The fatalities are likely to rise, President Mohamud told media after visiting the bombing site early Sunday. Several government offices, hotels and restaurants are situated near the bombing site.

The blasts came as the Somali president and leaders of the federal member states, including security officials, were meeting to discuss ongoing offensive operations against al-Shabab. 
TOKYO, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Communist Party of China (CPC) shoulders the responsibility of seeking happiness for the people and the Chinese path to modernization will surely continue to improve the people's well-being, a Japanese political party leader has said.

The CPC adheres to the spirit of self-reform and under its leadership, the Chinese economy has been constantly forging ahead, said Natsuo Yamaguchi, leader of Japan's ruling coalition party Komeito, in a recent interview with Xinhua, applauding China's tremendous development achievements over the past decade.

"China has been setting its future development goals with a long-term perspective and making continuous efforts to achieve them," he said. "Komeito party has been paying close attention to the progress of the Chinese path to modernization," an important concept highlighted in the report of the 20th CPC National Congress.

Yamaguchi noted that despite their differences in political systems, Japan and China should work together on the basis of mutual respect and common values of mankind to realize their people's goals of pursuing happiness, good-neighborliness and prosperity.

Speaking of his expectations about the future China-Japan relations, Yamaguchi said the two sides should make active efforts to maintain good bilateral relations, carry out dialogue and exchanges, constantly strengthen mutual trust, as well as safeguard and develop friendly, stable and constructive relations.

The two sides should also work together to safeguard world peace and stability, he said.

Yamaguchi said he looked forward to consolidating and strengthening the long-term friendly relations between the Komeito party and the CPC, and further promoting Japan-China cooperation. 
SEOUL, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Three Chinese nationals have been confirmed killed in a stampede that occurred Saturday night at Itaewon, a district in Seoul, during Halloween gatherings, the Chinese embassy in South Korea said Sunday.

The Chinese embassy said shortly after the stampede that it immediately activated an emergency response mechanism, contacted the South Korean side overnight to learn about the cause of the accident and the nationalities of the victims, and paid close attention to the Internet and social media platforms to see if any Chinese nationals were seeking help.

The Chinese embassy has offered condolences and will provide assistance to the families of the deceased.

As of 9 a.m. local time (0000 GMT) Sunday, the accident has left 151 dead and 82 injured, according to the South Korean firefighting authorities. 
This photo taken on Oct. 30, 2022 shows the site of a stampede accident in Seoul, South Korea. At least 151 people were killed and 82 others injured in a stampede that occurred Saturday night at Itaewon, a district of the South Korean capital Seoul, during Halloween gatherings, local authorities said Sunday. (Xinhua/Wang Yiliang)

SEOUL, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- At least 151 people were killed and 82 others injured in a stampede that occurred Saturday night at Itaewon, a district of the South Korean capital Seoul, during Halloween gatherings, local authorities said Sunday.

Twenty-two foreigners were among those killed in the accident, according to local firefighting authorities.

A total of 82 people were injured in the crush, including 19 seriously.

Witnesses reported seeing crowds surging into a downhill alley and then people instantly pushed down by others.

"People kept pushing down into a downhill club alley, resulting in other people screaming and falling down like dominos," an unidentified witness wrote on Twitter.

"I thought I would be crushed to death too as people kept pushing without realizing there were people falling down at the start of the stampede," the witness said.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on Sunday announced a period of national mourning over the tragedy.

"This is truly horrific," he said in a televised national address. "The government will designate the period from today until the accident is brought under control as a period of national mourning and will place top priority in administrative affairs in recovery and follow-up measures."

He also expressed condolences over the deaths and wished a speedy recovery for the injured.

Immediately after the address, Yoon visited the accident site in Seoul.

The president also ordered all government offices to lower their flags to half-mast, according to his office.

South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo told reporters that the mourning period would last from Sunday until Saturday at Yoon's instructions.

The stampede was believed to have happened near a narrow alley next to a hotel in the famous nightclub Itaewon district Saturday night. It was said the partygoers at the front fell, and the people in the back were crushed.

Several large Halloween gatherings took place at Itaewon and the police estimated roughly 100,000 people had participated in the Halloween parties.

Local media reported late Saturday that about 50 people were suspected to have gone into cardiac arrest in the accident. More than 140 first-aid vehicles had been sent to the scene to rescue the injured. 

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol (4th R) visits the scene of a stampede in Seoul, South Korea, Oct. 30, 2022. At least 151 people were killed and 82 others injured in a stampede that occurred Saturday night at Itaewon, a district of the South Korean capital Seoul, during Halloween gatherings, local authorities said Sunday. (Photo by James Lee/Xinhua)

Police officers guard the scene of a stampede in Seoul, South Korea, Oct. 30, 2022. At least 151 people were killed and 82 others injured in a stampede that occurred Saturday night at Itaewon, a district of the South Korean capital Seoul, during Halloween gatherings, local authorities said Sunday. (Photo by James Lee/Xinhua)

Police officers stand guard near the scene of a stampede in Seoul, South Korea, Oct. 30, 2022. At least 151 people were killed and 82 others injured in a stampede that occurred Saturday night at Itaewon, a district of the South Korean capital Seoul, during Halloween gatherings, local authorities said Sunday. (Photo by James Lee/Xinhua)

A flower bouquet is pictured at the scene of a stampede in Seoul, South Korea, Oct. 30, 2022. At least 151 people were killed and 82 others injured in a stampede that occurred Saturday night at Itaewon, a district of the South Korean capital Seoul, during Halloween gatherings, local authorities said Sunday. (Xinhua/Wang Yiliang)

This photo taken on Oct. 30, 2022 shows the site of a stampede accident in Seoul, South Korea. At least 151 people were killed and 82 others injured in a stampede that occurred Saturday night at Itaewon, a district of the South Korean capital Seoul, during Halloween gatherings, local authorities said Sunday. (Xinhua/Wang Yiliang)

A man holding flowers is seen at the site of a stampede accident in Seoul, South Korea, Oct. 30, 2022. At least 151 people were killed and 82 others injured in a stampede that occurred Saturday night at Itaewon, a district of the South Korean capital Seoul, during Halloween gatherings, local authorities said Sunday. (Xinhua/Wang Yiliang)

A caution tape is pictured at the site of a stampede accident in Seoul, South Korea, Oct. 30, 2022. At least 151 people were killed and 82 others injured in a stampede that occurred Saturday night at Itaewon, a district of the South Korean capital Seoul, during Halloween gatherings, local authorities said Sunday. (Xinhua/Wang Yiliang)
MANILA, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines reported 1,370 new COVID-19 infections on Sunday, pushing the number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 4,003,459.

The Department of Health said the number of active cases dropped to 20,824, while 38 more patients died from COVID-19 complications, pushing the country's death toll to 64,033.

Metro Manila, the capital region with over 13 million people, tallied 329 new cases.

The Philippines reported its highest COVID-19 single-day tally of 39,004 new cases on Jan. 15. The country, with a population of around 110 million, has fully vaccinated over 73.5 million people. 
ISLAMABAD, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Two security forces personnel were killed in a clash between security forces and terrorists in Dera Ismail Khan district of Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the military said on Saturday.

A fire exchange took place between the troops and the terrorists in Darazinda area of the district, the military's media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.

"Own troops effectively engaged the terrorist's location. However, during an intense exchange of fire two personnel lost their lives," the ISPR said.

The killed included a 33-year-old resident of Khushab district of the country's eastern Punjab province and a 26-year-old from Attock district of the province, it added.

A clearance operation was being carried out to eliminate any terrorists' presence in the area, according to the ISPR. 
Dr Bhagawan Koirala

Even after spending nearly three decades in Nepals medical practice and earning a name and fame almost unparalleled among his contemporaries, Nepals renowned cardiothoracic surgeon Dr Bhagawan Koirala is restless these days. He says he is embarking on a new journey in his career, and he is not sure how it will move ahead.

He aims to open a multi-speciality childrens hospital in Kathmandu with seven satellite centres, one in each of the seven provinces. This dream was seeded three decades ago when he was studying pediatric heart disease in the USA.

A cause for children

The most repetitive question Dr Bhagawan Koirala faces these days is why he is working for the childrens hospitals. But, Dr Koirala says he dreamt to work in child healthcare since 1993 and in his lifetime, more than half of the heart surgeries were performed on children.

As a part of his professional training, Dr Koirala had the opportunity to perform childrens heart surgeries in the USA. Later, he did a one-year fellowship at one of the worlds top three paediatric heart hospitals in Toronto. Since then, he has been interested in the childrens health sector.

Dr Bhagawan Koirala during a one-year fellowship at a childrens heart hospital in Toronto, Canada.

In developed countries, it has been recognised that there should be separate hospitals for youth and children. However, there is only oneKanti Childrens Hospitalat the government level to treat children although they currently cover 40 per cent of the population. Apart from that, there are departments in two to three private hospitals and some medical colleges.

When children fall ill, there is a lack of specialised health institutions where all diseases can be treated under one roof. Although the Kanti Hospital is run by the government, specialised pediatric services are not effective there.

Less than five years after birth, 30 children die due to lack of treatment. But, Dr Bhagawan Koirala knows most children can be saved if given proper treatment.

Currently, around 600 paediatricians are employed throughout the country, but most of them are concentrated in Kathmandu and other urban areas. Children in remote areas are being treated for complex diseases by general practitioners or they are dying without treatment.

Dr Koirala hence has a dream to reduce child mortality in Nepal. No one should die for a lack of treatment or money. Keeping this in mind, he says that a plan has been drawn up for satellite centres in all seven provinces, including a central hospital in Kathmandu.

Having worked as a heart surgeon for more than three decades, he has once again taken a big risk in the medical field by bringing changes in the childrens health sector. That plan does give him anxiety. However, he has not accepted defeat at all. He has a firm resolve and says, Within 10 years, I will run childrens hospitals in all provinces.

His managerial leadership

Dr Bhagawan Koirala is among the most respected health professionals in Nepal.

Dr Bhagawan Koirala led the Gangalal National Heart Centre for about eight years. After that, he took the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH) and Manmohan Cardiothoracic Vascular and Transplant Centre to a higher level. He is also considered skilled in managerial leadership.

I still work for the government. And, I will work for the government hospitals till the age of retirement, says Dr Koirala, I will work in childrens health as long as I have strength and wisdom in my post-retirement life.

Dr Koirala has worked day and night to improve government health services. During this period, it was not that he did not receive offers of large sums of money from private hospitals. However, he found self-satisfaction in the government service.

He had no obligation to improve paediatrics in the country. However, the state did not show any readiness in the programme to decentralise paediatric services, centrally. Hence, Dr Bhagawan Koirala has taken the lead by establishing the Kathmandu Institute of Child Health (KIOCH) with some helpful minds. He plans to operate the hospital service in the public service model through a non-profit organisation.

Operation in Province 1 after three months

A childrens hospital building being ready in Damak, Jhapa of Province 1

In the first phase, the KIOCH team is constructing a building on a government land plot in Budhanilakantha municipality-7 for the central hospital in Kathmandu. Meanwhile, the service will start within three months from the building provided by the Nepal Red Cross Society in Damak municipality in Jhapa, Province 1, as a satellite centre for the first time.

In Province 1, the society has handed over the building for 30 years for free. Currently, work is underway to instal the equipment and train the human resources. Once the two hospitals in Kathmandu and Jhapa can be established as models, Dr Bhagawan Koirala aims to spread childrens hospitals in other provinces.

The team targets that the central hospital will have 200 beds whereas a satellite hospital has 50 to 100 beds each. All the hospitals will have ICU, NICU, and PICU.

The services will be provided free of charge to patients who cannot pay, but those who can pay have to pay. Dr Bhagawan Koirala says, We will solve most of the childrens problems at the grassroots. Complex cases will be referred to Kathmandu.

Without completing the two hospitals in Kathmandu and Province 1, Dr Koirala says, The organisation promises that no one should return from our hospitals empty-handed. Dr Koirala says that government-level health insurance and concessional programmes under other free health services will also be added to childrens hospitals.

Meanwhile, the organisation aims to conduct preventive programmes for non-communicable diseases along with therapeutic services. It will reduce the rate of child mortality and morbidity, believes Koirala.

He says his team has entered into an agreement with various national and international organisations to conduct prevention programmes.

Contribution with a selfless spirit

Construction work for a childrens hospital is in progress in Kathmandu under the leadership of Dr Bhagawan Koirala.

Dr Bhagawan Koirala has called his plan a contribution-based project rather than an investment. Many people and organisations have joined his plan as partners and promoters. He says that if the childrens hospitals in Kathmandu and Jhapa can be operated in a good model, it will not be difficult to get support for the next hospitals.

Dr Koirala has estimated that it will cost about Rs 5 billion ($40 million) to operate childrens hospitals in all seven provinces. Although the structure is ready to operate the hospital in Province 1, the full budget for the multi-speciality childrens hospital under construction in Kathmandu has not been ensured.

Now, supportive hands are being added. I have vowed to work for the hospital as long as my body is able and leave only after the projects success. Support is increasing and I am confident that it will be successful, he says.

Dr Bhagawan Koirala, the current chairperson of the Nepal Medical Council, has been working 18 hours a day these days. He says that he spends most of his time at the Manmohan Cardiothoracic Vascular and Transplant Centre and gives time to the medical council as per requirement.

The rest of the time, I am busy with work for the childrens hospital. It is a pity to manage time everywhere. But, it is better to be busy than to be free, he says with a smile.

This story was translated from the original Nepali version and edited for clarity and length.
File: Trucks importing various goods at Birgunj customs point

Kathmandu, October 30

Nepal added Rs 359 billion to its trade deficit in the last three months, according to the Department of Customs data.

According to the departments data made public on Sunday, the trade deficit increased by Rs 359.178 billion from mid-July to mid-October, the first three months of the fiscal year.

In these three months, Nepal imported goods worth Rs 400.99 billion while the worth of exports was restricted to just Rs 41.82 billion. In the first three months, the imports have gone down by 16.2 per cent, but the exports have decreased by a massive 35.71 per cent.
Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert gained more than 18,000 followers in the 24 hours before Elon Musk took over Twitter. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Far-right figures gained thousands of new Twitter followers in the 24 hours before Musk took over.

Among these new followers, thousands were new to the platform, researchers told The New York Times.

Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert gained almost 18,700 followers, with half of those new to Twitter.

Far-right figures gained thousands of followers, including many from newly created accounts, in the 24 hours leading up to Elon Musk's takeover, according to a digital-investigations company.

Memetica found that multiple far-right representatives gained a substantial number of new followers, including thousands of accounts set up the same day Musk sealed the deal.

Dan Scavino, a former White House chief of staff who served during the Trump administration, gained just over 16,000 new followers from accounts created on or after October 27, per Memetica's data.

Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert gained almost 18,700 new followers in the 24 hours leading up to Musk's takeover, with nearly half of those followers being new accounts. That was 1,200% higher than the normal rate of new followers.

Ben Decker, the CEO of Memetica, told Insider the findings were alarming because those who gained followers "are really well-known purveyors of disinformation, harassment, and hate."

While researchers still need clarification about Twitter's moderation plans, he said that "Rome hasn't officially burned to the ground yet."

"The research shows us that the rapid follower growth of influential right-wing accounts, alongside calls on fringe platforms to try and go back to Twitter, is, at least in the short term, likely to create higher volumes of harassment, hate, and politically-motivated disinformation on the platform, as Twitter's new management will be put to the ultimate test," Decker said.

Other Twitter accounts with a surge of new followers include Arizona Rep. Kari Lake with 18,000 followers, including 3,100 new accounts; and conservative media personality Candace Owens, who amassed 3,700 followers, 2,300 of which were new.

Story continues

These people have pushed Donald Trump's baseless claims about voter fraud in the 2020 presidential elections. "The more followers and wider reach these accounts have, the more distribution these ideas have," Decker told The New York Times.

Twitter didn't respond to Insider's request for comment.

There is no evidence, however, that the phenomenon is directly linked to Musk becoming the new owner of the social-media platform. The new accounts "could be an indication that far-right people are migrating back to Twitter as they see the potential for a more friendly environment," Decker told The Times.

Meanwhile, Social Blade, a social-media-analytics firm, found that progressive politicians and celebrities were losing followers. The accounts with the biggest losses include former President Barack Obama, Rep. Alexandria Ocazio-Cortez, and the MSNBC host Rachel Maddow.

Musk's ownership of Twitter is concerning some organizations. Paul Barrett, the deputy director of the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights, told The Times: "The danger here is that in the name of 'free speech,' Musk will turn back the clock and make Twitter into a more potent engine of hatred, divisiveness, and misinformation about elections, public-health policy, and international affairs."

The self-described "free-speech absolutist" billionaire addressed some of the concerns in a Friday tweet, saying that he would be forming a "content-moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints."

Musk added: "No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Recently, more than 30 volunteers, aged 9 to 87, convened at e3kids International in Spotsylvania County to pack, weigh, inventory and load books, shelving and equipment bound for Royal Kids School in Mombasa, Kenya. After a two-year delay due to COVID, librarians Lena Gonzalez Berrios and Brenda Storms and executive director and founder Carol Turner are taking the lead to outfit two school libraries and tech centers with new shelving, book collections, computers and furnishings.

Volunteers have given generously of their time and sweat equity to pack a 20-foot shipping container full of donations, ultimately giving the gift of literacy and STEAM education to more than 700 needy students. A mission team is headed to Kenya in January to implement this project, train staff and teachers, and welcome K-12 students at the start of their school year.

Community partners and donors include Rappahannock, North Stafford and Stafford Rotary Clubs, Fredericksburg Christian School, Central Rappahannock Regional Library and I Support the Girls, among others. While this is a special project being implemented now, e3kids International has been pursuing its mission to equip, empower and educate youth over the last 12 years in Kenya, Central America and Virginia. E3kids International projects include water, child sponsorship, period poverty, libraries and STEAM education. For more information, visit e3kids.com or contact carolt@e3kids.com.
On the surface, a mini mutt and a fearsome K9 seem to have little in common.

Yet, Chloe the mixed terrier and Titan, a police dog with the Stafford Sheriffs Office, both do best when theyre fulfilling their purpose. Granted, their jobs are vastly different, but it seems like theres nothing else either would rather do than work.

Chloe, who weighs 12 pounds and is adorable, is fixated on performing whatever trick her owner, Christina Jones, asks of her. The Stafford County dog can play the piano or play dead, shoot hoops, ride a skateboard or put her back legs against a wall and do a handstand. Seriously, I saw that. Blew my mind.

Chloe is rewarded with chicken jerky or kibble but Jones is convinced she would do tricks regardless of treats, at least for a while, because shes so set on her job and pleasing her owner.

Titan is a black German shepherd who weighs 85 pounds and can bring down suspects two or three times his weight. When I saw him training recently with his handler, Sgt. Baris Demirci, Titan showed the same enthusiasm as Chloe. His work is apprehending bad guys, and as the officers explained, its all a game to him.

The toy is Titans reward, and the toy can be the person in a bite suit during training or a real-life robber, runaway driver or man attempting to kidnap a child.

Its clear that Jones and Demirci, like other owners, trainers and K9 handlers, have spent hours working with their dogs and have developed an incredible bond. Breed and size dont matter.

After adopting and training Chloe, Jones wants others to know that all dogs are trainable. Theyre so smart and are bred to have a job, she said.

For centuries, dogs have been herding animals, protecting livestock or running rescue missions. Chloes ancestors were great at hunting rats, and while there may not be many calls, hopefully, for that kind of work these days, she can still learn tricks to share with others. Chloe often performs at an assisted living facility in Northern Virginia.

Other dogs continue to be human helpers as therapy and service dogs or as they detect diseases or drugs, bombs or people hidden behind walls. Titan did just that and helped the police apprehend a man who tried to abduct a child in Embrey Mill earlier this year.

An interesting story from the American Kennel Club lists 15 unique jobs of humans best friends, ranging from dogs who herd reindeer to those who hunt for truffles but dont eat the pungent fungi as their piggy predecessors did. Others can sniff out bugs that might ruin priceless art or chase rodents and birds of prey away from airport runways to avoid a possible collision with planes.

Im not at all surprised that canines are so good at all these different tasks, and more, because of both their work ethic and their desire to please. After all, no ones ever as tired as when theyve worked like a dog.

Stafford police release the Titan to apprehend suspects Department K9 has a track record of success and an eagerness for police work.

Stafford dog earns titles and treats for her tricks Chloe the mixed terrier earns national titles and recognition for her abilities to perform tricks.
In September, Childrens Services of Virginia received more referrals from county social services agencies with children in need of foster homes than the agency has seen in 30 years.

The private child placement agencywhich is licensed by the Virginia Department of Social Services and has an office in Fredericksburg that serves the city and surrounding countiesreceived 82 referrals from departments across the state in September.

Included in that number are sibling groups and teens, said Rebekah Schennum, resource parent recruiter for Childrens Services. She said children in those categories have different needs and can require special help from foster families, but those families are hard to find.

We have seen this year there has been an influx in sibling groups, Schennum said. The average is about three [children], but there have been times where there were four or five, and that can be difficult.

The goal is always to keep sibling groups together, Schennum said, but if there arent enough foster families who can take in larger groups, it becomes impossible.

Several local social services agencies are also seeing either a general increase in the number of children needing foster care or an increase in the number of older children.

There are many localities seeing an increase in the number of teenage youth entering foster care, said Christen Gallick, director of Fredericksburgs Social Services Department. This has been a trend for the last two years or so, and their needs often warrant placement with a [therapeutic foster care] home.

Therapeutic foster families are specially trained to care for children with high needs.

Statewide, there were 1,778 kids between the ages of 13 and 18 in foster care in October 2021 and 1,879 this month, according to the state DSS.

In Spotsylvania, about 71% of all children in foster care are over 13 and 25% are 18 or older, DSS director Amy Swift said.

This situation has translated into having more difficulty finding resource families who are willing to take these children into their homes and provide stable environments, while we work with their families, Swift said. The majority of resource families prefer younger children. Additionally, our options become even more limited when dealing with children who present with needs for increased care.

Stafford County has experienced a 42% increase in the number of children in foster care.

We currently have 50 children in care; over the past couple of years, we averaged around 35 children in care, DSS director Michael Muse said.

The upcoming holiday season can place additional strain on families already struggling with financial difficulties, substance abuse or mental health concerns, potentially causing another influx of children in need of foster care, Schennum said.

Childrens Services of Virginia would like to encourage individuals and families who have been thinking about becoming a foster parent to act now, she said.

The agency offers families the chance to schedule a free virtual information session that lays out everything they need to know before going through the training and licensing process, Schennum said. Information about the process is at CSVs website, csv-inc.com/become-a-foster-family.

Swift said Spotsylvania is desperately in need of foster families who are able and willing to accept older children with challenging behaviors and needs.

Interested families can reach out to the countys Resource Adoptive Foster Families Team (RAFFT) team by calling 540/507-7898, she said.
Theres no denying that Fredericksburg is growing rapidly. In fact, our population grew about 15% between 2010 and 2020, and our neighboring counties grew at about the same rate or even faster.

Its also true, however, that this growth is likely to continueand possibly even accelerateover the next 10 years.

The Northern Virginia housing market remains very hot, so people priced out of the counties north of us will continue to move down I-95 into the Fredericksburg area. Major transportation investments are strengthening our connection to the D.C. area. The 95 Express Lanes extension into our region is scheduled to open a year from now. The Transforming Rail in Virginia project should significantly increase VRE service in the early 2030s. All these factors suggest that our city and region will continue to grow at double-digit rates for the foreseeable future.

With growth comes challenges. The construction of homes for new Fredericksburgers is changing our landscapes, both urban and rural. Home prices and rents are rising because, despite what it may seem, were not building enough to house all our new neighbors. New development at the edges of our region creates environmental problems by increasing runoff into our rivers and making flooding worse. Adding more people who have to rely on their cars to get around also creates pollution and adds to our traffic congestion problems. Local governments struggle to build out infrastructure like schools and sewers fast enough to match population growth.

Fredericksburgs leaders need to get creative about finding solutions to those challenges. City Council took a step in the right direction when it adopted the Area 1 Small Area Plan in January. You would never know it from the awkward title, but this plan lays out a vision for transforming Central Park and Celebrate Virginia South into a vibrant new neighborhood where people can live, play, and shop. Unfortunately, the document is only a vision. I believe it would be far better to see the city and the Economic Development Authority put some resources behind sparking the transition.

Similarly, the Transforming Rail in Virginia project is going to make it easier for area residents to commute and travel without driving. If the city and the region dont coordinate local bus service with our new train service, however, it wont help take cars off our local roads. If we act now and we act intelligently, we can manageand really benefit fromthe growth that is headed our way.

Change, of course, is never easy. But as a child of the Rust Belt, I vastly prefer the challenges of growth to the challenges of stagnation or shrinkage.

The place I grew up is like many other former industrial cities in the north. It faces a whole different set of problems from ours, caused by residents, particularly young residents, leaving the city and suburbs. My hometown struggles to maintain an oversized infrastructure of schools, roads, and sewers that were built for a larger population. It has to figure out what to do with abandoned houses. It has to work extremely hard to attract new business and investment. Above all, it is constantly pushing to restart precisely the kind of growth that Fredericksburg already enjoys.

We should count ourselves lucky that we have an opportunity to be innovative in harnessing the creative, social, and economic energy of all these new citizens to our region.
Lula defeats Bolsonaro to again become Brazil's president

SAO PAULO (AP)  Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has done it again: Twenty years after first winning the Brazilian presidency, the leftist defeated incumbent Jair Bolsonaro Sunday in an extremely tight election that marks an about-face for the country after four years of far-right politics. With more than 99% of the votes tallied in the runoff vote, da Silva had 50.9% and Bolsonaro 49.1%, and the election authority said da Silvas victory was a mathematical certainty. It is a stunning reversal for da Silva, 77, whose 2018 imprisonment over a corruption scandal sidelined him from the 2018 election that brought Bolsonaro, a defender of conservative social values, to power.

Witnesses describe 'a hell' inside South Korean crowd surge

SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  A stunned Seoul is beginning to unearth the extent of a Halloween crowd surge that killed more than 150 mostly young people out enjoying festivities in the party neighborhood of Itaewon on Saturday. The night began with thousands of revelers crammed into the narrow, vibrant streets of Seouls most cosmopolitan district. People eager to show off their Halloween costumes wore brightly colored capes, wizard hats and bat wings. But after panic ignited, an unmanageable mass of people packed into a narrow alley where toppled revelers were stacked on top of one another like dominoes. The chaotic crush was so intense, people had their clothes ripped off.

S. Korea in shock, grief as 153 die in Halloween crowd surge

SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  South Koreans mourned and searched for relatives lost in the hell-like chaos that killed more than 150 people, mostly in their 20s and 30s, when a huge Halloween party crowd surged into a narrow alley in a nightlife district in Seoul. It remained unclear what led the crowd to surge into the downhill alley in the Itaewon area on Saturday night. Witnesses said people fell on each other like dominoes. One witness said she performed CPR on 10 people who were unconscious, mostly women wearing witch outfits and other Halloween costumes. Nine of them were declared dead on the spot. Nearly two-thirds of the 153 people killed were women.

Concerns rise as Russia resumes grain blockade of Ukraine

KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  Russia has resumed its blockade of Ukrainian ports, cutting off urgently needed grain exports to hungry parts of the world. U.S. President Joe Biden called the move a really outrageous act and warned that global hunger could increase. Russia has suspended a U.N.-brokered deal to allow safe passage of ships carrying grain from Ukraine, one of the worlds breadbaskets. The Kremlin took the step because it alleged that Ukraine staged a drone attack against Russias Black Sea Fleet off occupied Crimea. Ukraine has denied the attack. Ukraines Infrastructure Ministry reported that a total of 218 ships involved in grain exports have been blocked. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskky said in a video address Sunday that Russia is blackmailing the world with hunger.

Suspension bridge collapse kills at least 132 in India

MORBI, India (AP)  Over 130 people have died after a century-old pedestrian bridge collapsed into a river in the western Indian state of Gujarat on Sunday evening. State minister Harsh Sanghvi said that 132 people have died so far and that many were admitted to hospitals. Local media reports said over a hundred people plunged into the Machchu river when the pedestrian bridge in the states Morbi district collapsed. The colonial-era suspension bridge had reopened four days ago after renovation. Officials said the bridge gave way because it could not handle the number of people on it. The Hindu festival season had drawn hundreds of people to the recently opened tourist attraction.

AP source: Pelosi attacker carried zip ties, in Jan. 6 echo

WASHINGTON (AP)  The man accused of attacking House Speaker Nancy Pelosis husband in their San Francisco home carried zip ties with him when he broke in. That word comes from a person briefed on the investigation who spoke on condition to anonymity to The Associated Press. It's the latest parallel to the U.S. Capitol riot of Jan. 6, 2021. Police say the suspect confronted 82-year-old Paul Pelosi early Friday and, according to AP reporting, demanded to know, Where is Nancy? Rioters who swarmed the Capitol trying to overturn Joe Bidens election victory over Donald Trump roamed the halls and shouted menacingly, demanding Wheres Nancy? Some in the siege were seen inside the Capitol carrying zip ties.

Kemp, Abrams argue abortion, voting in Ga. governor debate

ATLANTA (AP)  Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams offered differing visions for Georgia on abortion, the economy and voting in a policy-heavy debate. Sunday evening's match was the pairs final meeting as Georgians continue voting leading up to the Nov. 8 election. Kemp said its not my desire" to have further abortion restrictions but that he would consider bills sent to him by a Republican legislature. Abrams said she would support legal abortion until a fetus was viable outside the womb. Abrams accused Kemp of using voting laws to aid his own elections while Kemp said Abrams lies about voting in Georgia to aid and enrich herself.

Men exonerated in Malcolm X killing to receive $36 million

NEW YORK (AP)  The city of New York will settle lawsuits filed on behalf of two men who were exonerated last year for the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X. Their lawyer, David Shanies, confirmed Sunday the city has agreed to pay $26 million for the wrongful convictions which led to both men spending decades behind bars. The state will pay $10 million. The move comes nearly a year after a Manhattan judge dismissed the convictions of Muhammad Aziz, now 84, and the late Khalil Islam. Prosecutors said new evidence of witness intimidation and suppression of exculpatory evidence had undermined the decades-old case against the men.

AP Top 25: Tennessee, Ohio St tied at 2, UGA next for Vols

Tennessee moved into a tie with Ohio State for No. 2 in The Associated Press college football poll. That sets up a 1 vs. 2 matchup next week between the Volunteers and top-ranked Georgia. It'll be the 25th regular-season game matching the top two teams in the AP poll, and the third straight involving Southeastern Conference teams. Neither the Bulldogs nor the Volunteers have ever played in a 1-2 game in the regular season. Georgia remained No. 1 for the fourth straight week, receiving 30 first-place votes and 1,528 points. The last time there was a tie at No. 2 in the AP poll was Nov. 14, 2004, between Auburn and Oklahoma behind No. 1 Southern California.

Bell wins, Chastain rides the wall to earn title race spots

Christopher Bell worked his way into NASCARs championship round the only way he could, winning at Martinsville Speedway to claim a spot in the finale. Ross Chastain reached the title race with a move out of a video game. The pair will face Joey Logano, who entered Sundays race with his spot in the title race assured, and Chase Elliott for the championship at Phoenix Raceway. Chastain earned his berth by pinning his Chevrolet against the outside wall of the 0.526-mile speedway and using the wall to move from 10th place to fifth.
Democrats held leads in three of the four seats up for grabs on the State Board of Education this year as of 9 p.m. on Election Day.
Community and environmental groups in the area around the Suncor Energy refinery in Commerce City filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit brought by Suncor against the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environments Air Pollution Control Division.
Details

The Black Monarch Hotel in Victor has seven rooms with varying accommodations, from single king bed rooms that can host three people, to double queen rooms that host up to four. Rates range between $100-$165. Availability limited for November. blackmonarchhotel.com

Another option next door (said to be equally haunted) is the Best Little Boarding House, also with varying accommodations and themes (Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline, Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynn). Check Airbnb.
The principles Michael Gaal learned on his way to achieving the rank of Air Force colonel remain seeped in his bones, and his heart now is focused on passing on the lessons of precise planning, failing forward and marching ahead to students and employees of Colorado Springs School District 11.

Success breeds success, he told a small group of fourth and fifth graders while visiting James Monroe Elementary School last week.

The students, who had been hand-picked by teachers to speak with the new leader, nodded their heads in apparent understanding, after discussing their math prowess, favorite numbers, the relationship between fractions and musical notes, and how they look forward to being recognized with school awards.

If you work hard, you get rewards, Gaal said to the kids.

The familiar phrases arent platitudes to Gaal, who took over as superintendent of El Paso Countys oldest school district on July 1. Hes seen how his parental-sounding advice can help people realize their dreams.

Under his leadership, expectations for students and employees are set higher, systems are providing support and failure is considered a step to improvement.

Im fearless in the sense that if I see something that needs to happen, I ask for it to happen, Gaal said. I dont take No for an answer when Im talking about the needs and success of kids.

Gaal was one of three finalists and selected by a unanimous 7-0 vote by the seven-member board as the top candidate for the job.

He replaces former Superintendent Michael Thomas, who agreed to a mutual separation on March 2, after a conservative majority won board seats in the November 2021 election and Thomas focuses clashed with redefined priorities.

With a one-year, $260,000 contract to about-face the trajectory of declining enrollment and overall dismal academic performance  D-11 ranks 158th of 178 public school districts statewide  Gaal is setting his 3,700 employees on a fast-track to make a noticeable difference.

One of the first things he did was invest in billboards, with messages about how D-11 believes in its staff.

Employees and students have developed a defeatist attitude, Gaal thinks.

I want us to believe we can win again, he said.

District 11 is marking its 150th anniversary, having been founded in 1872 by Mary Queen Palmer, the wife of Gen. William Jackson Palmer, who founded Colorado Springs in 1871.

As the district that covers downtown and the centralized business district, which is undergoing a revitalization with multifamily and commercial construction, Gaal wants to see D-11 grow alongside the city's core and develop a mentality of fortitude instead of retreat.

When you suffer from decreasing enrollment and academic performance year after year, you start to think losing is the proposition, Gaal said.

Annual enrollment losses, in part due to constrained development and aging demographics  and slow progress in closing achievement gaps  have contributed to deterioration of urban public schools statewide, including D-11.

The states largest district, Denver Public Schools, announced last week a proposal to close or consolidate 10 of its schools, citing declining enrollment and an inability to sustain the buildings that are primarily in low-income areas.

Colorado Springs D-11 closed eight schools in 2009, three in 2013 (one of which became an alternative school campus) and one in 2016. It also reopened a previously shuttered elementary school six years ago.

D-11 enrolled 23,366 students in fall 2021, according to the Colorado Department of Education. That's a cumulative loss of nearly 6,300 students since 2009.

But theres a sign that enrollment might be stabilizing. The unofficial count for the 2022-2023 school year is that D-11 is down by about 200 students, said spokeswoman Devra Ashby, which puts enrollment at 470 students above projections.

Of the districts 53 schools, 17 are on a priority list for improvement.

Its most troubled high school, Mitchell, started the year 16 teachers short and now is fully staffed for the first time in years.

This is where equity happens, its where you put your money where your mouth is, Gaal said. Weve moved from observation through a visionary phase and into action.

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Thats also whats been happening at Monroe.

At the intersection of Chelton Road and East Platte Avenue, Monroe Elementary is the poorest school in D-11, with 90% of its 350 students qualifying for the federal governments free lunch program, which indicates household poverty.

When Principal Carole Wilson Frye arrived five years ago, the school ranked in the bottom 5% of the state and had been flagged for substandard performance by the state education department for as long as anybody could remember, she said. The wheels were rolling but not aligned toward student achievement.

In recent years, Monroe has earned satisfactory performance ratings under the states accountability measurements, which include academic growth and closing achievement gaps.

Changes to help boost students skills include extending the school day to 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and adding afterschool programs as an option for families, stepping up personal tutoring in creatively portioned hallway spaces, ensuring good nutrition, allowing time for teacher planning and positioning more adult instructors in classrooms, Frye said during a tour.

The problems absolutely can be addressed at the school level, she said. Were putting systems and structure in place at the smallest scale.

The concept is part of Gaals decentralization of the districts administration office. Restructuring includes five area superintendents overseeing clusters of schools surrounding traditional high schools and the districts alternative campus.

Principals report to the regional superintendents and adapt whats working elsewhere in their own schools for differentiated, individualized and personalized treatment, Gaal said.

The analysis of teachers, the measurement of gaps and whats needed happens at the school level, not at the top, he said.

I believe very strongly that accountability goes up the chain and accolades go down, Gaal said. Anything that goes wrong in the district is ultimately my responsibility.

As when he served in the military, Gaal applies boots on the ground literally to his work in education, which previously included administrative positions with large urban school districts in Washington, D.C., Oakland, Calif., and Detroit.

While it wasnt his fault that the air conditioning broke at a D-11 school last week and was blowing hot air, he said he facilitated getting the equipment fixed.

And after Gaal heard that two days before school was to open, a high school hadnt been able to hire enough custodians to clear hallways and move chairs and desks into place, Gaal said he provided the district facilities team to help get the job done.

The decentralized model also enables children to interact with schools where they will matriculate as they get older, said Southeast Area Superintendent Sherry Kalbach.

Were intentionally building relationships through open houses, homecomings, so the transitions are easier and the instructional pieces (are more coordinated), she said.

Gaal's bottom-up philosophy calls for strong relationships between all students and employees, and teaching not to the test but to each childs missing educational pieces.

The end goal is for children to feel respected, comfortable, loved, challenged and prepared, he said.

Monroe students told Gaal that they like getting free meals at school and mentioned how nice their teachers and classmates are.

It feels like home, said Alex Ander, a fourth grader.

The way people treat you make you feel like youre special and like you matter, said Alex Evans, whos in fifth grade.

Gaal advocates for seeing things differently, such as tackling the workforce shortage by holding micro-recruitment fairs in different neighborhoods in the district.

About 200 new educators were hired for the August reboot, including a teacher at a new, free preschool that opened last week at Chipeta Elementary, one of eight D-11 schools that is adding a total of 256 preschool seats at no cost to families.

The district still started this fall semester 90 teachers short, or 5% of the teacher workforce, which Gaal said is better than the previous school year. And savings from salaries and benefits has been reallocated to schools that need additional money.

Gaal, an Air Force Academy graduate, said he wants children, parents and staff to get in the orbit that feels like theyre winning.

But hes a realist; he doesnt think he can fix the system in a year. He said he plans to demonstrate enough improvement though to get his contract renewed. It's scheduled to end June 30.

Hes looking for a commitment from every employee to increase academic achievement, close performance gaps, stabilize enrollment and engage students at every level.

We need to move faster to bring on partners that can help us solve our problems, he said.

Gaal admits hes getting feedback from some people who say that change is hard. But he says he doesnt think education should be about politics.

You just cant win if the infighting is larger than the call for action, Gaal says. We cant be in an adult war with kids in the middle.

Editor's note: This article has been updated to remove the statement that the Colorado Springs Education Association did not endorse Gaal as the favored candidate. A spokesman says the D-11 teachers' union did not endorse any of the superintendent candidates.
For Jim Mayo and his crew, inspiration struck over a bottle of wine. Or two, or maybe it was three?

Mayo wasnt impressed when he first saw signs advertising the Manitou Springs coffin races a couple of years back. He was in town from Texas to visit his son, who lives in Colorado Springs. Well, how stupid is that? he thought of the races.

But the idea percolated, haunting Mayos subconscious for two years until it surfaced under the proper conditions: a family Christmas party. With alcohol.

I says, You know that stupid race we were talking about? Lets enter, Mayo said. And here we are.

PHOTOS: 2022 Emma Crawford Coffin Races The coffin races return to Manitou Springs for the first time since 2019.

Racers such as Mayos family travel from across the country to Manitou Springs stupid annual Emma Crawford Coffin Races. The tradition, now in its 28th year, returns after a two-year COVID hiatus.

The race is rooted in a rather macabre moment in local history. Crawford was buried on Red Mountain upon her death in 1891. Some erosion later, her casket resurfaced in 1929 and slid down the mountain into the canyon below, where it was found by a couple of boys.

Competitors have any number of reasons for entering Crawfords namesake race or, in some cases, no reason at all.

A handful of residents who grew up in Manitou say competing is almost an inevitability.

As a little kid seeing this yearly, you just think thats what adults do, said Curtis Jeffries, who competed with his six-man Aquatic Life-themed team.

Things fell into place this year for his team, which had always wanted to compete but never found the inspiration. What some might say was a well-placed ad others call divine intervention.

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Ian Papa Ianzie Stewart, as hes known among his friends, happened across a $5 coffin on Craigslist. His mind naturally went straight to the races, given his status as a lifelong Manitou Springs resident.

It was just kind of like this sign from the gods, the Craigslist gods, said Mitch Kautza, part of Stewarts six-person team.

Signing up is just the half of it. Next comes coffin design.

Most teams establish a theme to work from, such as the Aquatic Life team. Their bright blue uniforms and red hats were easily recognizable and provided a nice break from many of the darker themes that surrounded them, they said.

Others, like Pikes Peak Roller Derby, which is composed of women that skate, incorporated a hint of their business mission into their coffins. The team rallied together costumes for some of films most formidable women: Carrie, the Sanderson Sisters from Hocus Pocus, the bride of Chucky and Bellatrix, to name a few.

Theres nothing tougher than a lady of horror, said Brianna Salazar, dressed as Regan from The Exorcist. Especially when shes possessed and vomiting all over herself.

And Mayo, alongside his wife, Lulu, daughter Teri Thrower and friend John Little, channeled inspiration from promises of whats to come.

After the race, Mayo is taking his family on a trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, dubbing them Team Prereq and decking out in Day of the Dead attire. They could only go, he said, if they agreed to participate in the race.

Regardless of reason or theme, theres a general consensus among the racers that nabbing first place is hardly the inspiration behind pushing each other up a hill. More simply, its the fun of it all. That, and a feeling of accomplishment.

Our hope is just to finish with all of us being from sea level, Mayo said. I think if we can make it the first 10 feet, were OK.
Hong Kong: Ingrid Yeung attends jab event

Secretary for the Civil Service Ingrid Yeung attended a COVID-19 vaccination event in Yau Tsim Mong today to thank the public for their support for vaccination.

She explained that with the concerted efforts from all sectors of the community, the third-dose vaccination rate of the elderly aged 70 or above has risen to slightly above 70% while the first-dose vaccination rate for young children aged below three remains at only at 18%.

In addition to stressing that people should not underestimate the harm brought about by COVID-19, Mrs Yeung pointed out that in the fifth wave of the epidemic, nine children, aged below 11 who were confirmed as being infected with the virus, passed away.

Consequently, she said she hopes more parents will actively arrange vaccination for their children.

As for the elderly, they also have a relatively higher chance of suffering from more serious illnesses should they get infected, and they may have aftereffects after recovery, she added.

Mrs Yeung took the opportunity to urge the public to encourage their friends and family to get vaccinated, in particular the elderly and children who are unvaccinated.

We need much more support from the elderly and parents to achieve building a sound protective barrier for Hong Kong.

"If people rush to receive the jab only when there is a rebound of the epidemic situation, taking into account that it takes around two weeks after the date of vaccination for antibodies to develop in the body, there may not be sufficient time to allow the vaccine to take effect.

The COVID-19 vaccination event was co-organised by the Yau Tsim Mong District Office, the Yau Tsim Mong Healthy City Executive Committee, the Yau Tsim Mong District School Liaison Committee and Medical Conscience.

Mrs Yeung expressed hope that the district offices, school heads associations and oragnisations from various districts will maintain their efforts to promote COVID-19 vaccination.

This story has been published on: 2022-10-30. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Are boys at a disadvantage in receiving a quality education compared to girls at their same age level?

Yes, says Richard Reeves, senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, but its not their fault or the fault of the teachers instructing them.

Reeves says studies have shown girls brains develop differently than those of boys, enabling girls to mature more quickly, beginning as early as kindergarten or first grade.

The fact that boys mature later than girls is one known to every parent, and certainly to every teacher, Reeves writes in a recent issue of The Atlantic. On almost every measure of educational success, from pre-K to post-grad, boys and young men now lag well behind their female classmates.

Is that true? What say you, North Iowa?

One solution, says Reeves, is to hold boys back a year in their schooling, giving them more time to become socially and emotionally prepared for challenges they will face and putting them on a more equal level with girls.

In other words, boys should be red-shirted in the classroom just as college athletes are often red-shirted to give them an extra year of eligibility.

Reeves says in dozens of interviews he conducted with parents and educators, mostly in the Washington D.C. area, he learned that red-shirting students  mostly boys -- is becoming almost a common practice  in elite private schools.

Public schools are more structured, enrolling kids on the basis of their birthdate and other strict standards with little flexibility.

A personal observation: Sometimes a difference in maturity level is obvious. When we think of immature actions in childrens classrooms, we almost always associate them with boys acting up.

Anthropologist Margaret Mead, after visiting classrooms of middle-school students, wrote, Youd think you were in a group of very young women  and little boys.

Reeves proposal: All states and school districts should enroll boys a year later than girls. Giving boys the gift of time will eventually help create a better society, not just for men but for women and children too, he writes.

Nearly 50 years ago, when Title IX legislation was passed to improve gender equality in education, there was a 13 percent percentage gap in bachelors degrees going to men compared to women, according to studies. In 2019, the percentage gap was reversed  a 15 percent gap for women over men.

That may be true  but Im not sure red-shirting grade school kids is going to affect how many of them graduate from college.

For those of you who have raised both boys and girls  did you notice a difference in maturity levels? And if there is one thing most of us have learned from raising kids  one size does not fit all. Children have different cultural backgrounds, different personalities, different learning curves, different attitudes (that can change from one day to the next) and on and on.

All in all, sometimes, solutions create more questions than answers.
Danville was center stage last week for an event that reimagines the agriculture industry.

The Institute for Advanced Learning and Research hosted the first Controlled Environment Agriculture Summit East on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The event brought in more than 200 people from 28 states  plus Puerto Rico and Canada  a news release reported.

Among the attendees were growers, educators, scientists, extension specialists, suppliers, engineers, tech specialists and architect/developers.

The event was co-hosted by Indoor Ag-Con and the Controlled Environment Agriculture Innovation Center, a joint venture of the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences at Virginia Tech, Virginia Seafood Agricultural Research and Extension Center at Virginia Tech and the Institute.

We are so pleased with the results of this first edition and our partnership with the CEA Innovation Center, Brian Sullivan, CEO of Indoor Ag-Con, said in the release. Both organizations saw a tremendous opportunity to create a different kind of event for this industry  bringing a concentrated sector of business and academic audiences together in an incredible research facility setting that fostered an environment for sharing ideas and opportunities.

The day-and-a-half event allowed participants to meet, network and explore conference sessions. In addition, there were 17 exhibits showcasing innovations and services, according to the Institute.

This event really crystalized our vision of bringing our research and education program together to help move the CEA industry forward, said Dr. Scott Lowman, co-director of the Controlled Environment Agriculture Innovation Center and vice president of applied research at the Institute.

Thrusting the Dan River Region further into the spotlight, Roger Buelow, the chief technology officer at AeroFarms  a recently opened vertical farming operation in the area  kicked off the summit.

The Danville-area farm is the worlds largest aeroponic smart farm, capable of growing more than 3 million pounds of fresh leafy greens annually.

On the second day, Matthew Lohr, Virginias Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry, talked about Virginias focus and growth for the industry.

It comes down to collaboration  with the whole commonwealth working together, he said. Weve made progress, and Im even more excited about what the future of farming looks like.

At the conclusion of the event, group tours of the Controlled Environment Agriculture Innovation Center were provided.

An exciting thing about this conference is that it brought people from all over the United States together to share ideas and goals, which always feeds your own ideas, said Dr. Michael Evans, co-director, Controlled Environment Agriculture Innovation Center and director of the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences at Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
More than two years have passed since Judge Jackson Kiser died, but Thursday he was remembered at the federal courthouse in Danville where he served for 39 years.

Kiser, 91, unexpectedly died on Oct. 20, 2020, in the midst of COVID-19, so a memorial service wasnt possible then, according to Mark Holland, who serves on the board of directors of the Federal Bar Association.

Holland said Kiser went to Washington and Lee University School of Law, and served as an officer in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate Generals Corps and U.S. Army Reserves.

After his military service, Kiser worked as a U.S. Commissioner for the U.S. District Court and an Assistant United States Attorney in the Western District of Virginia before entering private practice in Martinsville.

Over the next 20 years, Kiser established himself as a skilled trial lawyer before being named as a judge for the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Virginia.

U.S. Sen. John Warner recommended Kiser to President Ronald Reagan and for the next 39 years he served in this very courtroom, Holland said.

Pittsylvania County native and Roanoke attorney Phil Anderson said he clerked for Kiser.

He had an exceptional reputation throughout the state, Anderson said. Most people can count on one hand the people who have made a significant impact in their lives and Kiser was that person for me.

Anderson said, as a person who grew up on a tobacco farm, he never expected to be chosen by Kiser to clerk for him.

For some reason, he gave me the opportunity and it became one of the most pivotal and critical years of my career, Anderson said. In 2013, he had the opportunity to swear in a former clerk, David Carson, as a judge and he got right in Davids face and said, When you put on that robe and walk up to that bench, never forget they are not there for you, but you are there for them.

Anderson described Kiser as brilliant with a commanding knowledge of the law.

He could have chosen to use those talents in so many different ways, but he chose to be a public servant, Anderson said. He recognized that our system of justice depends upon applying the law consistently and fairly.

Anderson told a story about when Kiser told a close friend  an attorney who was representing a client in Kisers courtroom  that he was not going to be pleased with his ruling.

What happened to your client was Sunday school wrong, but your client doesnt have a case, Anderson said Kiser told his friend. He loved practicing law.

Anderson also noted that Kiser won the first million-dollar verdict in Virginia, but despite his fondness for the law, his family was his priority.

When he would leave on Friday afternoon he would say Well, I think weve about used this week up, Anderson said. When you left his courtroom, you knew the system of government had worked like it was supposed to.

James W. Jim Haskins, a native of Martinsville, worked with Kiser for 15 years and was a named partner in the law firm that they shared.

He was an outstanding federal judge and had the respect of everybody he ever dealt with, said Haskins. He was always a great teacher. He wanted you to learn and understand the importance of what you were doing. He was a phenomenal lawyer.

Haskins talked about a time in the late 70s when Henry County Sheriff C.P. Witt got into a little trouble.

It was criminal and Jack represented Witt, Haskins said. It was at the old Henry County Courtroom in Martinsville and it was packed. The defense that he put on for Witt is still talked about among the bar. The sheriff was acquitted.

As a trial attorney, Haskins said Kiser would represent people who were injured in automobile crashes one time and the insurance company that insured them the next time.

He was the man that was in the foxhole with whoever he represented, Haskins said. With Kiser on your side in a trial, you had somebody on your side that believed in your cause.

Scott Jones was a term clerk for Kiser and then became his permanent clerk, serving in that position for 10 years until Kisers death.

He was a hard-nosed stickler for the rules, but he was also kind, funny and warm, Jones said. He was so knowledgeable about the law that he was called the professor.

Jones said it was true that Kiser once cited himself for being late to court and fined himself $50.

He sought to temper justice with mercy, Jones said. Once a defendant told him he had found religion and Kiser said If I believed every defendant that said he found religion after I sent him to prison, I would have saved more souls than Billy Graham.

Unlike some who adorn their office walls with accolades and awards and pictures with powerful people, Kisers walls were filled with pictures of his family.

He was a hero to me, Jones said. He left a legal and judicial legacy that will last a long time.

Western District Chief Judge Michael Urbanski said the first time he met Kiser it was in the winter of 1981 or 1983 when he was a wide-eyed law clerk.

I was here when Kiser was sworn in, Urbanski said as he looked around the courtroom where Kiser presided. The first time I met him, I remember being so very impressed with this force of the law. If you were sitting at that defense table you were terrified because he was going to come on the bench and you knew he was going to challenge you, but later on you would realize that it was an important question.

Urbanski said many years later he found himself behind the bench, with his robe on when his cellphone started ringing during the proceedings.

It was a lesson I learned out of Kisers playbook, so I fined myself $50 for contempt of court, said Urbanski. You cannot sit on that bench without being reminded of Judge Jackson L. Kiser.

As ferocious as Kiser could be in the courtroom, he could also be just as gentle with the employees that worked with and for him.

He was the most patient, kind, co-worker you could ever imagine. No one could be more gracious, said Urbanski. Sometimes we get some folks that were sentenced by him. I had one yesterday that was on supervised release. I looked at the transcript from the guilty plea and sentencing. It was so much better than mine.

Thats his legacy. He was a great lawyer, a great judge and a better person.
Yard sale

The Ayersville Community Group will hold a yard sale from 3 to 6 p.m. Nov. 4 at the Ayersville Ruritan Building, 533 N.C. 770 in Mayodan.

For information, email Hopper Electric at hopperelectric@embarqmail.com.

New river access

The newly improved Settle Bridge Dan River access allows rivergoers an easier way to reach the river just in time to enjoy the vibrant fall foliage. This section of river offers great view as there are no roads, only two bridges and landscapes.

There are multiple access points downstream allowing one to plan a short trip (4 miles downstream is the Dan River Game Lands access) or a longer trip (10 miles downstream is the Leaksville Landing access located near downtown Eden).

Before now, this popular Rockingham County access had been prone to frequent erosion and deposition issues caused by major water level fluctuations of the Dan River and seasonal flooding. In an effort to provide adequate parking, and a safe and sustainable river access, Rockingham County TDA collaborated with Dan River Basin Association to renovate the access.

For information, email tmartin@co.rockingham.nc.us.

Rabies clinic

Rockingham County Animal Shelter and Rockingham County Department of Health and Human Services have teamed up to offer a rabies clinic for dogs and cats. The clinic is set for 1 to 4 p.m. Nov. 5 at the shelter, 250 Cherokee Camp Road in Reidsville.

The first 100 vaccinations are free and made possible by the Friends of Eden. A fee of $5 will be charged for each rabies vaccination after the first 100 free vaccinations.

Every dog and cat that is 4 months or older is required by North Carolina law to be vaccinated against the rabies virus.

In 2021, Rockingham County had one animal test positive for rabies. In 2021, 27 unvaccinated pets were euthanized due to possible exposure to rabid animals. Rockingham County has recorded 200 positive animal rabies cases since positive cases began appearing in July 3, 1996.

For information, contact Angel Wyatt at 336-342-8183 or angelw@co.rockingham.nc.us.

School bus funding

More than $30.1 million from the N.C. Volkswagen Settlement Program will be distributed by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality to purchase 161 new school buses across the state, with the majority of the funding going toward new all-electric school buses.

The new zero-emission and low-emission school buses are replacing some of the dirtiest diesel buses in the state, including some older than 30 years that emit more than 20 times the nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter of todays clean buses.

The new buses will reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) by 126 tons over their lifetimes combined. More than $16.5 million will fund 43 electric school buses and associated charging infrastructure, providing a 100% reduction in diesel emissions and greenhouse gases for these projects. NOx leads to the formation of ground-level ozone, which in turn aggravates asthma and can cause breathing trouble in young children and older adults. The small particles that make up particulate matter are linked to heart and lung conditions.

The grant recipients include public schools, charter schools and a tribal school in 84 counties, including Surry and Rockingham. Most of the buses, 130, will be placed in rural counties. Of those, 80 school buses were awarded to schools in the 37 historically under-resourced counties that DEQ targeted for additional outreach and support during the application process. The goal of that program was to support the equitable distribution of Volkswagen Settlement funding across the state.

For information, visit tinyurl.com/taucjju.

Park groundbreaking

The city of Reidsville will hold a groundbreaking of Skys the Limit, an all-inclusive park, at 1 p.m. Nov. 2.

The event will take place behind Reidsville City Hall.

For information, call 336-349-1099.
New president begins term

Judge Ed Wilson began his term as president of the North Carolina Conference of Superior Court Judges for 2022-2023 on Oct. 19. Wilson is the senior resident superior court judge for Caswell and Rockingham counties. The group is the statewide governing body for all superior court judges, both active and retired.

Wilson has served as a superior court judge since 2003. Prior to that he was in private practice in Eden with the firm of Maddrey Wilson Etringer and Smith.

Wilson is in his 21st year in the United States Army Reserve where his most recent assignment was teaching military and constitutional law at West Point.

Yard sale

The Ayersville Community Group will hold a yard sale from 3 to 6 p.m. Nov. 4 at the Ayersville Ruritan Building, 533 N.C. 770 in Mayodan.

For information, email Hopper Electric at hopperelectric@embarqmail.com.

New river access

The newly improved Settle Bridge Dan River access allows rivergoers an easier way to reach the river just in time to enjoy the vibrant fall foliage. This section of river offers great view as there are no roads, only two bridges and landscapes.

There are multiple access points downstream allowing one to plan a short trip (4 miles downstream is the Dan River Game Lands access) or a longer trip (10 miles downstream is the Leaksville Landing access located near downtown Eden).

Before now, this popular Rockingham County access had been prone to frequent erosion and deposition issues caused by major water level fluctuations of the Dan River and seasonal flooding. In an effort to provide adequate parking, and a safe and sustainable river access, Rockingham County TDA collaborated with Dan River Basin Association to renovate the access.

For information, email tmartin@co.rockingham.nc.us.

Rabies clinic

Rockingham County Animal Shelter and Rockingham County Department of Health and Human Services have teamed up to offer a rabies clinic for dogs and cats. The clinic is set for 1 to 4 p.m. Nov. 5 at the shelter, 250 Cherokee Camp Road in Reidsville.

The first 100 vaccinations are free and made possible by the Friends of Eden. A fee of $5 will be charged for each rabies vaccination after the first 100 free vaccinations.

Every dog and cat that is 4 months or older is required by North Carolina law to be vaccinated against the rabies virus.

In 2021, Rockingham County had one animal test positive for rabies. In 2021, 27 unvaccinated pets were euthanized due to possible exposure to rabid animals. Rockingham County has recorded 200 positive animal rabies cases since positive cases began appearing in July 3, 1996.

For information, contact Angel Wyatt at 336-342-8183 or angelw@co.rockingham.nc.us.

School bus funding

More than $30.1 million from the N.C. Volkswagen Settlement Program will be distributed by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality to fund 161 new school buses across the state, with the majority of the funding going toward new all-electric school buses.

The new zero-emission and low-emission school buses are replacing some of the dirtiest diesel buses in the state, including some older than 30 years that emit more than 20 times the nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter of todays clean buses.

The new buses will reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) by 126 tons over their lifetimes combined. More than $16.5 million will fund 43 electric school buses and associated charging infrastructure, providing a 100% reduction in diesel emissions and greenhouse gases for these projects. NOx leads to the formation of ground-level ozone, which in turn aggravates asthma and can cause breathing trouble in young children and older adults. The small particles that make up particulate matter are linked to heart and lung conditions.

The grant recipients include public schools, charter schools and a tribal school in 84 counties, including Surry and Rockingham. Most of the buses, 130, will be placed in rural counties. Of those, 80 school buses were awarded to schools in the 37 historically under-resourced counties that DEQ targeted for additional outreach and support during the application process. The goal of that program was to support the equitable distribution of Volkswagen Settlement funding across the state.

For information, visit tinyurl.com/taucjju.

Park groundbreaking

The city of Reidsville will hold a groundbreaking of Skys the Limit, an all-inclusive park, at 1 p.m. Nov. 2.

The event will take place behind Reidsville City Hall.

For information, call 336-349-1099.
Question: With the year winding down, I was wondering how long I should keep important documents. Im running out of room and need to start throwing some of the old ones away.

 M.B.

Answer: Different documents should be held for different lengths of time. Here are some recommendations from the Internal Revenue Service and Better Business Bureau.

Generally, you must keep your records that support an item of income, deduction or credit shown on your tax return until the period of limitations for that tax return runs out, the IRS says.

Keep records for three years unless you dont report income thats more than 25% of the gross income that you reported. Keep those records for six years.

If you dont file a return or you file a fraudulent return keep the records permanently.

Lechelle Yates of the Better Business Bureau of Central and Northwest North Carolina provided information about the retention of other types of documents.

Keep these records permanently:

Major financial records.

Birth and death certificates.

Social Security cards.

Marriage licenses.

Divorce papers.

Military discharge documents.

Life insurance policies.

Wills and living wills.

Keep the following documents for one year:

Regular statements, pay stubs.

Keep either a digital or hard copy of your monthly bank and credit card statements for the last year.

You should also hold on to pay stubs so that you can use them to verify the accuracy of your Form W-2 when tax season arrives and receipts for large purchases.

The Federal Trade Commission suggests holding on to your paid medical bills for a year before throwing the bills away.

The BBB recommends keeping documents that support the information that you provided on your tax return for three to seven years.

They also recommend keeping brokerage statements, tuition payments and charitable donation receipts for three to seven years.

The BBB also recommends keeping utility bills, and bank deposits and withdrawals for a month until you can verify that the transactions have cleared.

Q: When going through my deceased mothers papers, I found reference to a life insurance policy from a company that has been bought and sold and changed names multiple times. I have tried running down some of the companies names with no luck. Is there somewhere that I can provide her information to see if the policy is still valid?

 P.M.

A: You have a couple of options to try and find out information.

You can check NCCash.com, the website that is part of the department of N.C. State Treasurer, to see if the policy has been turned over to the state by the insurance company.

If that doesnt work, there are other options.

Mendy Greenwood, a regional director for the N.C. Department of Insurance said that their customer service unit may be able to help.

Their number is 855-408-1212.

For people who believe that a life insurance policy exists, but cant find it, Greenwood has this information:

The Department of Insurance can absolutely help to locate a lost life insurance policy. There are two ways that your readers can search. One is by calling our Consumer Services Department at 855-408-1212 and tell the person who answers the phone that they need help finding a lost life insurance policy.

Or you can perform a search online.

For more information about finding lost policies, go to www.ncdoi.gov/how-can-we-help-you and click on Lost Life Insurance Policy.

 Melissa Hall,

Winston-Salem

Journal
Loyal customers bid farewell to beloved Helena restaurant Saigon Alley on Saturday.

Owner Rachel Conn ended a more than five-year run that began in the back of a food truck.

The eatery was known for its southeast Asian cuisine and specialized in gluten free and vegetarian menu items, an uncommon sight in Montana.

"We always kind of had a different notion about what could be done," Conn said. "And we've really loved doing it."

She first fired up the food truck in 2017, and moved into a brick-and-mortar location in Reeder's Alley early in 2020.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced her to delay the restaurant's opening until the fall of 2020, but she continued to operate out of the food truck during that time.

Conn said when she began this endeavor, she was a single woman. Nearly six years later, she now has a husband and two children ages 1 and 3.

While saying goodbye to the business she built and nurtured is difficult, Conn is looking forward to spending more time with her family.

"My husband sure needs a break," she said. "I wouldn't have been able to do this without him. He's been a rock star."

Even in the off seasons, she and one other cook prepared meals for an average of 1,000 people a week, and she would work as much as 80 hours a week.

Conn also expressed gratitude for her staff. During peak summer seasons, she employed 13 people and maintained a staff of seven during shoulder seasons.

"We've had the most amazing staff the whole time," she said. "They put up with me all these years and I can't say enough about them."

Unlike many businesses in Helena and across the state, Conn said she never had issues keeping a full staff of employees. She said she paid her employees well and meal prices had gratuity built in, resulting in a living wage.

Conn said she will treasure the "lots of little memories with each employee," but her favorites will be supporting her employees who ran on the Capital High School cross country team during their local meets.

"We've been going as a group to the Bruins' meets dressed up as vegetables or 1980s runners," she said with a smile.

Saigon Alley's patrons over the years likely have their own "little memories."

Heather and Kevin Hadley of Cascade County met their friend Mary Hensley of Great Falls for what they called their "last meal" on the restaurant's sunny patio Thursday.

The trio ordered their favorites, bao buns, vegetable spring rolls and curry.

Heather Hadley said she first tried the food in the mobile days of Saigon Alley while in town for a board meeting that Conn catered.

"This has been a fairly regular stop anytime we're in Helena," she said.

Hensley said she likes the diverse menu.

"It's one of the few places you can actually get a full vegetarian meal," she said.

Saturday, Saigon Alley hosted a customer appreciation event. Conn said customers could order from a limited food and drink menu in order to use up what supplies she has remaining.

"We'll have kind of a free-for-all," she said earlier in the week. "We just want it to be a fun time."

In the immediate future, Conn and her family plan to take a family vacation to visit her husband's family. She said she is also planning her own little three-day getaway.

"I'm going to sit by a wood stove and read," she said.

Helenans have not tasted the last of Conn's culinary expertise just yet. She said she will soon pivot into a meal delivery service called Wonderlust Foods, featuring some Saigon Alley favorites in addition to new dishes from other regions and American classics. She said there will also be gluten free and vegetarian options available.

She said she envisions meal service customers will make their selections from a weekly revolving menu and choose a delivery day. Meals will be delivered to costumers' doors ready to bake.

Those interested can reach out via the restaurant's social media pages or by sending an email inquiry to SaigonAlleyHelena@gmail.com.

Conn said orders might be capped in the early goings to ensure everything goes smoothly.

"I wanted to find a way I can run this business in a way that works best for my family and other families," she said.

Posted on a plastic partition in front of the restaurant's open kitchen was a letter to customers alerting them to the imminent closure and thanking them for their patronage.

"I feel as though with the support of my family and employees we have built something beautiful," Conn wrote in her letter. "We have enjoyed getting to know some of you and hopefully making your bellies happy."
With a mighty yank, the treble hook cut through the water, stabbing itself firmly into the chinook salmons muscular back. The age old dance between man and fish had begun.

With his prize on the line, fisherman Larry DiLulo, who farms on the Hi-Line, began the delicate tango of landing a massive fish.

He started off slowly, two-stepping up and down the floating dock, his calloused hands keeping the rod upright. But the fish on the other end struggled to take the lead from DiLulo and flee.

DiLulo followed the fishs lead, traversing the dock again, his arched fishing rod held high, keeping the salmon in front of him at all times. When the time was right, he reeled, shortening the distance between him and the fish.

Every so often, he would pause, readjust his rod, and begin again. Just as it seemed one of them would give up, a sharp movement would erupt, either DiLulo jerking up on the rod, or the fish cutting through the water.

After more than six minutes, DiLulo emerged victorious, pulling the 8-pound salmon from the frigid waters of Fort Peck Reservoir, and with a gleaming grin held his prize up to admire.

Fort Peck Reservoir is the only place in Montana where an angler can cha-cha with a chinook.

The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks stocks the impounded body of water with hatchery-raised salmon every year and monitors their health and progress. Since the fish are unable to breed naturally in the lake, the hatchery must harvest some breeding-age fish every year and do the spawning work themselves. They do so by milking sperm and eggs manually from captured fish stunned and netted by FWP employees. Eggs are then fertilized at the hatchery near the reservoir. Come spring, they release the new fish into the water for anglers to pursue and the process is repeated.

Chinook, or king salmon, are a prize fish, native to parts of the Northwest, but not Eastern Montana. The majority of the population lives in the Pacific Ocean, along the coast from the Ventura River Estuary north of Los Angeles all the way to the Seward Peninsula on the western edge of Alaska. During the spawn, or salmon run, they migrate inland up rivers such as the Columbia. In 1967, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources introduced the fish to Lake Michigan and Lake Huron to control the invasive nuisance fish alewife. Chinooks thrived feeding on the alewifes and were later introduced to the other Great Lakes. The salmon are now found throughout the region and, similar to Fort Peck, are a prized catch.

The chinooks in Fort Peck wear a blue-green hue. They have silver sides, black spots and dark tails. In the reservoir, they range from 5 pounds with behemoths sometimes weighing upwards of 30 pounds. In other places, such as the Kenai River in Alaska, mature specimens average 37 pounds. The current sport-caught world record is just over 97 pounds from the Kenai, whereas the commercial-caught world record is 126 pounds captured in British Columbia.

Anglers at Fort Peck Reservoir can use deep-water trolling gear to catch the fish during the spring and summer months, but use snagging while the fish are spawning since they stop eating. It requires the use of a snag hook a large, weighted, three-prong hook, which more resembles Batmans grappling hook than a fishing lure. The hook is weighted to aid the angler in casting, to sink the setup quickly, as well as to give the hook power as it pierces the fishs flesh. Once in the water, the angler forcefully yanks and reels the hook back, hoping along the way that it finds its target.

Outside of salmon at Fort Peck, snagging is also used to catch paddlefish on the Yellowstone River in Montana. The reason anglers use snagging to catch the prehistoric paddlefish is because the species are filter-feeders and as such are not attracted to lures or bait.

A debate has been ongoing within the fishing community over the ethics of snagging fish. Those against snagging argue piercing the animals flesh reduces the sport and harms the resource. Those in support argue the fish are still able to fight and free themselves. But in the case of salmon snagging the fish will die following the spawn anyway.

DiLulo likes to bake or smoke his catch, but there are many ways to cook a fish. I didnt find any bad way to eat them, he said.

I brine them overnight, smoke them with hickory, and can them, said Milton Sausedo of Forsyth.

Local angler Art Widhalm recommends leaving the skin and bones on when canning to help add flavor to the fish.

Regardless of your taste for the fish, catching salmon is a popular sport on the lake. Eddie Mindt, who owns Lakeridge Lodging and Bait Shop, estimated about a thousand people come through his shop each year specifically seeking salmon.

Sausedo said around 20 people had been snagging around his spot on a warm October morning.

Theyre in here, its just a matter of getting lucky and hooking into something, DiLulo said. You can go four or five hours and not get anything, then you hook one and forget all about it.
Montana doesnt often have a budget surplus  let alone billions of dollars that resulted from the enormous influx of federal funds during the pandemic and massive new federal infrastructure funding. But thanks to that surplus, Governor Gianforte and the upcoming legislative session have a historic opportunity to provide significant, desperately-needed, and permanent relief for Montanas beleaguered rivers as well as the fisheries, wildlife, towns and industries that rely on them.

For decades rivers like the famed Big Hole have suffered chronic dewatering, primarily due to irrigation made possible by state-issued but over-appropriated water rights. In short, the state has issued more water rights than there is water in the river.

Montanas politicians have tried a variety of solutions, such as watershed councils that have good intentions but have abjectly failed to meet the instream flow challenges despite decades of trying. If anyone needs proof of that failure, look to the recently filed 60-day Notice of Intent to Sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to force it to add our nearly extinct population of fluvial Arctic grayling to the Endangered Species list.

This is no idle threat, nor is it in any way frivolous. Montana holds the last population of fluvial Arctic grayling in the Lower 48 states. Estimates put their population at about 200 fish, desperately hanging on in whats left of the chronically dewatered Upper Big Hole River.

Thanks to the antiquated provisions of Western water law, irrigators can take every drop of their water rights they can get, until the river is reduced to a trickle of warm water. Add to that increasing development pressures and the worst mega-drought in the West in the last 1,200 years and unless we figure out a way to restore instream flows, the grayling are doomed.

Since the Montana Constitution specifically states that all existing rights to the use of any waters for any useful or beneficial purpose are hereby recognized and confirmed water rights are considered property rights  and may not be taken by the government.

But water rights can be purchased and/or leased between willing buyers and willing sellers  including for instream flow purposes. There are a number of excellent reasons for the state to embark on an aggressive effort to do just that.

The surplus provides a rare and historic opportunity to establish a billion-dollar Instream Flow Trust Fund that, much like the Permanent Coal Tax Trust Fund, would provide on-going interest earnings in perpetuity. That revenue can then be invested in purchasing water rights to keep our rivers flowing, our native species from going extinct, and all without raising a dime in new taxes.

Those who may think its not worth it merely to save some little fishies should consider that pollution discharge permits issued for development, industry, and municipalities are based on certain levels of instream flows for dilution. While dilution is NOT the solution to pollution, without it you wind up with situations like the tragic eutrophic destruction of the once-pristine Gallatin River by Big Sky area sewage discharges  and the discharges by municipalities dwarf those from Big Sky.

We can do this. The situation with our rivers is dire and growing more so by the year. And unlike many of the suggested uses of the surplus, theres nothing remotely partisan about providing significant and perpetual funding for instream flows. Doing so not only meets the challenges of increasing development in a rapidly warming and drier climate, but keeping our rivers flowing would be a historic gift that keeps on giving for generations far into the future.
DECATUR  The spidery art of arachnid limb attachment requires lots of helping human hands, and the absence of bad weather is clearly a big plus as well.

Happily for 5-year-old Alesa Aldridge, she boasted all of the above at Millikin Universitys Boo at MU Trunk or Treat event Sunday afternoon.

Boo activities ranged from visiting various candy stations to watching Disney movies and making cool stuff like spider paper hats.

And with all the spooky goings-on safely tucked away inside the University Commons building, everybody could cheerfully ignore the gloomy weather raining its derision outside.

Alesas spider  he has eight eyes, she announced, in response to a question  took shape right quick as she glued them on. And with Decatur grandparents Travis and Missy Aldridge to assist with surgical tasks like leg stapling, what finally emerged was a spider hat anybody would be proud to take back to their home web.

The Boo at MU of 2021 had pulled in an all-time high of 400 kids and some 800 attendees altogether, and the swift onslaught of visitors at Sundays event looked like it might scare up another record.

We're certainly hoping for around the same amount of people, said Nicole DeLiberis, director of campus life for residential communities at Millikin. And, yes, I think we do have enough candy for everyone.

Costumed kids, accompanied by adult family members, filled their buckets at free candy stations, some elaborately decorated. They were all manned by around 50 costumed students from 25 campus organizations who booed at MU from noon to 4 p.m.

For some visitors this whole experience, which has become an annual gift from the school to the Decatur community, is now a multi-generational highlight of their own Halloween traditions.

We went every year when she was young, said Melissa Holloway with a nod toward Makayla Brady, the mother of Holloways 1-year-old grandson Kyzier Hill. Kyzier, respondent in a faux-muscled superman outfit, looked excited enough to fly around the room if granny let go of his hand.

We just love it, love it here, said Holloway. Its safe and its nice to be indoors. This event really is a gift to our community.
HICKORY  During Monday's meeting of the Hickory Public Schools Board of Education, members of the board joined HPS Superintendent Bryan Taylor in recognizing Beverly Snowden for her retirement from the State of North Carolina and her service as director of communications for Hickory Public Schools.

The board recognized Snowden for her dedication and passion in serving the communication needs for the board, the employees and staff, and most importantly, the students. Snowden led the HPS Communications Department for the past 12 years. She served nearly 27 years to North Carolina Public Schools with an additional 21 years of service to the North Carolina Community College System, Lenoir-Rhyne University, Caldwell Community College and corporate industry  all through communications, marketing and public relations.

"Over the 48 years that I've worked (so far), Hickory Public Schools has been, by far, the best overall experience," Snowden said. "Not always easy, but the teachers are achieving excellence and the children, the students, are a gift in our lives. I have treasured watching them grow from kindergarten to high school graduation  while staying in contact with many former students who are leading productive lives, giving back to society. My heart is full."

In addition to her recognition from the HPS Board of Education, the Hickory Chapter of the NAACP recognized Snowden, who served the chapter as their selected "education liaison." Officers Margaret Pope and Ida Clough addressed the board of education, sharing their words of praise for Snowden.

"This is a sad time for us, and we hate to see Beverly go," said Pope. "From the first photo to the last, covering the events, recognizing kids and staff, we believe no one can do the job any better.

"I'm here with Dr. Ida Clough, representing the NAACP-- to thank Beverly for what she has done to work with us to help the schools become more inclusive," said Pope.

"I think the NAACP and the community organizations that Beverly has played a role  are suffering a great loss and we mourn her leaving," said Clough. "She has made a big impression with our relationships  connecting to the schools and all community organizations. Her leaving is a great loss to both the NAACP and to our community. We wish Beverly the best."

The Hickory NAACP presented Snowden with a piece of pottery made in Catawba County.

Snowden's last day with Hickory Public Schools was Friday. She will soon relocate to the North Carolina coast where she will serve as the executive director of the Arts Council of Carteret County.
In October, Fideszs support among the entire population was 35 percent. In this round, DK is the strongest opposition party, 12 percent support them. Mi Hazank is 7th, Momentum is 6%, and MSZP is 4%.

Jobbik 3, LMP and MKKP 2, and Parbeszed 1 percent support among the entire population, according to the October public opinion survey of the Republikon Institute.

Unsurprisingly, in light of the past months, the proportion of those who are uncertain has also increased,

now 28 percent of the total population.

Party voters are the respondents who named which party they would vote for. According to the data of the Republikon Institute, the order of strength among party voters is unchanged compared to the entire population:

Fidesz stands at 48 percent,

the DK is the strongest opposition party with 17 percent,

they are followed by Mi Hazank with 10 percent,

Momentum by 8 percent,

the MSZP at 6 percent,

Jobbik at 4 percent,

the LMP at 3 percent,

MKKP and Parbeszed have 2% support each among party voters.

The research institute also examined sure-voting party voters. These are the respondents who would go to vote if the elections were this Sunday, and they also named which party they would vote for:

in this comparison, Fideszs support is 51 percent,

the DK is 16 percent,

Mi Hazank is 9 percent,

Momentum is 8 percent,

the MSZP is 6 percent,

Jobbik has 4 percent,

the LMP is 3 percent,

Dialogue is 2 percent,

and the MKKP can count on 1 percent of support among party voters who vote for sure.

Fideszs advantage remains confident

Half a year after the elections, the tendency to gravitate toward the winner has noticeably decreased, but Fideszs support remains stable. Among the opposition parties, DK confidently leads in terms of support, while Mi Hazank dominates the middle ground. Momentum and MSZP still jump the 5 percent threshold, Momentums support is not far behind that of Mi Hazank. Jobbik, LMP, Parbeszed and MKKP make up the group of smaller parties, their support is below 5 percent.

The opposition parties showed a slight increase

Compared to the election results, the gap in support between Fidesz and the opposition bloc has decreased, which is not surprising in a period of recession, although Fideszs advantage over the parties of the opposition coalition is still confident. Among sure voters, Fideszs support is 51 percent, which is 3 percentage points lower than the 54 percent achieved in the election.

The combined support of the six cooperating opposition parties among sure voters is 38 percent, which is 3.5 percentage points higher than their list result achieved in the election. Thus, the difference between the two blocks is currently 13 percentage points, compared to the difference of almost 20 percentage points in April.

On the one hand, the small strengthening of the six parties, and on the other hand, the strengthening of Mi Hazank play a role in this.

The research of the Republikon Institute was carried out by telephone interviews of 1,000 people between October 19 and 24. between. The research is representative of the countrys adult population in terms of gender, age, education and type of settlement. Margin of error: +/- 3.2%.

(Cover photo: Peter Papajcsik / Index)
The security breach allegedly came to light in the summer, when Truss was still fighting for the party leadership as foreign secretary, prompting former prime minister Boris Johnson to order a media blackout due to the sensitivity of the case, the Mail on Sunday reported, citing unnamed security sources.

According to the paper, the messages obtained by the hackers allegedly included Truss highly sensitive discussions with senior international foreign ministers about the war in Ukraine, including detailed discussions about arms shipments.

While the details of the hack are still unclear, the perpetrators are believed to have downloaded up to a years worth of audio recordings, including private conversations in which Truss and his political ally Kwasi Kwarteng criticized Johnson.

The report blamed foreign state actors presumably working for Vladimir Putins Russia, although a cyber expert cited by the paper named other usual suspects, such as China, North Korea and Iran, who may have a significant interest in knowing that what does the foreign minister communicate.

Although the case raised concerns about possible blackmail, a news blackout was ordered because it does not reflect well on the intelligence services if the foreign ministers phone can be hacked so easily for embarrassing personal messages, the Mail quoted one source as saying.

A government spokesman declined to comment on security measures for individuals and insisted the British government has secure systems in place to protect against cyber threats.

British opposition parties have already called for an urgent independent investigation into the allegations.

According to Labours Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, serious security questions arise as to why and how this information was leaked or became public now, which also needs to be urgently investigated.

Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokeswoman Layla Moran said if it turns out that this information was withheld from the public to protect Liz Trusss leadership bid, it would be inexcusable.

Truss replaced Johnson as the Tory leader and became Prime Minister on 6 September, before resigning 45 days later, becoming the shortest-serving Prime Minister in UK history.
Sunday, October 30

The Piedmont Choral Society will present a "Service of Remembrance" at 4 p.m. at Calvary Lutheran Church, 950 Bradley Street, Concord for our community. This is the first formal concert the group has prepared since December 2019 due to COVID.

Forest Hill United Methodist Church is hosting an evening of spooky organ music at 5:30 p.m. The concert will feature world-renowned organist, Christopher Brayne, who joined the Forest Hill UMC staff this year. Brayne will match the energy of the Odell house with a variety of truly creepy organ music including Bachs Toccata and Fugue in D minor and Boellmanns Suite Gothique. The concert is free, open to the public

Monday, October 31

The Concord Duplicate Bridge face-to-face games through Concord Parks and Recreation at Hartsell Recreation Center, 60 Hartsell School Road, at noon. Cost is $5 per player. You must have a partner and provide proof of vaccination.

Sweet Street Trunk-or-treat & Festival will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. The event will be at 150 N. Research Campus Drive in Kannapolis. For more information, call704-960-6158 or go to www.OutsideTheLinesMinistries.com.

Tuesday, November 1

TOPS #437 (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) meets every Tuesday at 10 a.m. (weigh-in begins at 9:30 a.m.) at Lakeview Baptist Church, 2532 Lane St. Kannapolis. Visitors are welcome.

A GriefShare support group will be held for anyone needing help and encouragement after the death of a spouse, child, family member or friend. GriefShare Support Group will be held at Pitts Baptist Church, 140 Pitts School Road, NW, Concord, NC 28027, weekly on Tuesdays, through Nov. 15 from 9:30 - 11:30 a.m. For more information, contact Linda Bounds at 704-793-8155.

Wednesday, November 2

The Cabarrus Senior Center Photo Club is alive and clicking away. If you like taking photos, come join the members on the first and third Wednesdays of the month from 1:30-3 p.m. at the Cabarrus Senior Center, 331 Corban Ave. SE, Concord, and share your photographic creativity. Whether you are a seasoned photographer or strictly amateur, all are welcome.

First Christian Church will be honoring Helen Boger with a birthday fellowship at 10 a.m., celebrating her 100th birthday. The church is at 158 Rone Ave. SW, Concord, NC 28085.

Thursday, November 3

Epworth UMCs famous hot dogs and taco soup, 9:30 a.m. -2 p.m. 1030 Burrage Road NE, Concord. For free delivery call 704-786-5500.

The Concord Friends of the Library host the annual Deana Irvin Symposium, at the Cabarrus Country Club, featuring North Carolina native, Jason Mott, National Book Award Winner for fiction 2021. Mott will be discussing his novel, Hell Of A Book, which was released in June 2021. Doors open at 11:30, lunch served at 12:15, $30.00 per person. Reservations can be mailed with checks payable to the Concord Friends of the Library, PO Box 795, Concord, NC 28026. Deadline for reservations is Oct. 17.

Friday, November 4

The Concord Duplicate Bridge face-to-face games through Concord Parks and Recreation at Hartsell Recreation Center, 60 Hartsell School Road, at noon. Cost is $5 per player. You must have a partner and provide proof of vaccination.

Heavenly Hot Dogs at Mount Olivet United Methodist Church, 301 Mount Olivet Road, will be offered from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Free delivery for orders of more than $15, and takeout is available. Homemade desserts and chicken noodle soup are available. For more information, visit www.mtochurch.com or call 704-782-8846.

Hot dogs at McGill Baptist Church, 5300 Poplar Tent Road, will be sold along with fried bologna and barbecue sandwiches and desserts from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Saturday, November 5

The Piedmont Farmers Market is open from 8 a.m. to noon at 518 Winecoff School Road. It features lots of local produce, meat, flowers and other products.

Hot Dogs at Center United Methodist Church at 1119 Union Street S, are offered on the 2nd and 4th Saturday of each month from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. Dine in and take out. Call in orders are welcomed. 704-782-1785.

Cabarrus DAV and Auxiliary will be placing flags on veteran graves at West Concord Cemetery on Union Cemetery Road starting at 10 a.m. Anyone who wishes to join in honoring our veterans is welcome to participate.

A ham and chicken dinner will be held at Friendship United Methodist Church, 4695 Mt. Pleasant Road. S, Concord, from 11 a.m.  5 p.m. Take out or drive by only. 704-786-3335.

Monday, November 7

The Concord Duplicate Bridge face-to-face games through Concord Parks and Recreation at Hartsell Recreation Center, 60 Hartsell School Road, at noon. Cost is $5 per player. You must have a partner and provide proof of vaccination.

A Basketry Class is planned for beginner or advanced basket makers from 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at 715 Cabarrus Avenue West, Concord, NC. ECA member and talented basket maker Brenda Long will be teaching this large Catchall Basket Class. Cost is $23 and checks may be made payable to : Cabarrus County, and dropped off, or mailed to NC Cooperative Extension, 715 Cabarrus Avenue West, Concord, NC . You may also register on line at : go.ncsu.edu/registercabarrus . When the Cabarrus Active Living site opens scroll down to Cooperative Extension, Family and Consumer Sciences , and click to find the Basketry Class. For additional information contact NC Cooperative Extension weekdays at :704-920-3310.

The Kannapolis History Associates meeting will be at 7 p.m. at the social room at A.L. Brown High School. Parking is in lot east of Trinity Methodist Church and use the sidewalk east of Kannapolis Performing Arts Center (auditorium) and follow the signs to KHA. Keith Seramur will present findings from the ground penetrating radar of the Historic Phifer Graveyard.

Tuesday, November 8

TOPS #437 (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) meets every Tuesday at 10 a.m. (weigh-in begins at 9:30 a.m.) at Lakeview Baptist Church, 2532 Lane St. Kannapolis. Visitors are welcome.

A GriefShare support group will be held for anyone needing help and encouragement after the death of a spouse, child, family member or friend. GriefShare Support Group will be held at Pitts Baptist Church, 140 Pitts School Road, NW, Concord, NC 28027, weekly on Tuesdays, through Nov. 15 from 9:30 - 11:30 a.m. For more information, contact Linda Bounds at 704-793-8155.

Thursday, November 10

Epworth UMCs famous hot dogs and taco soup, 9:30 a.m. -2 p.m. 1030 Burrage Road NE, Concord. For free delivery call 704-786-5500.

Friday, November 11

The Concord Duplicate Bridge face-to-face games through Concord Parks and Recreation at Hartsell Recreation Center, 60 Hartsell School Road, at noon. Cost is $5 per player. You must have a partner and provide proof of vaccination.

Heavenly Hot Dogs at Mount Olivet United Methodist Church, 301 Mount Olivet Road, will be offered from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Free delivery for orders of more than $15, and takeout is available. Homemade desserts and chicken noodle soup are available. For more information, visit www.mtochurch.com or call 704-782-8846.

Hot dogs at McGill Baptist Church, 5300 Poplar Tent Road, will be sold along with fried bologna and barbecue sandwiches and desserts from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Saturday, November 12

The Piedmont Farmers Market is open from 8 a.m. to noon at 518 Winecoff School Road. It features lots of local produce, meat, flowers and other products.

Hot Dogs at Center United Methodist Church at 1119 Union Street S, are offered on the 2nd and 4th Saturday of each month from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. Dine in and take out. Call in orders are welcomed. 704-782-1785.

Looking for holiday gifts or your next favorite book? The Friends of the Midland Library is hosting a book sale from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The book sale will be held at the Midland Library, 4297-C Highway 24/27 East. Everyone who attends will receive a free tote bag, and Bayou Sno will be selling sno cones, hot chocolate and coffee.

Monday, November 14

The Concord Duplicate Bridge face-to-face games through Concord Parks and Recreation at Hartsell Recreation Center, 60 Hartsell School Road, at noon. Cost is $5 per player. You must have a partner and provide proof of vaccination.

Tuesday, November 15

TOPS #437 (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) meets every Tuesday at 10 a.m. (weigh-in begins at 9:30 a.m.) at Lakeview Baptist Church, 2532 Lane St. Kannapolis. Visitors are welcome.

A GriefShare support group will be held for anyone needing help and encouragement after the death of a spouse, child, family member or friend. GriefShare Support Group will be held at Pitts Baptist Church, 140 Pitts School Road, NW, Concord, NC 28027, weekly on Tuesdays, through Nov. 15 from 9:30 - 11:30 a.m. For more information, contact Linda Bounds at 704-793-8155.

Thursday, November 17

Epworth UMCs famous hot dogs and taco soup, 9:30 a.m. -2 p.m. 1030 Burrage Road NE, Concord. For free delivery call 704-786-5500.

Friday, November 18

The Concord Duplicate Bridge face-to-face games through Concord Parks and Recreation at Hartsell Recreation Center, 60 Hartsell School Road, at noon. Cost is $5 per player. You must have a partner and provide proof of vaccination.

Heavenly Hot Dogs at Mount Olivet United Methodist Church, 301 Mount Olivet Road, will be offered from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Free delivery for orders of more than $15, and takeout is available. Homemade desserts and chicken noodle soup are available. For more information, visit www.mtochurch.com or call 704-782-8846.

Hot dogs at McGill Baptist Church, 5300 Poplar Tent Road, will be sold along with fried bologna and barbecue sandwiches and desserts from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Saturday, November 19

The Piedmont Farmers Market is open from 8 a.m. to noon at 518 Winecoff School Road. It features lots of local produce, meat, flowers and other products.

Hot Dogs at Center United Methodist Church at 1119 Union Street S, are offered on the 2nd and 4th Saturday of each month from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. Dine in and take out. Call in orders are welcomed. 704-782-1785.

Got news or events?

Does your community group or nonprofit agency have an upcoming event that would be of interest to the public? Email it to mplemmons@independenttribune.com.
CHARLESTON  Eastern Illinois University is scheduled to host its annual Greeks and Treats event from 5 to 7 p.m. Halloween night, Monday, Oct. 31.

Community members are invited to enjoy trick-or-treating, games and Halloween-themed crafts in a family-friendly and safe environment at Greek Court, known as "The Egg," just east of the corner of Roosevelt Drive and Ninth Street on campus.

Free parking is available in the Ninth Street parking lot at the northeast corner of Roosevelt and Ninth. Participating families are encouraged to bring canned foods or dry goods to the event, which will help the EIU Campus Food Pantrys support of students who may be challenged by food insecurity.

The Greeks and Treats event is organized by EIUs Office of Fraternity and Sorority Programs, in conjunction with the Office of Housing and Dining Services and Greek Court.
MATTOON  Waiting areas overflowed with meowing cats on Saturday as Clyde's Animal Clinic held its 25th annual free spay and neuter event for approximately 175 feline patients.

The two waiting areas lined with cat travel crates was a welcome sight to clinic owner Dr. Elizabeth Clyde Druin. She said one of this "Make a Difference Day" event's goals is to keep Mattoon-area neighborhoods from overflowing with rapidly reproducing outdoor cats. The event also happened to fall on National Cat Day.

"We really try to take care of that neighborhood cat that everyone feeds but no one claims, especially that mama cat who is on her fifth litter and living under the porch," Druin said.

The male waiting area included Dobby, a ginger cat brought in by Tony Lindsay of Neoga and his 10-year-old daughter Camryn. Lindsay said Dobby is an outside cat that arrived at their home, and his family subsequently got attached to him.

"He is playful, like really playful. He likes chasing things and catching things," Camryn said. Lindsay said they want to keep Dobby around, so they decided to bring him in to get neutered after hearing online about the free event. He said, "It's a great service, that's for sure."

Druin said she got the idea for the spay and neuter event 25 years ago after reading a USA Today story about national Make a Difference Day volunteerism and then driving through a neighborhood dotted with outdoor cats. The veterinarian said she wanted to help community members keep the cat population under control and keep their pets healthy, so she started organizing this free event.

The spay and neuter event has served up to 300 cats in past editions, Druin said. She estimated that it has tended to a total of approximately 7,000 felines over the years. Clyde's takes appointments for this event, a scheduling process that has now moved online.

"It usually fills up in two days, if not one," Druin said of the appointments.

Druin said more than 80 volunteers are typically needed to staff one of the events, where they have five surgical tables continuously in operation for spaying procedures and four for neutering. The event utilizes volunteers from Clyde's Animal Clinic, as well as the Parkland College Veterinary Technology Program and the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine.

All of the procedures are performed under anesthesia, Druin said. Following Illinois law, all of the cats also are vaccinated for rabies.

"We did get the rabies vaccines donated this year, so people didn't have to pay for that," Druin said, adding that donations are always appreciated for the event.

Druin said spaying can help prevent breast cancer in female cats and neutering helps curtail aggressive behavior by males. She said these procedures also reduce the spread of feline leukemia and AIDS.

Regarding overpopulation, Clyde's reports that an unspayed female cat, her mate and all of their offspring producing two litters per year with 2.8 surviving kittens per litter can total 12 cats per year. The total produced by this original group can grow to 67 cats in two years, 376 in three, 2,107 in four, and 11,801 in five years.

"They multiply really, really fast," Druin said.
CHICAGO  Four years ago, the Shedd Aquarium and local nonprofit Urban Rivers wanted to breathe new life into the Chicago River, a long relic of the citys industrial history. The groups installed human-made floating islands filled with lush plants and greenery in the rivers North Branch, improving the well-being of local wildlife and Chicagoans alike.

The organizations are looking to bring these same benefits to the South Side, with plans to install a new set of floating wetlands totaling over 3,000 square feet in the river adjacent to Canal Origins Park.

The new project is possible through grants from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the Pritzker Family Foundation. Organizers expect the floating wetland to be complete in the next week.

Jaclyn Wegner, director of conservation action at Shedd, said the islands are a first step in revitalizing the area. After about a year and a half of planning, Shedd and Urban Rivers are working to construct six wetlands in total, with hopes of unlocking untapped ecological potential.

Theres a lot living here, but they are really lacking quality habitat, Wegner said. When you look out to the river, you see a lot of hard walls. You see a lack of vegetation, things that provide food and shelter for animals.

The South Branch of the Chicago River has historically been developed for industrial needs, largely for moving goods and dumping. The floating islands will live near Bubbly Creek, which sits at the southern fork of the river. The name recalls a time when local slaughterhouses discarded animal carcasses in the water. The decaying remains would release bubbles that would rise to the waters surface.

The effects of an industrialized river run deep, according to Wegner. Steel walls, infrastructure and barges have encroached on natural riverbanks and wildlife habitats. The habitat loss and pollution continue to make the rivers unwelcoming to wildlife and people, she said.

The addition of the floating islands may help buffer these effects, using plants to help create natural habitats along the Chicago River and encourage the return of native species of fish, birds and other wildlife. These islands can also build root systems that help filter contaminated or nutrient-dense water.

Were working on this floating wetland installation as kind of a first step to get there, Wegner said.

These human-made platforms float on the surface of the water and interlock to form larger islands, anchoring to the banks of the river.

The six floating wetlands will form a kind of archipelago of islands along the river. The islands come together piece by piece, almost like Legos, that can be arranged into different configurations. Some of the mats will incorporate a chained basket at the bottom for submerged plants, such as lilies. Fish and other wildlife can also use them as refuge.

For the past week, volunteers from Shedd, Urban Rivers and the community have helped construct main pieces of the islands using a combination of plastic tubing, weed mat and fencing.

On Thursday, volunteers could be seen forming an assembly line to toss aquarium substrate along the top of the platforms. The plants will grip onto the substrate to grow above and beneath the waters surface.

The installation process started just about a week ago, and locals have already shown interest in the work.

Weve had so many community members come by to say, What are you doing here? This seems really interesting. I want to learn more,  Wegner said. Some of them run home to grab gloves and come back to volunteer.

Northwestern graduate student Erin Snyder traveled a bit farther. She first came down from Edgewater last week to volunteer. She studies plant biology and conservation, so she felt especially excited to take part in an effort to improve Chicagos natural space.

Just seeing the amount of work that goes into this makes me excited to see it get out there, Snyder said. It makes me excited to see all the other projects that Urban Rivers and Shedd will do in the future.

Wegner said Shedd has connected with a variety of organizations around the South Branch area, including around Pilsen and Chinatown, for this project. She said Shedd wants to continue engaging with local residents to help them feel invested in improving their natural space.

Were going to be doing a bunch of community engagement and programming for people to connect, to explore and really be part of improving the health of the river, Wegner said. Thats important for wildlife and also important for all of us.

Shedd and Urban Rivers first partnered in 2018 to construct floating wetlands on the North Branch Canal of the Chicago River, a human-made channel along the east side of Goose Island, as part of a project known as Wild Mile.

Anecdotally, Shedd and Urban Rivers organizers saw the benefits, with residents sharing that they enjoyed the greenery and increased presence of fish, beavers and other wildlife.

Shedd, Urban Rivers and other environmental organizations have since identified unique possibilities for the South Branch.

Preliminary research looking at fish species along the North Branch and South Branch of the Chicago River yielded unexpected results. The study showed a larger than expected variety of aquatic life on the South Side. Researchers see the area as a biodiversity hot spot that wetland islands can further cultivate, said Nick Wesley, executive director of Urban Rivers.

Its just a fantastic area. Some of these places, theyre so isolated, Wesley said. They have a lot of potential for really creating a fantastic ecosystem. These (wetlands) just kind of add more habitat and more opportunities for that to really develop.

If you look at the lakefront, the development, that was very clear early on that it was first industry and then it became recreation, Wesley said. The river did not have that.

He hopes the project can help give people more access to the wildlife and ecosystems in which they live.

For people in urban areas, its hard to get good access to nature, Wesley said. The river is something that just flows through the entire city. Its kind of a connecting piece, connecting different communities together.

Wesley also sees the project as a way of envisioning a better future for those communities.

This is such a fun project, but its really part of supporting diversity, especially within a city that is really developed more for the sake of industry, Wesley said. Were trying to kind of rewind the clock, but also have a vision for what the future is going to be like.
One suspect assaulted Darryl Lawrence Murray last month by striking him with an SUV, police said, while another struck Murray on the head with a hammer.

Both suspects were charged on Friday with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury and were being held in the Forsyth County Jail with bond set at $60,000 each, according to warrants on file at the Forsyth County Magistrate's Office.

Kenya Derin Evans, 35, was charged with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury and felony hit and run, police said, when she allegedly struck Murray with a Chevrolet Tahoe on Sept. 28 and left the scene, according to the arrest warrant.

Evans was also charged with communicating threats and stalking in relation to a previous incident on Sept. 12, when she allegedly sent someone a threatening text message.

Casey Lashaun Boykins, 45, was charged with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury for allegedly striking Murray on the head several times with a hammer on Sept. 28. Boykins was also charged with misdemeanor stalking of Murray.

Police said that while Murray received serious injuries in the assault, they were not life-threatening.

Both suspects face a court appearance on Monday, warrants show.
The North Carolina town that made national headlines in 2020 when law enforcement officers used pepper fog to break up a march to the polls now faces new allegations of unconstitutionally hampering free speech.

A lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court centers on a protest in Graham the year before the town of 14,000, a bedroom community to Triangle and the Triad cities, became one of the most active Black Lives Matter protest sites in the country.

On Nov. 14, 2019, hundreds of demonstrators met at the Center for Spiritual Living near downtown intending to walk along the sidewalk to the Alamance County Detention Center. Thats where immigrants detained across North Carolina are often held prior to being moved to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Georgia.

The group, organized by Never Again Action, a Jewish-led coalition opposed to the detention and deportation of immigrants, planned to hold a traditional Jewish mourning service called a shiva in front of the jail.

Graham police, joined by officers from other agencies, repeatedly blocked off the sidewalk and street in front of the march and eventually surrounded the group, the lawsuit said.

Law enforcement officers aggressive approach included wearing riot gear, using a sound cannon to try to disperse the crowd and arresting several people, according to the lawsuit and journalists accounts.

Five of those arrested  Xavier Adams, Katelyn Campbell, Lisa Rowden, Ruby Sinreich and Mark Sfeir  are now suing, alleging violations of their First Amendment rights.

Alleged constitutional violations

The plaintiffs accuse Graham, current police Chief Kristy Cole, Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson and several Graham Police, Sheriffs Office and Haw River Police Department employees of multiple constitutional violations.

The towns rules restricting protests, the orders from law enforcement to disperse people that day and the subsequent arrests all were unlawful, they say. Additionally, they allege that police officer Clint Cross acted in a racially discriminatory way in choosing to arrest Adams, who identifies as Afro-Mexican, when his behavior was indistinguishable from others.

Adams was in a line of about 16 protesters who stood face-to-face with officers, singing and chanting, said the complaint in the lawsuit, filed in North Carolinas Middle District.

He held out his hands to signal that he was not a threat, but Cross pointed at Adams, the only one in the line whose skin was not white, and said, He needs to go, according to the complaint.

County attorney Rik Stevens said staff received notice of the filing today, are reviewing it and had no immediate comment. Cross and the Graham Police did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Johnson, who is up for his sixth reelection in November, told The Alamance News in a response to a recent candidate questionnaire that allegations of racial discrimination and excessive force by his deputies is a false narrative.

But partly due to the cost of litigation, the sheriffs office is considering buying body cameras, Johnson said.

The protest ordinance

At the time of the protest, Graham had an extraordinarily strict ordinance governing public demonstrations.

It was adopted in 1967 as part of a wave of legislation across the South to tamp down on civil rights protests, particularly events involving children, The News & Observer and ProPublica previously reported.

The ordinance required any group of two or more people gathering for the purpose of protesting any matter or making known any position or thought of the group or of attracting attention thereto to get a permit from the police chief at least 24 hours in advance.

The chief had discretion to limit gatherings to six people and could deny permit applications if they might cause a public disturbance. Children couldnt participate without the chiefs permission.

The new lawsuit argued that the ordinance was unconstitutional, as was officers reliance on the ordinance to declare the 2019 protest an unlawful assembly.

Never Again Action did not acquire a permit, the complaint said. During the Protest, law enforcement officers gave multiple warnings through a PA system advising protestors that they were breaking the law because, they contended, it was unlawful to hold a march without permits from the city.

Its not the first time Grahams protest ordinance has been challenged. In 2020, after local officers arrested several people who wanted to express their feelings about the police murder of George Floyd, civil rights groups joined together in a lawsuit challenging the protest rules.

A federal judge granted a temporary restraining order, finding that the ordinance was likely to be proven unconstitutional, and Graham responded by repealing it.

Graham has since put in place a new ordinance, which has come under criticism too.

Other law enforcement action at protests in Graham, including the pepper fog, has led to lawsuits. One case, centered on the sheriffs involvement in an arrest at a July 2020 protest, is ongoing.

In the new lawsuit, the plaintiffs seek compensatory and punitive damages, along with attorneys fees. They are represented by Scott Holmes, associate professor of law at North Carolina Central University; Jaelyn Miller of K&L Gates; and Ian Mance of Emancipate NC.
It has been frequently remarked that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force.

Each election, whether federal, state or local, is a referendum on the aforementioned passage from Federalist 1.

Federalist 1 is the initial entry of what would be known as the Federalist Papers  a collection of 85 articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay to promote the ratification of the Constitution. The underlying proposition would test whether the people could indeed govern themselves.

Are we collectively capable of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or destined to depend our constitutions on accident and force? In our 21st century context, how might we define good government?

Is good government something that seeks to return to an era of America that probably never existed? Is it an appeal to a homogeneous allegiance? Though some may find the pursuit of these rhetorical questions appealing, are they not in effect relying on accident and force?

It is difficult to see how were on the path toward good government when there are systematic efforts to make voting more difficult supported by the mendacious supposition of a rigged 2020 election; and when more than half of the candidates from one of the major political parties running for office this year support that erroneous belief.

Americas democratic-republican form of government finds itself imperiled by unexamined certainty and absolutism. Viewing certain Americans as existential threats, unexamined certainty and absolutism is legitimized in the public discourse by those with a persuasive public platform, which will ultimately lead to cannibalism.

Good government, however defined, is not a laundry list of specifics, but a broader set of understandings that frame the nations civic virtue. America is too diverse and too complicated to be beholden to a rigid set of standards.

The definition of good government in 1787, when Federalist 1 was published, differs from how one might define it in the 21st century. Good government, at the nations inception, included a disproportionate number of Americans being disenfranchised based on race, gender and economic status. Do we really believe that laws enacted after the 2020 election by state governments, making voting more difficult for some, is based on some notion of good government, or is it the final measure to delay the inevitability of a changing status quo?

Ironically, we did not arrive to the present moment based on centuries of good government from reflection and choice; there was also the influence of accident and force.

It is doubtful that America will land in the Top 5 of the worlds happiest nations. The countries that perennially rank the highest tend to be smaller and more homogeneous than the United States. But American greatness is paradoxically rooted, in part, on its size and diversity.

Perhaps the greatest unintended consequence in creating a nation based on the ideals of liberty and equality is that the commitment would eventually encompass those not originally included. It would inevitably create tension with those grandfathered in, along with those selected to be useful adjuncts. It has brought the nation closer to its founding principles, but also created lasting tensions.

Those tensions have morphed into fear  fear that causes one to disregard ones political self-interest, relying instead on emotions that yearn for a perceived status quo. Without an honest assessment of our motivations, we cannot judiciously answer the question posed in Federalist 1.

Federalist 1 has thus returned posing to every voter and nonvoter the same question. Each election takes a poll on our collective definition of good government.

Is good government synonymous with everyone having equal access to vote or is the original belief to systematically limit the franchise still serving the nations best interest? Can good government be achieved when it violates the nations civic virtue?

The latter is unfortunately quite possible when immediate gratification becomes the primary objective and our political constitutions depend on accident and force.
RALEIGH  Suppose you are about to graduate from a North Carolina high school. Your grades are good but not great, and your primary goal after graduation is to get the schooling you need for a fulfilling career with good earnings potential.

Should you head off to university or enroll in your local community college? For many folks, the latter is the better bet. Trust me  I have receipts!

To be more precise, Preston Cooper has the receipts and Ive perused them. A senior fellow at the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, Cooper produced a study last year that calculated the return-on-investment for some 30,000 bachelors degrees conferred by public and private universities across the country. I wrote about his findings at the time, spotlighting the wide disparity of gains from, say, an economics degree from Duke University (an average boost of $2.7 million in lifetime earnings, after subtracting the cost of getting the degree) and a chemistry degree from the same institution (a net loss of $50,000 in lifetime earnings).

My point wasnt that students ought not to major in chemistry, or in a relatively low-paying field such as dance or drama, if its truly their passion. But if the allure of post-secondary education is mostly the financial payoff, less-expensive options may make more sense.

This year, Cooper turned his attention to cost-and-earnings data for 14,000 grad-school degrees and 17,000 associate degrees and certificates. As before, his cost estimates include not only tuition, fees and charges but also the full-time wages one must forego for the period required to complete each program.

On average, of course, holders of graduate degrees earn more than those who progress no further than an undergraduate degree. They, in turn, have higher average earnings than those who progress no further than community college. But averages dont necessarily speak to what individual students should do.

Consider, for example, the associate degree conferred by Wake Technical Community College in the field of industrial production technology. Assuming on-time completion, it has a return-on-investment of about $884,991  higher than that of many four-year degrees conferred by nearby N.C. State University. How about Wake Techs degree in heating, air conditioning, ventilation and refrigeration? Its on-time completion ROI is $601,217, with salaries averaging about $44,000 at age 25 and reaching $67,000 by age 35.

Sure, an N.C. State degree in a technical or engineering field has a larger payoff. But what if completing such a program is beyond your capabilities? You might well be better off doing the two-year HVAC program instead of getting a bachelors in a less-rigorous subject or (as happens all too often) never finishing your degree.

Lets head out west for another comparison. The ROI for a biology degree from UNC-Asheville is $315,269. In Asheville-Buncombe Techs allied health program, an associate degree in diagnostic, intervention or treatment has an ROI of $668,817.

Heres another example: computer technology. If you get a computer science degree from UNC-Charlotte, you can expect an average ROI of about $710,709. Thats wonderful (speaking as a parent of a recent recipient of this degree). You can expect to make about $61,012 by age 25 and $93,896 a decade later.

However, if a four-year program sounds daunting to you, you can attend Charlottes Central Piedmont Community College. The ROI of its associate degree in computer and information sciences is an impressive $500,295. You wont make quite as much  perhaps $61,001 by age 35  but youll have begun your career years earlier and spent a lot less to get trained.

These figures all assume completion on schedule. Students drop out of community colleges, too. Even after adjusting for the risk of non-completion, however, the two-year programs frequently come out ahead of the four-year programs. They cost a lot less.

To be sure, educating yourself is about more than learning a trade. In todays world, however, there are other ways of educating yourself than spending four (or more) years on a university campus.
Happy Halloween! I bought the good candy this year, and as I write, have resisted opening the bag for myself. Thirty-six more hours, give or take, and Ill be ready for trick-or-treaters and whatevers left over.

Halloween is my favorite holiday, after New Years Day and Wolfenoot. I love the trick-or-treaters, the costumes and decorations  check out Hawthorne Road  the spooky-but-cartoonish atmosphere and scary movies.

The pumpkin spice.

Im not a big fan of bloody slasher movies, though. I prefer the more subtle psychosis of the classic 1963 haunted house tale The Haunting and the improbable premise of 1959s The House on Haunted Hill, with Vincent Price chewing up the scenery. These eerie tales are told with finesse. Theyre fun.

And they serve as distractions from real horrors.

We almost didnt run the Oct. 11 George Will column Putins drive to export Russias pathologies. Thats the column in which Will recites some of the Russian militarys historic torturous practices like lynching, drowning and impaling hesitant soldiers on multiple bayonets. Some practices he described were more graphically creative. Reading about them  imagining being bound, helpless to resist the violation of the bodys integrity  sickened me. I didnt want to put that kind of depravity in the Journal.

But my colleague and friend, military veteran Chris Geis, changed my mind. It captures perfectly why this (the invasion of Ukraine) is such a morally clarifying conflict, he told me. Its reality.

He convinced me that our readers needed to know  especially any misguided fools who are still repeating Russian war propaganda or touting Vladimir Putins Christian values. They need to know about the war crimes Putin has ordered  targeting schools and hospitals and murdering captive civilians  and the murder and rape being inflicted on Ukrainian children by Russian soldiers today.

It boggles my mind that any American would support the perpetrators of such acts. Should we really believe that a monster like Putin operates with Gods approval, as Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, claims?

It also boggles my mind that some congressional Republicans are right now teasing their desire, should they gain power next month, to back off and let Putin have his way in Ukraine. If they succeed, I never ever ever want to hear a Republican politician compare a Democratic president to Neville Chamberlain again. Never ever ever.

Ive also got a huge store of ire for the 30 progressive Democrats who signed the letter last week urging President Biden to negotiate with Putin. At least they had the good sense to rescind their request rather than double-down.

Its been just over a year since former Rep. Madison Cawthorn urged, in a campaign speech: All you moms here  the ones who I said are the most vicious in our movement  if you are raising a young man, please raise them to be a monster.

A monster  like a Russian soldier? Like Putin?

Cawthorns spokesman later explained that he was urging parents to raise their sons as strong, godly, men who are warriors for truth and morality. Monsters and lions, not wimps and sheep.

But I have my doubts. What he said fits into the current conservative obsession among people like Sen. Josh Hawley and Ben Shapiro that young American men are being emasculated by society  and need to respond by developing more aggressive  and less intellectual  instincts.

Turning men into monsters, even for military purposes  worse, for political purposes  is playing with fire, a fire that could burn out of control and consume everything we love.

Were living in an age of growing extremism, of voices pushing us a little closer to violent monstrosity every day, whether it be Donald Trump Jr. arguing that turning the other cheek has gotten us nowhere or the Christian nationalists who insist they know Gods will and its going to involve firearms and overthrowing democratic elections.

Monsters didnt build this country; people of intellect, ambition and vision did.

In times like this, when were all struggling with the pressures of modern-day living, we dont need monsters; all they do is rampage. We need leaders who are wise enough to take seriously Friedrich Nietzsches warning: Beware that when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster.

We need the best, most noble qualities humanity has to offer to pull us away from horrors and remind us that life and civilization are worth preserving and developing.

Save the monsters for Halloween.
A climactic moment is approaching for Ben Sasse on Tuesday when his nomination to be the new president of the University of Florida will be considered by the university's board of trustees.

No reason to believe he won't ultimately be named president -- with final approval coming from the Florida Board of Governors, which is responsible for management of the entire public university system, when it meets in Tampa on Nov. 9.

The nomination has stirred political and academic debate in Florida along with sounding alarm bells among some students and faculty members centered particularly on Sasse's position on LGBTQ rights.

At the campus in Gainesville, University of Florida student body president Lauren Lemasters of Jacksonville told the Independent Florida Alligator, the student newspaper, that she was undecided on how she would vote as a member of the board of trustees and did not expect to reveal her decision before Tuesday.

In Jacksonville, Florida Times-Union metro columnist Nate Monroe wrote that "Sasse's coronation would be the crowning achievement of the DeSantis-led effort to defile the University of Florida," suggesting that the process that eventually led to the nomination of Sasse began when Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a new law making applications for college presidential openings in the state confidential.

But nothing that I read online from Florida suggests that Sasse's nomination will not be approved, setting in motion a political restructuring in Nebraska.

The anticipated result, subject to the outcome of the Nov. 8 gubernatorial election, is that Jim Pillen, the betting man's heavily favored Republican nominee, would appoint Gov. Pete Ricketts to the Senate seat vacated by Sasse shortly after Pillen becomes governor in early January.

Ricketts has not yet formally said that he would seek appointment to that Senate vacancy, but he has not set in motion any process for making that appointment other than ruling out appointing himself.

And Ricketts did seek a Senate seat in 2006 in his first bid for political office, losing to Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson.

Ricketts has acknowledged that he would like to remain in the public sector rather than returning to the private sector when his days as governor are done.

* * *

A few observations about Ben Sasse and the University of Florida and the road ahead:

* Personal opinion: If he is ultimately chosen as president, faculty members and students who are upset now are likely to find that Sasse is open to hearing and considering their concerns and that he will be focused on building and protecting the university rather than bringing a political agenda to the table.

* The University of Florida is a much more prestigious university than I had realized; it was ranked the fifth best public university in the nation in the valued U.S. News and World Report ranking for 2022, trailing only UC-Berkeley, UCLA, the University of Michigan and the University of Virginia.

* It is the fifth largest single-campus university in the United States.

* Big changes coming in Nebraska politics now: a new governor, a new U.S. senator, a couple of House seats in play, a sharply reshuffled Legislature with new leadership, and it looks like Ben Sasse won't be selling Runzas at Husker home games anymore.

* * *

Former Rep. Jeff Fortenberry has filed a formal appeal of his conviction in a U.S. District Court trial in Los Angeles in March on charges that he lied to federal officials about illegal foreign contributions to his 2016 reelection campaign.

The appeal cites two major arguments: improper venue for a trial based on allegedly false statements being made in Nebraska and Washington, D.C.; and inadequate jury instructions.

* * *

Finishing up:

* Secretary of State Bob Evnen heads out on an agribusiness trade mission to Nairobi and Zanzibar with USDA Deputy Secretary Dr. Jewel Bronaugh on Monday, returning on Nov. 4.

* The attack on Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband inside their home in San Francisco is just the latest reminder that demons have been set loose in American politics.

* Do the losers in next week's elections accept the results? And, even more crucially, does the loser in the 2024 presidential race accept the will of the American people as expressed by their votes and, if not, then what?

* Jon Meacham's new book on "Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle," which is titled "And There Was Light," arrives at the right moment, providing a vivid reminder of what happened the last time the country was torn apart and Americans turned on each other.

* The anticipated huge surplus in state revenue presents rare opportunities in addition to more tax relief. Do we seize those opportunities only if it is federal money?
Lincoln Fire and Rescue and the Lincoln Police Department responded to a house fire and a shed fire near downtown Saturday afternoon.

Fire crews were called at 2:23 p.m. to an apartment building at 800 H St., where smoke was reported coming out of a third-story window. Multiple people were helped out of the residence by firefighters using ladders. A woman and child were treated for minor burns.

The fire was put out quickly.

LFR says the building was evacuated, and authorities are assisting in relocating residents. An investigation into the blaze is ongoing.

At 2:37 p.m., LFR responded to a shed fire behind an apartment building at 831 Goodhue Blvd.

The fire started in an unattached garage, then moved to a shed next to it.

Two apartment buildings, at 1401 G St. and 812 Goodhue Blvd., lost power when electric lines above the shed were damaged. Power to the apartment buildings was restored shortly after the fire was put out.

No injuries were reported in the shed fire, but an investigation pointed to arson.
HARTINGTON  A man charged with fatally shooting four Laurel people and setting their homes on fire is scheduled to make his first court appearance Wednesday.

An initial arraignment is set for 1 p.m. in Cedar County Court for Jason Jones, 42, of Laurel. He is charged with four counts each of first-degree murder and use of a firearm to commit a felony and two counts of first-degree arson. A judge previously set his bond at $5 million.

Jones is expected to appear via video from the Nebraska Department of Corrections Reception and Treatment Center in Lincoln, where he continues to receive treatment for serious burns he received in the Aug. 4 incidents. He is accused of shooting Michele Ebeling, 57, in her home and Gene Twiford, 86, his wife, Janet Twiford, 85, and their daughter Dana Twiford, 55, in a second home three blocks away. He's also accused of setting fire to both homes.

Jones likely will make video appearances at hearings for the time being, and there are no current plans to transport him to Cedar County, Sheriff Larry Koranda said. Jones was released from CHI St. Elizabeth in Lincoln on Wednesday and taken to the Reception and Treatment Center. Because of Jones' current medical needs, the Cedar County Jail would be unable to house him, Koranda said, and his condition would make it hard to transport him the roughly 160 miles between Lincoln and Hartington to appear in person at hearings.

"Besides the Department of Corrections, I don't know of any jail in Nebraska that can accommodate his medical needs," Koranda said.

Jones spent 82 days in the hospital, and during that time Cedar County contracted with a private security firm to keep watch over him 24 hours a day. Koranda said the security will cost Cedar County more than $125,000.

The county also will pay $90 per day, plus medical expenses, for Jones to be housed at the Lincoln prison. Depending on Jones' ability to pay medical bills and his health insurance status, the county also may have to pay for his hospital treatment.

"It's very possible Cedar County could be responsible for those medical bills," Koranda said.

Laurel authorities responded to a reported explosion in the early morning hours of Aug. 4 at 209 Elm St., where they found Ebeling's body with two gunshot wounds. A second fire at the Twiford home at 503 Elm St. is believed to have started at about the same time, and responders found the bodies of the three family members, all with gunshot wounds.

Jones, who lived across the street from Ebeling, was arrested without incident at his home about 24 hours later and airlifted to the Lincoln hospital for treatment of serious burns over a large portion of his body.

According to court documents, authorities found receipts Jones had for gas at Ebeling's home and a Ruger pistol traced to Jones at the Twiford residence.

Authorities searching Jones' home seized two knives, four guns, ammunition, two pairs of shoes, cellphones, Apple watches, a laptop computer and an iPad.
Offering homestead exemptions to more disabled veterans would move Nebraska closer to becoming the most veteran-friendly state in the nation, a legislative committee was told Friday.

Toward that end, James Shuey, representing the Disabled American Veterans, urged the Revenue Committee to reconsider an exemption proposal that died earlier this year because of its $64 million estimated cost.

Shuey took issue with some of the assumptions used when making the cost estimate for LB853. But he also said there would be ways to bring down the price tag and still help disabled veterans with the property taxes on their homes.

He said the proposal should not be considered a budget-buster, particularly given Nebraskas strong economy and the 2% annual decline in the number of surviving veterans.

LB853 was introduced by Sen. Jen Day of Omaha. It would have expanded the states homestead exemption program, under which the state covers the cost of property taxes for some groups of homeowners. Those include low-income seniors, low-income people with certain disabilities and some veterans.

Currently, the program provides 100% property tax exemptions for veterans with 100% service-related disabilities, regardless of their income or the value of their home.

Day sought to provide partial exemptions for veterans with service-related disabilities rated at 50% up to 99%. Under LB853, the amount of exemption would have matched the amount of the disability, so that a 70% disabled veteran would get a 70% exemption.

At Fridays interim study hearing, she said that the cost of the new exemption could be reduced by applying income limits or limits on the value of the home or both.

Ryan McIntosh, a lobbyist for the National Guard Association of Nebraska, said he thought that adding income limits would be a reasonable approach.

Shuey suggested the state set exemptions for all disabled veterans at a flat amount, based on their disability rating. He said the exemptions could easily be adjusted in the future.

He said there are more than 39,000 veterans in Nebraska with less than a 100% disability rating. Of those, about half are 65 or older and may already qualify for a homestead exemption based on age and income.
SCOTTSBLUFF  State and local officials celebrated the official opening of the Alliance south section of the Heartland Expressway during a ceremony this month.

Work on the 14-mile section of the project that runs from Angora Hill to south of Alliance began in the spring of 2021 and was not scheduled to be completed by contractor IHC-Scott until the spring of next year.

Theyre actually six months ahead of schedule, and thats a tremendous accomplishment given that were coming out of the pandemic supply chain and labor force issues, so our hats are off to them, said Nebraska Director of Transportation John Selmer.

Gov. Pete Ricketts said, Building infrastructure is part of what we do in state government and national government to be able to help facilitate commerce and national development. This is a great example of the types of projects that make that happen."

The Heartland Expressway, a federally designated, high-priority corridor, will eventually provide multilane, divided highway access from Rapid City, South Dakota, to Denver, via Alliance, Scottsbluff, Kimball and Brush, Colorado. The project has been in process since first proposed in the 1980s.

Increased revenue from the Build Nebraska Act and the Transportation Innovation Act enabled the Nebraska Department of Transportation to extend the expressway earlier than anticipated. The state also received an $18.3 million grant through the U.S. Department of Transportations Infrastructure for Rebuilding America program.

The Heartland Expressway is something that will be able to help trade and commerce, Ricketts said, noting it could shift traffic through Nebraska that currently uses Interstate 25 in Wyoming.

He said the Heartland Expressway is crucial to helping the trade agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada grow.

We should see continued development of the three countries' trade relationships that will help bring more traffic through the Nebraska Panhandle. It will also not only help with economic development of our cities but also for safety and convenience.

Alliance Mayor Mike Dafney, a member of the Heartland Expressway Association, said the addition to the four-lane route is a sign of progress in the Panhandle.

They say that everything comes to him or her that waits, he said. Twenty-eight years ago, we got the corridor development plan outlining the benefits that a four-lane divided highway from the front range of Colorado to Rapid City would provide.

Dafney said that five businesses have already located on the Heartland Expressway in Alliance, with more to come.

We look forward to whats going to happen next.
At 860 square miles, Gage County is far smaller than Cherry County, whose area covers just over 6,000 square miles, which, in turn, is far larger than the entire state of Rhode Island which encompasses 1,214 square miles.

Still Gage County grew by 50% when it absorbed half of old Clay County in 1864 and, at one point, contained a 250-square-mile American Indian reservation. Like many Nebraska counties, the arrival of the railroad brought new communities like Odell into existence, some of which prospered and some withered.

In March of 1855 the Nebraska Territorial Legislature created Gage County, named for Methodist Reverend William D. Gage, the first chaplain of both houses of the Territorial Legislature, and set the county seat near its center at a site without a single actual settler which they named Whitesville.

That August colonists at Beatrice held an admittedly informal and probably invalid election with a total of 33 votes cast, establishing the city of Beatrice, and naming it the county seat. This action was formalized at an election on March 13, 1858, where they also elected county officials.

Within months the legitimacy of that election was questioned by Blue Springs, which was nearer the center of the county and on an established trail, however it was felt too close to the 250-square-mile Otoe Indian Reservation. Another vote in April of 1859 destroyed forever Blue Springs hopes and reaffirmed Beatrice as county seat.

While Whitesville had been staked out, it simply disappeared, never having any population. U.S. Sen. Algernon Paddock, who lived in Gage County, introduced a bill allowing the sale of half of the Otoe Reservation. The sales proved successful and in 1881 a second bill authorized the sale of the balance of the reservation, and in 1882 the remaining Otoe Indians moved to Red Rock, Oklahoma.

In 1862 the Central Overland California & Pikes Peak Express Company established a trail through the Otoe Reservation on what was called the Oketo Cutoff. Although the trail proved short-lived, where it met Indian Creek, William LaGorgue established the village of Charleston on the south bank of the creek in 1873, which opened its post office on Nov. 7, 1877.

In 1879 Perry Walker bought a tract of land in the former Otoe Reservation, but in less than a year sold 360 acres of it to J.D. Myers of Chicago, who, in turn, sold half of that to Charles Perkins who was acting for the Lincoln Land Company, a division of the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad, for a reported $1,900. Perkins later became the president of the railroad, underscoring the very close relationship between the men, the land company and the Burlington.

When the railroad located its line in the area, they built on the north side of Indian Creek, thus missing Charleston. Myers then proposed a village on the railroad, offering a free lot to the parents of the first child born there. The child, Frank LaGrande (LaGorgue) Odell Triska, was the son of Mr. Triska (sometimes Triskey) who opened a general store in the new village, thus named Odell.

Virtually the entire village of Charleston then relocated to Odell. The village of Odell was platted in September of 1880, the post office moved from to Charleston to Odell in October and officially registered/incorporated in November. Perry Walker built a 20 by 40-foot, two-story building in Odell for the post office with a public hall on the upper floor.

A Nebraska history published in 1882 showed there were about 40 businesses in Odell including the Store on the Hill built by J.D. Meyers in which his general store also did a small banking business.

Another store, operated by the Joy family also did a flourishing banking business which later became Hinds Bank when Edward Joy retired and moved to Havelock, where he opened the Joy-Karnes Store, later known simply as Karnes Dry Goods. The history also reported that 100 train carloads of excellent limestone had been shipped from Odell to Omaha and the population had reached 400. Odells peak population of 500 was reached in 1886, which was repeated in the 1950s.

J.D. Myers original bank, known as Myers & Wentworth, was joined by the Bank of Odell in 1884, which was renamed First Commercial State Bank in 1888 but closed in 1894 during a national recession. The bank building, as pictured above, has had a number of subsequent tenants through the years and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007 when it was repurposed as the Old West Trails Center.

Thomas R. Callan moved to Odell in 1883 where he established a hardware store. His son John S. Callan was Odells postmaster and served in the Nebraska Legislature from 1933 until his death in 1950. Johns son Clair Callan was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1964 and is remembered in Lincoln when he came to defense of the U.S. Veterans Hospital here, saving it from closure.
Watchers and Challenges

In Wisconsin, virtually anyone can go to a polling place while the polls are open. But there are restrictions. Among them: Poll watchers must remain in a predetermined area 3 to 8 feet away from where voters check in, sign the poll book and register to vote. Observers are not allowed to take photos or record videos.

All poll watchers must provide a valid ID and sign a logbook upon arrival at the polling place.

While anyone can be a poll watcher, only registered poll watchers, sometimes called poll observers, may challenge whether individual voters are allowed to cast ballot.

If a poll observer believes someone trying to vote is not a legal  such as if the watcher believes the would-be voter is not a U.S. citizen, is not yet 18 years old, has lost their voting rights, etc.  the observer is allowed to file a challenge. At that point, an election inspector then must have the voter being challenged affirm they are a legal voter.

If the voter affirms that they are a legal voter but the watcher does not withdraw their challenge, then the voter will still be able to fill out a ballot, but it will be counted separately  and it could be removed from final vote totals prior to canvassing if the vote was found to have been cast illegally.

The poll worker then has to respond to that challenge, Barry Burden said; it is illegal for poll workers to ignore challenges.

However, if a poll watcher is being frivolous with challenges, Burden said they could be ordered to leave by the polling locations chief elections official. During the 2020 presidential election, a Republican poll watcher was ordered to leave Racine's Festival Hall after he was accused of repeatedly leaving the predetermined area for observers to stand.

Burden said the No. 1 concern for election observers who are more aggressive or meddling is that they could slow down the process to the point that election workers are unable to do their primary jobs as efficiently, which in turn could allow long lines to form, which then could be a deterrent to voting.

In urban areas, where longer voting lines are more common, long wait times have been seen as a form as voter suppression. Long waits at polling places are disruptive, disenfranchising, and all too common. Black and Latino voters are especially likely to endure them, states a 2020 report from the Brennan Center for Justice, a progressive think tank. The Bipartisan Policy Center reported that, in 2016 presidential election, over 560,000 eligible voters failed to cast a ballot because of problems related to polling place management, including long lines.
At the beginning of the school year, Margret Hinze was both a special education teacher for grades six to 12, and a contestant in the Miss Racine Scholarship Competition.

One of her students joked that if she did not win, Miss Hinze could not be their teacher anymore.

It looks like they get to keep their teacher.
RACINE  The Spirit of Racine Entrepreneurs Exhibit has expanded with two recent donations.

A little Mitchell Wagon and a lollipop machine have come home to the city where they were manufactured more than 100 years ago.

The Spirit of Racine Entrepreneurs Exhibit is a collection of historical items and advertisements for items made in the building that at one time was the home of the Racine Wagon & Carriage Company and is now the Racine Business Center, 1405 16th St.

Members of the public are invited to see the collection at the Exhibits open house from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 4.

Jim Mercier, a local historian, said he would hang up signs to help people get through the sprawling complex to the exhibit.

Mercier has been collecting Racine memorabilia for more than 40 years. He described himself as someone who loves the history of the community and collecting pieces from its past.

The main room contains items specific to the buildings history. There are also two other rooms with general items of historical interest.

Wagon

The Mitchell Wagon is in surprisingly good condition considering it has probably surpassed its 100th birthday.

The wagon was initially owned by Carl Clemenson, a local man who served in World War I, and was given to Gladys Hansen just after World War II with the instruction that she give it to her first grandchild.

Hansen, in turn, gave the wagon to her daughter Mardell Hansen Davis, who donated the wagon to the exhibit on Oct. 10, 2020.

Davis told The Journal Times the Mitchell Wagon presented storage challenges, so it sat in her basement for 35-40 years.

She met Mercier when she answered an ad in the newspaper, placed by a person looking for old Racine memorabilia.

Davis said more than anything she wanted information about the Mitchell Wagon, but for sentimental reasons she did not want to part with it.

Some years went by and Davis saw the ad again, placed by Mercier looking for Racine memorabilia. She reports Mercier was just as enthusiastic about the Mitchell Wagon as the first time he saw it.

He seemed so excited about it, Davis said. I decided I would just as soon give it to someone who was going to take care of it.

Mitchell

The Mitchell Wagon Company was a competitor of the Racine Wagon and Carriage Company.

The Mitchell Wagon company was founded in 1834 in Chicago, opened its Racine location in 1855, and was sold to John Deere in August 1917.

The operation covered 20 acres parallel to Eight Street. The factory was later converted to the Mitchell Wagon Factory Lofts, 815 Eight St.

The Racine Wagon and Carriage company was started in 1865 and manufactured spring vehicles and farm wagons until 1914.

Business began to wane for both companies due to the rise of the automobile.

Lollipops

The old lollipop machine was a long way from home when it was recovered approximately seven years ago in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, by Mark DeFault, who provided a written account of how he came to have the machine.

According to DeFault he located the lollipop machine in the basement of an old mill complex, but it was inaccessible and heavy, so he was not able to move it.

The machine sat in the basement of the complex for five more years until a fire in 2020, which destroyed multiple buildings in the area, according to news accounts.

A few weeks after the fire, the demo company was cleaning up the property, and I found that it had been moved up from the basement and placed on the ground by an excavator, DeFault recalled. Luckily, I found it before the scrappers did.

He shared the building where the lollipop machine was located had been built in around 1897 and was used by the School House Candy Company located about a mile away from the building where the machine was found.

DeFault speculated that School House Candy may have originally commissioned the Racine Confectioners Machinery Company to design and build this Gatling gun of sugar.

Industrial

In 1916, with the use of farm wagons on the decline and motor vehicles on the rise, the Racine Wagon and Carriage Company was rechristened the Racine Industrial Plant. Rather than being one company that manufactured one thing, the building became a business incubator where small businesses could rent space.

One of those businesses was the Racine Confectioners Machinery Company, which manufactured machines for mass producing candy. Before machines, lollipops were made by hand in small batches, which was a slow process and made the candy more expensive.

The lollipop machine, in contrast, could produce 300 lollipops per minute, according to DeFault.

When it was being used to make lollipops, there would have been a heated conveyor feeding a rectangular belt of semi-solid lollipop stock into the front. Then, simultaneously, the lollipops were formed by the rolling molds, and the sticks were inserted by a camming action out of the hoppers (much like a Gatling gun) until shooting out of the other side.

DeFault said he was happy to have rescued the machine from the scrapyard and that it was returned to Racine.

Treasure hunt

Mercier came across the lollipop machine on one of his daily checks of the Internet as part of his mission to find pieces of Racine history and bring them home.

He said he came across the lollipop machine on Ebay about two-and-a-half years ago, but at that time it was listed for $2,500. That was a bit expensive, so he did not make a bid, but he did keep his eye on the item.

Over the course of the next 18 months, the price continued to drop until it was $500.

At that point, Mercier reached out to DeFault, who reported that he had been lugging the heavy thing around to various shows. While people were curious and asked questions, there were no buyers.

Mercier said he offered DeFault a deal. If he was willing to donate the lollipop machine to the city where it was made, Mercier would pay for the shipping. DeFault agreed.

The lollipop machine was added to the collection of the Spirit of Racine Entrepreneurs Exhibit on Oct. 10.
Start over.

We dont recall ever seeing a city hiring process that was so mucked up as Racines hiring of City Council president John Tate II to head the newly-created position of violence prevention manager.

The job, which carries a salary of somewhere between $78,000 and $101,000 a year, is to be funded by federal grant money provided by the American Rescue Plan Act, at least through the end of 2023. The purpose of the new position is to bring a public health perspective to the citys response to crime and violence.

The Racine City Council approved its creation in July. Tate, along with 20 others applied for the job and he was one of three finalists to be interviewed. The city announced his selection a week ago and Tate said he would resign from his position as council president before beginning his new job on Nov. 14.

When the news hit the street, the crap hit the fan. Two former city aldermen, David Maack and CJ Rouse, immediately raised questions over whether it was ethical or even legal for a sitting city official to take a position they had voted to create.

Turns out they were right.

Tate conceded as much a week ago Saturday in a Facebook post, saying, After the announcement of my intention to resign from the Common Council in order to lead the citys violence prevention efforts, it was brought to my attention that Wisconsin state statute prohibits sitting local elected officials from taking positions that were created during their term of office. Officials, however are eligible for those same offices once the current term has concluded.

So where does this leave Tate? Well, hes not going to resign as council president in November and he will serve out his aldermanic term, which ends in April. He said he would consult with the city attorney as to what steps may be necessary to satisfy state statute before processing any further with this position. That may include withdrawing from consideration altogether or delaying a start date until after the term has concluded, or something else altogether.

It boggles the mind. Where, we have to ask, were City Attorney Scott Letteney, Mayor Cory Mason and City Clerk Tara McMenamin, when it came to monitoring this hiring process? Were they really unaware of state law that prohibits sitting officials from taking up city jobs that they had voted to create until their terms had expired?

Tate may well be the most qualified for this new position. But this hiring process has been so dreadful that the only honest, ethical and legal way for the city to proceed is to restart the process, re-open applications and do new interviews.

If the city wants to delay the hiring process until April to give Tate a chance to throw his hat in the ring  again  then so be it.

Start over. And do it legally this time.
As mayor of the City of Burlington, I would like to provide an update on the Burlington Task Force which was created to bring awareness, education and solutions to incidents of possible racism in our community.

Burlington is not alone! Every city in this country small or large have had incidents and many have tried to address it with failures and successes.

Every constituent has a difference of opinion as to whether we should/should not have this task force. However, the task force was created to not turn a blind eye to residents, visitors, employees and businesses of our community who are of color and subjected to mistreatment.

I have continuously been criticized on the lack of movement from the task force and feel compelled to focus on what has been completed  progressive community movement has been occurring.

Let us remember, change does not happen immediately and/or at the timing of ones own personal agenda.

For some background history, in the fall of 2021, Dr. Dan Schroeder, in consultation with myself, outlined the structure for the task force. We wanted students from both high schools to be a part of the task force as they are our future; however, wanting to ensure anonymity (which parents also wanted) and create a safe environment.

Unfortunately, we have been shamed by some members of the press who continue to smear the city with their negative focus even though all records have been made public.

Moving forward, there has been positive momentum of the task force.

Through Dr. Daniel Schroeders leadership, the city held its first, all-day meeting in the summer of 2021 with a large turnout of community members which showed energy at the end of the day and future goals to strive towards.

Please note, the city extended their reach to the Burlington Coalition of Racism from day one; however, agreed to participate with the task force in early 2022. So, the notion of we have not done anything is wrong.

Dr. Thompson, resident and expert, then took the baton to assist the task force. He has graciously provided his time, free of charge, due to his commitment on this important initiative.

Based on Dr. Thompsons leadership and group findings, three target areas were identified: Community involvement, city involvement and police force involvement.

The city must openly and publicly support people of color. Suggested ways in which the city can do this is to celebrate holidays and important dates such as Juneteenth, Black History Month and Hispanic Heritage Month.

By partnering with BCDR, the city can help promote widespread acceptance and awareness through social media and the citys website.

Through public education forums, we can target specific areas of social justice, diversity and inclusion. Conversation starter warm-ups before task force meetings can better acquaint participants, build a space of acceptance and open-mindedness for open and honest dialog. Perhaps, social media platforms can be utilized to better communicate to the public.

The task force should plan their own community event. Evenings of Understanding was proposed where the task force creates space for the community to learn and celebrate diverse cultures, ethnicities, beliefs and socio-economic backgrounds within the community.

Progress can be measured by first creating a baseline of the communitys temperature through a city-wide survey designed to reach all demographics, which can be offered both in-person and online.

Recruiting key players will also help bring awareness. The Chamber of Commerce can engage business owners about the work of the task force and how businesses can get involved or support the task force.

The Burlington Standard Press could do a quarterly feature in the paper about the task force and share regular updates and calls to action with the community.

In addition, City of Burlington staff and elected officials have undertaken actions aside from the task force which include:

Creation of chapter 35  Code of Ethics and Equal Treatment of All.

City of Burlington handbook  Includes: On-boarding of staff and elected officials of non-discrimination, anti-harassment and anti-retaliation policy.

Trainings of diversity/inclusion and other employee education forms for a safe right to work environment.

PD policies to include un-biased based policing, internal investigations, code of conduct policy, established policies to provide services to individuals with limited English proficiency, audio/visual recordings, victim and witness policies to provide proper procedures in compliance with open records laws.

PD specific trainings  1st Amendment demonstrations, audits and training on protected speech, diversity and inclusion training, anti-harassment training, critical skills training in active listening, training in empathy for patrol officers, community relationships training and new officers undergo 520 hours of field training consisting of extensive training in professional communications during citizen contacts.

We have also spoken at a conference hosted by the League of Wisconsin Municipalities discussing the movement of creating task forces concerning racism.

This initiative will take time and if it is to succeed, needs patience from every stakeholder and a willingness to collaborate, versus self-centered individual actions.

This past month, residents have asked to be a part of the task force and they have been added.

If anyone would like to join, please contact me, as our community will continue to work together to make a difference.
1. Yes. Using marijuana odor to determine probable cause is vital to police investigations.

2. Yes. As the ordinance is written, it targets police; that shouldnt be allowed to stand.

3. No. The council should leave the ordinance alone and respect the will of the voters.

4. No. The council should repeal the ordinance altogether. It conflicts with state law.

5. Unsure. Its hard to say how the council should proceed on addressing the ordinance.

Vote

View Results
The aging brick campus of the Sharif University of Technology, Iran's elite technical school, has long been a magnet for the nation's brightest minds, with a record of elevating its students to the highest reaches of society.

Thousands of Sharif University alumni power Iran's most sensitive industries, including nuclear energy and aerospace. One of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's closest advisers has taught there for decades.

But as demonstrations erupt across Iran  first sparked by the death in September of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the country's morality police  the scientific powerhouse known as "Iran's M.I.T." has emerged as an unexpected hub for protest, fueling Iran's biggest anti-government movement in over a decade.

"We've become politically active because there is nothing to lose," said an electrical engineering major and activist in Sharif University's student association who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisals. "The way things are now in Iran, you have to emigrate and leave your family and friends or stay and fight for your rights."

Despite a violent crackdown, Iranians have taken to the streets, venting their outrage over social repression, economic despair and global isolation  crises that have clipped the ambitions of Iran's young and educated generation. Over the last few weeks, university campuses have become a hotbed of opposition.

"Students have come to the realization they will not achieve their rights in this framework," said Mohammad Ali Kadivar, an Iran scholar at Boston College. "They are demanding the end of the Islamic Republic."

Protests have flared nearly every day for the past month at Sharif University  and escalated after security forces cracked down violently on Oct. 2, resulting in an hourslong standoff between students and police.

Sharif University, among other campuses, was wracked by protests when Marxist and Islamist student groups lit the fuse of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which ushered in the clerical establishment that still rules Iran.

Once in power, the young theocracy worked to ensure universities would no longer be breeding grounds for opposition: The clerics purged professors, arrested dissident students and set up their own powerful student associations.

Political issues occasionally galvanized students despite risks. Pro-reformist students protested at the University of Tehran in 1999, prompting a raid by security forces who fatally shot a student and flung others out of windows.

Broadly, Tehran's campuses became subdued, students and experts said, particularly Sharif University.

A turning point came in 2018. Former President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of Tehran's landmark nuclear deal that year and reimposed harsh sanctions. A year later, in the fall of 2019, a fuel price hike set off the deadliest nationwide unrest since the Islamic Revolution. The Sharif Islamic Association, a misnomer for the students' largely secular representative body, began organizing demonstrations on campus.

In 2020, the student group boycotted classes and held a protest vigil after the Iranian military's downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane killed 176 people, including over a dozen Sharif University graduates. Later that year, authorities arrested two top students on widely disputed security charges, stoking outrage.

When news spread of Amini's death after her arrest for allegedly violating Iran's strict rules on women's dress, students buzzed. Iran's government insists Amini was not mistreated in police custody, but her family says her body showed signs of beating after she was detained.

Sharif University authorities denied the student association a protest permit, members said. Crowds demonstrated anyway, pumping their fists and chanting "Death to the dictator!"

On Oct. 2, the protests devolved into violent mayhem, the association said. As hundreds of students chanted against Khamenei, plainclothes security forces raided campus. Professors formed a human shield so students could flee. But security forces beat the professors, ripped through their interlocked hands and chased protesters into the parking garage. They unleashed paintballs, tear gas and metal pellets on shrieking students. Several were wounded and some 40 were arrested, most of whom have now been released.

Tensions were further inflamed when the minister for higher education, Mohammad Ali Zolfigol, visited the campus, accused students of "lawlessness" and warned they'd be held responsible, according to a computer engineering student who attended the meeting and videos posted online.

The university created a forum, billed as a safe space for students to voice their complaints. Women boldly took the stage without the mandatory hijab, according to videos shared by members of the association. Students lashed out at the university for its failure to protect them.

The university announced it would temporarily ban over two dozen students who contributed to the "unstable environment." That prompted more demonstrations. Female students streamed into the male-only section of the dining hall in protest over campus gender segregation as male students cheered them on.

The university closed the cafeteria on Tuesday. Students moved their lunch to the campus yard, videos showed. A professor joined in solidarity. Young women and men picnicked side by side on the pavement, chanting: "Woman! Life! Freedom!"
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.  Once a bastion of segregation, the University of North Carolina now takes account of race to make up for its sordid history and to increase the number of Black students and other underrepresented minorities on campus.

Its affirmative action program, using race among many factors to build a diverse student body, is similar to plans in place at other selective public and private institutions.

But a Supreme Court that has twice blessed race-conscious college admissions programs in the past 19 years now seems poised to restrict their use or outlaw them altogether.

The case, following the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June, offers another test of whether the court now dominated by conservatives will move the nation's policies to the right on another of its most contentious cultural issues.

The court is hearing two cases Monday, involving UNC and Harvard, the nation's oldest public and private universities, respectively.

The challengers to the universities' programs have lost at every step as lower courts have rejected their claims that the schools discriminate against white and Asian American applicants.

But Students for Fair Representation, created by conservative activist Ed Blum, has always pointed toward the nation's highest court, more conservative now that former President Donald Trump's three nominees are among the nine justices, as the best forum to roll back more than 40 years of court rulings that allow race to be one factor among many in admissions.

North Carolina's flagship university in Chapel Hill is a curious place to make that case.

The first Black students didn't arrive until 1951, and then only under court order. Into the 1980s, students reported they were subjected to racial slurs and displays of insensitivity, including being asked to do laundry by a white classmate, according to an account by historian David Cecelski that is included in court documents.

Even now, U.S. District Judge Loretta Biggs noted in her 2021 decision upholding the university's program, underrepresented minorities win admission to UNC at lower rates than do white and Asian American applicants and "minority students at the University still report being confronted with racial epithets, as well as feeling isolated, ostracized, stereotyped and viewed as tokens in a number of University spaces."

Defending its program, North Carolina said it "continues to have much work to do."

Christina Huang, an 18-year-old freshman from West Milford, New Jersey, who is co-director of UNC for Affirmative Action, said diversity on campus enriches the learning environment for all students, even outside the classroom.

"I think there's a negative connotation of affirmative action and this idea that it's a quota and it's hurting Asian Americans," said Huang, a first-generation college student studying political science. "But culture plays such a big role, especially on UNC's campus, because you walk around and there's culture everywhere. There's people dressed up in traditional clothes, fashion shows, people dancing to their different types of music, even the foods we eat  it's so meaningful. You'd lose so much if we were not to make sure we have that diversity."

Joy Jiang, a 19-year-old sophomore from Harrisburg, North Carolina, and co-director of the affirmative action group, said recent racial tensions on campus that she described as a backlash after protesters toppled a Confederate statue there in 2018, have scared away some students of color from vocalizing their support for affirmative action.

"Diversity on college campuses is good, but it shouldn't come at the expense of fairness," said Jacob James, 20, of Robersonville, North Carolina, the chairman of UNC College Republicans. Affirmative action, he said, "unfairly disadvantages some individuals over other individuals based on race."

James' comment meshes with the main point made by Blum's group, that the Constitution forbids any consideration of race. Students for Fair Admission said it draws support from the seminal case of Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 decision that paved the way for the desegregation of the nation's public schools.

Blum, who has worked for years to rid college admissions of racial considerations, also was behind the ultimately losing lawsuit on behalf of Abigail Fisher, a white woman who claimed discrimination explained her rejection by the University of Texas. That case was decided only six years ago, but the makeup of the court has changed significantly since then, with the addition of the three Trump appointees and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the court's first Black woman.

Jackson is sitting out the Harvard case because she was on an advisory board until recently. But she is taking part in the North Carolina case, which strongly suggests the court would use that case if it ends up making a major pronouncement on affirmative action.

Every U.S. college and university the justices attended, save one, is urging the court to preserve race-conscious admissions. Only Justice Amy Coney Barrett's undergraduate alma mater, Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, is not involved.

Nine states already prohibit any consideration of race in admissions to public colleges and universities: Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Washington.
Devin Allen admits that he occasionally behaved like a knucklehead, growing up in Baltimore. But he was not so irreverent as a tenth grader that he could see an image of Emmett Tills open casket and not find it arresting.

The story of the 14-year-old Black boy who was lynched in Mississippi became widely known because his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, asked a press photographer to document Emmetts funeral. The horrifying 1955 photographs depicted tangible evidence of how violent racial hatred was plaguing the U.S., catalyzing the civil rights movement.

Back then, I was like, Wow, that happened so long ago. It would never happen now, Allen said, recalling the first time a high school history teacher showed him the images.

Yet, roughly 10 years later, Allen himself would capture searing images of protests and civil unrest in Baltimore after the 2015 death of Freddie Gray, a Black man who died in police custody.

Allens photographs highlighting the effects of police brutality on Baltimores Black community are part of the new Impact of Images campaign inspired by the power of photographs like the ones of Emmett Till printed nearly 70 years ago in Jet magazine. The exhibit, curated by Lead With Love, is in collaboration with the studio and production company behind the new biopic Till.

The collection includes the celebrated work of Black photographers and photojournalists from the civil rights and post-civil rights era, such as Gordon Parks, Kwame Brathwaite and Ernest Withers, alongside work from photographers of the Black Lives Matter generation. It opened at ZuCot Gallery, a Black-owned gallery in Atlanta.

When I became a photographer, I started understanding, Allen said. Im nothing but a conduit, doing something that has been passed down from generation to generation. We are truthful revealers. We are storytellers. We are light bringers.

Another featured photographer, Noemie Tshinanga, took up photography as a young teenager. Much of her professional work is about showing Black people when they are not in pain, grief or anguish.

It doesnt matter who you are, whether youre a notable figure or someone walking down the street like, your existence is enough, the Brooklyn-based photographer said. That is the importance of showing that flip side of just us being.

Tshinanga first saw the image of Emmett Tills open casket as a teenager. Like Allen, she didnt fully grasp its continued relevance until one of her generations versions was splashed across social media in 2014.

I remember Mike Browns photo and just like everyone trying to figure out what was happening and just kind of processing that, she said, referring to an image of the lifeless body of Michael Brown, left for hours in the middle of the street after the Black 18-year-old was fatally shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.

And so once that image was ingrained in my head, it made me understand Emmett Tills image, she said.

In the late summer of 1955, Till-Mobley put her son on a train from Chicago to visit family in her native Mississippi. She warned Emmett he was bound for a place where his safety depended on his ability to mute his outgoing, uncompromising nature around white people.

In the overnight hours of Aug. 28, he was taken from his uncles home at gunpoint by two vengeful white men. Emmetts alleged crime? Flirting with the wife of one of his killers.

Three days later, a fisherman on the Tallahatchie River discovered the teenagers bloated corpse. An eye was detached, an ear was missing and his head was shot and bashed in.

They would not be able to visualize what had happened, unless they were allowed to see the result of what had happened. They had to see what I had seen, Till-Mobley said in a 2003 memoir. The whole nation had to bear witness.

Till-Mobley handpicked Jet photographer David Jackson, a Black man who had spent much of his career documenting the horrors of Jim Crow segregation in the South, to take the controversial images of her sons body at a funeral home in Chicago.

The vast majority of U.S. news outlets worried that they would drive away readers and advertisers if they printed graphic images of the teenagers body  but not publishers in the Black press. John H. Johnson, the late founder of Jet and Ebony, dared to show what happened to Emmett Till.

The images are a turning point in the plot of Till, and Till-Mobleys pursuit of justice. In her research for the film, director Chinonye Chukwu learned that Till-Mobley was very intentional in how she shared her sons story.

It was no accident that she chose a Black photographer for the photo, Chukwu told The Associated Press. She knew what she was doing and she knew the importance of us telling our own story.

The collection can be viewed every Saturday and by appointment on weekdays until Nov. 13.

In addition, a mural bearing the likenesses of Emmett and Mamie Till-Mobley is up at The Beehive, a Black-owned space in South Los Angeles. New Orleans-based artist Brandan BMike Odums, whose artwork was recently featured on the cover of actor Will Smiths autobiography, dedicated the mural alongside artist Whitney Alix last weekend.
WASHINGTON  One handshake, one hug and one selfie at a time. If President Joe Biden could greet every American this way, longtime allies say, his approval ratings would soar.

Biden has never been at his best in big speeches, where his delivery can be stilted, his stories sometimes meandering. It's the end of his speech that often marks the beginning of Biden's favorite part of an event  the rope line, in the parlance of political operatives. He whirls around, scans the crowd and zeroes in on his first target for a one-on-one connection.

It might be with someone like Tim Eichinger, a Milwaukee brewery owner who asked Biden a question during a TV town hall 20 months ago, and has since had a one-on-one videoconference with the president and seen Biden send a couple of letters to his grandson.

It might be a small child  Biden likes to carry some cash so he can slip kids a few dollars and encourage them to buy ice cream. It might be someone who stutters  they come in for special attention from the president.

After Biden gave a speech on student loans at Delaware State University, there were plentiful handshakes and photos with the students on stage. On Oct. 18, at a Democratic National Committee event in Washington, Biden invited one audience member backstage for a private photo, autographed some of the abortion rights signs that participants were waving and mugged in a handful of selfies.

Aides say the 79-year-old has perfected his selfie arm, the products of which are widely shared on social media.

At an August event for Maryland Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wes Moore, Biden spent more than 75 minutes across three different rooms greeting people after the speechmaking had ended. He drew cheers when he grabbed hold of a high school drum major's baton and then posed with it for a photo before the marching band.

Its all part of an approach Biden has largely perfected through decades of glad-handing in his home state of Delaware, whose population is just over 1 million and was about half that when Biden was first elected to the Senate in 1972.

Scaling that kind of personal politicking to the presidential level has been a challenge, first as Biden campaigned for the Oval Office in the COVID-19 pandemic that curtailed his public engagements and now that hes in the White House, where the demands on his time  and the security  are greater.

The hard fact, politically, is that one-on-one warmth and empathy only go so far. They helped him forge bipartisan bonds in the Senate but from the White House, most voters, most of the time, only see the president in scripted or staged moments. Biden aides have sought out ways to show voters the president's private interactions, with behind-the-scenes videos of some of the encounters, even if they are unlikely to ever have a chance at one themselves.

Still, Biden insists that time be built into his schedule so he can interact with people at his events  such encounters seem to energize him and help inform his policymaking.

There can occasionally be awkward moments, too, such as when a presidential quip lands poorly, that in today's partisan environment are often broadcast online by his political rivals. But they are outnumbered by the positive interactions that have defined Biden's career and tested the stamina of his aides.

He outlasts us," White House deputy chief of staff Jen OMalley Dillon told The Associated Press of Bidens penchant for spending 30 minutes, an hour, sometimes longer shaking hands.

Hes going to take as much time as he wants," added Stephen Goepfert, Biden's former personal aide, or body man.

The president, whose poll ratings have risen in recent months but remain in negative territory, has held relatively few large political events in the leadup to midterm elections. Many Democratic candidates don't see a Biden appearance as a plus. Aides say his schedule  and the size of his audiences  will pick up as his party pivots to get-out-the-vote efforts.

But dont expect the small encounters to go away.

Biden, aides said, seems to detect when someone may be going through a personal or family crisis  perhaps informed by his own experiences with grief and challenge: the death of his first wife and daughter in a car crash, the loss of his son to cancer, his recovery from a pair of life-threatening brain aneurysms, a decades-long struggle to overcome a stutter.

He just instinctually knows how to show up for what that person needs in whatever way that is, said OMalley Dillon.
Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong / Yonhap



By Kim Hyun-bin



Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong is expected to travel to Vietnam to strengthen global management and seek new business investment opportunities there, according to industry officials, Sunday.



Plans for Lee to visit Samsung Electronics' Vietnam R&D center at the end of this year is being discussed. Since March 2020, Samsung Electronics has invested $220 million to build the R&D center in Hanoi, and aims to complete construction by the end of this year.



Lee was originally scheduled to visit Vietnam to attend the groundbreaking ceremony of the R&D center in February 2020, but the event was canceled due to the spread of COVID-19. Instead, he visited Vietnam in October of the same year. During that visit, after reviewing the progress of the R&D center construction, Lee said in a private meeting with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, "We will support the new R&D center to become a base for Samsung Group's research and development."



Currently, Samsung Electronics operates two smartphone factories and TV and home appliance factories in Vietnam. The Vietnam plant produces more than 50 percent of Samsung Electronics' smartphones sold worldwide.



This year also marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Korea and Vietnam, raising the possibility of the chairman discussing expanded business cooperation with Vietnam's political and related figures.



Considering that he has to attend a trial every Thursday on allegations of a fraudulent merger between Cheil Industries and Samsung C&T and accounting fraud at Samsung Biologics, countries in relatively close proximity such as Japan, China, and India are also considered as destinations for the chairman's overseas business trips.



Lee was appointed as chairman without fanfare on Thursday and replaced his inaugural address by sharing his remarks in front of 300 former and current Samsung executives on the company's intranet system on Oct. 25 during the second-anniversary of late Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee's death.



"Recently, looking at the global market and domestic and overseas business sites, I felt desperate," Lee said. "The more difficult the times are, the more we need to prepare ahead of time and develop our skills."


Three brothers who work there are buying Big Boar Barbecue and Catering at 510 Commerce St. in West Salem from its founders, Jerry and Donna Beyer, effective Tuesday.

The new owners are twins Carter and Quinten Morris, who have worked there for more than five years, and their older brother, Cody Morris, who has worked there for the past several months. They plan no major changes in the business, Carter told me last week.

The Beyers began serving their barbecue in 2010 in a cookshack trailer parked along Commerce Street, near their Beyer Cabinets business. They opened their barbecue restaurant in 2014. They sold their cabinet business to their daughter and her husband, Ronda and Rod Young, in 2016.

Jerry Beyer said last week that he and his wife sold their barbecue business because they wanted to retire. Once I knew (the Morris brothers) were serious (about buying the business) I was in seventh heaven, he said. We feel very good about passing it on to them.

The West Salem restaurants hours are 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. For more information, call 608-612-0387 or visit www.bigboarbbq.com or Facebook.

Look for the Sparta Bottling Co. to begin serving its own craft soda pop as well as German-inspired pub food next summer in the former police station at 121 E. Oak St. in downtown Sparta.

Owners Beau and Jeanette Burlingame bought the building from the city in January and plan to begin remodeling it in early December.

They plan to open to the public next June or July.

The Burlingames also own the Beer Shop tap room at 200 W. Wisconsin St. in Sparta, which they opened in July 2020.

At their new Sparta Bottling Co., the Burlingames plan to make small batches of craft soda pop using real fruit. They plan to serve made-from-scratch pub food and their soda pop seven days a week and also plan to offer Sunday brunch, a Friday fish fry, beer and cocktails made with bitters produced by the bottling company. The second floor of the two-story building will be an Airbnb available for short-term rental to travelers.

The Sparta Bottling Co. will have indoor and outdoor seating. Its soda pop will be available on tap, and some kind of container will be available to customers who want to take soda pop home, Beau said.

The new business might begin with five or six flavors of soda pop, Jeanette said. And expand from there. Well do seasonal rotations. And Im sure well discover kind of our flagships.

We want to do a traditional root beer for sure.

The Burlingames expect to have 15 to 20 employees at Sparta Bottling Co. when it opens and have begun posting job openings on its website.

If Sparta Bottling Co. were to begin canning or bottling soda pop and wholesaling it to customers such as area grocery stores and convenience stores at some point in the future, it would need to expand to a second building, where the production would occur, Beau said.

For more information, visit www.spartabottlingco.com or Facebook.

I was slow in learning about this, but Matt and Angie Schaitel have moved their Alchemy Brewing Co. from a former garage in Leon to the much larger former Terrys Hideout bar and grill at 10041 County Hwy. XX, between Leon and Melvina. The new location has a rural Cashton address and is at the intersection of Hwys. XX and 27.

Weve expanded our equipment and increased beer production at the new location, which opened in May, Matt told me last week. Were technically a microbrewpub now and also serve food, such as hamburgers, taco salad, smothered fries and fried cheese curds, he said. The Schaitels use their own cheese curd batter. And our hamburger is always fresh, never frozen, Matt said.

Last week, Alchemy Brewing had 20 beers on tap, including five brewed by Matt. It also has a variety of canned and bottled beers. The new location has inside and outside seating.

Hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday, Thursday and Sunday; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday; 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday and closed Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Onalaska Hilltopper Rotary and Holmen Area Rotary Club will host the 12th Annual Onalaska Community Thanksgiving Day Dinner on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 24, serving the Onalaska and Holmen communities.

In 2011, the Onalaska Enhancement Foundation, working with community partners, along with the Onalaska Hilltopper Rotary and Holmen Area Rotary Clubs established a new Onalaska tradition of coming together as a community and sharing the Thanksgiving meal. The meal is open to the public and served over 1,700 meals last year.

Its absolutely amazing how this event has continued to flourish each year with volunteers and community partners pulling it all together.

This event is something the community can enjoy together and take pride in, said co-founders Dan Ferries and Jean Lunde. We look forward to serving and enjoying the company of a wide range of residents-from the youngest to the most seasoned. This is wonderful opportunity to get to know your neighbors and help build unity in our communities. See you there!

A traditional meal of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, gravy, rolls, desserts, milk and coffee will be served in person at the Wisconsin National Guard Armory, 910 Oak Forest Drive, Onalaska from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. with a non-denominational blessing prior to the meal. Music will be provided by Joe Cody.

As a reminder to those who may be working on the front lines, home alone for the holiday, or in need who may be requesting Carry-outs are asked to reserve their meals at www.octd.org or call 608-667-0994. Deliveries are available to residents in the City of Onalaska, Brice Prairie and village of Holmen at 11 a.m., noon or 1 p.m. at www.octd.org or by calling 608-667-0994. Carry-outs and deliveries should be reserved prior to Monday, Nov. 21.

This event is made possible only through donations from businesses and citizens in our region, along with the numerous volunteers who are gracious enough to donate their time. Donations may be sent to:

OEF- Thanksgiving Dinner, 415 Main Street, Onalaska, WI 54650 or by Paypal at www.octd.org
Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m., Wednesday, November 2, at Grace Ev. Lutheran Church in La Crosse, with visitation beginning at 9:00 a.m. Military honors will follow the service outside the church. Schumacher-Kish Funeral and Cremation Services of La Crosse is assisting the family. Ron's complete obituary and an online guest book can be found at www.schumacher-kish.com.
The Childrens Museum of La Crosse has partnered with local university students to host a storybook-themed family event, Crowns & Capes, on Dec. 3 from 6 to 8 pm.

Attendees will:

Join in special activities, games & crafts, as well as after-hours exhibit exploration

Meet princes, princesses and other non-scary costumed volunteers

Get a face paint or temporary tattoo design

Wear crowns, capes or other non-scary costumes (optional)

Dance to DJ music

Enjoy refreshments and snacks

And MORE!

The Crowns & Capes event will allow us to offer an extra-special experience for local families, says Leanne Poellinger, Marketing & Development Director. The partnership with UWL students is a win-win too.

Pre-registration & pre-payment required. Museum members: $9 per person, non-members: $14 per person. Request 15% off when you register 4 or more people (discount not available online.) Register at funmuseum.org or call 608-784-2652.

Event sponsors: Clason Buick GMC, Five Star Telecom, Landmark by the Rivers, & Xcel Energy. Companies interested in sponsoring the event can contact leanne@funmuseum.org.

The Childrens Museum of La Crosse, located at 207 Fifth Avenue South in historic downtown La Crosse, offers three floors of hands-on exhibits and programming for children ages 1-10 and their adult companions. Hours: Tuesdays-Sundays 9 am to 5 pm (closed on Mondays and major holidays). Regular admission: $8 per person (infants and members free.)
Onalaska Middle School has an intriguing history.

The Onalaska School Board hopes voters will write the schools next chapter Nov. 8.

The board is asking voters to approve a $75 million referendum to thoroughly renovate the middle school and make improvements to the high school. The middle school accounts for $50 million of the plan with the remainder allocated to the high school.

School district superintendent Todd Antony said the referendum is a result of a facilities study that identified $110 million worth of needs throughout the district. The board pared the list to $75 million and made the middle school its top priority.

The key focus was on the middle school, he said.

The school was built with an open concept in 1976 before it burned down in the spring of 1978.

It was rebuilt with the same open concept, which Antony said was a trendy way to build schools in the 1970s.

You could come inside the building and see from one end to the other, Antony said.

Over the years, Antony said teachers devised ways to carve out their own spaces using bookshelves and other barriers. Walls were installed in 2006, but they have their limitations. They arent weight bearing and cant withstand having large objects mounted to them. They also do a poor job of blocking sound from room to room.

The result is a school with a mixture of wide-open spaces, including a library with no walls or doors, and cramped classrooms.

By square footage, our classrooms are the smallest in the district, middle school principal Jed Kees said. We have the narrowest corridors. ... Theres not a lot of natural light. More than half the classrooms dont have windows.

If voters approve the referendum, virtually everything about the school, except the foundation and the parking lot, will be torn down and rebuilt. The end result will be a more conventional school building.

Its a complete remodel, Antony said. Were completely recreating the space.

Plans call for the school to get permanent walls, expanded classrooms, new science labs, enhanced technical education space, larger music and art facilities, more room for physical education, an expanded gymnasium with improved seating, a more functional cafeteria, a quiet and secure library, additional parking and age-appropriate playground equipment.

The renovation would also address multiple handicap-accessibility issues and update the heating/cooling, electrical and plumbing systems. A reconfigured exterior has been designed so that visitors would no longer sign in along a corridor with heavy student traffic.

It would be a huge upgrade from a safety standpoint, Kees said.

Antony said the board rejected building a new middle school at a separate site. He said it would cost more than renovation and that the board likes the existing location on Quincy Street. The school is centrally located in a quiet neighborhood and contains a significant amount of playground area and green space.

We will have a middle school that will meet the needs of our staff, students and their families well into the foreseeable future, Antony said.

Although the middle school will end up with a slight increase in square footage, the project isnt designed to accommodate more students. Antony said enrollment in the district is estimated to decrease slightly over the next several years.

Were not designing schools for increased enrollment, he said. Were designing schools for the enrollment we have now.

The high school, originally built in 1962, would get updated spaces for technical education, science and music. It would address handicap-accessibility issues in the gymnasium, add parking and relocate a receiving area.

Voters also will be asked to approve a non-recurring operational referendum that allows the district to exceed state-imposed limits on local property taxes. The district already operates under a $3.35 million annual referendum through 2023-24. The board is asking voters to add $1.25 million to the 2023-24 figure and exceed the cap by $4.8 million in 2024-25, $5 million in 2025-26, $5.2 million in 2026-27 and $5.4 million in 2027-28.

If voters approve both referendums, school taxes are projected to rise $60 per $100,000 of property tax value with a tax levy of $8.55 per $1,000. If the referendums fail, the levy would fall to $7.27 per $1,000.

Antony said school taxes in Onalaska would remain below the state average even if both referendums pass.
On Monday, the individuals and families who have been residing at Houska Park for the summer have to leave and find shelter for the upcoming winter as the park closes.

Current shelter options for people experiencing homelessness include the Salvation Army Emergency Shelter and the Catholic Charities Warming Center. As of July, there are approximately 240 people who are homeless in the greater Coulee region. About 140 of those individuals had been living at Houska Park.

The Salvation Army has capacity for 50 individuals and Catholic Charities has 34 beds available.

Additionally, the county allocated funding to be used for hotel vouchers for families experiencing homelessness. Jason Witt, director of La Crosse County Human Services, said at a meeting that he anticipates the vouchers can help about 40 families.

If overflow shelter is necessary, Mayor Mitch Reynolds signaled that he will issue an emergency decree to use some city-owned buildings for shelter, including the South Side Neighborhood Center and a northside police building.

Back in April, the city of La Crosse designated Houska Park, an island park just south of downtown, as a campground where those without stable housing could camp out and sleep without fear of being ticketed, and with centralized access to resources. This was the second year in a row the city made this designation.

The park was designated as a campground only until Oct. 31.

Brian Sampson, the homeless services coordinator for the city, said that those residing at Houska Park have received notice about the closure multiple times starting in August and as recently as Friday.

Our ultimate goal is to get out of this cycle of never needing an encampment again, Sampson said. Thats not what anybody wants. Its not the way out of (a housing crisis) for our city.

Were not planning on coming in and kicking everybody out and booting everyone out (on November 1), Sampson said. Were going to continue to connect them to resources and continue to recommend that they go to more appropriate places that are meant for living through the winter.

Those resources include Salvation Army and Catholic Charities. Both shelters only operate overnight, which leaves a gap for daytime shelter and means that those who stay must leave each morning with their belongings.

Both shelters provide meals for residents and meet basic needs such as laundry, showers and some warm clothing. The Salvation Army pairs each individual with a case manager to help them navigate health care needs, employment, food shares and more.

Sampson said that the city, along with community partners, has put together a list of acceptable places to escape the cold weather during the day. That list will be provided to both Salvation Army and Catholic Charities to inform their residents.

Through this planning process, weve done a better job of engaging people who are unsheltered and experiencing homelessness, Sampson said. Theyve been at our tables providing their input and solutions. Weve heard from a couple of them that its hard for people to get to those [shelters]. But every person is different.

The Salvation Army will not allow anyone who is on the registered sex offenders list or who has been convicted of a violent crime to reside on the premises. Due to the bunk bed situation in the shelter, some folks might have difficulty finding a bed there.

While winter shelter is critical for those experiencing homelessness, it is not the end of their journey. Stable housing is the ultimate goal. Sampson said the citys goal is to improve the stock of housing in the area over the next couple years.

It took years for our community to get in this situation. Its unrealistic to expect it to go away by next summer or by next winter, Sampson said. We can start to make progress but the issue is not just going to disappear because it didnt just pop up overnight.

Our hopes [for this winter] are to offer as many places to people that want them, to offer safe, warm places and to continue to help people get closer on their journey of finding housing and staying in housing, Sampson concluded.

This article was corrected on Oct. 31 at 10 a.m. to reflect that there are approximately 240 people experiencing homelessness in the Coulee region and 140 of those individuals have been living at Houska Park. A previous version of this article inaccurately stated that there were about 200 people at Houska Park.
My dad passed away a few years ago, but if youd had met him, youd have not thought that he was very threatening.

Even in his later years, he still had a full head of dark hair sprinkled with grays. He was still handsome with a charming lopsided grin that had caused my mom a lot of stress in their younger years. He was quite the talker, after all. Time and genetics had been kind to his face despite the fact that hed been a farmer for the last 30 years of his life, more or less. Even as cancer took its toll on him in the last few months of his life, it was still evident that my dad had been a heartbreaker in his youth. Hed shrunk a bit in the last few years, standing at barely 5 3. Or maybe Id had just grown taller in my adulthood and remembered him as taller from my youth. Im sure its a mix of the two.

When my dad was twelve, a call came over the village CB radio from the American command post. Too many Hmong men had died  about 16,000 in a span of two years. Any boy who was big enough to hold a gun would need to be recruited to fight. At least one son from each family would need to go.As it was, many were already doing night patrols of their hilltop villages, sitting in the deep trenches that had been dug around the perimeters of the cluster of little wooden houses. At the slightest noise in the pitch black, those small boys would muster up what courage they had and slide into the thick brush of the jungle with their guns held in steady hands. They had to make sure that the noise was just the wind and not the Pathet Lao soldiers looking to ambush their homes. Many of those boys would disappear into the darkness and never return.

This was the Secret War, a clandestine CIA operation in the jungles of Laos that ran from 1961 to 1975. Even before the official start of the Vietnam War and American soldiers touching ground in Vietnam, the Hmong had already been recruited to be guerrilla fighters for America. Their primary jobs were to disrupt supply lines for the communist Pathet Lao that would eventually feed into the Viet Cong in Vietnam and to rescue downed American pilots that fell behind enemy lines. Its said that for every one American saved, ten Hmong soldiers died in the rescue effort.

My grandfather was already a medic in the army, and my eldest uncle was away at school, so as the second son, my grandparents chose my dad to go. When the tall, white soldier came to their village, my dad was just a boy. For the next ten years, my dad would spend his adolescence and young adulthood leading his band of brothers over fields of broken and rotting bodies, dodging landmines, and lying in wait in the thick of the jungle. Hed grow up in the shadows of death.

He never spoke about the war in detail. At least, not with me and my siblings. I never got the chance to ask him when he made his first kill. I just know that he did. In my childhood, mentions of the war would either elicit rage or a sort of lost quietness that would choke him up and make his lips purse. Sometimes, Id catch moments of wistfulness in his eyes as hed stare off into the distance, remembering.

In those first few years when wed been resettled into America, there were many nights where hed wake up in a sweat and the following day, hed be in an inexplicable rage. Hed lash out at everyone in the house. His demands and expectations for military precision and obedience would catch me and my older brother off guard. My mother would often bear the brunt of his anger. Its still hard to remember all of the details from my childhood as Id subconsciously suppressed them. I just remember being small and scared of him. I just remember flinching to his touch and hiding under my bed.

It wasnt until adulthood that I learned about PTSD.

In hindsight, I now understood why he sought out the company of his fellow soldiers. They understood. He could talk about the war with them. He could tell them things and remember what he couldnt even speak about with his own brothers.

I remember one bright yellow California summer day. I was fourteen. The sun was scorching and the dust from our small farm was blowing loose across the rows of cherry tomatoes. My dad was standing next to the irrigation ditch with what I was told then was an uncle, but Id learn much later that the man had actually been one of my dads soldiers. Hed fought under my dads command.

At first, their conversation was about some upcoming family event, about who was doing what, and the reasons for the event. Id been tasked by my mom to go fetch my dad for lunch.

Its so hot today, the uncle said, pulling his straw hat lower across his brow. Do you remember how hot it was in the brush?

Oh yo, my dad responds, at least its not humid.

Youre right. At least its not humid. If it were, itd be like the night we killed those Lao soldiers. The uncle had said it in such a nonchalant manner, but for me, it was the first time I realized that my dad had killed people.

It wouldnt be until my dad was dying that Id see that uncle again or hear more of my dads war stories as told by the surviving soldiers whod come to pay their last respects. Theyd waited all this time  some forty years later  before they came to share their memories of him.

He was courageous, they said. Young, but brave. Hed commanded with a steel backbone. Though they were all unofficial and would never be able to claim their roles or claim any VA benefits, theyd fought for America. Theyd killed for America. So many of their brothers had died for America.

Your dad saved so many of us, one uncle says to me. He always led the charge.

One of my great-uncles had been dads commanding officer and several of dads cousins had fought alongside him. It was a kind of brotherhood that my immediate uncles  his brothers  would never know nor could they ever appreciate. Even now, I dont think his brothers understood the weight of my dads sacrifice. Because of him, they got to go to school. Because of him, they never had to know what it meant to take a life.

We were on patrol, says a distant uncle as he sat next to my dads still body. A hospital bed had been set up in our living room. At this point, dad was already unconscious and the hospice care only supplied him with morphine to ease his pain. Dads chest rose and fell as he gasped for air like the hiccuping of a fish.

The jungle was full of bodies, the uncle continued, At night, you sometimes think youre walking in mud, but it was blood. We were on our way back to the base, but we got ambushed. The Pathet Lao were waiting for us and they started shooting. Your dads cousins were in front of him and were the first ones hit. Your dad watched his cousins fall to the ground and die. He was so angry, he started screaming and shooting. He killed all those Lao soldiers.

When they were all dead, we had to hold him back. I was so scared because I had never seen anyone so angry. He took his knife out. He wanted to go cut off the ears of the Lao soldiers and take them back to the American captain and throw them at his feet. He wanted the American to see.

This would be the first of many more war stories that would emerge. It would be a matter of a day, maybe a few hours before hed pass. The house was busy with activity as relatives, family friends, and old acquaintances came to say their last goodbyes and to hold vigil with my mom and my family. In between the breaks in sobbing would be stories to fill in the silence. Late into the night, the elders would talk about my dad as a young man, about how hed helped them cross the Mekong River to Thailand where some measure of safety could be found, or how hed led them through jungles to villages and refugee camps.

My dad had never had a choice in whether hed serve or not. Grown men had made that decision for him. Killing had been a necessity, a measure for survival. Theyd put a gun into a kids hands and forced him into adulthood, into trauma. As an adult now, Im at an age where Im able to see my parents as people, to reflect on their lives beyond the eyes and understanding of a child. I can understand now what demons followed them and haunted them in the dark of night.

The war had damaged my dads hearing, and all through his life here in America, hed battle the healthcare system for disability benefits. Hed be continually denied because he wasnt deaf enough. But his ears werent the worst damage from the war. His heart and his head suffered much more. I wish America had offered my dad counseling for his PTSD. I wish there had been counseling for all of the Hmong of my dads generation, for everyone who survived the Secret War. Itd have saved so many families so much pain.

Or perhaps if America had not thought to use indigenous hill people for their foreign covert operations, half of the Hmong population in Laos wouldnt have died by 1975. Regardless, we cant change the past now. Whats done is done. The only thing left to do is to make sure my dads legacy lives on, that the stories of these boy soldiers are told, and to move forward to ensure that another group of minorities arent manipulated and used for a war that wasnt of their own making.

My dad became a killer because of America. He fought in a war that left him broken. He fought for a country that will never recognize him. He had no choice, but I do. I have the choice to not be silent and to make sure that all hed done was not in vain. That all the sacrifices of my people were not in vain. That all that wed survived makes it into the history books and that our future generations will know where they came from and the high price that was paid for their safety.

The sun is peeking through my window now. The first pink fingers of the dawn are slowly creeping through the blinds to wash my room in shades of gray-blue. Im back in California, not so far away from where Id first overheard that long-ago conversation. Somewhere beyond the realm of the living, my dad is with my grandparents, their spirits in the land of my ancestors waiting to be reborn; and I hope for him that in the next life, hell be born into a world with no war, into a world where he wont be forced to kill, into a world where his demons can no longer follow him. I hope for him a chance at the peace that he was never given in this lifetime.
DUQUBUE, Iowa (AP)  Madison Duve stood at a table in a Hempstead High School industrial technology classroom last week in Dubuque, using a bottle of wood glue to attach two pieces of wood at a right angle.

The Eleanor Roosevelt Middle School eighth-grader was participating in a career exploration program hosted by Dubuque Community Schools and Dubuque Area Labor-Management Council.

The wooden box Madison was constructing was one of several hands-on projects she and her peers completed to take home over the course of the two-day program. They also had the chance to try welding and plasma cutting, solder wires to create an electronic bug and use virtual reality goggles to experience construction jobs.

I just really like big crafts and stuff like this, said Madison, adding that she has contemplated a career in carpentry.   I think its so amazing that theyre so inclusive with everything, and that theres no limit to what you can or cant do.

The Dubuque Telegraph Herald reports about 30 eighth-grade girls from Roosevelt, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson middle schools, along with Dubuque Online School, participated in the program, exploring carpentry, welding and engineering careers and hearing from local women currently employed in those industries.

Kelly Cooper, executive director of Dubuque Area Labor-Management Council, said the program has not been held for several years, but the council and district brought it back this fall using grant funding from the DRA.

(We want them) to understand that these are classes and careers they can pursue, and that there are women working in the trades, she said.

Lilly Nauman, a carpentry apprentice with Menefee Drywall Co. in Cedar Rapids, supervised Jefferson student Gillian Henson as she constructed her box.

Its OK if you get glue on your fingers. Itll peel right off, Nauman told Gillian. You just want to make sure your edges are all lined up.

Nauman, a 2020 graduate of Dubuque Senior High School, said she participated in a similar after-school program as a middle school student in the district. The experience motivated her to enroll in classes such as woodworking and welding in high school, and she hoped to do the same for the girls attending this weeks classes.

Theres not many women in the trades  Ive only had one or two on every job site Ive been to  so getting to inspire other girls and get more numbers (of women) in the industry is great, Nauman said.

After the girls glued the sides of their boxes together, Nauman and several district staff members used nail guns to nail them in place.

While they worked, a small group of girls in an adjoining classroom worked with Dubuque Senior industrial technology teacher Joe Connolly to program a computer that directed a plasma cutter to cut each girls name out of a sheet of metal.

Hempstead welding teacher Dave Corbin then helped them use hammers and a surface grinder to smooth the metals surface and edges.

Keep it along the edge there, he said, as Roosevelt eighth-grader Ella Hopf took her turn with the grinder, sending sparks flying.

Finally, Corbin placed each girls piece of metal into a machine called a pan and box brake. One at a time, he showed them how to pull the brakes levers to bend the bottom of the metal at a right angle so that the nameplate would sit upright on a flat surface.

This gives them a chance to get their hands on everyday stuff and projects they can make in the shop, Corbin said of the career exploration program. It gives them a taste of what the shops like  and the type of classes they could take in high school.

Ella said an industrial technology course might be on her list when she enters high school in the fall.

I think it was cool to make something I didnt think I could out of a simple piece of metal, she said, turning the nameplate over in her hand proudly.
While school referendums on the Nov. 8 ballot are getting the most attention, public safety referendums are critical for about 20 municipalities in Wisconsin.

One of those is fast-growing Holmen, where the population has increased by 25% in 10 years, to an estimated 11,560 residents in 2022.

With the growth has come an increased demand on public safety workers.

Police calls are up 101% in just five years, and fire calls and EMS calls are up 51% and 55% during that same time.

Staffing levels have remained the same, capped by state tax levy mandates. Because of these limitations Holmen needs a projected $1.29 million to add public safety staff to meet demand.

Holmen Village Board president Pat Barlow has been talking about this for nearly a year and has had two public information meetings in recent weeks. Its the first public safety referendum in Holmen history, and it comes at a critical time.

Its a new landscape for us, he said recently.

Barlow said while he hears strong support for police, he is trying to help residents understand the impact of the referendum on them.

Holmen has 13 full-time police officers compared with nearby Sparta with 23, Tomah with 21 and Baraboo with 29.

Holmens six full-time firefighters compare with 17 in Onalaska and 31 for fast-growing Pleasant Prairie in southeast Wisconsin.

The referendum would increase staffing by 4-5 new police officers and allow staffing of 4 firefighters/EMTs per shift.

It would increase property taxes in the village by $138 per $100,000 of property value. The tax impact in the town of Holland, which is in the fire district, is $135 per $100,000.

Holmen provides an SRO to the school district in a partnership that enhances school security.

Holmen officials have had natural questions since the town of Onalaska suddenly and unexpectedly left the Holmen Area Fire District in September.

That departure reduces the fire/EMS staffing goals but does not change the increased public safety call volume and the critical need for funding.

Holmen voters, like voters in La Crosse, Onalaska and Bangor, also face a school referendum on Nov. 8. But they are the only ones with this public safety referendum and the clearly stated need for funding.

In these uncertain times, public safety is the top priority of the village of Holmen. A yes to support this referendum would help ensure that Holmen has the financial resources to fulfill this responsibility.
The stakes in this election couldn't be higher! While it's been said about other elections that they were the most important of our lifetime, this one truly is. The fate of our democracy hangs in the balance, and whom you vote for on Nov. 8 will have profound consequences for our children and grandchildren.

Vote for the insurrectionists, election deniers and Trump disciples, and voter suppression laws, false narratives about voter fraud, assaults on women's reproductive rights, gerrymandering, loss of our Social Security pensions, endless benefits for the rich at the expense of the middle class, and denial of LGBTQ and racial justice rights will become the order of the day.

Please cast your vote to oppose these extremist forces that seek to pull us apart. I urge you to vote for the Democratic slate of candidates to continue to move America forward towards equality, justice and prosperity for all of us, not just the chosen few. Vote for Tony Evers for governor, Mandela Barnes for U.S. Senate, Brad Pfaff for U.S. House of Representatives, Josh Kaul for attorney general, Steve Doyle and Jill Billings for the Assembly, and John Siegel for sheriff. Cast your vote to help democracy as we know it survive!

Monica Kruse
Tis the flu season. For the first time in 2-3 years, we need to pay some attention to that germ, as well as the still-present SARS-CoV-2, in its multiple mutations. Very simply put, influenza is a contagious respiratory disease that spreads around the U.S. every year roughly between October and May. Anyone can get it, but it is more dangerous for some people, like infants and young children, those 65 years and older, pregnant women (men, no problem), and people with certain medical conditions or a weakened immune system.

Flu can cause fever, chills, sore throat, muscle aches, fatigue, cough, headaches and runny/stuffy nose. A few might endure vomiting and/or diarrhea, which is more common in children. The complications may include pneumonia from a bacterial infection, bronchitis, and sinus and ear infections. Prior medical problems like some heart disease, cancer and diabetes can worsen with flu infection. In an average year in the U.S., thousands of people die from flu and its complications, and many more get hospitalized.

Flu vaccine prevents millions of illnesses and flu-related visits to the doctor each year by about 60%, if the vaccine viruses match the ones spreading in the community. Vaccination helps prevent people you live and work with from getting infected and sick. A vaccination does not guarantee complete protection from the flu. But many studies over the years have shown the reduced risk of more serious outcomes. One study analyzed data from three flu seasons and estimated being vaccinated lowered the risk of going to a hospital by 61% in people 50 and older.

This season, four different strains are included in all the nine different flu preparations. There are two type A flu viruses (H1N1 and H3N2) and two type B viruses (Victoria and Yamagata). These have all developed and circulated in years past. The biology of flu viruses is amazingly complex, with them mutating and partially mutating even in the same season. The genetic material has been typed from specimens as far back as the late 1800s. Some of the genetic material in current vaccines matches that from the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. (And we dont need another pandemic right now!)

Each year, researchers make very educated guesses about the upcoming strains. Each years vaccine success depends on the luck of guessing right. Some seasons successful protection is quite high, and some is not very effective. But it is still worth a try. (Better odds than buying a lottery ticket). Overall health and age also help determine effectiveness.

The manufacturing methods involve growing viruses to harvest in either chicken eggs, a method from the 1930s; in mammalian cells, which avoids any problem with egg allergies; or via a complicated recombinant technique. There are eight injectable forms with killed virus or no virus in them, and one nasal spray with weakened/attenuated or live viruses for those who dont want a shot. Certain people, like those with weakened immune systems should not receive it since on rare occasions it may cause an illness. The reactions possible from any flu vaccine might include a sore, red or swollen arm, headache, low fever, muscle aches, fatigue and runny nose. The best reference for questions would be your own doc.
ARCADIA, Wis.  The Ron and Joyce Wanek Foundation teamed up with the company Legacy-Trees last week to plant 250 trees in Arcadia at four different locations.

Ron sees the value in trees, Ashley Furniture representative Gary Bautch said of Ron Wanek, the founder and current chairman of Ashley Furniture.

Bautch continued, He just does. They increase property value. They make the place look nicer. And with all of the things that Rons done throughout the years with his business, hes still got time for trees.

Trees were planted at three parks in the community  Memorial Park, Villas Hanson Park and Schank Park  and the new residential development El Dorado Hills.

Villas Hanson Park and Schank Park were chosen as locations for the new trees to help provide some shade to those who enjoy the park, especially parents who may be watching their children as they are playing, according to Bautch.

Bautch, who is also on Arcadias Economic Development Committee, said that trees were planted at El Dorado Hills because the new development was lacking any immediately after it had been built this year.

As for Memorial Park, Bautch said that trees were being planted to replace some older ones were removed from the park last week due to disease.

Bautch said that the city felt obligated to replace the diseased trees because those trees were donated by community members.

Arcadia Mayor Kevin Mayzek shared that Waneks foundation spent about $126,000 in total to provide the trees to the community and have them planted.

The city did not have to cover any costs for the trees, but Bautch did say the Waneks hope that in the future, the city can set aside some money in their budget to help take care of the trees that have been planted.

Bautch suggested that in the future the city could also contact other industries in Arcadia, as he believes that other businesses may also be interested in donating trees.

This isnt the first time the Waneks have supported the community through trees. Mayzek shared that before this project, the Waneks had already contributed about $250,000 in trees to Arcadia.

Mayzek shared that it will likely not be the last time that the Waneks contributed to the citys trees either.

(The tree planting project) beautifies the community. It adds value. Its a great thing, Mayzek said.

He shared how he has appreciated how well Legacy-Trees has explained the process of planting trees and how they grow, saying that Legacy-Trees founder and president Ronald Zillmer is very passionate about trees.

According to a press release from the company Legacy-Trees, Legacy-Trees is a one-of-a-kind method for producing trees that works in concert with tree root systems to mimic how they grow in a forest. This method encourages natural root development and delivers an undamaged root system that is ready to immediately colonize a property. This method of tree production and transplant was created to bring a superior tree that will provide beauty for generations  a true legacy. Legacy-Trees partners with five different tree care companies across Wisconsin and one in Minnesota to provide customers, properties and communities the trees they deserve.

For more information about Legacy-Trees, visit www.legacy-trees.com.
UW-Madison Division of Extension Community Food Systems Program is organizing a two-day virtual summit for Wisconsin food entrepreneurs.

The 2022 FEED Summit will be held virtually on Nov. 14 and 15, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The Community Food Systems Programs Food Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Development (FEED) Initiative is a statewide program that promotes food entrepreneurship training and net-work development for value-added producers and individuals facing structural barriers to food entrepreneurship.

Extension will kick off the statewide, virtual conference Nov. 14 at 10 a.m., with a keynote from Peter Robertson, of RP Pasta and Tribe 9 Foods. On Nov. 15, at 10 a.m., there will be a keynote from Leah Spicer and Kyle Beach, owners of the Spring Green-based restaurant named Homecoming. Participants will have the opportunity to ask the keynotes questions directly in the virtual session.

Were organizing this conference to maximize participants opportunities to connect with and learn from experienced food entrepreneurs and food business development experts on topics ranging from co-operative development to financing to food safety, said Community Food Systems Program Manager Lindsey Day Farnsworth.

Breakout sessions will go in-depth into key aspects of a thriving business model, including Value Propositions, Key Partners, Customer Relationships, Key Resources, Key Activities, Customer Segments, Revenue Streams, Marketing Channels, and Cost Structures. Each session will feature one of Wisconsins premier business experts who will introduce an experienced Wisconsin-based food entrepreneur to share examples from their entrepreneurial journey.

Were using the Business Model Canvas to ground the amazing stories that our food entrepreneur speakers will share  and to provide business foundations content that is accessible to Wisconsins aspiring food entrepreneurs, Statewide Food Entrepreneurship Specialist Jessica Jane Spayde said.

The business model sessions will help entrepreneurs better understand how to utilize the Business Model Canvas framework to improve their business model while providing a useful structure for the virtual conference sessions. Each breakout session includes time for summit participants to ask the speakers questions.

Early bird registration starts at $45 for participants and at $65 for exhibitors. All are welcome to this learning, connecting and promotional space.

Register here at foodsystems.extension.wisc.edu/feed-summit-2022.

A limited number of scholarships are available upon request. For additional information about the FEED Summit, email Extension Community Food Systems Food Entrepreneurship Specialist Jessica Jane Spayde at Spayde@wisc.edu.
It does not appear the City of Lake Geneva will be hiring an outside company to assist with enforcing rules and regulations regarding short-term rental properties  at least in the upcoming year.

Several residents, including residents in the citys Maple Park Historic District, have recently expressed concerns to city officials about the increasing number of short-term rental properties in the community and the issues they have had with such properties.

Some residents and aldermen have proposed that the city hire an outside company to assist Code Enforcement Officer James Flower with enforcing rules and regulations related to short-term rentals.

Alderwoman Mary Jo Fesenmaier proposed during a special finance, licensing & regulation committee budget workshop meeting, Oct. 19, that the city allocate $25,000 in the 2023 budget to hire an outside firm to help keep track of the number of short-term rental properties in the community and to help enforce short-term rental regulations.

Last year, we had a speaker from a company, and it doesnt have to be that company, give a proposal on help we can get tracking short-term rentals, and actually with a public interface, to save staff time with all kinds of phone calls, Fesenmaier said. There were ways that this company could help us out.

However, Fesenmaiers proposal died because of a lack of a second motion from the other aldermen.

Not hearing a second, that motion dies at the moment, Alderman Ken Howell said.

During the meeting, Emily Hummel, president of the Maple Park Homeowners Association, thanked the aldermen for listening to her and her neighbors concerns but asked that the city hire a company to help enforce the rules for short-term rental properties.

I would like to request that money would be set aside in the budget to provide a means for more effective enforcement of the citys short-term rental codes, Hummel said. The owners of these especially the absent owners who use the houses like hotels need to know that the rules that are in place will absolutely be upheld. If not, they will be fined and if they if they are continued to not be upheld these people will have their licenses revoked. I think that would be a very powerful statement, and we have great codes in place. Lets make sure theyre enforced.

Wisconsin lawmakers approved legislation in 2017 which requires municipalities to allow short-term rental properties in residential areas, prompting Wisconsin communities to implement rules and regulations on such properties.

The Lake Geneva City Council approved an ordinance in May 2018, which outlines rules and regulations regarding short-term rental properties in the community.
Dear W.C.,

I live with my adult son who is mentally disabled since birth. He has never had a job or gone to school like other children. I have been struggling most my life to get by while caring for him. His father left soon after he was born and rarely paid any support. It was all on me. We barely get by most months and never have any extra funds for car repairs or even things like shoes or new clothing. I am always balancing the need for food, which is so expensive right now, and things like winter boots or a coat for my son. Right now, our main need is a new bed for my son, he hasnt had a new bed since he was a child, and he is now 35 years old. My car also needs new tires before winter so we can get to my sons medical appointments, and it needs a repair. It would be a blessing to be able to afford these things but most months we barely get by. I go to the food pantry when I can, but I cannot leave my son home alone and he is difficult to take to public places. Most people are frightened by his outbursts and movements. He means nothing by them, it is his only way of showing his excitement. I do not know where else to turn for help.

Dear Readers,

I felt the need to visit this woman and her son. I made a call to her to get some more details and to be sure I had everything they would need with me.

We spoke for a long time as I learned about her sons difficult pregnancy and birth. His disabilities were severe and required the womans constant care and monitoring. The woman loved her son with a ferocity, and she shared how she was hurt by the way people looked at him and lacked an understanding. Most of us do not live with nor care for a loved one with a profound disability and when I reminded the woman of this she began to cry. She said, I know this. You are right. I just wish everyone could see the goodness inside of him, but they only see the outside, and that is different from everyone else.

As we went over their budget, I could see how they were living very frugally. There were no extras like cable television or internet. The rent was reasonable as she had lived in the same small cottage house for years. The things they could not afford were lived without. That included a much-needed winter coat and boots for the son and new tires for the car. These were things we could help them with.

I made notes for checks that I would bring with when I visited. I would check her car when I stopped by. I brought with me gift cards for food, toiletries, clothing and new bedding. I ordered a new bed for the son, making sure they had enough room for a slightly bigger bed so his feet would no longer hang off the end as the mother told me they were in his present child sized mattress.

I set up a time to stop by the womans house but all I told her was a volunteer would come over. She thanked me profusely as she thought it would be the last time we talked. Several hours later I arrived at her door and knocked. I saw the look of surprise on the womans face as she realized it was me there. The senior woman began to cry and gave me a hug. She graciously invited me inside. Her son saw me and started to make loud noises from his wheelchair. His mother said soothing words to calm him that I could see he understood and then she introduced us. He could not speak but his smiling face said everything I needed to know. He was happy I had come to visit, and it made my heart happy to know we were helping this deserving woman and son.

After visiting with the mother and son for quite some time, I noticed the son became calmer in his way of communicating. I watched them interact in their own way of communication. When we were done visiting, I checked their food supply and her car. I made arrangements to have her car repaired and the much-needed tires installed. I provided a rent check and a gas utility check to help prepare them for upcoming winter bills. I also handed the woman an envelope with several gift cards for clothing, shoes, new bedding and needed food. I let them both know I had several special volunteers that would love to visit on a regular basis. The mother smiled at the prospect of more caring visitors as she spent most of her time alone with her son. As I made my way to the door I could not leave without another hug from the mother and then we were both surprised by the son reaching up for a hug as well. I saw the tears on the mothers face as we said goodbye.

Thank You and God Bless You for making this assistance and all our good works possible.

Health & Happiness, Love & GOD Bless Everyone, Sal

Please Help: There are many coming to us in desperation. Our good fellow creations need our compassion. Together we make a big difference. Make checks payable to: The Time Is Now to Help, P.O. Box 1, Lake Geneva, WI 53147. The Time Is Now to Help is a federally recognized 5013 charitable organization. You will receive a tax deductible, itemized thank you receipt showing how 100% of your donation was used for providing poverty relief. Please visit our website for more information, to read more of our past and current columns and/or to make a donation: www.timeisnowtohelp.org.

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Prayer Chain: The power of prayer and positive thoughts comes from the true healer, our Lord answering our prayers.

Please pray for healing for the following people: Brian, Talyn, Mike, Sylvia, Richard, Jennifer, Jayden, Maria C., Alex, Lily, Kaitlyn, Sheila, Rhonda, Deda Lee, Betty, Marilyn, Helen, Dennis, Mary, Joseph, Jordan, Jean, Tom L., Dr. Peter, Alyce, Matthew, Pam E., Jenene B., John S., Patricia H., Darlene, Ron K., Marian K., Judy, Wendy, Eric, Anthony, Mary, Charlie, Tom P., Christina, Billy, Mike, Cheryl, and Ellie.
EIR LEAD EDITORIAL FOR SUNDAY OCTOBER 30, 2022

Whats This War Really About, Anyway?

Oct. 29, 2022 (EIRNS)The world woke up this morning to the sobering news that the Russian Defense Ministry had announced that they had repelled an aerial and maritime drone attack against the Sevastopol naval base on the Crimean peninsula, which was carried out by Ukrainian military units under the direct control and supervision of the British Navy. Describing it as a terrorist attack, the Russian Defense Ministry stated that it was carried out under supervision of British specialists in the city of Ochakov, Nikolayev region in Ukraine. The statement then added that representatives from this unit from the British Navy were involved in plotting, organizing and implementation of the terrorist attack in the Baltic Sea on 26 September this year to blow up the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova reiterated the Defense Ministrys charges of British complicity in both the Nord Stream sabotage and the new attack on Sebastopol, adding that Russia would be urgently bringing the matter before the UN Security Council.

Although EIR has no independent confirmation, as of this writing, of the Defense Ministrys charges, three different European military and security specialists consulted by EIR concurred that Russia was highly unlikely to make up such charges unless they had smoking gun evidence to back it up. They further noted the deafening governmental silence about the results of the investigations of the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines, which certainly raises the question as to what is being covered up. And former CIA analyst and Russia specialist Ray McGovern tweeted Saturday morning: Russia not likely to blame UK for supervising todays drone attack on Russian ships near Crimea AND sabotage of Nord Stream pipelines WITHOUT EVIDENCE. And this news service has repeatedly emphasized the leading role of Britain in driving the crisis to escalating war, from then Prime Minister Boris Johnsons April trip to Kiev to sabotage the negotiation process, to his May visit to Sweden and Finland to ensure their accession to NATO.

Add to these developments of the last 24 hours, the Oct. 27 release of the Biden administrations new defense strategy documents, including its Nuclear Posture Review, which lower the threshold for the U.S. use of nuclear weapons. Russias Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told RIA Novosti on Oct. 29 that Russia was alarmed that the new defense documents provide for an increase in the number of scenarios, including outside of the nuclear context, which allow the use of nuclear weapons. Chinas Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin bluntly denounced the new doctrine as nuclear blackmail (which) will not work on China, noting that it lowers the threshold for using nuclear weapons.

So, what is this war all about, anyway, which threatens to unleash a thermonuclear holocaust which none would survive?

Its pretty clear to most thoughtful people that whats going on in the Ukraine theater is not some sort of war between Russia and Ukraine, over territory or resources.

It is also not a simple proxy war between NATO (using its weapons and Ukrainian troops, supplemented by foreign special forces) against Russiaalthough that comes closer to the truth.

The real issue is the dangerous death-rattle of the imploding trans-Atlantic financial system, and the banking Establishments deployment of Global NATO to prevent Russia, China and others from creating a new international financial architecture to replace them. The ideas for how to bring such a transition about, without war, are under intense scrutiny and discussion around the world, as reflected in the proposals presented on Oct. 27 by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Valdai Discussion Club; those put forward on Oct. 25 by Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche at an international conference organized by the National Committee for BRICS Research of Russia; and the broad range of proposals discussed at the Oct. 27 Schiller Institute second seminar of current and former elected officials from around the world, For World PeaceStop the Danger of Nuclear War.

In thanking Zepp-LaRouche for her remarks at the BRICS event, Dr. Irina Yarygina, a conference organizer and head of the Economics Department at the Moscow State Institute of International Relation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, told the gathered experts: We are really highly appreciative of the participation of the founder and president of The Schiller Institute in our conference. And in spite of political tensions, there is a great possibility for a cooperation in the fields of science, technology and innovation, and we are looking forward to working in concert. It will be extremely important that you have put your attention to the main problems and challenges we are facing at the moment.

And at the conclusion of his remarks to the Oct. 27 seminar, which was held in a meeting room in the Mexican Congress as well as internationally online, Mexican Congressman Benjamin Robles Montoya called for the formation of a group of legislators who represent everyone on all continents, if possible of all nationalities, to go dialogue directly with the governments of every country interested in world peace ... as well as a New Economic Order that incorporates the new principles in favor of humanity. He concluded: We are very happy to join with you, from here in the Chamber of Deputies, in this great crusade for peace.

With the danger of nuclear war, and of a financial blowout, increasing by the day and hour, no time can be lost in that organizing taskincluding building for an upcoming third international seminar of current and former elected officials and other political leaders, now scheduled for the third week of November.
After having a one-child policy from 1980 to 2015, China appears to be worried about dropping birth rates.

The number of births in the nation may drop below 10 million this year. That is lower than the year before and follows an 11.5 percent drop in 2020.

As a result, some newly married couples say they are getting phone calls from their local government asking if a baby is on the way.

That information made news around the world after an internet user posted a story about a friend on the social media service Weibo recently.

The writer of the post said a co-worker had gotten married last year. Shortly after, she got a call asking if she was taking the vitamin folic acid, which is supposed to help with pregnancies.

Later, another caller asked the woman if she was already pregnant.

You are married, why are you still not preparing for pregnancy, the caller asked. She was then told: Take the time to have a baby.

The writer said the calls had come from the regional government in Nanjing.

Thousands of people commented on the story on Weibo, saying they had received similar calls or heard from friends who had.

The post was then removed later in the day.

The story comes just one week after Chinas President Xi Jinping said the country would put in place a plan to raise birthrates and increase the population.

Some Chinese have been concerned about having babies because of the countrys zero COVID policy. The policy permits the government to put strong controls in place to limit the spread of COVID-19. Experts say the restrictions have some people worried about raising children in a place where the government has such strong rules.

In addition, the comments from Chinese leaders at the recent Communist Party meeting in Beijing have women worried that they will not have the same rights as men in the future.

The National Health Authority said in August that China will discourage ending pregnancies that are not medically necessary. Also, a new law places a 30-day cooling-off period on a husband and wife seeking to legally end their marriage.

Im Mario Ritter, Jr.

Dan Friedell adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on a report by Reuters.

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Words in This Story

regional adj. related to a part of a country that is different or separate from the others for some reason

couple n. two people who are married or who are together

discourage v. to make something less likely to happen

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Europes energy crisis has forced some people to turn to less costly heating sources such as firewood.

But as demand increases, the public is facing rising prices, shortages and even reports of firewood theft. Foresters are using GPS devices to follow their logs while others fear the environmental impact of increased air pollution and tree cutting.

In Moldova, Tudor Popescu splits firewood that will heat his home in the capital of Chisinau. As the nights turn colder, the load of firewood has been growing higher around him  his supplies for the coming winter.

In the past, Popescu depended on natural gas for warmth in the mornings and firewood at night. But gas is now in short supply, following Russias major cut to gas exports.

Russian energy business Gazprom has threatened even more reductions.

I wont use gas anymore, so its going to only be wood, Popescu said. But what I have isnt enough.

The demand for firewood in Europe is not limited to poorer nations like Moldova. Germany, Poland and the Czech Republics state-owned forests are seeing much stronger demand for the limited amounts of firewood they sell as part of their sustainable forest programs.

The German forestry service has reported getting requests for firewood from people who had never sought firewood before. The people seemed not to know that the firewood process takes two years. That is how long it takes to fully dry the wood so it will burn in wood stoves, said the forestry office in the southwestern state of Hesse.

German forest rangers also report increased incidents of people gathering fallen wood in forests, often not knowing it is illegal.

State forests in the Czech Republic also report increased demand for firewood. The government sells the wood for use at home, only. Officials say they have had to limit the amount of firewood sold to individuals.

In Poland, demand for small firewood from state forests increased by 46 percent through the end of August from a year earlier. Larger firewood demand was up 42 percent. A spokesman for Polands State Forests said, small firewood is probably the cheapest heating material in the EU countries. He said theft of firewood is also on the rise.

To prevent theft in Germany, the forestry department is experimenting with hiding GPS devices in logs. The German state of North Rhine-Westphalia is the latest to try the technology. Foresters in neighboring Hesse have been using GPS devices since 2013 and say they have been able to solve several thefts that way.

Austrian police recently warned people to watch for those claiming to sell firewood online. Police in Germany have issued similar alerts.

Germanys statistics agency says prices for firewood and wood products used in home heating rose over 85 percent in August from a year earlier. Even so, heating with wood is still less costly than natural gas. Gas costs 20.9 cents per kilowatt hour of heat, while wood products cost 14.88 cents.

In Britain, prices of firewood also are going up. Company Certainly Wood says it has seen a massive increase in demand even though the price is 15 to 20 percent higher than last year.

In Denmark, the demand for wood-burning stoves is growing along with demand for firewood itself. The Danish sales site DBA said searches for wood-burning products have increased by over 1,300 percent in the past year.

At the same time, government officials and environmentalists have warned Danes about the risk of burning firewood. The smoke produced can be dangerous and adds to pollution, they say, and the tree loss adds to climate change problems.

I'm Caty Weaver.

Hai Do adapted this story for Learning English based on reporting from The Associated Press.

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Words in This Story

sustainable - adj. involving methods that do not completely use up or destroy resources

ranger - n. a person in charge of managing public forests, parks

statistics - n. numbers that represent specific information
Researchers say they have discovered part of the oldest known map of the stars in an ancient document.

The document was first found in a Christian center, called a monastery, in Egypt. It was made of a material created from animal skin, called parchment, that was commonly used for keeping records in ancient times.

The document contained Christian writings. But scientists who examined the parchment discovered additional writings that appeared underneath on the same parchment. It was common practice at the time to keep using the same parchment to create new writings because the paper could be in short supply.

The researchers who examined the parchment found writings related to astronomy. They identified the writings as being created by an ancient Greek astronomer named Hipparchus.

Hipparchus was also a mathematician and is widely considered the creator of the form of math known as trigonometry. But he is also famous for creating what is believed to be the first map of the stars more than 2,000 years ago. Researchers estimate his observations of the sky were mapped around 129 BC.

Historians knew about Hipparchus map because it was described by other astronomers in later writings. But his own star descriptions were thought to be long lost. The discovery of what is believed to be part of his long-sought star map was recently reported in a study in the Journal for the History of Astronomy.

The researchers used a method called multispectral imaging to take pictures of the parchment. The method uses several cameras to take pictures in different colors. Then, the pictures are combined with X-ray and infrared images. In this case, the process was used to uncover past writings and additional details in the parchment.

The examined document is known as the Codex Climaci Rescriptus. It is currently part of a collection held by The Museum of the Bible in Washington D.C. Evidence of Hipparchus star map was found by researchers who had permission to work with the museums document.

One of the researchers was Jamie Klair. As a student at Britains University of Cambridge, she first found evidence in 2012 that the parchment contained astronomical information. Then, in 2021, researcher Peter Williams first observed the presence of astronomical measurements. Williams works for the international research center Tyndale House in Cambridge, Britain. Tyndale House centers on Bible research.

Those researchers then cooperated with scientists at Frances Sorbonne University to study the document further. After close examinations of the document, the research team concluded it contained parts of the ancient map, known as Hipparchus Star Catalog. The Greek astronomers map used groups of numbers to show the positions of fixed stars, known as coordinates.

Historians believe the map represents the first attempt to record exact positions of stars across the night sky. Before the latest discovery, scientists used a star map created by Egyptian astronomer Claudius Ptolemy. He is believed to have created his map, known as the Almagest, about 300 years after Hipparchus.

The researchers said the document they examined provided coordinates for stars in Corona Borealis, a constellation in what is known as the Northern Celestial Hemisphere.

One of the lead researchers was Victor Gysembergh, with Frances National Center for Scientific Research in Paris. He told the publication Nature he was very excited from the beginning about the discovery. It was immediately clear we had star coordinates.

Gysembergh worked closely with Emmanuel Zingg at Sorbonne University to translate the document. A statement from the university says examinations of the map suggested the data in it was extremely accurate. The researchers said it contained more accurate descriptions of star positions than Ptolemys map.

James Evans is a historian of astronomy at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. He told Nature he sees the find as rare and remarkable. Evans added that the discovery represents an important moment in scientific research. This was a moment when astronomers progressed from simply describing patterns they saw in the sky to measuring and predicting them.

Im Bryan Lynn.

Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on reports from the Journal for the History of Astronomy, Nature, Sorbonne University, Twitter and The Museum of the Bible.

Quiz - Scientists Report Discovery of Part of Worlds Oldest Known Star Map Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz

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Words in This Story

constellation  n. a group of stars that forms a particular shape in the sky and has been given a name

translate  v. to change from one language to another or from one form to another

accurate  adj. correct or exact

pattern  n. a regular and repeated way in which something happens

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Photo: Contributed

Castanet's weekly Heathers Horoscope column is not currently available as author Heather Zais is currently dealing with a serious health issue.

A long-time and popular Castanet columnist, Heather hopes to be back contributing her horoscope column as soon as possible. In the meantime, we wish her all the best for a speedy recovery.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
Party leader arrives in Beijing, starting China visit

Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and his entourage arrived in Beijing on October 30 afternoon, starting his official visit to China at the invitation of Party General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping.









Head of the International Liaison Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China Liu Jianchao (R) welcomes Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong at the Beijing International Airport on October 30 (Photo: VNA)



He was welcomed at the Beijing airport by Liu Jianchao, head of the International Liaison Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC); and Vietnamese Ambassador to China Pham Sao Mai.



The visit by Party leader Trong is to highlight the foreign policy, including the affirmation of Vietnams consistent advocate of taking the relations with China as a top priority in the foreign policy, hoping for long-term, stable, and more effective and practical relations in the spirit of the common perceptions by high-ranking leaders of the two parties and states; and at the same time to make clear Vietnams concerns, just stance and legitimate interests.



The visit is to express support to the development advocates and ideologies of the 20th congress of the CPC beneficial to peace, cooperation, and development; and the leading nucleus position of General Secretary Xi Jinping established by the CPC.



It is also to boost Chinas policy on friendship and cooperation with Vietnam.
Photo: Contributed

Aloha!

I recently returned from 10 days in Hawaii. My adventure may be over, but Ive come home with some of the islands spirit in my heart.

You dont have to visit Hawaii to be familiar with aloha. Its best known for being a greeting or farewell, but in truth it is much more than that. The direct translation of the word is the presence of divine breath.

Traditionally Hawaiians would greet each other by pressing their foreheads and noses together and then inhaling at the same time. Sharing ha, or breath, is a sign of respect because its thought to possess mana or spiritual power.

Although this practice is no longer common, it illustrates the essence of the word. According to the old kahunas, or priests, being able to live the spirit of aloha was a way of reaching self-perfection and realization for your own body and soul. They believed the first step in achieving this state was self-love.

This isnt a new idea. Loving yourself unconditionally is a vital part of being happy. Most of us love many things that arent perfect, yet somehow, we find it extraordinarily hard to apply that principle to ourselves.

Contrary to popular belief, love and perfection are not partners. Rather than believing that by loving yourself and thinking youre perfect, try appreciating who you are without judgement.

Think of something you love, even though its worn or chipped. Try transferring the positive feelings you have for that flawed item to yourself. Its the imperfections that make us unique, quirky, and exceptional.

Successful relationships start with a close and loving connection with yourself. When your heart is overflowing with self-love, its easier to spread that affection to others. Its also easier to send positive energy into the world.

Aloha is about accepting that every person as equally important for the collective existence of all. It also suggests you extend warmth, caring, and compassion without expecting anything in return.

Rather than scratching another persons back in hopes that theyll scratch yours, pay things forward. Know that your good deeds will have an impact, even if you never know what it is.

The seriousness Hawaiians feel around aloha is demonstrated by the Aloha Spirit Law. This came into existence in 1986, although in the true spirit of the word, its more of a guideline than a law.

It was created to remind government officials to treat people with the same sort of deep care and respect their ancestors did.

Queen Liliuokalani, the last reigning monarch of Hawaii, summed up the true meaning of this magical word.

"And wherever [the native Hawaiian] went he said aloha' in meeting or in parting. Aloha was a recognition of life in another. If there was life there was mana, goodness, and wisdom, and if there was goodness and wisdom there was a god-quality. One had to recognize the 'god of life' in another before saying aloha,' but this was easy. Life was everywhere - in the trees, the flowers, the ocean, the fish, the birds, the pili grass, the rainbow, the rock - in all the world was life--was god--was Aloha. Aloha in its gaiety, joy, happiness, abundance. Because of aloha, one gave without thought of return. Because of aloha, one had mana. Aloha had its own mana. It never left the giver but flowed freely and continuously between giver and receiver. Aloha could not be thoughtlessly or indiscriminately spoken, for it carried its own power. No Hawaiian could greet another with aloha unless he felt it in his own heart. If he felt anger or hate in his heart, he had to cleanse himself before he said aloha. So, the next time you greet anyone with aloha, hold its meanings close to your heart and be conscious of how you hold the moment with that person and how you picture or hold them in your heart.

Ive returned home with a renewed understanding of the importance of both loving yourself and treating others with respect, and kindness. It may seem like an idealistic way of living, but I felt its existence during my recent time in Hawaii.

Aloha ia O'Koa Pa'ulo! When we meet in love...we shall be whole!

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.


Aviation buffs would probably know that it has been 15 years since the Airbus A380 entered commercial service on a flight from Singapore to Sydney. And to commemorate this special feat, Singapore Airlines has decided to donate a pair of the aircrafts seats to a museum. Yes, thats right! The first-generation Singapore Airlines A380 suites and Singapore Airlines A380 business class seats were both introduced in the year 2007. They will now be displayed as part of an exhibition at the National Museum of Singapore and will serve as an artifact for future generations of travelers to see.





The business class seats were the first to introduce direct aisle access to passengers and were the widest of its kind. Similarly, the suites seats were the first to offer a double bed in the sky and could be converted into a bed in just three minutes.

Commenting on them, Chung May Khuen, the museums Director, stated: Objects like these iconic seats from SIA enrich our documentation and telling of Singapores progress and development through the years, and we look forward to more of such meaningful contributions.

Remarking similarly, Yeoh Phee Teik, Singapore Airlines SVP of Customer Experience, added: The introduction of these seats on the aircraft marked a milestone in aviation history, as they offered an unprecedented level of comfort for our customers. We are grateful that the National Museum is preserving an important aspect of our history, and hope that visitors are reminded of their flights with us when they view the showcase.

The items of aviation heritage will be showcased at the National Museum of Singapore onwards 2023.
Its hard to enjoy scary movies on Halloween  or any movies on any day  when a 12-by-14-inch section of your big-screen TV is darkened and flickering.

Thats how Mary Gotzion described the problem with her 65-inch Samsung installed on Sept. 3, 2021, and malfunctioning as of August . The next two months were not a horror story, exactly, but they were plenty irritating.

Gotzion, 81, of Windsor, said the TV came with a one-year warranty when she bought it at the Best Buy at Madisons East Towne Mall, which is where she called to report the screen problem on Aug. 5.

Samsung sent her case to two different third-party repair firms over the next two months, she said, during which there were multiple calls with Best Buy and the repair firms, taking up multiple hours of her time.

I spent like a week straight every day on the phone ... trying to get this problem resolved, she said.

Neither firm was able to fix the TV for reasons including the lack of parts or the staff to install them, an inability to do house calls, and work orders that were inexplicably canceled, she said.

SOS laid all this out in an email to Best Buys and Samsungs media-relations shops on Oct. 5, and the next day, Gotzion received emails from Best Buy and a Samsung executive who vowed to begin the process of issuing a refund.

SOS next spoke to Gotzion on Oct. 17, when she said Samsung was offering her a pro-rated refund if she would send the company photos of her receipt and the serial number on the TV.

Samsung had the TV picked up from her home on Wednesday, she said.

I was told to contact Samsung and that they would ask for a copy of the form they had me sign for my return and their pickup, she told SOS in an email that day. I sent them this via email and I am waiting to hear from them as to sending me a $2,215.49 refund on the TV we paid $2,900 for in August of 2021. Better than nothing!

Gotzion reported on Thursday that shed received email confirmation from Samsung of the refund, which was to arrive in five to seven days.

SOS will follow up to see that it does.

Samsung and Best Buy did not respond to SOS Oct. 5 email, but an unnamed Samsung official did provide a statement in response to a follow-up request Friday.

The statement said, in part, that we are working closely with Ms. Gotzion to resolve her concern and regret any frustration she may have experienced as we reach this resolution.

Send us an SOS Since September 2007, SOS has helped save Wisconsin State Journal readers more than $205,947.03 and solved hundreds of problems. You can send an SOS using any of these methods: Email: sos@madison.com Online form: http://go.madison.com/sendSOS Phone: 608-252-6198 Mail: SOS, Wisconsin State Journal, P.O. Box 8058, Madison, WI 53708
You cant miss the campaign ads.

Theyve been filling the airwaves and your mailboxes. Many of them feature shadowy images and bold, threatening words to cast aspersions on an opponent.

As the allegations fly from all parties, its hard to find the kernels of truth in the noise, to get to the heart of the issues.

The Wisconsin State Journal newsroom has been working hard to discern the fact from fiction and lay the issues out for you.

Reporters have been working hard to cover all aspects of the elections, from voting security to the tight races for governor, attorney general and U.S. Senate.

As you head to the polls, this news content could serve as a useful tool to help choose the best candidate.

Mitchell Schmidt and Alexander Shur, the State Journals state government reporters, pressed the candidates on the issues, from abortion to criminal justice reform.

Schmidt has covered the issues in the gubernatorial campaign closely, from polling to ad campaigns to where the candidates stand on the issues.

Shur wrote dozens of stories about the race between Ron Johnson and Mandela Barnes for the U.S. Senate. He talked to experts who analyzed the ads by both campaigns, covered the debates and followed the campaign donations.

Two reporters were on hand to cover each debate. One provided live updates as the candidates sparred, and another wrote a detailed analysis of the two debates between Sen. Johnson and Lt. Gov. Barnes and the single debate between Gov. Tony Evers and challenger Tim Michels. Reporter Lucas Robinson also has been closely following the campaigns for Dane County sheriff and the tight race for attorney general.

In a new feature this year, reporters dug into the accusations made against the candidates to tell readers where there was any truth.

That fact-checking involved claims made in campaign ads, at debates and in media interviews by the candidates. The staff looked into the most pervasive claims against candidates and reported the actual facts in the issue.

These stories can help voters weed out the truth amid aggressive, mud-slinging advertisements.

A series of candidate Q&A stories can help you learn more about the candidates and their views, in their own words.

K-12 education reporter Olivia Herken told us that schools across Wisconsin will have 81 referendums on the Nov. 8 ballot. Theyve had 166 referendums this year, the highest number since 2001.

On Election Day, well have a team of reporters, photographers and editors monitoring results, talking to candidates and bringing you up-to-the-minute updates on Madison.com.

Well also have live election results for the statewide races so you can follow along as the results are counted. Just visit Madison.com throughout the night.

Well follow up with final results, analysis and a look at what the outcomes mean for Wisconsin.

This coverage takes a team of dedicated reporters, editors and photographers, and theyll keep bringing you the latest election news long after the polls close.
Mayan Lopez remembers being 7 or 8 on the set of her fathers sitcom, The George Lopez Show. To earn extra money, she did odd jobs as an assistant director, wore a headset and made enough money to buy an American Girl doll in four weeks.

Some of my greatest memories were sitting on the cameras and having to be really still, Mayan says. I got the bug and wanted to be in show business.

Now, she and her father are in a new NBC sitcom, Lopez vs. Lopez, thats loosely based on their lives. But it wasnt born out of happiness.

There was a time when we didnt speak and were estranged for about three years, Mayan says. Georges divorce from her mother was part of the problem. Then, too, George says, I used to give up on people  whether it was my fault or not. I would remove people from my life. If I was to blame, I would just never have to see them again.

The father/daughter relationship, however, was a bit different. George knew he couldnt walk away.

The pandemic brought us back together, Mayan says. I started making TikToks with my family to reconnect.

Producer Debbye Wolfe saw them and thought there could be a series in the concept. She got the two sides together and created Lopez vs. Lopez. The only way these two were going to heal their relationship was on the set of their own NBC sitcom, Wolfe says.

The two are talking, healing their wounds and seeing the value in working out problems in a different way.

The series, Mayan says, has given her more confidence in her relationship with her father. Were co-workers. For the sake of our relationship, there has to be some emotional separation, but the bond and the love show very clearly on screen.

I keep it real by not saying goodbye to her when I leave at the end of the day, George jokes.

Both George and Mayan are so open to exploring all the things, not just with the writers, but also what they have to bring from their own experiences together, Executive Producer Bruce Helford say.

Mayan says enough time has passed that they can look at the situation from a different point of view. I like to think of comedy as pain and time.

In the series, they play fictionalized versions of themselves, conjuring those conversations that could have taken place.

COVID, Mayan says, really brought them together. Realizing the need to speak to one another, Mayan started the videos and got attention from the outside.

The series that resulted, really shows the pain of reconnection, she says. Sometimes it can get a little too overwhelming and maybe you need to go take a break. Its ebb and flow. In those show were on and were working. Just like in real life, were working on our relationship and learning new things every day.

Adds George: It was very difficult to be able to have to look at your flawed self and be honest with yourself. (Starring in the series) was going to take me on a very painful journey. Much like life, laughter is the best medicine. I dont think its as good as antidepressants, but it can be a good medicine.

Lopez vs. Lopez airs Nov. 4 on NBC and Peacock.
BLACKFOOT  A former Idaho sheriff has been sentenced to three years of probation and 10 days in jail after prosecutors said he pulled a gun on a woman who was delivering a thank you note to his home.

Seventh District Judge Stephen Dunn sentenced Craig Rowland on Tuesday, ordering him to also meet six times with a therapist and to avoid any contact with the victims in the case for five years.

Rowland was the Bingham County Sheriff on Nov. 9, 2021 when a youth group from his church attempted to leave a thankful turkey thank-you card for his wife. Law enforcement investigators said the group was driving away when Rowland stopped the car, pulled the youth group leader out by her hair, held a gun to her head and threatened to shoot her.

He was charged with aggravated assault, aggravated battery and exhibiting or using a deadly weapon the following month, but refused to resign from his position as sheriff for months despite repeated requests from local leaders.

After hiring a new attorney, Rowland resigned and pleaded guilty in August to the aggravated assault charge. The other two charges were dropped in exchange for his guilty plea.

The defendants actions that night last November broke Idaho law, Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden said in a news release. Now he will suffer the appropriate consequences. Our system worked and justice has been served.
Its not often that a candidate in an opposing political party, running for the same statewide office, says the state will be fine even if the other guy wins.

But thats what is happening in the race for Idahos next secretary of state.

The Idaho Secretary of State is an executive office responsible for administering state elections, keeping records on businesses, trademarks, tax liens, notaries and other professions, and has various other duties related to official documentation. The secretary of state also serves on the State Board of Land Commissioners, also known as the Land Board, which is responsible for directing the management of more than 2.5 million acres of state endowment trust lands across Idaho.

Whoever is victorious will replace Secretary of State Lawerence Denney, who was first elected to the office in 2014 and is not seeking re-election.

Shawn Keenan

Democrat Shawn Keenan, who lives in Coeur dAlene, decided to make his first foray into running for public office during the Republican primary, when two out of three Republicans in the race  Sen. Mary Souza, R-Coeur dAlene, and Rep. Dorothy Moon, R-Stanley  said they thought the 2020 presidential election was stolen, a claim that has no evidence. Keenan said he couldnt stand by and watch it happen.

Im not for people who project misinformation and disinformation purposely to rile up and mislead voters. I think its completely disingenuous and also hurtful to our democracy, Keenan told the Idaho Capital Sun in an interview this month. When I see candidates campaigning on conspiracy and lies, Im going to call it out.

Neither Souza nor Moon emerged victorious from the primary on May 17. Ada County Clerk Phil McGrane won the contest by a little more than 1.5%, and Moon went on to be elected chairwoman of the Idaho Republican Party.

Keenan said he didnt know much about McGrane, so he called up some political friends in the Boise area.

I kind of vetted him really hard and said, Hey, whats up with this Phil guy? Keenan said, and every person he talked to had glowing things to say. I felt good about that and thought, OK, well  win, lose or draw, Idahos going to be safe.

Keenan, 45, was born and raised in North Idaho and earned a bachelors degree in communications from Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston. His interest in politics started when he was 9 years old, he said, when he inadvertently canvassed door-to-door with a neighbor who was campaigning for former Democratic Gov. Cecil Andrus. At the time, Keenan had no idea who Andrus was, but he wanted to join his mom for the local upcoming Bloomsday Run.

I asked my neighbor what he was doing, and he said he was walking lots of miles, so I said, I want to go with you because all I heard was lots of miles, Keenan said.

Through middle school and high school, Keenan stayed up to date on political issues and started his own progressive political clubs. Shortly after he graduated from college, Keenan started volunteering on local, statewide and national Democratic campaigns in Idaho, including as a field organizer.

An Idaho Democratic Party operative asked Keenan if he was interested in running for secretary of state, and he decided to take the leap. But without a campaign website or social media presence, and with few media interviews about his qualifications, his profile throughout the election cycle has remained low.

As secretary, Keenan would focus on election uniformity

Keenan said he met with McGrane in the summer, when McGrane was in the area campaigning. Through the course of the conversation, Keenan determined they were in agreement on the vast majority of issues surrounding elections.

It gives me confidence knowing he cares a lot about elections, and hes been doing a great job in Ada County, Keenan said.

The one main difference between the two that Keenan could identify, and the reason he says Idahoans should vote for him, was that he is not willing to cave to any pressure from the Idaho Republican Party or conservative political groups.

(McGrane) did signal he wanted to give them a little bit of a tip of the hat of some sort, Keenan said. But youre seeing this problem in all offices, which is bullying and intimidation, that is really causing public officials to change their intentions as far as doing public service. They dont want to be risky with a policy, they temper what they say, and I think thats a real disservice to our democracy.

As secretary, Keenan said he would prioritize voter access, particularly for young people, after several pieces of legislation that he thought would disenfranchise voters nearly made it through the Idaho Legislature earlier this year.

He would also work toward more uniform election training for clerks and poll workers across the state to minimize discrepancies in election administration. He said that kind of uniformity would help lessen the concerns over fraud, which are often driven by miscommunication or incorrect assumptions.

A solid, uniform election delivery system needs to happen, and that means proper training is done, Keenan said. I think its important to gain the confidence of the citizens, even though there hasnt been any valid reason to destroy their confidence.

If he is unsuccessful in the secretarys race, Keenan said hes still considering running for a county commissioner seat in Coeur dAlene.

Phil McGrane

McGrane admits he finds himself in a challenging position less than two weeks before the Nov. 8 election.

As Ada County clerk, McGrane is chief elections administrator for Idahos largest county leading up to Nov. 8. While he has delegated many responsibilities to his chief deputy since his name is on the ballot, its still a busy season for his office, and people are already starting to approach him about ideas for legislation well ahead of Election Day.

McGrane has a long list of Republican endorsements, including current Gov. Brad Little, former Govs. C.L. Butch Otter, Phil Batt and Dirk Kempthorne, and former Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa.

But he faced criticism from conservatives for his lack of support of bills by his Republican primary opponents, Sen. Mary Souza of Coeur dAlene and Rep. Dorothy Moon of Stanley, who is now chairwoman of the Idaho Republican Party. The bills by Souza and Moon would have tightened voter registration and identification laws, and are premised on the disproven claims that Idahos elections are vulnerable to widespread fraud.

The race wasnt exactly a friendly competition. Moon accused him of misconduct as clerk for taking a grant from a nonprofit organization that was funded by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to help with election administration during the 2020 election and implied he would not protect election integrity.

Several of Moons supporters will almost certainly occupy new seats in the Idaho Legislature in January as well. That could mean resistance to McGranes budget and policy priorities.

McGrane became Ada Countys chief deputy clerk in 2011 and served in that role until he was elected clerk in 2018. He directed the largest absentee election in state history in 2020, and touts the offices recognition as one of the states Top 10 Best Places to Work in 2019, 2020 and 2021. He ran against Idaho Secretary of State Lawerence Denney in the 2014 Republican primary and came in second.

McGrane said he plans to work as well as he can with Moon and the chairwoman of the Idaho Democratic Party, Lauren Necochea.

My goal is to make sure that although we may have differences of opinion on policy, the office is running in an even-handed manner, he said.

McGrane: The best way to build trust in elections is to be willing to work with everyone

If he wins, there will barely be time to take a breath before the 2023 legislative session begins, where many new legislators will take their seats and new leadership will be chosen, including Speaker of the House.

Its almost unfair for everybody who takes these statewide offices, that you start at the very beginning of the legislative session, McGrane said. You dont even get to find out where the bathroom is before you have to go testify at the Legislature.

But McGrane is plenty familiar with testifying at the Legislature, and he expects to still have good working relationships with more senior legislators who will still occupy their seats. That doesnt mean he wont face some headwinds, though.

I have heard there are some new members coming in who are, and are not, very supportive of me, McGrane said.

He expects election-related bills could be among the first to be introduced regardless of what happens between now and January, and he plans to help craft a few election integrity bills himself, including voter identification laws.

Will he cave to political pressures, as Keenan suggested he might? McGrane says he will run his office in a way that builds trust with people of all political persuasions.

No matter where you sit on the political spectrum, you have to have confidence in our elections, McGrane said. There are even people in Ammon Bundys circle who will call me to get advice, because they at least have confidence that Ill be straight with them.

Bundy and his supporters have made their distrust of government officials well known.

Campaign finance is another area McGrane thinks needs a lot of work in Idaho. Much of it could be achieved through rewriting the existing laws to make them clearer and easier to follow, he said. While many people engaged in Idaho politics want to see more enforcement mechanisms for violations, McGrane said it should first be easy to comply with the law.

Everyone is eager for enforcement. The problem is, its confusing and complicated, so the number one excuse is, I didnt understand, McGrane said. And its tough to say thats not true, because you look at (Idaho Code), and it is confusing.

He also wants to bring back training classes for candidates and treasurers of campaigns before every election cycle so that all participants know how to report correctly, which could include best practice recommendations. To build confidence in elections and prevent corruption, transparency is key, he said.

As the chief elections official in Ada County, McGrane has pushed to make voting data available to the public in a number of ways, including visualizations that paint a picture of whats happening at the polls. McGrane added that investments in better campaign finance software at the state level would also help create a more robust, easy-to-follow system.

Another of his primary goals is to create a comprehensive voter guide that would be sent prior to an election that would not only let Idahoans know an election is coming up, but also provide simple information about whats on the ballot. The most common question his office receives is about voter guides, regardless of party affiliation, he said.

No matter how any of those ideas fare in the Idaho Legislature and beyond, McGrane said Idahos elections will continue to be a model.

I think our election system works well in Idaho, and I keep really trying to bring that to the forefront, he said. I love this stuff, and Im excited to see us continue to shine as a state.
Photo: Adam Wuisman, PNG Dozens of vehicles were trapped Sunday, Nov. 15, 2021, between two landslides on Highway 7 near Agassiz.

Transport and rescue crews from Comox have received an international award for outstanding contribution to the preservation of life during a natural disaster.

The Honourable Company of Air Pilots, based in London, England, has recognized the exceptional dedication of 442 Transport and Rescue Squadron from 19 Wing Comox.

On Nov. 15, 2021, the team rescued more than 300 civilians stranded by landslides on Highway 7 near Agassiz in the Fraser Valley. The unstable landslides necessitated the immediate airlift of people trapped between the rising river and the cliff face, says the citation for the Barry Marsden Memorial Award.

Within two hours of the initial call for help, 442 Squadron had three Cormorant helicopters with full search-and-rescue crews on scene working on evacuations.

Through inspiring initiative, expert co-ordination and stalwart airmanship, the Cormorant crews were able to land on Highway 7 in deteriorating weather and gale force winds despite the congestion and debris caused by the landslides, says the citation.

The crew were able to rescue 311 people, 26 dogs and one cat. All crews returned to base within 11 hours, ready to serve again, having completed the largest mass evacuation in Cormorant helicopter history.

The sense of duty displayed by all members of [the squadron] in anticipating what needed to be done was evident from the technicians supporting efforts to launch all available helicopters, the crew members stepping up to volunteer to fly, and the leadership displayed by the command team as the crisis unfolded, says the citation. These efforts quickly gained national attention and showed the resolve and dedication to Canada that 442 Squadron exemplifies on a daily basis.

The landslides were the result of heavy rain and flooding during an atmospheric river weather event last November.

The historic rainfall caused flooding of 15,000 hectares of land, affecting more than 1,000 farms and 2.5 million livestock, washing out highway and railway infrastructure, and causing an estimated $285 million in damage.

 with a file from The Canadian Press
The California security company cited for a serious safety violation in connection with the Boise Towne Square mall shooting last year is appealing the decision.

A year after the October 2021 shooting, an extensive report on the shooting sheds light on three previous interactions the mall security staff had with the armed shooter, as well as the shooters conduct at other locations in the Treasure Valley and with a state legislator.

Professional Security Consultants Inc., a Los Angeles company, provided security for the mall during the Oct. 25, 2021, shooting that left two people dead, including a security employee who was shot to death after approaching the armed gunman, Jacob Bergquist.

Bergquist later died by suicide behind a dumpster close to the mall, after shooting at police.

Citation appealed on grounds standards were vague

In April, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a branch of the U.S. Department of Labor that handles worker safety, cited the security company for a serious violation and fined it $14,502.

In a July 26 document, a lawyer for the security company said it denies the allegations that it violated federal worker safety rules, noting that the standards the company allegedly violated are unenforceable due to vagueness.

In a list of defenses, the company said it had been expected to comply with standards it had not been given adequate notice to comply with, and that the rules it violated were de minimis, or trivial.

The company also said any potential violations were caused by unforseeable employee and/or supervisory misconduct, and that there was no substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from the alleged condition.

The citation indicated that OSHA took issue with the companys policy of asking security workers to approach armed people rather than considering a no-approach policy for high-risk situations and instead calling law enforcement.

OSHA also said the company should better identify and track high-risk people, require security to immediately contact law enforcement in such instances, and conduct regular active shooter drills.

Professional Security Consultants policies and procedures did not effectively address the risk of gun violence, a recognized hazard in the security services industry, OSHA Area Director David Kearns said in a news release at the time.

A trial to resolve the matter is scheduled for next May before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, a federal agency that adjudicates OSHA cases.

A lawyer representing the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Bergquist visited mall three times before shooting

In an interview with Boise police, the malls security manager recognized Bergquist from a photograph and said the 27-year-old Boise resident had visited the mall on three prior occasions, each time with a gun.

The first incident was several months before the shooting, when he entered the mall and was approached by a security employee, who advised him that firearms were prohibited.

In response, Bergquist said it was a free country, noted his Second Amendment right and called the rule a joke before leaving without incident, according to the interview.

In a second encounter, Bergquist again came in with a gun, complained after being approached by security, and left. In a third encounter, which happened in April 2021  six months before the shooting  Bergquist disparaged the malls policy with a profanity and told the employee he was on the city council and working with Boise police to change their policy, according to the report. After being told that the mall was private property, he said that was a big excuse and left.

Each time Bergquist came in, he was carrying a pistol with extra magazines, the report said. He would enter on the east side by Dillards and leave on the west side of Macys.

Mall security is not allowed to enter into the Macys store unless there is an emergency so security did not follow Bergquist out of Macys when he left, according to the report. He never made any threats and left without incident each time.

The security manager also said that the names of people who brought guns to the mall were not documented.

On the day of the shooting, Bergquist killed a security guard, Jo Acker, who approached him outside of the entrance to Macys. He then shot Roberto Padilla Arguelles on a nearby escalator, and fired more rounds inside Macys before exiting through the west entrance, according to the report.

Acker, 26, was a U.S. Army veteran from Caldwell. She had a 3-year-old daughter. Padilla Arguelles, 49, was a Mexican man on a work program in Rupert, which is east of Twin Falls. He was shopping for gifts at the mall and was planning to return home to family in two weeks when he died, according to previous Idaho Statesman reporting. He had three children and a grandson.

Bergquists search for work, conduct with neighbors

The Boise police investigation into Bergquist uncovered that he had worked or looked for employment at multiple locations in the Boise area, including Walmart, Fred Meyer, a dry cleaner and a gun range.

He had been fired from a job at a Walmart in Meridian because he brought a gun to work and was confrontational with management when asked about it. At a local gym on State Street, Idaho Fitness Factory, he had repeatedly carried a firearm while working out, and had once inadvertently pointed it (at) a members head while he was on a bench.

At a gun shop and range in Boise called Impact Guns, he frequently came in to look around the store, and came in almost every day in the two or three weeks before the shooting, according to the report.

Bergquist had lived at a mobile home park in the Boise area for about six months and rarely had visitors, according to the report. Police said he moved to Idaho at the end of 2020.

A neighbor said he heard Bergquist talking to a camera as if he were making videos. Bergquist had a YouTube channel that no longer exists.

Another neighbor said she always saw him with a gun, and sometimes with an AR-15 rifle. Two days before the shooting, she saw him pacing back and forth in the road, talking loudly and angrily.

In a search of his residence, police found numerous bullet casings in a side yard and inside the home, along with bullet holes in the corner of the living room wall. A plywood board in the hallway had a large number of bullet strikes/impacts, the report said.

Based on the location of the couch, the bullet strikes to the living room wall corner ... are consistent with someone (Bergquist) sitting on the couch and target practice shooting, the report said.

Prior interaction with governor, legislator

As previously reported, Idaho State Police had reported Bergquist at the Idaho Statehouse, where he told the governors receptionist that he wanted to interview the governor about the rights of felons to carry guns.

In 2011, Bergquist had been charged with felony possession of marijuana with intent to sell in Wisconsin, according to previous Statesman reporting. The charges were pleaded down to a misdemeanor. Had he been convicted of the felony charge, Idaho law would have prevented him from carrying a gun in the state.

In April 2021, Bergquist approached Rep. Chris Mathias, a Boise Democratic state legislator, on the steps of the Idaho Capitol, according to the report.

Mathias said Bergquist was not close enough to him to have seen his name tag, so he believed he would have had to have researched him to recognize him, the report said.

Bergquist was wearing all black and carrying a pistol, and after he called Mathiass name, he asked Mathias what he was going to do to restore his gun rights.

Mathias told him to contact the Judiciary and Rules Committee at the Legislature, and Mathias kept walking to his appointment, the report said.

Statesman reporter Nicole Blanchard contributed.
PITTSBURGH  L. Hafer of the Pittsburgh Daily Post paid a visit way back on June 9, 1847, to Mercy Hospital, the Catholic hospital begun by the Sisters of Mercy, a religious congregation founded in Ireland. The hospital had just opened its doors four months earlier in a former concert hall smack in the middle of the city on the cusp of transitioning from a frontier outpost to a major industrial hub.

The Mother Superior very politely conducted us through the new institution, the cleanliness, neatness are everywhere seen, Hafer wrote. There are two rows of beds where the sick are brought and have every attention and kindness extended to them. ... It is an institution intended for the accommodation of men and women of every race, creed and nationality.

One year later, Mercy established the regions first teaching hospital with resident physicians in training. Now, though, this hospital, along with many others across the country, is at risk because of a proposal by the Biden administration  as well soon discuss.

But back to the Sisters: Their Pittsburgh hospital, which now sits on a bluff on the edge of the central business district, has served the city through the Civil War, two world wars and several deadly pandemics. It remains Pittsburghs only Catholic hospital with specialized services, including neurosurgery, a Level I trauma unit and state-of-the-art burn services.

For most of its existence, the neighborhood it occupies, the Bluff, has been a mix of immigrants, minorities and students attending the adjacent Duquesne University, also a Catholic institution.

It is one of those very unique places in the world of medicine where patients receive spiritual healing and benefit from the best cutting-edge technology in the health care world. All the while, it maintains its mission of welcoming everyone since the day it opened, regardless of race, nationality, age, gender or religion.

There are currently 600 Catholic hospitals in the United States and more than 1,500 long-term care health facilities in the country. According to the Catholic Health Associations statistics, 1 in 7 patients in the United States are cared for in a Catholic hospital, with many of them in underserved minority communities. Their collective mission remains the same since the day the Sisters of Mercy came here in the 19th century.

Cultural elites long have been skeptical of the reach of religious freedoms, let alone faith-based care. But their hostility toward these institutions has never been a coordinated effort until recently. Now, however, three powerful progressive cultural curators (federal and state regulators, legacy media and left-wing special interest groups) seemingly have banded together to force Catholic hospitals to violate their faith.

If successful, their effort would leave millions without health care access.

It began this summer when Bidens appointees at the Department of Health and Human Services planned to revise Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act to add pregnancy termination, sexual orientation and gender identity to already existing protections against discrimination on the basis of sex.

In short, the proposal would reverse the Trump administration protections that sought to allow health care professionals to opt out of performing procedures, such as abortions or gender reassignment surgeries, that violate their beliefs.

The usual groups against traditional faith piled on. Planned Parenthood, the nations leading provider of abortions, now offers hormone therapy for transgender and gender-nonconforming patients, so it issued a statement immediately praising the Biden administration rule that would punish such Catholic hospitals.

The United States Catholic Conference of Bishops, in turn, condemned the proposed rule, saying it threatens the Catholic Churchs ability to carry out healing ministries by mandating that health care workers perform life-altering surgeries to remove perfectly healthy body parts. The bishops also expressed their doubts that the HHS rule provided adequate religious-liberty protections: Assurances that HHS will honor religious freedom laws offer little comfort when HHS is actively fighting court rulings that declared HHS violated religious freedom laws the last time they tried to impose such a mandate.

The bishops conference called on HHS to disavow any such intent.

Interviews with experts in the Catholic health care system say the pressure from multiple powerful progressive institutions on their faith-based providers began in earnest in September when progressive activists began realizing that national Democrats were losing the argument with voters on abortion.

Stories in The New York Times and Washington Post went full-throttle from various angles attacking the Catholic health care system (questioning their charitable mission, their tax-exempt status and their profits), including an op-ed piece titled I dont want your god in charge of my health care.

The consistent theme in most of the attacks was tying the number of Catholic hospitals there are in the country, and their growth, to the Supreme Court decision this summer overturning the alleged constitutional right to abortion. The themes undercurrent is that Catholic health systems religious restrictions should cast doubt on their licenses.

An administrator within the Catholic hospital system said the outside pressure is unlike anything he has seen.

Religious liberty is often overlooked by elite progressive groups as a prime reason people have immigrated here since before we even formed as a country, starting with reactions to religious persecution in England, Scotland and Germany in the 17th century. We all once understood that its ingrained in our national DNA to protect that liberty, as well as faith-based religious institutions and charities.

Elites dont understand it because many of them lead secular lives surrounded in their professions, personal lives and neighborhoods with secular peers. They see religiosity as a freak show or a threat to their entitlements to abortions or gender reassignments rather than something with which, based on founding principles, they should coexist.

They also miss the faith-based groups right under their noses in their communities  not just in Catholic hospitals, but also in a variety of different faith-based services that serve the most at-risk in society who would not be able to provide those services without public funds.

The hostility toward the faith-based outfits rarely comes from the residents who surround their hospital or nearby communities; it is a new development crafted out of a new age of politics that began during the fight over Obamacare. Alas, it now has escalated during the Biden era largely because our cultural curators in legacy media, institutions, politics and government are now firmly all on the same, stridently anti-religious page.
TWIN FALLS  Candidates for the position of superintendent of public instruction had two debates last week, and demonstrated their differences to voters.

Debbie Critchfield, a Republican from Oakley, faces Terry Gilbert, a Democrat from Boise, in the Nov. 8 election to head the State Department of Education.

During the two debates, candidates focused on policy issues, and their ideas for what was important to teachers, students and parents in Idaho.

In a conversation with the Times-News, Gilbert said he is running in order to give a diverse voice in a one-party state. He is passionate about educations role in maintaining the American system of government, which relies on the participation of an informed public.

I am a fighter for public education, the cornerstone of democracy, and I will continue that fight, Gilbert told the Times-News.

Critchfield, on the other hand, has recently served seven years on the state board of education, which is immersed in policy and law, working with the State Department of Education and the Idaho Legislature. During the debates, Gilbert described Critchfield as a bit of a policy wonk.

Critchfield told the Times-News that policy is a large part of the job.

Having been on the State Board of Education as an appointed volunteer  its a policy board, Critchfield said. Youre working with legislators to create policy and law and rules. And so understanding what that looks like, what that means to districts, its critical. Our school districts live and die by the rules and policies. I think that skill is critical to being able to do the job well.

A good portion of Gilberts education experience is from a different era. He began teaching in 1967, and after 14 years he transitioned to working on curriculum development, and served as president of the Idaho Educators Association.

Gilbert said he believes some aspects of schools today are unchanged. Teachers are still committed and students still have grit. But, he said, the policy and attitudes in the legislature are different today than they were decades ago.

The difference is the oversight that the legislature is giving, and the oversight that some of our far-right citizens are exercising, which I think is inappropriate in large part, Gilbert said.

Debbie Critchfield

Critchfield identified three areas to focus on for use of the dedicated funding from the special session. She would like to strengthen workforce readiness programs, eliminate barriers for school districts to join the state health-insurance and benefits program, and address the shortage of classified staffing  school employees such ad bus drivers, classroom aides, and cafeteria workers.

Critchfield has ideas on how to address post-graduation outcomes for high schoolers. She said she wants to make it possible for Idahoans to come out of high school with access to opportunities for in-demand careers, with job-ready skills.

Im looking to create opportunities for students with local industry, business in their communities, whether its apprenticeships, workforce training, on the job training where students get credit for those things, Critchfield said. Were actually incentivizing students to think about what kind of career they want to have.

She also saw a possible use for surplus funds to address classified staffing shortages that many districts face, as many other employers are able to offer a more attractive salary amid historic low unemployment.

By allowing local school districts to identify where they need to allocate moneys, Critchfield said, many districts would be able to focus on the areas they felt most needed attention.

The big ones are insurance, classifieds, facilities, and programming for career technical education  those are the areas Critchfield said she has consistently heard requests for more local control.

I would like to have it directed and set up in ways that allows the maximum amount of local control over local budgeting, Critchfield said. How about we start letting locally elected boards determine where their needs are and then use those dollars accordingly.

While teacher pay has been often highlighted as a major factor in retaining teachers, Critchfield said she thinks money isnt the only compensation that matters.

When I talk about the non-financial ways we support educators, to me it has to come down to an overall job satisfaction, and that its recognized not just through pay, but through support, Critchfield said. How are we supporting the educator once theyre in the classroom? How are we talking about education? How are we promoting that public education works?

In the debates, Gilbert questioned Critchfield several times about her position on vouchers.

She said that any conversation about letting the money follow the child could not come at the expense of public schools.

If we are going to talk about public monies going to private institutions in the K-12 arena, it cannot come at the expense of public schools, Critchfield said in the debate. If were just talking about slicing up the same pie, that is not going to work.

Terry Gilbert

Gilberts career in education began in 1967 in Marsing. He was even invited to the Marsing High Schools 50th reunion this year. He said his experience as an educator give him an advantage as candidate for superintendent.

I believe in the joy of teaching and the joy of learning, Gilbert told the Times-News. I am hopeful that no matter the current environment teachers still feel the joy of teaching and students feel the joy of learning. I am afraid we are going to lose sight of that in the chaos of the current political environment.

Gilbert, like Critchfield, is an advocate for post-high school paths including vocational training and higher education. He said he would like to see curriculum tailored to student interests.

We lose students from the college track not because they are unintelligent, but because weve been unable to interest them and promote those subjects of key importance to them.

Gilbert said that as superintendent, he would influence the curriculum that teaches the essential subjects to create informed, literate and ethical adults.

He said if he was the one pulling the strings, he would allocate state revenue surplus funds to early literacy programs to bring 3rd graders back up to goals.

To help with early education and K-3 literacy efforts, Gilbert proposed a Literacy Moonshot, where he proposes asking retired teachers and compassionate adults to come into classroom to work side by side with teachers and read to young students to increase literacy.

In the debates, Gilbert showed outspoken about his convictions. He said, as a member of the minority party, he would need people backing him.

I know as a Democrat walking into a Republican dominated legislature Im going to have to have friends, he told the Times-News. Lots and lots of friends.

To help support him as a member of the minority party, Gilbert envisions a movement that would pick up on the successes of the Reclaim Idaho campaign, which successfully petitioned to place an education funding measure on the November ballot. (Reclaim Idaho has since withdrawn the ballot measure after the September special session allocated $410 million annually to the states schools income and in-demand careers fund.)

Gilbert is calling his vision the Cornerstone Movement, which would call upon the average Idaho citizen who wants to see education flourish in the state, to create influence in the legislature as a public lobby of sorts, making phone calls, writing letters, and holding rallies.

Gilbert is a vocal critic of any movements to use public monies to fund private schools, and challenged Critchfields position on vouchers several times during the debates.

I am very opposed to the voucher vultures, that is these deep-pocket people who want to eliminate public education and put in its place for-profit private schools, Gilbert said. My motto is public money should stay in public schools.
Former Chinese president Hu Jintaos peculiar exit from the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) congress meeting on Oct. 22 has ignited global discussion and intense speculation. And given current president Xi Jinpings war-waging aims, well it should.

By now tens of millions of people have seen at least part of Hus departure video. My summary: former president Hu is seated at the front table in Beijings Great Hall of the People, in a VIP dais seat next to his successor, Xi Jinping.

Action: Two senior staff members wearing surgical masks approach. A befuddled Hu rises, reaches for a paper, appears to speak with Xi, then pats former premier Li Zhanshu, (Chinas third most senior leader) on the shoulder.

Then Hu was led away.

Xinhua, Chinas state news agency and chief CCP global propaganda organ, claimed the 79-year-old Hu was escorted from his VIP seat after he began feeling unwell. CNN an iffy source said Hu appeared reluctant to leave. Well, I agree with that.

The BBC posited: The two most likely reasons for his (Hus) departure are that it was either part of Chinas power politics on full display, with a leader representing a former time being symbolically removed, or that Hu Jintao has serious health problems.

Beyond the BBCs either-or, both could be true, illness and a power play. Instead of physical health problems, other commentators suggested Hu may have been psychologically shaken.

So why the shakes from a former CCP bigshot? In dictatorships symbolic removal often precedes physical obliteration. Did the thought freeze Hus brain?

Prior to Hus egress under duress Xi had removed Hus political proteges and policy enthusiasts from the CCPs Central Committee. Denying Hus supporters decision-making positions consolidated Xis personal grip on power.

Hu led China from 2003 and 2013, his two five-year terms ratified by the once-every-five years (quinquennial) party congress. His presidency was regarded by many Chinese as a time of opening to world. Chinese citizens had reasonable access to the internet. Hus opening echoed Deng Xiaopings opening-up and reform policies designed to create a market economy within Chinas authoritarian socialist state.

After Deng died, Chinas president was expected to hold office for two terms, reflecting the CCPs commitment to collective leadership, a dictatorships way of saying the system considered the opinions of senior autocrats and tried to balance the interests of party factions.

Hu stepped down and ceded office to Xi.

Alas. Prior to this years congress, Xi revised Party term limit rules. Removing Hus admirers and revising the rules all but guarantees Xis position as Chinas supreme leader for the rest of his life.

China is a face culture. Face is important in every culture. Think of American politicians backtracking a blatant lie to save face  i.e., avoid humiliation.

Asian face cultures, however, take the concept several steps further. The CCPs face culture has Mafia rules. The CCP suffers from systemic ineptitude and authoritarian narcissism, but dont let the world know. The CCP face police treated Wuhans conscientious doctors as criminals and suppressed their warnings about COVID-19.

Charles Custer of thoughtco.com writes: Chinese society is quite conscious of hierarchy and reputation among social groups. People who have good reputations can buoy the social standing of others by giving them face.

Before the world Xi staged a face assassination of Hus reputation. No corpse to dispose. Within China Hus de-faced existence demonstrates Xis power.

Revving Chinas economy isnt Xis game. War is Xis aim, a war to seize Taiwan that leads to a big one with the U.S. As Xi calculates, given the Biden administrations haplessness, the war ends in a stalemate. With American weakness exposed, Americas Asian allies kowtow to Beijing and Xis China reigns preeminent in east Asia.

Kowtow is so apt. With Hus face assassination, Xi is effectively Chinas emperor.
When the federal government gets together with social media giants to censor critics of the government, is that free speech or censorship?

A case moving its way through the federal court system argues its censorship  a violation of Americans First Amendment right, not only to free speech but also to hear differing arguments.

A federal judge set up an expedited discovery schedule Friday.

The lawsuit filed by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Louisiana Attorney General Jeffrey Landry argues that when Washington tells Twitter, Facebook and YouTube which information and people they should exclude, and the platforms follow that direction, that is government censorship.

The story begins when Phil Magness, director of education for the American Institute for Economic Research, used the freedom of information act to obtain communications between Dr. Anthony Fauci, the face of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, and Dr. Francis Collins, then head of the National Institutes of Health.

The results, Magness told me, were completely unexpected. Notably, Magness found an email in which Collins suggested to Fauci that they take down authors of the October 2020 Great Barrington Declaration, which in the heat of governments COVID shutdown panic, urged focused protection for vulnerable individuals as most Americans returned to normal.

Collins dismissed the authors as fringe epidemiologists and suggested a quick and devastating published take down of their work.

Of course, Fauci and Collins were within their rights to object to the declaration  even if it turned out the fringe authors were right and the establishment experts got it wrong.

But they went too far, the complaint argues, by using their positions of government power to push social media platforms to squelch dissent.

The answer to bad speech used to be, not censorship, but more speech. Now Silicon Valley scolds can delete your account because of what the powers-that-be dismiss as misinformation, or fiddle with access to it, and you may not even know it.

And they know they can do it, because elected politicians like President Joe Biden are cheering them on.

Stanford University Medical School professor, physician and epidemiologist Jay Bhattacharya, one of the authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, joined the lawsuit. The suit, he explained, isnt aimed at social media directly, its aimed at the government.

The complaint also targets other blatantly partisan acts of federal overreach.

When the New York Post published its scoop about the contents of Hunter Bidens laptop, Twitter locked the New York Posts account.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg recently told podcaster Joe Rogan that Facebook buried the laptop story after the FBI warned his team Russia might release unspecified misinformation during the 2020 campaign season.

And guess what: Censorship works. The New York Times and Washington Post didnt cover the laptop story seriously until 2022.

The lawsuit aims to end section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects platforms from legal liability.

Bhattacharya is puzzled that there is shockingly little coverage of this lawsuit. It seems to me like a major First Amendment case.

No lie. Big Government has gotten into bed with Big Tech, their offspring likely will grow into Big Brother.
First things first. I dont believe in ghosts. Never have. Never will.

Except one.

This is the story of the Barnum Hall ghost. Barnum Hall is a 1200-seat auditorium located on the Southern California campus of Santa Monica High School, or Samohi for short, from which I graduated fifty-two years ago.

At Samohi I was a drama kid. Being so close to Hollywood, we did plays and musicals in a big way, with large student casts, live student orchestras, and elaborate sets, all performed in the wonderful Barnum Hall.

We also had our very own ghost.

According to school legend, the Barham Hall Ghost was a Samohi student, active in the Drama Club, who died back in the 50s after falling off the theater balcony while horsing around during a play rehearsal. Shortly thereafter he began his career as a colorfully annoying poltergeist, who was fond of making small props disappear, and occasionally scaring the tar out students by mind-melding with them during night rehearsals, especially  Im not making this up  if a full moon was shining through the front lobbys glass facade.

I had two run-ins with the Barnham Hall ghost.

Act One.

The first was during our theater-in-the-round production of Anton Chekovs The Three Sisters. To achieve the wraparound seating, we placed four bleachers on the stage with the set in the center rectangle. In one open area between the bleachers, we had a student on a small pedestal recording the live performance with an early video-tape camera. I was standing behind both him and the bleachers when suddenly, for no visible reason, he stood straight up, flailed his arms, and fell backwards off the camera stand.

He leaped to his feet, with fists ready to fly.

I ran (quietly) up to him and asked what had just happened.

He asked (quietly) who the jerk was who had just grabbed him by the neck and pulled him off his camera stand.

I saw the whole thing. There was no one. I told him so.

Oh yeah? he hissed. Then whats this? He pointed to the back of his neck.

I looked, and saw what he was pointing at. Long, red, fresh, heavy scratch marks. It wasnt makeup. One of the marks was starting to seep a little blood.

Act Two.

My second run-in with the Barnum Hall ghost occurred shortly before my graduation. During lunch hour, my girlfriend and I discovered an accidentally unlocked side door at Barnum Hall.

Naturally, we went inside.

We sat down at the front of the stage with our feet dangling into the orchestra pit bathing in the coolness of it all. And then we froze.

Suddenly there were footsteps going up the tile steps on the left side of the front lobby that led to the balcony. The footsteps went to the top, then stopped.

We expected a janitor to walk in and chew us out, but there was nothing. Then, only seconds later, there were heavy footsteps walking down the tile steps on the other side of the lobby.

We knew the lobby. There was no carpeting anywhere in it. Walking from one side of the promenade to the other in silence was impossible.

We looked at each other, and simultaneously said, The ghost!

We bolted off the stage and started up the right aisle toward the lobby. We could hear the steps continuing down the stairs as we ran. We flung open the door and sprang into the lobby as another footstep fell.

Nothing. The lobby was empty, except for us. Dead silence. Thoroughly creeped out, we left in a hurry.

Act Three.

About ten years ago I was back in Santa Monica and spent a few minutes walking around my old campus. The door to Barnum Hall was open. I went inside.

There were some kids relaxing on the stage, and their drama teacher sat in the audience. I introduced myself to the teacher as a former Samohi student, and we talked about teaching high school drama.

Before leaving, I asked the question. Sodo you ever hear from the ghost?

She looked at me, very startled. Then she looked down.

She sighed, kept her eyes on the ground, and said, Yeah, he checks in occasionally.

Curtain.
For the past few weeks, I have been researching out information on the two candidates for the office of Idaho Attorney General. In checking out the web pages for each candidate, I discovered one candidate, Mr. Tom Arkoosh, has a lot more legal and legal practical experience than Mr. Labrador. The difference between the two candidates is striking.

Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to have lunch with Mr. Arkoosh. Tom was born and raised in Idaho. Graduated from Harvard. Tom then graduated from Law school at the University of Idaho. He has served as a county prosecutor in Idaho. Tom has a lot of needed expertise in Idaho water law. He also has a wide variety of legal experience that will come as an asset to the Office of Idaho Attorney General.

What interested me the most was his views on operating the Office of Attorney General in a non-partisan manner. I was further impressed with his views on the oath to the United States Constitution and the Constitution of the State of Idaho. All we dont need is another cultural warrior who will use his office to forward a political agenda or use the office as a steppingstone to further political office.

As a independent, life long registered republican, I am supporting Mr. Tom Arkoosh for Idaho Attorney General.

Sincerely,

J. Blair Moncur

Idaho Falls
Over two years have passed since Judge Jackson Kiser died, but on Thursday he was remembered at a Danville courthouse where he served justice and mercy for 39 years.

Judge Kiser died on Oct. 20, 2020 unexpectedly in the midst of Covid, said Mark Holland who serves on the board of directors of the Federal Bar Association. We couldnt have a memorial service then.

Holland said Kiser went to Washington and Lee University School of Law, and served as an officer in the U.S. Army JAG Corps and U.S. Army Reserves.

After his military service, Kiser worked as a U.S. Commissioner for the U.S. District Court and an Assistant United States Attorney in the Western District of Virginia before entering private practice in Martinsville.

Over the next 20 years Kiser established himself as a skilled trial lawyer before being named as a judge for the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Virginia.

U.S. Senator John Warner recommended Kiser to President Reagan, and for the next 39 years he served in this very courtroom, Holland said.

Pittsylvania County native and Roanoke attorney Phil Anderson said he clerked for Kiser.

He had an exceptional reputation throughout the state, said Anderson. Most people can count on one hand the people who have made a significant impact in their lives and Kiser was that person for me.

Anderson said, as a person who grew up on a tobacco farm, he never expected to be chosen by Kiser to clerk for him.

For some reason, he gave me the opportunity and it became one of the most pivotal and critical years of my career, said Anderson. In 2013 he had the opportunity to swear in a former clerk, David Carson, as a judge and he got right in Davids face and said, When you put on that robe and walk up to that bench, never forget they are not there for you, but you are there for them.

Anderson described Kiser as brilliant with a commanding knowledge of the law.

He could have chosen to use those talents in so many different ways, but he chose to be a public servant, Anderson said. He recognized that our system of justice depends upon applying the law consistently and fairly.

Anderson told the story in which Kiser told a close friend, an attorney who was representing a client in Kisers courtroom, that he was not going to be pleased with his ruling.

What happened to your client was Sunday School wrong, but your client doesnt have a case, Anderson said Kiser told his friend. He loved practicing law.

Anderson also noted that Kiser won the first million dollar verdict in Virginia, but despite his fondness for the law his family was his priority.

When he would leave on Friday afternoon he would say Well, I think weve about used this week up, Anderson said. When you left his courtroom, you knew the system of government had worked like it was supposed to.

James W. Jim Haskins, a native of Martinsville, worked with Kiser for 15 years and was a named partner in the law firm that they shared.

He was an outstanding federal judge and had the respect of everybody he ever dealt with, said Haskins. He was always a great teacher. He wanted you to learn and understand the importance of what you were doing. He was a phenomenal lawyer.

Haskins talked about the time in the late 1970s when Henry County Sheriff C.P. Witt got into a little trouble.

It was criminal and Jack represented Witt, Haskins said. It was at the old Henry County Courtroom in Martinsville and it was packed. The defense that he put on for Witt is still talked about among the Bar. The sheriff was acquitted.

As a trial attorney, Haskins said Kiser would represent people who were injured in automobile crashes one time and the insurance company that insured them the next time.

He was the man that was in the foxhole with whoever he represented, said Haskins. With Kiser on your side in a trial, you had somebody on your side that believed in your cause.

Scott Jones was a term clerk for Kiser and then became his permanent clerk, serving in that position for 10 years until Kisers death.

He was a hard-nosed stickler for the rules, but he was also kind, funny and warm, Jones said. He was so knowledgeable about the law that he was called the professor.

Jones said it was true that Kiser once cited himself for being late to court and fined himself $50.

He sought to temper justice with mercy, Jones said. Once a defendant told him he had found religion and Kiser said If I believed every defendant that said he found religion after I sent him to prison, I would have saved more souls than Billy Graham.

Unlike some who adorn their office walls with accolades and awards and pictures with powerful people, Kisers walls were filled with pictures of his family.

He was a hero to me, Jones said. He left a legal and judicial legacy that will last a long time.

Western District Chief Judge Michael Urbanski said the first time he met Kiser it was in the winter of 81 or 83 and I was a wide-eyed law clerk.

I was here when Kiser was sworn in, Urbanski said as he looked around the courtroom where Kiser had presided. The first time I met him, I remember being so very impressed with this force of the law. If you were sitting at that defense table you were terrified because he was going to come on the bench and you knew he was going to challenge you, but later on you would realize that it was an important question.

Urbanski said many years later he found himself behind the bench, with his robe on when his cell phone started ringing during the proceedings.

It was a lesson I learned out of Kisers playbook, so I fined myself $50 for contempt of court, said Urbanski. You cannot sit on that bench without being reminded of Judge Jackson L. Kiser.

As ferocious as Kiser could be in the courtroom, he could also be just as gentle with the employees that worked with and for him.

He was the most patient, kind, co-worker you could ever imagine. No one could be more gracious, said Urbanski. Sometimes we get some folks that were sentenced by him. I had one yesterday that was on supervised release. I looked at the transcript from the guilty plea and sentencing. It was so much better than mine.

Thats his legacy. He was a great lawyer, a great judge and a better person.
Gov. Greg Gianforte and first lady Susan welcome Montana kids and families to trick-or-treat at the state Capitol on Halloween.

They will hand out treats to trick-or-treaters from 4-6 p.m. on Monday on the south side of the state Capitol building.

Montana State Auditor Troy Downing, Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen, and Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen will also have treats for trick-or-treaters.

The governor and first lady urge trick-or-treaters to be safe on Halloween, including following these safety tips:

 Avoid trick-or-treating alone and walk in groups or with a responsible adult.

 Make trick-or-treaters more visible to motorists by using a flashlight and putting reflective tape on costumes and bags.

 Be safe when crossing the street  look both ways, use crosswalks when possible, and walk, dont run.

 Teach your children never to enter a stranger's home or car.

 Stick to well-lit areas and approach well-lit homes.

With the governors residence at the corner of East Broadway and Carson streets in Helena closed for renovations, the governor and first lady are welcoming trick-or-treaters to the state Capitol.
In William Shakespeares Measure for Measure, the Duke of Vienna, Vincentio, sets up a Viennese test for his protege, Angelo. He exiles himself to an Austrian monastery and secretly stands watch as Angelo morphs before our eyes into a tyrant, even demanding sex from a young nun, Isabel, so that she might save the life of her imprisoned brother, Claudio.

In director Henry Godinez new production of this so-called problem play at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Vincentio runs Havana. He exiles himself to a Floridian monastery (Tampa of all places) and then stands watch as Angelo turns into a Castro-like dictator, fatigues and all, quickly destroying the sensual, freewheeling 1950s Havana playground of Cuban artistes, Hemingway, Sinatra, the Hotel Nacional, Tropicana Club and La Floridita.

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Godinez, best known for his Goodman Theatre productions, is of Cuban heritage himself; he arrived here on one of the Peter Pan flights in the 1960s and the history and fate of the island has been central to much of his work in Chicago theater over the years. This show is the work of a mature director; it feels much like a personal capstone.

The show begins in a Havana nightery of vaguely 1950s vintage; we watch a freewheeling vibe of music, dance and diverse personages, presided over by Mistress Overdone (Ana Santos) and Pompey (Elizabeth Ledo); the moment functions as both a lively preshow and the setting for the first scene of a Measure with a running time of only 1 hour and 45 minutes. At a rough guess, Id say Godinez cut around a third of the original play, but assuming youre no textual purist, you are unlikely to miss whats gone.

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Exit the Duke (Kevin Gudahl) to Tampa. And then Angelo (Adam Poss) wrecks havoc on this bohemian idyll, a situation that becomes especially intolerable for Isabel (Cruz Gonzalez-Cadel), who is forced to confront what is being asked from her in order to save her politically imprisoned brother (played by Andres Enriquez). In the end, of course, the closely watching Duke finds a solution involving Mariana (Alejandra Escalante), allowing him to trap Angelo in his own actions.

Isabel (Cruz Gonzalez-Cadel) and the Duke (Kevin Gudahl) in Measure for Measure at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. (Liz Lauren / HANDOUT)

Measure for Measure, last seen in a major Chicago production at the Goodman Theatre in 2013 in a very different take from director Robert Falls, is a very difficult play to stage, not least because of how hard it is now for the theater to deal with how Elizabethan dramatists routinely mixed comedy and romance into dramatic plots involving narratives of sexual and physical abuse. Most modern-day productions struggle with a consistent tone, given the lack of one in the original text, and this one is not an exception, judicious cutting notwithstanding.

But the production, which is highly entertaining, also achieves some very striking and unusual things.

In the first instance, the excellent Gonzalez-Cadel is wholly convincing as a nun, which is a rare achievement with a role often played as a standard ingenue. Not here. Isabel feels so wracked by what is being asked of her that it solves one of the plays typical problems, which is that a loving sister would do that and more for the life of her brother.

Theres also the matter of how the Duke, seemingly the plays benevolent deity throughout, suddenly asks Isabel for her hand in marriage, a further violation coming right before the final lines of the play. Most directors cut that or laugh it off or force Isabel to do a sudden 180-degree turn and reject her vows for a much older man.

But Gonzalez uses it as a fuel for a brilliant closing montage, using projections by Rasean Davonte Johnson, that makes the point, in essence, that the Duke, presumably standing in for the affluent ruling Cubans who left for Little Havana, were no better than the Castro crew. With Gonzalez-Cadel wordlessly showing us her characters thought process, Isabel joins with the former prisoner Barnardine (Debo Balogun) to fight for a different kind of revolution.

Lucio (Gregory Linington, at right) with Elbow (Joe Foust) and Pompey (Elizabeth Ledo) in Measure for Measure at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. (Liz Lauren / HANDOUT)

In terms of actual Cuban politics, of course, all of this is dodging the trickier political specifics, especially what the Cuban experience implies for the far left. And to say that Havana  in reality, full of money, power and conflict  is here idealized as a gently liberal nirvana puts it mildly. Godinez is not being brave enough to use the complexity of the Cuban experience to take on settled progressive thought in todays theater. But then this is a show, not an ideological debate.

From time to time, Chicago theater spins out a production where the director clearly has come up with an idea for every single moment. This is one of those shows. And, rarer still, Godinezs Measure for Measure is a Shakespearean production with a heavy concept that works. Certainly, that means the heavily chopped text has to take a secondary position, but thats fine with me when the overarching modern storytelling is this clear, potent and enveloping.

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The last five minutes are breathtaking but, really, the whole show is a major achievement and, in all kinds of ways, an advocate for the ongoing relevance of this incredibly complicated play.

Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.

cjones5@chicagotribune.com

Review: Measure for Measure (3.5 stars)

When: Through Nov. 27

Where: Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier

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Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes

Tickets: $49-$92 at 312-595-5600 or www.chicagoshakes.com
The National Safety Council and U.S. Food and Drug Administration offer these tips to help make Halloween a safe and happy holiday for everyone.

Costume safety

Choose a costume that won't cause safety hazards.

 All costumes, wigs and accessories should be fire-resistant

 If children are allowed out after dark, fasten reflective tape to their costumes and bags, or give them glow sticks

 Opt for nontoxic Halloween makeup over masks, which can obscure vision; always test makeup in a small area first to see if any irritation develops

 Remove all makeup before children go to bed to prevent skin and eye irritation

When they're on the prowl

Children are more than twice as likely to be hit by a car and killed on Halloween than on any other day of the year. Lack of visibility because of low lighting at night also plays a factor in these incidents.

Tips for when your children are out:

 A responsible adult should accompany young children on the neighborhood rounds

 If your older children are going alone, plan and review a route acceptable to you

 Agree on a specific time children should return home

 Teach your children never to enter a stranger's home or car

 Instruct children to travel only in familiar, well-lit areas and stick with their friends

 Tell your children not to eat any treats until they return home, and take care to avoid any food allergies

Safety tips for motorists

 Watch for children walking on roadways, medians and curbs

 Enter and exit driveways and alleys carefully

 At twilight and later in the evening, watch for children in dark clothing

 Discourage new, inexperienced drivers from driving on Halloween

Gov. Greg Gianforte and first lady Susan will hand out treats to trick-or-treaters from 4-6 p.m. on Monday on the south side of the state Capitol building.

Montana State Auditor Troy Downing, Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen and Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen will also have treats for trick-or-treaters.
Montanas public lands, clean rivers and streams, and abundant wildlife are the envy of hunters, anglers, backpackers, floaters and other outdoor recreationists from around the world. We are lucky to have laws in place that ensure our natural resources are protected and open to the public, as well as a state Constitution which specifically protects our right to a clean and healthful environment.

Novembers Supreme Court election, in which sitting Justice Ingrid Gustafson is being challenged by professional lobbyist James Brown, will have grave consequences for these legal protections, our right to access our public lands and waters, and the future of our outdoor traditions.

Justice Gustafson has served as a judge for almost 20 years and has a track record of being a fair and independent jurist who carefully considers the evidence and the law before making decisions. As a result of her thoughtful and balanced approach, Gustafson has protected our rights under the Montana Constitution, our outdoor traditions, and our freedom to hunt, fish, hike and spend time outdoors with our families.

Brown is well-known in Helena for his long career as a paid professional lobbyist. Over the years, he has worked as a hired gun for special interests from bankers to funeral directors to woolgrowers to the energy industry.

One of Mr. Browns most disturbing connections is his long relationship with the so-called Citizens for Balanced Use. This radical organization has a long history of advocating against environmental protection, clean water, and public lands. They seek to open up our public lands to more motor vehicle traffic, more mining, and more development. They have opposed the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which has funded trails, fishing access sites, and parks all over Montana. They support the giveaway of national forests and other national public lands to state control, which every expert says will lead to those lands being sold off and locked up by private interests. Brown even sued the U.S. Forest Service on behalf of the organization just a few weeks before declaring his candidacy.

Hunters, anglers and other outdoorspeople should be deeply concerned about the prospect of someone with Browns agenda holding a seat on the Supreme Court. Will he protect our Stream Access Law and the rights of hunters and hikers to use public roads to access public lands, or will he side with special interests that seek to profit from closing off public access? Will he reinforce the precedent that our Constitution protects our clean air and clean water, or will he side with out-of-state industrial developers who want to mine and pollute our lands and waters?

Fortunately we have a better choice. Justice Gustafson is not a politician or paid lobbyist. She was first appointed as a District Court judge by Gov. Judy Martz and re-elected three times before her appointment to the Supreme Court in 2017. As a judge and justice, she has distinguished herself through her impartial consideration of the cases brought before her. Montanans depend on a justice having that kind of balanced commitment to uphold the laws that protect our lands, waters, and access.

Judicial elections dont always present such a clear choice for our natural resources and outdoor traditions. Montanans who support public lands, public access, wildlife, water and clean air  as well as our state Constitution and impartial justice over special interests  need to re-elect Justice Ingrid Gustafson.
Former Sheriff Ralph Johnson can remember the day he got Steve Whisenant hooked on law enforcement.

Johnson, a patrol deputy at the time, and Whisenant, an impressionable teenager, set off in the formers patrol car one day.

He remembered taking Whisenant in his patrol car and seeing a bottle sitting on a ledge. Johnson pulled out his pistol and took a few shots, and Whisenant got his own chance to take aim at the bottle.

I had him hooked right then, Johnson said. He was a police officer from there on.

The hook sunk so deep that Whisenant remained in law enforcement for 45 years to come.

Whisenants career in law enforcement, one that saw him rise through the ranks of the Burke County Sheriffs Office as a deputy before moving onto federal law enforcement where he served as a probation officer, will come to an end Tuesday when sheriff-elect Banks Hinceman is sworn-in a month earlier than originally anticipated.

Hundreds of Whisenants closest colleagues, like Johnson, who was sheriff from 1988-94, through his storied career turned up Tuesday afternoon for a celebration of his career.

I trust Steve Whisenant with my life, said former Sheriff John T. McDevitt. You develop that over the years when youre in some sticky situations together. I knew I never had to worry because Steve was there and we were out working together. He was there, he knew I was there for him and we put a lot of people in jail.

So many that (former sheriff) Jerry Richards, who hired both of us, called us the McWhisenants.

McDevitt laughed as he recalled some of the lighter memories from their careers in law enforcement, like a story where the pair traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, to take a man into custody who was accused of stealing a brand new Buick Regal.

Before we got back to Burke County, Steve had convinced this young man who lacked some intelligence that he hadnt stolen a Buick Regal, he had stolen a Busick Regal, and  the penalty for stealing one of those was much higher than a Buick Regal, McDevitt said. By the time we got back to the Burke County Jail, this boy was scared to death.

McDevitt said in 45 years of knowing Whisenant, hes never heard anyone say anything bad about him.

I know no better Christian, no better law enforcement officer, no better leader that has ever served at the Burke County Sheriffs Office than Steve Whisenant, McDevitt said.

Also speaking at the celebration was Banks Hinceman, Whisenants longtime major who became the sheriff-elect when he won the Republican primary in May.

I dont know how many times Ive heard the sheriff say, no matter what the politics of it looks like, no matter what the public perception is of it, we have to do the right things in the sheriffs office, Hinceman said. That is something I have seen him absolutely, never, ever waver on.

Hinceman got emotional toward the end of the night, telling attendees about the impact Whisenant had made on his life.

I am so thankful that the good Lord put you in my life when he did, Hinceman said. You have been a mentor, a great boss, and most of all, a good friend, and I love you so much.

Whisenant, who decided not to run for another term as sheriff, explained why he decided to step down a month earlier than anticipated.

His wife, Renee, had a bad fall in September  one so bad she had a fracture to the back of her skull, a brain bleed and a stroke. Whisenant had worked late that day after two people were found dead from overdose on the side of Interstate 40 in Hildebran, and started mowing the grass when he got home.

When he came in the house, he said he found Renee sitting on the couch, holding her head in her hands with a pool of blood behind the couch on the floor. They went to UNC Health Blue Ridge Morganton, and Renee was transported to Mission Health in Asheville where she immediately was placed in the intensive care unit.

The prognosis was bleak at the beginning, and Whisenant moved up his retirement as soon as he could to help care for her.

But Renee continues to recover, and now can do most of the things she was able to do before the fall, Whisenant said.

Many times, there are silver linings mixed in with difficult circumstances, Whisenant said. We have a renewed appreciation of the blessings of life. How easily we can love and long to love, with our eyes focused on tomorrow and far into the future. However, those images in our minds eyes may never become reality. Our entire lives can dramatically change in a moment.

Whisenant said he and Renee looked forward to more time with family, enjoying the little things that busy lives kept hidden.

Renee and I say, thank you, Whisenant said. We encourage you and your families to pause, reassess and allow the many simple pleasures  let them add meaning and blessings to your lives.

Hinceman will be sworn-in Tuesday afternoon at 4 p.m. in the County Board Room at the Burke Services Building on North Green Street.
Look close into the darkness of Buttes past and youll find secrets and scandals, tales of treachery and murder, even times when pure goodness ends up buried in an unmarked grave.

Buttes closet is full of skeletons, as the saying goes, and what better time than Halloween to share some of them, bare bones and all.

Thanks to the Celts, the holiday originated centuries ago to keep those pesky ghosts at bay. Later, it expanded to include skeletons, a not-so-subtle reminder that although death will follow us all, that does not mean the story ends and just may be resurrected at a moments notice.

Mark Twain once said, Everyone is like a moon and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody. The author and humorist may have been on to something.

The news of Buttes past has not always been cheery and light. At times it has been decidedly dark and gloomy. Some of the skeletons featured here are definitely dark and gloomy. Others, while not exactly cheery, have their funny moments.

O'Farrell's editorial attacks

Patrick Aloysius P.A. OFarrell liked to push buttons. The Irishman was definitely not out to win friends and influence people.

In the few years he made Butte his home, the one-time free-lance writer and businessman ticked off a lot of people as an author and as editor of The Reveille, Copper King Augustus Heinzes newspaper.

In 1899, OFarrell had a book published by a New York printing house titled Butte: Its Copper Mines and Copper Kings. The book may have been easily accessible in New York City  not so much here in Butte. Thats because it was far from complimentary to Copper King Marcus Daly, and someone made sure those copies did not hit the shelves of Buttes bookstores.

OFarrell claimed to be an admirer of Daly, a fellow Irishman, but you wouldnt know that from reading his book.

But politics led him (Daly) into association with the worst elements of the population, wrote OFarrell, with the boodler, the intriguer and the parasite, and wealth that should have gone to benefit mankind has been squandered on the degraded and the corrupt.

He had a few choice comments about Copper King W.A. Clark, as well.

When W.A. Clark was forging his away ahead against ten thousand obstacles in what was then the wilderness of Montana, wrote OFarrell, for us Bohemians, he was a far nobler figure than now, when he has become the peer of the Rothschilds, the Astors and the Vanderbilts.

It wasnt until after Dalys death in 1900 that Clark would become the main target of OFarrells wrath, along with American millionaire John D. Rockefeller. Locally, he was critical of several Butte citizens, including businessman Daniel J. Hennessy, along with Con Kelley, an attorney, who would later become president of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co.

The weekly Reveille was where OFarrell penned his barbs, and thanks to his staff artists, dozens and dozens of editorial cartoons featured Clark in the most unflattering light.

At times, OFarrell may have pushed the envelope a bit too far. An editorial decision to run an Oct. 4, 1902 cartoon was one such time. It led to his arrest 10 days later, along with Reveille publisher, A.W. Brouse, and three other newsmen.

After a preliminary hearing, the cartoon was deemed indecent, and the men were officially charged with sending obscene material through the U.S. mail. Managers of Heinzes gutter sheet arrested for obscene publication noted The Butte Inter Mountain.

Believe it or not, 120 years after the fact, The Montana Standard could not publish the cartoon either, and pretty much on the same grounds. It was, and remains that controversial.

Post office Inspector E.D. Beatty told a judge at the time that the picture in question is unmistakable and as the paper is given a wide free distribution and laid on every doorstep in Butte and surroundings, it is certain to have gotten into the hands of women and children, when in fact it was enough to make the most hardened man blush.

The charges were dropped on OFarrell and the others on Nov. 15, 1902, because there was not sufficient evidence to constitute true bills against them.

It was not OFarrells first brush with the law, it would not be his last. In the few years he lived in Butte, he made some friends, but he also made enemies, too. By 1903, he had been banned from the famed Silver Bow Club because of his newspaper attacks on some of Butte citizens.

OFarrell, according to The Butte Miner of Jan. 23, 1903, was barred from enjoying the courtesies and privileges of Buttes leading club.

Not long after, OFarrell left the Mining City, never to return  but maybe he did.

A Dec. 24, 1933 article from the Great Falls Tribune noted OFarrells recent death in Ireland. Fast forward to July 30, 1938, and a Montana Standard article reported OFarrell, now 86, had stopped by the day before for a visit to the Mining City.

It left some residents scratching their heads  was this the OFarrell of bygone days or not? Thats a mystery that wont be solved.

'Dry squad' leader had everyone fooled

Jack Melia was definitely good for a few laughs.

Known as the official suppressor of the liquor traffic in the Mining City, Melia excelled at a job he took after Prohibition went into effect for Montanans on Jan. 1, 1919.

Time and time again, the Butte man was featured in the local daily newspapers, showing off his prowess as he and his crew smashed stills throughout the city. City officials fell for his dedication hook, line and sinker. They had no idea the reason behind Melias success  he was wiping out the competition.

Very few condemnations did Melia receive, except when dramatically breaking confiscated bottles against the jail walls. That, unfortunately, led to the firewater leaking into the basement and shutting off the boilers.

So yeah, Melia was doing a top-notch job. He had everyone fooled until it all came crashing down.

During a nighttime raid, this so-called upstanding citizen got caught when one of his agents was making a delivery of 1,500 gallons of moonshine. Thats right, Melias side operation worked best by the light of the moon  fewer witnesses.

Whats all too funny about Melias fall from grace was his attempt to sue The Anaconda Standard for criminal libel. The Butte newspaper, reporting on his crimes, did not find Melias claim at all humorous.

In a wordy rebuttal to Melia, the newspaper wrote  Long enough have the people of Butte watched Melia drag into court the hapless offender in whose possession he found a quart or two of home brew and parading his inflexible virtue, seek thus to cover up his own treachery.

So no, The Anaconda Standard did not skirt the issue. In fact, they told their readers If to expose Melia is libel, then the Standard is guilty of libel.

The lesson was not learned because the former head of the dry squad did not give up bootlegging. He just moved his operations farther north. Even in that endeavor, though, he eventually got caught. So, he turned to gambling as his next way to make a buck.

That, too, got him in trouble with the law. Melia was arrested time and time again for having gambling in his establishments, Park Cigar Star at 22 E. Park St., and later The Western at 9 N. Main St.

Like a cat with nine lives, Melia seemed to land right back on his feet with none of the charges ever sticking. Oddly enough, by the time Prohibition was repealed on Dec. 5, 1933, Melia had left Butte, headed for parts unknown.

'Belle of ball' succumbs to struggles

The story of Frisco Nell is an all-too-familiar tale. A well-known Butte prostitute, she was in and out of jail most of her adult life, which ended at the age of 40, thanks to an ever-increasing morphine habit.

The woman had come to Butte around 1890 and The Anaconda Standard reported that no more beautiful girl could be found in all this western country.

The belle of the ball soon married and gave birth to a son. Life seemed blissful until said husband deserted his wife and child. It was a struggle from then on as the single mother tried to find work and care for her son.

She was fond of dress and she was fond of gayety and she gradually drifted from the moorings of respectability, noted The Standard.

Nell may have liked to party, but she was also, apparently, a kind and generous woman. It was reported that among the women who knew her she was esteemed for her generosity. She would divide her last cent with those who were worse off than she.

Not surprising, Nell was buried in an unmarked grave in Potters Field.

Another resurrected tale is not only tragic, but hard to share.

A blind eye to baby's abuse

The old adage, It takes a village to raise a child, does not always hold true. Sadly, in Clara May Pushmans case, it took a village to end her life, which was extinguished when she was just 5 weeks old.

Clara died at the hands of her mother, Mary Meade Pullman, who, among her many crimes, fed pins to her baby daughter. But so many other skeletons share in the blame, including the babys father, William Pushman, along with her nurses and a neighbor at their Walkerville residence.

In the few short weeks leading up to her death on Dec. 6, 1892, the signs of abuse had to have been more than obvious. Her death certificate noted she died of cruelty and starvation.

The injuries that led to her death also included three breaks to her left arm, a fractured skull, and a number of bruises around her head and face.

William Pushman, the father, was arrested, along with his wife, in the death of their child. Somehow, though, the charges were dropped on him. Which then begged the questions of where was he during the short time his daughter lived on this earth and for the love of all that is holy, why didnt he step in?

Following Claras death, an inquiry commenced, with the babys nurse, Bridget Duke, testifying she saw the baby early in November and found her weak and gasping. She also recalled finding pins in the infants diaper and mouth. Duke claimed she nursed Clara back to health but on her next visit found her to be lying at deaths door. After admonishing the new mother to take care of her own child, the nurse left, not reporting any of her suspicions of abuse.

Margaret Shea, also a nurse, was certainly no Florence Nightingale, either. Early on, she, too, found a pin in Claras mouth and brought the baby into her home to nurse her back to health. That lasted just three days, because, in her own words, she was not paid for taking care of it.

Next-door neighbor Mrs. Joseph Nelson also testified. She recalled noting Claras mouth was sore and swollen, leaving her unable to swallow. The neighbor also reported that she often wondered at the child not being frozen to death. Yet, she, too, did nothing.

For whatever reason, all those people chose to either ignore the clear signs of abuse, or were in total denial and attempted to come up with alternate explanations for the babys appearance. The obvious was apparently too much to contemplate.

Clara Mays death certificate stated her final resting place was Mount Moriah Cemetery, but there are no records of her being buried there. As for her mother, well, she was sent to prison for a year, that was all she got for her crime. Five years after Claras death, Mary was back in the local news again as she attempted to kill her 13-month-old child.

For that crime, she was deemed insane and given a life term at Warm Springs State Hospital. Its not probable that the full sentence was carried out because there is no record of her being buried at the facilitys cemetery.

'Third times a charm' for Pooley

Thomas Pooley had something in common with Mary Pushman. He, too, killed his daughter.

The Butte saloonkeeper literally got away with not just one, but two murders and without a doubt, someone helped to set him free from those prison shackles.

On March 18, 1900, Pooley, packing a loaded 38-caliber pistol, shot and killed his daughter and son-in-law, Lydia and Thomas Littlejohn near the intersection of Montana and Woolman streets. At the time of the shooting, Lydia was holding her infant daughter, who was unharmed.

For his crimes, Pooley was found guilty but was immediately granted a new trial, not once, but twice. The second trial resulted in the same guilty verdict. Again, a new trial was requested.

Throughout the continuous court proceedings, he spent much of his time as an inmate in the county jail, but was later allowed to bond out.

Pooley, a native of England, always maintained that he shot his son-in-law in self-defense and that the fatal shooting of his 23-year-old daughter in the face was purely accidental.

Ultimately, Pooley never made it to prison, never paid for his crimes. The phrase, third times a charm fit this particular scenario. During yet another retrial, documented testimony from previous trials, along with some pertinent evidence, somehow blew out the courthouse window and a "hungry dog chewed them into a shapeless lump of pulp."

Because of this lack of evidence, Pooley ended up a free man and reportedly thereafter lived quietly in the city.

On Jan. 11, 1910, he died at his home at 701 N. Montana St. News of his death was reported in all the Butte newspapers. The headline in the Butte Inter Mountain pretty much summed up his legacy. It read  Central Figure in Terrible Crime is No More: Thomas Pooley murdered Daughter and Son-In-Law, Escaping Death on Technicality.

Unclothed in Butte; unwelcome in D.C.

A nudist camp once existed in Butte. Does that comment seem a bit far-fetched? Oh ye of little faith.

Around 90 years ago, just off Holmes Avenue, in the 1500 block, nudists did, in fact, roam. Surrounded by trees on all sides, if a resident wanted proof, he or she would only have to peek through the branches and get an eyeful.

Run by Butte physician and politician, Jacob Thorkelson, the facility was a supposed secret  but most residents knew. Even The Montana Standard acknowledged its existence.

Seems the Mining City was experiencing spring-like weather on Groundhog Day in 1934, and the nudists were taking full advantage of the sunny weather.

The local nudist colony  and dont think there isnt one here  went out on a hillside southeast of the city, doffed their clothes, and sat for four hours sunning themselves, reported the newspaper.

A native of Norway, Thorkelson was also a proponent of daily exercise. On Nov. 5, 1920, while living in Anaconda, he told an auditorium filled with students, It is impossible to keep in mental trim unless your body is healthy, and without exercise it cannot be.

On Nov. 8, 1938, the Butte doctor won the two-year seat from Montanas first congressional district. Dr. Thorkelson was going to Washington. It was a real coup to have a Republican elected from this particular Montana district, and his colleagues welcomed him with open arms.

That sentiment changed dramatically in the coming months and soon, the majority of his colleagues, on both sides of the aisle, were wishing the newly-elected representative would head on back to Big Sky Country.

Turns out, Thorkelson was a big-time bigot and not shy about spewing his anti-Semitic rhetoric anywhere and everywhere around Washington, D.C. So much so, famed newspaper columnist Walter Winchell referred to him as the mouthpiece of the Nazi movement in Congress.

Despite his unpopular views, Thorkelson, who would later be dubbed Buttes notorious Republican, decided to run for reelection but did not win. He was succeeded by Jeannette Rankin. He would later aspire to be Montanas governor, but lost soundly in that primary election, as well.

As for Winchell, well he hadnt forgotten Thorkelson. The columnist would later include the Butte man in his list of Americans We Can Do Without, a series published in "Liberty" magazine during the summer of 1942.

Thorkelson retaliated by suing Winchell for libel, along with his publisher, McFadden Publications, Inc., to the tune of $1.8 million, plus costs.

It was stated in the lawsuit that all words and figures concerning the plaintiff published and circulated by Liberty magazine are false and untrue. Thorkelson further noted that the articles resulted in injury to the plaintiffs good name and reputation, and injury to him in his profession, health and good will and have caused him to be held in ridicule.

No newspaper record could be found on the outcome of Thorkelsons libel suit. Did he win, did he not? Chances are, he did not. World War II had not long ended when the physician died of a heart attack in Butte on Nov. 20, 1945. He is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery.
Montana Broom & Brush has been a leading business in the Butte community for 103 years. The company, located at 1245 Harrison Ave., started out producing, of course, brooms and brushes. Now it supplies all types of industrial and commercial products throughout southwest Montana.

Thats quite a feat considering the business thrived since 1919 despite the Great Depression, World War II and other wars, numerous strikes (mining and otherwise), and several recessions. Not even a fire on April 21, 2003, that completely destroyed the store and its inventory could keep the business down for long. The company not only rebuilt, a decision was made to expand.

It was an investment we made for our customers and Butte, said Mike Hitchcock, company president.

During its more than 10-decade history, the Hitchcock family has pretty much been at the helm. Hitchcock began his full-time career in the family-owned business 42 years ago, along with a sister, Liz Hitchcock Hareland. Her spouse, Greg Hareland, would join the company 10 years later.

Nothing has changed at any of its supply stores  not in Butte, nor in Helena, Billings, Missoula or Great Falls, except for one important thing. This past Aug. 1, the company merged with 360 Office Solutions, and Hitchcock is thrilled to partner with this long-standing Montana company.

While the business will now fall under the 360 umbrella, along with two other Montana businesses, Technology by Design and J2 Business Products, Montana Broom & Brush will keep its name and brand.

We were interested in having someone work with us to help keep our business going, said Hitchcock, so far so good!

So far so good is a bit of an understatement.

According to Hitchcock, his customers have wholeheartedly accepted the transition, which he and his fellow employees had made as seamless as possible.

Our customers have been very supportive, said Hitchcock.

Jess LaDouceur, general manager for the 360 Butte office, is excited as well with the transition.

Its been a fun adventure merging the two branches, she said.

Another plus  because of the merger, both companies product inventory has increased.

Founded in Billings 77 years ago, 360 has locations not just in Butte but in Kalispell, Missoula, Billings, Helena, Great Falls, Bozeman and Missoula.

Adding MB&B to the 360 brand has been a win-win for both sides.

We are serving the community better, said LaDouceur. Now we are able to offer new products weve never had access to before.

LaDouceur has worked in this field since 2006. Her career began with Empire Office Machines, which was purchased by 360 in November 2015.

Statewide, 360 employs more than 200 people.

Their inventory is wide and varied, too. The 77-year-old business offers, among others things, office furniture, printers and copiers, technology service and office automation.

We feel fortunate to live in such a beautiful state, said LaDouceur. Our consultants and customer representatives are career professionals dedicated to our industry and helping our customers find the best solutions for their business.

Now, with a few months working under the same roof, 360 and Montana Broom & Brush are ready to celebrate their partnership with an open house. The Butte-Silver Bow Chambers After Hours event is at 5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 3, at 1245 Harrison Ave.

Hitchcock is anxious for the celebratory day to arrive.

We are able to keep our business going, said Hitchcock, and we will be able to continue providing quality goods and services.
The words Greeley and grit share two consonants and many residents of Buttes Greeley neighborhood sorely wish they did not.

Montana Resources recently reported the company anticipates spending about $4 million more this year than during previous years just to control dust from the tailings impoundment at the open pit copper and molybdenum mine in Butte.

The company has never denied that dust from its mining and milling operations and its exposed tailings impoundment migrates off the sprawling mines grounds during windy conditions.

This has been a very challenging area for us, said Mark Thompson, vice president of Environmental Affairs for Montana Resources.

There is no silver bullet. You just have to stay after it and be vigilant, he said. MR makes dust. There is no denying that fact.

Thompson also has acknowledged that some portion of that dust likely ends up in Buttes nearby Greeley neighborhood, where some residents have long wondered whether it is hazardous to their health.

The fears have been, among others: Tiny airborne particles can settle in lungs; dust particles that bear traces of heavy metals could be a health hazard; and, there could be cumulative threats not yet fully understood tied to prolonged exposure.

The Greeley neighborhood includes about 650 residential homes and 30 businesses. It is just across Continental Drive from some of the mines main processing facilities.

The neighborhood is roughly bound by Grand Avenue, Continental Drive and Farrell Street and Harrison Avenue.

Surveys

On Oct. 13, the Butte-Silver Bow Health Study Advisory Committee held a meeting that focused, in large part, on mine dust from Montana Resources and the potential impacts for the Greeley neighborhood.

Thompson shared results from a recent Greeley-related survey with the committee, a few representatives from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, a couple of environmental consultants and others.

Surveys were completed by 162 individuals, with 148 responses from the study area  the Greeley neighborhood  and 14 responses from a control group of residents living elsewhere in Butte.

The survey found that 50 percent of respondents in the study area identified their highest concern with the mine as dust. Many said they believed dust from historical or active mining had affected the air quality of their home.

Twenty-six percent of study area respondents and 30 percent of the control group thought it would be an improvement to increase dust mitigation.

Thompson said Montana Resources takes dust control seriously.

Controlling our dust emissions to socially acceptable levels is our goal and currently this effort far exceeds regulatory requirements, he said.

Among other mitigation measures, the mine converted a $4 million haul truck to a water truck in 2022 for dust control. Thompson said Montana Resources has previously operated two big water trucks for more than 20 years.

A number of residents in the Greeley neighborhood, frustrated by the sense that agencies werent adequately responding to their concerns about potential health hazards of the dust, reached out about two years ago to the Montana Environmental Information Center in Helena.

We connected with the Greeley folks in earnest in October of 2020 regarding their concerns, said Derf Johnson, deputy director of the non-profit organization.

EPA standards questioned

MEIC paid for Ron Sahu, a mechanical engineer with a Ph.D. in mechanical, chemical and environmental disciplines, to review dust-related data collected in Butte.

Sahus review led him to cite concerns.

For one thing, he said the EPAs standard for fine particulate matter is not as protective as the World Health Organizations. Specifically, the EPA standard for fine particulates is 12 micrograms per cubic meter and the WHO standard is 5 micrograms per cubic meter. Annual averages recorded in Greeley have found micrograms per cubic meter that were 7 or nearly 10.

In addition, Sahu expressed concerns that there was no consideration of the potential threats to human health of the heavy metals borne by the dust, even if samples showed the level of various metals were below agency levels. He noted there has been no community health assessment completed.

Montana Resources acknowledged that one goal of its survey was to establish outreach and communication efforts between the mine and area residents. Many results were gathered as a result of door-to-door visits this summer by surveyors. Other participants responded through other means.

Montana Resources plays a key role in the economy of Butte-Silver Bow County. Many people in the region with generational ties to mining could be reluctant to voice concerns that might be interpreted as anti-mining  especially when face-to-face with a surveyor clearly affiliated with Montana Resources, Johnson said.

Regarding the MR survey, any questions that required folks identify themselves or their addresses will have likely depressed the potential concerns that were raised, he said.

So, one could assume that the survey results are conservative, and that the problem may be more widespread than identified through the survey, Johnson said. That being said, the survey results show an identifiable issue that is shared amongst a large share of the folks in the Greeley neighborhood, and in particular those that are located near what appear to be pollution clusters.

Spatial analysis of survey results identified areas in the Greeley neighborhood where concerns about mine dust were clustered. The clusters appeared to be in the eastern and western sections of the study area.

The neighborhood survey indicated two areas of elevated concern over dust, Thompson said. Hypothetically, this could indicate areas of higher dust deposition rates than are being measured at the Greeley School monitoring station. Montana Resources is considering a plan to locate two additional temporary dust monitoring stations in areas adjacent to the mine. We believe these stations should measure both airborne dust (total suspended particulate, or TSP) as well as dust deposition.

'Fugitive dust'

The Montana Resources survey concluded that the eastside and westside of the Greeley neighborhood are nearest to mine operations where fugitive dust may be present.

It noted, On the east side, the Continental Pit, mining and blasting operations have the ability to create fugitive dust. On the west side, the Primary Crusher and Coarse Ore Stockpile also have the ability to create fugitive dust.

Ed Banderob of the Greeley Neighborhood Community Development Corporation has long been a watchdog for the neighborhood. He attended the Oct. 13 meeting of the Health Study Advisory Committee.

Banderob, like Sahu and others, questions whether the standards cited, when concluding that the mine dust poses no major risks, actually protect human health.

We understand that the contaminants are not killing enough people fast enough to be declared a health emergency cluster, Banderob said. But as I said at the meeting, the independent studies indicate we have problems and are killing people and causing other maladies at a rate higher than all other counties in Montana.

One study was published in the Journal of Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology. Researchers included Katie Hailer, a professor of organic chemistry at Montana Technological University.

The study reported that analysis of hair and blood samples from residents of Butte suggests that current open-pit mining practices within the city limits of Butte may be causing chronic inhalation and/or ingestion of low levels of various metals.

Elevated metals

It noted that blood and hair samples collected from volunteers in the Butte population, when compared to the population in Bozeman, showed elevated levels of arsenic. Hair sample analysis also revealed evidence in Butte residents of elevated levels of aluminum, copper, cadmium, manganese, molybdenum and uranium when compared to Bozeman residents.

Hailer said Wednesday that air quality regulations tend to focus on the smallest particulates.

Metals are generally found in larger particulate matter (such as PM10 or TSP) or in really large particles that we would call dust, she said.

Hailer said Greeley residents are concerned with the larger dust particles and that is where they are trying to direct the focus of Montana Resources and Butte-Silver Bow County.

Some percentage of the large particles can be ingested and become bioavailable, she said.

Thompson said in mid-October that additional dust monitoring stations would likely include one that measures TSP.

Like Banderob, Steve McGrath has been active in the Greeley Neighborhood Community Development Corporation.

I was encouraged that the survey identified areas that reported dust problems and related points of [the mine] operation that could be contributing to the dust accumulating in those areas, McGrath said.

I am hopeful that MR will continue dust monitoring and that we can collect actual dust-fall samples that scanning electron microscopy can analyze to identify mineral phases within the dust.

Banderob supported Montana Resources adding monitoring equipment.

MR has recognized that they may be missing something and seem to be making a good faith effort to find out what is the problem, and what more they should be doing to mitigate it, he said.
Montana Technological University students, faculty and researchers can now take pictures of bacteriophages and more, rather than having to travel more than an hour to other campuses.

The National Science Foundation awarded a $1 million grant to Tech for a multifunctional transmission and scanning electron microscope, around $700,000 of which will go toward the microscope itself. In addition to the microscope, the grant includes a five-year service contract. It also pays for a microscopist to manage the system for 21 months, according to a Tech press release.

The microscopist will be paid to maintain and operate the microscope, keep it functional, track its use, prepare and image samples, and more, according to Marisa Pedulla, the primary author of the submitted grant. Pedulla had three co-authors on the grant.

Pedulla, a professor in Techs biological sciences department, does research that focuses primarily on bacteriophages, viruses that infect and replicate in bacterial cells. Bacteriophages are being studied because they can be used to treat bacterial infections in humans.

Prior to this, Pedulla said that students could do research, like that of the phages, at Tech, but had to travel to other towns, most recently, Bozeman, to get images of the phages. Now, theyll be able to get the pictures right from campus.

Not only do Tech students work with bacteriophages, but so do K-12 students all over the state, thanks to a grant Pedulla received in 2014 from the National Institutes of Health. Per the grant, Pedulla travels to different schools to lead K-12 students in discovering and naming bacteriophages to be entered in a national database. These phages are then often used for further research by Tech students.

Pedulla said she thinks this work is what put Techs application over the top.

And so we described the potential uses for it and how it will be used also for outreach with K-12 students and teachers  and that resonated with reviewers. Pedulla said.

More than 100 bacteriophages have been discovered by the K-12 students, Pedulla said. One example of this is GigiOuiOui, a phage discovered by a Helena High School student. Now-graduated biological sciences student Cade ONeill researched the virus and annotated the genome, winning at the last Techxpo event with his work.

The Hitachi HT7800 Series microscope has a delivery window of between four and nine months. It was ordered about a month ago, so it could be at Tech anywhere from three to eight months from now, Pedulla said.

In addition to the uses with outreach and within the biological sciences department, Pedulla said the microscope can be used across the school in different fields and disciplines, including the mechanical engineering department.

Were very pleased and fortunate to have received NSF funding for this new, highly-capable TEM. Much of our research involves phenomena at the nanoscale, so the TEM will enable us to see small-scale materials, devices, and structures and perform elemental analysis with extremely high resolution, Jack Skinner, head of the mechanical engineering department and one of the grants co-authors said in the press release. We have a talented and productive research team spanning Biology, Chemistry, and Mechanical Engineering, including a research focus in Biomedical Engineering. We look forward to continued and strengthened research collaborations at Tech and across the state and broader scientific community outside of Montana.

Pedulla said the microscope will also increase Techs research capacity, including in its Ph.D. programs.

The microscope can also perform energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), which determines the elemental composition of samples. This method is useful when analyzing ore, sediment samples from hot springs or geothermal features, stream and soil samples taken from Superfund sites, and environmental metal contaminants.

We will be able to propose more experiments and ask questions we didnt have the tools to research previously, Pedulla said.

She added that the microscope will also potentially benefit Tech as a whole, as well as Butte.

Hopefully it'll be attractive to students as well and faculty, Pedulla said. If we're recruiting faculty they'll know they have access to an instrument like this  You know, these grants help tech but they also help the Butte community, so millions of dollars come into the biology department through the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation with this grant, and that trickles down because people are employed. Things are purchased as part of that, so that maintains an industry here that then helps our economy for our community.
CLIFTON, Va. (AP)  Robert F. Horan Jr., who secured a murder conviction of D.C. sniper Lee Boyd Malvo during his four-decade tenure as the top prosecutor in Virginia's largest county, died on Friday at his home. He was 90.

The cause of Horan's death at his home in Clifton, Virginia, wasn't immediately determined, but he had been in hospice care, his wife, Monica Horan, said on Sunday.

Horan served as Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney for 40 years before retiring in 2007. He continued going into the county prosecutor's office for years after his retirement because he loved practicing law and being a public servant, his wife said.

He thought the community deserved to have someone who was looking after their interests, as well as the victims interests," Monica Horan said. And he felt that people who did evil things deserved to pay for the evil things they did.

Malvo was 17 when he and John Allen Muhammad shot and killed 10 people in the Washington area over a three-week span in October 2002. Malvo was sentenced to life in prison without parole after a jury convicted him of capital murder but declined to impose the death penalty. Muhammad was executed in Virginia in 2009.

Former Prince William County Commonwealths Attorney Paul Ebert worked with Horan on the sniper case, with Ebert prosecuting Muhammad and Horan prosecuting Malvo.

He was the best trial lawyer I ever saw, Ebert told the Washington Post.
Ill be the first to admit that its weird.

Most people put their soiled gym clothes in the laundry basket after theyve been worn and scented with sweat.

No, not me. When I get home, I take my gym clothes out of my bag and carefully drape them on the edge of my bed. I arrange my dirty laundry into a nest, and then I step back and wait.

The wait is never long. Chase, my sassy tortoiseshell feline, is typically nearby, observing me from a safe distance. Once Ive made the cradle of smelly clothes, Chase leaps onto my bed and inspects the offering. Chase loves dirty clothes  the sweatier and stinker the better. Used gym clothes are her favorite.

She flops onto my workout gear and aggressively rubs her face over the fabric. She gathers my discards between her paws and presses her face into them as if smelling a bouquet of spring flowers. She purrs happily as she rolls over the offerings  signaling her approval.

My other cat Tigger is the complete opposite. He prefers freshly washed clothes. He loves to snuggle with a hoodie straight out of the dryer. It makes sense. Who wouldnt want to envelop themselves in warm fluffy cotton? But I think he really does it because he knows the clothes are free of cat hair, and Im not allowed to leave the house without at least a base coat of his Creamsicle fur.

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While Chase wants to smell like me, Tigger wants me to smell like him. As soon as I step out of the shower, hes rubbing up against my legs, marking me up with his scent. He chatters as he caresses my limbs as if to ask Why do you insist on bathing? Olay is no match for kitty coverage.

My cats habits may seem weird, but they really arent that strange. A cats sense of smell is significantly more acute than a humans. A quick Google search revealed that a cats sense of smell is 4-, 14- and 40-times stronger (at least each answer includes the number four even if the results are inconclusive)  so its a lot. Cats use smell to identify food, friends and foes.

The smell of an owner can provide a sense of comfort, so while Chases routine seems gross to me, shes taking part in a primal bounding ritual that is beyond my understanding.

She attempts to reciprocate, but her way of returning the favor is to plant her rear right below my nose. Ive gone nose blind at this point because Im so used to her sashaying her butt in my face whenever the moment presents itself  Zoom meetings for work as her preferred times to remind me of her personal perfumes.

Having the sweaty gym clothes to offer her is a new development. After years of neglecting my physical fitness, I finally decided to make a true commitment. Im still taking it slow though. I only work out twice a week, so on the days when I dont have dirty gym clothes to offer Chase, I rely on the old standby: crisp morning breath.

Ever since she was a kitten, Chase likes to begin her mornings by stalking across the bed and crawling over my chest. She slowly lowers her face toward mine. I could offer a greeting, but words are unnecessary. All I have to do is part my lips slightly so that she can sniff the corners of my mouth.

I feel her whiskers tickle my face as she breathes in the odor. The reaction is always the same. She pulls away  her mouth agape as she tries to process all the intense olfactory stimuli. It looks as if shes grossed out, but then she begins to purr. Its not gross at all  its just love.
Seven people were contact in a sting operation targeting sex buyers, the Napa Special Investigations Bureau said Saturday.

Police: Suspect in American Canyon catalytic converter theft, pursuit arrested in Barstow A man suspected of leading American Canyon Police on a pursuit has been arrested more than 400 miles away, according to the Napa County Sheriffs Office.

The operation took place Tuesday over five hours, according to a NSIB news release. The nature of the charges or citations was not immediately announced.

NSIB described the sting as part of a statewide effort to combat human trafficking, known as Operation Trick or Treat, and started by law enforcement agencies in the Sacramento area. The bureau said it coordinated with Napa Police, the Napa County Sheriffs Office, Solano County Sheriffs Office and Vacaville Police.

A search of suspected online sex advertisements shortly before Tuesdays operation turned up more than 400 listings connected to Napa and American Canyon, according to NSIB.
WASHINGTON  Elon Musk on Sunday tweeted a link to an unfounded rumor about the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosis husband, just days after Musks purchase of Twitter fueled concerns that the social media platform would no longer seek to limit misinformation and hate speech.

Musks tweet, which he later deleted, linked to an article by a fringe website, the Santa Monica Observer, an outlet that has previously asserted that Hillary Clinton died on Sept. 11 and was replaced with a body double.

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In this case, the article recycled a baseless claim that the personal life of Paul Pelosi, the speakers husband, somehow played a role in an intruders attack last week in the couples San Francisco home, even though there is no evidence to support that claim.

Musk did so in reply to a tweet by Hillary Clinton. Her tweet had criticized Republicans for generally spreading hate and deranged conspiracy theories and said, It is shocking, but not surprising, that violence is the result.

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In response to Clintons tweet, Musk provided a link to the Santa Monica Observer article and added, There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye.

The Los Angeles Times, the dominant news organization in the Southern California area where the Observer is located, has said the Observer is notorious for fake news.

Police in San Francisco have said the suspect in last weeks attack, identified as David DePape, 42, broke into the Pelosi familys Pacific Heights home early Friday and confronted Paul Pelosi, demanding to know, as the AP has reported, Where is Nancy?

The two men struggled over a hammer before officers responding to a 911 call to the home saw DePape strike Paul Pelosi at least once, police said. DePape was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, elder abuse and burglary. Prosecutors plan to file charges on Monday and expect his arraignment on Tuesday.

Police say the attack was intentional and not random but have not stated publicly what they consider to be the motive.

The exchange between Musk and Clinton occurred a day after Yoel Roth, Twitters head of safety and integrity, tweeted that the companys policies toward slurs and hateful conduct were still in place.

Bottom line up front: Twitters policies havent changed. Hateful conduct has no place here, Roth wrote.

Shortly after Musk took control of Twitter, some accounts on the platform began tweeting messages ranging from racist slurs to political misinformation, such as Trump won, to see what Twitter will now tolerate.

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Musk himself said Friday that he would form a content moderation council for Twitter and promised advertisers that the website would not devolve into a free for all hellscape. Musk has also described himself as a free speech absolutist.

But at least one major advertiser, General Motors, has said it will suspend advertising on Twitter while it monitors the direction of the platform under Musk.

Also on Sunday, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, said on NBCs Meet the Press that she didnt trust Musk to run Twitter.

Referring to antisemitic attacks and the QAnon conspiracy theory that were advanced online by DePape, the suspect in the attack, Klobuchar said, I think you have to have some content moderation.

If Elon Musk has said now that hes going to start a content moderation board, the senator said, that was one good sign. But I continue to be concerned about that. I just dont think people should be making money off of passing on this stuff thats a bunch of lies.
Napa Valley autumn nights can be quite the fright for the foolish mortals who dare to tread into a spirits lair.

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The human heart stops only to pound on the mortifying sight of the dead rising from their graves or from being chased by malevolent glowing orbs. Meanwhile, other mortals sanity frays as the maddening malice of a terrifying trio possesses their idyllic home.

These are but a few of the Napa Valleys many ghostly tales of how mortal souls have withered from hostile encounters with what lurks in the shadows of the Other Realm.

The eternal stroll to nowhere

Set in the Upvalley north of Calistoga is the Pioneer Cemetery. Perched on a hill rising sharply from the western side of Foothill Boulevard, this final resting place for the dearly departed is far from peaceful.

Whether by luck or misfortune, generations of Calistogans have witnessed a variety of paranormal activities beginning with nightfall at Pioneer Cemetery  although one in particular strikes fear in even the bravest of souls.

With trembling voices they speak of how very suddenly everything ceases and an odd, blood-chilling silence seizes the burial grounds, except within a lonely, unmarked plot. A faint, surreal emanation pierces the night as an unearthly groan bursts forth from within that grave.

Simultaneously, a ghoulish scene unfolds  the rising of the dead.

The transparent corpse levitates above its grave and slowly lowers its feet to stand upright, resting momentarily as it becomes denser in form with clearly defined features. This entity is a tall, thin adult male wearing a dark suit and shoes, and a white dress shirt with a paper collar and string tie. His long, narrow face framed by long, stringy black hair has sharp, angular features. His eyes are dark, menacing orbs. The living who have looked into those orbs still shudder and quiver from gazing into those portals to demonic forces.

Once fully upright and solid in form, he begins his stroll to nowhere. At first his stride is robust, but as he moves closer to the cemeterys front entrance, his gait weakens and his form becomes more transparent until he stumbles and disappears at the entryway. With his vanishing, an unnerving rush of wind sweeps through the Pioneer Cemetery until all returns to normal  for a beguiled cemetery, that is.

The horrifying hounds of St. Helena

Along a side street of St. Helena sits a forlorn-looking house begging for attention and care. It beckons the passer-by to investigate its sad state. For those who answer its plea, it has proven to be heart-stopping.

Those curious mortals were first forewarned to stop by unearthly growls from behind the old rickety fence. The source of those spine-tingling sounds soon materialized: a pair of glowing, massive dog-like apparitions ramming that broken-down barrier.

Downtown Napa becomes a daytime Halloween haunt On Saturday, a downtown known for fine food and wine became a Halloween-tinged hub for hundreds of kids  or the young at heart.

The foolish humans who have convinced themselves they are safe because the dogs are not real quickly regret that assumption, as the ghost dogs suddenly appear in front of them crouching in preparation to lunge at and attack the mortal intruder. But before the living can scream for help, it all ends very suddenly with a distant human-like voice yelling at the dogs, the paranormal pooches yelping before abruptly disappearing.

A lonely chill and uneasy calm envelops the scene, encouraging all to leave the haunted territory of the Horrifying Hounds of St. Helena.

The wicked womanizer of mid-Napa Valley

At the end of a lane between Rutherford and Oakville is a bucolic Napa Valley scene of a farmhouse, barn, outbuildings and a small vineyard. This idyllic scene, however, belies its sinister paranormal secret linked to the Prohibition era.

During the 1920s, this property belonged to a middle-aged single man  a known womanizer and syndicate runner of bootleg liquor. This handsome smooth-talker made the fatal mistake of setting his sights on the syndicate boss daughter. After having his conquest, he soon grew bored with the woman and dumped her, now a fallen woman.

Once her father, family and their closest associates found out, the Womanizers days came to a bloody end in a fiery, and supposedly accidental, explosion of his truck while he was driving a load of bootleg booze.

Napan creates haunted Halloween inspired by Walt Disney A chilling collection of grim grinning ghosts have taken up residence at this Napan's front yard. Who's behind the spooky setting?

A few years later, a young family occupying his former earthly home began experiencing spontaneous fires, erupting without apparent cause in the house and barn. Those fires grew in frequency and intensity until, much to the occupants horror, they could see the silhouette of the Womanizers burning body and hear his screams before the flames mysteriously extinguished themselves.

However, what sent the family packing was an incident involving their little daughter whose morning chore was to collect the freshly laid eggs. The Wicked Womanizer trapped the small child in the coop as he slaughtered all the hens. The traumatized little daughter returned to the house covered in blood.

For decades there was a rapid succession of residents vainly trying to live and work on this picturesque property. They persevered as best they could as the Wicked Womanizer tortured them with his hideous haunting, until one of his infernos went oddly haywire. That blaze, the witnesses claimed, was of a strange and supernatural intensity that consumed the original barn, outbuildings and their contents, severely scorching the farmhouse exterior.

Those mortals who witnessed that event watched in horror, but also in relief, as the silhouette of the Wicked Womanizer frantically tried to extinguish the blaze until he fell to his knees and was consumed by the bazaar blaze. Shortly thereafter, those flames suddenly went out.

Some humans believe the inferno was carried out by a higher power to destroy the Wicked Womanizer, his earthly ties and the source of his paranormal power - his former home and his earthly possessions.

A mysterious mid-century malevolence

When baby boomers were in their late teens, the Yountville Cemetery was the place to get your scare on, as a local woman said. One clear October night in the late 1960s, this woman and some friends decided to drive to Yountville in her fathers brand-new pickup truck to see what was so scary about the place. When they arrived, they found the area surrounding the cemetery was packed with vehicles and their contemporaries. It was one big party!

Just as the crowd grew restless and bored, the paranormal show they came for began with the startling appearance of a large greenish, glowing blob at the top of Yount Mill Hill. As it contorted, the orb slowly began its descent down the hill and towards the crowd who, it turn, laughed and mocked the entity.

The more they laughed, the bigger and faster it became, exciting the crowd until the orb exploded into a dozen or more smaller spheres. The crowd jeered some more, causing the cluster to quiver and move chaotically until the spheres exploded violently with a blinding flash of light to form an immense ball. The woman added its demeanor also changed swiftly to rage.

With that, it charged down the hill and directly toward the mortals below. Realizing their peril, those mortals scrambled for their vehicles and frantically attempted to escape, but gridlock ensued.

The woman and her friends were no exception, although she saw a way out by backing up to escape the sudden traffic jam and flee to safety. As she backed up she rammed the bumper of her fathers new truck into a fence post. She did not care at that moment, as the menacing orb now engulfed half of the cemetery and resembled a powerful tidal wave. Finally, they escaped! Looking back through her rear-view mirror, the woman saw the Yountville Cemetery blanketed by a greenish glowing fog.

Although uneasy about witnessing the Yountville Cemetery Malevolence, another terror was awaiting the woman  her fathers wrath for wrecking his new pickup. When she arrived home, she quickly confessed to her father. In response, he laughed long and hard before telling her she would have to pay for the repairs.

As for the Yountville Cemetery Malevolence, by the early 1970s, it no longer made an appearance  a mystery indeed!

The scent of lilacs

A beautiful Napa Victorian residence, once surrounded by hundreds of acres of farmland and a fragrant lilac hedge, was purportedly the scene of a grisly murder, told in two different versions.

Both stories involve a widowed woman and her grown but socially challenged son. However, the first tale includes another man, a hired, live-in farmhand who mentored the son. All was well until the farmhand scolded the son, creating tension in the household. One night, blinded by rage, the son brutally murdered the older man as he slept. The son returned to his room and waited until his mother discovered the slain farmhand the next morning.

The second version involves just the mother and son, and claims the son had grown weary of his mothers demands. He decided to free himself by murdering his mother. It was her custom to soak in the tub prior to getting dressed for her weekly card game with friends. As she soaked with the window open to allow the scent of lilacs to fill the bathroom, her son slipped inside and stabbed her to death.

He then went to his workshop to collect the tarp, rope and cart he would need to move and then dispose of her body in a grave he had dug. But his mothers friends arrived early and discovered her corpse in the blood-filled tub. Their screams alerted him to the fact his plans had been upset. He fled!

In both versions, the son was tried and convicted of murder, but the court also determined he was of diminished developmental capacity, resulting in a reduced sentence. Several years later, upon his release from Napa State Hospital, he returned to his family home and moved into the attic. Supposedly, he lived out his life in that space  now the site of frightening paranormal encounters with him.

Mortals frequently hear him moving about in the attic. Those who have dared to enter his domain now regret it. As they ascended the ladder leading into the attic, they were nearly overcome by the putrefied odor of decay and musty old lilac blossoms as well as an intense cold.

Once in the attic, they were pushed, shoved and struck by powerful, frigid, invisible hands charged with a very angry energy. Some have said they felt as if they were being strangled by him, while others have nearly been pushed out of the attics open trap door.

Regardless of their individual experiences, all agreed they could not get out of the attic fast enough. They also concurred, it was horrifying.

The terrifying trio

Although tranquil today, not long ago an American Canyon-area home was the site of a diabolical possession by three hate-filled female poltergeists. It took the determination and devotion of the current property owners to restore their homes serenity by banishing the Terrifying Trio.

For three years in a row during March or April and October, the mortal couple endured the horrifying visitations of the demonic troublemakers. While there, the entities burst pipes, caused walls to explode from the inside out, destroyed the mortals family heirlooms and personal property, and filled the house with hate, causing the couple to fight over the most insignificant things. When the trio finally departed, the house and yard looked as if bombs had gone off.

Wanting to save their marriage and sanity, the couple sought out and met with specialists  a counselor and a paranormal expert. As they worked on repairing their relationship and emotional stability, the couple followed the experts suggestions.

First they conducted research into their house and its past to discover the identities and life histories of the trio. The couple discovered the three women, in life, were horrible human beings who took great pleasure in destroying others until they themselves turned on one another in a huge blowout in the American Canyon house. In death, they returned to relive that event.

Now healed and stronger, and armed with the truth about the trio, the couple was prepared for their next attempt of diabolical possession. The trio exploded into the house to commence their terrorism, but the couple called each one out by name and read the details of the respective lives repeatedly. This light of their respective truths defused their wickedness and diabolical power to hurt and destroy.

Although exhausted, the couple carried on until a miracle happened  the Terrifying Trio were reduced to weak and weeping entities begging for forgiveness, thus ending their terror and visitations.

A paranormal hotbed?

These accounts are only a small sampling of local ghostly tales that range from the horrifying to the humorous. This diversity and volume exists because Napa Valley is said to be a hotbed of paranormal activity due to numerous factors.

One reason is the areas rich history filled with human drama. Another factor is the wealth of water sources  the Napa River, its tributaries, creeks, wetlands and underground sources. According to paranormal experts, water is as essential to spirits as it is to the living. It allows them to move with greater ease and recharge their Other Realm energy. These experts also say this natural endowment makes Napa Valley a paranormal vortex and portal to the Other Realm  meaning it increases your odds of a ghostly encounter!

Happy Halloween!
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The American Canyon Fire Protection District is inviting costumed guests on Monday to its stations in what it bills as a safer trick-or-treat venue. Visitors are invited to Station 11 at 911 Donaldson Way East and Station 211 at 225 James Road, the department said in a Facebook announcement Saturday.
Jan Blom knew little about fentanyl when his 17-year-old son, Linus, went to take a nap in their Los Gatos home in July 2020.

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By mid-morning, Blom discovered Linus lifeless body in bed. The cause of death? A Percocet pill laced with the powerful synthetic opioid that has fueled an unprecedented rise in drug-related deaths across California, and now is targeting its young people. Last year, fentanyl was responsible for an astounding one-fifth of the deaths in the 15-to-24 age group, with a total more than six times the number it killed a mere three years earlier.

For most of his life, Linus had been a stellar student and avid high school wrestler who aspired to compete for the national team in his native Finland. But he started taking pills he found online, his father believes, as a way to handle the intense pressure to succeed academically in Silicon Valley.

Suddenly, Linus had become a casualty of a drug 50 times stronger than heroin that has exploded across the country in the last half-decade but largely spared the West Coast during its initial surge.

Its hard to realize that your own son has become a data point, Blom said.

Fentanyl overdoses are leaving their toll not only in tragically familiar places like San Franciscos gritty Tenderloin district but also inside teenagers bedrooms in some of the Bay Areas most upscale neighborhoods. More and more often, users have no idea the drugs they are taking include fentanyl.

As a precaution, schools are stocking up on medication that reverses the effects of overdoses, and experts are recommending teens shopping for illicit painkillers and study drugs also buy test strips that detect if the pills are mixed with fentanyl.

We are not trying to scare you, said Chelsea Shover, an assistant professor of epidemiology and health services research at UCLA, who co-authored a 2020 study on fentanyls spread to the West Coast. But we are trying to tell you whats happening now, and it is different than what was happening a few years ago.

The scourge of fentanyls dramatic rise in California shows up in 2020 as a startling spike in the states death records alongside another now-familiar entry: COVID-19.

Fentanyl overdoses killed about 4,000 people in California in 2020  more than double the previous year  as trafficking routes from Mexico hardened and the unusually cheap drug began penetrating local drug markets.

And last year, for the first time, Californias death rate from all drug overdoses surpassed that of lung cancer and ranked just below hypertensive heart disease. The increase was due almost entirely to fentanyl. It killed a record 5,722 Californians in 2021, according to preliminary data from the California Department of Vital Statistics. Thats more than the estimated 4,258 people who died in vehicle collisions on California roads and more than double the 2,548 killed in homicides.

For teenagers between the ages of 15 and 19, the opioid death rate increased more than fourfold from 2018 to 2021. For 20- to 24-year-olds, the rate shot up nearly seven times. The spikes in death have occurred even as the overall drug use rate among teenagers has remained stable, experts say.

But heres whats really telling: Prior to fentanyls rise, the total number of yearly deaths for Californians ages 15 to 24 typically hovered around 3,000. Since 2020, that number has skyrocketed to nearly 4,000 deaths per year. And fentanyl accounted for more than 750 of those deaths in each of the past two years.

This is going to keep happening until we actually respond, Shover said. The idea that one pill can kill, now thats true  that changes what we need to be telling kids.

Some counties have begun taking action as the fentanyl crisis deepens throughout the Bay Area.

Last month, Santa Clara County stocked up on Narcan, an over-the-counter nasal spray, which can prevent a serious fentanyl overdose from becoming a death. The kits are being dispatched to schools throughout the county and teachers are being trained on how to administer Narcan.

We dont want to have a situation where we have an unresponsive student  and we dont have the tools to save that persons life, said Santa Clara County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mary Dewan.

She said that students are consuming study drugs like Adderall and common painkillers like Percocet, which they purchase from unlicensed dealers on the internet. They have no idea these pills are now often laced with fentanyl.

If you are buying a pill off the street, yeah, its probably fentanyl, said Shover. Fentanyl until proven otherwise.

Thats why Shover and other experts are recommending fentanyl test strips, which can be bought on Amazon for less than $10 a kit, to detect if fentanyl is laced in other types of illegally sold drugs. Sales of fentanyl test strips were only legalized in California this August when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill authored by Orange County Republican Assembly member Laurie Davies. Previously, the test strips were classified as drug paraphernalia and some states still ban them.

Teenagers are far from the only ones suffering from fentanyls deadly toll. The opioid death rate for adults between the ages of 30 and 34 reached a record high in California of about 33 per 100,000 in 2021, the highest of any age group.

Napa County and city of Napa join national opioid settlement The Napa City Council and Napa County Board of Supervisors both voted this month to join the National Opioid Settlement, which is set to bring in funds for treating the opioid epidemic.

Every Bay Area county is seeing a rise in overdoses, too. San Francisco remains ground zero with close to double the opioid death rate of the next most heavily impacted Bay Area county, Sonoma.

In Contra Costa and Santa Clara counties, the opioid death rate more than doubled from 2018 to 2021 as fentanyl entered the market. In Alameda, it more than tripled. In Marin, it nearly quintupled.

Edward Liang, who supervises the Major Crimes and Drug Trafficking Team of the Santa Clara County District Attorneys Office, says that Interstate 5 has become a fentanyl trafficking route for Mexican cartels who bring fentanyl-laced pills and raw materials up through Mexico and to the Bay Area.

The cartels have been using some of the raw materials trafficked over the border to produce fentanyl pills in the Bay Area.

Liang says that the reason the cartels are so interested in tapping into the fentanyl market is that the costs associated with producing fentanyl are low compared to other drugs like heroin, which require poppy plants and ample resources to produce. Since fentanyl is so much more potent than other drugs, dealers also earn more off small doses.

They target schoolchildren and the homeless, Blom said. Everyone is a target.

Law enforcement is trying to catch up. This month, Attorney General Rob Bonta announced a fentanyl task force has seized more than 4 million pills and nearly 900 pounds of fentanyl powder since April 2021. And federal prosecutors in San Jose this summer took down a drug ring, including a Mexican pharmacist, connected to the overdose death of a Monterey County man.

But the sale of fentanyl is turning up in even the most guarded places: Inmates from Riverside County to Mendocino have overdosed on fentanyl-laced pills smuggled into prisons.

Most teenagers only need to search on apps like Instagram and Snapchat.

By the start of 2020, the Bloms were worried enough by Linus drug use that they sent him abroad to an international school in Finland where they hoped he would break his pill habit.

But the COVID-19 pandemic upended everything. Linus school went entirely online, and his favorite sport of wrestling was banned as a COVID-19 precaution.

As a result, Linus just kept self-medicating, Blom said.

He ultimately moved back in with his family in Los Gatos. They tried to get him outpatient care to treat his addiction. But everything, they were told, was full. The COVID-19 pandemic had forced some clinics to shut down temporarily or reduce services, Blom said, creating a backlog of patients.

One clinic, which placed Linus on a waiting list, called months after his death to offer him a spot.

After Linus death, Blom became active in pushing the county to take the threat of fentanyl more seriously. He joined Santa Clara Countys fentanyl working group and has been speaking out about his sons death.

He says he would be satisfied if all his activism stops just one death. Now, he knows more than any parent should know about fentanyl.

Its so tragic, Blom said, as Linus 6-year-old brother, Lucas, fidgeted nearby. We thought he was safe at home.
Stop killer robots! Lobbyists fight to save Europe from bad AI

U.S. green subsidies increase fears about German industry

NATO's looming fault line: China

Estonian FM calls on European countries to double defense spending because of war in Ukraine

Cavusoglu says Sweden and Finland have not yet fulfilled Ankara's requirements for NATO membership

Police crack down on European cocaine super cartel

Ardshinbank is the exclusive sponsor of Vladimir Spivakov's charity concert (PHOTOS)

Japan's prime minister orders to double defense spending to about 2% of GDP in five years

U.S. is considering sending 150-mile strike weapon to Ukraine

EU countries resumes talks on introducing price ceiling on Russian oil

Participants of international forum 'New stimuli for millennial relations' visit 'Tsitsernakaberd'

Volcano eruption kicks off in Hawaii

Condition of servicemen wounded as result of Azerbaijan's violation of ceasefire is satisfactory

Russia and Iran sign memorandum on car exports

Tokayev: There are issues in relations between Russia and Kazakhstan that require negotiations

FT: Global inflation peaks but will slow in future

2 soldiers injured after Azerbaijan shells Artsakh defense army positions

Japan to build constellation of 50 military satellites

Azerbaijan hands over to Armenian side bodies of 13 Armenian servicemen

Iraqi PM announces return of part of $125 million stolen from state

Inaugural Divine Liturgy served at first Armenian church in Spain

Russia and Kazakhstan intend to increase CSTO potential

Process of US granting market economy status to Armenia is discussed (PHOTOS)

Borrell says NATO has enough threats and challenges besides China

Azerbaijani government-controlled media announces change in Baku's foreign policy

Reuters: Turkey ready for ground invasion in northern Syria

Cavusoglu: Turkey may appoint an ambassador to Egypt in the coming months

Dollar, euro go up in Armenia

Indian political analyst: Pakistan supported Azerbaijan during aggression against Karabakh

Belgian police officers protest after officer killed

Citizens of Western countries arrested in Iran for participating in riots

Seyran Ohanyan: Drawing CSTO into our region in matters of use of force may cause serious conflict in future

Armenia parliament opposition leader: Its not that we, as opposition, like everything in CSTO

Political analyst: Cooperation with Yerevan becomes more important amid contradictions between powers

New Ecuador ambassador presents copy of credentials to Armenia deputy FM

Erdogan: Realization of the grain deal showed the possibility of diplomacy in Ukraine

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Armenian envoy: India becoming more sensitive about Azerbaijan ambitions towards Armenia

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U.S. gas reserves won't be enough to fill the gaping hole left by Russia in Europe, BloombergNEF strategists say.

The U.S. has become the world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, with much of that supply going to Europe as Russian gas flows have dwindled and the continent faced a serious energy crisis this winter. The International Energy Agency warned that even with a near-full supply of gas, the European Union is still at serious risk of supply shortages.

Gas supplies from the U.S. currently cover 40 percent of Europe's LNG consumption, according to a BloombergNEF report, compared to 45 percent of European consumption supplied by Russia before the war in Ukraine. But U.S. gas production is starting to dry up: exports are expected to fall below expectations over the next two years, with an increase of just 12% a year.

The year-over-year increase is not enough to offset the overall decline in Russian pipeline supplies, as less than half of those volumes are accounted for by the increase in LNG, said BNEF analyst. This means that gas exports to Europe are expected to be only a fraction of what will be consumed next summer, creating even more problems due to skyrocketing energy prices. Europe's base price for electricity, which is largely supplied by natural gas, has jumped by more than 1,000 percent compared to prices from a year ago.
Former Illinois Speaker Michael Madigan departs from his lawyers' office, March 9, 2022, after making his first virtual court appearance for his indictment. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

When federal prosecutors tied former House Speaker Michael Madigan into a conspiracy case involving AT&T this month, they included an insider at the heart of the scandal with an overarching view of Madigans once-vaunted statewide Democratic organization and his secretive moves at the Capitol.

That insider is Tom Cullen.

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Tom Cullen, 59, a lobbyist and former political director for House Speaker Michael Madigan. (Illinois Secretary of State)

Now, the Tribune has learned that Cullen, a lobbyist who played political point man for years on Madigans government staff, has testified before the ongoing federal grand jury looking into broad aspects of Madigans political world, which prosecutors allege included a criminal enterprise aimed at providing personal financial rewards for Madigan and his associates.

Any details Cullen offered in his testimony about Madigan and his former associates are still secret, but the blanks he could have filled in as part of Madigans famously tight inner circle are manifold.

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The Tribune first revealed earlier this year that Cullen and his lobbying firm were at the center of an alleged scheme by AT&T Illinois to pay thousands of dollars to a former member of Madigans House leadership team in exchange for the speakers help on legislation the telephone giant wanted passed in Springfield.

Earlier this month, Cullen was named by the Tribune and other news outlets as Intermediary 4 in a superseding indictment against Madigan and his longtime confidant, Michael McClain, adding the AT&T allegations.

Cullen has not been charged in the case, even though his firm allegedly served as the go-between for the secret payments.

His lawyer, Thomas Anthony Durkin, declined to comment Friday on his clients position.

To be sure, Cullens legal situation is a stark contrast to other Madigan loyalists caught up in the expansive probe.

McClain, 74, of Quincy, one of Madigans longest and closest confidants, rebuffed several efforts to get him to flip both before and after being indicted in 2020 on separate charges alleging he orchestrated a scheme by utility giant Commonwealth Edison to buy the speakers influence. That case is currently set for trial in March.

Another longtime member of the Madigan brain trust, former chief of staff Tim Mapes, was granted immunity from prosecution but ended up being charged with perjury after prosecutors say he lied during his March 31, 2021, grand jury appearance when asked about Madigans relationship with McClain.

Madigan, 80, of Chicago, has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing. He said in a written statement after being charged that prosecutors were attempting to criminalize legal political actions such as lobbying and job recommendations  an argument sure to arise if the case goes to trial.

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Madigans lead attorney, Sheldon Zenner, declined to comment Friday on Cullens role.

For decades, Tom Cullen was one of the Madigan machines key engineers, holding a position of high confidence in a small group of Madigans confidants, whose members one longtime political insider said is so closely guarded that only the people in the circle know who the people in the circle are.

Cullen held the all-important position of director of Madigans House issues development staff, the political arm of the speakers government operations. In that role, Cullen became essential in screening and recruiting legislative candidates as well as determining their paths to victory.

When the speakers daughter Lisa Madigan ran for attorney general, Cullen was among the small cadre of people, including McClain, who met frequently to help steer her successful statewide race.

Democrats and Republicans alike acknowledged Cullens political acumen  even when they differed with him. In his years at the Capitol, he was known to tell politicians or lobbyists ahead of time how he planned to beat them on a legislative issue rather than stab them in the back, like many in the cutthroat world of Springfield did.

He would always stab you in the front with a smile, explained one longtime Democratic strategist with years of statehouse experience.

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Unlike some, Cullen was friendly to his counterparts across the aisle, garnering a reputation as a decent guy in a dirty business, as one Republican veteran put it. But there was no doubt he was a Madigan loyalist, demonstrating a special brand of political fealty from the 1990s on the speakers staff and on up through his successful career as a lobbyist.

As a key political point man for Madigan when he lost the speakership in the 1994 nationwide Republican tidal wave, Cullen became one of the staffers most focused on Democrats retaking the House.

Republican state Rep. Lee Daniels remained speaker for just that one term, the only two years Madigans speakership was interrupted in his nationwide record 36 years of running a legislative chamber.

After Madigan retook the speakership, Cullen eventually became a contract lobbyist with an enviable book of clients and remained a fixture at the Capitol.

He earned Madigans respect through his past work, said one Republican statehouse source, who requested anonymity. There is only a handful of people who get Madigans respect. Tom Cullen was one of them.

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Cullen represented a group of top political people who had graduated from Madigans government operations but remained intrinsic in the speakers obsession to stay in charge of the House.

When you are in that rarefied air, where you have become one of the speakers trusted political confidants, it doesnt matter how many clients you have or who those clients are because your first loyalty is the speaker, the longtime Democratic strategist explained. But for the speaker you wouldnt have those clients.

Like others in Madigans sphere, Cullen throughout his lobbying career was called upon to work on campaigns to help the speaker stay in power.

Cullen also found himself as a key political operative in headlines about Madigan over the years.

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In 2014, for instance, Cullen, while lobbying for Metra, appeared in a legislative inspector generals report focused on whether Madigan had wielded undue influence in trying to get a promotion for a Metra employee who served as a precinct captain in Madigans 13th Ward political operations.

Cullen also turned up in the aftermath of one of the more spectacular chapters in how Madigan reacted to #MeToo scandals among his wayward staff.

When campaign staffer Alaina Hampton called out Madigans longtime top lieutenant Kevin Quinn in 2018 over his alleged sexual harassment, Madigan ousted Quinn from the speakers state government and political operations.

But Cullen later showed up among five current and former friendly utility lobbyists who set up contracts and sent checks to Quinn upon the request of McClain, who orchestrated the payments to help give the ousted aide a softer financial landing, according to emails and bank records the Tribune obtained in 2019.

In one of those emails, the Tribune disclosed, McClain warned Quinn of the delicate political consequences if the payments that Cullen and others had made were to become widely known.

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These men are sticking their necks out knowing full well if it goes public before you are exonerated they will get the full blast from the MeToo movement. So please honor the confidentiality, McClain wrote.

It would soon be revealed that those payments were just one part of a much larger federal criminal investigation into ComEds alleged efforts to influence Madigans official actions.

Cullens list of high-octane clients has ranged from health care and pharmaceuticals to gambling and utilities. He once represented ComEd but ended up leaving years ago in a political flap, and, perhaps fortuitously, spent the last several years as a lobbyist for Ameren, the downstate utility that he still lists as a client.

Instead, the client that eventually landed Cullen in hot water was AT&T Illinois, a subsidiary of the national telephone giant that, like ComEd, hired a stable of lobbyists and consultants with ties to Madigan to push for legislation in Springfield.

According to a statement of facts admitted by AT&T Illinois in a deferred prosecution agreement, Madigans office in 2015 had blocked a controversial bill that the telephone company was pushing to end costly landline service to its nearly 1.2 million customers.

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After that defeat, an executive circulated a lessons learned memo that contained one section headed, Speaker Madigan. The memo stated AT&T had not been as helpful as ComEd when requests were made from the speakers camp, according to the statement.

Two years later, AT&T found a way to help, according to the statement. In February 2017, the company launched a plan to kick money to retiring Democratic state Rep. Edward Acevedo, who had served as Madigans assistant majority leader in the House and was starting his own lobbying business, according to the statement, which identified Acevedo only as FR-1.

In an email exchange that March, AT&T Illinois director of legislative affairs asked two of the companys executives if they were 100% certain they would get credit from the powers that be if the payments were made through an intermediary, rather than directly to Acevedo.

I would hope that as long as we explain the approach to McClain and (the associate) gets the money then the ultimate objective is reached, one of the executives wrote back, according to the statement.

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Thats when Cullen allegedly stepped in. On April 5, 2017, the AT&T legislative affairs director sent another email directing an employee to increase the payments the company was making to Cullen & Associates, identified in the statement only as Company 4.

The email stated the funds would allow Cullen to bring on an additional asset who would make a difference with House Democratic Leadership views on advancing AT&T strategies for the landline legislation, according to the statement.

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Later that month, according to AT&Ts admissions in court, Cullen attended a meeting with AT&T employees and Acevedo to discuss a cover story for the payments: to prepare a report on the political dynamics of the General Assemblys and Chicago City Councils Latino Caucuses.

Acevedo balked at first, saying the payments were too low. But he agreed to the deal after McClain stepped in and said the amount was sufficient.

From June 2017 to January 2018, AT&T made nine monthly payments of $10,000 to Cullens firm, with $2,500 from each installment earmarked for Acevedo, for a total of $22,500. The report was never done and Acevedo did no other work on AT&Ts behalf, according to the statement in the federal case.

Meanwhile, after a protracted fight, the landline bill passed during the final hours of the spring 2017 legislative session  with Madigans direct assistance, according to legislative records and the statement of facts agreed to by AT&T.

Acevedo, 59, was not charged as part of the alleged AT&T scheme. He was sentenced earlier this year to a year in federal prison on tax charges related to the ComEd probe. He is serving his sentence at a medium-security federal prison in North Carolina and is due to be released on Dec. 5. His attorney has declined to comment.
Aurora is looking to disburse more than $400,000 to businesses in the city that are still feeling the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Members of the City Council Finance Committee recently recommended disbursing $408,053 to 58 small businesses throughout the city from the Re-Start Retention Grant program that the City Council approved in July.

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Elle Withall, downtown director in the Mayors Office of Economic Development, said the fund was created to offer assistance to small businesses in the face of continuing adverse financial conditions arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the pandemic has subsided, the long-term effects are still felt, especially in our small business community, Withall said.

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Some of those effects include repayment of deferred rent, high labor costs, supply chain issues and the impact of the daily bottom line, she said.

When the City Council created the Re-Start and Retention Grant program, it seeded the fund with $500,000 left over from other COVID-19 relief programs the city created during the height of the pandemic.

The city used $230,000 left over from the COVID Emergency Relief Fund, or CERF, created for small businesses, and $270,000 from the federal American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA.

There still is some money left over, and Withall told Finance Committee members some businesses still could apply for it. The money was allocated for each ward, and Withall said the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 7th, 9th and 10th wards are fully committed.

But there is $30,000 left for the 5th and 6th Wards, and $32,046 for the 8th Ward. Businesses have until Friday to get applications in for those grants.

Withall said for the grants already approved, 57% went to minority-owned businesses and 48% to women-owned businesses. Some 76% went to businesses where employees live in the city of Aurora.

Even though Withall focuses on downtown, she said 78% of the awards went to businesses outside downtown, showing the need for citywide grant programs such as this.

Aldermen on the Finance Committee praised Withall for working to get the word out to business throughout the city, breaking through language barriers and even going out to the businesses to contact them.

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Aurora Ald. Edward Bugg, 9th Ward. (Edward Bugg / HANDOUT)

When employees were working hard and could not get away, Elle went to their businesses, Ald. Edward Bugg, 9th Ward, said.

The entire council will consider the grants at the Committee of the Whole meeting Tuesday, so a vote on approval to disburse the money should take place at the Nov. 10 regular City Council meeting.

slord@tribpub.com
Stop killer robots! Lobbyists fight to save Europe from bad AI

U.S. green subsidies increase fears about German industry

NATO's looming fault line: China

Estonian FM calls on European countries to double defense spending because of war in Ukraine

Cavusoglu says Sweden and Finland have not yet fulfilled Ankara's requirements for NATO membership

Police crack down on European cocaine super cartel

Ardshinbank is the exclusive sponsor of Vladimir Spivakov's charity concert (PHOTOS)

Japan's prime minister orders to double defense spending to about 2% of GDP in five years

U.S. is considering sending 150-mile strike weapon to Ukraine

EU countries resumes talks on introducing price ceiling on Russian oil

Participants of international forum 'New stimuli for millennial relations' visit 'Tsitsernakaberd'

Volcano eruption kicks off in Hawaii

Condition of servicemen wounded as result of Azerbaijan's violation of ceasefire is satisfactory

Russia and Iran sign memorandum on car exports

Tokayev: There are issues in relations between Russia and Kazakhstan that require negotiations

FT: Global inflation peaks but will slow in future

2 soldiers injured after Azerbaijan shells Artsakh defense army positions

Japan to build constellation of 50 military satellites

Azerbaijan hands over to Armenian side bodies of 13 Armenian servicemen

Iraqi PM announces return of part of $125 million stolen from state

Inaugural Divine Liturgy served at first Armenian church in Spain

Russia and Kazakhstan intend to increase CSTO potential

Process of US granting market economy status to Armenia is discussed (PHOTOS)

Borrell says NATO has enough threats and challenges besides China

Azerbaijani government-controlled media announces change in Baku's foreign policy

Reuters: Turkey ready for ground invasion in northern Syria

Cavusoglu: Turkey may appoint an ambassador to Egypt in the coming months

Dollar, euro go up in Armenia

Indian political analyst: Pakistan supported Azerbaijan during aggression against Karabakh

Belgian police officers protest after officer killed

Citizens of Western countries arrested in Iran for participating in riots

Seyran Ohanyan: Drawing CSTO into our region in matters of use of force may cause serious conflict in future

Armenia parliament opposition leader: Its not that we, as opposition, like everything in CSTO

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New Ecuador ambassador presents copy of credentials to Armenia deputy FM

Erdogan: Realization of the grain deal showed the possibility of diplomacy in Ukraine

Armenia parliament speaker to head for Qatar, to watch World Cup match from stadium

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Armenian envoy: India becoming more sensitive about Azerbaijan ambitions towards Armenia

India MFA: Cooperation with Armenia should be further deepened

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UK intends to maintain military assistance to Ukraine in 2023

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Any proposal or document that would consider Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan will be rejected, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh David Babayan said during a rally held today, at Stepanakert's Renaissance Square.

"Indeed, we are living in difficult times, we face ontological threats. Moreover, not only Artsakh, but also Mother Armenia and the Diaspora face ontological threats. The future largely depends on Artsakh. We have to work both internally and externally to get out of this difficult situation with honor. Most importantly, we must not be indifferent. It is indifference that can destroy us, though it may seem like the most innocent act. Our future depends on each of us, is it victory or defeat? As for the external field, of course, we are working hard together with all Armenians. We must be principled and we must attach special importance to professionalism and patriotism," the Minister said.

He underlined that any proposal, a document which would consider Artsakh to be a part of Azerbaijan is unacceptable and will be rejected.

"In case of such proposals from various countries and international structures, we will consider them as a gross violation of international law. Believe that we are capable of protecting Artsakh. Each of us has this potential in us. We should not believe if they say we are unable to defend ourselves," said the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh, stressing that it depends on everyone whether decent and principled generation will be able to save this biblical land of Artsakh in spite of all difficulties.

David Babayan expressed his conviction that this mission will be realized by joint efforts.

"I am confident because we have Yerablur, Tsitsernakaberd, Shushi looking at us. After all, how will we face our children tomorrow, our elderly, our grieving wives and mothers? How will we stand before the memory of our heroes and what answer will we give before God? Consequently, we must all know that our destinies are one and there will be no games behind the backs of the people. We will all stick together and defend Artsakh, no matter the difficulties, and there is a chance to save Artsakh," the Minister added, praising the role of Russia in maintaining peace and stability in the region while carrying out a difficult peacekeeping mission.

"When we say that the Russian people and Russia are brotherly, we want to announce to the world that this is not directed against any state, because we, as a people with a Diaspora, have no right to think so. So let us fight, unite, never despair," Babayan concluded.
Artsakh calls on Armenians around the world to continue to support Artsakh, defend Artsakh's rights and stand up for Artsakh, MP of the "Armenia" faction wrote about on his Facebook Ishkhan Saghatelyan.

"Artsakh is on its feet. The spirit of 1988 hovers in Artsakh. We have been waiting for this day for a long time. Artsakh is united. Artsakh owns its statehood. Today there were clear messages from Artsakh.

- Artsakh has never been and will never be a part of Azerbaijan.

- This is unacceptable for the Republic of Artsakh, for the people of Artsakh.

Any attempt to annex Artsakh to Azerbaijan.

Artsakh also speaks very clearly.

- No body of the Republic of Armenia has the right to sign any document which would call into question the existence of the sovereign Republic of Artsakh.

Artsakh calls upon Armenians all over the world to continue to support Artsakh, defend Artsakh's rights and stand up for Artsakh.

Dear Compatriots.

It is our duty and responsibility to listen to Artsakh's voice. As an Armenian, as a citizen of the Republic of Armenia, as a dignified human being, stand up for Artsakh and Armenia.

In defense of the demands voiced from Artsakh, the Resistance Movement is convening a rally on November 5.

I will hold a press conference tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. to speak about the rally and what we have to do.

Armenia must stand by Artsakh; Armenians must stand for their homeland.

All-Armenian unity around the sovereignty, security and statehood of Artsakh and Armenia.

There is no Armenia without Artsakh.

Without Artsakh there is no peace," he wrote.
Iranian protesters ignore Revolutionary Guards order

Iranian protesters ignore Revolutionary Guards order

Iranian protesters rallied again on Sunday, defying an order by the powerful Revolutionary Guards to stop the demonstrations  now in their seventh week  sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini.



Students gathered overnight and on Sunday across Iran, even after Major General Hossein Salami, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, had warned demonstrators: "Do not come to the streets!"



Amini, 22, died in custody on September 16 after her arrest in Tehran for an alleged breach of Iran's strict dress rules for women, triggering a wave of unrest and a state response on the "riots" that Amnesty International calls a "brutal crackdown".



Security forces on Sunday fired gunshots and tear gas at a gathering of students in the flashpoint western city of Sanandaj, where videos showed billowing clouds of smoke amid chants of "freedom", the Norway-based Hengaw organisation reported.



It also posted a video with the sound of echoing gunfire, and of a 12-year-old girl wailing with her bloody arm peppered with metal pellets, in reports AFP could not independently verify.



Security forces have struggled to contain the protests, which started with women taking to the streets and burning their hijab headscarves and which have evolved into a broader campaign to end the Islamic republic founded in 1979.



Students had protested on Saturday at campuses in Tehran, Kerman in the country's south, and the western city of Kermanshah, among others, online videos showed.



"Each person getting killed is followed by a thousand people!" protesters shouted at the funeral of a demonstrator on Saturday in Arak, southwest of Tehran, footage published by the 1500tasvir social media channel showed, adding that the crowd was later dispersed with tear gas.



Demonstrations on Sunday were reported in multiple universities including the capital as well as in Mazandaran and Mashhad, where Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR) said crowds chanted "Death to the dictator".



IHR said on Friday that at least 160 protesters, including more than two dozen children, had been killed since protests began. (AFP)
Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das urged ombudsman to be sensitive and judicious in their approach while redressing the grievance of customers to deal with digital lending or fintech-related matters. The Governor was speaking at the annual conference of RBI Ombudsmen in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, on Friday evening. The Governor said the RBI Ombudsmen and the regulated entities (REs) must first identify the root causes of persisting customer complaints and take necessary systemic measures to correct them. Second, the resolution of customer complaints by the REs and the RBI ombudsmen has to be fair and quick. And, lastly, he said that even as the financial landscape evolves and transforms, the underlying principles for good customer service and customer protection namely, transparency, fair pricing, honest dealings. He also highlighted his concern of the fact that there are still persistent grievances in some specific areas like mis-selling, lack of transparency in pricing, disproportionate service charges, very high penal rates, etc. He also mentioned that social media stories of using strong-arm tactics by some recovery agents overshadow the good work that is being done for customer protection, both by the regulated entities (Banks, NBFCs, etc.) and the Reserve Bank. Another concern of his was the fact that still a large number of complaints pertain to traditional banking. He said that this calls for serious review of the working of the customer service and grievance redress mechanism in the regulated entities. The root cause of persistence of such grievances need to be analysed and necessary corrective measures undertaken, the Governor added. He also mentioned that the role of the board and the top management of the regulated entities is very crucial. He urged them to engage and ensure that there is customer-centricity in the design of products, the supporting processes, the delivery mechanism of the products and post-sales services. Commercial considerations are important, but they must necessarily be aligned with customer orientation in every aspect, including strategy and risk management. He stressed that root cause analysis and its outcome should drive necessary changes at the organisational level including the process and system changes, policy and technological upgradation and skill enhancement of the relevant personnel. Complaints could provide a treasure trove of data on systems, processes and overall compliance, he said, adding that the findings can serve as invaluable inputs for the update of internal risk registers and mid-way correction. (ANI)
People walk up to get a closer view of the Piasa painting on a bluff wall outside of Alton, providing perspective on how large the painting is. (Paul Eisenberg / Daily Southtown)

A friend of mine was a new homeowner many years ago when Halloween sneaked up on him.

When costumed kids arrived on his front stoop he was wholly unprepared, and didnt even have a can of pop to give them, as he tells the story.

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Ever resourceful, he grabbed some ketchup packets from the remnants of a recent fast food dinner and thrust them deep into the trick-or-treaters bags. He acted quickly, hoping they wouldnt get a good look at the treats in an effort to avoid subsequent tricks from displeased young solicitors.

It worked. The kids left, and no egg, toilet paper or shaving cream recriminations followed.

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Another friend called the deed monstrous, in keeping with the Halloween theme.

The ketchup packet distributor disagreed.

Hey, those packets were sealed, he said.

Thats one of my favorite Halloween stories from early adulthood. And my friend was right, substituting ketchup for candy wasnt really monstrous, though mustard packets may have brought it a step closer.

This Halloween, we dont have to search far for actual monstrousness, from everyday reports of gun violence to backbiting political advertisements making even the commercial breaks unwatchable during the evening local news broadcast.

Its no wonder that unreal monsters occupy such a prominent pedestal in our collective imagination as early autumn transitions to late fall and brisk breezes increasingly become freezing winds.

Unlike the small monsters going door to door on Halloween, accompanied by superheroes, princesses and other pop culture characters, other monsters have garnered worldwide notoriety because their origins arent linked to published works of fiction.

Rather, these monsters haunt the periphery of reality. Their existence is just plausible enough to offer a tidbit of dread, while logic and probability, as well as geographic distance, indicate a lack of danger from such creatures as the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot.

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Nessie may live in Scotland and Bigfoot is said to inhabit mountainous regions. Witches have a historical home in olde New England, but some scary creatures live in more local lore as well.

A painting of the Piasa, which translates to "Bird of Evil Spirit" according to writer John W. Allen, occupies a bluff along the Mississippi River in Alton near the site where ancient petroglyphs depicting a similar creature were quarried away in the 1840s, according to Allen, who was the historical director of the museum at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. (Paul Eisenberg / Daily Southtown)

I took a family road trip last week to southern Illinois, an area rife with legends and mystery. Along the Mississippi River a little ways upstream from Cahokia, where archaeologists believe a large city was abruptly and mysteriously abandoned in the 1300s, a great beast dwells near a large cave hollowed into the stony riverside bluff.

The large, winged creature etched into the rock is a re-creation of an image first reported by 17th century explorers. Its first entry in the historical record was a report by the famous French missionary Jacques Marquette in 1673. The giant petroglyph was mentioned in the accounts of other European explorers until 1699, when no other mention of it had been found until more than a hundred years had elapsed, according to John W. Allen, author of Legends & Lore of Southern Illinois, published in 1963.

Allen, for 16 years the historical director at University Museum at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, said the current representation is a faithful reproduction of the original one made by the Indians and carefully sketched by an artist in 1826. The original, he wrote, remained well preserved until the winter of 1846-47, when the rock was quarried away.

Piasa, according to Allen, translates to Bird of Evil Spirit, while the tourism bureau based in nearby Alton indicates in a pamphlet touting the cliffside painting the name means bird that devours men.

The pamphlet quotes Marquettes diary indicating there were two Piasa paintings on the bluff.

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They have horns on their heads like those of a deer, a horrible look, red eyes, a beard like a tigers, scales, and so long a tail that it winds about the body, reads the description from the 1600s.

Marquette, of course, is the Jesuit priest who accompanied Louis Joliet on those early explorations of what Europeans then considered New France, including a big chunk of the Chicago area, before heading down the Illinois River and coming across the Piasa.

A historical marker tells the story of the Piasa at Piasa Park near Alton, Illinois, where a contemporary depiction of a legendary monster is painted on the rocky side of a bluff. (Paul Eisenberg / Daily Southtown)

The legend of the beast, conveyed without specific citation, indicates the Piasa initially wasnt much of a problem, feeding mostly on serpents and minding its own business until a great battle took place nearby, after which it acquired a taste for human flesh and subsequently terrorized area residents.

Determined to stop the monster from eating his friends, a local leader offered to be bait while some warriors hid nearby waiting to shoot the beast with arrows when it came to carry him away. The ploy fortunately worked and the creatures likeness was carved into the bluff to commemorate the victory.

Its more likely, Allen wrote, the Piasa was a representation of the Thunder Bird, which looms large throughout Native American mythology. The modern legend affixed to the ancient effigy has a nice combination of anti-violence messaging and a self-sacrificing leader story, but a more entertaining, Halloween Piasa legend, attributed only to my imagination, might link the fiendish beast, bolts of lighting flashing from its eyes, to the mysterious abandonment of the ancient city of Cahokia.

Large caves adjacent to the Piasa painting near Alton, Illinois, are reminiscent of the legend which indicates the monster lived in caves high atop the bluffs along the Mississippi River. The caves adjacent to Piasa Park are fenced off and likely the result of former quarrying operations in the area. (Paul Eisenberg / Daily Southtown)

Another monster in the region isnt enshrined on a bluff wall, and isnt quite as ancient as the Piasa, but still its found a place in Illinois legend.

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The Big Muddy Monster was first sighted in 1973 in Murphysboro, a small town near the Shawnee National Forest in the hills of Little Egypt. According to a city police report, some residents reported seeing a creature 7 to 8 feet tall, 300 to 350 pounds, dirty white or cream colored that walked on two feet. It also had a musky odor to it, the report indicated.

Dogs were brought in to track the creature but lost its scent in an area that was too thick and bushy to walk through. Other residents in the area reported a large ghost in their backyard around the same time.

A few days later, police took a report from someone parked at a boat launch along a wooded area of the Big Muddy River in Murphysboro who said a large creature with light colored hair matted with mud was screaming, changing tones and proceeding toward the car.

Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

Complainant then left the area and went to the police department, a police report indicated, telling police no human would be able to scream or make a noise loud as what they heard.

Investigating police found prints in the mud at the scene about 10-12 inches long and 3 inches wide leading to the river and then heard screaming coming from the wooded area and retreated out of the wooded area.

By 1976, the Big Muddy Monster began appearing by name in Murphysboro police reports and its legend has continued to grow in the years since.

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Theres a good chance the Murphysboro monster was a hoax, though we likely will never know for certain. And its more likely we never will know the true reason the Piasa beasts were enshrined in rock along the Mississippi River near Alton.

But its fun to explore these Illinois legends. And with Halloween upon us once again, perhaps its time to create some more.

Have you heard about the Rock Beast unearthed in Thornton Quarry?

Landmarks is a weekly column by Paul Eisenberg exploring the people, places and things that have left an indelible mark on the Southland. He can be reached at peisenberg@tribpub.com.
Maruti Suzuki on Saturday announced that it was recalling 9,925 units of its three models -- Wagon R, Celerio and Ignis. The carmaker said it was recalling in order to rectify a possible defect in the rear brake assembly pin. It also noted that these affected vehicles were manufactured between August 3 and September 1 this year. Maruti said in a statement to the stock exchanges, "It is suspected that there is a possible defect in rear brake assembly pin ('Part'), which in a certain case, may break and cause a peculiar noise. There may be a possibility of impact on brake performance in the long run," said the company, adding that, "Considering the safety of customers and out of abundant precaution, the Company has decided to recall the suspected vehicles for inspection and replacement of the faulty part, free of cost." The carmaker said parts for replacement are being arranged. Maruti Suzuki authorised workshops shall be contacting the customers for attending their vehicles. Necessary repair, if required, would be undertaken post-inspection, said the carmaker. Considering the safety of customers and out of abundant precaution, the company has decided to recall the suspected vehicles for inspection and replacement of the faulty part, free of cost, it added. Maruti Suzuki India, formerly known as Maruti Udyog, is an Indian automobile manufacturer, based in New Delhi. It was founded in 1981 and owned by the Government of India until 2003, when it was sold to the Japanese automaker Suzuki Motor Corporation. As of February 2022 Maruti Suzuki has a market share of about 44.2 per cent in the Indian passenger car market. Earlier, the country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki on September 16 said it was voluntarily recalling 5,002 of light commercial vehicle to fix possibly faulty seat belts. The vehicles recalled were manufactured between 4th May, 2022 and July 30, 2022. (ANI)
Hollywood actor Liam Hemsworth is all set to replace Henry Cavill as the Geralt of Rivia in the fourth season of 'The Witcher'. Taking to Instagram, Henry dropped a post which he captioned, "My journey as Geralt of Rivia has been filled with both monsters and adventures, and alas, I will be laying down my medallion and my swords for Season 4. In my stead, the fantastic Mr Liam Hemsworth will be taking up the mantle of the White Wolf. As with the greatest of literary characters, I pass the torch with reverence for the time spent embodying Geralt and enthusiasm to see Liam's take on this most fascinating and nuanced of men. Liam, good sir, this character has such a wonderful depth to him, enjoy diving in and seeing what you can find." https://www.instagram.com/p/CkTv9FyPnNz/ According to The Hollywood Reporter, the third season of the fantasy drama series is expected to stream in the Summer of 2023. This major change for the show that's based on author Andrzej Sapkowski's book series follows Cavill's return to the DC film fray as Superman, which was teased with a mid-credits cameo in the recently released 'Black Adam'. Liam Hemsworth, on the other hand, dropped a post captioning it, "As a Witcher fan I'm over the moon about the opportunity to play Geralt of Rivia. Henry Cavill has been an incredible Geralt, and I'm honoured that he's handing me the reins and allowing me to take up the White Wolf's blades for the next chapter of his adventure. Henry, I've been a fan of yours for years and was inspired by what you brought to this beloved character. I may have some big boots to fill, but I'm truly excited to be stepping into The Witcher world. @henrycavill @witchernetflix." https://www.instagram.com/p/CkTv8jXyj2l/ Hemsworth is known for his amazing performance in the 'Hunger Games' franchise. (ANI)
South actor Ram Charan is enjoying his trip to Tanzania with his wife Upasana Konidela as he gave a glimpse of his trip. Taking to his Instagram handle, Ram dropped a video where he can be seen driving an open jeep and also cooking eggs in open. He also speaks to someone while cooking his meal and also clicked pictures of the wildlife with his camera from his jeep. He added Ziggy Marley's song Jambo in the video. In the video, he wore a black T-shirt, and matching pants with a blue jacket and opted for white shoes. He also wore dark sunglasses. He captioned the post, "Untamed Africa." https://www.instagram.com/p/CkS3APKodPH/?hl=en Recently, Ram, SS Rajamouli, and Jr NTR along with their family members traveled to Japan for the screening of RRR. On Instagram, Ram shared a glimpse of RRR promotions in Japan. In one photo, he posed with SS Rajamouli and in another, he was clicked with Jr NTR. "Missed being home for Diwali, but how could I miss a once-in-a-lifetime chance of experiencing love for RRR from the Japanese audiences. Japan is special - The people , the culture, the love and respect they have for everyone is unmatched. This is just the beginning...Love you soo much @ssrajamouli Garu for this experience. Spending quality time together again with brother @jrntr was soo much fun...Thanks to our distributor KeizoKabata. Big shout out to @sskarthikeya and team!!" he wrote with the post. https://www.instagram.com/p/CkLWu89Biay/?hl=en Meanwhile, on the work front, Ram is wrapping up his highly anticipated film under Shankar Shanmugham's directorial 'RC15'. The film, billed as an action drama with current-day politics, features an ensemble cast, with Kiara Advani playing the female protagonist. (ANI)
Taking to her Instagram handle, Kajal shared an adorable picture that features the hands of baby Neil, Gautam, and Kajal.

Sharing the picture, she wrote, "Happy 2 years around the sun together husband, looking forward to so much more with you! I love you, my constant! @kitchlug."

https://www.instagram.com/p/CkVGIA5heth/?hl=en

As soon as she shared the post, fans chimed in the comments section with heartfelt wishes.

A fan wrote, "Happy anniversary kaaju" while another fan commented, "Happy Anniversary bothhh."

Kajal and Gautam got married in Mumbai in October 2020 and welcomed their baby on April 19, 2022. Announcing the birth of their baby, Gautam shared a post on his Instagram handle and captioned it as, "Our hearts are full and we are full of gratitude. Thank you everyone for your love and blessings". (ANI)
Julia Roberts has revealed that the late Martin Luther King Jr and his wife, Coretta Scott King, covered the hospital cost for Julia Roberts' birth because her parents couldn't pay for it. According to Page Six, Julia Roberts told Gayle King in an interview that her parents became friends with Martin Luther King Jr and his wife while living in Atlanta. Her parents used to run a theatre school at the time. Page Six has quoted Julia Roberts' interview where she said, "One day Coretta called my mother and asked if her kids could be part of the school because they were having a hard time finding a place that would accept her kids." She added, "My mom was like, 'Sure, come on over,' and so they all just became friends, and they helped us out of a jam." Julia Roberts recently turned 55. Born on October 28, 1967, Julia Roberts is one of the most popular actors in Hollywood. Roberts' brilliance has always been praised by both her admirers and the critics who have followed her career. She played the lead in a lot of popular movies. In numerous more films, including "Wonder", "Erin Brockovich", "Eat Pray Love", "Notting Hill", Roberts portrayed the lead character. Throughout the 1990s and the first half of the 2000s, Roberts was the highest-paid actress. Roberts is an extraordinary Hollywood actor who has continued to wow admirers all across the world. (ANI)
The exercise has three broad objectives: capability development to address common threats through training and sharing of best practices, enhancing inter-operability, and strengthening maritime cooperation.

The exercise is scheduled over a three-day period from October 27-29 and includes harbour and sea phases, said the Ministry of Defence in a statement on Saturday.

As part of the harbour phase, capability building activities such as Visit, Board, Search and Seizure; small arms training; joint diving operations; damage control and fire fighting exercises; and cross deck visits are scheduled.

The sea phase includes boat operations, fleet manoeuvres, visit, board, search and seizure operations, helicopter operations, small arms firing, formation anchoring and EEZ patrols.

These exercises reflect India's and the Indian Navy's commitment to enhancing maritime security and cooperation with maritime neighbours in the Indian Ocean Region and promoting SAGAR, Safety and Growth for All in the Region.

--IANS kvm/pgh

( 204 Words)

2022-10-29-22:36:03 (IANS)
The Maratha Light Infantry Regimental Centre on Saturday observed the 104th 'Sharqat Day' in homage to the gallant soldiers of the regiment, who sacrificed their lives on this day in 1918 in Mesopotamia, present day Iraq. The Maratha Light Infantry Regimental Centre, earlier known as the 114 Maharattas, wrote an immortal saga with their blood, courage and endurance. In recognition of their gallant act and valour, the Battalion was awarded the battle honour 'Sharqat'. In this particular action, the unit won two distinguished service orders, four military crosses, six Indian order of merit, 16 Indian distinguished service medals and eight mention in dispatches, a total of 36 gallantry awards which till today have not been surpassed by any unit of the Indian Army in a single operation. To conmemorate the occasion, a special Sainik Sammelan was held which was attended by all serving officers, junior commissioned officers, other ranks and civil defence employees of the Maratha Light Infantry Regimental Centre followed by a wreath-laying ceremony organised at the Sharqat War Memorial here to pay homage to the bravehearts of the regiment who made the supreme sacrifice. Brigadier Joydip Mukherjee, Commandant, the Maratha Light Infantry Regimental Centre, Belgaum, laid the wreath and exhorted all ranks to dedicate themselves to attain glory for the regiment, army and the nation. --IANS pvn/arm ( 232 Words) 2022-10-29-22:44:03 (IANS)
Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on Saturday said the state remained backward in all areas of development as compared with other states and this was due to the unresolved Naga political issue. While addressing a function, the Chief Minister on holding the Assembly election, due in February next year, said that in the parliamentary democracy system with Nagaland being part of it, elections have to be held even if the final settlement of the Naga political issue was either arrived at or delayed. "If final solution is reached to the Naga political issue, assembly elections may be deferred to enable interim arrangements. In the proposed political settlement, increase the number of assembly constituencies, increase of seats in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in the state and economic packages are likely to be considered," he said. Rio, top leader of the ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), said that though Nagaland was created in 1963, it was lagging behind in all areas of development while many states that came into existence much later but progressed faster. He underlines the unity among Nagas and it is essential for solution to the decades-old Naga political issue which would lead to accelerated development in the state. Addressing another event on the occasion of the Naga Students' Federation's 75 years Jubilee at Naga Solidarity Park in Kohima, the Chief Minister said that the prime need of the Naga society today is oneness, unity, and harmony. Rio urged the student community to utilise the resources available to them to the fullest extent to reach much greater heights in the years to come. Former Arunachal Pradesh Home and Finance Minister Lowangcha Wanglat who was invited to the event during his speech said that there is a need to correct past mistakes. "I believe that the relationship between the Nagas of Arunachal Pradesh and the Nagas of Nagaland can be one of the defining moments in Naga history," he said, adding that the unity among the Nagas everywhere is rooted in the values that they share. Wanglat said that Nagas are defined by countless dialects and customs and they may have different histories and different dialects but they see a reflection of each other. "There is a need to ensure unity in every Naga family. A society is strongest when people uphold the equality of people and that includes women and girl children and they must be treated equally. Naga women have always been on the frontline working and helping in the upliftment of the common people." The former Arunachal Pradesh minister said that communities are wealthier when young women are educated, therefore there should be equality and respect for the dignity of women. For a society to progress, people have to do away with the traditional, dogmatic laws. There is a rise in poverty that needs to be resolved, he stated. --IANS sc/pgh ( 487 Words) 2022-10-29-22:46:02 (IANS)
A senior officer said that on Friday, the police were on patrol duty at Lahori Gate when they spotted three children near Naya Bazar. When asked, the children disclosed their names and the area they lived in.

"The information about the abandoned children was passed to the senior officers. A team was formed to trace the parents of the children. The police examined CCTV footages and circulated the photos of the children on social media to trace their families," the police said.

Manual search was also made at all the nearby areas while shopkeepers, street vendors, passers-by were asked about the children.

Finally the shanties of the girl was traced in Meena Bazar.

"After the mother of the missing girl met her, the grandmother of the other two boys also reached there and identified them," the police said.

The children were safely handed over to their families after proper verification under Operation Milap.

--IANS atk/arm

( 188 Words)

2022-10-29-22:56:02 (IANS)
"A passenger who was injured during the severe turbulence encountered by SpiceJet flight on May 1 sadly passed away last month," a SpiceJet spokesperson said.

The airline said that it extended all possible assistance including taking care of the passenger's medical and hospital expenses.

"The company extended all possible assistance including taking care of the passenger's medical and hospital expenses. Compensation is being paid as per norms," the spokesperson said.

"The seat belt sign was on when the aircraft had encountered turbulence. Multiple announcements were made by the pilots and crew instructing passengers to remain seated and keep their seat belt fastened, which was unfortunately not followed by some passengers resulting in injuries," the airline spokesperson said.

As per reports, family members of Akbar Ansari, who was 48 years old, said he was on ventilator support for more than a month before succumbing to injuries on September 26.

--IANS kvm/pgh

( 188 Words)

2022-10-29-23:02:04 (IANS)
People demonstrate Saturday outside a Flossmoor school seeking justice for Madeline Miller, who was shot and killed July 10 by police. (Mike Nolan / Daily Southtown)

Better training for police in responding to crisis situations could help avoid a repeat of a fatal July shooting of a 64-year-old Flossmoor woman at the hands of village police, it was suggested Saturday at a community forum.

The event was called in an effort to strengthen ties between Flossmoor police and residents following a call for a domestic disturbance that resulted in officers shooting and killing Madeline Miller, whose family said had mental health issues.

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Another recommendation was to have trained mental health experts accompany Flossmoor officers on certain calls.

Police responding to a July 10 call of a domestic disturbance shot Miller three times, once in the arm and twice in the torso. The shooting is under investigation by state police.

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Flossmoor Mayor Michelle Nelson said Millers death was an incredible tragedy, not just for her family but the entire village.

About 100 people attended the forum at Parker Junior High, where attendees were broken up into smaller groups to talk, with the assistance of facilitators, about their concerns in the wake of the shooting as well as possible solutions to keep it from happening again.

In those breakout sessions, people expressed anger, confusion, disappointment, frustration, one facilitator said, summarizing the discussion in her group.

Keith Taylor, Flossmoors deputy police chief, said trust, communication and honesty are vitally important in having good relations between law enforcement and the community.

In order for us to be strong, we all have a part to play, Taylor said.

Hazel Crest police Chief Mitchell Davis, former president of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, was also a facilitator.

Hazel Crest police Chief Mitchell Davis speaks Saturday at a Flossmoor community forum organized in the wake of the July fatal shooting by police. (Mike Nolan / Daily Southtown)

Davis said the community forum was a start in what should be an ongoing process.

This is not going to be the end but a foundation so we can move forward, Davis said before the breakout sessions.

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Davis said a suggestion from a breakout session he oversaw included having Flossmoor police tap into resources used by other departments in responding to calls where someone might be having a mental health crisis.

Carla Madeleine Kupe, an attorney and co-founder and managing partner of Chicago-based CZL, a legal and business consulting firm, said participants in the session she facilitated want to see Flossmoor officials be more proactive about community relations.

The goal is to have regular forums so there is constant and consistent communication between the village and residents, Kupe said.

Miller was Black, and one facilitator said concerns she heard is there is racial tension in the village, and as long as its not overt, it gets ignored.

There is a fear that exists in the Black community, she said, relaying concerns brought up in the breakout session.

One suggestion from the breakout session called for diversity, equity and inclusion training, not just for police but all village employees.

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Carla Madeleine Kupe speaks Saturday at a community forum in Flossmoor. (Mike Nolan / Daily Southtown)

Video from cameras the officers wore showed Miller holding what appeared to be a large kitchen knife, and the department said she ignored the officers demands to drop the knife and charged them.

Family members said at an August Flossmoor Village Board meeting that Miller had mental health issues and questioned whether Flossmoor officers were properly trained in handling such situations.

Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

Police responding July 10 heard arguing and commotion inside the residence and, after announcing their presence, a woman using a walker opened the door, police said after the shooting.

A female family member began yelling shes trying to kill me, and she and the woman in the walker moved out of the way for officers, police said.

Miller emerged from around a corner, holding a large kitchen knife, and quickly ran at the officers with the knife pointed in their direction, police said.

State police are investigating and the officers involved have been placed on leave pending the outcome, according to police Chief Tod Kamleiter. He said Saturday the state police report should be completed in about a month or so.

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Nelson said forum was meant to allow residents and others to be heard, to tell us whats at the top of your mind, and that it is intended to be part of an ongoing process.

The conversation doesnt stop with this meeting, Nelson said.

mnolan@tribpub.com
The two-day conference is scheduled to be held on October 31 and November 1 in the national capital, the EC said in a statement.

The EC leads the Cohort on Election Integrity -- which was established as a follow on to the 'Summit for Democracy' held in December, 2021.

It will be inaugurated by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar. The concluding session will be chaired by Election Commissioner, Anup Chandra Pandey.

The EC, as the lead for the Cohort on Election Integrity, took a collaborative approach and invited Greece, Mauritius and IFES to be co-leads for the Cohort.

It also invited United Nations Development Programme and International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance.

Nearly 50 participants from 11 election management bodies from 11 countries including Armenia, Mauritius, Nepal, Cabo Verde, Australia, Chile, Federated States of Micronesia, Greece, Philippines, Sao Tome and Principe, and many more countries are expected to be represented by their missions in Delhi.

'Summit for Democracy', was an initiative of the US President and hosted in December 2021.

--IANS kvm/pgh

( 211 Words)

2022-10-29-23:24:04 (IANS)
After reports of girls being auctioned on stamp papers in Bhilwara surfaced, Rajasthan Director General of Police (DGP) ML Lather said that the state police is strict towards atrocities against women. "Rajasthan Police is strict towards atrocities against women. The media has been told about two victim girls and a case was registered in the year 2019 in relation to the incident with both the girls," he said. The DCP further added that a case was registered in Hanuman Nagar police station of the district under various sections of IPC, POCSO Act, JJ Act and IT Act. "In the year 2019, Operation Gudiya was run in the Bhilwara district in connection with the purchase and sale of girls," he said. Earlier on October 29, the chairperson of the Rajasthan State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Sangeeta Beniwal, held a meeting at the Collectorate in Bhilwara following reports of girls being auctioned on stamp papers in the area. The District Collector, Superintendent of Police, and other officials were present at the meeting. "I came to know from DSP and Collector that this case is from 2019. At that time, police presented a challan of 25 people in court. Out of 6 girls, 4 have been rehabilitated & 2 are in girls' homes as they're from other states. I'll reach them soon and get complete information," said RSCPCR chief, Sangeeta Beniwal. Earlier, Rajasthan, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said that the Congress party had exposed such cases which had been happening during the previous regime of the BJP in the state. "The incident happened in 2005 when the BJP was in power. In 2019, we came and exposed it. 21 accused were arrested, three died and one is absconding. Two children died, and the rest went to their homes. It was turned into national news," Gehlot said while addressing a press conference here. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the National Commission for Women (NCW), the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and the Rajasthan State Commission for Women (RSCW) have all sought reports into the allegations. Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Chief Swati Maliwal had also written to Gehlot seeking action against the culprits for auctioning girls on stamp papers to settle disputes over loan repayments in the Bhilwara district of Rajasthan. "It is reported in the newspaper that girls as young as 8-year-old are being openly auctioned on stamp paper in over half a dozen districts of the state. The report has stated that whenever there is a dispute between two parties particularly involving financial transactions and loans, people approach caste-based panchayats to settle the matter, the DCW chief wrote. "These panchayats settle financial disputes and recover the money by auctioning young girls belonging to the lender families. The girls are then sent to Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Mumbai, Delhi, and even abroad and subjected to physical abuse, torture, and sexual assault. If the families refuse to sell their girls, their mothers are subjected to rape on the diktats of the local caste panchayats!," Maliwal's letter read. (ANI)
Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) special court Judge on Sunday sent the three accused in the MLA poaching case to 14 days of judicial custody to Chanchalguda jail. The Cyberabad Police produced the three accused in the TRS MLAs poaching case in front of the Judge of ACB court following the Telangana High court's orders. Earlier on October 29, Telangana High Court ordered the three accused in the MLA poaching case to surrender before the police for further investigation. The High Court heard the plea by Cyberabad Police seeking the arrest and remand of the three accused in the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MLAs poaching case. HC's order came after Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) court had rejected the remand request of the three accused in the case. Cyberabad Police had moved to the HC challenging the ACB court order. The Cyberabad Police had arrested the three persons Ramachandra Bharati alias Satish Sharma, Nanda Kumar, and Simhayaji Swamyat from a farmhouse in Ranga Reddy district on Wednesday evening, after being informed by the TRS MLAs about the poaching bid, which the leaders alleged was done by the BJP. Police released all the three accused in the TRS MLA poaching case on Thursday following orders of the ACB court. Notably, TRS had alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is attempting to poach the MLAs by luring them with money and contracts. Following a complaint by TRS MLA Pilot Rohith Reddy on Wednesday, an FIR was registered at the Moinabad Police Station under Sections 120-B, 171-B r/w 171-E 506 r/w 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 8 of Prevention of Corruption Act-1988. In the FIR, Reddy alleged that Ramachandra Bharati who came to Hyderbad from Delhi, and Nanda Kumar of Hyderabad, both belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party, had met him and offered him Rs 100 crore to join the BJP. According to the FIR, MLA Rohith Reddy also alleged that they were threatened that criminal cases will be foisted against him and raids by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) if they did not join the BJP. Meanwhile, the BJP has moved to the Telangana High Court seeking a CBI probe into the allegations. Moreover, Union Minister and BJP leader G Kishan Reddy refuted the TRS MLAs' poaching allegations and said it shows the fear the TRS is looming under and demanded the probe be conducted by sitting High Court judges. (ANI)
As many as four people died and six others were injured on Saturday in a landslide at the site of an under-construction Ratle Power Project, informed the police officials. "The rescue operation has been completed. A total of four bodies and six injured were rescued," said Deputy Commissioner, Kishtwar, Jammu and Kashmir, Devansh Yadav. Union Minister Dr Jitendra Sharma said that a rescue team of about 6 persons, deputed to the site after the incident, has also got trapped under the debris. "Spoke to DC Kishtwar, J&K on receiving a report of a fatal landslide at the site of the under-construction Ratle Power Project. JCB driver unfortunately died. A rescue team of about 6 persons, deputed to the site after the incident, has also got trapped under the debris", said Jitendra Sharma. He further tweeted that All efforts are being made to retrieve and save the trapped persons. Further assistance, as required, is provided. "All efforts are being made to retrieve and save the trapped persons. Further assistance, as required, is provided. I am in constant touch with the district administration," read his tweet. The lieutenant governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Manoj Sinha, was deeply anguished by the mishap at Drabshalla-Ratle hydroelectric project. "Deeply anguished by mishap at Drabshalla- Ratle hydroelectric project. My thoughts are with those who have lost their loved ones--prayers for the early recovery of the injured. Army, SDRF & police are carrying out rescue operations. Dist Admin directed to provide all necessary assistance" read his tweet. Further details are awaited. (ANI)
Emphasizing an eco-friendly lifestyle and nature conservation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his monthly radio broadcast Mann Ki Baat on Sunday said that sensitivity towards the environment is inherent to Indian society. In the 94th episode of his Mann Ki Baat, Prime Minister said, "Sensitivity towards the environment is embedded in every particle of our society and we can feel it all around us. There is no dearth of people in the country who spend a lifetime in the protection of the environment." Prime Minister mentioned Tripura's Bio Village which emphasizes how to minimize the damage caused by natural disasters and improve the quality of life of the people through various measures. He said, "You must have heard about Bio-Village, but some villages of Tripura have ascended to the level of Bio-Village 2. There is a complete focus on solar energy, biogas, beekeeping and biofertilizers. Overall, Bio-Village 2 is going to lend a lot of strength to the campaign against climate change." He further said today more awareness is being seen among people about eco-friendly living and eco-friendly products than ever before. PM Modi shared the story of a team of tribal women in Anaikatti, Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. These women crafted 10,000 eco-friendly terracotta tea cups for export. "The amazing thing is that these women themselves took up the entire responsibility of making the terracotta tea cups. From clay mixing to final packaging, they did all the work themselves," he said. PM Modi then mentioned an environmentalist from Bengaluru Suresh Kumar. PM said Kumar had taken the initiative to rejuvenate a forest of Sahakarnagar in the city 20 years ago and saplings planted then have now grown into 40 feet tall huge trees. "Suresh Kumar ji also does another wonderful job. He has also built a bus shelter in Sahakarnagar to promote Kannada language and culture. He has also presented brass plates written in Kannada to hundreds of people. If both Ecology and Culture grow together and flourish..., just imagine how great it would be!" PM said. Prime Minister said that he is very happy to see the increasing enthusiasm for environmental protection in different parts of the country. Refering to Mission Life which has been launched recently, PM Modi said the simple principle of Mission Life is - Promote such a lifestyle, which does not harm the environment. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday paid tributes to the freedom fighter -- Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar -- on the occasion of his guru pooja. On the occasion of 60th guru pooja and the 115th birth anniversary of the freedom fighter, the Prime Minister tweeted, "I bow to the great Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar on the occasion of his Guru Pooja. I also recall his outstanding contribution to our nation, particularly in furthering social empowerment, farmer welfare and removing poverty. His ideals will always inspire us." Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar was born on October 30, 1908, in Pasumpon in the Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu. He was a freedom-fighter cum spiritual leader and was seen as a deity among the Mukulathor community, according to amritmahotsav.nic.in under the ministry of culture. The people of the Mukulathor community still make offerings as is done for the deities in temples to the statue on his birthday and guru pooja celebrations. Thevar became a full-time member of the Congress party and attended the 1927 Congress session at Madras as a volunteer when he was just 19. He became a close aide of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Netaji introduced Thevar to his mother as his younger sibling, the statement on the website said. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of "Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat" led to the decision to celebrate October 31, the birth anniversary of Sardar Patel, as Rashtriya Ekta Diwas every year. Rashtriya Ekta Diwas is being celebrated with great fervour across the country since 2014. In the last eight years, it has gained wide acceptance and the day has now become established at par with other important national celebrations such as Independence Day and Republic Day. Such has been the scale of its impact that the tradition of celebration of the day by the PM has become cast in stone - one which all future Prime Ministers would not want to miss out on. The official celebrations in which the PM participates take place at the Statue of Unity, which was dedicated to the nation by the PM in 2018 on Rashtriya Ekta Diwas. So closely integrated have the location and the celebration of the day become that this association has developed as much recall value as Kartavya Path for Republic Day and Red Fort for Independence Day. This year too, PM will participate in the Rashtriya Ekta Diwas celebrations that will take place at the Statue of Unity. The celebration will witness a Rashtriya Ekta Diwas Parade, which will include contingents of BSF and of five State Police Forces, one from each zone. A special attraction of the programme will be a performance by Tribal children's musical band from Ambaji. The members of the Band once used to beg at Ambaji temple. PM had earlier also encouraged these children when they had performed in front of him during his visit to Ambaji last month. On this day, 'Run for Unity' conceptualised by PM Modi is also organised across the country. (ANI)
Refuting allegations over a delay in transferring the Coimbatore car cylinder blast case to the NIA, the Tamil Nadu Police attacked BJP chief K Annamalai, asking him to "stop spreading rumours" to defame the police department. "There has been no delay in handing over the Coimbatore Car Cylinder blast case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA)," Tamil Nadu police said attacking Annamalai for "spreading rumours" to defame the police department of Tamil Nadu. Reacting to this, Annamalai alleged that the state police have been behaving like an "extension of the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). "I have the highest respect for the hardworking brothers and sisters in Tamil Nadu Police, but the DGP and ADGP (Int) of our state police behave like an extension of the DMK party," BJP chief K Annamalai said. The police have accused the BJP chief of speaking "factually incorrect statements". In an official statement, the state police said, "BJP State President Annamalai is continuously slandering Tamil Nadu Police. While investigation about the cylinder and car was underway, Annamalai was continuously interfering in the probe." Annamalai is trying to divert the investigation, the police alleged. "Annamalai alleges that we have sent this case to NIA late. When these types of incidents occur only local police will file cases and investigate further into that. All states are following this procedure. This is what the law says. When UAPA is invoked or if certain case sections fall under NIA Act 2008 the state government will immediately convey this to the Union government. Then according to the case within 15 days, the Union government can transfer the case to NIA. This is the law. But in practice, after getting an opinion from NIA, the Union government even takes months to take over the case. Till then only the state police will handle the case," the police said in its statement. It said that the police followed this procedure without any delay and transferred the case to NIA, but in this case, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin himself recommended the NIA probe into the matter. The police also said that Annamalai's claim of Union Home Ministry warning about the planned blast in Coimbatore was an "utter lie". "Whatever Annamalai mentions about the circular that is a very general circular which was sent to all States and Union Territory. There was no mention of Coimbatore in that," the police added. The General Circular was received on October 18, which was then immediately shared with all district police officials. As Annamalai mentioned if we had received a circular that a specific person to involve in the blast, that time itself Coimbatore Police would have arrested that person and would have searched his house, seizing everything, the police statement added. "Hence, we are asking that the former Karnataka Police Officer should not spread fake news and factually incorrect news to defame Tamil Nadu Police" it read further. In the political debate over the Coimbatore blast, BJP state chief Annamalai is scheduled to visit the Kottai Eshwaran Temple to worship, which is the place close to which the said blast took place. Tamil Nadu Police so far has arrested six people in connection with the Coimbatore car blast case, and have invoked the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). Those arrested are learned to be associates of Jameesha Mubin, who was charred to death in suspicious circumstances after an LPG cylinder inside the car he was driving exploded near a temple around 4 am on October 23. According to the police, Mubin, 25, who was an engineering graduate, was previously questioned by the NIA in 2019 for alleged terror links. His name is mentioned as the primary accused in the case. Five people arrested on Monday (October 24) night were Mohammad Thalka, 25, Mohammad Asarudheen, 25, Muhammad Riyaz, 27, Feroz Ismail, 27, and Mohammad Navaz Ismail, 27. The sixth person, identified as Afsar Khan, a relative of the deceased, was arrested on Thursday (October 27). Khan is the cousin of the deceased. He was picked up by the special investigation team. On Wednesday, Police officials also conducted searches at Khan's residence and seized his laptop. Tamil Nadu DGP said the police found materials used to make explosives in Mubin's house in Ukkadam. They seized 75 kgs of potassium nitrate, charcoal, aluminium powder and sulphur which can be used to make explosives. (ANI)
As part of Aatmanirbhar Bharat and Make in India policy in the defence sector, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday laid the foundation stone of the C295 aircraft manufacturing facility - the first aircraft manufacturing facility in the private sector in the country. On this occasion, Modi said that this is the government's clear vision to make India 'Aatmnirbhar', especially in defence sector. "For this, we have taken many steps. The aircraft manufacturing facility in Vadodara is India's giant leap towards becoming self-reliant in the aviation sector." PM further said that India is becoming a big manufacturing hub for the world. "Make in India, make for the globe. Transport aircraft will give strength to our forces, as well as a new eco-system will develop for the aircraft manufacturing sector. India's aviation sector is rapidly growing. This a golden opportunity for the world to invest in India. A new saga of economic reforms is being written in India today," he said. The facility will be utilised for the manufacturing of 40 C295 aircraft for the Indian Air Force, through collaboration between Tata Advanced Systems Limited and Airbus Defence and Space, Spain. The facility will be a key step towards achieving Aatmanirbharta in the defence sector, and will also help unlock the potential of the private players in the sector. PM Modi also visited an exhibition showcasing technological and manufacturing strides in the aerospace industry under Aatmanirbhar Bharat. Speaking at the foundation stone laying ceremony, N Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Sons said that with the setting up of the Final Assembly Line (FAL) in Vadodara, the Tata Group will now be able to take aluminium ingots at one end of the value stream and turn it into an Airbus C295 aircraft for the Indian Air Force. This is a historic moment not only for the Tata Group but for the country, as it embraces the Hon'ble Prime Minister's vision of being true 'Atmanirbhar'. On this occasion, Guillaume Faury, Airbus Chief Executive Officer said, "We are honoured to play a role in this historic moment for aerospace in India. Our Airbus teams are committed to supporting the modernisation of the Indian Air Force with the C295 programme, which will also contribute to the development of the private defence manufacturing sector in the country." The C295 programme, in partnership with the trusted Tata Group, is strongly aligned with the Government of India's vision of an 'Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India), he added. It is notable that in September 2021, India formalized the acquisition of 56 Airbus C295 aircraft to replace the Indian Air Force (IAF) legacy AVRO fleet. It is the first 'Make in India' aerospace programme in the private sector, involving the development of a complete industrial ecosystem-from manufacture to assembly, test and qualification, to delivery and maintenance of the complete lifecycle of the aircraft. This will be the first time in the Indian private sector that an aircraft will be manufactured in-country. from parts to final assembly. The Programme will lead to the development of a strong private industrial aerospace ecosystem in India and will create more than 15,000 skilled direct and indirect jobs across the aerospace ecosystem, and over 125 suppliers qualified on global quality standards across India. The IAF became the 35th C295 operator worldwide. Till date, the programme counts 285 orders, with more than 200 aircraft delivered, 38 operators from 34 countries as well as 17 orders repeated. In 2021, the C295 achieved more than half-a-million flight hours. With a proven capability of operating from short or unprepared airstrips, the C295 is used for tactical transport of up to 71 troops or 50 paratroopers, and for logistic operations to locations that are not accessible to current heavier aircraft. It can airdrop paratroops and loads and can also be used for casualty or medical evacuation. The aircraft can perform special missions as well as disaster response and maritime patrol duties. The C295 is the most versatile and efficient tactical transport aircraft. It is robust and reliable but also highly versatile in terms of the number of different missions it can perform. The C295 conducts multi-role operations worldwide under all weather conditions. It is fully certified and routinely operates day and night in combat missions in all weather extremes, from desert to maritime environments, from extremely hot to extremely cold temperatures. (ANI)
Retorting to Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal's criticism of the new IT rules, Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Sunday said that the Centre has ensured to keep the internet safe and trusted for 'digital nagrik'. The government's notification on the amendment of Information Technology rules under which appellate panels will be set up for addressing grievances of users against social media platforms, triggered criticism from former Union information technology minister Kapil Sibal who on Saturday alleged that the government would prosecute those who will use defamatory statements. He had alleged that the new IT rules are the "comprehensive capture of media". Speaking to ANI, Sibal said, "First, they captured the TV networks & now they're gonna capture social media platforms. It's the comprehensive capture of media. We're moving towards one code of conduct, one political party, one system of governance & no answerability to anyone." Following his remarks, the PIB fact-checked Sibal's statement in the interview to ANI and termed his claims as "misleading". Hitting out at Sibal's remarks, Chandrasekhar said that the UPA government wanted to work with China and have the governments of the world "control the internet by taking it to an organisation". "PM Modi rejected the proposal and kept the internet free and open. They arrested youths u/s 66A of IT Act; opposed privacy but under PM Modi's tenure, SC upheld the right to privacy," the Minister told ANI. "If Kapil Sibal wants the content on religious issues in our country, or spread misinformation against national security and pornography content, that would be his individual opinion, but we believe and people believe that our internet should be safe because our children and elders also use the internet. We want to make the internet a safe and trusted place. It is our opinion that we should listen to the people," he added. He alleged that the then UPA government opposed the right to privacy as a fundamental right, which was upheld by the top court as a Fundamental Right under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "It is Sibal's government that opposed privacy as a fundamental right and under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Supreme Court upheld privacy as the fundamental right. Mr Sibal is famously well known for his zero loss theory when the 2G scam was exposed," he said. "I will only say the amended internet IT rules are a way for us as a nation to ensure that the internet is safe and trusted for all 'digital nagrik'," the Minister said. Stating that nearly 80 crore Indians use the internet today, Chandrasekhar said that it is the duty of the government to make sure that the internet is safe and trusted for all. "Most importantly, the internet platforms are accountable for those who use them. That is why we have created the new IT rules," he said. "The explicit fact that articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution can never be violated by the internet platforms as they have done for several years including during Sibal's tenure as he was minister of the UPA government. I would suggest Mr Sibal, first read the rules before he goes on TV with his lack of knowledge," the Minister added taking a jibe at Sibal. Earlier on October 28, the government notified the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2022 According to the new rules, government-appointed appellate committees will be set up in three months for resolving the grievances of social media users. The notification said each grievance appellate committee shall consist of a chairperson and two whole-time members appointed by the Centre, of which one shall be a member ex-officio and two shall be independent members. Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said the new rules will empower users. "Empowering users. Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC) has been introduced for hearing appeals against decisions of Grievance Officer appointed by the intermediary," he said in a tweet. The new rules modify Information Technology Rules 2021. They state that the intermediary shall make reasonable efforts to cause the user of its computer resource not to host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, store, update or share any information that belongs to another person and to which the user does not have any right; is obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, invasive of another"s privacy including bodily privacy, insulting or harassing on the basis of gender, racially or ethnically objectionable, relating or encouraging money laundering or gambling, or promoting enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion or caste with the intent to incite violence; and is harmful to child. They state that the intermediary will also make reasonable efforts to cause the user of its computer resource not to host or display material that infringes any patent, trademark, copyright or other proprietary rights; deceives or misleads the addressee about the origin of the message or knowingly and intentionally communicates any misinformation or information which is patently false and untrue or misleading in nature; impersonates another person; threatens the unity, integrity, defence, security or sovereignty of India, friendly relations with foreign States, or public order, or causes incitement to the commission of any cognizable offence, or prevents investigation of any offence, or is insulting other nation. (ANI)
Supporters hold signs during a press conference regarding the Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today Act (SAFE-T), which eliminates cash bonds for certain offenses including kidnapping. The SAFE-T Act enacts extensive reform impacting many areas of the criminal justice system, including pre-arrest diversion, policing, pretrial, sentencing, and corrections. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune) (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)

On one of the most politically and emotionally charged issues of the campaign, candidates for House districts in the south and southwest suburbs have mixed views on whether the aspirations of a sweeping criminal justice reform law will meet reality.

Some candidates say the law has provisions that will do more to keep alleged violent suspects locked up pending trial, while others see it as potentially boosting crime rates.

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The Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today law is intended, supporters argue, to promote greater police accountability and pave the way for a more equitable court system.

Proponents say elimination of cash bail addresses a long-standing problem that keeps poorer defendants, primarily people of color, locked up while awaiting trial because they dont have the means to post bond.

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Starting Jan. 1, judges will weigh several factors, including the threat a defendant poses to the public, in deciding which defendants should remain in custody pending trial.

States attorneys in Kankakee and Will counties have filed lawsuits, contending Gov. J.B. Pritzker and other top state Democrats violated the state constitution in pushing through the SAFE-T Act, which Pritzker signed into law in February 2021.

Changes to the law could be considered by the General Assembly when it convenes for the fall veto session Nov. 15, after the Nov. 8 General Election.

Several candidates responded to questions about the law sent by the Daily Southtown. Not all candidates returned completed questionnaires.

Republican candidate Patricia Bonk said the law in its current form makes law enforcement less effective and jeopardizes our safety.

Democrat Fran Hurley, whose 35th District is home to many Chicago police officers, said she voted against the legislation. She said she had spoken with officials throughout law enforcement who raised concerns.

Hurley said the law is in need of many alterations, and said she is working with law enforcement, legislators and community stakeholders to enact those changes.

State Rep. Anthony DeLuca, a Democrat, said he also voted against the legislation after multiple discussions with law enforcement and other concerned groups.

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While law enforcement supports many aspects within the Safe-T Act, there are areas of strong disagreement, and negotiations must continue, DeLuca wrote in his response.

Incumbent Democratic Rep. Nicholas Nick Smith said he believes the law, rather than being more lenient toward suspected criminals, will instead give judges more power to hold offenders in jail because it is based on risk to the public, not simply the defendants access to money.

Republican challenger Beth ONeil said she fears the potential for more repeat offenders under the altered bail system.

They do not show back up for court and are released to the streets to do more crime, ONeil said.

Incumbent Republican Rep. Jackie Haas said enactment of the law will have a dangerous effect in all Illinois communities.

We should restore judicial discretion and not handcuff our police and judges to keep residents safe, Haas wrote.

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Erin Slone, a Democrat challenging Haas, said the law gives judges more power to hold dangerous offenders in jail because theyll be making decisions based on a public safety assessment.

We need to build a justice system that works for everyone, regardless of their race, wealth, or gender. We need reforms that target these inequities in the system, Slone said.

Candidates are using different measuring sticks on how to gauge whether the new law is effective.

Incumbent Democratic Rep. Debbie Meyers-Martin said she would propose creating a task force designed specifically to monitor and track the success or failure and effectiveness of the goals of this legislation and report back to the governor and the General Assembly, she wrote.

Tom Toolis, Meyers-Martins Republican challenger, said if elected he would work to overturn the SAFE-T Act, but that changes in crime rates is the perfect standard for determining whether the law works.

Incumbent Democratic Rep. Mary Flowers said the law and enforcement of it is likely to be an evolving process.

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We should continue to engage in a dialogue with survivors advocates, law enforcement, and other stakeholders to consider ways to make the system smarter and more equitable, and make communities safer, she wrote.

Slone said any data and reports regarding the SAFE-T Act gathered over the next year will help determine the laws effectiveness but, like Flowers, said the law could and should be open to alterations.

I support continued discussion among law enforcement, victims rights groups and advocates about potential modifications to the law, Slone said.

Republicans Quintin Barton, Jeffrey Coleman, Herbert Hebein, Al Kuypers, David Sheppard, Frederick Walls and Kenneth Yerkes did not respond to the Southtown questionnaire.

Democratic incumbents Kelly Burke, William Davis, Marcus Evans, Thaddeus Jones and Justin Slaughter also did not respond to the questions.

State House candidates

Residents can learn which legislative district they are in, along with their voter registration status and polling place, at the following links.

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For suburban Cook County: www.cookcountyclerkil.gov/elections/your-voter-information

For Will County: www.willcountyclerk.gov/elections/voter-services/#myinfo

For city of Chicago: chicagoelections.gov/en/your-voter-information.html

27th District

Democrat: Rep. Justin Slaughter

Republican: Beth ONeil

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29th District

Democrat: Rep. Thaddeus Jones

Republican: Jeffery Coleman

30th District

Democrat: Rep. William Will Davis

Republican: Patricia Bonk

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31st District

Democrat: Rep. Mary E. Flowers

Republican: Kenneth Yerkes

33rd District

Democrat: Rep. Marcus C. Evans Jr.

Republican: Quintin Barton

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34th District

Democrat: Rep. Nicholas Nick Smith

Republican: Frederick Walls

35th District

Democrat: Rep. Frances Ann Hurley

Republican: Herbert Hebein

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36th District

Democrat: Rep. Kelly M. Burke

Republican: David Sheppard

38th District

Democrat: Rep. Debbie Meyers-Martin

Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

Republican: Tom Toolis

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79th District

Democrat: Erin Slone

Republican: Jackie Haas

80th District

Democrat: Rep. Anthony DeLuca

Republican: Al Kuypers Sr.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jairam Thakur on Sunday expressed confidence of the BJP's victory in the upcoming Assembly elections in the state. "BJP will definitely form the government in the state after the upcoming Vidhan Sabha elections," CM Thakur said while attending 'Vijay Sankalp Abhiyan' in Churah. The Vijay Sankalp Abhiyan has started in the state today and under this, all senior BJP leaders, union ministers, and the ministers of the state will conduct public rallies in each constituency. "We are doing these rallies to boost the election campaign and the decision has been taken to ensure the victory of the BJP," state BJP president Suresh Kashyap said on Friday underscoring that chief ministers of neighbouring states-- Haryana's Manohar Lal Khattar and Uttarakhand's Pushkar Singh Dhami will also join the campaign. The elections in the state are slated to be held on November 12 and the cast votes will be counted on December 8. To hit the battleground of poll-bound Himachal, Union Home Minister Amit Shah is scheduled to address a total of six rallies in two days - on November 1 and 2. On November 1, Shah will hold three rallies in Chamba, Mandi and Shimla, and the next day, the rallies will take place in Hamirpur, Kangra, and Solan. The battle in Himachal is between the incumbent BJP government led by Jairam Thakur and the opposition Congress and Aam Aadmi Party. The state which has 68 Assembly constituencies goes to polls on November 12 in a single-phase election. 15 constituencies fall in Kangra, 10 in Mandi and five in Chamba. The BJP has been in power and will seek to repeat the success in the hill state from where the party's national president JP Nadda and Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur hail. (ANI)
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday greeted people at the Laxman Mela Ground in the state capital celebrating Chhath, a festival dedicated to the worship of the Sun. On the auspicious occasion, the National President of All India Bhojpuri Samaj Prabhunath Rai honoured the Chief Minister by offering flowers, 'Angavastra' and a memento. Addressing the gathering, the Chief Minister heartily congratulated everyone on Chhath Puja. Yogi said, "Chhath represents public faith. The festival involves unity and brings people together. This great festival of public faith should become a factor of happiness, prosperity and health for the entire creation, this is the wish. Jai Chhath Mayiya!" Yogi further assured that the government and administration have made foolproof arrangements for the convenience of devotees during the festival and utmost importance has been given to the maintenance of safety standards. The CM said that the campaign for the cleanliness of rivers has been taken forward unitedly. Resultantly, the Gomti river is in a cleaner form today. Chhath promotes unity, social harmony and prosperity of the society as a whole. The CM also urged the people to celebrate the festival in a way that is environmental-friendly and that does not cause pollution in any manner. Deputy CM Brajesh Pathak, Chief Secretary Durga Shankar Mishra, and Principal Secretary to CM Sanjay Prasad were also present on the occasion. Chhath Puja is an ancient Hindu Vedic festival that is mainly celebrated in Bihar, Jharkhand and Eastern Uttar Pradesh in India and Nepal. Also referred to as Surya Shashti, Chhath, Mahaparv, Chhath Parv, Dala Puja, Pratihar and Dala Chhath, the four-day-long festival is dedicated to the deity Surya and Shashthi Devi. As part of the ritual, women fast for the well-being of their sons and the happiness of their families. They also offer Arghya to Lord Surya and Chhathi Maiya. The four-day festival started on October 28, Friday, with the main day and the last day of the puja, being celebrated on October 31, which is falling on Monday. On each day, people observe the Chhath and follow rigorous rituals. As per Drik Panchang, sunrise on Chhath Puja will be at 06:43 am, and sunset will happen at 06:03 pm. The Shashthi tithi begins at 05:49 am on October 30 and ends at 03:27 am on October 31. (ANI)
Rashtrapati Bhawan was illuminated with red lights on Sunday evening to spread awareness for dyslexia. Not just Rashtrapati Bhawan, Parliament, North and South Block, and India Gate along with various historical monuments and government buildings also went all red to support the cause. October is celebrated as International Dyslexia Awareness Month each year. High-impact events and advocacy campaigns are organized under the slogan 'Go Red', with the objectives of removing the stigma associated with dyslexia, eradicating discrimination, and raising public knowledge of the many strengths of dyslexic thinking. This is key to developing pathways of success for individuals with Dyslexia. Globally, it is estimated that 1 in 5 persons have a learning disability. Yet, only 1 in 20 gets identified, and their chances of dropping out of school by the eighth grade are increased by 35 per cent. Over 150 million Indians are thought to have a specific learning disability, of whom 35 million are students. Dyslexia is one of the 21 disabilities recognized by the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act of 2016. The New Education Policy 2020 is also committed to inclusion in the classroom. To spread awareness about dyslexia, UNESCO MGIEP and its partner ChangeInkk Foundation had asked for the support of the Government in the 'Go Red' campaign post in which many important buildings and monuments throughout Delhi displayed red lighting on Sunday evening. ChangeInkk Foundation in partnership with OrkidsFoundation also organized a walk on Kartavya Path on Sunday morning. More than 300 people across age groups and from all walks of life took part in the walk. ChangeInkk Foundation is a not-for-profit organization working for Dyslexia awareness and empowerment of people with Learning Disabilities. It is actively building inclusive ecosystems that support people with dyslexia. (ANI)
Stubble burning has turned worse across Punjab, giving no hope of improvement in Delhi's Air Quality Index (AQI) as the capital gasps for clean air. Increasing incidents of stubble burning in Punjab this year have become a matter of serious concern with the Union Environment Ministry pointing out that the Air Quality Index (AQI) is likely to sharply deteriorate as only about 45-50 per cent of sown area in the state had been harvested till October 24. Sources in the Environment Ministry had told ANI that the contribution of stubble burning to the adverse air quality in Delhi and the National Capital Region has been increasing sharply and is about 18-20 per cent currently with the trend only likely to increase further. As per the Standard Protocol developed by ISRO for Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), for the period September 15, 2022, to October 26, 2022, total paddy residue burning events reported in Punjab are 7,036 compared to 6,463 for the same period during the last year. CAQM further stated that about 70 per cent of farm fires during the current paddy harvesting season were reported only from six districts namely Amritsar, Firozpur, Gurdaspur, Kapurthala, Patiala, and Tarn Taran. These districts account for 4,899 cases against a total of 7,036 incidents in Punjab. These traditional six hotspot districts also accounted for about 65 per cent of the total burning incidents during the last year for the same period. Out of a total of 7,036 reported cases, 4,315 stubble-burning incidences were reported during the last six days alone i.e., about 61 per cent. As per the Standard ISRO Protocol, for the period of September 15 - October 28 this year, a total of 10,214 paddy residue burning events have been reported in Punjab compared to 7,648 for the same period during the last year, which is a significant increase of about 33.5 per cent. Out of total 10,214 reported cases, 7,100 stubble-burning incidents have been reported in the last 7 days alone which is about 69 per cent, added the official. While in Haryana, the total number of farm fire events reported for the period September 15, 2022, to October 26, 2022, is 1,495 compared to 2,010 for the same period last year. There is about a 26 per cent reduction in paddy residue burning events in Haryana so far during the current year. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh for the next of kin of each of those who lost their lives after a cable bridge collapsed in Gujarat's Morbi with several feared dead. The injured persons would be given an amount of Rs 50,000, as per the Prime Minister's Office. "PM @narendramodi has announced an ex-gratia of Rs. 2 lakh from PMNRF for the next of kin of each of those who lost their lives in the mishap in Morbi. The injured would be given Rs. 50,000," PMO tweeted. Union Home Minister Amit Shah while expressing his grief on the incident, said the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) will reach the spot soon. "I am deeply saddened by the accident in Morbi. I have spoken to Harsh Sanghavi, Minister of State for Home and other officials of Gujarat in this matter. Local administration is engaged in providing relief work with full readiness, NDRF is also reaching the spot soon. The administration has been directed to provide immediate treatment to the injured," Shah tweeted in Hindi. Union Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya prayed for the recovery of the injured ones in the accident. "Saddened to hear the news of cable bridge collapse in Morbi, Gujarat. I wish speedy recovery to those injured in the accident. The state government is engaged in relief and rescue work. I pray to God for everyone's well-being," Mandaviya tweeted. Following the incident, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, who accompanied PM Modi during his visit to the state, said that he will curtail his programme with the Prime Minister and that the SDRF will reach the spot soon for the rescue operations. "Following the tragedy of Morbi, I am reaching Gandhinagar after shortening further programs with the Hon'ble Prime Minister. The Minister of State for Home Affairs has been asked to reach the spot and guide the rescue operations. Troops including SDRF have been mobilized for rescue operations," Patel tweeted. Earlier, PM Modi spoke to Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel after a cable bridge collapsed on the Machchhu river in the state's Morbi on Sunday and sought "urgent mobilisation" of teams for the rescue operations. The incident took place on Sunday evening, in which several people are feared injured. Following the incident, ambulances reached the spot. The Prime Minister's Office said that PM Modi has asked for close monitoring of the situation and delivery of all possible help to the affected persons. "PM @narendramodi spoke to Gujarat CM @Bhupendrapbjp and other officials regarding the mishap in Morbi. He has sought urgent mobilisation of teams for rescue ops. He has asked that the situation be closely and continuously monitored, and extend all possible help to those affected," the PMO tweeted. Earlier, Chief Minister Bhupender Patel said instructions have been given to the officials to arrange immediate treatment for the injured. "I express my condolences to the families of the citizens who lost their lives in the tragedy. The state government will provide Rs 4 lakhs to the family of each deceased & Rs 50,000 to the injured," tweets CM Bhupendra Patel. "I am deeply saddened by the tragedy of suspension bridge collapse in Morbi. Relief and rescue operations are ongoing by the system. The system has been instructed to arrange immediate treatment for the injured. I am in constant contact with the district administration in this regard," the Chief Minister said. (ANI)
The incident took place in the Prabhat Talkies cinema area of Amravati.

"Five people died after the two-storey building collapsed. The building was already in a dilapidated condition," officials said.

The injured person has been rushed to the Hospital.

The rescue operation has been concluded.

The investigation into the matter is underway.

Earlier in June, 19 people died after a four-storey building collapsed in Mumbai's Kurla.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the Kurla building collapse incident and announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh to the deceased and Rs 50,000 to each injured, from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF) for the next of kin of those who lost their lives.

Maharashtra former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakhs each to the families of those who died in the incident.

Earlier, rebel Shiv Sena MLA Mangesh Kudalkar expressed his grief over the loss of lives in the incident and announced that the family of the deceased will be given Rs 5 lakh each while the injured will get one lakh.

Earlier, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Additional Commissioner Ashwini Bhide said the collapsed building was dilapidated, since 2013, notices had been first given for its repair, and then for its demolition.

Minister Aaditya Thackeray also visited Kurla where the building collapsed and said that such property should be vacated on the notice of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)."Whenever BMC issues notices, (buildings) should be vacated themselves...otherwise, such incidents happen, which is unfortunate...It's now important to take action on this," Thackeray said. (ANI)
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's appeal to celebrate the 'Chhath' festival in a clean and safe manner has received immense support from the public with the hashtag #Swachh_Surakshit_Chhath becoming one of the top trends on Twitter. This is the first time that on the Chief Minister's call, along with maintaining safety standards, the appeal of ensuring cleanliness on Chhath festival has been taken up by internet users. The hashtag on Sunday trended on the number one position. It also managed to reach about 213 crore people. At the same time, about 11,000 Twitter users posted their thoughts using the hashtag while about 18,000 people engaged with the hashtag. In pursuance of CM Yogi's directives, tight security arrangements have been made at all the puja ghats of the state. Apart from this, detailed guidelines have also been given regarding the cleaning of ghats. The Chief Minister has also appealed to the people of the state to celebrate the festival ensuring the cleanliness of the ghats. After the festival, the ghats will be cleaned by conducting a special cleanliness campaign in the state. Chhath Puja is an ancient Hindu Vedic festival that is mainly celebrated in Bihar, Jharkhand and eastern Uttar Pradesh in India and Nepal. Also referred to as Surya Shashti, Chhath, Mahaparv, Chhath Parv, Dala Puja, Pratihar and Dala Chhath, the four-day-long festival is dedicated to the deity Surya and Shashthi Devi.As part of the ritual, women fast for the well-being of their sons and the happiness of their families. They also offer Arghya to Lord Surya and Chhathi Maiya. The four-day festival started on October 28, Friday, with the main day and the last day of the puja, being celebrated on October 31, which is falling on Monday. On each day, people observe the Chhath and follow rigorous rituals. As per Drik Panchang, sunrise on Chhath Puja will be at 06:43 am, and sunset will happen at 06:03 pm. The Shashthi tithi begins at 05:49 am on October 30 and ends at 03:27 am on October 31. (ANI)
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday claimed that "democratic powers in the country are being seized by some people" and warned that it could lead to a presidential form of government. The Trinamool Congress supremo urged Chief Justice of India Uday Umesh Lalit to "save democracy". "The judiciary must save people from injustice and hear their cries. Right now, people are crying behind doors. All democratic powers are being seized by some people, this might be going on for a presidential form. Where is democracy? Please save democracy," said Banerjee during her address at the convocation ceremony at West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences. "I must congratulate present chief Justice UU Lalit. In two months, we've seen what is called the judiciary. People have their faith restored. I am not saying people had lost their faith in the judiciary, but nowadays the situation has gone from bad to worse," she added while sharing stage with Justice UU Lalit. Slamming media trials, she said, "There are so many things that are going on... Before the court gives its verdict, the media trial goes on... media is guiding the judiciary, and this cannot happen. Judiciary is the highest, media cannot control judiciary." Earlier in September, Chief Justice of India UU Lalit had expressed hope that judicial posts will be adorned by a large number of women very soon. Lalit was addressing a function of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Dr Ambedkar Government Law College in Puducherry on Saturday. The CJI Lalit had said, "Five states, including Orissa, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu, already have more women at the induction level in the judiciary." Giving an example, he said 129 out of 180 judges in Rajasthan at the induction level are women, and in Odisha and Jharkhand the number is huge. During his address, he also referred to the appeal of Lieutenant Governor Tamilisai Sundarraj in which he had said that women should come forward in large numbers to study law and also demand more women judges. "I consider the Supreme Court the mother of the country and I always believed in it. You learn a lot from the institution," the CJI had said. (ANI)
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday expressed his grief over the Morbi cable bridge collapse in Gujarat which claimed over 60 lives so far, and appealed to the party workers in the state to extend "every possible assistance" in helping the wounded. "Deeply saddened by the tragedy that has struck us with the collapse of the suspension bridge in Morbi, Gujarat. I appeal to the @INCGujarat workers to extend every possible assistance in rescue work & helping the wounded. My condolences & prayers are with the bereaved families," Kharge tweeted. Over 60 persons have lost their lives in the Morbi cable bridge collapse incident that took place in Gujarat on Sunday evening, state Panchayat Minister Brijesh Merja, who is present at the incident spot, said. "More than 60 people have died. 17 people are admitted to the hospital at the moment. The Chief Minister is coming. The incident took place at around 6.40 pm," Minister Merja told ANI. BJP MP from Rajkot, Mohanbhai Kalyanji Kundariya said that the NDRF is conducting the rescue operation. "More than 60 bodies were recovered, of which more are of children, women & elderly. Rest have been rescued; NDRF rescue op is underway. We're taking this matter very seriously, it's very saddening," he said. "Machinery present at the spot to pump out the water so that we can figure out the bodies underneath, as there's a lot of silt. I believe the bridge got overloaded and that led to the incident. Many teams engaged in rescue, CM to arrive shortly, " he added. Meanwhile, NDRF DG Atul Karwal said that three teams have already been dispatched to assist in the rescue operations. "Three NDRF teams have already been dispatched--two from Gandhinagar & one from Baroda--to assist in the rescue operation following an accident in Gujarat's Morbi city in which several people fell into Machchhu river after a suspension bridge collapsed," Karwal said. Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel said that he is cancelling all his events today and leaving for Morbi where the incident took place. "I am leaving for Morbi by cancelling all my upcoming events today. Direct monitoring of the situation and necessary coordination will be achieved by reaching the site in person," he tweeted. Earlier, the Prime Minister's Office said that PM Modi has asked for close monitoring of the situation and delivery of all possible help to the affected persons. "PM @narendramodi spoke to Gujarat CM @Bhupendrapbjp and other officials regarding the mishap in Morbi. He has sought urgent mobilisation of teams for rescue ops. He has asked that the situation be closely and continuously monitored, and extend all possible help to those affected," the PMO tweeted. Chief Minister Bhupender Patel said instructions have been given to the officials to arrange immediate treatment for the injured. "I am deeply saddened by the tragedy of suspension bridge collapse in Morbi. Relief and rescue operations are ongoing by the system. The system has been instructed to arrange immediate treatment for the injured. I am in constant contact with the district administration in this regard," the Chief Minister said. (ANI)
The gold was in paste form, cleverly sewn inside two sandals.

Kumar, a native of Kollam district in Kerala was intercepted by customs officials after walking suspiciously, on intercepting him it was revealed he had concealed 1,032 grams of gold worth Rs 49 lakh inside a pair of sandals, officials said.

The person is under custody and a case has been registered against him.

Earlier this month, Mumbai Airport Customs nabbed two Indian woman passengers for allegedly illegally possessing 2.65 kgs of gold in wax form worth over Rs 1 crore.

The accused persons were arriving from Dubai and were carrying gold in wax form wrapped around their legs, said customs.

While on October 14, the Customs department at Mumbai airport arrested an Indian national with 16 kg of gold worth Rs 8.40 crore, said officials on Thursday.

The man was travelling from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Mumbai. (ANI)
Pictures of the seven people killed during the Fourth of July parade shooting are displayed at a memorial in Port Clinton Square on July 11, 2022, in Highland Park. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

The man accused of killing seven people at the Highland Park Fourth of July parade is due back in court Tuesday, his first appearance there since he was indicted on more than 100 felony counts.

Robert Crimo, 22, of Highland Park, is scheduled to appear in Lake County Court in front of Judge Victoria Rossetti. Crimos case is scheduled for case management, which is often a routine appearance intended to ensure that evidence is being shared and attorneys are working through any pretrial issues.

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Sometimes attorneys will file new motions at management conferences. As of Friday, there had been no new legal motions added to Crimos file at the Waukegan courthouse.

Robert Crimo, left, looks at Judge Victoria Rossetti during a hearing in Lake County court on Aug. 3, 2022, in Waukegan. (Nam Y. Huh/AP)

Attempts to reach Lake County prosecutors and Crimos public defenders were unsuccessful. And Highland Park police maintained their policy of not commenting on the still-active investigation into the mass shooting by declining to discuss it Friday.

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Tuesdays appearance will be Crimos first in a Lake County courtroom since early August, when he entered a not guilty plea to 117 felony counts for the deaths of seven people and the wounding of dozens more at the July 4 parade.

Since that August appearance, Crimo turned 22, in late September at the Lake County jail where he is being held in lieu of bail.

Over the last two months, he has also been named in a dozen lawsuits that have been filed so far by parade shooting victims and their estates. The suits have targeted Crimo, his father and the manufacturer of the assault rifle officials say Crimo used to fire more than 80 rounds from a store roof into the crowd gathered in downtown Highland Park to watch the parade. The store where Crimo bought the rifle is also named.

After the shooting, Crimo was initially able to evade arrest by disguising himself as a woman and blending into the panicked crowd, police said. Within hours, though, police had identified him as a person of interest, and he was arrested later on July 4 after a North Chicago police officer spotted him in his car.
Aizawl Battalion of 23 Sector Assam Rifles under the aegis of Inspector General Assam Rifles (East), along with the Excise and Narcotics department, Aizawl recovered 10,000 Methamphetamine tablets worth Rs 3,33,30,000 from the Chaltlang area in Aizawl on October 28, an official of Assam Rifles said on Sunday. The operation was carried out by a joint team of Assam Rifles and Excise & Narcotics Department, Aizawl based on specific information.

Based on the information received, a Mobile Vehicle Check Post (MVCP) was launched by a joint team of the Aizawl Battalion and Excise & Narcotics Department, Aizawl at Chaltlang and the team noticed the movement of a suspected vehicle.

"The vehicle was stopped and a thorough spot-checking was carried out. During the checking Methamphetamine tablets (10,000 tablets) were found. The entire consignment of Methamphetamine tablets were seized and four individuals were taken into custody by the joint team," a senior official of Assam Rifles said.

The approximate cost of the recovered Methamphetamine tablets is Rs 3.33 crore.The ongoing smuggling of Methamphetamine tablets is a major cause of concern for the state of Mizoram. Assam Rifles, rightly christened as the 'Sentinels of Northeast' have continued their efforts against the smuggling activities in Mizoram. (ANI)
The Gangster Act has been invoked against the three accused in the Ankita Bhandari murder case, said Pauri Garhwal Senior Superintendent of Police Sweta Choubey. "Gangster Act has been invoked on the three accused, including Pulkit Arya, the main accused in the Ankita Bhandari murder case," Choubey told ANI. On being asked about the factory owned by Pulkit Arya catching fire on Sunday, she said that the fire occurred due to suspicious circumstances. Earlier today, a factory owned by Pulkit Arya, who is the main accused in Ankita Bhandari's murder, caught fire. The Pulkit Arya-owned Amla Candy factory in Ganga Bhogpur in Uttarakhand caught fire due to a short circuit in its inverter fitting, SHO Vinod Singh Gunsai of Lakshman Jhula police station said. The SHO said that the fire was brought under control with the help of three fire tenders, after two hours. Nineteen-year-old Ankita Bhandari was missing for at least six days before her body was recovered from the Chilla canal in Rishikesh on September 24. Pulkit Arya, the son of expelled BJP leader Vinod Arya, was arrested in the case for allegedly pushing her into the canal following an altercation. Besides Pulkit Arya, two more people were arrested in the case. "After interrogating the witnesses related to the incident and the statement given by the accused- under police custody- it is found that all are matching among themselves", DIG Renuka Devi investigating the case had said. Asked about VIPs visiting Vanantara resort (owned by Arya), where Ankita was working as a receptionist, she said that after interrogating the staff working in the resort, it was found that there is a different category of rooms in the resort, referred to as top class rooms and those who stay in those rooms are generally called 'VIPs'. The Ankita Bhandari murder case has sparked a massive outrage and protests were reported from various parts of the state. Angry locals even set on fire the resort where Ankita worked. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami then ordered officials to ensure law and order in the state.Ankita used to work as a receptionist at the Vanatara resort owned by Pulkit Arya in Rishikesh.Authorities had demolished parts of the resort, saying the structures were illegally constructed. But this action had raised fears that crucial evidence relating to the case may have been compromised. The police, however, assured that a forensic team had collected evidence before the demolition. (ANI)
Attributing the controversy to Congress' 'Toolkit', Bommai said the the grand old party is an expert in creating lies.

Denying that he had issued any instructions to distribute gifts to journalists, Bommai said that the Congress has no moral right to comment on the issue.

"We all know what gifts the Congress leaders had given to some press reporters and the same had been reported in newspapers. They gave iPhones, laptops and gold coins, so they have no moral right to talk about it."

The controversy erupted over the distribution of Diwali gifts allegedly by the Chief Minister's Office in Karnataka.

Bommai's close associates had allegedly distributed a box containing sweets and cash to the tune of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2.50 lakh to selected journalists in the state.

Anti-corruption activist group Janadhikara Sangharsha Parishat has filed a complaint with the Lokayukta against the CMO for allegedly trying to bribe journalists.

Meanwhile, the opposition Congress has targeted the ruling BJP over the issue and demanded a probe into the matter.

Bommai also assured a thorough probe into the issue.

"Someone has filed a complaint with the Lokayukta and the matter will be probed. It is not correct to say all journalists have accepted the gifts. The Congress spokesperson has spoken very badly on this issue on Saturday and I condemn it," Bommai said.

--IANS pvn/arm

( 270 Words)

2022-10-30-19:16:03 (IANS)
Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Monday held a review meeting soon after a cable bridge collapsed in Gujarat's Morbi on Sunday, claiming the lives of 68 people. "A review meeting was held at the Morbi District Collector's office with the Ministers of State, MPs, MLAs, administrative system, police system, and health service system officials and reviewed the accident's situation comprehensively and gave necessary guidance," Tweeted CM Bhupendra Patel. Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel took to Twitter and wrote that the state government stands by the affected people during this calamity. He also met with the injured persons at Morbi Civil Hospital. Earlier, the Gujarat CM reached the incident site in Morbi on Sunday evening. Meanwhile, Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi, in his press conference, confirmed that the death toll rose to 68. "The death toll is 68 at present. Rescue operation is on and I will give an update on the number soon," said state Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi. Sanhavi said that the investigation would be done very seriously and all necessary actions would be taken. "CM Bhupendra Patel is monitoring the situation. Government agencies are working on it. NDRF, Navy and Air Force will be here. The investigation will be done very seriously and we will take all necessary actions," said state Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi. State Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi said that a case has been registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the management team of the Morbi-bridge after the tragic incident. "Cases under sections 304, 308 and 114 of IPC have been registered on the management team of the bridge," he said. State Home Minister Sanghavi informed that the SDRF and Police are already at the site for the rescue operation. "Prime Minister's Office has extended massive support to carry out the rescue operation. SDRF and Police are already at the site," he said in the press conference. Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi also inspected the incident site in Morbi on Sunday evening. Earlier, the Indian Naval Station Valsura in Jamnagar, Gujarat sent a team of more than 40 personnel for rescue operations including marine commandos and seamen in Morbi after the cable bridge collapsed. The defence officials further informed that an Indian Army team from an artillery brigade near Dhrangdhra, including doctors and paramedical staff, has already reached the accident site in Morbi. "An Indian Army team from an artillery brigade near Dhrangdhra including doctors and paramedical staff has already reached the accident site in Morbi and taking part in rescue and relief ops. Another Army team with doctors and other relief materials is reaching the site shortly," said the defence officials. The Indian Air Force plane, with National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team, will take off for the relief operation in Morbi after the cable bridge collapse incident that took place in Gujarat on Sunday evening, informed the defence officials. (ANI)
According to recent research, areas where humans have changed the landscape in some manner are more likely to harbour hybrids of the mountain chickadee and black-capped chickadee, two common songbirds in North America. The findings published in Global Change Biology, it's the first study to positively correlate hybridization in any species with landscape changes caused by humans, and the first to examine this relationship across an entire species' range--spanning almost all of western North America. The paper also contradicts a long-standing assumption that these two birds rarely hybridize, finding instead that black-capped and mountain chickadee hybrids (identified using genetic tools) occur across the United States and Canada. "These are common birds. If you go anywhere in North America, you'll find a chickadee," said Kathryn Grabenstein, lead author on the study and postdoctoral associate in ecology and evolutionary biology. "And what we're finding now is that if you see a chickadee in a place where both black-capped and mountain chickadees live, they're probably at least a little bit of a hybrid chickadee." Hybridization--the interbreeding of closely related species to produce mixed ancestry offspring--is common in the development of life on Earth and is thought to be especially important in the evolution of plants. This new analysis of songbirds adds to the growing body of evidence that hybridization is also quite relevant within vertebrate evolution. Human disturbance What this study cannot say is why these chickadee hybrids are more common in places where humans have changed the landscape, but it is the first-of-its-kind to examine this correlation separate from climate change. Climate change often changes the range of a species--where it lives, roams or migrates--bringing species into contact with one another that would not normally interact, which can lead to hybridization. In contrast, this study looked at two related species whose ranges already overlap and focused on the variable of human "disturbance," such as building cities, clearing land, planting trees, creating reservoirs and noise pollution. This way, the researchers could exclusively examine if changes to the physical structure of the environment affect the interactions between two species that are already in the same place. "It's not bringing new species into contact with each other--it's changing the rules of negotiation between them," said Grabenstein. For example: Here in the Front Range, what once was ponderosa pine savanna with deciduous trees along the rivers has been transformed into an urban forest. This shift isn't necessarily good or bad, said Grabenstein, but the goal of the research is to help understand what these changes to the land and water by humans means for these species. "What are the consequences of the ways we modify the landscape? We think about it mostly in terms of habitat loss, not necessarily in terms of species interaction modifications," said Scott Taylor, co-author on the study and associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology. "This paper changes our understanding of this system incredibly." 10 years in the making Previous published research by Grabenstein and Taylor found examples of various species hybridizing in the wake of humans disrupting their habitats, but they wanted to document a clear example of this occurring across a wide geographical range. Based on local observations of possible hybrid black-capped and mountain chickadees in several towns and cities across the West, they realized these two species would be good candidates for a study. Black-capped and mountain chickadees are estimated to have diverged from a common ancestor over 2 million years ago, but they still overlap across many areas of the western U.S., including the Rocky Mountains. Black-capped chickadees have a black head, white edging on their wings and tend to be more buff- or cinnamon-colored on their sides. Mountain chickadees, in contrast, are grayer, have big white eyebrows and do not have white edging on their wings. Early generation hybrids often have a bit of both: thin white eyebrows, buff coloring on their sides and some white edging on their wings. To test their hypothesis about these birds, the researchers compiled observational data from eBird, an online birding site, and DNA samples from 196 black-capped and 213 mountain chickadees at 81 sites in North America, gathered over the past decade by co-authors Ken Otter of the University of Northern British Columbia and Theresa Burg of the University of Lethbridge. They found a positive, significant correlation between hybrids of these two species and areas where humans have disturbed their habitat in some form--as well as that black-capped chickadees are found more often in these disturbed areas than mountain chickadees. This study is also a positive sign for science. Sequencing the DNA of 409 birds is big study: Just a decade ago, a study of this size may not have been possible due to the large amount of time and money it would have required. As the price tag of DNA sequencing has dramatically dropped and running samples has become more efficient, these precise genomic tools have become more accessible to more researchers, allowing them to improve our understanding of how humans impact biodiversity at the genetic level. The future of hybridization This hybridization is unlikely to lead to the creation of a new chickadee species, however. Female hybrids from black-capped and mountain chickadee parents are likely to be sterile but can survive. Male hybrids with a parent from each species, however, can reproduce, and seem to do so predominantly with black-capped chickadees. It makes studying hybridization like trying to hit a moving target, said Grabenstein, but there is still much to be learned from the genetic variation within different members of a species. This songbird research will also inform the local Boulder Chickadee Study, founded by Grabenstein and Taylor. Working with local landowners and municipalities where these birds live and nest, the researchers will continue to examine reasons why these birds are hybridizing. But for now, there's no need to remove bird feeders or bird boxes, said Grabenstein. "It's hard to say whether this hybridization is good or bad, but it's happening, and we will only understand the impacts through continued study," said Taylor, also director of CU Boulder's Mountain Research Station and a fellow at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR). "It is certainly something to consider when thinking about the future of some of these birds that we're really familiar with in our backyards." (ANI)
A cryptic, unexpected, and possibly disastrous type of cosmic occurrence has been further clarified by recent research. To learn more about radiation "storms," a team from UQ's School of Mathematics and Physics led by Dr Benjamin Pope used data from millennia-old trees and cutting-edge statistics. "These huge bursts of cosmic radiation, known as Miyake Events, have occurred approximately once every thousand years but what causes them is unclear," Dr Pope said. "The leading theory is that they are huge solar flares." "We need to know more because if one of these happened today, it would destroy technology including satellites, internet cables, long-distance power lines and transformers." "The effect on global infrastructure would be unimaginable." Introducing the humble tree ring Qingyuan Zhang, the first author and a UQ undergraduate math student, created software to analyze all of the tree ring data that was accessible. "Because you can count a tree's rings to identify its age, you can also observe historical cosmic events going back thousands of years," Mr Zhang said. "When radiation strikes the atmosphere it produces radioactive carbon-14, which filters through the air, oceans, plants, and animals, and produces an annual record of radiation in tree rings." "We modelled the global carbon cycle to reconstruct the process over a 10,000-year period, to gain insight into the scale and nature of the Miyake Events." The common theory until now has been that Miyake Events are giant solar flares. "But our results challenge this," Mr Zhang said. "We've shown they're not correlated with sunspot activity, and some actually last one or two years. "Rather than a single instantaneous explosion or flare, we may look at a kind of astrophysical 'storm' or outburst." According to Dr. Pope, it is extremely unsettling that scientists do not fully understand Miyake Events or how to forecast their recurrence. "Based on available data, there's roughly a one per cent chance of seeing another within the next decade. "But we don't know how to predict it or what harms it may cause. "These odds are quite alarming, and lay the foundation for further research." Published in Proceedings of the Royal Society A is the research. Utkarsh Sharma and Jordan Dennis, two undergraduates studying math and physics, also contributed to the study's completion. The project was funded by a charitable gift from the Big Questions Institute to UQ. (ANI)
Seismologists have developed a new method to scan the deep interior of planets in our solar system to confirm whether they have a core at the heart of their existence. The scanning method, which works in a similar way to an ultrasound scan using sound waves to generate images of a patient's body, requires only a single seismometer on a planet's surface in order to work. It can also be used to confirm the size of a planet's core. The research is published in Nature Astronomy. Using the ANU model to scan the entirety of Mars' interior, the researchers confirmed the Red Planet has a large core at its centre -- a theory first confirmed by a team of scientists in 2021. Study co-author Professor Hrvoje Tkalcic, from ANU, said based on data collected using the ANU technique, the researchers determined that the Martian core, which is smaller than Earth's, is about 3,620 kilometres in diameter. "Our research presents an innovative method using a single instrument to scan the interior of any planet in a way that's never been done before," he said. Confirming the existence of a planetary core, which the researchers refer to as the "engine room" of all planets, can help scientists learn more about a planet's past and evolution. It can also help scientists determine at what point in a planet's history a magnetic field formed and ceased to exist. The core plays an active role in sustaining a planet's magnetic field. In the case of Mars, it could help explain why, unlike Earth, the Red Planet no longer has a magnetic field -- something that is critical to sustaining all life forms. "Modelling suggests that the Martian core is liquid and while it is made up of mostly iron and nickel, it could also contain traces of lighter elements such as hydrogen and sulphur. These elements can alter the ability of the core to transport heat," lead author Dr Sheng Wang, who is also from ANU, said. "A magnetic field is important because it shields us from cosmic radiation, which is why life on Earth is possible." Using a single seismometer on Mars' surface, the ANU team measured specific types of seismic waves. The seismic waves, which were triggered by marsquakes, give off a spectrum of signals, or "echoes," that change over time as they reverberate throughout the Martian interior. These seismic waves pierce through and bounce off the Martian core. Professor Tkalcic said researchers are interested in the "late" and "weaker" signals that can survive hours after they are emitted from quakes, meteoroid impacts and other sources. "Although these late signals appear to be noisy and not useful, the similarity between these weak signals recorded at various locations on Mars manifests itself as a new signal that reveals the presence of a large core in the Red Planet's heart," Professor Tkalcic said. "We can determine how far these seismic waves travel to reach the Martian core but also the speed at which they travel through Mars' interior. This data helps us make estimations about the size of Mars' core." The researchers say their method of using a single seismometer to confirm the presence of a planetary core is also a "cost-effective solution." "There is a single seismic station on Mars. There were four of them on the Moon in 1970s. The situation of having a limited number of instruments is unlikely to change in the coming decades or even this century due to high cost," Dr Wang said. "We need an approach right now to use only a single seismometer to study planetary interiors." The researchers hope this new ANU-developed technique involving a single seismometer could be used to help scientists learn more about our other planetary neighbours, including the moon. "The US and China plan to send seismometers to the moon, and Australia also has ambitions to participate in future missions, so there's potential for further studies using new and more sophisticated instruments," Professor Tkalcic said. Dr Wang said: "Although there are many studies on planetary cores, the images we have of planetary interiors are still very blurry. But with new instruments and methods like ours we'll be able to get sharper images which will help us answer questions such as how big the cores are and whether they take a solid or liquid form. "Our method could even be used to analyse the Jupiter moons and the outer solar system planets that are solid." (ANI)
Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping has chosen an entirely new team after winning the historic third term through the 20th National Congress in order to lessen the likelihood that he will face a political challenge. This is because the top leader is likely to enact more hardline policies in Beijing regarding the economy, foreign relations, and human rights. The seven most significant figures in China now make up the new Standing Committee of the party, which is chaired by Xi. The six were hand-selected by the president and are fiercely devoted to him. According to Hong Kong Post, dissent has no place in this odd 'democratic' system. Senior leaders' names that circulated in the months leading up to the Congress were not included in the final list. They comprised Hu Chunhua and Wang Yang, two credible candidates for the standing committee. Both were completely barred from power despite having a reputation for being reasonably pro-reform and experimentation. He was not included in the 25-person Politburo, but Wang, a former member of the previous Standing Committee, didn't even make it onto the Central Committee list of more than 200 members, Hong Kong Post reported. In the Communist Party of China's Politburo Standing Committee, key advisers to Xi were promoted, but for the first time in years, no woman was able to secure a place in the top leadership position. All of the selected members are weak political underlings with no family ties in order to lessen the likelihood that Xi will face a political challenge. Wang Huning, a nationalist theorist who was close to previous presidents, is the lone exception. Li Qiang will officially be the most significant member of the group chosen to the Standing Committee, but in reality, he might be the least 'powerful'. He was the second person to take the stage after Xi last week and will succeed Li Keqiang as premier when he officially steps down in March. Hu Jintao was recently hauled out of the 20th Party Congress by Xi Jinping in an unseemly manner, further demonstrating the Chinese leader's desire to maintain total power. After being elected to China's third term as president, Xi has already begun to expel the party's veteran leaders. Earlier in 2015, Xi assisted in the detention of Ling Jihua, a top assistant who belonged to the same influential network of past leaders as himself. In addition to being expelled from the congress, it was said that Xi planned the entire incident to publicly embarrass his predecessor--possibly as a warm-up before using party discipline measures followed by legal action against him, according to the Hong Kong Post. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has shown at the 20th National Congress that Chairman Xi Jinping is the center of Chinese power and that no one will dare challenge him. In order to demonstrate that he may now act whenever he pleases, Xi packed the Politburo Standing Committee with his close cronies, claims ethnic Mongolian rights campaigner Xi Haiming, who lives in Germany. A Chinese journalist, who wished to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation, claimed that China is now firmly back in the Mao era. (ANI)
A total of 46 people were confirmed dead at the scene, and the remaining 13 were pronounced dead after they were sent to hospitals, officials said, Yonhap news agency reported.

Choi Seong-beom, head of the fire department in Yongsan, which includes Itaewon, told reporters there were a large number of casualties during Halloween festivities.

The stampede took place near the Hamilton Hotel in the nightlife district of Itaewon, as a large number of people were believed to have entered a narrow alley near the hotel.

President Yoon Suk-yeol, who presided over an emergency meeting on the stampede, ordered officials to swiftly administer first aid and treat the injured, the presidential office said.

Yoon also ordered officials to deploy emergency medical officials to Itaewon and secure emergency beds.

Separately, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo instructed the officials to make utmost efforts to minimise damages.

Meanwhile, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who is on a visit to Europe, decided to return home in the wake of the accident, city officials said.

A total of 142 firefighting vehicles were mobilised for the area.

--IANS int/arm

( 225 Words)

2022-10-29-23:14:03 (IANS)
Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged the army to focus on its military might and achieve goals by 2027, the year marking the centenary of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). According to a report Xi delivered to the 20th CPC National Congress, the Chinese leader has asked the military to complete its missions and build the military into a world-class force, reported Malaysia The Star citing a Chinese media portal. In his first military meeting with the top-ranking officers after the conclusion of the party congress, Chinese President Xi said in a bid to achieve these goals by 2027 no efforts must be spared. Xi's remarks hold more importance as he is also the chairman of the Central Military Commission. Not only this, but Xi's speech was also laced with a high-pitched message for the armed forces where he said all members must have a thorough understanding of the party's thoughts on strengthening the military. He asked the members to carefully study the thought's essence and turn it into their inner impetus to build a world-class military, reported The Star. "Commanders, officers and soldiers should work and train hard to fulfil their tasks to contribute to completing the centenary goals," he stressed. Members of the new Central Military Commission were selected at the first plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee. Xi commanded all military units to strictly follow the Central Military Commission's annual plan. This comes after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan has fanned the flames of issues between China and Taiwan. Jinping was elected as general secretary of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and he secured an unprecedented third term, however, the coming days are expected not to be easy for Taiwan. After his re-election, Geopolitica quoted Xi as saying "We will safeguard the overall interests of the Chinese nation and take resolute steps to oppose 'Taiwan independence' and promote reunification. Resolving the Taiwan question that must be resolved by the Chinese." "We will continue to strive for peaceful reunification with the greatest sincerity and the utmost effort, but we will never promise to renounce the use of force, and we reserve the option of taking all measures necessary," he added. Beijing has always vowed to unify Taiwan into the mainland forcefully. Even if we look at the past trends, Chinese President Xi Jinping has been asserting the need for "complete national reunification". In 2017, he said, "complete national reunification is an inevitable requirement for realising the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation" In 2019, the Chinese leader reiterated the formula to reiterate Taiwan into China under the idea of "one country, two systems", the same formula applied to Hong Kong, reported Geopolitica. However, Geopolitica cited the US intelligence community to say that China might prepone the plan of its attack by as early as 2024. Incidentally, it will also coincide with the Taiwanese Presidential elections. (ANI)
Vietnam reports additional 305 new Covid-19 infections on Sunday

An additional 305 new Covid-19 infections were confirmed on Sunday, raising the national tally to over 11.50 million, according to the Ministry of Health.













Illustrative photo





According to the ministry's report, the national caseload has so far increased to 11,502,474.



On October 30, an additional 160 more patients recovered from the disease, raising the number of recoveries in the country to over 10.60 million.



On Sunday evening, no deaths from Covid-19 were recorded, the country's total fatalities stayed at 43,163, accounting for 0.4 per cent of total infections.



By October 30, the country had injected over 261 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines.



The Ministry of Health said the Covid-19 situation is still unpredictable due to the risk of more new dangerous virus variants, and countries must continue working to strengthen their surveillance systems.



Phan Trong Lan, Director of the Department of Preventive Medicine under the Ministry of Health, told a recent meeting that globally, the Covid-19 situation is still complicated, and immunity gained has been reduced over time. He said that Vietnam would face challenges if the country was to announce the pandemic is over.
Franciscan Health Foundation raises nearly $35,000 for Prenatal Assistance Program

Franciscan Health Foundation board members raised more than $19,400 for the Prenatal Assistance Program in Michigan City at a recent reception aimed at matching an anonymous $15,000 contribution.

Franciscan Health Foundation Board members Kelly Shikany and Jennifer Hogberg hosted the fundraising reception Oct. 13 at the Franciscan Health Michigan City legacy campus at 301 W. Homer Street, which houses the Prenatal Assistance Program.

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Hogberg became a member of the Franciscan Health Foundation Board of Directors in spring 2022 and shortly thereafter toured the Michigan City Prenatal Assistance Program facility.

Franciscan Health Community Health Improvement Director Danielle Crowder said in 2020, the infant mortality rate in LaPorte County was 11.7%, higher than both the state and national averages. Indiana also ranks eighth in the nation for infant mortality.

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Leeps Supply Company, Midwest Insurance Center, Inc. donate $10,000 for Habitat home

Leeps Supply Co. and Midwest Insurance Center, Inc. awarded Habitat for Humanity of Northwest Indiana a $10,000 check to build the walls for a partner family home in Lake Station. In addition to their financial support, Leeps Supply Co. and Midwest Insurance Center, Inc. volunteered their time to build all 33 walls of the house.

Were beyond grateful for this partnership with Leeps Supply Co. and Midwest Insurance Center. To directly witness their impact on the family through the generous support to build the partner family walls, Dawn Michaels, Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity of Northwest Indiana. Owning a home is becoming more and more expensive in Lake County, Indiana. Our community partners are a huge reason were able to continue building safe, quality and affordable homes.

Valparaiso University to host showing of From Sundown to Sunrise documentary on Nov. 9

Lakeshore Public Media, in collaboration with For Goodness Sake Productions and Valparaiso University, is hosting a public screening of From Sundown to Sunrise at 5 p.m. on November 9 at Valparaiso Universitys Christopher Center Library, room 205.

Directed by Region natives, Tom Desch and Pat Wisniewski of For Goodness Sake Productions, From Sundown to Sunrise is centered in Valparaiso in 1968 and shares the journey of current city councilman Robert Cotton as he and his family integrate to an all-white, Indiana town. The term sundown, presented in this film, refers to racial segregation implemented by all-white municipalities, that excluded non-whites  most frequently African Americans  from remaining in town after sunset.
Human rights activists welcomed the introduction of a US resolution on the 1971 Bangladesh genocide by Pakistan during a press conference in Washington, US. The Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM) held the conference Friday at the National Press Club to discuss the recent introduction of the bipartisan House Resolution 1430-- "Recognizing the Bangladesh Genocide of 1971." On October 15, a proposed resolution was made in the House of Representatives urging US president Joe Biden to consider recognising the atrocities committed by the Armed Forces of Pakistan in the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971. The Congress was attended by members of the media, human rights activists, academics, entrepreneurs, members of the Bangladeshi diaspora community and Bangladesh's consul general to Florida. They discussed the recent introduction of the resolution introduced by Congressman Steve Chabot, Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee's Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, and Co-Chair of the Bangladesh Caucus and co-sponsored by Congressman Ro Khanna and Congresswoman Katie Porter. Speaking at the conference, Priya Saha, Executive Director of HRCBM shed light on Pakistani atrocities on Bengalis. In 1971, she highlighted the Pakistani army and its allies "brutally raped more than 200,000 women and girls and slaughtered approximately 3 million people. Ten million people were displaced and had to seek asylum in neighboring India." "The Pakistani military and its allies also carried out the targeted assassination of more than 1,100 Bengali intellectuals and professionals, including journalists, professors, physicians, attorneys, and writers, in order to create an intellectual vacuum in the country. In Bangladesh, 1,942 mass graves were discovered," she added. The Bangladesh government started to prosecute war criminals who collaborated with the Pakistan army. Bangladesh formed the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh. Since then, it has tried 49 war criminals. More than 500 instances are currently under investigation, while 36 cases are ongoing in court, HRCBM said in its press release. During the conference, speakers discussed and answered questions about the impact of this historic resolution on the geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific and on radical groups originating from Bangladesh and Pakistan. Dr. Sachi G. Dastidar, distinguished professor emeritus at the State University of New York (SUNY), recalled his family's personal experience as victims of genocide and destitution. Dwijen Bhattacharjya, a lecturer at Columbia University and General Secretary of the Bangladeshi Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council in the United States, praised both Congressmen for presenting this resolution and departing from the 1971 United States policy on the genocide in Bangladesh. S.M. Alam, Consul General of Bangladesh at the Miami consulate, thanked Congressman Steve Chabote and Congressman Ro Khanna for introducing this resolution and invited the Bangladeshi community to engage with additional congressmen to pass it. He urged community leaders to unite as Bangladeshis to bring out the best outcome for this historic effort. Saleem Samad, Gen. Sec. of the Forum for Freedom of Expression and who also serves as the Bangladesh Correspondent for Reporters sans Frontieres, asserted that the Pakistani Army and radical islamists from Jamaat-e-Islami, Al-Badr, Al-Sams, and Rajaker employed rape as a method of war and ultimately extermination. He decried this horrible crime against humanity and urged everyone to recruit additional co-sponsors for the resolution. He recalled that the Pakistani military and their Bangladeshi collaborators did not target Christians and Buddhists in the same manner as they did Hindus. President of ISPAD and community leader Dilip Debnath expressed appreciation to the two lawmakers for proposing this resolution in the United States Congress. He urged community members to take action to adopt this Resolution. Moreover, Razzak Baloch, Organizer, Baloch Human Rights, condemned the Pakistani Army for its genocide in Bangladesh in 1971. He said that the failure of the global community to hold the Pakistan Army accountable after 1971, led to violence against Baloch communities that continues even today. Munawar "Sufi" Laghari, the Executive Director of Sindhi Foundation, echoed Razzak's views and promised to work with the Bangladeshi community to get the resolution passed. The press conference was moderated by Adelle Nazrarian, Media Fellow at the Gold Institute for International Strategy (GIIS) and Communication and Legislative Director at HinduPACT. She appreciated the participants' insightful comments and urged all humanitarians, and the Bangladeshi diaspora in the United States, in particular, to work with their local representatives and requested that they support the resolution. Additionally, she requested all journalists to cover this resolution as she understands the importance of the media following her own successful career in broadcast and online journalism.(ANI)
As many as 100 people were killed and more than 300 others were wounded in Somalia on Saturday after two car bombs exploded near the education ministry in the capital Mogadishu. The two car bombs exploded near a busy intersection in the capital and near the Ministry of Education, according to an official with the president's office, reported CNN. Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in a video statement posted on his official Twitter account claimed that the Al-Shabaab terror group in Somalia was responsible for the deadly attack. "Today's cruel and cowardly terrorist attack on innocent people by the morally bankrupt and criminal al-Shabaab group cannot discourage us but will further strengthen our resolve to defeat them once and for all," Mohamud wrote on Twitter. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but the Islamist group Al-Shabaab has claimed other recent attacks, reported CNN. "Our government and brave people will continue to defend Somalia against evil," Mohamud added. The intersection, Zobe junction, was the same location as a deadly bombing attack on October 14, 2017, which killed more than 500 people and injured around 300 others. "By the will of God, no other October like this will happen. They won't get the chance to commit such a thing," Mohamud said, calling Saturday's attack a repeat of the 2017 bombings. The recent siege of an upscale hotel in the capital Mogadishu killing at least 20 people is a grave reminder of the security challenges the country is facing. Al-Shabaab emerged as the radical youth wing of Somalia's now-defunct Union of Islamic Courts, which controlled Mogadishu in 2006, before being forced out by Ethiopian forces. Al-Shabaab advocates the Saudi-inspired Wahhabi version of Islam, while most Somalis are Sufis. It has imposed a strict version of Sharia in areas under its control, including stoning to death women accused of adultery and amputating the hands of thieves. It is banned as a terrorist group by both the US and the UK. There have been numerous reports that Al-Shabab may have formed some links with other militant groups, such as Boko Haram in Nigeria and Al-Qaeda. Somalia has long been called a failed or fragile state that has seen one of the biggest failures of international counter-terror operations. Somalia has not had an effective national government for more than 20 years, during which much of the country has been a war-zone. Al-Shabaab gained support by promising people security, but its credibility was knocked when it rejected Western food aid to combat a 2011 drought and famine. In 2022, there was a peaceful transition of power in Somalia after the successful completion of the legislative and presidential elections. In recent years, despite international counter-terror measures, Al-Shabab has grown in strength, cashing in on the humanitarian crisis in Somalia and the security crises in neighbouring countries. (ANI)
At least 26 foreign nationals from 14 countries were killed in Saturday's crowd crush in Itaewon, Seoul, South Korea's foreign ministry said in a press release on Sunday. The ministry said another 15 foreigners were injured. Most of them have returned home, while six are still being treated in the country, reported CNN. The ministry said it is taking all measures to provide support to bereaved relatives of the foreigners killed in the disaster, such as allowing entry into South Korea and helping with funeral arrangements. Two US citizens were among those killed in Saturday's Halloween disaster in Itaewon, the popular nightlife district in South Korea's capital Seoul, the US embassy told CNN. "Our staff in Seoul and colleagues in the United States are working tirelessly to provide consular assistance to the victims of last night's incident and their families," an embassy statement read Sunday. At least 153 people were killed in a crush, with another 133 injured, when crowds of people celebrating Halloween swelled in narrow alleys of Seoul's popular nightlife district. A French national is among those killed in the Seoul Halloween crowd surge, according to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "It is with great sadness that we learned of the death of one of our compatriots during the tragedy in Seoul. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Europe via its crisis support center and its embassy in Seoul is fully mobilized to assist and support the family of our compatriot," a spokesperson for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement Sunday. One Austrian was among those killed in the Seoul Halloween crowd surge, the Austrian foreign ministry said Sund, reported CNN. "We are shocked and deeply saddened having to confirm the death of an Austrian citizen in yesterday's mass panic in Seoul. The Austrian was on a visit to the Korean capital," Gabriele Juen, a diplomatic spokesperson, told CNN in a statement Sunday. So far, China, Iran, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Japan, Australia, Norway and France have all confirmed deaths of their nationals in the incident that took place in the popular Seoul nightclub district of Itaewon Saturday night, reported CNN. Seoul Metropolitan Police said they have confirmed the identities of nearly all those killed in an apparent crowd surge at Seoul's popular nightclub district Itaewon on Saturday. The identities of 150 people killed have been confirmed, police told CNN on Sunday. The death toll from the disaster stands at 153. The three bodies who have yet to be identified are all young women whose nationalities have yet to be verified, they added. The Seoul Metropolitan Government had said they had received 4,024 missing persons reports as of 5 pm local time (4 a.m. ET), though some of these reports could relate to the same people. Police said there is no active search for those reported missing as they believe no one went missing from the scene. They said thousands of missing person reports have been used to help identify those killed in the incident. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has declared a period of national mourning. (ANI)
Turkish organization, Aid & International Development Forum (AIDF) on Saturday committed to building five religious seminaries in Afghanistan. The Taliban Ministry of Education welcomed the initiative by AIDF as a "major step" and stated that the ministry will offer all of the available facilities required for the project's implementation, reported Khaama Press. The organization would build five religious schools in five different provinces of the country in accordance with the MoU. Habibullah Agha, the Taliban Minister of Education, and Sheikh Mohammad Toran, the organization's head signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Kabul, the Afghan capital, reported Khaama Press. Each of these religious seminaries will be established at a cost of USD 25,000 throughout five provinces, according to the ministry's statement. Each school will feature four classrooms, a perimeter wall, a mosque, a drinking water supply system, and other necessary amenities, the ministry stated in a statement. It is worth noting that after the Taliban took power, the number of religious schools built surged in many areas of Afghanistan, with specific emphasis placed on the construction and refurbishment of religious institutions, reported Khaama Press. At the same time, about half of Afghanistan's schools have been closed, and girls in grades above the sixth have been barred from attending since the group took control. This comes as a number of women gathered in Kabul once again to renew the call on reopening girls' schools, while the Taliban has deprived them of receiving education for over 400 days. Several human rights and education activists had urged world leaders in an open letter recently to mount diplomatic pressure on the Taliban to reopen secondary schools for girls in the war-torn country as the Taliban's brutal regime in Afghanistan will soon complete a year in August. Young girls and women have been compromising with their aspirations as it has been almost 400 days since their development has been distorted, the activists said adding, that if this situation persists, their aims and hopes will suffer greatly, reported Khaama Press. World leaders, regional allies, and international organizations were urged in the letter to take serious actions to fulfill their commitments in order to promote and protect Afghan girls' rights, especially the right to education which was snatched away from them after the Taliban-led Afghan government banned the education for girls in classes 6 and above. (ANI)
Responding to ruckus gaining traction over who had asked the hardcore critic, journalist Arshad Sharif to flee the country, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief and former prime minister Imran Khan has record-breakingly exclaimed, "Yes, it was me!" In an exclusive one-on-one conversation with Daily Times, Khan asserted on Wednesday that even though he stands by his claims, no one has dared asked him why he advised Sharif to leave the motherland as early as possible. "Call me on any forum of your liking and I will bring to light all the details," he continued. Khan wondered why those taking great interest in the naming game hesitated in finding answers about the life-threatening circumstances braved by a "patriot who never compromised his conscience," reported Daily Times. The former premier condemned the murder of Pakistani renowned journalist Arshad Sharif saying that he was a patriot and bore the pain of Pakistan as no one ever had. "Today if the nation does not stand for him, there will be no difference between us and animals," he said. The PTI Chairman said that Arshad Sharif stood for truth and his conscience had no value, reported Daily Times. "I respected Arshad Sharif the most in journalism, I am very sorry for the martyrdom of Arshad Sharif." He also maintained that journalists are being harassed all across Pakistan. He added, "Arshad Sharif was target killed and he is the martyr as he didn't get scared of the threat calls nor did he step back." Arshad Sharif (49), a senior Pakistani journalist was killed in cold blood on October 24 in Kenya when he was driving from Magadi to Nairobi, accompanied by his brother Khurram Ahmed at around 10:00 pm. Meanwhile, the killing of Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif in Kenya reveals the unholy nexus of the Pakistan army and Kenyan Death Squads. Arshad Sharif's murder is a lot more than what is being revealed by both the Pakistani and the Kenyan government, analysts are divided over whether the incident is an accident or another victim of Pakistan's deep state operations? reported The Geneva Daily. Pakistan army's links with the organized criminals of the Muslim world are also no secret. Given the deep penetration that a lot of these gang lords who find refuge in Pakistan have in a lot of these African countries, including Kenya, could it be possible that Arshad Sharif's murder is a lot more than what is being revealed by both the Pakistani and the Kenyan government? (ANI)
At least 10 Republican candidates who won primaries for statewide or federal office this year have claimed they were in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021, when supporters of former President Donald Trump marched to the Capitol to interrupt the peaceful transition of power and the ensuing riot eventually turned violent. Five people died in connection with the riot, including a police officer. Another four officers died by suicide in the days, weeks and months after the assault on the Capitol.

All 10 non-incumbent candidates have denied or cast doubt on the 2020 election results. Three of the 10 candidates could win congressional seats in November, which would take them from election-denying protesters to sitting members of Congress. Another stands to become the chief election official in Arizona.

Democrats have spent little time or money focused on ads highlighting the Jan. 6 activities of these candidates. According to the ad-tracking firm, AdImpact, just $2.7 million out of $163 million of broadcast TV ad dollars went to House races where a candidate was at or near the Capitol on Jan. 6. In many cases, Democratic groups actually tried to boost some of the election-denying candidates during the primary season, calculating that they would be weaker opponents for Democrats in the general election.

Here's a list of 10 candidates who were at or near the Capitol on Jan. 6:

In this Jan. 6, 2021, file photo insurrections loyal to President Donald Trump rally at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. / Credit: Jose Luis Magana / AP

Congressional candidatesDerrick Van Orden, GOP nominee, Wisconsin, 3rd Congressional District

Derrick Van Orden, the Republican nominee for Wisconsin's 3rd District, was among the demonstrators outside the Capitol, according to an op-ed he wrote for the LaCrosse Tribune and other published reports. In that op-ed, published a week after the attack, Van Orden wrote, "At no time did I enter the grounds, let alone the building." He claimed to have been on the outside, saying he had "stood on the parapet that lines the perimeter of the grounds." On Jan. 6, 2021, he also denounced in a tweet "all forms of political violence regardless of what side commits it."

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What initially started as a peaceful protest devolved into unlawful political violence. When this happened, I left as I will not be party to illegal acts. I categorically denounce all forms of political violence regardless of what side commits it.  Derrick Van Orden (@derrickvanorden) January 6, 2021

The Daily Beast reported that photos from Jan. 6 show Van Orden "had to cross police barricades to reach that area." Van Orden disputed the article but has offered no further clarification.

He has not responded to CBS News' request for comment.

The Trump-endorsed candidate hopes to succeed Democrat Ron Kind, who has represented the 3rd District since 1997 and is retiring at the end of his current term. Kind beat Van Orden by less than three points in 2020. Van Orden, a former Navy Seal and actor, and state Sen. Brad Pfaff, a Democrat who represents Wisconsin's 32nd District, are now vying for the open seat.

Although the district has been held by a Democrat for over two decades, projections by the University of Virginia's Center for Politics show the race is currently leaning in favor of Van Orden. Republican-aligned PACs are outspending Democrats in online and TV advertising. Axios also reported the House Majority PAC, which supports Democratic candidates, plans to cancel some of the remaining ad reservations for Pfaff. Pfaff countered with an ad highlighting Van Orden's Jan. 6 activities, hoping to convince voters to reject him. The Associated Press reported, the Republican electorate in Wisconsin doesn't appear to care about his connection to Jan. 6.

Sandy Smith, GOP nominee, North Carolina, 1st Congressional District

In DC fighting for Trump! Just marched from the Monument to the Capitol! #StopTheSteaI #FightForTrump pic.twitter.com/pb2aktPhRS  Sandy Smith NC (@SandySmithNC) January 6, 2021

Sandy Smith, who is making her second run at a Congressional seat, tweeted on Jan. 6, 2021 "In DC fighting for Trump! Just marched from the monument to the Capitol!" Her participation didn't deter Republican voters in the 1st District in North Carolina, despite the House GOP-aligned PAC running ads attacking her ahead of the Republican primary. She prevailed against seven other candidates in the May primary and went on to receive Trump's endorsement last month.

In 2020, Smith also won the Republican primary but lost in the general election to Democratic Rep. G.K. Butterfield. After her defeat, she tweeted, "I ran for congress. Did better than anyone ever did in this district on the Republican side. Dominion was used in my district. My polling had me ahead. Yet somehow my opponent got truckloads of ballots without even campaigning. No audit. No precinct breakdown. Total sham! #NC01". According to the North Carolina State Board of Elections, Dominion voting machines were not used in any elections in the state.

Butterfield, a long-time congressman and former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, announced his retirement after redistricting made North Carolina's 1st District friendlier to Republicans. Predictions indicate the race is leaning toward the Democratic nominee Donald Davis, a state senator who represents the 5th Legislative District.

J.R. Majewski, GOP nominee, Ohio, 9th Congressional District

Still from House Majority PAC ad showing GOP congressional candidate JR Majewski on Jan. 6, 2021 / Credit: Screengrab via YouTube.com

"When everything started to happen...we all left. I was responsible for 60-70 people at the Capitol. I had multiple people get injured but I made sure they made it back to our hotel. It was a terrible experience," Majewski said in an interview with Toledo TV station WTOL in April 2021. "It was one that was supposed to be great."

But as a candidate, Majewski's record has come under scrutiny for other reasons. He claimed that he served the U.S. Air Force in Afghanistan. Military records obtained by the Associated Press revealed that he never deployed to Afghanistan. The AP said that Majewski's campaign, when asked about his records, "did not directly address questions about his claim of deploying to Afghanistan." A subsequent AP report noted that his campaign claimed that he was demoted and punished after a "brawl," but military records and show that he was, in fact, demoted and punished for drunk driving on a U.S. air base in Japan. Majewski, according to the AP, acknowledged in a statement that he had been punished for drunk driving but did not say why his campaign had attributed his demotion to a brawl.

Last month, the National Republican Congressional Committee, withdrew ads for Majewski.

Although the Republican party "has no hesitation about backing candidates who either were there at the Capitol or who endorsed the ridiculous election lies of Donald Trump," Sabato surmised that they are merely "being pragmatic" in light of the popularity of these candidates with GOP voters. The race is now leaning in favor of Majewski's Democratic opponent, incumbent Rep. Marcy Kaptur.

Leon Benjamin Sr., GOP nominee, Virginia, 4th Congressional District

Leon Benjamin Sr., a pastor and military veteran, ran uncontested in the Republican primary and now he heads to the general election as the GOP candidate for Virginia's 4th Congressional District. It's his second attempt to unseat Democratic incumbent, Rep. Donald McEachin. In 2020, McEachin defeated Benjamin by over 22 points, but Benjamin continues to claim that the election was stolen.

According to photos and a live-stream video he posted on Facebook, Benjamin was in Washington on Jan. 6. The photos show him at the Ellipse during Trump's speech and near the Capitol. He wrote, "Virginia we are ready for the next step. Do not lose heart. Leadership is coming out of you: those who love America, Fair and Just Elections, God, Family and Constitutional Republic! #PatriotParty #benjamin4congress #FlipTheFourth."

Jo Rae Perkins, GOP nominee, Oregon, U.S. Senate

Jo Rae Perkins, is making another longshot bid for U.S. Senate in Oregon, after an unsuccessful campaign in 2020 against incumbent Democrat Jeff Merkley. Records show Perkins first filed to run for U.S. Senate in Oregon in 2013.

In the May 2022 primary, Perkins beat six other Republican candidates. Now, she's facing incumbent Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden. Wyden has held the position since 1996 and is up 17 points, according to a recent Civiqs poll.

Perkins has touted Q-Anon conspiracy theories and election lies. She also attended Trump's speech at the Ellipse, and she told CBS Portland affiliate KOIN that she walked up to the exterior of the Capitol building but did not enter. Perkins falsely claimed members of Antifa were at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Jeff Zink, Arizona, 3rd Congressional District

"I can give you a first-hand account" of Jan. 6, said Jeff Zink, the GOP nominee for Arizona's 3rd Congressional District. Zink, an "America First" Republican, is running against Democratic incumbent Rep. Ruben Gallego.

Zink has said he did not enter the Capitol and didn't participate in the violence. "At no time did I, nor my son Ryan enter the building, trespass or damage any property of the United States," he told Texas station WCBD. Furthermore, the allegations that my son physically assaulted ANYONE are completely unfounded, without evidence or merit, and politically motivated."

But his son, Ryan Zink, was indicted for obstruction of an official proceeding, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds and multiple counts of disorderly conduct. Ryan Zink pleaded not guilty on all counts. The FBI statement of facts shows Ryan Zink saying in a video, "We knocked down the gates! We're storming the Capitol! You can't stop us!" Jeff Zink said his son was "incarcerated for six weeks."

Tina Forte, New York, 14th Congressional District

Republican Tina Forte's prospects of beating popular Democratic incumbent Alexandra Ocasio- Cortez are slim in New York's 14th Congressional District, which includes parts of the Bronx and Queens. In 2020, Ocasio-Cortez beat her Republican challenger by a 44.2-point margin.

Still, Forte won the August Republican primary against challenger Desi Joseph Cuellar with over 65% of the vote. As of Sept. 30, she has raised nearly $1 million, according to federal campaign finance data.

On Jan. 6, Forte live-streamed video near the Capitol with other demonstrators. The video shows her standing in front of a poster of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with fangs. In a statement, Forte wrote, "I absolutely did NOT enter the Capitol building." Last month, NY1 spoke with Forte, who said she joined demonstrators in Washington on Jan. 6 "to shine light on the election." She added, "I'm not going to say I regret it because I don't."

Statewide candidates

Three Republican nominees seeking statewide office in 2022, were also among the rally-goers and rioters in Washington on Jan. 6. Polling shows one of the demonstrators could be the next secretary of state in Arizona.

Mark Finchem, GOP nominee, Arizona, secretary of state

Mark Finchem, the current state representative for Arizona's 11th Legislative District and the Republican nominee for secretary of state, was on the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6. The Arizona Mirror reported that images of Finchem captured that day showed him walking in front of the east steps of the Capitol. In a recent interview with CBS News, when asked why he was in Washington, Finchem responded that he was "representing [his] constituents." He declined to acknowledge if President Joe Biden's presidential win was legitimate. Finchem was also subpoenaed and interviewed by the Jan. 6 House select committee, as a "witness," he clarified.

As secretary of state, Finchem would oversee Arizona's elections through the 2024 election. He assures his "commitment is to just follow the law," but added, "we also need to have an elections procedure manual that reflects current law." Current Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs is running for governor in Arizona against Republican Kari Lake.

Doug Mastriano, GOP nominee, Pennsylvania governor

Several candidates, including Doug Mastriano and Dan Cox, arranged for buses to drive demonstrators to Washington on Jan. 6. Mastriano, a Republican state senator and GOP gubernatorial nominee in Pennsylvania, spent thousands of dollars on chartered buses and posted an event on Facebook charging $10-$25 for bus rides to D.C. on Jan. 6, according to NPR member station WHYY.

Mastriano said he did not cross police lines at the Capitol and left when the protests turned violent, which he does not condone. According to a Senate Judiciary Committee report, video footage shows Mastriano and his wife on the grounds of the Capitol behind police lines. Democrats have called on Mastriano to release the footage taken on his phone on Jan. 6 to prove his version of events. Mastriano briefly spoke with the Jan. 6 House select committee in August but soon after filed a lawsuit, against the committee, for refusing to allow him to record the testimony.

A CBS News Battleground Tracker poll released in October showed Mastriano trailing his Democratic challenger Josh Shapiro, by double digits.

Dan Cox, GOP nominee, Maryland governor

On Jan. 6, Dan Cox, a Maryland state delegate and the Republican nominee for governor of Maryland, called then-Vice President Mike Pence a "traitor," In a statement after the attack, Cox wrote in Maryland Matters that because it was so crowded that the group he was with "could not approach the capitol" and "left early for the bus ride home and of course did not participate in any violence."

Democrats boosted Cox, who was endorsed by Trump ahead of the Republican primaries in the heavily Democratic state. Cox beat Kelly Shulz, the Republican candidate endorsed by Maryland's term-limited Gov. Larry Hogan. Now, Cox faces Democrat Wes Moore in the race for governor.

Cox, who has touted election lies and conspiracy theories, is trailing Moore by 32-points, according to a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll. Hogan, a moderate Republican, has harshly criticized Cox, calling him a "QAnon whack job." In a recent interview with CBS News, Hogan said, "It should be a huge year for Republicans. But we haven't always nominated the strongest candidates for a general election."

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Saturday Sessions: The Backseat Lovers perform "Know Your Name"

Saturday Sessions: The Backseat Lovers perform "Slowing Down"
Two-and-a-half hours after polls closed in every state in the 2020 election, then-President Donald Trump declared victory and said he was going to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to stop states from counting any more legally cast ballots.

We want all voting to stop. We dont want them to find any ballots at four in the morning and add them to the list, Trump said before adding, Frankly, we did win the election.

As the hours turned into days before the presidential election was finally called for Democrat Joe Biden, Trump built his lie that the election was stolen from him. The late-counted, or overtime, ballots (generally mail ballots and provisional ballots) cast in heavily Black and Latino counties favoring Democrats were deemed fraudulent. Election workers had switched real votes for fake ones, whether by USB drive or ballot drop boxes, Trump and his allies claimed. And on and on. The claims referred to the presidential votes only, though, while Republican victories from the same ballots were accepted.

Of course Trump was going to contest the results  at the time he was still disputing the outcome of an election hed won. He repeatedly claimed he actually won the popular vote in 2016 if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally. In 2018, he lied that Democrats were involved in a big corruption scandal having to do with Election Fraud, when ballots counted after Election Day favored Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), who ultimately lost. He also falsely declared electoral corruption and called for a new Election when Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) defeated incumbent Republican Martha McSally after ballots counted after Election Day came in.

In each case, Trumps lies revolved around the mechanics of election administration: how voters cast their ballots and how states counted them. The counting of ballots after Election Day turned into evidence of fraud in his imagination. And though none of his claims were true and all were fact-checked by the press and election law experts and readily dismissed from the courts, the Republican Party grasped onto them and wont let go.

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This presents the possibility of yet another nightmare following Election Day on Nov. 8. Little has changed in how the votes will be cast and how they will be counted in key states across the country. The same scenario that Trump used to lie about the election results in the past three elections will happen again. The only difference is that this year there are hundreds of Republicans who endorse his lies running for offices up and down the ballot.

Refusal To Accept Defeat

Arizona Republican attorney general candidate Abraham Hamadeh, gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and senatorial candidate Blake Masters have all cast doubt on the 2020 election and the potential results of their own elections in 2022. (Photo: Brandon Bell via Getty Images)

Arizona Republican attorney general candidate Abraham Hamadeh, gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and senatorial candidate Blake Masters have all cast doubt on the 2020 election and the potential results of their own elections in 2022. (Photo: Brandon Bell via Getty Images)

Since Trump left office, Republicans have been seeding the idea that all elections they do not win would have been necessarily corrupted by fraud.

Im going to win the election, and I will accept that result, Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who claims to not believe Biden won the 2020 election, said Oct. 16 on CNN while pointedly refusing to state whether she would accept the results if she lost.

Weve an absolute right to have it proven to us that the election was fair. If it is fair, Kari Lakes going to win, Fox News host Tucker Carlson said on Oct. 20.

Carlson, the most influential conservative television news host, told his viewers on Oct. 26 that it would be absurd to accept the outcome of the Pennsylvania Senate race if Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee, wins.

In Michigan, GOP gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon, who also claims the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, said during a primary debate that she will accept the results only if we see the secretary of state running a fair election the way she should be.

At a campaign stop in October, Arizona GOP Senate candidate Blake Masters continued to spread lies that the voting machines in the state are corrupted and that if he beats Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) by 30,000 votes, Democrats may just find 40,000, according to The Daily Beast. Theres always cheating, probably, in every election, Masters told supporters in July. (When speaking to a mass audience during a televised debate on Oct. 6, however, Masters admitted, I havent seen evidence of election or voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.)

Don Bolduc, the Republican Senate candidate in New Hampshire, has repeatedly stated that there was widespread fraud in the 2020 election and refused to say if he will accept his own election results. Bolduc warned during an appearance on a conservative radio show on Oct. 10 that if the vote count were close on Election Day, ballots favoring Democrats could be reported overnight, and the next thing you know, you wake up in the morning and the election is changed. That is still real.

In Wisconsin, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson and GOP gubernatorial candidate Tim Michels refuse to say that they would accept the outcome of their elections.

GOP secretary of state candidates in Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota and Nevada all believe that the 2020 election was illegitimate and refuse to accept the 2022 results  if they lose, of course.

Doug Mastriano, the far-right election-denying GOP gubernatorial candidate in Pennsylvania, led Trumps efforts to overturn the presidential election results in the state and has refused to say whether he would accept the results of his own election.

These repeated claims, from GOP politicians and the movements media superstars, have conditioned the base to believe in widespread voter fraud; a recent poll showed two-thirds of Republican voters do not accept that Biden fairly won the 2020 election. So when theres another delayed count in the upcoming midterms, all hell may break loose once again.

Blue Shift 22

Supporters of President Donald Trump bang on the glass and chant slogans outside the room where absentee ballots for the 2020 general election were being counted on Nov. 4, 2020, in Detroit. (Photo: JEFF KOWALSKY via Getty Images)

Supporters of President Donald Trump bang on the glass and chant slogans outside the room where absentee ballots for the 2020 general election were being counted on Nov. 4, 2020, in Detroit. (Photo: JEFF KOWALSKY via Getty Images)

The dynamic that the GOP election lies rest on is known as the blue shift. First named in a 2013 political science paper, the blue shift describes how late-counted ballots tend to favor Democratic Party candidates due to Democratic voters higher propensity to cast late absentee ballots, use provisional ballots and their need to cure, or correct, errors on absentee ballots.

The blue shift appeared to accelerate in 2020 when Republicans abandoned mail-in voting amid Trumps propaganda campaign against it while Democrats embraced it. But as a post-election report by the MIT Election Data + Science Lab shows, both late-counted ballots and the blue shift two years ago were comparable in size to the 2016 election.

Not only was the blue shift comparable to the 2016 election, but most states reported vote totals quickly with only 10 states and the District of Columbia not reporting 90% or more of their final vote 48 hours after the polls closed.

In almost every state, the presidential victor was clear within five hours of polls closing, the report states. In the few exceptions, the problem was not wild gyrations in reported election results, but the simple fact that the vote count was close.

What mattered, ultimately, was that the vote totals were close enough in states like Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to delay major outlets from calling the results  and thus the final outcome of the presidential race. And then Trump was eager to lie about election fraud.

The Republican Partys current embrace of Trumps lies are paramount here. It plans to claim election fraud even if the party wins, just as Trump did in 2016.

Election protection workers point to Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as the key states where they are concerned about false claims of fraud post-election. These are among the same states that featured closely fought races and took longer to report over 90% of their vote totals  and now feature GOP candidates running who will refuse to accept the results if they lose. This promises to create a chaotic situation after the polls close.

In Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, the high rate of late-counted ballots can be chalked up to both the refusal of Republicans in state legislatures to pass bills allowing mail ballots to be processed prior to Election Day and the fact that votes were counted at centralized locations in the counties, requiring the ballots to be transported.

Supporters of President Donald Trump gather Nov. 5, 2020, to protest outside the Maricopa County Election Department as counting continues in Phoenix. (Photo: OLIVIER TOURON via Getty Images)

Supporters of President Donald Trump gather Nov. 5, 2020, to protest outside the Maricopa County Election Department as counting continues in Phoenix. (Photo: OLIVIER TOURON via Getty Images)

Mailed ballots need to be processed before they are counted. Ballot processing can involve opening the envelopes, removing the ballots from their envelopes and doing a signature match or entering the ballots into a tabulation machine. By allowing already returned ballots to be pre-processed, states can ease the burden placed on election workers on and after Election Day.

In the last election, Michigan and Pennsylvania saw their largest counties, which contain the largest share of Democratic voters, take much longer to report their ballots. Eight hours after the polls closed, only 47% of the vote was reported in Wayne County, Michigan, and 53% for Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. The vote total for Pennsylvania didnt hit 90% of the final vote until more than 24 hours after the polls closed. This could have been caused by the centralization of vote counting at the county level, rather than the municipal, according to the MIT Election Data + Science Lab report.

To alleviate at least some of this burden, Michigan adopted legislation allowing counties to process mail ballots up to two days prior to Election Day. But election clerks noted that this change came too close to the election to enable their offices to properly speed up the counting of ballots. It is most likely that the full results will not be complete until 24 hours after polls close.

This may relieve some of the crush, but those ballots would still need to be counted on Election Day while any mail ballots returned on Election Day would still need to be processed and then counted.

Republicans in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania continued to refuse to allow any time for ballots to be pre-processed after 2020.

We were saying, in Pennsylvania you have to pass something to deal with pre-processing, said Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections for Common Cause, a nonprofit active in monitoring elections. To me, at this point, it is purposeful. They want chaos. If you refuse to pass laws, you are asking for whats next.

This will likely matter greatly in Pennsylvania if the Senate or gubernatorial races are close, as they are projected to be, since Democrats continue to request mail ballots at a far higher rate than do Republicans. Trump is reportedly looking to contest election results in Pennsylvania, according to Rolling Stone.

So far, Democrats account for 70% of requested mail ballots and 72% of returned mail ballots. The total could account for about one-quarter of the vote total for Democratic candidates if turnout winds up somewhere in between the 2018 midterms and the 2020 presidential election.

We know everyone [will] want results on election night, but we must again ask for patience, acting Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth Leigh Chapman told reporters on Oct. 11.

We were saying, in Pennsylvania you have to pass something to deal with pre-processing. To me, at this point, it is purposeful. They want chaos. If you refuse to pass laws, you are asking for whats next.Sylvia Albert, Common Cause

Arizona, where every Republican running statewide claims the 2020 election was riddled with fraud, was among the 10 states that did not report more than 90% of their total vote within 48 hours of the polls closing. Recent statewide elections in the state have been incredibly close. Biden defeated Trump by a little more than 10,000 votes. Kelly won his 2020 race by around 70,000 votes, and Sinema won her 2018 race by less than 60,000.

The state has since become a hotbed of election-related conspiracy theories, with the state legislature voting to audit the vote in Maricopa County, which holds 60% of the states population, after Biden won it in 2020. The partisan audit was highly contentious but ended by showing that there was no widespread fraud in the election. (Biden actually gained votes in the audits final tally.)

Most Arizona voters cast their ballots by mail, and the state does allow election workers to pre-process and count those ballots ahead of Election Day. But a large number of voters return their ballots on Election Day. The late early votes, as theyre called in the state, make Arizona one of the states with the largest overtime vote count. Arizona also allows voters to correct any errors on their ballot up to five days after the election.

If elections are close, it might be a week or more before we have solid results, said Alex Gulotta, Arizona state director for All Voting Is Local, a nonprofit voting rights and election protection group. And thats in the normal course.

Like Arizona, Nevada did not report more than 90% of its vote until over 48 hours after polls closed. The high overtime vote in the state is likely chalked up to its rules around mail voting. All voters are provided a mail ballot, which can be accepted up to four days after the election if it is postmarked on or before Election Day. Voters are also given up to seven days after the election to cure any errors found on their ballots. Nevada has a tight Senate race between incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D) and GOP challenger Adam Laxalt, who has refused to answer multiple questions from local media about whether he will accept the midterm election result but did tell The New York Times and The Washington Post that he would accept the results.

While the 2020 overtime vote in Arizona actually provided a red shift, in which Trump gained votes in the days after the election, the state saw a blue shift in 2018 that put Sinema in the lead in her race. In Nevada, the overtime vote first tilted to Republicans as rural counties were reported before tilting back toward Democrats as more ballots were counted in Clark County, which includes Las Vegas.

Post-Election Chaos

Donald Trump supporters gather outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center to protest mail-in ballots being counted on Nov. 6, 2020, in Philadelphia. (Photo: Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)

Donald Trump supporters gather outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center to protest mail-in ballots being counted on Nov. 6, 2020, in Philadelphia. (Photo: Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)

The lies Republicans spread about the post-election vote count highlight a mostly overlooked aspect of elections: that they do not end on Election Day. Ballots must be processed, counted, canvassed and certified. When elections are extremely close, recounts may be in order depending on each states recount laws.

In the past, election protection broadly has been about focusing on how we are preparing up to the election  the day before and the day of the election, said Quentin Turner, director of Common Cause Michigan. But in the past couple years, that has changed. The days leading up to and on Election Day are the pregame. The work continues on in just as an intense way after the election. And that is where the most opportunities are for people who want to sow discord or doubt in the process.

Just as Trump put pressure on each hinge point in how the Electoral College votes are cast, so too can Republicans who reject the outcome of their elections this year apply pressure in their states.

That pressure has already been applied to election workers across the country as they have received a steady stream of death threats from Trump-backing election deniers since the 2020 election. Numerous election workers have already been driven out of office by election-denying conspiracists hounding their every move. Trump-backing militias like the Oath Keepers and other groups have also staked out drop boxes in Arizona, intimidating voters as they deliver their mail-in ballots.

These kinds of intimidation campaigns could go into a higher gear after the election. If a race is close, pressure could be applied to officials counting or certifying votes to change the outcome. And just as the outcome on Jan. 6, 2021, hinged on Vice President Mike Pence not following Trumps orders, all of the processes that provide an opportunity for mischief rely on the officials overseeing them to act in good faith.

In Michigan, Turner said that the most worrying period is the 14 days after the election, when county totals are canvassed and certified by local boards of canvassers. In 2020, two Republican members of the Wayne County board of canvassers initially attempted to vote against certifying the totals from the largest county in the state after being pressured by Trump and his supporters.

Though those two members reversed themselves and certified the legitimate vote totals, the newest Republican member of the board, appointed in 2021, said he would not have certified the 2020 election. Election deniers were appointed to county boards of canvassers in at least two other Michigan counties ahead of the 2022 election.

We dont know how the boards of canvassers are going to end up voting, Turner said. Hopefully, they all do their jobs like theyre supposed to.

Lynnette (left) and Nicole watch a ballot drop box Monday as part of an effort to investigate nonexistent election fraud, based on allegations from the movie

Lynnette (left) and Nicole watch a ballot drop box Monday as part of an effort to investigate nonexistent election fraud, based on allegations from the movie "2000 Mules," while sitting in a parking lot in Mesa, Arizona. (Photo: BASTIEN INZAURRALDE via Getty Images)

The refusal of GOP election officials to certify results is not far-fetched. These officials refused to certify election results in 10 counties in Nevada, New Mexico and Pennsylvania during the 2022 primary elections. In a few of these cases, the county election boards needed to be taken to court to be forced to certify the election results. It took three months of litigation before the Pennsylvania counties of Berks, Butler, Fayette and Lancaster complied and certified all votes cast.

In rural Nye County, Nevada, the election-denying head of elections, Mark Kampf, is forcing the county to hand-count ballots, due to the conspiratorial fears of voting machines whipped up by Trump in 2020. The county is already counting early votes, showcasing how hand-counting is a time-consuming and error-prone process. The Nevada secretary of state told Nye County to cease its hand count on Thursday.

Elections officials of Cochise County, Arizona, also tried to count their ballots only by hand, but they agreed to abide by a court order telling them to stop on Thursday.

It is fairly likely that some election administrator somewhere in the country is probably going to refuse to certify the results in their jurisdiction for some reason, said Adav Noti, legal director of the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center, which is engaged in election protection efforts.

The final certification of the vote in Arizona could stretch out even further after Republicans increased the threshold for recounts in close elections. Previously, a recount would be triggered if the election margin was within 0.1%. But now a recount will occur when elections are within 0.5%. This difference would have required a recount for Bidens win over Trump in 2020 as well as numerous other state and local races up and down the ballot.

This change would extend the amount of time when the final outcome of a close race would be either unclear or open to debate possibly into December. This could potentially give one of the many election-denying Arizona candidates extra time to whip up paranoia about the election results and put increased pressure on election workers.

That is a difference from 2020 that is very dangerous, Gulotta said.

The counting of these ballots on Election Day and after will be closely observed by poll watchers recruited by the Republican National Committee and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon. Poll watchers may object to votes, gum up the election process and spread lies about the conduct of the election, just as they did in 2020. John Eastman, the conservative lawyer who drafted Trumps plan to steal the 2020 election on Jan. 6, 2021, exhorted GOP poll workers and observers in New Mexico to challenge individual votes as part of a scheme to challenge the results of elections Republicans lose, according to Politico.

Election protection groups and legal allies are anticipating a flood of activity on and after Election Day. And with many key races neck-and-neck in the polls, another post-election frenzy of litigation is expected. Republicans may very well be as unsuccessful as they were in the courts and the streets in 2020.

But the rot in American elections appears to be setting in. Trumps lies have taken hold of the Republican Party. Every election now features figures who do not believe in the function of democratic elections, unless they win them.

And if they do win in 2022, then they will be in a position to ensure Trump has the crucial allies he lacked in 2020 when he called for all voting to stop.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Related...
EUROPEAN PRAVDA  SUNDAY, 30 OCTOBER 2022, 20:36

Gurgen (Guga) Gagnidze, a 40-year-old soldier from Georgia, was killed in action near the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.

Source: European Pravda, citing News-Georgia

Details: Gagnidze was part of the unit that was ambushed by mercenaries of the Wagner private military company.

Gurgen Gagnidze

photo: Social media

Gagnidze was 40 years old and was serving in the 25th Airborne Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. A total of 23 Georgians, including Gagnidze, have been killed while fighting on Ukraines side since February 2022.

This number includes both volunteers from Georgia who arrived in Ukraine following Russias full-scale invasion and ethnic Georgians who had been living in Ukraine prior to the full-scale war.

A funeral for Mikhail Kaplanishvili, who voluntarily joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces and was killed in Luhansk Oblast, was held in Georgia several days ago.



Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
What mattered most at UFC Fight Night 213 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas? Here are a few post-fight musings 

4. Chase Hooper's development stalls

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA  OCTOBER 29: (R-L) Chase Hooper punches Steve Garcia in a featherweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on October 29, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)

When [autotag]Chase Hooper[/autotag] first made his UFC debut in December 2019, there were a lot of concerns about whether he was ready. He was just 20 at the time, and it was pretty clear his striking was behind the curve for this level, but his submission game was dangerous enough that he could pick up some wins.

Fast forward nearly three years, and Hooper (11-3-1 MMA, 3-3 UFC) is six fights into his octagon tenure and has a .500 record. His first-round TKO loss to Steve Garcia marked the first time hed ever been stopped by strikes, and it came in a brutal fashion as he was knocked down three times in a 92-second fight.

Even though its never been elite, it almost felt like Hoopers striking regressed in this bout. His reactions to Garcias strikes were worrisome, as he spun around, rolled to the mat and more every time he was hit.

I dont want to overreact to a bad loss. Now 23, Hooper does have a lot of time to evolve his skillset. However, he needs to make some serious decisions on how he wants to do that. Because right now, hes a sitting duck on the feet. All his opponents are going to try to expose his standup, and if he doesnt want more losses than this, improvement is essential.

3. Roman Dolidze's demand for 'better fights'

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA  OCTOBER 29: (L-R) Roman Dolidze of Georgia punches Phil Hawes in a middleweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on October 29, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)

[autotag]Roman Dolidze[/autotag] brutally knocked out Phil Hawes in the first round of their middleweight bout then promptly got on the microphone and told Michael Bisping he wants better fights.

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Its a bit of shade on Hawes  who is good  but its hard to deny Dolidze (11-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) doesnt deserve that opportunity after a masterful performance on the ground and highlight-reel finish on the feet. The Georgian fighter has won five of his six fights inside the octagon, and Im quite keen to see how he would fare against that next tier.

Should he get Paulo Costa, who he mentioned by name? No. Of course not. But I would be compelled to see him fight someone in the top 10-15 range, because this guy has proven to be pretty solid. At 34, too, time is of the essence for Dolidze, so heres hoping he gets the step up he asked for.

2. An unfortunate end for Calvin Kattar

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA  OCTOBER 29: (R-L) Calvin Kattar punches Arnold Allen of England in a featherweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on October 29, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)

It was heartbreak for [autotag]Calvin Kattar[/autotag] in the main event when he went down with a knee injury late in the first round off a missed flying knee, then aggravated it in the first exchange of Round 2, forcing the injury TKO finish.

No one should wish for, or want injury to end of a fight, but the silver lining for Kattar (23-7 MMA, 7-5 UFC) is that he didnt get cleanly beaten. The fight wasnt necessarily going his way, but the sample size was too small to know how it wouldve trended as things went on.

Would Kattars experience in five-round fights have carried him if it went into the later rounds? His endurance, durability and output were his advantages coming into. The durability betrayed him in this one, though, because his body ultimately gave out.

Heres hoping this isnt an injury that keeps Kattar out for a long time, because between this result and his controversial split decision with Josh Emmett over the summer, it doesnt really feel like hes on a two-fight losing skid.

[listicle id=2592294]

1. Take nothing from Arnold Allen

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA  OCTOBER 29: (L-R) Arnold Allen of England and Calvin Kattar exchange punches in a featherweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on October 29, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)

Despite what I said above about the small sample size, what can be taken away from the 5 minutes and 8 seconds of cage time is that [autotag]Arnold Allen[/autotag] is absolutely an elite featherweight, and belongs in the top five.

The biggest question about Allen (19-1 MMA, 10-0 UFC) coming into this one was how he would hang with the next level of competition. His best win to date was against Dan Hooker, whom he absolutely steamrolled in March. Against Kattar, he looked very fast, strong and fought with great IQ.

Allen is now just the second 145-pound fighter in UFC history to start 10-0 in the octagon, joining the current champ Alexander Volkanovski. Does this perfectly set the stage for a fight between them? In most instances, probably. But in this case, probably not.

With Volkanovski planning a move up to lightweight to challenge Islam Makhachev for a second belt, that leaves a bit of a gap until his next title defense. If I had to make a guess, maybe Allen fights Yair Rodriguez or Josh Emmett in an interim title bout on the massive show the UFC plays in England next year headlined by Leon Edwards vs. Kamaru Usman 3.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkies event hub for UFC Fight Night 213.

Story originally appeared on MMA Junkie
Nine Southwestern Indiana high school marching bands have earned a trip to next weekend's state finals.

They're among a total of 40 schools that will compete across four classes Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Performance times will be released later this week.

The bands earned a trip to the state finals by finishing in the top 10 in each class at semistate competitions this weekend at four sites. The classes are set by school size, with the biggest schools assigned to Class A, down to the smallest schools in Class D.

Indiana marching bands:14 Evansville-area high school marching bands to compete in semistates this weekend

Here's who qualified for the state finals:

Class A

Castle High School

Class B

Jasper High School

North High School

Reitz High School

Class C

Princeton Comunity High School

Vincennes Lincoln High School

Class D

Forest Park High School

Southridge High School

Mater Dei High School

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: 9 Evansville high school marching bands earn Indiana state finals trip
Students at St. Stanislaus Catholic School in East Chicago had a virtual learning day Friday as authorities investigated allegations that a fifth-grade teacher had a kill list for students, staff members and herself. (Christin Nance Lazerus / Post-Tribune)

An East Chicago teacher who is accused of threatening students and staff with a kill list agreed to a no-contact order with the school during a Friday court hearing, according to court records.

Angelica Carrasquillo, 25, is facing a charge of intimidation, a Level 6 felony, and shes currently being held in the Lake County Jail with a $20,000 surety bond, or $2,000 cash.

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According to court records, two students approached St. Stanislaus Catholic School administrators about the threats at 12:45 p.m. on Oct. 12 and Carrasquillo admitted during an talk with school officials that she spoke of killing herself, students and staff.

Carrasquillo was detained by school officials and allowed to leave after all children had been dismissed. Only then were police called  nearly 4 hours after school officials were made aware of the situation.

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During the conversation, the teacher named a specific student on her list, but did not provide the list. The Principal then advised the teacher to leave and not return to school pending an investigation, East Chicago Police Chief Joes Rivera said in the email.

When Carrasquillo was interviewed, she stated that if she had a car she would be able to fit two dead bodies in the trunk, the affidavit states.

When she advised Carrasquillo to leave the building, Principal Angelica Foy advised her that this would likely result in her termination, records state.

Rivera said police obtained an emergency detention order from the Lake County Prosecutors office Thursday and she was taken into custody at her Griffith home.

Last week, a group of parents protested outside the school on Oct. 19 about what they believe is a poor response from the school as well as the Gary Diocese over the incident.

The Diocese of Gary issued a statement saying it was cooperating, along with St. Stanislaus School, with local authorities in the investigation.

The Catholic Schools Office is also reviewing what transpired during that afternoon. We are deeply saddened by this event. School safety is a paramount concern of our schools. Due to the ongoing police investigation, we are not able to provide further details at this time and ask the community to join us in praying for healing and resolution.

Post-Tribune freelance reporters Carole Carlson and Michelle L. Quinn contributed to this report.
John Fetterman, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, has had some difficulty speaking since his stroke in May. (Matt Rourke / Associated Press)

Many unkind things were said about Democratic U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman after the debate last week with his Republican opponent, Mehmet Oz.

Some pundits wondered whether the Pennsylvania lieutenant governor's uneven performance would hurt Democrats chances of maintaining control in the Senate, a fair question. Then there were the ghouls like Donald Trump Jr., who cruelly  and obnoxiously  tweeted that Fetterman seemed brain dead.

Five months out from a stroke that has affected his ability to put his thoughts into words, Fetterman at times spoke haltingly and in circles. Sometimes, he was perfectly articulate; other times, he struggled. Clearly, he was a man who had a serious brain injury.

His speech patterns were a stark contrast to those of Oz, the heart surgeon and celebrity TV doctor who sounds, by comparison, like a fast-talking salesman who sticks his foot in your door and refuses to leave till you buy a set of encyclopedias.

The thing about Fetterman, though, was that regardless of his difficulties, he had no trouble communicating what he believes: He supports the reproductive rights that were enshrined in Roe vs. Wade; he supports raising the minimum wage; and he now supports fracking, a politically fraught subject in Pennsylvania.

Funny enough, it was Oz who offered up a world-class example of the kind of poorly worded statement that can come back to bite you hard. Abortion, said Oz, should be between women, doctors and local political leaders. Democrats pounced.

(The comedian Amy Schumer reposted a darkly funny video of her asking her boss, his priest, a mailman, a Boy Scout, a kid playing chess in the park and her moms new boyfriend if its OK for her to get birth control.)

I give Fetterman credit for showing up on the debate stage at all, knowing that his expressive aphasia during such a high-pressure event would inevitably lead to stumbles.

But should the lingering effects of his stroke disqualify him from office? Of course not.

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Would you rather be represented by a senator plodding along in what you believe is the right direction, or one who is racing the wrong way at top speed?

The Senate is a deliberative body, said MSNBCs Lawrence ODonnell. Senators never have to make quick, irreversible decisions.

In any case, noted ODonnell, who once worked for New Yorks Democratic U.S. Sen. Daniel P. Moynihan, many political leaders have had catastrophic medical traumas and continued to work effectively for their constituents.

He pointed out, for example, the extraordinary medical woes of Winston Churchill, one of the worlds most accomplished statesmen. During his two stints as prime minister, Churchill had atrial fibrillation, multiple strokes and untold other ailments. His medical history, as a matter of fact, is the subject of a new book, Winston Churchills Illnesses 1886-1965.

Franklin Delano Roosevelts polio and subsequent use of a wheelchair was hidden from the American people  and his voters  for many years.

President Kennedy, despite the appearance of vigor and good health, was sickly his entire life.

In 1954, two years into his Senate term, Kennedy underwent several unsuccessful back surgeries and developed an infection that put him in a coma and almost killed him. He also had a lifelong struggle with Addisons disease. Overall, he was prematurely administered last rites four times.

In 1984, President Reagan fared so poorly in his first debate against his Democratic challenger, former Vice President Walter Mondale, that people wondered if he was losing his marbles. He said afterward he hadn't known what city he was in at one point while discussing the countrys defense budget, and he talked about the high cost of the militarys food and wardrobe.

Later on, of course, Reagan was pretty obviously operating with a diminished capacity, although he wasnt technically diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease until six years after hed left office. I will never forget the clip of Nancy Reagan prompting her husband when he was taking reporters questions at their Santa Barbara ranch in 1984.

Dick Cheney was and is a medical mess. He had four heart attacks before he became vice president in 2001, including one while he was George W. Bush's running mate and the 2000 election results were still up in the air. In 2005, while in office, he had surgery for an aneurysm behind his knee.

Just this year, two Democratic U.S. senators, Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, experienced strokes that kept them away from work while they recuperated.

The point is, like every other human being, politicians suffer from ailments and accidents. If they are healthy enough, they recuperate and stay on the job. Fetterman, to me, is healthy enough.

When control of the Senate hangs in the balance, as it does in November, it would be the height of self-defeating behavior for Democrats  or anyone repulsed by what the Republican Party has become  to vote for Oz or to sit this one out.

I have to say, I was kind of appalled recently when I heard former National Rifle Assn. pitch woman and rabidly antiabortion talk show host Dana Loesch declare it irrelevant that Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker, in a tight race with incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, has been accused of impregnating a woman and paying for her abortion.

I dont care if Herschel Walker paid to abort endangered baby eagles, declared Loesch. I want control of the Senate.

But she's right; those are the stakes.

So Pennsylvania, it's up to you: Will your next senator be a gritty stroke survivor who embraces Democratic principles and policies?

Or a slick-talking TV doctor who owes his political career to Donald Trump?

@AbcarianLAT

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The man accused of attacking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband carried zip ties with him when he broke into the couple's San Francisco home, according to a person briefed on the investigation, in what is the latest parallel to the Capitol riot of Jan. 6, 2021.

The person was not authorized to publicly discuss the Pelosi case and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Sunday.

The attack on Democratic leader's 82-year-old husband, Paul Pelosi, less than two weeks before before the Nov. 8 election that will determine control of Congress as well as key statewide and local offices, was an unsettling reminder of the nations toxic political climate. With threats to public officials at an all-time high, members of Congress were being urged to reach out for additional security resources, including increased police patrols of their neighborhoods.

U.S. Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger said in a weekend memo to lawmakers that the attack is a somber reminder of the threats elected officials and families face in 2022.

Police in San Francisco said the assault of Paul Pelosi was intentional. Authorities said the suspect, identified as David DePape, 42, confronted Paul Pelosi in the family's Pacific Heights home early Friday and, the AP has reported, demanded to know, Where is Nancy?

The two men struggled over a hammer before officers responding to a 911 call to the home saw DePape strike Paul Pelosi at least once, police said. DePape was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, elder abuse and burglary. Prosecutors plan to announce the charges on Monday during a new conference and expect his arraignment on Tuesday.

Eerie echoes of the Jan. 6 riot were apparent in the incident at the Pelosi home.

Rioters who swarmed the Capitol trying to overturn Joe Bidens election victory over Donald Trump roamed the halls and shouted menacingly, demanding Wheres Nancy? Some in the siege were seen inside the Capitol carrying zip ties. The presence of the zip ties on the suspect in Paul Pelosi's assault was first reported by CNN.

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Nancy Pelosi was in Washington when her husband was attacked at home. She soon returned to San Francisco, where her husband was hospitalized. He had surgery for a skull fracture, and suffered other injuries to his arms and hands, her office said.

Our children, our grandchildren and I are heartbroken and traumatized by the life-threatening attack on our Pop, she said in a letter late Saturday to colleagues. We are grateful for the quick response of law enforcement and emergency services, and for the life-saving medical care he is receiving.

Paul Pelosi remains hospitalized and continues to improve," she told colleagues.

With Election Day nearing and Trump relentlessly promoting claims he did not lose to Biden in 2020, federal agencies warned on Friday that domestic extremists fueled by election falsehoods pose a heightened threat to the midterms. The Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies said the greatest danger was posed by lone offenders who leverage election-related issues to justify violence.

Biden and other officials, Democrats and Republicans, condemned the attack on Paul Pelosi and said violence has no home in American politics.

Enough is enough is enough, Biden said while campaigning in Pennsylvania on Friday night.

Trump, in an interview taped Friday with Americano Media, a conservative Spanish-language network, called the attack on Paul Pelosi a terrible thing, but the former president also tried to link it to crime in U.S. cities.

For years, Republicans have tried to make Pelosi a campaign boogeyman, using the 82-year-old's image as a recurring caricature in countless ads against Democrats, including many now airing in races nationwide during a hostile election season.

The head of the Republican National Committee, Ronna McDaniel, said Sunday it was unfair to blame the GOP for creating a political climate that could have laid the ground for such an attack.

You cant say people saying, Lets fire Pelosi or 'Lets take back the House is saying go do violence," she told Fox News Sunday.

The House GOP's campaign chief, Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer, was asked during a Sunday interview about a tweet promoting his own video, which shows him shooting a gun at an indoor target.

Enjoyed exercising my Second Amendment rights, Emmer tweeted, mentioning he was with two House GOP candidates. The video includes the imagery and sounds of the rifle being fired. The tweet was posted Wednesday, before Paul Pelosi was assaulted, and said: 13 days to make history. Lets #FirePelosi.

Emmer said on CBS' Face the Nation that he was just "exercising our Second Amendment rights, having fun.

Both McDaniel and House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of California said Paul Pelosi's assailant was "deranged.

McCarthy said on Fox News Channel's Sunday Morning Futures that violence or the threat of violence has no place in our society.

Five years ago, a left-wing activist opened fire on Republicans as they practiced for an annual charity baseball game. Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana was critically wounded. In 2011, then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., was shot in the head at an event outside a Tucson grocery store.

Elon Musk jumped into the debate Sunday tweeting, then deleting, a link to a fringe website with an unfounded rumor about the attack on Speaker Pelosi's husband. Sent to his millions of followers, Musk's tweet came just days after his purchase of Twitter fueled concerns that the social media platform would no longer seek to limit misinformation and hate speech.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who leads the Senate committee overseeing security at the Capitol, said lawmakers are considering new measures, including taking their private information off the internet.

Klobuchar, D-Minn., noted, however that Nancy Pelosi has been villainized for years and, big surprise, its gone viral, and it went violent.

I think it is really important that people realize that it is not just this moment of this horrific attack, but that we have seen violence perpetrated throughout our political system, Klobuchar told NBC's Meet the Press.

___

Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in New York, Seung Min Kim in Wilmington, Delaware, and Stefanie Dazio in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Once you begin collecting art, the next important steps involve protecting each piece with careful framing (Artiq)

In certain circles, October has become known colloquially as art month, playing host as it does to Frieze London and Frieze Masters, PAD London, StART Art Fair, and the Affordable Art Fair, among many other art fairs and industry gatherings. The global diversity of the art community that gathers in London during art month means theres something for everyone, from Blue Chip investment pieces to limited prints for new collectors. But art month has come to a close, so what next? Is your latest acquisition languishing in a gallerys storage rooms awaiting shipment, or is it propped uncertainly on your sideboard while you decide where it should live in the long term?

This week, I spoke to three art experts about what to do once youve made that purchase, from moving your new artwork between homes and countries to hanging it, and finally, to lighting it.

Transporting art means carrying and caring for objects that are unique, culturally significant, financially valuable and personally important, says Edouard Gouin, a co-founder at the art shipping company, Convelio, which is responsible for the development of the first instant quoting tool for fine art logistics services. These can be passion pieces, heirlooms, investments or gifts, but no matter the purpose or destination of these objects, all shipments require the utmost care and attention with correct and complete knowledge of the journey each piece takes from A to B.

Gouin and his fellow co-founder, Clement Ouizille, started Convelio in the spirit of contemporary ecommerce. Traditionally, moving a piece of artwork takes weeks of preparation and can be hugely slow-moving and frustrating. With the automated pricing technology the duo has developed in-house, the process has been completely rethought, from the packaging material costs to sustainability concerns, insurance options to bespoke restoration guidance. Clients, be they individual collectors, interior designers or even businesses, can save time, money and resources by using Convelios technology to define a quote in seconds.

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However, any art shipment project requires basic information to get the ball rolling. Your shipments weight, dimensions, fragility and value should be at the forefront of your mind, says Gouin. Its also important to be mindful of what the risk factors are to the artwork youre moving. Think about your shipments fragility, temperature control or shock requirements, and choose a shipper that can cater to this, he says.

Once your artwork reaches its destination, its time to give it the home you might have envisaged for it on first viewing. Beth Fleming, the lead curator at Artiq, an art procurement, delivery and curation agency, says: Once you begin collecting art, the next important steps involve protecting each piece with careful framing, and of course, showing them off through methods of thoughtful hanging and display. For Fleming, its all about positioning your artwork for maximum impact: Look for inspiration all around you, including galleries, museums, stately homes, cafes, hotels, places of work and restaurants, she says, adding, the art that sits all around us is consciously framed and displayed to draw us in and connect us to the art piece in a more intimate way.

Ensure you have a central focus ... then add smaller frames that will build out from this eye-level viewing height (Artiq)

The most important thing is to consider the hanging height of your artwork, says Fleming. Art is best viewed at eye level approximately at the midpoint of your artwork. A guideline height from the floor would be roughly 160cm. For clusters or salon hang arrangements ensure you have a central focus held by the larger or more striking pieces to form this central point you can then add smaller frames that will build out from this eye-level viewing height.

One of the most underexplored ways to elevate your art collection at home is with art lighting. Rehanging your artwork to play with themes and subject matter or colour and texture can bring new interest to any room, but your collection can become so much more impactful in the space with some considered lighting. Light is what allows us to see art and using the correct type of light is fundamental to perceive the depth, texture, detail, vibrancy and colour of an artwork, says Andrew Molyneux, a co-founder at TM Lighting, the art lighting specialist behind this years Frieze London exhibition, as well as the collections at Goodwood House, Burghley House, The Wallace Collection, Apsley House, Blenheim Palace and some of the most sought-after private homes in the UK.

We use LED lights in all of our art lighting fixtures because they dont contain damaging UV or infrared light (TM Lighting)

Molyneux advises his clients to be mindful of the kind of light under which theyre viewing their collections. This approach ensures the artwork can be viewed in the clearest possible light without any glare and without damaging the artwork with over-lighting. We use LED lights in all of our art lighting fixtures because they dont contain damaging UV or infrared light, meaning they wont damage the colour. They also enhance natural daylight for better rendition, add sensitive colour temperature levels to lighting schemes to add atmosphere, and they ensure colour consistency, which is crucial for the uniformity of colour under the lights.

The presence of glare is arguably one of the most common and frustrating art lighting errors, so to combat this, Molyneux suggests, avoiding placing glazed artworks directly opposite large windows, and using tactically angled lighting to reduce visible reflections.
ART FOR LIFE Benefit - July 24, 2004

Ashanti is clear on why she finally broke her silence regarding her past rumored relationship with music executive Irv Gotti: to set the record straight.

In a new interview, the Grammy-winning singer told The Shade Room, I had to think about everything a lot. You know, its been a long time, its been 20 years. Ashanti signed to Murder Inc Records in 2001 and released five albums with them before cutting ties with the label in 2009. She has since gained ownership of her masters and is in the process of rerecording her debut self-titled album.

In the clip posted on Saturday (Oct. 29), Ashanti continued: But I also felt like I had to make a statement, and I had to stand up and be cognizant of how women are treated in this industry. You know, I just felt like I had to be strong enough to be honest and say my piece, and make it very clear.

Gotti had social media in a chokehold when he appeared on Drink Champs in August, where he recalled his alleged affair with the singer. He doubled down on those claims in his documentary, The Murder Inc Story, where he went as far as alleging that the songstress hit song Happy was a byproduct of their hooking up. His remarks spurred an onslaught of criticism, with many questioning why he was so willing to discuss his alleged romantic dealings with Ashanti after so many years had passed.

For months, the Written Entertainment CEO remained tight-lipped on the matter. As previously reported by REVOLT, however, Ashanti jumped on the remix to Sean Diddy Combs single Gotta Move On, where she took a jab at Gottis remarks. On the song, she sings: Its givin, Obsessed, its givin, You stressed, its givin, You pressed/ Its givin, This n**ga missin the best/ But its been twenty years, n**ga, please, say less. She again addressed the topic but in more detail when she appeared on Angie Martinezs podcast, IRL.

Watch some of the notable moments from Ashantis recent interview below.
Cop27, the annual United Nations global climate summit, will take place in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt over 10 days in November.

Following last years Cop26 gathering in Glasgow, the conference from the 6th to the 18th will again see world leaders and their teams of negotiators come together to thrash out deals to safeguard the future of the planet.

Cop27 is open to all parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the landmark treaty signed by many nations at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

That treaty was aimed at reining in dangerous human interference with the climate system - and later led to the emissions-cutting deals Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement.

Observer organisations like environmental NGOs, think-tanks and faith-based groups, as well as members of the media and the general public, are also allowed to attend.

More than 200 governments have been invited to take part although not all world leaders have confirmed their attendance.

Despite Cop27 coinciding with the US Midterms elections, President Joe Biden will reportedly join climate envoy John Kerry in Egypt. The White House has been reluctant to discuss travel plans in detail, and whether the US leader will sit down with Chinese Premier Xi Jinping is not yet known.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin, a pariah due to the war in Ukraine, is not expected to show up although the Kremlin could still send delegates to the summit.

As host nation, Egypt has called on countries otherwise hostile to one another to put their differences aside and show leadership for the greater good of the planet.

Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin would be two of the biggest names to attend (Getty/EPA)

Also set to miss out was new UK prime minister Rishi Sunak, who has since U-turned on that snub and will now be there.

His initial decision to prioritise Britains Autumn Budget over the summit was blasted as a massive failure of leadership by Labours shadow climate secretary Ed Miliband and his party leader Sir Keir Starmer.

The PMs environment secretary, Therese Coffey, then made matters worse by attempting to justify the call by saying it was standard practice and downplaying Cop27 as just a gathering of people in Egypt.

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Alok Sharma MP, who was UK president of Cop26, will also attend despite losing his Cabinet post in Mr Sunaks first reshuffle. It is also possible that Ms Coffey, foreign secretary James Cleverly and/or business secretary Grant Shapps will be there.

Alok Sharma, the president of Cop26, when it was hosted by the UK in Glasgow (Jane Barlow/PA)

Mr Sharma appeared before a number of parliamentary committees on Mr Sunaks first day in office and said the government should explain and demonstrate how pivoting back towards fossil fuel exploitation is consistent with the fight against climate change.

Egyptian diplomat Mohamed Nasr has implored Britain to play a significant role at Cop27. We know that there are challenges, economic challenges that are there, facing the UK and other countries, but we hope that those challenges does not lead to backsliding on the pledges, he told Sky News.

Egypts ambassador also said that he hopes King Charles III will rethink skipping the summit, a decision held over from Liz Trusss brief tenure as PM as part of a bid to keep the new monarch at one remove from political concerns.

The invitation is still there, its an open invitation, Mr Nasr said. He has been a very strong advocate for climate action.

He has been a role model for... putting not only his political weight behind the climate change discussion, but also that he has been influencing and giving the right image for how royalty can push for the climate agenda.

King Charles III is not expected to attend despite his long-held concerns about climate (Kirsty OConnor/PA)

So we hope that he will be there, and we still hope that he can make it and come and come to Sharm El-Sheikh.

Ms Coffey has since said that it is up to His Majesty to decide how he chooses where to put his priorities in his reign as king.

Earlier this month, Wael Aboulmagd, a special representative for the Cop27 presidency, told Reuters that around 90 nations had confirmed they would be in attendance, although he did not name specific countries.

Weve received a large number of confirmations from around the world, I think the last count was about 90 heads of state but the numbers keep coming in, he said.

What weve decided is that our heads of state section will not be a traditional plenary-only type of affair, but rather there will be six roundtables... for heads of state to actually engage in a discussion on the issue at hand.

The guest list continues to grow as we get closer to the opening date, with Hollywood superstar and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio a possible attendee once again, the actor having clearly enjoyed his time in Scotland a year ago.
Good Morning America

First lady Jill Biden on Monday unveiled this year's White House holiday decorations, announcing the theme as "We the People." More than 150 volunteers from across the country spent a week helping to decorate the inside and outside of the White House with 25 wreaths, 77 Christmas trees and over 83,615 holiday lights. There is also a gingerbread White House that was made out of 20 sheets of sugar cookie dough, 30sheets of gingerbread dough, 100 pounds of pastillage, 30 pounds of chocolate, and 40 pounds of royal icing, according to the office of the first lady.
One woman has gone viral after giving a flattering comment to Barack Obama. The former president was speaking at a rally in Detroit to show support for Michigan Democrats.

The woman caught Obamas attention after he expressed some concern about his age.

I have to admit that sometimes going out on the campaign trail feels a little harder than it used to, not just because Im getting older and grayer, the 61-year-old began.

Thats when a rally-attendee reminded Obama that Black never cracks.

You fine than a motherf**ker, a woman standing behind the former president shouted.

The 44th president, who was smiling from ear to ear, wanted to make sure the audience heard the woman.

I dont know if yall heard that. Im sorry, what did you say, he said.

She said I was still fine, he repeated.

The former president also wanted to make sure he doesnt get in trouble at home.

Im not gonna tell Michelle you said that, although Michelle does agree, he blushed.

Obama: Im getting old and gray. Black lady: You fine than a mfer. pic.twitter.com/8ilpc5GsKM  Renee (@PettyLupone) October 29, 2022

According to Click On Detroit, Obama delivered his speech at a packed gymnasium at Detroits Renaissance High School. Obama has been making stops in key battleground states such as Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia to show support for Democratic candidates.

The 61-year-old has been focusing on issues such as voting rights and abortion laws.

The most personal of health choices should be between a woman and her doctor, not politicians, Obama said in Detroit. Here in Michigan, this isnt even theoretical, abortion rights are literally on the ballot.
The Daily Beast

GettyRussian forces may be preparing to leave the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which Russia has occupied since the early months of the war this year, according to Ukrainian authorities.Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said Sunday he believes Russian troops will be leaving the power plant as Ukrainian forces continue to make advances in occupied territories.Russian servicemen will leave the Zaporizhzhia NPP, as their line of defense is gradua
President Biden voted early in the November midterms at a polling center in Delaware on Saturday alongside his granddaughter Natalie Biden, the 18-year-old daughter of Beau Biden.

The two members of the Biden family voted one after another at the same polling station, where the president announced that it was his granddaughters first time voting to the applause of the election workers.

The president and Natalie Biden placed I voted stickers on one another after casting their votes and the elder Biden kissed his granddaughter on the cheek.

After voting, the president said that he is feeling good about midterms after traveling to various states to campaign.

This is not a referendum, Biden said of the election. Its a fundamental choice between two different people.

His comments echoed those he made earlier this week at a Democratic National Committee event calling the midterm elections a choice between two vastly different visions for America.

In the same speech, Biden referred to some Republican policy choices as mega-MAGA trickle-down politics in the extreme.

On Saturday, the president reiterated his support for Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman (D), for whom he has campaigned, at the polling station.

Fetterman is my kind of guy, Biden said. Hes just getting better and better.

Biden returned to a discussion of extremism when asked about the recent assault on Paul Pelosi, the businessman married to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

We dont know for certain but it looks like this was intended for Nancy, Biden said of the incident, in which a man allegedly asked for the Speaker before assaulting her husband at their San Francisco home.

The president continued: Its one thing to condemn the violence. But you cant condemn the violence unless you condemn those people who are arguing that the election is not real.

The talk has to stop. Thats the problem. Thats the problem  condemn what produces the violence, he said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
To get a sense of who is truly in control of The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. We can see that institutions own the lion's share in the company with 50% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Since institutional have access to huge amounts of capital, their market moves tend to receive a lot of scrutiny by retail or individual investors. Therefore, a good portion of institutional money invested in the company is usually a huge vote of confidence on its future.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Boeing.

Check out our latest analysis for Boeing

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Boeing?

Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Boeing. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Boeing's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Boeing. The company's largest shareholder is The Vanguard Group, Inc., with ownership of 7.5%. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 7.4% and 5.5%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

On studying our ownership data, we found that 25 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest.

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While studying institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understand of a stock's expected performance. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Boeing

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.

Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.

Our information suggests that The Boeing Company insiders own under 1% of the company. As it is a large company, we'd only expect insiders to own a small percentage of it. But it's worth noting that they own US$60m worth of shares. It is good to see board members owning shares, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 43% stake in Boeing. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. For instance, we've identified 1 warning sign for Boeing that you should be aware of.

If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its future.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.

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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Capt. (ret.) Gerald Turning, of Blue Bridge Autism Training in New Jersey, addresses representatives of several agencies from LaPorte and Porter counties at Portage High School on Monday, Oct. 24, 2022. (Deena Lawley-Dixon / Post-Tribune)

First responders dont know enough about special needs and autism as they should, said Micah Bell, director of Porter County Search and Rescue. On the search and rescue side of things, it is not if we will be looking for someone with autism, its when. A large percentage of the searches we do have an autism component.

Bell and the Portage Township Autism Action Coalition, under the direction of Portage Township Trustee Brendan Clancy, put together free regional autism training on Oct. 24. Those in attendance were first responders, educators, bus drivers, and staff members from the juvenile court, YMCA and American Red Cross from LaPorte to Schererville.

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These folks are here on their own time to learn, said Bell.

Portage Township Autism Action Coalition was formed in 2020 and since its inception has distributed some 180 autism sensory kits to first responders and schools in Portage Township. They have also initiated an emergency identification bracelet program, window cling program and, most recently, partnered with the Portage Township YMCA to offer water safety classes to children on the spectrum.

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Keynote speaker and parent of an autistic young adult was Capt. (ret.) Gerald Turning from Blue Bridge Autism Training in New Jersey.

Any person we can help learn about people on the spectrum is one more person out there more educated, said Turning.

Attendees from Porter and LaPorte counties listen to Capt. (ret.) Gerald Turning, of Blue Bridge Autism Training in New Jersey, during a program on Monday, Oct. 24, 2022, at Portage High School. (Deena Lawley-Dixon / Post-Tribune)

In 2008, 1 in 88 children in the U.S. were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. That number in 2018 was 1 in 44 children. Autism affects all ethnic and socioeconomic groups. An estimated 40% of people with autism are nonverbal, according to information on the website autismspeaks.org.

Behavior can get mischaracterized, said Turning, who played 911 recordings and showed YouTube videos of law enforcement interactions with people with autism. Everyone will leave here today knowing what stimming is, and understanding how to read verbal and physical cues. Stimming is sensory stimulating behavior, according to autismspeaks.org.

They are not the ones that need to change. We need to change, said Joyce Russell, community outreach coordinator for the PTAAC, who was pleased with the number of attendees from all the various agencies.

We are here to prevent a tragedy. The key is understanding, said Bell.

Deena Lawley-Dixon is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro took an early lead in the initial vote tally of Sunday's presidential election, ahead of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose Workers Party usually gets stronger support in regions that are slower to report results.

With 5.6% of voting machines counted, Bolsonaro had 53.2% of valid votes, compared with 46.8% for Lula, the Superior Electoral Court reported on its website.

(Reporting by Sao Paulo Newsroom)
By Brian Ellsworth and Lisandra Paraguassu

SAO PAULO (Reuters) -Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva narrowly defeated President Jair Bolsonaro in a runoff election on Sunday that marked a stunning comeback for the leftist former president and the end of Brazil's most right-wing government in decades.

Brazil's Supreme Electoral Court declared Lula the next president, with 50.9% of votes versus 49.1% for Bolsonaro. The 77-year-old Lula's inauguration is scheduled for Jan. 1.

The vote was a rebuke for the fiery far-right populism of Bolsonaro, who emerged from the back benches of Congress to forge a novel conservative coalition but lost support as Brazil ran up one of the worst death tolls of the coronavirus pandemic.

Bolsonaro remained silent on Sunday night after the results were announced and some of his allies publicly acknowledged his defeat, defying expectations that he might immediately challenge the narrow result after making baseless claims of fraud in previous elections.

Bolsonaro did not make a call to Lula, according to campaign advisers.

Lula said in a speech he would unite a divided country and ensure that Brazilians "put down arms that never should have been taken up," while inviting international cooperation to preserve the Amazon rainforest and make global trade more fair.

"I will govern for 215 million Brazilians, and not just for those who voted for me," Lula said at his campaign headquarters. "There are not two Brazils. We are one country, one people, one great nation."

Lula arrived at a rally in Sao Paulo shortly after 8:00 p.m. (1100 GMT), waving from the sunroof of a car. Ecstatic supporters near Paulista Avenue waited for him, chanting slogans and drinking champagne.

Vice President-elect Geraldo Alckmin and campaign aides jumped up and down chanting, "It's time Jair, it's time to leave already," in a video circulating on social media.

OPPOSITION

Last year, Bolsonaro, 67, openly discussed refusing to accept the results of the vote.

Story continues

A senior Bolsonaro campaign aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he would not make a speech on Sunday. The Bolsonaro campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

One close Bolsonaro ally, lawmaker Carla Zambelli, in an apparent nod to Lula's victory wrote on Twitter, "I PROMISE you, I will be the greatest opposition that Lula has ever imagined."

Electoral authorities are bracing for him to dispute the outcome, sources told Reuters, and made security preparations in case his supporters stage protests.

U.S. President Joe Biden congratulated Lula for winning "free, fair and credible elections," joining a chorus of compliments from European and Latin American leaders.

His victory consolidates a new "pink tide" in Latin America, after landmark leftist victories in Colombia and Chile's elections, echoing a regional political shift two decades ago that introduced Lula to the world stage.

Lula has vowed a return to state-driven economic growth and social policies that helped lift millions out of poverty when he was previously president from 2003 to 2010. He also promises to combat destruction of the Amazon rainforest, now at a 15-year high, and make Brazil a leader in global climate talks.

"These were four years of hatred, of negation of science," Ana Valeria Doria, 60, a doctor in Rio de Janeiro who celebrated with a drink. "It won't be easy for Lula to manage the division in this country. But for now it's pure happiness."

A former union leader born into poverty, Lula organized strikes against Brazil's military government in the 1970s. His two-term presidency was marked by a commodity-driven economic boom and he left office with record popularity.

However, his Workers Party was later tarred by a deep recession and a record-breaking corruption scandal that jailed him for 19 months on bribery convictions, which were overturned by the Supreme Court last year.

In his third term, Lula will confront a sluggish economy, tighter budget constraints and a more hostile legislature.

Bolsonaro's allies form the largest bloc in Congress after this month's general election and won the races for governor in Brazil's three most economically powerful states, highlighting the enduring strength of his conservative coalition.

(Reporting by Brian Ellsworth and Lisandra Paraguassu in Sao Paulo, Anthony Boadle and Ricardo Brito in Brasilia, Gabriel Stargardter in Rio de Janeiro; Editing by Brad Haynes and Grant McCool)
A school bus driver transporting dozens of elementary students from a field trip was more than two times the legal driving limit for blood alcohol content, Virginia officials said.

The bus veered off a road, landing in a ditch during the ordeal that left nine children hurt, according to the Fairfax County Police Department.

Its obviously a very concerning situation, Capt. Rachel Levy said in video of a news conference that WTTG shared on Facebook. We expect our children to go to school and come home safe every day, to include if theyre on a field trip.

Now, the man accused of being behind the wheel of the bus is facing multiple charges, including driving while intoxicated. Police in an Oct. 28 news release didnt list attorney information for the driver, identified as 48-year-old Troy Reynolds.

Lewis Ferebee, chancellor of nearby District of Columbia Public Schools, in an online post said that there had been an isolated traffic incident impacting Murch Elementary School students on Oct. 27. The district said the children received medical evaluations and reported no serious injuries.

DCPS takes this incident very seriously, and our teams will do a thorough review of our transportation vendors to ensure that student safety is always prioritized, Ferebee wrote in the statement posted to Twitter.

Police said the bus had 44 students and four adults on board after a field trip to Cox Farms in Centreville, Virginia. The driver reportedly was taking students back to Murch Elementary School in Washington, D.C., when the bus went into a ditch along Braddock Road in Fairfax County, Virginia.

The bus struck a rock, causing the rim to bend and the rear tire to flatten, officials wrote. Reynolds continued driving until the adults on the bus convinced him to follow a second bus, which was also returning to the school from the field trip. The two buses stopped in a parking lot.

First responders were called to the parking lot, where nine students received treatment for non-life-threatening injuries, according to officers. Kids from the two buses were taken to another location before returning to their school.

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Among the two buses, police reported finding 18 safety violations.

Reynolds, a Maryland resident, was arrested and taken to jail. He is accused of having a blood alcohol concentration of 0.2, more than two times Virginias legal driving limit of 0.08.

Reynolds was charged with driving while intoxicated  2nd within 5-10 years with a child, commercial DWI with child endangerment, and nine counts of gross, wanton, or reckless care for child, officials wrote. Additionally, Reynolds license was found to be revoked in Virginia from a prior DWI and suspended in Maryland.

Elementary school substitute comes to school drunk, gets arrested, SC cops say

Teacher brought alcohol to school and taught kids while drunk, California cops say
An appeal filed by the legal team of incarcerated former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez has been denied.

The Sixth Appellate Court of California denied a petition for writ of habeas corpus in an order issued Wednesday, according to a court record obtained by MMA Junkie.

The 246-page request, which challenged past rulings of Santa Clara County Judge Shelyna Brown denying Velasquez bail, was denied summarily, meaning without explanation.

Velasquezs lead attorney Mark Geragos did not immediately respond to MMA Junkies request for comment.

Facing a handful of charges, including attempted murder, Velasquez is set for a pre-trial hearing Nov. 7 in San Jose, Calif. His alleged shooting target, accused child molester Harry Goularte, will have a pre-trial hearing of his own Nov. 14. Goularte faces one felony charge of lewd acts with a minor, allegedly Velasquezs 4-year-old son.

Velasquez, 40, faces 20 years to life in prison if found guilty. Goularte, who is currently out on bail, faces up to eight years if found guilty. Both Velasquez and Goularte have pleaded not guilty.

A civil lawsuit filed by the Velasquez family against the Goularte family is in the preliminary stages with the next hearing scheduled for March 2023.

Story originally appeared on MMA Junkie
The Carolina Panthers will be visiting the North Carolina National Guard in Salisbury on Tuesday at 11:30 a.m.

The National Guardsmen, who are preparing to deploy, will host both players and staff of the NFL team at N.C. Guard Army Aviation Flight Facility #2.

ALSO READ: Cooking up team chemistry: Panthers benefit from backyard BBQs with local chef

The event will include an aircraft tour, a helicopter sling load demonstration and time for soldiers and players to meet and greet.

(WATCH BELOW: Panthers Bradley Boozeman talks taking over starting center role)
Updated Nov. 9

A proposal that would have made Michigan home to one of the largest voucher-like systems in the country is in jeopardy after the victory Tuesday night of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the likely emergence of a Democratic state legislature.

Whitmer handily defeated Trump-endorsed Republican Tudor Dixon. But it is the possibility of Michigans first Democratic trifecta since 1984 that could kill the proposal to create Education Savings Accounts in the state. Even if voters collected enough signatures to put the matter to a vote in the legislature, Democrats would almost certainly reject it, experts say.

A proposal before Michigan voters would create one of the largest voucher-like systems in the country, with the potential to offer more than a half-billion dollars in public funds for students to attend private schools.

Theres just one hitch: Most residents have never heard of it.

In a recent statewide poll, 93% of the electorate knew little or nothing about the proposal, which has been enthusiastically backed by former education secretary Betsy DeVos and her family, who have donated $4 million to the cause. The proposal would create Education Scholarship Accounts (ESAs) that offer 100 percent tax credit for donations to opportunity scholarships that pay for private school tuition and other educational services.

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Theres always conversations about vouchers, said Terah Chambers of East Lansing. But I havent heard anything from parents or others in my district about this initiative.

Terah Chambers (Trevor Hawks)

Chambers serves on the board of her local school district, where her son is in sixth grade. She is also a professor of education, focusing on K-12 administration, at Michigan State University. If anyone would be expected to understand the complexities of the states proposed school choice initiative  or hear other parents concerns  it would be her.

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But thats not the case.

Im an education policy scholar and I dont always understand the nuances of these types of initiatives, she said. They can be intentionally written in a way that masks the motivation and impact. Of course people will have trouble understanding them.

Michigan has long debated vouchers and school choice. So far, legal efforts to overturn a constitutional amendment barring public funds from going to private schools have failed. In 2000, the state emphatically defeated a voucher initiative. But theres some evidence that the times have changed as the pandemic exacerbated existing educational inequities and fueled parent discontent. In addition, the U.S. Supreme Court has in recent years shown itself willing to embrace broad definitions of school choice.

Former U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is strongly backing a school-choice initiative in her home state of Michigan. (Getty Images)

Along with the funds from DeVos and her family, Let MI Kids Learn  the political action committee backing the initiative  has received another $4 million from other supporters.

But few potential voters are focused on the measure.

A May survey conducted by EPIC-MRA, a Michigan-based polling company, found that 93 percent of Michigan voters knew little or nothing about the proposal. After respondents heard a neutral message explaining the initiative, 36 percent supported it and 48 percent opposed it, with 16 percent undecided. That reflects a majority of Democrats and plurality of Republicans, said Bernie Porn, the companys president.

The lack of attention is in inverse proportion to the proposals possible outsized impact. It would create one of the largest ESA programs in the country in terms of how much money it can divert from the state, according to Josh Cowen, a professor of education policy at Michigan State University.

Josh Cowen (Michigan State University College of Education)

The scholarship fund has a $500 million cap the first year, and could increase by 20 percent annually depending on how much of the fund is distributed.

Tax shelters for the wealthy

Michigans scholarship proposal is modeled on one passed in Kentucky, said Beth DeShone, executive director of the Great Lakes Education Project, an advocacy group established by DeVos. The Kentucky program is currently being challenged in court. The Franklin District Court ruled that the program violated a provision in the state constitution that prohibits using private money for public education. The decision was appealed, and the states Supreme Court heard arguments in October.

This type of initiative is distinctly different than a state voucher that is normally given directly to a private school, DeShone added. Here, the families completely control where those dollars go and who the service provider will be. We fully believe that families need every opportunity in their toolbox to meet the needs of their individual students.

The Michigan scholarships would be available to all students five years old or over whose family is defined as low-income under the proposals formula, has a disability or is in foster care. The money is expected to primarily fund private school tuition, but can also be used for tutoring, transportation and other education needs, according to Michael Van Beek, director of research at the conservative Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a Michigan think tank.

Related: In Her Home State of Michigan, Betsy DeVos is Closer than Ever to Realizing Her Dream of Private School Choice

Education choice has also been a hot topic in the Michigan governors race. Democratic incumbent Gretchen Whitmer opposes the education proposal, while her Republican challenger Tudor Dixon supports it. DeVos is also a big Dixon supporter and has contributed at least $7 million to her campaign.

Last year, both houses of the Michigan legislature passed bills that would have created ESAs, but Whitmer vetoed them, saying they would turn private schools into tax shelters for the wealthy.

In most other states, that would be the end of the story: Advocates would have to wait for a more sympathetic governor or put it before voters in 2024. But in Michigan, supporters have another option: Residents can petition to send the matter to the legislature. They have already turned in the needed number of signatures (8 percent of those who voted in the last gubernatorial election  in this case, 340,047 signatures) and once they are certified by the secretary of state, the proposal will go before the legislature.

If it passes, the governor cannot veto it. If it is defeated or not acted upon, it will go before voters in 2024.

The idea was that the Republican-dominated legislature would rubber stamp the initiative, said Bill Ballenger, a political pundit who served as a Republican state legislator almost 50 years ago and now publishes The Ballenger Report, an irreverent look at Michigan politics. It would be an end-run around the governor.

But he predicted Benson will not submit the initiative to the legislature until after the Nov. 8 election.

And since an independent commission redrew the states districts, everything is up for grabs, Ballenger said. There is rampant speculation about whether the Republicans will control one or both of the Houses or if the Democrats will. And while Whitmer is still ahead of Dixon in most polls, her lead is shrinking as the election nears.

Ballenger, noting the 2000 private-school voucher initiative that got killed, nonetheless wonders if the pandemic has shifted public opinion. But he still believes the measure will be defeated if it goes on the ballot in 2024.

Money should follow the child

Unlike most potential voters in the state, Katie Woodhams, a mother of three in the Kalamazoo area, is well-aware of the opportunity scholarships and is a big supporter.

Her oldest, a high school freshman, has high-functioning autism and does most of his schooling remotely. But he participates in archery on-site. He can also meet with teachers at school or, if room is available, sit in on a class.

Her middle son is attending seventh grade in-class in a public school, but was previously enrolled in virtual learning because of severe asthma. And her daughter, a first-grader, is also going virtual for the time being.

Katie Woodhams (Courtesy of Katie Woodhams)

The schooling is provided without cost through the public system, and she believes her children have received a great education. Shes become a strong advocate for choice, she said, because thats what her children have enjoyed.

Its extremely important we are funding the students and not funding systems, she said, echoing a common message among supporters.

Related: Badger State Bellwether? If Purple Wisconsin Goes Red, Expect School Voucher Boom

Shed also like financial help, which the act could give, to provide sports for her middle son, arts programs for her daughter and social coaching for her older son; Woodhams said she and her husband now pay $150 monthly for the social skills coaching.

Part of the trouble are widely conflicting estimates about how the tax credits  which allow residents to divert state taxes to the scholarships  will affect spending on public education. Much of that depends on how many students now going to public schools would use scholarships to switch to private schools.

EDlection 2022 The 74s rolling coverage of key 2022 candidates, races and votes that could shape the future of American education.

Based on research conducted by the nonprofit EdChoice, 60-90 percent of scholarship uses would come from public schools, Van Beek, of the Mackinac Center, said. The financial impact on the state would be minimal, because what it would lose in taxes, it would gain by not paying for students who have left public education, he added.

Cowen, who has researched voucher programs around the country for 17 years  including five as an official evaluator of Wisconsins voucher program noted that both Arizona and New Hampshire recently expanded private school voucher programs. In Arizona, 75 percent of the new voucher users were students already in private schools and in New Hampshire, that figure was 90 percent.

Related: As Voters Pick Next Governor, Arizona Cements Education Savings Accounts

Dont take my word for it, dont take Mackinacs word, look what happened in other states, he said.

Peeling back the layers

The main group opposing the initiative, the For MI Kids, For Our Schools coalition, has raised far less money than its opposition  the majority from the Michigans teachers union PAC. Mark Schauer, treasurer of the opposition coalition, argues that the program has the potential to siphon up to $1 billion in public tax dollars away from the state.

Chambers, the school board member and education professor, worries that the proposal is a mechanism to put public funds into private hands. The trouble with initiatives like this is that they sound great on paper  who wants to oppose the idea of opportunity scholarships  but if you peel back the layers, this will not help us accomplish what we want to in this state.

Despite a very favorable education budget passed by the state last year, Chambers said the state is facing a long-time disinvestment in education that is cumulative. She pointed to the fact the state ranked 36th in the recent National Assessment of Educational Progress released in October.

Bernita Bradley (Courtesy of Bernita Bradley)

One thing that is often lost in school choice debates, Cowen said, is how students do academically. Research, especially more recent studies, shows that children who use vouchers to move to private schools often do worse academically based on standardized test scores than comparable students in public schools. Thats because there simply arent enough good private schools to serve at-risk students, he said.

For Bernita Bradley, a Detroit resident and a director with the National Parents Union, a network of parent organizations and activists, neither side is looking out for the interests of Black and brown children.

She has tried city and suburban public, charter and private schools for her children and wasnt satisfied with any of them. She agrees with Republicans that money should follow the child, but asks, Whos going to make sure thats equitably done?

For that reason, she practices what she calls extreme choice. In 2020, she started Engaged Detroit, a homeschooling co-op and advocacy network. She homeschooled her own daughter, who has now graduated, for a year and a half.

Lack of satisfactory educational opportunities for many of Michigans children is not a pandemic thing, or a last 10- or 20-years thing, she said. This has been going on for generations.
This year has been a big one for Sheryl Lee Ralph.

In 2022 alone, Ralphs five-decades long career has continued to rise with the success of Abbott Elementary, a role which earned her an Emmy nomination and subsequent win. The touching moment turned out to be the gift that keeps on giving, including serving as the inspiration for Halloween costumes a plenty.

Tanikia Thompson-Carpenter, a 38-year-old actor from Chicago, brought out all of the stops for her costume this year. In honor of Ralphs glorious win at the Emmy Awards in September 2022, Thompson-Carpenter recreated the actors look from the award show with one special surprise  her 4-year-old daughter, India, dressed as the actual Emmy award.

Thompson-Carpenter shared a video of her costume on Instagram on Friday, Oct. 28 that showed off the mother-daughter look. She wore a strapless black gown with her hair styled in a slicked-back braided ponytail adorned with rhinestones a la Ralphs from the evening. Meanwhile, her daughter wore a metallic gold onesie and posed with a gold wire sculpture to pull off her look at Ralphs Emmy.

The video caught the attention of Ralph herself, with the actor reposting the clip on her own Instagram later that day. In the caption, she penned a touching note for Thompson-Carpenter, writing, Its her Lil Emmy for me. Lord I think Ive seen it all! I think this probably might be the best Halloween costume I have ever seen! #thisiswhatbelievinglookslike.

Thompson-Carpenter  who is an actor and writer herself  has always been drawn to the big award shows. She talked about the significance of the shows to TODAY on the phone, explaining, The Emmys and Oscars are big nights for me because Im always just really inspired from all of the categories and of course, women of color who are nominated and actually win.

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So for her to be a Black woman and seeing her from Moesha to Sister Act 2 and knowing that shes been in the game for a long time and never really got her flowers, literally I was crying when she won, she said before lauding Ralph's look. She literally looked like walking art. Everything was whimsical. I kid you not, that night I said, That is my Halloween costume and my daughter is gonna be the Emmy.

They even recreated a step and repeat! (Tanikia Thompson-Carpenter)

The mother-daughter costume was a fit for more reasons that one, too. Thompson-Carpenter shared another sentimental reason behind her costume, adding, I said it because thats her first Emmy and my daughter, shes my first baby, so it just makes sense. Thats her first and I have my first.

Thompson-Carpenter started planning out her outfit after the award show, scouring online stores for parts of the look, including the rhinestones for her hair and her daughters gold metallic onesie. She was able to find the black gown online as well and talked to her hairstylist about creating a braid to resemble Ralphs long, bejeweled hair from the award show.

Posing for the cameras! (Tanikia Thompson-Carpenter)

In addition to being fans of Ralph, Abbott Elementary happens to be one of the familys favorite shows to watch together. In fact, Thompson-Carpenter said that while her daughter doesnt watch much TV, the ABC smash hit has caught her eye.

She pays attention to Abbott because of the children and its her first year at school, she explained. When Abbott is on, thats the only grown-up show that she will actually watch when the kids are actually in the scene. Shell be like Oh, they get in line, I get in line! Just little things that she recognized that she does in her class.

This face on India may be the cutest thing we've ever seen. (Tanikia Thompson-Carpenter)

Ralph wasn't the only that celebrated Thompson-Carpenter's homage to her, either. The comment section included sweet sentiments from Viola Davis, Terri J. Vaughn, and Terrell Carter.

I have been shaking all night, Thompson-Carpenter said of the celebrity response. I was at a friends house last night for game night and I couldnt even focus because every time I would open Instagram, it would be another mini happy attack. I couldnt take it because these are all people who I look up to in the industry."

The response Thompson-Carpenter has gotten on her costume outside of the celebrity reactions has been touching for her too. Between the direct messages she has received and people tagging her and resharing her video, she said the support means a lot, explaining, As a content creator, as writer, and an actor myself, we have these ideas all the time and you never know whats going to go viral.

To have an idea and to see it so well received, it means a lot and it just confirmed, 'Hey, just keep going, keep creating, keep thinking of things and it will open doors.' she added. To have Sheryl herself post it it means so much. Shes having an amazing year and Im just happy I get to be a small part of giving her her flowers as a Black actress, to show that you mean a lot to us.

"If it made her happy and it made her day, it just makes me happy.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
(Reuters) - China Southern Airlines Co Ltd has cancelled plans for two Boeing Co 737 MAX flights on Sunday that would have represented the model's return to passenger flying in China after more than three years, according to the airline's website.

The 737 MAX was grounded in March 2019 following fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia but has returned to service around the world with the exception of China and Russia after modifications to the aircraft and pilot training.

China Southern had scheduled flights from its Guangzhou hub to Zhengzhou and Wuhan, Reuters reported on Thursday.

The airline's website and flight tracking website FlightRadar24 showed the flights had been cancelled. China Southern did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

On Wednesday, Boeing said it had another 138 planes manufactured for Chinese carriers that were in the United States waiting to be delivered, though it had begun remarketing the jets to other carriers given there were no concrete signs that Chinese airlines would accept the planes in the near term.

Earlier this month, a 737 MAX flight by MIAT Mongolian Airlines landed in Guangzhou, marking the first commercial flight by the model in China since 2019.

(Reporting by Jamie Freed in Sydney; Editing by Chris Reese)
The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and two Good Samaritans rescued 13 people off the coast of Virginia on Friday after their fishing vessel collided with a 1,000-foot container ship and began to sink, officials said.

The crew of the Tremont, a 115-foot commercial fishing vessel, sent out a mayday call around 2 a.m. from approximately 63 miles southeast of the offshore island Chincoteague, the USCG said.

The crew said their vessel collided with the 1000-foot Panamanian-flagged container vessel, MSC Rita, and were abandoning the sinking ship.

USCG boat and helicopter crews responded to the area, along with two Good Samaritan vessels, the research vessel Atlantis and motor vessel Drystan.

NY TEACHER, US COAST GUARD MEMBER WHO LOST AN EYE WON'T ALLOW FREAK ACCIDENT TO DEFINE HIS LIFE

The Atlantis launched a small boat to ferry 12 members of the Tremont crew to the Drystan. The USCG helicopter crew hoisted the vessels captain from the sinking ship.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

All crew members and the captain were transported to safety. No injuries were reported.

"Safety of life at sea is the Coast Guard's top priority," said Capt. Jennifer Stockwell, commander of Sector Virginia. "These are the life-saving missions for which we train each and every day. While this morning's events were unfortunate, 13 people were rescued from an extremely perilous situation. The combined efforts of Good Samaritans and Coast Guard response assets demonstrates a selfless commitment to others."

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No further details about the collision between the two vessels were immediately released as officials continue the investigation.
A "coat of wings" inspired by Sir Elton John has travelled the world after being passed on to new owners at a series of gigs.

Donna Ingram created the glittery gold and white-feathered coat to wear for the musical legend's concert.

She never imagined it would have five proud owners within months.

Yet the humble jacket has since made a transatlantic journey to Chicago and become a symbol of "love and connection".

It was in July that Ms Ingram, 44, from Calstock in Cornwall, donned her creation for the Bristol concert, where she was showered with admiring glances and curious questions from fellow gig-goers.

Ms Ingram, an instructor at Duchy College, was even "photo-bombed" by the Rocket Man himself.

Sir Elton, the fifth highest-selling recording artist of all time, is well known for his outrageous outfits including suits adorned with feathers and sequins.

Ms Ingram had "tried to replicate" a feathered coat she had seen the performer wear previously.

After meeting Amanda Hawkins in the crowd, Ms Ingram agreed to "gift" her the coat, as long as she promised to pass it on again.

Ms Hawkins said the coat was the "loveliest she'd ever seen", adding: "A few weeks later I took it to Glastonbury."

True to her word, Ms Hawkins passed the coat on to Maria Janjua at Glastonbury Festival.

Ms Janjua said: "I love the concept. Travelling around the world and bringing a bit of joy into people's lives.

"I love the fact it's being shared at festivals and concerts. Music helps connect us and brings us all together."

During Pearl Jam's set at Hyde Park's British Summer Time event, Ms Janjua found a new custodian in Charissa Armon, from Chicago, who had approached her with a compliment about the coat.

Ms Armon, a former actor who was on a European trip, said the coat represented "connection and love", adding: "I felt extraordinarily honoured to be part of it.

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"I hope it just keeps going and finds new countries and some day years in the future I'm at a show and see it across the arena.

"It's a sparkly reminder of how we are all right here together."

At a Lady Gaga gig, Ms Armon could find no worthy owner, but persevered at a Killers concert in her hometown in September, where she presented the symbol of harmony to Rachel Christine, its current owner.

Ms Ingram said: "I'm incredibly touched that so many lovely ladies have embraced the initial idea.

"My memory of the Elton concert is still such a fond one, so to have the coat of wings still spreading the love is fantastic.

"My aim is to get it back on stage with Sir Elton again, so it's gone full circle. Either that or to continue traveling around the world, being taken to awesome gigs and concerts by lovely people."

Follow BBC News South West on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@bbc.co.uk.
China's automobile manufacturing industry posted steady revenue growth in the first three quarters of this year, official data showed.

The sector raked in some 6.61 trillion yuan (about 922 billion U.S. dollars) during the January-September period, up 6.7 percent from a year ago, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

In the first three quarters, the sector's profit shrank 1.9 percent year on year, with the decline narrowing by 5.4 percentage points over the first eight months, data showed.

In September alone, the industry saw its profit rise 47.4 percent from a year ago, supported by the recovery of supply and industrial chains and growth in new energy vehicle output, the bureau said.

China produced 19.63 million vehicles in the first nine months, up 7.4 percent year on year. A total of 19.47 million automobiles were sold in the country during the period, rising 4.4 percent over last year, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
PRAGUE (AP)  Populist billionaire Andrej Babis has announced his intention to run for the largely ceremonial post of the Czech Republics president.

Babis, the controversial former prime minister, made his announcement on Sunday evening in a television broadcast. He said his only goal is for people to have a better life.

Babis spoke after meeting his ally, President Milos Zeman, whose second and final term expires in January.

The first round of the presidential election is scheduled for Jan 13-14. The second round between the top two finishers will take place two weeks later.

Babis currently faces trial in a $2 million fraud case involving European Union subsidies.

The case involves a farm known as the Storks Nest that received EU subsidies after its ownership was transferred from the Babis-owned Agrofert conglomerate of around 250 companies to Babis family members. Later, Agrofert again took ownership of the farm.

The subsidies were meant for medium- and small-sized businesses, and Agrofert wouldnt have been eligible for them. Agrofert later returned the subsidy.

Its not clear when a verdict can be expected.

Babis denies any wrongdoing and has repeatedly said the allegations against him were politically motivated.

Babis centrist ANO movement stormed Czech politics in 2013, finishing a surprise second in the parliamentary election with an anti-corruption message to become a junior partner in the government with Babis as finance minister. Four years later he won the election and became premier.

A quarter of a million people took to the streets  the biggest such demonstrations since the 1989 anti-Communist Velvet Revolution  twice in 2019 to demand that Babis step down due to his scandals, including the conflict of interest over EU subsidies involving his former business empire.

Babis movement lost the parliamentary election last year in October. A coalition of five parties formed a new government, and ANO ended up in opposition.

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Before the election, he was hit by yet another scandal that linked him and hundreds of other wealthy people to offshore accounts in findings by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists dubbed the Pandora Papers."

Babis denies any wrongdoing.

The Slovak-born Babis also faces charges in Slovakia that he collaborated with the communist-era secret police in Czechoslovakia before the 1989 anti-communist Velvet Revolution. He also denies that.

Babis will be among the front-runners in the presidential election, along with Army Gen. Petr Pavel, former chairman of NATOs military committee, and former university rector Danuse Nerudova.
Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) on Sunday called out former President Trump for his silence on the recent attack against House Speaker Nancy Pelosis (D-Calif.) husband, Paul Pelosi.

President Biden and Democrats have stood behind law enforcement and strengthening protections for those in public life. Thats what I think we should be focusing on in this moment, when leaders of both parties  but so far not President Trump  have decried the attack on Paul Pelosi, Coons said in an interview with host Shannon Bream on Fox News Sunday.

Paul Pelosi on Friday was violently assaulted in the familys California home, sparking outrage and concern over heightening political violence. The GOP response to the attack on Paul Pelosi has varied, and former President Trump has been notably silent.

I think all of us in the wake of this attack on Paul Pelosi need to say that we are going to stop demonizing folks, because I think those kinds of- the sort of rhetoric that weve heard in too many ways in too many places can lead to violence by a small number of Americans who think that, when we describe our political opponents as our enemies, were calling for them to be attacked, Coons said.

In the wake of the attack against the House Speakers husband, Democrats have called out their Republican counterparts for what they see as violent rhetoric with their calls to oust Pelosi or take congressional control back from Democrats.

Coons talked about his bipartisan work Republican Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) to advance legislation expanding police protections for Supreme Court Justices after a threat was made against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh earlier this year.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A deputy was shot while trying to arrest a teenager wanted on a murder charge, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division said.

The shooting happened Friday in Aiken County, SLED said in a news release.

Several Aiken County sheriffs deputies and members of the Aiken County SWAT team responded to a home in Beech Island where a 15-year-old wanted for murder was believed to be inside, according to the release.

After an exchange of gunfire, the teen was taken into custody, SLED said. He was not hurt in the shootout, according to the release.

One deputy was shot and taken to an area hospital, according to the release. Information on the deputys condition was not available, but SLED said the deputy is recovering.

Aiken County Capt. Eric Abdullah said the deputy was grazed on the forearm and is at home with family, the Aiken Standard reported.

No other injuries were reported.

The teens name was not made public because of his age.

Information about the murder charge was not available, but Abdullah said Aiken deputies were assisting Richmond County Sheriffs Office about a death in Georgia, WRDW reported.

There was no word how law enforcement officers located the teen at the home, or if he lived there.

SLED is leading the investigation into the shooting and will submit its findings to prosecutors.

The shooting was the 30th involving an officer in South Carolina this year and the fourth for the Aiken County Sheriffs Office, SLED said.

In 2021, there were 40 shootings involving an officer in South Carolina and three for the Aiken County Sheriffs Office, according to the release.
Agustin Leon-Saenz assumes his ticket to Harvard University had something to do with the race-conscious admissions policy known as affirmative action.

But make no mistake, Leon-Saenz said, "I deserve to be here."

The 19-year-old, a second-year science and engineering student at the Ivy League school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was born in Ecuador.

He was seven years old when his family came to the United States and he did not speak a word of English.

Ahead of a Supreme Court hearing on Monday that could outlaw affirmative action as discriminatory, Leon-Saenz and other Harvard students and former students defended the policy.

Harvard, like other competitive US universities, takes race into account as it seeks to ensure a diverse student body and has programs specifically designed to attract minorities.

"I applied to Harvard as a result of outreach from the undergrad minority recruitment program," Leon-Saenz said.

Before Harvard, he attended public schools made up of mostly Black or Hispanic students.

Leon-Saenz earned excellent grades in high school and received an email one day from Harvard encouraging him to get in touch with a student at the university who was also from Ecuador.

"That was really, like, the reason I applied to Harvard because otherwise I obviously didn't know anyone from Harvard," he said. "To see that there was at least one other person (from Ecuador) was enough for me."

When his application to Harvard was accepted, Leon-Saenz said he "honestly did not believe it."

"Coming to Harvard did not feel real, attainable," he said.

- 'Very jarring' -

When he did step foot on the campus of America's oldest private university, "the change was very jarring."

At his high school in New Mexico, most of Leon-Saenz' classmates were of Mexican origin while at Harvard less than 12 percent of the student body is of Hispanic descent.

Leon-Saenz is the only person of Ecuadoran origin in his class and he can sometimes feel out of place.

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"Some of my peers, when they see me, they know I'm Latino, and don't necessarily see me as equal academically," he said.

"That is the reason why I relate more to the community of immigrants and first generation low-income students."

But Leon-Saenz said he "worked hard in school" and like others who may have benefitted from race-conscious admissions policies "we deserve to be here."

Kylan Tatum, who is studying literature at Harvard and uses they/them pronouns, is frustrated by the "question of who deserves to be here, who doesn't deserve to be here?"

It ignores "social factors that are influencing the ability to have good grades, test scores and extracurricular opportunities," they said.

Tatum, whose mother is African American and father of Vietnamese origin, said they are upset with the arguments being used to challenge affirmative action before the Supreme Court.

A group known as Students for Fair Admissions has filed suits against Harvard and the University of North Carolina claiming that their race-conscious admissions policies discriminate against equally qualified applicants of Asian-American origin.

Asian-American students are underrepresented at the schools considering their record of superior academic achievement, according to the complaints.

"I am someone who is both Black and Asian and seeing some of the tactics that have been used in this case is very alarming to me," Tatum said, calling it "weaponization of Asian American socioeconomic and educational success against other minorities."

- 'They learned from me' -

Margaret Chin, an American of Chinese origin who received a degree from Harvard in 1984, said affirmative action had benefitted both her personally and her community as a whole.

Chin, whose father was a waiter and mother a garment worker, only considered applying to the Ivy League school after attending a student fair in New York City's Chinatown where Harvard had a booth.

"It took me a little bit to adjust," Chin said.

"But I was very lucky in my room (assignment)," she said, sharing housing with a mixed group of young Black, white and Asian women from varying social backgrounds.

"I learned about other ways of living," she said, "and they learned from me."

Chin, 62, a professor of sociology at Hunter College/CUNY in New York, said many Americans grow up in segregated communities, making it all the more important that institutions of higher education have diverse student bodies.

"People don't oftentimes see people of different races or even go to elementary, middle or high school together," she said.

If the Supreme Court strikes down affirmative action, not only minorities would suffer but the "whole population" as well, Chin said.

chp/cl/tjj
Office workers. 10'000 Hours/Getty Images

Here are three of the week's top pieces of financial insight, gathered from around the web:

'Desk-bombing' is not a crime

How did stopping by a colleague's desk with a question get labeled as a terrible workplace faux pas? asked Pilita Clark in the Financial Times. I heard recently about a man who had been "vainly emailing a woman he worked with to get something approved." A colleague said, "Why don't you just go over and ask her to approve it?" The aghast man replied, "I'm not going to just go and desk-bomb her." But "since when has something as innocuous as asking someone an unsolicited question at work become so offensive?" In the office, there seems to be a growing "intolerance of interruption." Fine, people wearing headphones can be left alone. Otherwise, "all are more or less fair bombing game." It's way more efficient than emailing, "and usually more enjoyable."

Reining in job-training charges

Lawmakers and regulators are exploring ways to thwart the rise in training-repayment agreements, said Diane Bartz in Reuters. According to the Cornell Survey Research Institute, "nearly 10 percent of American workers surveyed in 2020" were subject to a provision by their employer charging them for training if they quit their jobs. Such agreements, which critics have dubbed "training-repayment agreement provisions" or TRAPs, "have been around in a small way since the 1980s, primarily in high-wage positions where workers received valuable training." But lately, TRAPs have become more widespread in industries like health care, saddling workers with employer-driven debt. Nurses say they are often not told about the repayment requirement before they start, and the "instruction often repeats what they learned in school."

Watch out for foreign ATM fees

Pay attention to the ATM machine you're using when traveling overseas, said Christopher Elliott in The Washington Post. In Athens this summer, my brother withdrew 1,000 euros from an ATM and was charged $1,219. That's because the company, Euronet, charged "a 13 percent markup from the going exchange rate." Such hidden surcharges are not uncommon, and come on top of your bank's charges, which can run up to $5 plus 3 percent of the withdrawal (you can ask your bank to waive those). Stick to bank ATMs, or try one of the multicurrency debit cards offered by apps like Revolut or Wise, which will automatically "convert your money at the more favorable interbank rate."

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This article was first published in the latest issue of The Week magazine. If you want to read more like it, you can try six risk-free issues of the magazine here.

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The end of Halloween doesn't mean it's time to whip out the Thanksgiving or Christmas decorations, as Dia de los Muertos  or Day of the Dead  gives families time to honor and remember loved ones that are no longer in the "land of the living."

Known for dazzling displays and the colorful calaveras  decorated skulls  people make or use as makeup, the holiday's origins go back a couple of millennia in Mexico, to the time of the Aztec empire.

Aztecs had traditions of honoring the dead, believing that when someone died, their spirit went to the underworld. When the Spanish arrived and later conquered the Aztec empire in the 16th century, they brought along Christianity and Catholicism, infusing the indigenous ritual with All Saint's Day and All Soul's Day, which is Nov. 1 and Nov. 2.

"It emerges as kind of a hybrid of both Spanish, Christian and indigenous ideas about the living and the dead," John Phillip Santos, senior lecturer in Mestizo cultural studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio, told USA TODAY.

What is Dia de los Muertos? An illustrated guide to the holiday

Family members tend to the grave of a relative in preparations for the Day of the Dead celebrations, at the Valle de Chalco municipal cemetery on the outskirts of Mexico City, Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021.

What does Dia de los Muertos honor?

Since the time of the Aztecs, the holiday has gone through transitions of how it's celebrated and honored, but the key element is that for two days, ancestors and recently departed have the chance to visit and see the ones left behind.

"It's a way of observing this aspect of our story that is connected to ancestral journeys," Santos said.

It may sound spooky, but the indigenous belief is that the living world and the land of the dead, or underworld, were intermingled, Santos adds.

While Christianity and Catholicism preach there's only a heaven and hell, there are multiple places spirits can go once they leave the living world, it just depends on how the person died, and how old they were when they died. Infants, for example, are seen as becoming guardian angels once they leave the living world. That's why the holiday is celebrated on two days: Nov. 1 is in remembrance of the young and Nov. 2 is for adults.

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The evolution of Dia de los Muertos

One of the most unique aspects of Dia de los Muertos is the ambiguity of how it evolved to what it is today, said Ramona Perez, anthropology professor and director of the Center for Latin American Studies at San Diego State University.

In 1910, satirical cartoonist Jose Guadalupe Posada created La Calavera Catrina, the elegant skull, which has become one of the most iconic symbols of the holiday, with people dressing up with skull faces painted on themselves. Aztecs would make shrines honoring the deceased, which have also evolved into the ofrendas seen today.

A woman fancy dressed as the character of La Catrina poses before taking part in the Catrinas Parade, commemorating the Day of the Dead, in Mexico City, on October 23, 2022.

There is no correct way to put together an ofrenda. Common items to include are decorated calaveras, cempasuchil marigold flowers, candles and pan de muerto  day of the dead bread. The distinctive element of it is putting up pictures of loved ones, some of their favorite items from when they were alive and their favorite dishes or drinks.

"Ofrendas are very much about creating a shared welcome," Perez said. "When you have your ancestors come back to you, you want to provide for them."

How do people recognize Dia de los Muertos?

Families will throw parties on the two days of remembrance, and some even go to cemeteries to celebrate, cleaning and decorating graves in the process. Festivals and parades are put together in Mexico and throughout the U.S.

To outsiders, it may appear like another way to celebrate Halloween, but it's far from that.

"We still may look strange to non-Mexican folks, all of these skulls and all of this kind of strange obsession with death," Santos said. "People might assume that there's something morbid about it, something morose about it, when in fact it's maybe the most powerful expression in terms of the fiestas."

What's everyone talking about? Sign up for our trending newsletter to get the latest news of the day

The holiday originated in Mexico, but it's celebrated throughout Latin America, as well as parts of Asia like the Philippines. But for those that don't participate in the holiday, Santos said the beauty of it is it invites people to share their history and tradition. Perez said she has seen people who don't normally celebrate put a picture up on a public ofrenda, and they get the feelings of loss and love from recognizing someone who has passed.

It may only be a brief period to revisit ones that are no longer in the living world, but it's enough each year to reflect on the past, and the love people have for one another.

"It's really hard to convey just how deep this is," Perez said. "We still long for the opportunity to keep people who have left us, alive.

"It's an opportunity to engage with and remember, and in some ways, continue to mourn the absence of somebody. It is a day where you once again reach out to those people that are no longer with you, and love them once again in this kind of very physical, very contemporary moment."

Follow Jordan Mendoza on Twitter: @jordan_mendoza5.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Day of the Dead: What is Dia de los Muertos? What to know about holiday
A monument to the 1949 Battle of Guningtou in Kinmen, Taiwan, on February 3, 2021. An Rong Xu/Getty Images

The Chinese Communist troops who stormed Kinmen island in October 1949 expected a quick victory.

Instead, the Chinese Nationalist forces defending the island routed the attackers.

The battle illustrates some of the hurdles Beijing would still face if it tried to invade Taiwan.

Around 1:30 a.m. on October 25, 1949, some 9,000 Chinese Communist soldiers stormed ashore on the island of Kinmen, barely 6 miles from China's coast.

They were the first of what was meant to be a 20,000-strong People's Liberation Army force sent to capture the island from Chiang Kai-shek's Chinese Nationalist forces, known as the KMT.

Fresh off a string of victories and with high morale, the PLA expected the battle to be its next triumph, bringing even more territory into the newly established People's Republic of China and moving the PLA one step closer to its final target: the KMT bastion of Taiwan.

PLA commanders believed the defending force to be weak with low morale and expected the fighting to be over within three days. The timing was the only thing the PLA got right.

Three days later, Kinmen was still in KMT hands, three PLA regiments had been effectively annihilated, and the Chinese Communist forces had suffered the first check on their seemingly unstoppable advance.

The plan

Chinese Communist troops take prisoners at bayonet point after heavy fighting in Shanghai on May 21, 1949. Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

The KMT was in near-constant retreat by fall 1949. The PLA, led by Mao Zedong, had crossed the Yangtze River in central China that spring and advanced south over the following months, capturing almost all major cities and ports while suffering few defeats.

Soon all of mainland China was under Communist control. Mao formally established the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949. Chiang and the rest of the KMT, meanwhile, were retreating to the islands off China's coast. The largest, Taiwan, became the capital of the Republic of China.

With control of the mainland, the PLA set about taking control of the islands, hoping to secure them before launching a final assault on Taiwan.

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Kinmen Island, 59 square miles in size and home to some 40,000 people, was essential to this plan.

Shiyu, or Lion Islet, part of Taiwan's Kinmen County, with the Chinese city of Xiamen in the background, seen from Kinmen in April 2018. Carl Court/Getty Images

KMT forces on Kinmen could watch the waters around Xiamen, which the PLA had captured only a few days before, for any mobilization of forces to attack Taiwan.

To take the island, the 28th Corps of the PLA's 10th Army would land roughly 20,000 troops in two groups. Three regiments of some 9,000 men would land on the beaches at night and secure a beachhead so a second force of about 11,000 men could land the following day.

The PLA navy was still in its infancy with few ships or trained sailors, so the troops could only be transported by motor-less wooden fishing boats and junks commandeered from local fishermen. The PLA air force was also nascent, so to avoid the KMT's navy and air force, the first group would have to land at night.

After dropping off the first group under cover of darkness, the vessels would return and pick up the second group.

The battle

The Taiwanese island of Kinmen looking toward China in April 2018. Carl Court/Getty Images

The PLA estimated that the KMT had a poorly motivated and trained garrison of about 20,000 troops from its 22nd Army on Kinmen.

In fact, Chiang was determined to defend and hold Kinmen. He sent an additional 20,000 men from the elite 18th Army and a battalion of 21 M5A1 Stuart tanks, operated by troops who had fought in World War II, to Kinmen. (The PLA invasion force had no armored units.)

The island itself was turned into a fortress. Hundreds of bunkers and trenches were built, thousands of mines were laid, and anti-ship obstacles were placed on the beaches.

A model of a soldier in a bunker near the Hujingtou Battle Museum in Little Kinmen, Taiwan in April 2018. Carl Court/Getty Images

PLA troops began boarding their vessels around 7:00 p.m. on October 24, but logistics issues and command missteps kept them from setting off until after midnight. Almost immediately, everything went wrong.

The Communist troops arrived and disembarked unnoticed. They approached at high tide, but their late departure left them with little time before the waters receded. The anti-ship obstacles, submerged when they arrived, eventually ensnared all of the PLA boats.

By chance, a routine KMT patrol in the area accidentally set off a landmine, alerting nearby defenders. Searchlights and flares soon exposed the PLA invasion force as it was disembarking, sparking a massive two-hour firefight.

The KMT's 18th Army had coincidentally finished its own landing on the other side of the island around the same time, and the PLA force was soon outnumbered five-to-one.

A painting in the Guningtou Battle Museum in Kinmen in February 2021. An Rong Xu/Getty Images

At dawn, KMT warships and B-25 aircraft joined the fray. They destroyed the stuck boats, trapping the invading force and keeping reinforcements at bay.

Despite the chaos, some PLA units managed to push inland. They seized the town of Guningtou and established a defensive perimeter. But the force, composed solely of infantry, had no hope.

They were soon surrounded by KMT tanks, aircraft, and soldiers. Guningtou was retaken after intense urban fighting on October 27. By day's end, the PLA troops who had retreated to the beaches had also surrendered.

China's growing reach

Chinese amphibious tanks land on a beach during a Sino-Russian military exercise near China's Shandong Peninsula in August 2005. China Photos/Getty Images

Of the roughly 9,000 PLA soldiers who landed on Kinmen, about 3,000 were killed and more than 5,000 were captured, effectively wiping out three PLA regiments. KMT casualties included over 1,200 killed and almost 2,000 wounded.

The PLA captured other islands from the KMT, but Chiang's forces held onto Kinmen and several others, including Taiwan. The loss forced Mao and the PLA to acknowledge that invading Taiwan would not be easy.

Later plans for an invasion were delayed by the PLA's involvement in the Korean War and eventually called off altogether. Ultimately, the PLA admitted that it did not yet have the capability to pull off such a grand amphibious feat.

US-made CM-11 tanks fire at sea targets during the Han Kuang military drill in southern Taiwan in May 2019 SAM YEH/AFP via Getty Images

Kinmen itself became a central part of the PRC-Taiwan rivalry. Taiwan fortified it, and China shelled it intermittently  including two rather intense episodes in 1954 and 1958  until 1979, when the US officially recognized the People's Republic of China.

Beijing has never truly given up on its ultimate goal absorbing Taiwan, which the Chinese Communist Party describes as "reunification," though it has never controlled the island.

At the 20th party congress in October, President Xi Jinping said that although the PRC would like peaceful unification, "we will never promise to give up the use of force and reserve the option to take all necessary measures."

China's military has advanced considerably since 1949, with much of its modernization done with a Taiwan scenario in mind.

Aging anti-landing barricades on the Taiwanese island of Little Kinmen, only a few miles from China, in April 2018. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

The PLA now has the largest navy in the world, with more than 355 warships. It has a roughly 40,000-strong marine corps with modern armored amphibious assault vehicles. Its ground force also has six amphibious combined arms brigades comprising 30,000 personnel with 2,400 vehicles.

China's large and modern missile arsenal, helicopter fleet, and special-forces units are a particular threat to Taiwan.

But the roughly 100-mile strait, where conditions are often poor, and the PLA's lack of real amphibious-assault experience  not to mention Taiwan's own increasingly robust defenses  are major obstacles for the PLA.

But after decades of military upgrades and expansion, Xi may eventually grasp what Mao could only reach.

The Pentagon's 2021 report on the Chinese military said an invasion "of a medium-sized, better-defended island" like Kinmen "is within the PLA's capabilities."

Read the original article on Business Insider
The FBI is investigating a letter laced with a toxic chemical and filled with threats and antisemitic symbols that was sent anonymously to an environmental voters group in New Mexico.

It was directed at Conservation Voters New Mexico, the state Democratic Party and state Rep. Nathan Small. The lawmaker, a Las Cruces Democrat, co-sponsored a statute that commits New Mexico utilities to a carbon-free energy system by 2045, the Albuquerque Journal noted.

A tested sample of the material discovered in the letter sent Wednesday contained ingredients of a potent toxin used in terrorist attacks, according to a statement by the voters group, an affiliate of the national League of Conservation Voters. The substance, though, was in an inert form that was not harmful, according to the statement from the environmental group.

But whoever carried out this vicious act was clearly intending harm, Demis Foster, the groups executive director, said in the statement.

The groups office in downtown Santa Fe was evacuated and quarantined after the letter arrived, Foster said. The office remains closed.

There is no place in a functioning democracy for anyone to resort to the use of terror because they disapprove of a candidate for public office, Foster added. Its shocking and terrifying that we have to experience such a malice-filled attack on our democracy.

The disturbing letter comes amid an increase in political violence and intimidation as the midterm elections near.

Armed right-wing poll watchers  many in military-style tactical gear  have been guarding ballot drop boxes in neighboring Arizona.

And in San Francisco, Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was beaten with a hammer by a man who invaded the couples home early Friday as he tried to find the Democratic leader, who wasnt there. The suspect has been linked to extreme right-wing views and conspiracy theories.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Related...
Leon Wang, executive vice president, international and China president at AstraZeneca, shared his insights and faith in the Chinese market, believing China will contribute greatly to the world's medical development and benefit humanity.

AstraZeneca will again take part in the upcoming fifth China International Import Expo (CIIE) from Nov. 5-10 in Shanghai, with one of the largest booths covering 1,000 square meters. Wang said on Thursday, during an online conference, that the expo is a great platform and China is a huge market for drug development. "CIIE is exploring Chinese consumption capabilities to help the world economy and build a human community with a shared future, and the sound development of China's economy will benefit the whole world."

According to Wang, AstraZeneca is paying more attention to China, establishing regional headquarters in Beijing, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Wuxi, and Guangzhou, with another in Qingdao, Shandong province on the way. The company also set up a global R&D center in Shanghai.

"We will not only bring great medicine products from all over the world to China but also bring Chinese innovations and medicines to the world," Wang noted, revealing that AstraZeneca is working on developing new and innovative medicines in China through in-house R&D and collaboration. For example, Orpathys, an anti-tumor drug and the first China-developed MET inhibitor, made its debut at the CIIE last year. The drug continues to undergo clinical studies around the world to explore opportunities for its marketing in other countries and regions.

At this year's CIIE, AstraZeneca will also introduce multiple global innovative drugs, including Soliris, Evusheld (not yet approved in mainland China), as well as Calquence and Enhertu (both of which have not yet been approved in China).

In terms of innovations, after recent contact with many Chinese scientists, Wang said they are very close to winning a Nobel Prize. He also believes that innovations in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) can also help the world, which is a cause they will promote.

He pointed out that with the central government's great support, the potential for growth in China is huge, and it has become one of the biggest medicine and healthcare markets in the world. For AstraZeneca itself, its total sales in China in 2021 were nearly $6.01 billion. "After the realization of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, China has moved from the management of many major diseases to the management of chronic diseases. Many serious diseases have gone from incurable to treatable and can enter the rehabilitation stage," Wang said.

The top executive also mentioned another outstanding feature of Chinese market: China is also one of the most developed places in the supply-chain manufacturing industry in the world. A large proportion of pharmaceutical-related raw materials in the world are made in China. For example, by 2021, Wuxi Biologics produced about 50% of the active ingredients used in AstraZeneca's COVID-19 COVAX vaccine, supporting the supply of about 468 million doses worldwide.

For the upcoming CIIE, Leon Wang said the company would also pay more attention to China's supply chain and manufacturing bases. They will announce the launch of a manufacturing and supply base for inhalation aerosols in Qingdao with an investment of $450 million. Their global production of injected and infused Nexium products will be integrated into its Wuxi supply base, which will also invest 100 million yuan to introduce a new Lokelma production line.

"AstraZeneca has constantly increased its investment in China's manufacturing industry, and we also value China's supply chain guarantee under the new normal of the pandemic. With the support of local governments, AstraZeneca has maintained an unimpeded supply chain and sees a very highly efficient Chinese manufacturing industry."

Unlike other medicine trade conferences and expos, Wang sees the CIIE as a wider international platform and looks to use the event to find a wider audience and attract more Chinese and foreign partners, related enterprises, and local governments, and also learn of developments and seek cooperation in other fields such as artificial intelligence, e-commerce, and other digital sectors.

Thanks to the CIIE, AstraZeneca's current internationalized health innovation ecosystem has begun to take shape, launching the China Commercial Innovation Center (CCiC), the International Life Science Innovation Campus (iCampus), and the Healthcare Industrial Fund. By the end of 2021, the CCiC and its partners had jointly created a number of innovative solutions for whole-course disease management implemented in thousands of hospitals across the country, with some solutions going abroad to benefit patients worldwide. At the same time, more than 60 enterprises at home and abroad have settled on the iCampus. After working with the China International Capital Corporation (CICC), and through cooperation with local governments, AstraZeneca launched its medical fund in 2020. By September 2022, the fund has managed over 3 billion yuan and has supported more than 10 medical innovation enterprises. The second round of fundraising is currently underway.

"We felt so assured and supported when we saw how local governments try to attract and keep foreign investments with their measures and policies," Wang said, "Our supply bases in Wuxi and Taizhou not only support China but also supply about 70 countries and regions around the world. We believe that China will certainly be self-sufficient in future supply. And, I think, if you are a multinational enterprise that values the Chinese market, you have to take root in China, put your supply chain in China, and bring the world's production capacity and manufacturing sectors to China."
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP)  Jeremy Moussa passed for 297 yards and three touchdowns and Florida A&M beat Arkansas-Pine Bluff 27-6 on Saturday.

Xavier Smith, JahMarae Sheread and Jeremiah Pruitte each had a touchdown grab for Florida A&M (6-2, 4-1 SWAC). A.J. Davis had 108 yards rushing.

Skyler Perry threw for 173 yards with an interception for Arkansas-Pine Bluff (2-6, 0-5). Daemon Dawkins made eight catches for 95 yards.

___

More AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://twitter.com/ap_top25. Sign up for the APs college football newsletter: https://tinyurl.com/mrxhe6f2
It looks like New York Community Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:NYCB) is about to go ex-dividend in the next 4 days. Typically, the ex-dividend date is one business day before the record date which is the date on which a company determines the shareholders eligible to receive a dividend. The ex-dividend date is an important date to be aware of as any purchase of the stock made on or after this date might mean a late settlement that doesn't show on the record date. Meaning, you will need to purchase New York Community Bancorp's shares before the 4th of November to receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 17th of November.

The company's next dividend payment will be US$0.17 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of US$0.68 to shareholders. Looking at the last 12 months of distributions, New York Community Bancorp has a trailing yield of approximately 7.3% on its current stock price of $9.26. We love seeing companies pay a dividend, but it's also important to be sure that laying the golden eggs isn't going to kill our golden goose! So we need to investigate whether New York Community Bancorp can afford its dividend, and if the dividend could grow.

Check out our latest analysis for New York Community Bancorp

Dividends are usually paid out of company profits, so if a company pays out more than it earned then its dividend is usually at greater risk of being cut. New York Community Bancorp paid out more than half (54%) of its earnings last year, which is a regular payout ratio for most companies.

Companies that pay out less in dividends than they earn in profits generally have more sustainable dividends. The lower the payout ratio, the more wiggle room the business has before it could be forced to cut the dividend.

Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Companies with consistently growing earnings per share generally make the best dividend stocks, as they usually find it easier to grow dividends per share. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. This is why it's a relief to see New York Community Bancorp earnings per share are up 4.5% per annum over the last five years.

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The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. New York Community Bancorp's dividend payments per share have declined at 3.8% per year on average over the past 10 years, which is uninspiring. New York Community Bancorp is a rare case where dividends have been decreasing at the same time as earnings per share have been improving. It's unusual to see, and could point to unstable conditions in the core business, or more rarely an intensified focus on reinvesting profits.

Final Takeaway

Has New York Community Bancorp got what it takes to maintain its dividend payments? New York Community Bancorp has been generating some growth in earnings per share while paying out more than half of its earnings to shareholders in the form of dividends. In sum this is a middling combination, and we find it hard to get excited about the company from a dividend perspective.

However if you're still interested in New York Community Bancorp as a potential investment, you should definitely consider some of the risks involved with New York Community Bancorp. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for New York Community Bancorp you should know about.

Generally, we wouldn't recommend just buying the first dividend stock you see. Here's a curated list of interesting stocks that are strong dividend payers.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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Four people were hospitalized in critical condition early Sunday after reportedly overdosing at a River North nightclub, according to the Chicago Fire Department.

At approximately 2:50 a.m. Sunday, fire officials responded to the Y Bar at 224 W. Ontario St. after reports of multiple overdoses inside the dance club.

Two men were taken to Rush University Medical Center, while another man and a woman were transported to Northwestern Memorial Hospital. All four were in critical condition, according to fire officials.

No further information was immediately available.

Editors note: The bar was incorrectly identified in a previous version because of information provided by CFD. The incident happened at the Y Bar.

Check back for updates.

adperez@chicagotribune.com
Florida and Georgia issued a joint statement on Sunday morning condemning an antisemitic message that was projected onto the exterior of TIAA Bank Field after the Bulldogs 42-20 win over the Gators.

The message positively referenced Kanye Wests antisemitic remarks earlier this month. The statement from the school not only denounced what was projected onto the stadium but other antisemitic messages in the city of Jacksonville.

Horrible to see that someone projected an anti-Semitic message on to TIAA Bank Field at the end of the sold-out Georgia-Florida game. A relative sent this to me. Its in reference to comments Ye (formerly Kanye West) made recently.



This hate has to stop. Period. pic.twitter.com/kBKYUx7hIh  Vic Micolucci WJXT (@WJXTvic) October 30, 2022

We strongly condemn the antisemitic hate speech projected outside TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville after the Florida-Georgia football game Saturday night and the other antisemitic messages that have appeared in Jacksonville," the schools said in a statement. "The University of Florida and the University of Georgia together denounce these and all acts of antisemitism and other forms of hatred and intolerance. We are proud to be home to strong and thriving Jewish communities at UGA and UF and we stand together against hate.

The SEC also issued a statement about the message.

SEC statement on antisemitic hate speech in Jacksonville: pic.twitter.com/NVlNAVQMkv  Southeastern Conference (@SEC) October 30, 2022

The statements from the schools and the conference come less than a day after the NBA denounced antisemitism after a tweet from Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving promoting an antisemitic movie. Wests Twitter account was restricted and his antisemitic tweet was removed by the social media platform earlier this month.

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Florida and Georgia have played each other in Jacksonville in all but two years since 1933 and there has been open discussion about moving the game from the neutral site for months, long before what happened on Saturday. Georgia coach Kirby Smart has been outspoken about having the game played at the teams home stadiums going forward.

The teams contract with the city of Jacksonville runs through 2023 with an option for two more seasons.
Georgia gubernatorial candidates Gov. Brian Kemp and Stacey Abrams sparred Sunday in their second and final debate  their last chance to sway undecided voters as the candidates battle to be Georgia's governor once again.

In the hourlong debate that allowed for longer rebuttals, topics changed  sometimes quickly  with candidates pivoting from affordable housing to pandemic response, for instance.

The candidates' second debate took place nearly two weeks after early voting in the state began, with over a million Georgia voters already casting their ballots. Election Day is Nov. 8.

The economy, abortion and gun ownership all came up in the debate; they are among the top issues concerning voters heading into the midterm election.

The final question dealt with whether Kemp and Abrams would respect the results.

"Yes," Abrams answered quickly.

"Absolutely," Kemp said, moving on to describe how safe his state's voting laws are and accusing the Democrat of stoking fears about voter suppression. He also touted the record voter turnouts in past state elections, refuting any claims of voter suppression within the state.

Abrams hit back at Kemp, accusing him of trying to keep people out of the polling place. Abrams doubled down on her past work in voting rights efforts, saying she is proud of the three decades of her life shes dedicated to defending voting access and the right to vote.

Takeaways: Kemp, Abrams cover new topics in Georgia governor's debate: voter integrity, housing

Stay in the conversation on politics: Sign up for the OnPolitics newsletter

Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, left, and Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams face off in a televised debate, in Atlanta, on Oct. 30, 2022.

Kemp's closer: I put Georgians first

Kemp used his closing statement to repeat his claim that his record as governor entitles him to a second term.

He cited falling employment and rising economic growth, and told voters he "put them first" over the status quo. Kemp also found time to bash Abrams one last time for her criticisms.

The closing statement ended a debate that touched on voting rights, gun control, abortion and economic development for all people.

Story continues

 David Jackson

Abrams closes with vision of her governorship

In her closing statement, Abrams blasted Kemp for rising crime rates and housing prices under his incumbency as governor.

I want to do better by Georgia. I want to put you first every single day, said Abrams. She pushed for Medicaid expansion, stronger gun control laws, and repealing Georgias six week abortion ban.

In her last pitch to voters in Sunday's final debate, she pointed to her credentials in Georgias state legislature.

Ive spent the last 15 years as a state leader. Ive spent my life as someone who believes in doing right by people. I was raised by my parents to do right, Abrams closed.

 Ken Tran

Abrams, Kemp continue to argue over guns (and gun control)

Another question on gun violence: Abrams again said new laws are needed because guns are simply too easy to get, and Kemp has worked to loosen the laws that are there. She called for waiting periods and better background checks to guard against the mentally ill obtaining weapons, and said the governor is "minimizing" the rising number of gun deaths.

Kemp said law-abiding gun owners should not be punished because criminals use guns.

 David Jackson

Abrams steers debate to gun control

Amid talk of the handling of COVID-19, Abrams steered the debates conversation to gun control.

We need caution. We need caution, and our gun laws to make certain that dangerous people arent allowed to have weapons, Abrams said, then attacking Kemp. But this governor doesnt believe in caution."

Kemp, responding to Abrams attacks, said: The criminals, they dont care what the laws are. They already got the guns. Instead, Kemp said, he is giving people the ability, if they would like to, to conceal carry to protect themselves.

Abrams pushed for universal background checks in Georgia, but Kemp brushed it off.

When shes talking about all these other people, theyre breaking the law, Kemp said.

 Ken Tran

Housing questions turns to debate on COVID, health care in Georgia

The debate quickly shifted from a question about housing issues in the state to the health care landscape after Kemp accused Abrams of not wanting to focus on her record. In response, Abrams touted her past efforts to help Georgians afford housing and health care and criticized Kemps handling of the pandemic.

The Atlanta Medical Center survived 120 years, but could not survive four years of Brian Kemp, Abrams said.

Kemp defended his handling of COVID-19, taking shots at Abrams, saying that the state was one new COVID variant away from Abrams wanting to lock our state down, and accusing her of not wanting to give Georgians a choice.

 Sarah Elbeshbishi

Abrams ties Kemp to Herschel Walker over abortion  twice

Abrams repeatedly bashed Kemp over his opposition to abortion, and twice mentioned another Georgia Republican: Herschel Walker, who is accused of paying for two abortions. Kemp will "defend Herschel Walker," but not defend the women of Georgia, Abrams said. Kemp defended his record on abortion  but did not mention Walker.

 David Jackson

Kemp defends anti-abortion stance

On abortion, Kemp reaffirmed his anti-abortion views, pointing to Georgias law that bans abortion around six weeks.

We are a state that values life, Kemp said.

When asked if Kemp would sign further restrictions on abortion, he was noncommital.

I personally dont see a need to go back, but when youre governor, you have to deal with all kinds of legislative issues that are out there, said Kemp, then attacked Biden for high inflation rates again.

Abrams seized upon Kemps answer, telling viewers, Lets be clear, he did not say he wouldnt.

We know that under this governor, women are in danger," she added.

On limits to abortion, Abrams said women should have the ability to make a decision until viability and that decision about viability should not impact her life and health.

 Ken Tran

Abrams says Kemp is lying, clear record on support for police

Abrams accused Kemp of lying again after the incumbent stated that Abrams supported efforts to defund the police. She declared her support of law enforcement along with public safety and accountability.

Abrams said the rise of violent crime in Georgia has occurred because of Kemp before listing her efforts in working with law enforcement to improve different communities in the state.

 Sarah Elbeshbishi

Kemp touts record on fighting crime

Kemp has a mantra tonight: "Look at my record." In this case, he defended programs to fight crime, an issue Republicans have used across the country to attack Democrats. Abrams reverses that tactic, noting that Kemp's record includes a statewide increase in crime. Kemp says Abrams will attack his record because she doesn't want to discuss her own record of criticizing the police.

 David Jackson

Abrams reiterates economic policies

When asked what could she do as governor to improve the economic conditions in Georgia, Abrams listed several policies shes previously supported, including making education affordable for Georgians.

She criticized existing programs in the state, taking aim at Kemps record as governor without directly mentioning it in her answer.

 Sarah Elbeshbishi

Kemp blames inflation on Democratic control of Washington

When asked about what the governor of Georgia can do when it comes to the economy, Kemp first attacked President Joe Biden and full Democratic control of Congress.

Americans are hurting right now because of a disastrous policy agenda by Joe Biden and the Democrats that have complete control in Washington, D.C., Kemp said.

Kemp then pointed to his current administration's passage of flat income tax cut and suspension of a gas tax, arguing his tenure as governor has been successful in confronting inflation and the economy.

 Ken Tran

Kemp, Abrams give general opening statements

In his opening statement, Kemp spoke first and talked very generally about his record and an improving economy, saying Georgia is the "best state in the country." Abrams also gave an uplifting statement, saying she wants "everyone" in Georgia to thrive and will honor everyone's rights  unlike Kemp.

 David Jackson

New polls: Kemp leads race for governor

With Nov. 8 just over a week away, Kemp leads Abrams by 9 percentage points in the race for Georgia governor, according to an October InsiderAdvantage poll. Fifty-two percent of likely voters said they would vote for Kemp while 43% of voters said they would vote for Abrams.

A recent Monmouth University poll also found Kemp edging out Abrams with 55% of voters saying they would definitely or probably vote for Kemp  a 6 percentage point increase for the incumbent from last month. Only 43% of voters said they would definitely or probably vote for Abrams, 2 percentage points less than the previous month.

Forty-three percent of voters said jobs, the economy and cost of living was the most important issue when voting, with abortion coming in second. Fifty-three percent of Georgia voters said they trust Kemp more with issues of economy and cost of living compared to 35% of voters who said they trust Abrams.

 Sarah Elbeshbishi

Over 1.6 million Georgia voters so far

This midterm election, voters in Georgia appear to be more energized than ever. Turnout for early voting in Georgia has remained at an all-time high.

So far, over 1.6 million voters have cast their ballot early so far  a 40% increase in turnout compared to the 2018 midterm elections at this point in the election, according to data from Georgias Secretary of State office. Brad Raffensperger, Georgias secretary of state, projects that number to hit 2 million before Election day.

One in five active voters have already gotten their vote in, and we will hit the 2-million-mark next week, Raffensperger said in a statement announcing the record turnout.

 Ken Tran

Abrams to be aggressive in the debate; Kemp takes low-key approach

Abrams said she will use this debate to cast Kemp as a governor who only wants to deny people things, from abortion rights to economic assistance to the vote itself.

"During the first debate, I exposed Brian Kemps lies," Abrams tweeted just hours before the clash. "Tonight, I will show Georgians once again that I am the only candidate who stands with them and will fight to lift up every family."

Kemp, who is leading the polls, also took to social media, but said nothing about strategy against Abrams.

The governor tweeted, "TONIGHT: Watch the LAST gubernatorial debate before the general election."

 David Jackson

How to watch

The debate is hosted by WSB-TV and will be streamed on WSB Now. The debate will also be streamed on the networks Channel 2, available for local viewers to watch.

 Sarah Elbeshbishi

Democratic gubernatorial candidate for Georgia Stacey Abrams, left, speaks as her Republican opponent Secretary of State Brian Kemp looks on during a debate in Atlanta.

Who is Stacey Abrams?

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams rose to the national spotlight following her 2018 run for the governorship of Georgia.

Since then, she's been known for her work with get-out-the-vote organizations. She has been credited with registering 800,000 new Georgia voters ahead of the last presidential election.

Abrams works with FairFight Action, a political action committee that focuses on voting rights. The committee raised nearly $90 million in 2020.

If elected, Abrams will serve as the nation's first Black woman governor.

 Rachel Looker

Who is Brian Kemp?

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is vying for his second term in office. He defeated Trump-backed candidate David Perdue, a former U.S. Senator, in the primaries.

During his time as governor, Kemp signed legislation for a federal waiver to bypass the Affordable Care Act website, proposed a limited Medicaid expansion, attracted several major manufacturing facilities to Georgia, signed several bills that he says will support small businesses, delivered on a pay increase for teachers and signed a law preventing the teaching of so-called "divisive concepts" in schools.

The Republican governor has received backlash from former President Trump by refusing to help him overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.

 Rachel Looker

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kemp, Abrams highlight differences in second Georgia debate: recap
By Christian Kraemer

BERLIN (Reuters) - The German government is likely to insist companies that benefit from a planned "brake" on gas prices meet conditions, such as staying in the country or preserving 90% of the jobs they provide for a year, sources familiar with matter told Reuters.

Berlin last month set out an energy relief package, including a gas price brake and a cut in fuel sales tax to help households and small and medium-sized business (SMEs).

The brake, which sets a certain price, differs from attempts to cap market prices, a measure the European Union has debated for weeks and been unable to agree, in part because of opposition from Germany that says it could make it harder to source supplies.

Berlin has meanwhile defended its energy relief package as beneficial to all of Europe because it shores up the region's largest economy.

A German expert commission charged with drawing up plans to ease the impact of gas prices met from midday on Friday until well past midnight and set out proposals for specific conditions to attach to the brake, one industry source and one source close to the commission said, asking not to be named.

The government is expected to accept many of the commission's proposals once finalised, the sources said.

The proposed conditions of saving jobs and staying in Germany follow warnings from unions and lobbies that many of the small and medium-sized firms that form the backbone of German industry were considering relocating to cheaper jurisdictions.

Any companies that breach the conditions would have to pay back the price difference to the government.

Handelsblatt newspaper was first to report these details.

The brake will apply to 80% of households' basic consumption with a cap of 12 euro cents per kilowatt hour (Kwh) while market prices will apply for the rest of the consumption to encourage citizens to save gas, the two sources told Reuters.

The gas procurement price for some 25,000 large industrial customers will be capped at 7 euro cents per Kwh for 70% of consumption, the sources added.

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Private households and small companies will benefit from the cap from March 2023 until the end of April 2024 while the measure could come into force in January for industrial customers.

In addition, the government will offer a one-off payment to gas consumers, which is expected to be paid in December and will cost the government around 12 billion euros ($11.96 billion), a draft law showed on Wednesday.

The commission has yet to agree whether companies will be allowed to pay bonuses for management or dividends for shareholders while benefiting from the cap.

($1 = 1.0037 euros)

(Reporting by Christian Kraemer, Markus Wacket and Riham Alkousaa; Writing by Riham Alkousaa; editing by Barbara Lewis)
(Bloomberg) -- House Republicans would set up a committee to investigate how Covid-19 spread from China and focus on military and economic threats posed by Beijing if the GOP wins control in Nov. 8 congressional elections, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Such a select committees mandate would include looking into accusations of intellectual property theft from US companies and efforts by China to dominate key industries, McCarthy said on Fox News Sunday Morning Futures.

The promise reflects hardening hostility toward China among many Republicans. President Donald Trump came into office pledging to combat China on trade and later blamed China for the spread of Covid, which he often referred to publicly as the China virus.

Democrats also have been taking a tougher line on China, with President Joe Biden identifying as a primary national threat the authoritarian challenge to democracy posed by Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russias Vladimir Putin. Biden has imposed sanctions on China over its treatment of ethnic minorities including Uyghurs. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi infuriated China by visiting Taiwan to show US support for the island, which China claims as its own.

McCarthy identified the virus pandemic as a key objective for the would-be probe.

More importantly, we want to find where the origins of Covid began, so it never starts again, he said. How did that happen?

Senate Republicans last week released a report saying the pandemic was most likely the result of a leak of virus from a research lab in China, a theory Beijing has rejected as a lie.

Most scientists support the conclusion in a Science Magazine paper published in August that the virus jumped from animal to human, likely in the crowded wet markets in Wuhan, China.

Story continues

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2022 Bloomberg L.P.
Elon Musk's talk of slimming Twitter's staff and letting people post anything allowed by law is expected to clash with the reality of fending off hackers, trolls, police and regulators, experts said.

If Musk guts Twitter staff or mass resignations hit the platform, it could mean "doom," said Rebekah Tromble, director of the Institute for Data, Democracy and Politics at George Washington University.

"No matter Musk's big vision, you need a highly skilled, knowledgeable workforce capable of (re)building a viable platform and responding to EU obligations," Tromble said.

Along with engineers, that includes legal and policy teams that keep user data safe and guard against dangerous posts. "There really, truly are almost countless ways that Twitter as a company has to think about safeguarding its users," she said.

Cyber security issues range from lone hackers out to cause mischief to organized groups and attacks by nation states. Then there are "bad actors" who gang up to abuse targets on Twitter in a tactic referred to as "dogpiling."

"One of my greatest fears at the moment is that a sort of large-scale firing or even large-scale resignations will mean that the already imperfect system will just backslide," Tromble said, adding that losing people from teams that fight intrusive demands by police or other government agencies for Twitter user data means experience walks out the door with them.

Tweet trouble

Musk is in for a wake-up call when it comes to taking a laissez-faire approach to content moderation, according to Emma Llanso of the Center for Democracy and Technology.

U.S. law is permissive in terms of letting social media platforms decide content policies and not holding them accountable for what users post, but that could soon change, Llano said.

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a decision with potentially far-reaching ramifications, is set to hear two cases challenging the legal immunity of internet companies from liability for content posted by their users.

The top court in the U.S. may well decide to roll back how much social media firms like Twitter are immune to blame for content "recommended" to users.

"There are any number of decisions content sorting algorithms must make regarding which tweets a user sees," Llanso said.

"Does that make them recommended?"

Musk said he wanted to rely more on software and less on people for content moderation.

The Supreme Court is also to consider cases concerning whether states can dictate content rules for social media platforms.

And while there is currently strong legal footing for Musk to do as he wants with content moderation in the U.S., laws are more restrictive in Europe and elsewhere.

"Many countries around the world are really looking at cracking down on the broad leeway social media services have had till now on setting content policy the way they see fit," Llanso said.

Varying content moderation laws will also mean that Twitter has to figure out in real time what can be shown where.

With Musk at the helm for just some 24 hours, malicious characters were already testing the limits of Twitter systems, Tromble noted. "And when hate speech, doxxing and harassment slip through the cracks, real harm occurs."

"Doxxing" is the publication of private or identifying information about a person, often with malicious intent.

Even if there aren't legal consequences for letting Twitter turn foul, there are business consequences, said Electronic Frontier Foundation director of federal affairs, India McKinney.

"People are looking for a place to go," McKinney said of the search by some users for an alternative to Twitter. "It is an opportunity for someone, that's for sure."

$44-billion acquisition deal

Musk became Twitter Inc.'s new owner on October 27, sacking chief executive officer (CEO) Parag Agrawal, the company's chief financial officer and its head of safety, several media, including The Washington Post and CNBC, have reported, citing unnamed sources.

The $44-billion acquisition is the culmination of a remarkable saga, full of twists and turns, that sowed doubt over whether Musk would complete the deal.

In April, Musk tried to step back from the Twitter deal soon after his unsolicited offer was accepted, and said in July he was canceling the contract because Twitter misled him over the number of fake "bot" accounts, which were allegations that the company has rejected.

Twitter, in turn, sought to prove Musk was contriving excuses to walk away simply because he changed his mind. After Musk sought to terminate the sale, Twitter filed a lawsuit to hold Musk to the agreement.

With a trial looming, the unpredictable billionaire capitulated and revived his takeover plan. Musk signaled the deal was on track last week by changing his Twitter profile to "Chief Twit" and posting a video of himself walking into the company's California headquarters carrying a sink.
Entrepreneurs often talk about the importance of creating habits or routines for success.

For Damola Adamolekun, the first Black CEO of P.F. Changs China Bistro, an Asian casual-dining restaurant chain in the U.S., a morning routine sets him up for the day.

The 33-year-old spoke to Business Insider about starting his day at 6 a.m. in his at-home office. He shared:

First, I review our daily flash reports, which detail restaurant operating performance from the previous day and period to date.

I make notes of any interesting observations, questions, or oddities from my review to discuss with our COO Art Kilmer later in the morning.

Then, the Black executive said he moves on to everyones favorite tasksarcasm intendedchecking emails, but not just any kind of way. Adamolekun said he prioritizes low-intensity emails first, or those that dont require much thought or time like an email asking for final approval on a marketing design. Next, the CEO shifts his attention to more time-consuming email requests. He shared with Business Insider:

Its important not to rush these big decisions that can impact business, and instead to take time to analyze and get it right.

The executive arrives at P.F. Changs China Bistros corporate headquarters at 7:30 a.m. He shared that he reads the Wall Street Journal to catch up on key business, industry, and broader economic news. After Adamolekun said he chats separately with the companys chief operating officer (COO) and chief financial officer (CFO), Brad Hill, about the previous days operating results and any relevant corporate planning or financial issues, respectively. The CEO noted that his chats with the C-suite executives are informal and open-door.

How does he keep track of everything going on at once? The answer, a good-old Microsoft Word document. Adamolekun said, Besides my own to-do list, this document also has our company vision statement, core strategies, and yearly action plan to help keep me centered and focused. It doesnt hurt that he has an assistant that keeps his calendar up-to-date.

The madness begins at 8 a.m. when Adamolekun begins attending meetings, oftentimes back-to-back for the remainder of his day according to Business Insider. The executive shared, I have a rule with my executive assistant not to schedule any meetings before 8 a.m. The Harvard Business Review shared that time boundaries like Adamolekuns can help entrepreneurs protect their schedules.

As BLACK ENTERPRISE previously reported, Adamolekun led the company to a 31.7% increase in sales in 2021 compared to the year before. His daily routine seems to be paying off.
By Gus Trompiz

PARIS (Reuters) -Wheat futures are expected to leap on Monday as Russia's withdrawal from a Black Sea corridor agreement puts Ukrainian exports at risk, analysts said.

Moscow suspended its participation in the Black Sea deal on Saturday, in response to what it called a major Ukrainian drone attack on its fleet in Russian-annexed Crimea.

Kyiv said Russia was making an excuse for a prepared exit from the accord while Washington accused Moscow of weaponising food.

Wheat markets have been very sensitive to developments in Moscow's eight month-old invasion of Ukraine, as both countries are among the world's largest wheat exporters.

Ukraine is also a major corn supplier.

The establishment of the corridor, which allowed over 9 million tonnes of grain and oilseed commodities to be shipped from Ukrainian ports, helped to steady grain markets and curb global prices after they hit record levels.

That relative calm is likely to end when Chicago and Paris wheat, the world's two most-active wheat futures contracts, start their trading week on Monday.

"Russia's announcement is certainly bullish for prices and the start of the week is very likely to see prices climb, simply because less grain is going to come out of Ukraine," Arthur Portier of consultancy Agritel said.

Purchasing of grain for Black Sea ports in Ukraine has stopped following Russia's decision, a Ukrainian broker said.

Ukraine's infrastructure ministry said on Sunday 218 vessels were "effectively blocked" by Russia's decision to suspend its participation in the grain export deal.

The corridor suspension could trigger a buying rush in Chicago, where investment funds have a net short position.

CME Group applies daily limits on price movements, with the current $0.70 cap on its Chicago wheat contract implying a maximum possible rise of 8.4% compared with Friday's close of $8.29-1/4 a bushel. [GRA/]

However, news that the United Nations, Turkey and Ukraine - the other parties to the corridor deal - had agreed on Sunday to a plan for vessel movements and inspections on Oct. 31 tempered reaction to Russia's day-earlier announcement.

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"There were some mentions of wheat hitting limit tonight, but given the relative calm after the drone attack, I think 25 cents in wheat is fair," Joe Davis, director of commodity sales at brokerage Futures International, said.

Market participants are watching to see if the corridor deal can be salvaged, as the U.N. pursues negotiating efforts.

Carlos Mera, head of agricultural commodity markets research at Rabobank, said wheat futures might jump by 5% to 10%, but reaction could fade as Moscow quitting the deal had been partly anticipated while Russia's exports have increased.

"There are increasing exports from Russia so in the short term availability might still be there from the Black Sea," he said.

But in the absence of the corridor, some traders and analysts say Russia does not have extra logistics capacity to fill the gap while adverse weather is creating concern about harvest supplies in southern hemisphere exporters Argentina and Australia.

"The end of the corridor is inevitably going to push up prices and that makes the situation very bad for importers," Portier said.

(Reporting by Gus Trompiz, additional reporting by Pavel Polityuk; editing by Barbara Lewis and Diane Craft)
BOISE, Idaho (AP)  Taylen Green threw for a career-high 305 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another, George Holani rushed for 108 yards and three touchdowns, and Boise State defeated Colorado State 49-10 Saturday evening.

Boise State (6-2, 5-0 Mountain West Conference), winners of four straight, limited Colorado State to a season-low 170 yards, 49 less than the Rams mustered against Michigan in their season opener. The Broncos also posted a season-high 514 yards of total offense in the victory.

But it was Greens precision throws that raised some eyebrows after he flashed his elite speed during his first few appearances this season.

You cant bang your head into the wall, so whatever the defense is going to give you our coaches did a good job of taking it and anticipating what is going to work, Boise State coach Andy Avalos said. We just have to be patient and bring that attitude pushing forward to be better.

Colorado State (2-6, 2-2), which gained nearly half their offensive yards on a 76-yard touchdown pass from Clay Millen to Justus Ross-Simmons, remains winless against the Broncos in 12 meetings.

I think it showed where we are and what we need to do roster-wise, said first-year coach Jay Norvell, whos been tasked with rebuilding the program. We have to get bigger, we have to get stronger, and we have to get more talented and more depth at several positions. I think that was pretty glaring tonight.

Green, who rushed for over 100 yards in his first two games with significant playing time, hasnt rushed for more than 22 yards during Boise States current win streak. He completed 22 passes  also a season high for the freshman  on 27 attempts for a completion percentage of 81, another personal best for him.

Stefan Cobbs led the Boise State receiving corps with four catches for 91 yards, while Billy Bowens added four receptions for 76 yards and a touchdown.

Millen threw for 161 yards, while the Rams finished with a total of 3 yards rushing.

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CHEETAH-LIKE

As good of a night as Green had passing the ball, his 10-yard scoring run where he juked three defenders before walking into the end zone was one of the best highlights of the game. But defensive tackle Divine Obichere wasnt as impressed as everyone else.

Its nothing we havent seen before in practice, Obichere said. Weve all been victims.

He continued describing what its like facing Green in practice: Its like trying to catch a cheetah. Its impossible.

THE TAKEAWAY

Colorado State: The Rams offensive woes shouldnt be a surprise when considering their inexperience at skill positions and the 54 newcomers to the program. But the offensive line was expected to be a cornerstone to build around entering the season. However, injuries have decimated the offensive line unit, resulting in six different starting lineup combinations through eight games.

If the Rams expect to be competitive in November, they need their inexperienced skill players to grow up fast and hope its line gets well soon.

Boise State: While the Broncos offense has flourished under new offensive coordinator Dirk Koetters leadership, its the patient development of freshman quarterback Taylen Green and his passing prowess that has transformed the Broncos season. Greens evolution has been marked by maturity in the pocket, all while remaining a legitimate threat to run the ball.

With Boise States defense proving to be one of the best in the country, Green has had the time to develop and is now more than capable of leading the Broncos into a Mountain West title game, something almost unthinkable four games ago.

UP NEXT

Colorado State: The Rams remain on the road, squaring off against San Jose State on Saturday.

Boise State: The Broncos host BYU in a budding out-of-conference rivalry game.

___

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NextShark

A man arrested in connection with a brutal daytime attack of a 12-year-old Asian boy in Brooklyn earlier this month has been arrested nearly two dozen times in the past, according to reports. Police said Jamal McIlwain, 28, assaulted the victim with a crutch at the intersection of St. Pauls Court and St. Pauls Place at around 7:40 a.m. on Nov. 17. After failing to strike a third time, he "calmly" walks away, leaves the crutch on the sidewalk and heads north on St. Pauls Place, as per the New York Post.
Like their bosses at the top of the ticket, the men vying to be Brazil's next vice president are polar opposites.

Here is a look at the running mates playing wingman to far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and leftist challenger Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Sunday's divisive runoff election.

- Faithful soldier -

Like in the 2018 campaign that brought him to power, Bolsonaro, an ex-army captain who has cultivated close ties with the armed forces, tapped a military man as his running mate: General Walter Braga Netto.

But unlike current VP Hamilton Mourao, who has differed with his boss on policy -- sometimes publicly -- Braga Netto is seen as a hardline Bolsonaro supporter.

The 65-year-old army reserve general has held top jobs in Bolsonaro's administration, serving first as chief of staff, then defense minister.

In the former post, he notably oversaw the government's response to Covid-19 -- slammed as disastrous by critics, after the pandemic claimed more than 680,000 lives in Brazil, second only to the United States.

Born in the southeastern city of Belo Horizonte, capital of the key battleground state of Minas Gerais, Braga Netto became a general in 2009 and was named security chief when Brazil hosted the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Two years later, then-president Michel Temer ordered the military to take charge of security in Rio state amid a surge of violent crime -- tapping Braga Netto to lead the operation.

The intervention, which lasted almost a year, produced mixed results: some violent crime statistics receded, but killings by police officers rose sharply.

Braga Netto triggered controversy in March 2021, just after Bolsonaro named him defense minister, when he said the 1964 coup that installed more than two decades of military dictatorship in Brazil should be "celebrated" for "pacifying" the country.

Clean-cut and gruff, he is running in his first election.

- Big-tent bet -

Ex-president Lula has meanwhile tapped a one-time enemy as his running mate: centrist veteran Geraldo Alckmin.

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The business-friendly one-time-candidate is Lula's bet to win over voters wary of Bolsonaro's warnings that his Workers' Party represents "communism."

The two are not exactly an obvious match: Alckmin ran against then-president Lula in Brazil's 2006 election, losing in the runoff.

But they say they have teamed up to defeat a common enemy in Bolsonaro.

"People might think it's strange," Alckmin said in March.

"I ran against Lula in 2006. But we never put the very issue of democracy at risk."

Alckmin rose to prominence as governor of Sao Paulo, Brazil's biggest and wealthiest state, in the 2000s and 2010s.

Known as a good administrator but a boring politician, the mild-mannered 69-year-old earned a reputation as a solid managerial type well-liked by the business and financial sectors.

But he had fallen into political oblivion, winning less than five percent of the vote in the first round of the 2018 presidential race, which brought Bolsonaro to power.

Born in Pindamonhangaba, a small city outside Sao Paulo, Alckmin grew up in a devout Catholic family.

He was a city councilman and mayor before winning a seat in Congress and eventually the governorship.

There appears to be little risk the charismatic Lula will be overshadowed by him.

Alckmin's nickname is "xuxu popsicle" -- a reference to chayote, a bland vegetable common in Brazil.

He has turned it into a joke on the campaign trail, quipping that "xuxu" with "lula" -- the ex-president's name means "squid" -- is now a favorite national dish.

lg/jhb/fb/caw
By Nate Raymond

(Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court is set to consider whether colleges may continue to use race as a factor in student admissions in two cases that give its conservative majority a chance to ban policies often employed to boost Black and Hispanic enrollment and perhaps overturn its own precedents allowing such practices.

The justices, confronting another contentious issue in U.S. American society, are scheduled to hear arguments on Monday in appeals by a group backed by a conservative activist of lower court rulings upholding affirmative action admissions policies at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina.

Many U.S. colleges and universities place a premium on achieving a diverse student population not simply to remedy racial inequity and exclusion in American life but to bring a range of perspectives onto campuses with the goal of a richer educational experience for everyone. Critics argue that these policies themselves amount to unlawful racial discrimination.

According to Harvard, around 40% of U.S. colleges and universities consider race in some fashion in admissions.

The Supreme Court has been upheld such policies, most recently in a 2016 ruling involving a white woman who sued after the University of Texas rejected her. The court has shifted rightward since then. Its 6-3 conservative majority includes three justices who dissented in that 2016 decision and three appointed by Republican former President Donald Trump.

The Harvard and UNC lawsuits were filed in 2014 by a group called Students for Fair Admissions founded by anti-affirmative action activist Edward Blum, who also backed the University of Texas plaintiff. Blum said he is not taking a ruling against the schools for granted, adding, "Trying to foretell what the court is going to do is a fool's errand."

Ruling in favor of the plaintiffs could require the court to overturn its 2016 ruling and earlier decisions.

The court in 1978 ruled in a case called Regents of the University of California v. Bakke that race could be considered as one of several admissions factors including academic and extracurricular criteria but barred racial quotas. It reaffirmed that in a 2003 ruling in a case called Grutter v. Bollinger.

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The court's conservative bloc has shown a willingness to abandon precedent, as illustrated in the June decision to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that had legalized abortion nationwide.

'DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION'

The lawsuits accused UNC of discriminating against white and Asian American applicants and Harvard of discriminating against Asian American applicants.

"These challenges are a part of a broader attack on the importance and value that the Constitution and that American society place on diversity and inclusion in the core institutions of our society," said Sarah Hinger, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, which has filed briefs in the cases supporting the schools.

Democratic President Joe Biden's administration is backing the schools.

Students for Fair Admissions cited Harvard data showing that Asian American applicants were less likely to gain admission than white, Black or Hispanic applicants with similar qualifications. It said UNC's admissions data showed "stark" racial disparities in acceptance rates among similarly qualified applicants, with Black and Hispanic students preferred over white and Asian American ones.

Blum's group has argued that Harvard's policies ran afoul of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which bars racial discrimination under any program receiving federal financial assistance, and that UNC's violated the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection under the law.

The lower courts disagreed. For instance, the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that Harvard's use of race was "meaningful" and not "impermissibly extensive" because it prevented diversity from plummeting.

Chief Justice John Roberts is seen as the conservative justice least inclined to overturn precedent. But he dissented in the 2016 ruling alongside fellow conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.

Thomas, one of the court's two Black justices, has been outspoken against racial preferences.

"The Constitution abhors classifications based on race, not only because those classifications can harm favored races or are based on illegitimate motives, but also because every time the government places citizens on racial registers and makes race relevant to the provision of burdens or benefits, it demeans us all," Thomas wrote in a Grutter v. Bollinger ruling dissent.

Michaele Turnage Young, a lawyer with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which has filed briefs supporting the schools, said the court could rule more narrowly than its 6-3 ideological split might suggest, particularly after the political backlash from the abortion ruling.

"The court might be wary of overturning another longstanding federal line of precedent," she said.

David Bernstein, a professor at George Mason University's law school who has filed a brief supporting Blum's group, said he would be watching to see if the three liberal justices can find "some escape hatch or limit" to allow some form of racial preferences to remain.

Liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the court's other Black member, has recused herself from the Harvard case but is set to participate in the UNC one. Jackson, the newest justice, attended Harvard and previously served on its Board of Overseers.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Will Dunham)
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP)  RJ Harvey had a 17-yard touchdown run with 48 seconds remaining, sending UCF to a 25-21 win over No. 20 Cincinnati on Saturday.

Harveys go-ahead TD capped a seven-play, 75-yard march directed by Mikey Keene. The backup quarterback was 4 for 4 for 57 yards on the drive.

We have our plays that we go through during the week so its like second nature to us, Keene said. I just try to put the ball in a good place and let the guys go out there and make plays.

Cincinnati (6-2, 3-1) had won 19 straight American Athletic Conference games, including victories in the past two league championship games.

Cincinnati took a 21-18 lead with 3:04 remaining. Ryan Montgomery scored on a 39-yard touchdown run, and the Bearcats added the 2-point conversion on a Ben Bryant pass to Tyler Scott.

We didnt get it done tonight, it wasnt from a lack of will or a lack of fight, Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell said. We just got exposed in some situations where we have to be a lot better.

UCF (6-2, 3-1) took a 10-6 lead into halftime on the strength of a 26-yard touchdown run by Harvey. The Knights added a safety in the third quarter when Josh Celiscar sacked Bryant in the end zone.

Cincinnati had won six in a row since a season-opening loss to Arkansas. Bryant passed for 298 yards and a touchdown, and Montgomery had a team-high 40 yards rushing on three carries.

Harvey had 18 carries for 84 yards for UCF. The Knights finished with 258 yards on the ground and 247 through the air.

We talked all week that the most physical team is going to win this game, UCF coach Gus Malzahn said. We had to get ready for a fistfight. ... We beat a championship program.

Following a fumble recovery, Bryant threw a 14-yard touchdown to Josh Whyte to make it 13-12 at the end of the third quarter. Whytes TD capped a 10-play, 84-yard drive.

They battled, they fought, but we werent at our best today, Fickell said. We found a way to get ourselves into the game. It was back-and-forth.

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UCF quarterback John Rhys Plumlee was 7 of 11 for 71 yards when he was knocked out of the game late in the first half. He also rushed for 31 yards.

He couldnt come back in, Malzahn said. I think he had a concussion. He got hit pretty hard over there and was a little wobbly.

GOING TO THE GROUND

UCF outgained Cincinnati 258-35 on the ground. UCF had three players with over 50 yards rushing. Isaiah Bowser had 58 yards and a touchdown, and Ryan OKeefe had 51 yards on six carries.

Keene credited the team's offensive line for its rushing success.

Weve got the backs to make stuff happen, but they got the holes today, Keene said. The offensive line was great and pushed their defense back.

HOMECOMING KEENE

Malzahn said Keenes confidence never wavered despite losing the quarterback battle to Plumlee in the offseason. He continued to practice as if he were going to be the starting quarterback each week.

For him to step up in that moment and seize the moment on that last drive, that dudes a winner with a capital W, Malzahn said. Were walking in at halftime he said Coach, I got your back, thats just who the guy is."

EXTRA POINTS

Keene was 7-3 as a starter last season, but lost to Cincinnati, 56-21. ... UCFs last win over a ranked opponent was in 2018, a 38-13 win over No. 19 Cincinnati.

THE TAKEAWAY

Cincinnati: Outside of Montgomerys touchdown run, the Bearcats couldnt get anything established on the ground.

Sometimes things arent going well and you have to find other ways to get it done, Fickell said. They forced us to throw the ball more, but thats not how we want to play.

UCF: Keenes experience from starting 10 games last year as a true freshman proved to be invaluable. He walked into a tough situation, but one he was familiar with. Keene put together his best drive of the day when the Knights needed it most and kept UCF in contention for the conference championship.

UP NEXT

Cincinnati: Hosts Navy next Saturday.

UCF: At Memphis next Saturday.

___

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with her husband, Paul, at a Vatican Mass in June. (Stefano Costantino / SOPA Images)

For the record:

9:55 p.m. Oct. 29, 2022: A previous version of this article misspelled the last name of 911 dispatcher Heather Grives as Grimes.



In her first public statement about the brutal attack on her husband  in which she was the intended target  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told her congressional colleagues that she and her family were "heartbroken and traumatized" by Friday's events.

"Our children, our grandchildren and I are heartbroken and traumatized by the life-threatening attack on our Pop," Pelosi said in the statement, which was addressed to members of the U.S. House of Representatives. "We are grateful for the quick response of law enforcement and emergency services, and for the lifesaving medical care he is receiving."

Early Friday, an intruder broke into the Pelosis' hillside home in San Franciscos exclusive Pacific Heights neighborhood.

Authorities said David DePape, 42, attacked 82-year-old Paul Pelosi with a hammer after shouting, "Where is Nancy?" multiple times. Police arrived on the scene after being alerted by a call from Paul Pelosi, who managed to conceal the call from his attacker.

Nancy Pelosi was in Washington at the time but has since returned to California to be with her husband, according to news reports.

The House speaker referred briefly to the attacker in her statement.

"Yesterday morning, a violent man broke into our family home, demanded to confront me and brutally attacked my husband, Paul," Pelosi said.

Pelosi also thanked those who expressed concern and sympathy.

"Please know that the outpouring of prayers and warm wishes from so many in the Congress is a comfort to our family and is helping Paul make progress with his recovery," she said. "His condition continues to improve."

In her statement, Pelosi quoted from the Bible:

"We are also comforted by the words of the Book of Isaiah: 'Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.'"

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According to official accounts, Paul Pelosi told the intruder he had to use the bathroom, then made a surreptitious 911 call on his cellphone and left the line open. Dispatcher Heather Grives could hear Pelosi talking to his attacker and alerted officers to the scene.



At a news conference Friday, San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott praised Grives quick thinking, given that Pelosi was unable to describe the gravity of the situation because the intruder was close at hand.

She had to interpret what she was being told, Scott said at the news conference. And based on her experience and intuition, she basically figured out that there was something more to this incident than what she was being told.

Police arrived at the Pelosi residence about two minutes after being alerted by the dispatcher.

When officers knocked on the front door, Scott said, someone inside opened it. The officers saw Paul Pelosi struggling with his attacker, each with one hand on a single hammer, he said.

After officers ordered both men to drop the hammer, the attacker immediately pulled the tool from Pelosi and violently attacked him with the hammer, Scott said.

Police tackled the assailant, grabbed the hammer and took him into custody before calling for backup and beginning first aid.

A source who was briefed on the attack said the assailant confronted Paul Pelosi and shouted, Where is Nancy? Where is Nancy? before the assault occurred.

DePape was booked Friday afternoon on suspicion of attempted murder, first-degree burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, threatening a family member of a public official, elder abuse, battery with serious bodily injury, dissuading a witness and injuring a wireless device.

The attack is being viewed as evidence that the rising tide of harsh political rhetoric is escalating into violence.

A Times review of DePape's online accounts indicates he had been drifting into the world of far-right conspiracies, antisemitism and hate.

In a personal blog that DePape maintained, posts include such topics as Manipulation of History, Holohoax and Its OK to be white. He mentioned 4chan, a favorite message board of the far right. He posted videos about conspiracies involving COVID-19 vaccines and about baseless claims that the war in Ukraine is a ploy for Jewish people to buy land.

Among DePapes screeds were posts about QAnon, an unfounded theory that former President Trump is at war with a cabal of Satan-worshipping elites who run a child sex ring and control the world.

Paul Pelosi is recovering from surgery at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital to repair a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands, said Drew Hammill, a spokesperson for Nancy Pelosis office. He is expected to make a full recovery.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Relatives desperately searched for answers about the status of missing loved ones Sunday after a crowd surge in Seoul's nightlife district left at least 153 people dead and 133 injured over the weekend.

Halloween revelers swelled into a narrow alley in the city's Itaewon area Saturday night, leaving dozens of young people trampled and crushed on the street. Pedestrians and emergency officials administered CPR in attempts to aid those in cardiac arrest on the ground.

Thousands of people have contacted or visited city offices to report missing relatives and ask officials to confirm whether they were among those injured or dead, authorities said Sunday.

Two U.S. citizens were among those dead and three others were injured in the incident, the U.S. State Department confirmed Sunday in a statement to USA TODAY.

It was not immediately clear what led the crowd to surge into the street. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Sunday called for officials to thoroughly investigate the cause of the accident and review the safety of other large events in the wake of the tragedy.

Here's what we know.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, center left, visits the scene where dozens of people died and were injured in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, Oct. 30, 2022, after a mass of mostly young people celebrating Halloween festivities became trapped and crushed as the crowd surged into a narrow alley.

Witnesses describe the chaos: 'It was like a hell'

Grant Hauck told USA TODAY he ran a mile toward the scene of the surge when he heard about the injuries in an attempt to help those injured using his emergency medical service, or EMS, experience from college. Upon arrival, he found several bodies in the street and multiple people trying to help.

"I turn the corner to the main street and theres two or three ambulances, a fire truck and in the middle are like five or six bodies on the ground on one side of the street," Hauck said.

Hauck said he assisted people administering CPR, making sure their technique was right. He pumped the chests of two injured people himself.

Hauck, a family member of a USA TODAY staffer, said he was immediately overwhelmed by the mass trauma event.

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Other witnesses said the crowd surge caused a hell-like chaos as people fell on each other like dominoes. Some people bled from their noses and mouths while being given CPR, witnesses said, while others seemed to continue to party nearby without noticing.

I still cant believe what has happened. It was like a hell, said Kim Mi Sung, who also performed CPR to multiple victims at the scene.

Ken Fallas, a witness who used his smartphone to film video showing unconscious people being carried out from the alley, said the loud music made the surge even more chaotic.

We didnt hear anything because the music was really loud. Now, I think that was one of the main things that made this so complicated," Fallas said.

What happened in Seoul?

Officials believe that tens of thousands of young people gathered in the area Saturday to celebrate Halloween  one of the largest gatherings in the city following the country's reduction of its COVID-19 restrictions this year.

It's unclear what led to the crowd surge, but some said many people fell and toppled one another after they were pushed by others. A survivor, Lee Chang-kyu, said he saw about five or six men push others before one or two began falling, according to the Seoul-based Hankyoreh newspaper.

Ninety-seven of the dead were women and 56 were men, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety reported Sunday. More than 80% of the dead are in their 20s and 30s, and at least four were teenagers.

Twenty foreigners died in the stampede, according to the Interior Ministry: Four were from China; three from Russia; two from Iran; and one each from Vietnam, Austria, Norway, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka.

President Joe Biden offered condolences to the families of the two Americans killed in the crowd surge in a statement Sunday.

Jill and I are devastated to learn that at least two Americans are among so many who lost their lives in Seoul. Our hearts go out to their loved ones in this time of grief, and we continue to pray for the recovery of all who were injured.  President Biden (@POTUS) October 30, 2022

The death toll is likely to continue to rise as 37 of the injured people were still in serious condition Sunday, according to South Korea's Ministry of the Interior and Safety.

Itaewon, a hilly neighborhood in Seoul that was previously near an American military base, is a popular area for tourists and foreign residents because of its nightclubs, bars and restaurants.

WHAT WENT WRONG AT ASTROWORLD'S CROWD SURGE?: Expert: It took 'everything going wrong, like dominoes'

Crowd surge deadliest in country's history

A crowd surge can occur at festivals, concerts and large events when attendees collectively push forward, leading to large groups of people falling, shoving or being pressured to move past barricades.

The Seoul incident is the countrys worst disaster in years and the deadliest crushing disaster in South Korean history.

The disaster is also the second in a decade largely affecting young people: In 2014, a ferry that sunk off South Korea's southern coast led to 304 deaths, largely of high school students. The ferry disaster exposed regulatory failures and led to criticism of lax safety rules.

Earlier this month a riot at a soccer match in Indonesia that caused panic and a chaotic flee for exits led to the deaths of 132 people, most of whom were trampled or suffocated.

Contributing: Claire Thornton and Joel Shannon, USA TODAY; The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Seoul Korea Halloween crowd surge leaves at least 153 dead
October is National Adopt-A-Shelter Dog Month, and a Central Florida organization helped bring the community closer to some furry heroes.

Touch of Grey Rescue hosted the BarktoberFest event Saturday to help raise money for senior and special-needs dogs.

Photos: Helping furry heroes: Melbourne BarktoberFest raises money for rescue dogs

Touch of Grey Rescue hosted the BarktoberFest event to help raise money for senior and special-needs dogs.

Touch of Grey Rescue hosted the BarktoberFest event to help raise money for senior and special-needs dogs.

Touch of Grey Rescue hosted the BarktoberFest event to help raise money for senior and special-needs dogs.

Touch of Grey Rescue hosted the BarktoberFest event to help raise money for senior and special-needs dogs.

Touch of Grey Rescue hosted the BarktoberFest event to help raise money for senior and special-needs dogs.

Touch of Grey Rescue hosted the BarktoberFest event to help raise money for senior and special-needs dogs.

Touch of Grey Rescue hosted the BarktoberFest event to help raise money for senior and special-needs dogs.

Touch of Grey Rescue hosted the BarktoberFest event to help raise money for senior and special-needs dogs.

At the Intracoastal Brewing Company in Melbourne, families participated in barking bingo, a pet photo booth, a pet costume contest, live music and story time.

Read: Aussie Grill by Outback to open in Waterford Lakes soon

100% of the proceeds from BarktoberFest will go to Touch of Grey Rescue, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides care to senior and special-needs dogs in shelters.

See: Discovery Cove animal habitats tricked out for Halloween

See a map of the location below:

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.
You are here: China

The Council of Chairpersons of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee held a meeting Saturday to hear reports on the deliberation of a draft law and law revisions.

The meeting, presided over by Li Zhanshu, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, heard reports on changes made to a draft revision to the Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women, a draft Yellow River protection law, and a draft revision to the Animal Husbandry Law.

Lawmakers also heard deliberation reports on treaties on international judicial assistance in criminal matters, reports on deputies' proposals, and personnel-related bills.

The meeting decided to submit the drafts to the ongoing session of the NPC Standing Committee for review.
Relatives search for loved ones in Seoul after Halloween crowd surge leaves 153 dead

Relatives desperately searched for answers about the status of missing loved ones Sunday after a crowd surge in Seoul's nightlife district left at least 153 people dead and 133 injured over the weekend. Halloween revelers swelled into a narrow alley in the city's Itaewon area Saturday night, leaving dozens of people trampled and crushed on the street. Pedestrians and emergency officials administered CPR in attempts to aid those in cardiac arrest on the ground. Thousands of people have contacted or visited city offices to report missing relatives and ask officials to confirm whether they were among those injured or dead, authorities said Sunday. Seoul Metropolitan Police said they have confirmed the identities of nearly all of those killed. It was not immediately clear what led the crowd to surge into the street.

Details: More developments of the Seoul crowd surge during Halloween festivities.

Police officers inspect the scene where people died and were injured in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, Oct. 30, 2022, after a mass of mostly young people celebrating Halloween festivities in Seoul became trapped and crushed as the crowd surged into a narrow alley.

Nancy Pelosi shares first comments since attack on her husband Paul Pelosi

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Saturday night shared her first public comments since "a violent man" broke into her San Francisco home and "brutally attacked" her 82-year-old husband Paul Pelosi. In a letter to colleagues, she confirmed the attacker demanded to confront her during the attack. Pelosi was not in San Francisco at the time of the incident. She thanked law enforcement and first responders for the "life-saving medical care" her husband is receiving, and she thanked members for "the outpouring of prayers and warm wishes." The letter marked the first public statement from the speaker since her husband was attacked with a hammer early Friday morning and underwent surgery for a skull fracture. Suspect David DePape is expected to be charged with multiple felonies on Monday and arraigned Tuesday, according to San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins.

More details on the attack: Nancy Pelosis husband suffers skull fracture.

Democrats condemn Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin for Pelosi dig after husband's attack.

Story continues

Flowers can be seen outside the home of Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in San Francisco, Friday, Oct. 28, 2022. Paul Pelosi was attacked and severely beaten by an assailant with a hammer who broke into their San Francisco home early Friday, according to people familiar with the investigation.

Real Quick

Georgia midterm gubernatorial debate: With just a week to go before Election Day, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp will face off against Stacey Abrams  who is seeking to oust him from office  in their second and final debate. The candidates hit the stage Sunday at 7 p.m. ET. Here's what you need to know.

Lula defeats Bolsonaro in tight runoff, returns to Brazil's presidency

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has done it again: Twenty years after first winning the Brazilian presidency, the leftist leadefeated incumbent Jair Bolsonaro on Sunday in an extremely tight election that marks an about-face for the country after four years of far-right politics. With more than 99% of the votes tallied in the runoff vote, da Silva had 50.9% and Bolsonaro 49.1%, and the election authority said da Silvas victory was a mathematical certainty. It is a stunning reversal for da Silva, 77, whose 2018 imprisonment over a corruption scandal sidelined him from the 2018 election that brought Bolsonaro, a defender of conservative social values, to power.

Brazilian former president and candidate for the leftist Workers Party Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva holds a press conference in Sao Paulo on Oct. 29, 2022. After a bitterly divisive campaign and inconclusive first-round vote, Brazil elects its next president in a cliffhanger runoff between far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and veteran leftist da Silva on Sunday.

Astros strike back to win Game 2 vs. Phillies, evening up World Series

They were professional valleys for both players, even if Jose Altuve has 12 seasons and eight All-Star honors to his name, and Framber Valdez is still crafting his career narrative. And Saturday night was the perfect time for Altuve and Valdez to emerge from their darkest times to save the Houston Astros in this World Series. By nights end, the Astros had registered a 5-2 victory to square this Series 1-1, a major burden lifted after Philadelphia erased a five-run deficit for a 6-5, 10-inning Game 1 win. It was a shameful collapse for a franchise playing in its fourth World Series in six years. But the Astros evened things up in a hurry as two of their most indispensable players recovered from their own foibles.

World Series Notebook: Phillies 3B Bohm past fear of failure.

2022 World Series predictions: Two titles in six years? Astros are big favorites to beat Phillies.

Astros right fielder Kyle Tucker is congratulated by third baseman Alex Bregman after hitting a three-run home run.

At least 60 dead after bridge collapses into river in India

Scores of people were killed and injured when a cable bridge collapsed into a river in the western Indian state of Gujarat on Sunday, according to local media. State minister Brijesh Merja said that 60 people have died so far and that 17 people were admitted to hospitals. About a hundred people were plunged into the Machchu river below when the bridge came crashing down, officials said. And with rescue operations underway, officials fear the death toll could rise. The 19th-century, colonial-era bridge had been closed for renovation for almost six months and was reopened just four days ago.

Rescuers work at night after a cable bridge across the Machchu river collapsed in Morbi district, western Gujarat state, India, Sunday, Oct. 30, 2022.

Hospitals in Ukraine's Kherson region being cleared out by Russians; Outrage grows over Russia's suspension of grain

As their forces fought to retake a province overrun by invading soldiers early in the war, Ukrainian military officials reported Saturday that Russian troops had moved large numbers of sick and wounded comrades from hospitals in Ukraine's southern Kherson region and stripped the facilities of medical equipment. And amid fears of a global food crisis, a chorus of international condemnation echoed Sunday over Russia's sudden decision to halt participation in a grain export deal with Ukraine. The Russian Defense Ministry, citing an alleged Ukraine drone attack on Russia's Black Sea Fleet off the coast of occupied Crimea, announced the suspension Saturday. Ukraine denied the attack, blaming Russia for mishandling its own weapons. President Joe Biden weighed in Saturday, calling the decision "outrageous" and expressing concern that global hunger could increase. More updates on Ukraine.

Ukraine wants to prosecute Russians who launch missile strikes. An internet group says it found them.

'A test for our endurance': Will brutal winter weather be a game-changer for Ukraine or Russia?



A Ukrainian soldier inspects a Russian tank that was damaged in recent fighting near the recently retaken village of Kamianka in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine on Oct. 30, 2022.

At least 50 dead, dozens more feared missing as Tropical Storm Nalgae lashes Philippines

Flash floods and landslides set off by torrential rains left at least 50 people dead, including in a hard-hit southern Philippine province, where as many as 60 villagers are feared missing and buried in a huge mudslide laden with rocks, trees and debris, officials said Saturday. At least 42 people were swept away by rampaging floodwaters and drowned or were hit by debris-filled mudslides in three towns in Maguindanao province from Thursday night to early Friday. Eight other people died elsewhere in the country from the onslaught of Tropical Storm Nalgae, which slammed into the eastern province of Camarines Sur early Saturday, the governments disaster response agency said. But the worst storm impact so far was a mudslide that buried dozens of houses with as many as 60 people in the tribal village of Kusiong in Maguindanao's Datu Odin Sinsuat town.

'We are heading in the wrong direction': Flurry of climate change reports carry an ominous message.

Rescuers evacuate residents from flood waters caused by Tropical Storm Nalgae in Hilongos, Leyte province, Philippines on Friday, Oct. 28, 2022, after flash floods and landslides set off by torrential rains left dozens of people dead. Many villagers are feared missing and buried in a deluge of rainwater, mud, rocks and trees.

Like this roundup of stories? Sign up for The Short List newsletter here or text messages here!

Contributing: Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Seoul Halloween crowd surge, attack on Paul Pelosi, World Series, India bridge collapse: News you missed
The excitement of investing in a company that can reverse its fortunes is a big draw for some speculators, so even companies that have no revenue, no profit, and a record of falling short, can manage to find investors. Sometimes these stories can cloud the minds of investors, leading them to invest with their emotions rather than on the merit of good company fundamentals. Loss making companies can act like a sponge for capital - so investors should be cautious that they're not throwing good money after bad.

In contrast to all that, many investors prefer to focus on companies like Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA), which has not only revenues, but also profits. While this doesn't necessarily speak to whether it's undervalued, the profitability of the business is enough to warrant some appreciation - especially if its growing.

See our latest analysis for Murphy USA

How Fast Is Murphy USA Growing Its Earnings Per Share?

In the last three years Murphy USA's earnings per share took off; so much so that it's a bit disingenuous to use these figures to try and deduce long term estimates. Thus, it makes sense to focus on more recent growth rates, instead. Impressively, Murphy USA's EPS catapulted from US$12.99 to US$29.39, over the last year. It's a rarity to see 126% year-on-year growth like that. The best case scenario? That the business has hit a true inflection point.

Top-line growth is a great indicator that growth is sustainable, and combined with a high earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) margin, it's a great way for a company to maintain a competitive advantage in the market. EBIT margins for Murphy USA remained fairly unchanged over the last year, however the company should be pleased to report its revenue growth for the period of 53% to US$21b. That's progress.

In the chart below, you can see how the company has grown earnings and revenue, over time. For finer detail, click on the image.

Fortunately, we've got access to analyst forecasts of Murphy USA's future profits. You can do your own forecasts without looking, or you can take a peek at what the professionals are predicting.

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Are Murphy USA Insiders Aligned With All Shareholders?

Since Murphy USA has a market capitalisation of US$7.2b, we wouldn't expect insiders to hold a large percentage of shares. But we are reassured by the fact they have invested in the company. Indeed, they have a considerable amount of wealth invested in it, currently valued at US$607m. This suggests that leadership will be very mindful of shareholders' interests when making decisions!

Is Murphy USA Worth Keeping An Eye On?

Murphy USA's earnings per share growth have been climbing higher at an appreciable rate. That sort of growth is nothing short of eye-catching, and the large investment held by insiders should certainly brighten the view of the company. At times fast EPS growth is a sign the business has reached an inflection point, so there's a potential opportunity to be had here. So based on this quick analysis, we do think it's worth considering Murphy USA for a spot on your watchlist. We should say that we've discovered 3 warning signs for Murphy USA (1 is a bit concerning!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

Although Murphy USA certainly looks good, it may appeal to more investors if insiders were buying up shares. If you like to see insider buying, then this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying, could be exactly what you're looking for.

Please note the insider transactions discussed in this article refer to reportable transactions in the relevant jurisdiction.

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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Leslee "Honey" Buhler Alexander, the wife of former Tennessee governor and U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander, has died.

Honey, 77, was long the backbone and political will behind Tennessees most accomplished son. A statement from the family confirmed her peaceful death Sunday morning.

Our dear Honey was funny, loving, always caring, unselfish and courageous. We are so fortunate to have spent our lives with her. We will miss her every day, the statement said.

Daughter of a Texas Republican committeewoman, Honey spent her early life in and around politics. She never left.

Honey Alexander gives a brief speech at UT's Circle Park after passing the torch to another runner in May 1984.

A natural athlete, Honey met Lamar playing staff co-ed softball in Washington, D.C. Lamar played for Sen. Howard Bakers team, Honey for Sen. John G. Tower, Republican from Texas. Honey, Alexander wrote in his gubernatorial memoir, Steps Along the Way, slid into first, forever catching his attention, a charge she denied.

Regardless, he was struck.

After seeing Honey for the first time, I began to play softball the way a peacock struts through the farmyard, he said.

Some 18 months later, in 1969, they married in Texas.

She would become, advisor and spokesperson Keel Hunt said, truly a partner with Lamar over the entirety of his political career.

Honey doubted her husband could win the 1978 gubernatorial election and she had good reason since Lamar had lost four years earlier. But when she got on board the rest is history. Lamar would later credit Honey for much of his turnaround and his profound walk across the state that caught the states attention.

Lamars inauguration came days earlier than anticipated amid a political scandal where Gov. Ray Blanton was pardoning prisoners for bribes. In the craziness of the ceremony, Honey famously said it had a feeling more like a funeral than a party.

At that inauguration the Alexanders had three children  Drew, Leslee and Kathryn. Honey likened raising a family in peoples house to living in a fishbowl.

Yet Honey took this experience and focused her time as first lady on policy issues for expectant mothers and newborns in what became known as the Healthy Children Initiative.

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The initiative, which continued after the Alexanders eight years in office, focused on providing resources through county health departments where every child would have a medical home and would help provide prenatal care and education on prevention of teenage pregnancies to families across the state, particularly those in rural and urban, inner-city areas.

After the governors mansion, Honey, along with Marguerite Sallee and others, founded the Corporate Child Care Inc. In 1997 it merged with Bright Horizons, becoming what it claims is the worlds largest provider of worksite day care.

Honey was a political force but loving, longtime friends say, and she followed Lamar through his many forays:

Lamars failed run for governor in 1974

Eight years in the governors mansion from 1978-87

Six months to Australia for a reset

A short time in Knoxville where Lamar was president of the University of Tennessee system from 1988-91

To Washington, D.C. where Lamar was U.S. Secretary of Education for President George H.W. Bush from 1991-93

Two failed runs for president, first in 1996 and then in 2000

And finally, 18 years in the U.S. Senate, winning three terms (2002, 2008 and 2014)

Honey helped found the Leadership Nashville organization and was a major advocate of Nashvilles nonprofit Family and Childrens Services. The latter named their new headquarters the Honey Alexander Center after her contributions and family donations.

Honey Alexander is survived by her husband of 53 years; three children, Leslee Alexander of Maryville; Kathryn Alexander of Briarcliff Manor, New York; and Will Alexander, of Nashville; nine grandchildren; her brothers Frank Buhler, Jr. and Bruce Buhler; and her sisters Blanche Carter and Jessica Weiland.

Their son Drew died in late 2021 at age 52.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Honey Alexander, longtime wife of Sen. Lamar Alexander, has died
Anguished families in Somalia on Sunday desperately searched under debris and into body bags for loved ones after two simultaneous bombings tore through a busy intersection in the capital Mogadishu.

At least 100 civilians lost their lives and 300 others were wounded in Saturday's attack claimed by Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab jihadists, the deadliest assault in the troubled nation in five years.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said the death toll was expected to rise.

Abdiasis Abdi, a 22-year-old student, spent hours into the night looking for his sister who last said she lived in Zobe, a busy commercial hub with restaurants, pharmacies and banks hit by the car bombs.

"We found her this morning with only some of her clothes recognisable," Abdi said. Her body had been completely charred.

"I have never seen a horrible scene like that."

The attack has inundated first responders and hospitals in the Horn of Africa nation, which has one of the world's weakest health systems after decades of conflict.

The government put out an appeal for blood donations with dozens of people gathered outside hospitals in the capital Mogadishu, seeking news of family members.

Mohamed Ganey described seeing victims "scattered" on hospital floors as they looked for his missing sister-in-law. But the joy of finding her did not last long.

"Unfortunately, she died from the injuries just a few minutes after we found her.

"Everybody is shocked. The only question people have in common today is why kill so many innocent people?"

Police officer Adan Mohamed who was among the first to arrive at the scene after the second car bomb went off sending shrapnel flying and plumes of smoke and dust into the air, said he could not contain his emotion.

"I could not sleep last night because of the horrible scene," he told AFP, recounting how his colleagues found a baby whose mother had been killed in the blast.

"I cried again and again after I saw her face with blood stains presumably from her mother's body," he said.

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"She could not even cry because of the horrible situation. All she could do was stare and blink her eyes."

- 'Waiting to get killed'-

Police spokesman Sadik Dudishe on Saturday said the "ruthless terrorists" had killed mothers some of whom had "children trapped on their backs."

The attack took place at the same busy junction where a truck packed with explosives blew up on October 14, 2017, killing 512 people and injuring more than 290, the deadliest attack in the troubled country.

Witnesses said the road was busy with rows of tuk-tuks and other vehicles when the first blast hit.

"Rescuers, security forces and people seeking their relatives immediately rushed to the scene and the second blast went off," Sumayo Ali who survived the attack said.

Shop owner Mohamed Jama, who was with four other men when he heard a loud explosion, said he crawled through broken glass to safety.

"Outside the shop, dead bodies and injuries were everywhere, some injured were screaming, that's what I can remember now," he told AFP from his hospital bed.

On Sunday morning, the area surrounding the intersection was quiet, patrolled by a handful of security officers as emergency workers cleared the rubble and removed more bodies.

Nearby buildings sustained heavy damage with their windows shattered and walls collapsed.

International condemnation of the attack has poured in, including from the United Nations, African Union and Turkey.

Pope Francis offered condolences. "Let us pray for the victims of the attack in Mogadishu in which more than 100 people lost their lives, among whom many children," he said, following the traditional Angelus prayer in Saint Peter's Square.

For Hussein Jeeri, who lost his friend at the same intersection five years ago, tragedy stuck again on Saturday as his sister was wounded.

"I think the streets in Mogadishu are like walking on a sharp sword, we are all waiting to get killed or wounded like this one day."

nur-ho/bp
The weeks-long turmoil in Iran is now being felt here in the Mid-South.

About 200 protesters gathered in Germantown Saturday afternoon to stand in solidarity with the many Iranians speaking out against the countrys fundamentalist government.

The demonstrations organizers said they are joining other major cities around the country and the world in supporting the protests in Iran. Those protests came after a 22-year-old was killed by the states morality police in mid-September for not following the countrys dress code.

The protestors lined the corner of Poplar Avenue and Germantown Road, waving Iranian flags and chanting for freedom.

We are standing in solidarity with all the people of Iran, not only women now, for the overthrow of the current government, co-organizer Nick Nikroo said.

Nikroo said he was born in Iran and, until recently, traveled back regularly. After watching the protests unfold over the last month, he and many other Iranian-Americans felt the need to take action.

Right now the oppression and suppression is so bad in Iran that even if I reveal my face, my family back in Iran would be locked up and I would be under a lot of pressure to go back and turn myself in, he said.

Other protestors felt the same way. One man, who preferred to be identified only as Sam, said although many of the protesters are American citizens, Iran will always be their home.

We want our country back, he said. This is the least we can do in solidarity with the people in Iran who are being brutally murdered by the regime.

Ghazal Sadat-Shafai, an Iranian-American medical physicist who took part in the protest said she wanted to show support for those in Irans medical field, who have been forced to give up the names of injured protesters being treated in their hospitals.

When doctors spoke up, she said, they were attacked.

They were attacked by real bullets, and one surgeon unfortunately died, she said. This is a war crime.

Sadat-Shafai said she hopes the people passing by will look deeper into the situation in Iran and the drivers honking and waving out their windows as they drove by were an encouraging sign.

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People are showing their support, she said. It means a lot.

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In a town famous for make-believe, a fairy tale has come to life. Welcome to the Witch's House, a medieval detour among the mansions of Beverly Hills.

"It stands out like a sore thumb"  and happily so, says owner Michael J. Libow.

Correspondent Lilia Luciano asked, "What is it like to wake up in the middle of the night in this house?"

"I feel super comfortable here," Libow replied. "It makes me smile. It makes other people smile. And that's kinda what it's always been."

In a town famous for make-believe, one home that stands out from millionaires' mansions is a fairy tale cottage come to life, a whimsical and quirky fantasy perfect for Halloween. / Credit: CBS News

A Los Angeles real estate agent, Libow showed it to a client back in the 1990s who wanted to tear it down. But he bought it for himself, not to replace but to preserve.

"Everything had to be handcrafted," he said, "from wood beams to hardware to flooring. It's supposed to look organic and genuine to its period, which is maybe a farmhouse from 300 years ago."

Correspondent Lilia Luciano with Michael J. Libow, owner of the 1921 Witch's House. / Credit: CBS News

There are wobbly walls, a drooping roof, crooked hallways, and a fanciful fireplace.

"It's not a house to walk in drunk," laughed Luciano.

A hallway in the Witch's House. / Credit: CBS News

Also known as the Spadena House, it's the epicenter of the storybook style or architecture that took shape in America in the 1920s and '30s, as documented in architect Aarol Gellner's book, "Storybook Style," with photographs by Douglas Keister.

/ Credit: Schiffer Publishing

Gellner said, "It had to be exaggerated, almost a caricature of what European architecture looked like; it had to have artificial aging; and the last thing was, was it whimsical? Did it kind of make you smile or laugh when you looked at it? If a house passed all three of those tests, then it was a storybook house."

The storybook design began with Harry Oliver, an art director for a film studio. He built the Witch's House in 1921, partly inspired by the illustrations in old books and magazines, and by what moviegoers at the time were clamoring to see.

"There was a huge appetite among the public for films about faraway places  medieval times, exotic locations; people couldn't get enough of that stuff," said Gellner.

/ Credit: CBS News

That storybook touch can be seen in classic Disney pictures, like "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." But did one influence the other?

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"The animators would have been very familiar with this type of architecture," Gellner said. "But in terms of a three-dimensional constructed building, they would've seen these when they were going to work."

Storybook homes can still be found, but the quirky fad eventually faded. Just not for Michael J. Libow. "It just is a thing of beauty to people, in a quirky, wonky way," he said.

The Witch's House is one of the most popular attractions in Los Angeles, a must-see for tourists  and for trick-or-treaters, who line up by the thousands for Halloween.

Beware the witch! / Credit: CBS News

For more info:

Spadena House, a.k.a. The Witch's House (Wikipedia)The Witch's House (I Love Beverly Hills)Michael J. Libow, Compass Real Estate"Storybook Style: America's Whimsical Homes of the 1920s" (2nd Edition) by Aarol Gellner and Douglas Keister (Schiffer Publishing), in Hardcover, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and IndieboundPhotographer Douglas Keister

Story produced by Gabriel Falcon. Editor: Carol Ross.

Jamie Lee Curtis on life since "Halloween"

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Russia failed to take down Ukrainian computer systems with a massive cyber-attack when it invaded this year, despite many analysts' predictions. The work of a little-known arm of the US military which hunts for adversaries online may be one reason. The BBC was given exclusive access to the cyber-operators involved in these global missions.

In early December last year, a small US military team led by a young major arrived in Ukraine on a reconnaissance trip ahead of a larger deployment. But the major quickly reported that she needed to stay.

"Within a week we had the whole team there ready to go hunting," one of the team recalls.

They had come to detect Russians online and their Ukrainian partners made it clear they needed to start work straight away.

"She looked at the situation and told me the team wouldn't leave," Maj Gen William J Hartman, who heads the US Cyber National Mission Force, told the BBC.

"We almost immediately got the feedback that 'it's different in Ukraine right now'. We didn't redeploy the team, we reinforced the team."

Since 2014, Ukraine has witnessed some of the world's most significant cyber-attacks, including the first in which a power station was switched off remotely in the dead of winter.

By late last year, Western intelligence officials were watching Russian military preparations and growing increasingly concerned that a new blizzard of cyber-attacks would accompany an invasion, crippling communications, power, banking and government services, to pave the way for the seizure of power.

The US military Cyber Command wanted to discover whether Russian hackers had already infiltrated Ukrainian systems, hiding deep inside. Within two weeks, their mission became one of its largest deployments with around 40 personnel from across US armed services.

In January they had a front-row seat as Russia began paving the way in cyberspace for a coming invasion in which Ukraine's cyber-defences would be put to an unprecedented test.

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The infiltration of computer networks had for many years been primarily about espionage - stealing secrets - but recently has been increasingly militarised and linked to more destructive activities like sabotage or preparation for war.

This means a new role for the US military, whose teams are engaged in "Hunt Forward" missions, scouring the computer networks of partner countries for signs of penetration.

"They are hunters and they know the behaviour of their 'prey'," explains the operator who leads defensive work against Russia.

The US military asked for some operators to remain anonymous and others to be identified only by their first names due to security concerns.

Since 2018, US military operators have been deployed to 20 countries, usually close allies, in Europe, the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific region. - although not countries like the UK, Germany or France, which have their own expertise and are less likely to need or want outside help.

Most of their work has been battling state-hackers from China and North Korea but Russia has been their most persistent adversary. Some countries have seen multiple deployments, including Ukraine, where for the first time cyber attacks were combined with a full-scale war.

Inviting the US military into your country can be sensitive and even controversial domestically, so many partners ask that the US presence remains secret - the teams rarely wear uniform. But increasingly, governments are choosing to make missions public.

In May, Lithuania confirmed a three-month deployment had just finished working on its defence and foreign affairs networks, prioritised because of concerns over threats from Russia in the wake of the Ukraine invasion.

Croatia hosted the most recent deployment. "The hunt was thorough and successful, and we discovered and prevented malicious attacks on Croatian state infrastructure," Daniel Markic, the head of the country's security and intelligence agency, says.

"We were able to offer the US a new 'hunting ground' for malicious actors and share our experience and acquired knowledge," he adds.

The Americans need to convince their hosts they are there to help them and not to spy on them

But warm public statements mask the reality that these missions often begin uneasily.

Even countries allied to the US can be nervous about allowing the US to root around inside sensitive government networks. In fact, revelations from former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden 10 years ago suggested that the US spied on friends as well as enemies.

That suspicion means the young men and women arriving on a mission are often faced with a stern test of their diplomatic skills. They show up at an airport hauling dozens of boxes of mysterious technical equipment and need to quickly build trust to get permission to do something sensitive - install that equipment on the host country's government computer networks to scan for threats.

"That is a pretty scary proposition if you're a host nation," explains Gen Hartman. "You immediately have some concern that we're going to go do something nefarious or it's some super-secret kind of backdoor operation."

Put simply, the Americans need to convince their hosts they are there to help them - and not to spy on them.

"I'm not interested in your emails," is how Mark, who led two teams in the Indo-Pacific region, describes his opening gambit. If a demonstration goes well they can get down to work.

Local partners sometimes sit with US teams around in conference rooms observing closely to make sure nothing untoward is going on. "We have to make sure we convey that trust," says Eric, a 20-year veteran of cyber operations. "Having people sit side-saddle with us is a big factor in developing that."

And although suspicion can never be totally dispelled, a common adversary binds them together.

"The one thing that these partners want is the Russians out of their networks," Gen Hartman recalls one of his team telling him.

US Cyber Command offers an insight into what the Russians, or others, are up to, particularly since it works closely with the National Security Agency, America's largest intelligence agency which monitors communications and cyberspace.

In one case, proof of infiltration came in real-time. One US operator, Chris, who has led multiple European missions, recalls observing someone move suspiciously around the computer network of a partner country.

What was bizarre was that it appeared to be one of the local network administrators the team was working with. That person was standing right behind Chris. Could it be some kind of insider threat?

"Is that you?" Chris asked.

"That is my computer, but I swear that's not me," the administrator responded, transfixed as if watching a movie. Someone had stolen his online identity.

"Finding someone on your network is not a good moment especially when they are using your credentials," Chris recalls. That moment conveyed the reality of the threat and in turn helped secure more access.

The US operations overseas also helps its military at home

The US teams say they share what they find to allow the local partner to eject Russians (or other state hackers) rather than do it themselves. They also use commercial tools so that local partners can continue after the mission is over.

A good relationship can pay dividends. At the end of one mission, US operators say that local partners handed them a parting gift - a computer disc containing malicious software, or malware, from another network the team had not been inside.

Each mission is different and there are some where an adversary has been found on the very first day of looking, explains Shannon who has led two missions in Europe. But it often takes a week or two to unearth more advanced hackers who have burrowed deeper.

A cat-and-mouse game is often played with hackers from Russian intelligence agencies who are particularly adept at changing tactics.

In 2021, it emerged the Russians had used software from a company called SolarWinds to infiltrate the networks of the customers who bought it, including governments.

US operators began looking for traces of their presence. A tech sergeant in Cyber Command who liked puzzles spotted the way the Russians were hiding their code in one European country, General Hartman says. Unscrambling it, he was able to establish the Russians were hiding on a network. Eight different samples of malicious software, all attributed to Russian intelligence, were then made public to allow industry to improve defences.

Hunting is not an altruistic act by the US military. As well as providing hands-on experience for its teams, it can also help at home. In one mission, a young enlisted cyber operator found the same malware they had discovered in a European country was also present on a US government agency. The US has often struggled to identify and root out vulnerabilities domestically, whether in industry or government, because of overlapping responsibilities between different agencies even as it sends out its operators abroad.

Hunt Forward missions are classed as "defensive" but Gen Paul Nakasone, who leads both the military's Cyber Command and the National Security Agency confirmed offensive missions have also been undertaken against Russia in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine. But he and others declined to provide further detail.

This January, the team in Ukraine were trying to avoid slipping on icy pavements when a series of major cyber-attacks hit. "Be afraid and expect the worst," read a message posted by hackers on the Foreign Ministry website.

The US team watched in real-time as a wave of so-called wiper software, which renders computers unusable, hit multiple government websites.

"They were able to assist in analysing some of the ongoing attacks, and facilitate that information being shared back to partners in the United States," Gen Hartman says.

The aim was to destabilise the country ahead of the February invasion.

By the time Russian troops flooded over the border, the US team had been pulled out. Knowledge of the physical risk for their Ukrainian partners who remained weighed heavily on them.

Hours before the invasion began on 24 February, a cyber-attack crippled a US satellite communications provider that supported the Ukrainian military. Many predicted this would be the start of a wave of attacks to take down key areas like railways. But that did not happen.

"One of the reasons the Russians may not have been so successful is that the Ukrainians were better prepared," says Gen Hartman.

"There's a lot of pride in the way they were able to defend. A lot of the world thought they would just be run over. And they weren't," says Al, a senior technical analyst who was part of the Ukrainian deployment team. "They resisted."

Ukraine has been subject to continued cyber-attacks which, if successful, could have affected infrastructure. But the country has continued to defend itself better than many expected. Ukrainian officials have said that this has been in part thanks to help from allies, including US Cyber Command and the private sector as well as their own growing experience. Now, the US and other allies are turning to the Ukrainians to learn from them.

"We continue to share information with the Ukrainians, they continue to share information with us," explains Gen Hartman. "That's really the whole idea of that enduring partnership."

With Ukrainian and Western intelligence officials expressing concerns that Moscow may respond to recent military setbacks by escalating its cyber-attacks, it is a partnership that may still face further tests.
SEOUL (Reuters) -Foreign leaders expressed condolences over the deadly crowd surge in Seoul's Itaewon district, with more than 20 foreign nationals from 15 countries among those killed in the crush in a popular nightspot.

South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol declared a period of national mourning on Sunday after the Halloween crush on Saturday night killed some 153 people.

South Korea's foreign ministry put the total at 26 foreign nationals killed from 15 countries. A ministry official told Reuters the dead included people from China, Iran and Russia.

Two Japanese nationals, a woman in her twenties and another woman between the age of 10 and 19, were also confirmed to have died in the crush, an official at Japan's foreign ministry said.

"I am greatly shocked and deeply saddened by the loss of many precious lives, including young people with a bright future, as a result of the very tragic accident," Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in a statement.

At least four Chinese nationals were among those killed, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the Chinese embassy in Seoul.

"On behalf of the Chinese government and people, I would like to express deep condolences to the victims and extend sincere condolences to their families and the injured," President Xi Jinping said in a letter, according to Xinhua.

Xi said some Chinese citizens were also injured, and hoped South Korea "will make every effort to cure and deal with the aftermath."

Four Russian citizens died, the RIA news agency reported, citing the Russian embassy in South Korea.

"Please convey words of sincere sympathy and support to the families and friends of the victims, and also wishes for the swift recovery of all the injured," President Vladimir Putin said in a Telegram to Yoon.

U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden sent their condolences, writing: "We grieve with the people of the Republic of Korea and send our best wishes for a quick recovery to all those who were injured."

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British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak tweeted: "All our thoughts are with those currently responding and all South Koreans at this very distressing time."

One Norwegian citizen was confirmed to have died in the crush, a spokesperson for Norway's foreign ministry said, declining to provide any details.

"I am devastated by news of the terrible incident in connection with Halloween celebrations in Seoul," Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt said in a statement. "My deepest condolences to families and friends who lost their loved ones. My thoughts are with those affected by this tragedy."

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted: "Im thinking of everyone affected by this tragedy, and wishing a fast and full recovery to those who were injured."

Pope Francis, addressing the faithful in St Peter's Square on Sunday, said "we also pray ... for those, especially young people, who died overnight in Seoul due to the tragic consequences of a sudden stampede."

"Italy is close to the Korean people in this moment of great sorrow and profound sadness," Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Twitter.

(Reporting by Josh Smith and Reuters bureausEditing by William Mallard, Frances Kerry and Barbara Lewis)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attends her weekly news conference at the US Capitol on February 23, 2022 in Washington, DC. Win McNamee/Getty Images

The suspect who broke into Nancy Pelosi's home and attacked her husband brought zip ties with him, per CNN.

Suspect David DePape attempted to tie up Paul Pelosi and later told police he was "waiting for Nancy."

Threats against Speaker Pelosi are similar to the ones made by January 6 rioters, who told her to "come out and play."

The suspect who broke into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's home and demanded to know where she was brought a bag of zip ties with him, CNN reported, citing a source who had been briefed on the assault.

The suspect, 42-year-old David DePape, broke into Pelosi's San Francisco home in the early hours of Friday morning and shouted "Where is Nancy?" at Paul Pelosi. Speaker Pelosi was in Washington, DC at the time, along with her protective detail.

CNN previously reported that the attacker tried to tie up Paul Pelosi "until Nancy got home," and when police arrived on the scene, he told them he was "waiting for Nancy."

Police said they observed DePape strike Pelosi in the head with a hammer, at which point they arrested him. He has since been charged with attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, and burglary, according to CNN.

Pelosi was taken to the hospital, where he underwent surgery for a skull fracture. He is expected to make a full recovery, and in a statement on Saturday, Speaker Pelosi said Paul's condition "continues to improve."

"Yesterday morning, a violent man broke into our family home, demanded to confront me and brutally attacked my husband Paul. Our children, our grandchildren and I are heartbroken and traumatized by the life-threatening attack on our Pop," the Speaker said in the statement.

Threats against Speaker Pelosi are similar to the same ones made by those who attacked the Capitol on January 6, some of whom also brought zip ties. That day, some rioters broke off the House Speaker's sign outside of Pelosi's office and another stole her podium. Others called out "Nancy come out and play."

Some Republican lawmakers have denounced the attack, including former Vice President Mike Pence, who said, "this man should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Procuratorial organs in China have enhanced the protection of minors with all-out efforts in recent years, a report from China's top procuratorate showed.

The report was submitted by the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) Friday to the 37th session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress for deliberation.

Of all those who were indicted for crimes against minors from 2018 to September 2022, 42 percent, or 47,000 were sentenced to at least three years in prison in the first instance, said Zhang Jun, procurator-general of the SPP, in the report.

Regarding safety issues on campus, procuratorial organs in China worked closely with educational authorities and schools in improving campus safety, the report noted. In 2021, 1,062 people involved in school violence and bullying criminal cases were indicted, down 76.9 percent from 2018.

The report pointed out that comprehensive protection of minors can only be realized when protection in six aspects is in place. The six aspects are judicial protection, and protection from family, school, society, cyberspace and the government.

To ensure that protection in these areas is effective, procuratorial organs have taken multiple measures, such as developing mechanisms to rectify irresponsible parent behavior, having procurators participate in school education to raise minors' legal awareness, urging lodging service providers to enhance protection of minors, and creating a clean cyberspace for underage users.
How far off is Sleep Country Canada Holdings Inc. (TSE:ZZZ) from its intrinsic value? Using the most recent financial data, we'll take a look at whether the stock is fairly priced by taking the forecast future cash flows of the company and discounting them back to today's value. The Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model is the tool we will apply to do this. Don't get put off by the jargon, the math behind it is actually quite straightforward.

Remember though, that there are many ways to estimate a company's value, and a DCF is just one method. If you want to learn more about discounted cash flow, the rationale behind this calculation can be read in detail in the Simply Wall St analysis model.

See our latest analysis for Sleep Country Canada Holdings

The Model

We're using the 2-stage growth model, which simply means we take in account two stages of company's growth. In the initial period the company may have a higher growth rate and the second stage is usually assumed to have a stable growth rate. To start off with, we need to estimate the next ten years of cash flows. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years.

A DCF is all about the idea that a dollar in the future is less valuable than a dollar today, and so the sum of these future cash flows is then discounted to today's value:

10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast

2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 Levered FCF (CA$, Millions) CA$136.5m CA$114.0m CA$106.0m CA$101.3m CA$98.7m CA$97.5m CA$97.1m CA$97.3m CA$97.9m CA$98.9m Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x2 Analyst x1 Est @ -7.01% Est @ -4.4% Est @ -2.57% Est @ -1.29% Est @ -0.4% Est @ 0.23% Est @ 0.67% Est @ 0.97% Present Value (CA$, Millions) Discounted @ 7.2% CA$127 CA$99.3 CA$86.2 CA$76.9 CA$69.9 CA$64.4 CA$59.9 CA$56.0 CA$52.6 CA$49.6

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = CA$742m

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We now need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all the future cash flows after this ten year period. The Gordon Growth formula is used to calculate Terminal Value at a future annual growth rate equal to the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield of 1.7%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 7.2%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2032  (1 + g)  (r  g) = CA$99m (1 + 1.7%)  (7.2% 1.7%) = CA$1.8b

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= CA$1.8b ( 1 + 7.2%)10= CA$923m

The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is CA$1.7b. The last step is to then divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of CA$22.9, the company appears quite good value at a 50% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Valuations are imprecise instruments though, rather like a telescope - move a few degrees and end up in a different galaxy. Do keep this in mind.

dcf

Important Assumptions

Now the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate, and of course, the actual cash flows. Part of investing is coming up with your own evaluation of a company's future performance, so try the calculation yourself and check your own assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Sleep Country Canada Holdings as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 7.2%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.167. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business.

Next Steps:

Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it shouldn't be the only metric you look at when researching a company. It's not possible to obtain a foolproof valuation with a DCF model. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" If a company grows at a different rate, or if its cost of equity or risk free rate changes sharply, the output can look very different. Can we work out why the company is trading at a discount to intrinsic value? For Sleep Country Canada Holdings, we've compiled three relevant aspects you should further research:

Risks: Be aware that Sleep Country Canada Holdings is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about... Future Earnings: How does ZZZ's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered!

PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every Canadian stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here.

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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By Parisa Hafezi

DUBAI (Reuters) -Protests in Iran entered a more violent phase on Sunday as students, who defied an ultimatum by the Revolutionary Guards and a warning from the president, were met with tear gas and gunfire from security forces, social media videos showed.

The confrontations at dozens of universities prompted the threat of a tougher crackdown in a seventh week of demonstrations sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was arrested by the morality police for attire deemed inappropriate.

"Security is the red line of the Islamic Republic, and we will not allow the enemy to implement in any way its plans to undermine this valuable national asset," hardline President Ebrahim Raisi said, according to state media.

Iranians from all walks of life have taken to the streets since Amini's death in protests that the clerical rulers said were endangering the Islamic Republic's security.

Authorities have accused Islamic Iran's arch-enemies the United States and Israel and their local agents of being behind the unrest to destabilise the country.

What began as outrage over Amini's death on Sept. 16 has evolved into one of the toughest challenges to clerical rulers since the 1979 revolution, with some protesters calling for the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The top commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards told protesters that Saturday would be their last day of taking to the streets, the harshest warning yet by Iranian authorities.

Nevertheless, videos on social media, unverifiable by Reuters, showed confrontations between students and riot police and Basij forces on Sunday at universities all over Iran.

One video showed a member of Basij forces firing a gun at close range at students protesting at a branch of Azad University in Tehran. Gunshots were also heard in a video shared by rights group HENGAW from protests at the University of Kurdistan in Sanandaj.

Videos from universities in some other cities also showed Basij forces opening fire at students.

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Across the country, security forces tried to block students inside university buildings, firing tear gas and beating protesters with sticks. The students, who appeared to be unarmed, pushed back, with some chanting "dishonoured Basij get lost" and "Death to Khamenei".

HISTORY OF CRACKDOWNS

Social media reported arrests of at least a dozen doctors, journalists and artists since Saturday. The activist HRANA news agency said 283 protesters had been killed in the unrest as of Saturday including 44 minors. Some 34 members of the security forces were also killed.

More than 14,000 people have been arrested, including 253 students, in protests in 132 cities and towns, and 122 universities, it said.

The Guards and its affiliated Basij force have crushed dissent in the past. They said on Sunday, "seditionists" were insulting them at universities and in the streets, and warned they may use more force if the anti-government unrest continued.

"So far, Basijis have shown restraint and they have been patient," the head of the Revolutionary Guards in the Khorasan Junubi province, Brigadier General Mohammadreza Mahdavi, was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.

"But it will get out of our control if the situation continues."

JOURNALISTS APPEAL

More than 300 Iranian journalists demanded the release of two colleagues jailed for their coverage of Amini in a statement published by the Iranian Etemad and other newspapers on Sunday.

Niloofar Hamedi took a photo of Amini's parents hugging each other in a Tehran hospital where their daughter was lying in a coma.

The image, which Hamedi posted on Twitter, was the first signal to the world that all was not well with Amini, who had been detained three days earlier by Iran's morality police for what they deemed inappropriate dress.

Elaheh Mohammadi covered Amini's funeral in her Kurdish hometown Saqez, where the protests began. A joint statement released by Irans intelligence ministry and the intelligence organisation of the Revolutionary Guards on Friday had accused Hamedi and Mohammadi of being CIA foreign agents.

Students and women have played a prominent role in the unrest, burning their veils as crowds call for the fall of the Islamic Republic, which came to power in 1979.

An official said on Sunday the establishment had no plan to retreat from compulsory veiling but should be "wise" about enforcement.

"Removing the veil is against our law and this headquarters will not retreat from its position," Ali Khanmohammadi, the spokesman of Irans headquarters for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice told the Khabaronline website.

"However, our actions should be wise to avoid giving enemies a pretext to use it against us."

In a further apparent effort to defuse the situation, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said people were right to call for reform and their demands would be met if they distanced themselves from the "criminals" taking to the streets.

"We consider the protests to be not only correct and the cause of progress, but we also believe that these social movements will change policies and decisions, provided that they are separated from violent people, criminals and separatists," he said, using terms officials typically use for the protesters.

(Writing by Michael Georgy and Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Nick Macfie, Philippa Fletcher, Angus MacSwan and Barbara Lewis)
Candidates seeking elected office have been airing political ads for weeks. Here are what some community advocates say the candidates are not addressing in their campaigns:

Lead the charge on solving homelessness

While there are a multitude of issues in debate this election season, one that still needs real solutions is combatting the realities of homelessness in our city and state.

According to the March 2022 Oklahoma City Point in Time count, there are more than 1,300 individuals experiencing homelessness in Oklahoma City. However, this number is likely to be artificially low due to the challenges of accurately counting these populations. While the availability of affordable housing is an important factor in helping shelter these individuals, homelessness is an underlying symptom of a bigger condition in Oklahoma  the epidemic of untreated mental illness and substance abuse.

Oklahoma has some of the highest rates of substance abuse and mental illness in the nation, ranking 45th in adults needing but not receiving treatment for drug use and 47th in adults with mental illness by the latest National Mental Health Report. I suspect there isnt an Oklahoman reading these words right now that has not been negatively impacted by mental illness or substance abuse in their own lives, whether it be personally, within your family or close group of friends. Thats because according to the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Oklahoma County alone has an estimated 41,000 adults suffering from untreated substance abuse and 97,000 adults with untreated mental illness.

There are a multitude of nonprofits taking the lead on both the issues of homelessness and mental illness. But I would argue that our elected officials who represent ALL Oklahomans  regardless of their health or housing status  be the ones leading the charge.

When are we going to begin treating the condition that plagues us rather than only its symptoms? 26% of the unsheltered individuals in the 2022 Point in Time count self-reported having co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse. While we should strive to help put a roof over the head of every Oklahoman, we also need to look at how each of them became a part of this population in the first place and help the tens of thousands suffering from these untreated illnesses to ensure future Oklahoma families are not added to the numbers in our future counts.

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We need to devote more resources to combatting mental illness and substance abuse, because only focusing on developing additional housing for those experiencing homelessness is a short-term solution to a long-term problem.

 P.B. Odom, III, S Oklahoma City developer

'Invest in underinvested communities'

Local hip-hop artist Jabee will be one of the hosts for Arts Council Oklahoma City's virtual Opening Night 2021 New Year's Eve celebration.

The people running for office should be more focused on how they are going to serve the vulnerable and dispossessed. The power of government is an awesome power, and it should provide support and opportunity to the poor and marginalized. I want to see more candidates talking about the importance of lifting people up, protecting the vulnerable, and investing in underinvested communities.

 Jabee Williams, artist, community activist

'Tell me what you're going to do' to include Latino voices

Nobody talks about how we're going to close the gaps in the growing diversity in the city. The 2020 census established Latinos as the fastest-growing ethnic group in Oklahoma. How are they going to increase the voice of groups that are becoming more influential? (Oklahoma City) Mayor (David) Holt has done a good job making sure minority voices are present on boards and commissions at the city level, but what's being done at the state level? It seems they're more concerned about how I can make a candidate look bad, to disparage their character. Nobody is addressing the census numbers and how it's going to improve the community. Theres also lack of information from the candidates on how local, state and, such as ARPA funds, will be used as proposals are submitted. Yes, I care about someone who is trusted to lead, but tell me what you're going to do.

Raul Font

And another thing, I can't get behind the bond issue for the Oklahoma City Public Schools. I cannot support it because they're not doing anything about the academic progress of our kids. OKCPS student enrollment states that Latinos comprise 56% of the enrollment and African Americans about 24%. Nevertheless, these are the students failing at a higher rate than the mainstream population. The bond issue addresses building and grounds areas. Thats nice to address but way far from the academic concerns/challenges our kids have suffered through the last four decades. The charter schools  which enroll OKCPS students  receive nothing on this bond issue. These charters enroll close to 25% of the district enrollment. So why should we vote for the unequal and non-inclusive bond?

 Raul Font, president, Latino Community Development Agency

Volunteering  the need has never been greater

Across every sector, businesses and nonprofit organizations are struggling. The needs of households are outpacing the support that nonprofits can provide due to a lack of time, money and energy usually offered by the very individuals who are now seeking assistance.

Volunteers are the champions of their chosen organizations and are critical to the bottom line. Every volunteer willing to give their time is often the loudest supporter of that cause, usually a trusted advocate for that organization in the community. More than simply being a cheerleader for the mission, volunteers provide the labor that moves nonprofits to their goalposts. I am concerned that the need for volunteers will far exceed the supply as a growing population struggle to survive.

Over the past two decades of volunteering to build a better community in the Lawton-Fort Sill area, I have seen fewer volunteers available to give their time. During the beginning of my community service, I was honored to meet legends who gave 20-40 hours a month to support local hospitals, disaster response and youth organizations. Now, most people are either working multiple jobs and caring for family members or are not capable of participating in the volunteer labor force due to disabilities.

The decrease in volunteer capacity translates to a lack of ability to provide necessary services to the community. Much like a famine, our communities will lack the strength to weather the storms ahead without volunteers. In order to empower those who wish to volunteer, we must ensure that they are able to meet their own needs, i.e. affordable home, transportation and child care. People are willing to invest their time in the community, let's invest in them.

 Summer Hurleyjacks, Lawton

Immigrants don't live single-issue lives

While candidates continue to show up in debates, campaign ads and political stunts at the expense of real people, immigrants continue to be invisibilized and foot the bill of inflammatory narratives from candidates who have offered them nothing and fail to bring solutions that impact their day to day lives.

Immigrants make up over 6% of the population in the state, have a spending power of over $5 billion and pay over $1 billion in state and local taxes. We lead in creating jobs and generate over $400 million in revenue and play a key role in Oklahoma's labor force.

For Oklahoma to thrive, we need to increase living wages, worker protections, invest and expand resources for small businesses, self-employed and entrepreneurs embracing immigrants.

Cynthia Garcia is a queer community organizer and DACA recipient who has made Oklahoma City home for almost two decades.

When talking about safety, immigrant communities are being posed as a threat instead of part of a solution. A safer Oklahoma must include community IDs and driver's licenses regardless of status. These policies have a proven record of improving public and transportation safety in states where implemented.

From education, health care and public safety, our lives are on the ballot every election. Immigrants are actively participating civically in their communities. Our voices must be heard and our needs reflected in how we are being presented.

We need candidates and elected officials that can speak of solutions and agendas that see all of us as essential in our shared futures. As immigrants, we dont live single-issue lives, and we must be key partners in building an Oklahoma that works for all of us. Our communities depend on one another, our shared wellness, and a vision for the future must, too.

 Cynthia Garcia, community organizer

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma advocates weigh in on what candidates aren't addressing
Italian M109L 155-mm self-propelled guns

The M109L is a 155 mm turreted self-propelled howitzer that uses NATO-standard ammunition.

According to La Repubblica, hundreds of them were produced in the last years of the Cold War. They were withdrawn from service at the beginning of the century.

Read also: Not in Ukraine but in Italy Putin won, a Radio Liberty journalist says

After the major repairs, these units will be sent to the front line. The exact number of donated units remains classified, the outlet stated, adding that they were part of the latest military aid package approved by previous Italian Prime Minister, Mario Draghi.

On Oct. 22, Giorgia Meloni became the new Italian prime minister. She has promised her full support for Ukraine and Western sanctions against Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

Shes stated that she believes the only way to peace between Russia and Ukraine is to help the latter defend itself militarily.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Italian healthcare workers who were suspended from their jobs for not choosing to receive the coronavirus vaccine will soon be reinstated, the countrys health officials said. Fines issued to people who decided against the vaccine will also be canceled.

New Health Minister Orazio Schillaci announced Friday that hospitals were suffering from a shortage of medical personnel and that the decline of coronavirus cases should allow for a "reintegration" of penalized workers suspended under rules of the previous administration.

"A measure is being finalized that will allow the reintegration into service of health staff subject to suspension proceedings for non-compliance with compulsory vaccination before the expiry date of the suspension," Schillaci said, according to Reuters.

A medical staff member works in a COVID-19 intensive care unit at a hospital in Bologna, Italy, on Jan. 25, 2022.

Former prime minister Mario Draghi made compliance with coronavirus restrictions a priority, as the pandemic was particularly deadly in Italy, which included mandatory vaccination orders for teachers and healthcare workers.

ITALY'S GIORGIA MELONI SWORN IN, FIRST WOMAN TO BE PREMIER

Those who did not comply were suspended from their jobs without pay. Those over the age of 50 who did not get vaccinated were forced to pay a nearly $100 fee.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

The suspensions will now be reversed and the fines will be canceled, under Italy's new prime minister Giorgia Meloni.

CANADIAN LEADER CONSIDERS DROPPING COVID LOCKDOWN CHARGES, APOLOGIZES TO UNVACCINATED

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Meloni was sworn into office at a ceremony at the Quirinale Presidential Palace, in Rome, Italy on Oct. 22.

According to the World Health Organization, Italy has almost 179,000 deaths from the pandemic.


There was an attempt to sour Jacksonvilles largest sporting event at yesterdays Georgia vs. Florida game.

An antisemitic message was shown across a portion of TIAA Bank Field. There was another shown on the side of a downtown high rise. These were just two of several antisemitic signs seen around Northeast Florida in the last few days.

Action News Jax spoke with members of the Jewish community and locals about their concerns with the display of antisemitism.

The first antisemitic sign was shown on the overpass on Interstate 10 and Chaffee. The second sign came at last nights Georgia-Florida game. It read Kanye is right about the Jews.

These signs started appearing after rapper Ye, aka Kanye West, made antisemitic remarks on Twitter. Yes now deleted post said that he would go death con 3 on Jewish people referencing the U.S. defense readiness condition, DEFCON.

Read: Jacksonville Jaguars lose to the Denver Broncos in London

Words hurt, said Mariam Feist, CEO of Jewish Federation and Foundation of Northeast Florida.

Feist said her organization is working to protect the entire Northeast Jewish community from antisemitism.

We have signed an agreement with secure community network, and we are going to be implementing a community security initiative. By working with local law enforcement, including the FBI, Jacksonville Sheriffs Office and St. Johns County Sheriffs Office, said Feist.

Read: Woman dead after car accident on CR 133 and Charmont St

I dont think theres any place for that here. This whole antisemitism thing thats been going on forever is just ridiculous. Its just hate, said a Jax local.

Action News Jax is still working to learn where the message came from and who posted it. Mayor Lenny Curry weighed in on the matter on Twitter saying Jacksonville is a city made better because of its diversity. Those who spread messages of hate, racism and antisemitism will not be able to change the heart of this city or her people.

Story continues

For those that are doing these acts, as the elected officials and FBI have shared with me stop reposting their pictures and tweets. Dont mention their names because youre just keeping that venom alive, said Feist.

[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]

Read: 3 big money-winning Powerball tickets sold in Florida in Wednesday nights drawing

[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]

Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
Joe Rogan praised Elon Musk's Twitter takeover. Getty Images

Joe Rogan praised Elon Musk's Twitter takeover in his latest podcast with comedian Bridget Phetasy.

He said Musk wants to bring back a "reasonable exchange of ideas" and thinks "this is important."

Musk sealed the $44 billion deal on Thursday, after trying to walk away from the takeover.

Joe Rogan praised Elon Musk for wanting to bring a "reasonable exchange of ideas" back to Twitter as the billionaire became the social media network's new owner on Thursday.

In his latest episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, he speaks with writer and comedian Bridget Phetasy about Musk's $44 billion deal.

"Elon took over Twitter today, like we live in a simulation," Phetasy said. "That crazy bastard did it," she added, calling his stunt of walking into Twitter's San Francisco headquarters with a sink a "dad joke."

Rogan said it was important that Musk wanted to restore a "reasonable exchange of ideas" on Twitter, and notable coming from someone who is "that wealthy" and had been "left-leaning most of his life."

"I think we have a real problem with discourse on Twitter," he said. "What some would like to do is silence those that have opposing viewpoints, and then you get all this positive feedback from all the people that agree with you."

The podcast presenter said there were "so many people" who ought to be allowed back on Twitter, such as Megan Murphy, who was banned for life for misgendering and deadnaming trans women.

Musk has called himself a "free speech absolutist" and said he would reverse life bans. However, he tweeted the day after the acquisition that he was creating a "content moderation council" for Twitter.

Twitter advertisers have also weighed in over concerns that Donald Trump's account might be reinstated. Tesla competitor General Motors reportedly paused its advertising.

Some politicians have also welcomed Musk's ownership. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz told Fox News: "I think Elon Musk buying Twitter is one of the most significant developments for free speech in modern times."

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However, Lebron James said he didn't care "who owns Twitter" but hoped Musk would take hate speech seriously after reports that the use of the N-word had surged.

Musk also said he would be "digging" into shadowbans in response to a tweet by right-wing commentator Catturd, who claimed to have suffered that fate. The anonymous account is a vocal supporter of Trump's election fraud claims.

Read the original article on Business Insider
ROMAN PETRENKO  SUNDAY, 30 OCTOBER 2022, 13:26

Dmytro Konstantinov, the judge of the Krasnohrad District Court of Kharkiv Oblast, died in a mine explosion on 29 October 2022.



Source: The press service of the Supreme Court of Ukraine

Details: It is specified that the judge, born in 1980, died from a detonating device in the village of Borshchova, Kharkiv Oblast, which was under occupation for a long time.

The staff of the Supreme Court of Ukraine expresses its sincere condolences to the relatives, friends and colleagues of Dmytro Serhiiovych and shares the pain of the heavy, irreparable loss.



Reminding: On 26 October, a mine clearers car ran over a mine in the Izium District of Kharkiv Oblast, killing one person and injuring five others.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Roberts said King Jr. and his wife Coretta were close friends of her parents. (Photo: Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images (left); Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

Roberts said King Jr. and his wife Coretta were close friends of her parents. (Photo: Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images (left); Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

In a recent conversation with CBS News reporter Gayle King for the History Channel, actor Julia Roberts revealed that late civil rights activists Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King, who were close friends of her parents, paid the hospital bill for her birth.

The King family paid for my hospital bill Martin Luther King and Coretta, Roberts told Gayle King, according to Insider.

The conversation from late September, which was part of a series called HISTORYTalks held in Washington, D.C., went viral Friday when Zara Rahim, a former strategic adviser to President Barack Obama, tweeted the interview clip to celebrate the actors 55th birthday.

One day Coretta called my mother and asked if her kids could be part of the school because they were having a hard time finding a place that would accept her kids, Roberts told King. My mom was like, Sure, come on over, and so they all just became friends.

Roberts said her parents, Walter and Betty Lou Roberts, ran the Actors and Writers Workshop in Atlanta before she was born in 1967. Segregation kept the civil rights leaders daughters from attending white schools  and even their entry in a theater school sparked violence.

Today is Julia Roberts birthday! 55 years ago MLK and Coretta Scott King paid for her parents hospital bill after she was born. Cant stop thinking about this since I read it. Here she is talking about it with @GayleKinghttps://t.co/5HvpNSUIYbpic.twitter.com/147x6d807W  Zara Rahim (@ZaraRahim) October 28, 2022

The Ku Klux Klan blew up a car outside the school after Yolanda, the eldest King daughter, was cast in a play in which she kissed Philip DePoy, a white actor, who chronicled the terrifying incident of domestic terrorism in an essay for ARTS ATL in 2013.

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I kissed a girl, and 10 yards away, a Buick exploded, wrote DePoy.  The girl was Yolanda King, daughter of Coretta and Martin Luther King Jr. I was primarily Caucasian and Yolanda wasnt. Thats what the trouble was about. I dont know who owned the Buick, but I know who blew it up.

Roberts said the Kings helped us out of a jam when her parents couldnt afford to pay the hospital bill for her birth on Oct. 28, 1967, in Smyrna, Georgia. She never stopped being vocal about racial injustice and told Rolling Stone in 1990 that her town was horribly racist and a living hell, according to The New York Times.

In the 60s, you didnt have little Black children interacting with little white kids in an acting school, and your parents were like, Come on in, King marveled in response to Roberts story. I think thats extraordinary, and it sort of lays the groundwork for who you are.

Video: A history of the Civil Rights movement

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Related...
Chinese researchers have deployed an in-situ scientific experiment station on the seabed that will enable long-term uncrewed scientific research in the deep sea, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) said.

The researchers aboard the research vessel Tansuo-2 (Discovery 2), carrying the crewed submersible Shenhai Yongshi (Deep Sea Warrior), deployed the station during their expedition. The vessel has returned to Sanya in south China's Hainan Province, said the CAS.

The in-situ scientific experiment station is a new deep-sea system proposed by China in recent years. It takes a deep-sea base station as the center, can carry a variety of uncrewed submersibles, and access chemical/biological labs and other platforms to carry out a series of in-situ experiments and exploration.

Chen Jun, a researcher from the Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering under the CAS, said traditional marine surveys take samples from the seabed and get them tested in the land labs. Conducting in-situ testing in the deep sea can avoid damage or loss of sample data due to environmental changes, said Chen.

According to the CAS, the station will work autonomously on the seabed and be able to conduct its monitoring and management. All data will be regularly transmitted back to the shore-based control center through the deep sea glider, and researchers can also remotely control the in-situ scientific experiment station.

The station's power system can store 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity and support the station to work continuously on the seabed for more than half a year.

In this mission, the "Deep Sea Warrior" crewed submersible connected to the base station with the in-situ lab and carried out a series of tests, such as the wireless communication and mode switching of the station.

In future missions, the station will connect to more intelligent, uncrewed experiments, detection, and information transmission systems.
Roberts shared the King family stepped in to help when her parents couldn't afford the hospital bill. Steve Granitz/Getty Images; New York Daily News Archive/Getty Images

Julia Roberts revealed that Martin Luther King Jr. paid for her birth in a September chat with Gayle King.

Roberts said the King family stepped in to help when her parents couldn't afford the hospital bill.

Roberts' fans have taken to social media to discuss the intimate detail about the "Pretty Woman" star.

Julia Roberts shared that her birth was paid for by the late civil rights activists Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife Coretta Scott King, in a riveting conversation with Gayle King that has recently gone viral.

Zara Rahim, a former strategic advisor for Barack Obama, shared a video on Twitter Friday to commemorate Roberts' birthday, noting the King family's influence in her life.

In September, The "Pretty Woman" star, 55, sat down with Gayle King at a HISTORYTalks event in Washington, DC, where Roberts revealed the King family stepped in when her parents "couldn't afford to pay the hospital bill."

"The King family paid for my hospital bill ... Martin Luther King and Coretta," Roberts said. "They helped us out of a jam," she later added.

Roberts told Gayle that prior to her birth her parents, Walter and Betty Lou Roberts, ran the Actors and Writers Workshop in Atlanta, Georgia, and welcomed the King children during a time where Black children were not allowed to integrate into white schools.

"One day Coretta Scott King called my mother and asked if her kids could be part of the school cause they were having a hard time finding a place that would accept her kids, and my mom was like 'sure come on over,'" Roberts said.

After their children joined the school, the families became friends, Roberts added.

Following the Kings' entry as students, a Ku Klux Klan member blew up a car outside of the school, according to an essay by Phillip Depoy published on Arts ATL, a publication that covers Atlanta's art scene. The terrorist act was in response to Yolanda King, King's first-born child, being cast as a love interest to a white counterpart, Depoy writes.

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During the conversation, Gayle applauded the Roberts family for their role in integrating the Atlanta theater scene in a time of heightened racial injustice.

"In the 60s you didn't have little Black children interacting with little white kids in an acting school, and your parents were like 'come on in.' I think that's extraordinary and it sort of lays the groundwork for who you are," Gayle said.

Social media users took to Twitter to discuss Robert's revelation. One Twitter user wrote, "Martin Luther King Jr paying for her birth is still a little known fact that sends me."

almost wife like (@turnandstomp) October 22, 2022

Roberts has been vocal about racial injustice in the past. According to the Los Angeles Times, Roberts discussed the period she spent filming "Sleeping with the Enemy" in Abbeville, South Carolina, in a 1990 interview with Rolling Stone.

While speaking with the outlet Roberts said the town was "horribly racist" and called it a "living hell" after her Black friend was refused service at a restaurant.

After the incident, the Abbeville residents raised money to take out a Variety ad condemning Roberts for her comments. "Pretty Woman? Pretty Low," the ad read according to the Spartanburg Herald-Journal.

Roberts later clarified her comments in a statement to the Anderson Independent-Mail.

"I was shocked that this type of treatment still exists in America in the 90s  in the South or anywhere else," she said via the Orlando Sentinel.

Read the original article on Insider
Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, showed a spreadsheet on his phone to blame Jews for his business losses. (Photo: MEGA via Getty Images)

Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, showed a spreadsheet on his phone to blame Jews for his business losses. (Photo: MEGA via Getty Images)

Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, apologized to the Black community Friday for claiming fentanyl killed George Floyd and not a Minneapolis police officer who pressed his knee into his neck, but the rapper defended his antisemitic statements about the media.

When I see that video as a Black person, it hurts my feelings, Ye told paparazzi about Floyds May 2020 murder, according to The Daily Mail. And I know that police do attack and America is generally racist. And I understand that when we got to say Black Lives Matter, that the idea of it made us feel good together as a people, right?

So when I questioned the death of George Floyd, it hurt my people, Ye added. I want to apologize. Because God has showed me by what Adidas is doing, by what the media is doing, I know how it feels to have a knee on my neck now.

Ye, who has worked on his Yeezy brand of sneakers with Adidas since 2013, was recently dropped by the German fashion company for claiming a cabal of Jewish businessmen was targeting him. That partnership accounted for $1.5 billion of Yes net worth  until last week.

So thank you God for humbling me and letting me know how it really felt, Ye told the paparazzi, likening his losses to Floyds killing. Because how could the richest Black man ever be humbled other than to be made to not be a billionaire in front of everyone off of one comment.

Kanye West continues his anti-Jewish tirade, discussing how a Jewish doctor intentionally misdiagnosed him & could have killed him.



He then rants again about Jews controlling entertainment and media, insinuating that the number of Jews in this profession is problematic. pic.twitter.com/N2qyoNe8fM  Ari Ingel (@OGAride) October 30, 2022

Ye certainly made more than one comment about Floyd and repeatedly suggested in a recent interview with podcaster Lex Fridman that Floyd died of an overdose. Floyds family is preparing a $250 million lawsuit against Ye, and fashion company Balenciaga and banker JP Morgan Chase have since cut ties with Ye.

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Former officer Derek Chauvin, who pressed his knee against Floyds neck for nearly nine minutes on May 25, 2020, outside a market, was found guilty in April 2021 of three murder and manslaughter charges. Hes now serving two concurrent sentences of more than 22 years in prison.

Ye concluded his apology to the Black community by repeating his antisemitic statements. He showed paparazzi a spreadsheet on his phone that he said contained the names of Jewish executives who run the top media outlets  and even mentioned Huffington Post, the former name of HuffPost.

The red are the executives that are Jewish at these companies, Ye said. Ive had experiences where it felt like I was being teamed up on. And I didnt realize that that term would be considered to be antisemitic.

Ye, who in 2018 revealed he has bipolar disorder, also blamed a Jewish doctor for misdiagnosing him and said he faced harm if hed not decided to stop taking his prescribed medication. He also told the gathered paparazzi that he could have accidentally died of an overdose, like Michael Jackson or Prince, if a doctor had wanted him to.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Related...
Kanye West (Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images)

Kanye "Ye" West attacked the family of George Floyd on Sunday shortly after saying he wanted to "apologize" for false statements he has made about Floyd's death.

In an Instagram post, the rapper lashed out against Roxie Washington  the mother of Floyd's daughter  after she moved to file a $250-million lawsuit over his recent remarks about the police brutality victim. West's post has since been deleted.

In June 2020, West, who now goes by "Ye," reportedly donated $2 million to the Floyd family. He also reportedly launched a college savings fund for Floyd and Washington's young daughter, Gianna, after police officer Derek Chauvin killed Floyd by pressing his knee into Floyd's neck for about 9 minutes.

However, West drew sharp criticism this month for falsely claiming on an episode of the "Drink Champs" podcast that Floyd's death was fentanyl-related and that Chauvin's "knee wasnt even on his neck like that. Washington is now planning to sue West for harassment, misappropriation, defamation and infliction of emotional distress, according to an Oct. 18 press release from her legal team.

"Now for Roxie Washington and Roxie Washington ALONE," West captioned a photo of Washington on Instagram this weekend.

"I gave 2 million dollars out of my pocket for the family. To help Georges daughterYour daughter! ... Many gave words. I ACTED. Now because of words you want to sue me for 250 million dollars ... when Im going through an Economic lynching. A Digital Lynching. A Social Credit Score bankrupting."

An attorney representing the Floyd family, Pat D. Dixon, declined to comment Sunday on West's latest remarks. Earlier this month, Dixon condemned West's previous comments as "a repugnant attempt to discount George Floyds life and to profit from his inhumane death."

"Youre either being controlled or youre being greedy," West continued in his Instagram attack on Washington. "This is how you try someone who was there for your family???? You will never get money from no one else. GOD dont like ugly."

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West's Instagram rant came and went days after he told paparazzi that he wanted to "apologize" for his "Drink Champs" remarks about Floyd.

"When I ... questioned the death of George Floyd, it hurt my people. It hurt the Black people," West told paparazzi in a video credited to Buzzipper/LAGossipTV.

In the same clip, West also addressed the swift fallout from his recent racist and antisemitic behavior, which has resulted in a number of companies  from Adidas to Balenciaga  severing ties with him.

"God has shown me  by what Adidas is doing and by what the media is doing  I know how it feels to have a knee on my neck now," he told paparazzi. "So thank you, God, for humbling me and letting me know how it really felt. Because how could the richest Black man ever be humbled other than to be made to not be a billionaire in front of everyone ... ?"

West cited his paparazzi interview Sunday in his Instagram caption, which read: "To the Floyd family: I apologized to you and the black community for my comments on Drink Champs. Humbly Now Come get Roxie before she mess up all yall money."

In recent weeks, West has come under fire for his fraudulent Floyd remarks, "White Lives Matter" stunts and antisemitic outbursts, which have led to antisemitic incidents in Florida and Los Angeles.

Free speech rights do not include harassment, lies, misrepresentation, and the misappropriation of George Floyds legacy," said Kay Harper Williams, an attorney representing the Floyd family, earlier this month. "Some words have consequences and Mr. West will be made to understand that."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The Kennedy Space Center has announced that its offering viewing packages for people to see the SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch on Tuesday.

SpaceX Falcon Heavy will launch the USSF-44 mission, departing from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center between 9:40 a.m. to 10:11 a.m.

The mission is expected to deploy two spacecraft payloads directly into geosynchronous orbit, one of which is the militarys TETRA 1 microsatellite.

Kennedy Space said these viewing packages will include activities for people to do before, during and after the launch.

Read: Heres how students can send their out-of-this-world art into space

Guests will have the opportunity to watch the landing of both side boosters, as well as hear the sonic boom as they return to landing sites 1 and 2 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

After the launch, those watching can see a nose-to-nose view of the SpaceX Falcon 9 booster, which is suspended from the ceiling inside.

People can see other aircraft as well, including the Orion Exploration Flight Test-1 capsule and SpaceX Cargo Dragon COTS-2.

Read: SpaceX launches Galaxy satellites from Cape Canaveral after multiple delays

Ticket packages will be sold based on the specific mission.

Packages can be booked via the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex website or by calling 855-737-5235.

The limited-availability packages will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis.

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 man who allegedly attacked Paul Pelosi on Friday reportedly had an active online presence in which he posted QAnon conspiracy theories and was previously a pro-nudity activist.

San Francisco police have identified the suspect as 42-year-old David DePape, who was booked on several charges, including attempted homicide, elder abuse, aggravated battery with serious bodily injury, and threatening a public official or family member.

DePape allegedly attacked 82-year-old Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), with a hammer after repeatedly asking, Where is Nancy?

Details that have emerged of the suspected attacker since Friday show that he was active in promoting conspiracy theories online and very consumed by darkness.

Heres what else we know about DePape.

Conspiracy theories and antisemitism

DePape had a complicated political presence online, making posts that questioned the 2020 election outcome and promoted QAnon conspiracy theories.

After moving to California from British Columbia, DePape became known in Berkeley as a pro-nudity activist, protesting against rules requiring people to be clothed in public, according to The Associated Press.

He was also a hemp jewelry maker connected to pro-nudity activist Gypsy Taub, who pushed conspiracy theories about the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Taubs daughter, who said DePape helped raise her until she was 13, wrote on her blog, There is some part of him that is a good person even though he has been very consumed by darkness.

DePape has also been tied to a number of social media accounts and blogs sharing far-right conspiracy theories.

Two blogs authored by a daviddepape included recent posts with antisemitic content and claims of election fraud as well as a video of Nancy Pelosi at one of former President Trumps impeachment proceedings, according to CNN.

Story continues

In some posts, the author defended former President Trump and the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, who has come under criticism for antisemitic comments.

In one post from last month, an author under DePapes name wrote that journalists who denied the former presidents fraud claims about the 2020 presidential election should be dragged straight out into the street and shot, according to the AP.

Echoes of Jan. 6 Capitol riot

Police reportedly arrived at the scene to find Paul Pelosi and DePape struggling with a hammer  and before officers could tackle and disarm DePape, he allegedly took control of the hammer and assaulted Paul Pelosi with it.

Both Paul Pelosi and DePape were then transported to a local hospital. There, Paul Pelosi underwent surgery for a skull fracture and other significant injuries to his arm and hands, according to the Speakers spokesperson.

The suspect reportedly entered the Pelosis San Francisco home on Friday in search of the Speaker, who was in Washington, D.C., at the time, and shouted, Where is Nancy? Where is Nancy?

The question is reminiscent of chants heard during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol as some rioters searched the halls for the Speaker. One rioter was sentenced to 60 days behind bars earlier this year for threatening to shoot Nancy Pelosi in the friggin brain during the insurrection.

DePape also reportedly brought zip ties with him when he entered the Pelosis home, another move seen from some Jan. 6 rioters who were spotted carrying zip ties into the Capitol.

The San Francisco District Attorney has said multiple felony charges will be brought against DePape on Monday, with an arraignment expected Tuesday.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Democrats and Republicans traded blame over the weekend for the violent attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosis (D-Calif.) husband, and the rise of political violence more broadly.

Paul Pelosi was attacked in his home Friday by an intruder who was allegedly looking for the Speaker and wielding a hammer, prompting some Democrats to call out their Republican counterparts for their fiery rhetoric against the California lawmaker.

Republicans have by and large condemned the violence, but many have also blamed Democratic policies for emboldening would-be criminals.

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel on Sunday put blame on Democrat policies for an uptick in violence against political figures.

If this werent Paul Pelosi, this criminal would probably be out on the street tomorrow, McDaniel said on Fox News Sunday with host Shannon Bream.

We saw Lee Zeldins attacker was on the street right after he attacked him. This is what Democrat policies are bringing, McDaniel said, referring to an attack earlier this year at a campaign event for New York gubernatorial nominee and Rep. Lee Zeldin (R).

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) wrote on Twitter Friday that she was praying for Paul Pelosi but added that violence and crime are rampant in Joe Bidens America.

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) hit back, writing YOU called for Nancy Pelosi to be executed, @RepMTG. YOU said she should be hung for treason. And now that someone listened, youre making Paul Pelosis attack about YOU. This is what Republicans stand for, America. Its sick.

Pelosi was in Washington, D.C., when her 82-year-old husband was attacked at their California home, but the intruder allegedly called for the Speaker as he entered the home, shouting Where is Nancy?  a call reminiscent of the chants of rioters during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Paul Pelosi after the attack underwent surgery for a skull fracture and other significant injuries to his arm and hands, according to the Speakers spokesperson.

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The attack has put some Republicans on the defensive over their rhetoric toward Pelosi in campaign ads.

Just two days before the attacks, Rep. Tom Emmer (Minn.), the chairman of the House GOP campaign arm, shared a video of himself shooting a firearm with a call to #FirePelosi included in the caption.

The Minnesota lawmaker argued with CBSs Margaret Brennan on Sunday, dismissing her suggestion that the Tweet could be read as an incitement to violence.

I disagree, Emmer said.

A Bernie Sanders supporter shot Steve Scalise, he added. I never heard you or anyone else in the media trying to blame Democrats for what happened.

In a speech to Pennsylvania Democrats Friday, President Biden highlighted the danger of extreme GOP rhetoric and conspiracy theories.

What makes us think that one party can talk about stolen elections, COVID being a hoax, that its all a bunch of lies, and it not affect people who may not be so well balanced? What makes us think that its not going to corrode the political climate? Biden asked.

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) in a Saturday night appearance on CNN said people in both parties should tone down the rhetoric, sidestepping direct questions about his GOP colleagues.

[Nancy Pelosi] is demonized, as is Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer, and Im sure Kevin McCarthy when he becomes Speaker will be demonized. Its a terrible environment and I believe people in both parties are guilty of intense rhetoric that really leads to- feed into these people who are deranged and create violence, Comer said.

We need to try to do better in both parties, myself included, he added.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) on Sunday called the attack on Paul Pelosi disgusting and despicable.

Weve got to figure out how to bring our country back together where we have a civil conversation and we have no violence, Scott told co-anchor Dana Bash on CNNs State of the Union.

We have to condemn the violence, and then we have to do everything we can to make sure people feel comfortable about these elections, the Florida senator added.

Republican New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu on Sunday encouraged both parties to put all the politics aside.

I dont think theres any need for the attack ads, and, again, you know, right now, all our thoughts and prayers and sympathy have to go out to Nancy Pelosi, her entire family, her husband, of course, Sununu said on NBCs Meet the Press.

Democratic Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) on Sunday called out former President Trump for his noted silence on incident.

President Biden and Democrats have stood behind law enforcement and strengthening protections for those in public life. Thats what I think we should be focusing on in this moment, when leaders of both parties  but so far not President Trump  have decried the attack on Paul Pelosi, Coons said in an interview with host Shannon Bream on Fox News Sunday.

Talking to reporters Saturday night, Biden appeared to call out members of the GOP who condemn the violent incident without condemning the rhetoric propagated by their own party.

Its one thing to condemn the violence. But you cant condemn the violence unless you condemn those people who are arguing that the election is not real Condemn what produces the violence, Biden said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
At least one person is hurt after an accident in Riverside late Sunday afternoon.

>>3 injured after a multi-car accident on I-75 SB in Miami Township

Crews were dispatched to the area of Woodman Drive and Arcadia Boulevard at around 5:06 p.m.

Video from the scene shows a pick-up truck and another vehicle were involved and one ambulance was on scene.

At least one person suffered unknown injuries, dispatchers told News Center 7.

Police crews from Kettering and Beavercreek were also called to assist, according to initial scanner traffic.

We will continue to provide updates.

Photos from: Staff

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Read also: About 1,000 summonses served in occupied Sevastopol amid partial mobilization in Russia

GeoConfirmed volunteers analyzed photos and videos, including footage from unmanned surface vehicles (USV), which roamed the harbor and sea near Sevastopol.

In particular, the investigators published footage of an attack on an Admiral Grigorovich-class frigate  of which there are three in the Black Sea Fleet, including the Admiral Makarov. The footage ends abruptly, presumably due to the drone striking the ship.

Read also: Russia has stolen at least $530 million worth of Ukrainian grain, says AP

The footage stops when the USV seems to impact on a vessel, the USV likely exploded, GeoConfirmed tweeted.

In another video released by GeoConfirmed, an attack can be observed on a Natya-class minesweeper  the Ivan Golubets. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the vessel received minor damage.

Read also: UN hopes to prolong grain deal, but Russia seeking to limit Ukrainian exports

Yet more released footage shows another USV roaming between the docked ships inside the harbor, probably looking for a target of opportunity.

Based on the footage we can conclude that it was near at least four ships and for attacking the target it did almost a U turn, the group stated.

According to GeoConfirmed, based on all the footage, at least between six and eight drones were involved in the attack, with three being used on ships.

Based on all available footage, its highly likely that: USVs penetrated the Sevastopol harbor defense, USVs were used, at least three ships were struck with an USV, GeoConfirmed said, noting that they believe Ukraine to have operated the drones.

Explosions in Sevastopol Bay: what we know

Explosions rocked the Russian-occupied city of Sevastopol in Crimea early on Oct. 29. Kremlin puppets in the citys occupation administration, and the Russian Defense Ministry, announced a drone attack in the waters of the Sevastopol Bay, allegedly repelled by Russian ships.

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At first, they said that no objects in the city were hit, and the situation is under control.

However, the Russian Defense Ministry later announced there had been allegedly minor damage caused to the minesweeper Ivan Golubets as a result of a drone attack in Sevastopol.

At the same time, local media outlets reports that damage had also been taken by the frigate Admiral Makarov frigate  a cruise missile carrier that has repeatedly shelled Ukrainian territory. In particular, they report damage to the radar system on the frigate and a hole in the minesweeper.

Read also: Russia stalls exports of Ukrainian grain, Zelenskyy says

Russias Defense and Foreign Ministries have blamed Ukraine and Great Britain for the attack on the Black Sea Fleet ships, calling it a terrorist attack. The Russians claim the preparation of the attack was allegedly carried out under the leadership of British specialists who are in the town of Ochakiv in Mykolayiv Oblast.

The UK Ministry of Defense has rejected Russian accusations of involvement, calling the accusations false statements of an epic scale.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian militarys Operational Command South said the explosions in Sevastopol could have been caused by unsuccessful launches of anti-aircraft missiles.

Read also: Moscow is playing PR game over grain exports

Following the attack, Russia announced on Oct. 29 that it was suspending its participation in a UN-brokered grain deal that saw a number of Ukrainian ports be partially de-blockaded for export. Later, Russian media outlets reported that Russia had also officially notified the UN Secretary General about its decision to cease cooperation on the initiative, specifically naming the attacks on military vessels used to shell Ukraine as the reason for their decision. Russia then tacked on a number of falsehoods involving the attack, claiming that they were allegedly carried out against Black Sea Fleet ships and civilian vessels involved in ensuring the security of the grain corridor.

Both Ukraines Foreign Ministry, and the Office of the President, have called Moscows actions food blackmail and emphasized that Russia was withdrawing from the agreement under a false pretext.

In turn, the United Nations urged all sides to refrain from any actions that could jeopardize the implementation of the agreement, adding they were in contact with the Russian authorities.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
LeBron James in 2022. Mark J. Terrill/AP Images

Lebron James reacted to news of a large influx of hate speech following Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter.

"I hope he and his people take this very seriously," James wrote on Twitter Saturday.

Twitter responded to the reports of increased hate speech, saying "hateful conduct" was not welcome on the platform.

Lebron James said the rise of hate speech on Twitter is "scary AF" and urged new Twitter owner and CEO Elon Musk to take the issue seriously.

"I dont know Elon Musk and, tbh, I could care less who owns twitter," James wrote on Twitter Saturday, responding to reports that use of the n-word on Twitter rose by nearly 500% within 12 hours of Musk finalizing the acquisition of the platform. "But I will say that if this is true, I hope he and his people take this very seriously because this is scary AF. So many damn unfit people saying hate speech is free speech."

Trolls attempting to test the limits of the app's content moderation also flooded the site with anti-LGBTQ slurs and sexist comments, according to the Washington Post.

Critics of Musk's acquisition of Twitter have warned that the new CEO and owners leadership could result in the platform becoming a "supercharged engine of radicalization," citing the increase in such content.

Musk is a self-described "free-speech absolutist," and said in a Thursday tweet the social media platform should adhere "to the laws of the land." Hate speech, while not clearly defined under U.S. law, is generally considered protected under the First Amendment right to free speech.

In response to reports about the rise of hate speech, Yoel Roth, head of Safety and Integrity at Twitter, wrote Saturday evening that Twitter's rules on hateful conduct have remained the same since Musk took control of the company.

According to Roth, 50,000 tweets "repeatedly using a particular slur" originated from the same 300 accounts, most of which were described as "inauthentic."

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"Hateful conduct has no place here," Roth wrote. "And we're taking steps to put a stop to an organized effort to make people think we have."

Musk also said Friday that he would create a content moderation council with "widely diverse viewpoints."

"No major content decisions or account restatements will happen before that council convenes," Musk wrote on Twitter. So far, no other details of the council, including who will make up the council body, have been announced.

Representatives for Twitter did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider
For Muhammad Hasan Makhdomzada, perhaps the best way to comprehend China is by experiencing its villages, after the Afghan student visited a photovoltaic power station in the countryside, explored fruit and vegetable plantations, and tasted wine produced on a farm in his quest to understand China better.

Makhdomzada who came to China seven years ago is a business administration student at the Hefei University of Technology. He has traveled to many rural areas of east China's Anhui Province in an attempt to understand how technology and industries are transforming the lives of farmers.

"In every village that we visited, local residents praised the achievements of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in leading the people out of poverty and towards prosperity," he said, adding that his own country can learn from China's successful experience in poverty eradication.

Makhdomzada has been amazed by China's success in fighting poverty, which saw close to 100 million rural residents shake off destitution in the past decade. China declared victory against absolute poverty and the completion of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects in 2021.

During the past decade, China's GDP more than doubled to 114 trillion yuan (about 15.9 trillion U.S. dollars), and its population of 1.4 billion has enjoyed the fruits of economic growth. The world's second-largest economy has pursued a more proactive strategy of opening up, becoming a major destination for global investment and a leading country in outbound investment.

At the 20th CPC National Congress held from Oct. 16 to 22, the Party mapped out a course for Chinese modernization over the next five years and beyond, which would attract more foreigners to the country.

PEOPLE-CENTERED DEVELOPMENT

Ray Woodard, who hails from the United States and works as an English language teacher in the northern Chinese city of Taiyuan, said he is impressed by China's long-term planning.

In its two-step strategic plan, the CPC aims to basically realize socialist modernization from 2020 through 2035, and build China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful from 2035 through the middle of this century.

"I think the people-centered strategy is what is lacking in some nations at this time so I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiments and plan that the CPC has laid out," Woodard said.

China's targeted epidemic control measures are indicative of the idea that protecting life is the priority, and they are the realistic practice of the principle of putting the people first, he said.

MD Tanbir Hassan, a Bangladeshi doctorate student at the Hefei University of Technology, said he was inspired by China's people-centered development philosophy.

"The CPC has always put the people first. They are not only helping improve people's living standards but also creating a harmonious living environment for them," Tanbir Hassan said.

Hansen Nico Rene, a retiree from Luxembourg who now lives in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, once had a direct experience of the people-centered philosophy when he volunteered in a poverty alleviation campaign in Zhadong Village in Hechi City between 2018 and 2021.

Rene recalled that during the poverty alleviation drive, local CPC cadres always kept in mind the residents' demands, assisting many locals in relocating and beginning a new life with new occupations.

Nik Gu, a Russian student from Tsinghua University in Beijing, said he is particularly interested in China's whole-process people's democracy. In August, Nik Gu visited a residential community in downtown Beijing and witnessed the process of this unique governance mechanism and its results.

The elders living in the neighborhood had problems with the public toilets as the facilities were far away. After a meeting with residents, the community built a new public toilet soon so that the elders and other locals won't experience any discomfort during cold seasons, he told a story of the community's democratic practice.

He added that China's whole-process people's democracy will help the country's modernization drive.

MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL OPENING-UP

"I expect China to continue to adhere to the policy of opening up, accelerate the building of a new development paradigm and promote high-quality development and high-level opening up. The Chinese dream is also my dream," said Simon Lichtenberg, founder and CEO of Trayton Group, a furniture manufacturer based in Shanghai.

The Danish businessman, who first came to Shanghai in 1987, has witnessed rapid economic development and improvement in the business environment over the past decades.

China is committed to its fundamental national policy of opening to the outside world and pursues a mutually beneficial strategy of opening up. It strives to create new opportunities for the world with its own development and to contribute its share to building an open global economy that delivers greater benefits to all peoples, according to the Report to the 20th CPC National Congress.

Esteban Zottele, an Argentine who teaches Spanish at Changzhou University in east China's Jiangsu Province, pays attention to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

China adheres to the right direction of economic globalization, jointly cultivates new drivers of global development and upholds true multilateralism, according to Zottele.

Last year, China continued to be the second-largest trading partner of Latin America, with the bilateral trade volume reaching a new high. Earlier this year, China and Argentina signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the Belt and Road Initiative.

As a collaborative endeavor, the BRI has been welcomed by the international community both as a public good and a cooperation platform. China has signed BRI cooperation documents with 149 countries and 32 international organizations.

"The Belt and Road Initiative is a massive project. I believe it will be successful," said David Ferguson, the honorary chief English editor of Foreign Languages Press in Beijing.

The initiative will continue to provide massive opportunities for development stretching along the whole area of the Belt and Road. And that fits in very well with China's commitment to promoting a global community of shared future, Ferguson added.
Some visitors to the Reagan Library in Simi Valley say the museum recalls a time of less division in the United States. (Tyrone Beason / Los Angeles Times)

To the editor: This is exactly what the election deniers want  the disillusionment and sense of helplessness expressed by the reluctant voters in the article, "'We're broken.' In the suburbs north of Los Angeles, voters feel fed up and afraid."

They want to push as many people as they can out of the democratic process, out of participation in the governance of their own lives. They want to be left in power.

There is great division in politics today because of the vast difference in the thinking and the philosophies of groups of people. One side wants power, the other good government.

Do not be disappointed in President Biden  he has tried and tried. Be disappointed in the opposition, which has no interest in cooperative government and thinks threatening those who work for democracy is a fine way to get things done.

Ruth Silveira, Los Angeles

..

To the editor: I was deeply saddened by this article, especially the closing quote by a very concerned citizen: "'There's nothing I can see' to feel good about."

There is much to be concerned about in this polarized country, but I believe it is incredibly important to have a positive and hopeful perspective and to "light the proverbial candle rather than curse the darkness."

Counting the blessings of fresh water, electricity, some access to healthcare, a system of laws (however imperfectly administered), a country with great beauty and natural resources, freedom of communication and more, one needs to realize that there have always been problems of some kind in our dear United States. One needs only to read "The 1619 Project" or historian Jill Lepore's recent books on American history to remember where we have come from.

My advice is to take a timeout from social media and look for all the good things our nation has to offer, and then add one's own hopeful voice.

Claire Marmion, Long Beach

..

To the editor: I am shocked that Ronald Reagan was portrayed in a positive light in your article about the deep division in our nation, a division sharply exacerbated by former President Trump.

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Reagan set the stage for Trump with his casual regard for facts, his inclination to favor the rich, his shredding of safety nets, his corrupt administration, his racism and his folksy, dumbed-down populism.

Who can forget his denials regarding the Iran-contra affair? His ballooning of the federal debt as the rich got richer? His referring to African United Nations delegates as monkeys?

As a physician, I recall the upsurge in tuberculosis cases following Reagan's slashing of the public health budget (my colleagues and I dubbed this the "Ronald Reagan memorial spike").

I can understand the Republican Party's need to brand one of their past presidents as a hero, but The Times should do better.

Glenn Rogers, South Pasadena

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The Jan. 6 committtee has subpoenaed former President Trump demanding documents by Friday and testimony 10 days later. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

Last week, Donald Trumps lawyers formally accepted service of the Jan. 6 committees subpoena demanding documents by Friday and the former presidents testimony 10 days later, setting the stage for a historic legal battle pitting the executive branch against the legislative branch.

That is as far as the fight will go, I'd wager. Each side has good reason not to test its luck by filing suit.

Of course, a fight would not be in question if the former president chose to comply with Congress legal demands. There are reports that Trump, supremely confident of his ability to dominate any public setting, is actually eager to testify.

Thats hogwash.

Any protestations by his lawyers that they are having to physically hold Trump back from showing up and raising his right hand are all theater. They know his inevitable fabrications would subject him to perjury charges, ones that the Department of Justice would have no choice but to act on.

The members of the Jan. 6 committee are sensible enough (and many are jaded enough from dealing with Trumps head fakes during two impeachments) to anticipate that their lawful command will be snubbed.

Theyre also sensible enough to realize that litigation to attempt to force the matter would only undermine the broad mission the committee has pursued splendidly to date.

The Trump subpoena expires with the Congress that issued it. During the first week in January, when the next term opens, it will be a dead letter. And if, as expected, a new Republican majority takes over in the House of Representatives, it is far more likely to investigate the Jan. 6 committee than to revive its legal status.

So the committee may have just 10 weeks or so until it turns into a pumpkin. At the plodding pace of federal lawsuits, thats barely enough time to get out of the gate.

Theres a further complication. Any attempt to get Trump to testify would require a vote by the entire Congress to find him in contempt. The Democrats would still have their slim majority in a lame-duck session, but its far from clear that they would all be united in putting themselves on the wrong side of the Republican powers-to-be.

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Even if a contempt resolution were forthcoming, the next step  referring Trump to the Department of Justice for criminal charges  is another iffy proposition. It worked with Stephen K. Bannon, who defied a committee subpoena issued in 2021. In October, Bannon was sentenced to four months in prison and fined $6,500.

But its far from certain that the Justice Department would agree to bring a criminal case against Trump. Thats because its unsettled law whether a former president can be held in contempt for rebuffing a congressional subpoena.

In fact, the departments Office of Legal Counsel, in a pesky memo written in 2007, has already suggested it isnt legal, invoking the historical example of President Truman. Truman, then out of office, refused to comply with a subpoena to testify to the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1953 and Congress didnt pursue the matter. He later voluntarily testified to another committee, as have sitting presidents. Some have cooperated in varying degrees with subpoenas, but that doesnt prove they can be compelled to do so.

Given the short timeframe and the chance for a well-publicized loss if the Justice Department refused to charge Trump, its questionable that the Jan. 6 committee would even try for a criminal referral.

But what about Trump? Several commentators have suggested that he might bring the fight to the committee by filing his own suit to quash the subpoena.

Again, I think the smart money is against a legal square-off.

First, notwithstanding the DOJs Truman memo, the issue is unsettled and Trump would face strong arguments that the law requires his testimony. During the Watergate investigations, when President Nixon tried to withhold White House tapes from investigators, the Supreme Court ruled that any executive privilege had to give way to a demonstrated law-enforcement need for evidence.

Even if Trump and his attorneys think they could buck that precedent in the Supreme Court, they could well lose  and spectacularly  in lower courts. Why run that gauntlet and suffer the bad PR when there is a readily available, Trumpian alternative  delaying while maintaining the pretext of possible compliance.

Trump could couple broadsides against the witch hunt subpoena with suggestions he might cooperate under certain conditions (guaranteed to be unacceptable to the committee) or offer a dribble or two of documents, or simply demand more time to comply.

These tactics would inaugurate a period of ostensible negotiation between Trump and the committee  a fairly customary state of affairs in congressional subpoena practice. A couple rounds of faux diplomacy would take him into December, putting it to the committee to force the issue or let it lie.

And as to that, see above.

In the end, is the much-heralded Trump subpoena no more than an empty gesture? Not at all.

As the members of the Jan. 6 committee have surely known all along, subpoenaing Trump won't add significantly to the evidentiary record. But his pugnacious defiance of their demands could provide an exclamation point for what promises to be a damning final committee report on his conduct.

Far from empty, the gesture of calling Trump to testify only underscores his refusal to be accountable for his assault on civil society, and his contempt for the rule of law and the American people he was elected to serve.

@HarryLitman





This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Liz Truss

According to The Mail, experts are afraid that top-secret negotiations with senior international foreign ministers and other key partners, as well as private messages, may have been leaked. These messages may include highly sensitive discussions about the war in Ukraine, including details on weapons supply.

Liz Truss was forced to change the mobile number she had used for over a decade shortly before becoming Prime Minister, The Mail wrote, and up to a years worth of messages could have been stolen.

Read also: Ukraines Security Service exposes FSBs attempt to wiretap Verkhovna Rada

It noted the hack was discovered in the summer, when Truss still was Foreign Secretary and Boris Johnson was Prime Minister. Supposedly, Boris Johnson and the Cabinet Secretary, Simon Case, suppressed details of the hack at the time.

Opposition parties have urged the British government to launch an urgent investigation, UK newspaper The Guardian reported.

It is essential that all of these security issues are investigated and addressed at the very highest level and we need to know that the government recognizes the gravity of this and the importance of fully protecting our national security, Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said.

Read also: Washington would respond to any Russian attack on US satellites, White House says

There are also serious security questions around why and how this information has been leaked or released right now, which must also be urgently investigated.

Spokesperson for foreign affairs for the Liberal Democrat party, Layla Moran echoed calls for an urgent investigation.

A government spokesperson told journalists the government has robust systems to protect itself against cyber threats, including regular security briefings for ministers, and advice on protecting their personal data and mitigating cyber threats.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Amarillo law enforcement, much like many other agencies across the state and nation, is seeing a rise in narcotics, with the recent most predominant narcotic being the opioid fentanyl.

In one of many recent drug busts, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) seized more than 12 pounds of suspected fentanyl on Oct. 23, after a Texas Highway Patrol Trooper stopped a vehicle on Interstate 40 in Carson County.

In addition, on Oct. 21, the Amarillo Police Department Narcotics Unit executed a search warrant at an apartment in the 3000 block of Curtis Drive, where agents recovered approximately 1,900 fentanyl pills along with several other opioids, including about 114 grams of methadone, 1 ounce of black tar heroin and 2 ounces of methamphetamine. The 36-year-old suspect, identified as Aaron Bret Young, was arrested and booked into the Randall County jail on three counts of manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance more than 4 grams less than 200 grams. According to APD, this investigation is ongoing.

This bust came a little less than a month after the APD Narcotics Unit, with assistance from the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Amarillo Office, seized approximately 100,000 fentanyl pills, which had been disguised as M30 prescription pills, or oxycodone hydrochloride. From this seizure on Sept. 26, officials confiscated 24.4 pounds of the drug, equating to a street value of $1.5 million.

"This is something not just here in Amarillo; this is a rise that we are seeing across the nation. Our narcotics unit is working all these investigations in partnership with our federal partners in areas to conduct these investigations to help hold these individuals accountable, not only on state, but also federal charges," said Carla Burr, Public Information Officer for APD.

The Texas Department of Public Safety seized 25 pounds of methamphetamine and 104 grams of suspected fentanyl tablets Saturday, Feb. 19, after a Texas Highway Patrol Trooper stopped a vehicle in Oldham County.

The Texas Department of Public Safety seized 25 pounds of methamphetamine and 104 grams of suspected fentanyl tablets Saturday, Feb. 19, after a Texas Highway Patrol Trooper stopped a vehicle in Oldham County.

From pain management to potent opioid abuse

According to to the DEA, fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine. Pharmaceutical fentanyl was developed for pain management treatment of cancer patients, applied in a patch on the skin. Because of its powerful opioid properties, fentanyl is also diverted for abuse.

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Oftentimes, fentanyl is added to heroin to increase its potency, or can be disguised as highly potent heroin. Due to this, many users believe that they are purchasing heroin and actually dont know that they are purchasing fentanyl, which often results in overdose deaths. The DEA also states that clandestinely-produced fentanyl is primarily manufactured in Mexico.

"We just want to make people aware of what the risks are. Fentanyl can kill you the first time you encounter it, and you don't even have to use it. Sometimes you can just touch it, and you can overdose. There is a certain amount that is even too potent to touch that can lead to death," Burr said.

Overdose deaths accelerate during pandemic

According to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), rates of overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids other than methadone, which includes fentanyl and fentanyl analogs, increased more than 56% from 2019 to 2020. The number of overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids in 2020 was more than 18 times the number in 2013. More than 56,000 people died from overdoses involving synthetic opioids in 2020. The CDC states that the latest provisional drug overdose death counts through June 2021 suggest an acceleration of overdose deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As reported by the CDC, in the state of Texas, there has been a 140% increase in synthetic opioid overdose deaths, including fentanyl, from 2019 to 2020, with 423 related deaths reported in the state of Texas in 2019 and 1,050 related deaths reported in 2020.

According to the CDC, more than 150 people die every day from overdoses related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl.

In a tweet made by the Texas Department of Public Safety on Oct. 18, since March 21, which was the beginning of Operation Lone Star, a campaign focusing on educating the public on ways to combat the fentanyl crisis, DPS has seized more than approximately 337 million lethal doses of fentanyl.

a Texas state trooper stopped a 2021 Honda Accord traveling east on I-40 near Vega for a traffic violation and found 11 plastic-wrapped bundles of methamphetamine and one plastic bag containing fentanyl pills in the trunk area.

Candy disguise used to avoid law enforcement, not target kids

In addition to the potency of the drug, smugglers are now disguising it as candy to deter law enforcement.

"We are seeing now where smugglers and distributors are disguising the fentanyl as candy and putting it in candy bags. They are not doing this to try to attract children; they are more so doing this to hide it from law enforcement," Burr said. "We do not believe that this is some tactic for these drugs to flood the streets targeting our kids. This is just their way of disguising the drug, and we want people to know what it looks like so that they are aware in case there is someone they know around these drugs at risk for an accidental overdose."

Burr adds that the average individual will most likely never come in contact with the drug, but individuals in or surrounding the drug culture need to be aware of the added risks involving fentanyl. Burr states that those around individuals known for substance abuse could carry and learn the proper safety procedures to administer Naloxone, a medication that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose, in the event of an emergency.

In the case of a suspected fentanyl overdose, it is advised to call emergency officials as soon as possible or call the poison control emergency hotline.

For individuals seeking help with substance abuse, please contact the Panhandle Behavior Health Alliance Local Crisis Hotline at (806) 359-6699 or their Toll-Free Crisis Hotline at (800) 692-4039 .

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Amarillo law enforcement make more drug busts as fentanyl rises in US
Photo Illustration by Erin O'Flynn/The Daily Beast/Getty

According to the Bible, and a religious song you may know, Joshua fought a battle at Jericho. The one-time spook and former assistant to Moses led the Israelites around the city walls on successive days until, after seven circuits on the seventh day, the walls fell down. Then the Israelites, following divine commands, slaughtered every living thing in the cityadults, children, and their pets. Its not a happy story so you should breathe a sigh of relief that these events never took place. When archaeologists excavated the site at Tell es-Sultan, where the battle was supposed to have taken place, they discovered that it had been abandoned long before Joshuas arrival.

Studying the Bibles historical accuracy is always fraught. Our main sources are ancient texts that have been edited by many hands, were copied dozens of times over, and were written with an eye to the theological message rather than the facts. For centuries, therefore, scholars have used archaeological methods to supplement our knowledge and test the Bibles accuracy. Even then, the results are controversial and difficult to interpret. A new study methodology using magnetic data may change some of that.

Tel Aviv University doctoral student Yoav Vaknin is the lead author of a pioneering a new study of biblical archaeology that applies archaeomagnetic technologies to date the military campaigns described in the Bible. The article, which was recently published in the open access journal PNAS, assembles an array of data drawn from studies of 17 different archaeological sites to build a timeline of ancient destruction. The geomagnetic dataset he compiled includes evidence of 21 layers of destruction. It is, as Vittoria Benzine observed, a geological ledger of conquests by Aramean, Assyrian, and Babylonian armies against the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

The Mysterious Fifth Evangelist Who Created the Bible as We Know It

Unlike more conventional archaeological methods like stratigraphy (which looks at different strata in the soil), archaeomagnetic dating is interested in the magnetic field generated by the Earths core. It examines the layer of liquid iron in the planets outer core. Ron Shaar, who led the development of the methodology itself, said that Until recently scientists believed that the [Earths core] remains stable for decades, but archaeomagnetic research has contradicted this assumption by revealing some extreme and unpredictable changes in antiquity.

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Vaknin explained that archaeological material contains magnetic minerals. On the atomic level, one can imagine the magnetic signal of these minerals as a tiny needle of a compass. When, say, a clay brick is incinerated during the sack of a city the brick preserves the magnetic signal at the moment the city caught fire. If geophysicists know the magnetic states of various eras at certain periods in time, then they can determine origin of the materials.

The study focuses on items made of mud (mostly bricks but also loom weights and beehives crafted from clay) that were burned during period of military unrest and invasion. His findings confirm some biblical stories and archaeological theories, and debunk others.

Tel Beth-Shean, in the northern district of modern Israel, was previously thought by archaeologists to have been destroyed by the Aramean king Hazael in 830 BCE. Vaknin and his co-authors suggest that it was actually sacked between 70 (95 percent probability) and 100 (68 percent probability) years earlier. This would mean, argues Vaknin, that the city was most likely destroyed during a military campaign by Pharaoh Shoshenq I. This campaign is mentioned in both the Hebrew Bible (2 Kings 14:25026) and in a relief of the campaign carved into the walls of the Temple of Karnak in Egypt.

Most surprisingly, Vaknins findings suggest that the Babylonians were not responsible for the total destruction of Judah in 586 B.C. (2 Kings 24:18; Jeremiah 1:3; 39:2; 52:5-6). The intensity results from sites in the Negev, southern Judean mountains, and southern Judean foothills, however, suggest that towns in this region survived the Babylonian invasion. It was only several decades later, after Jerusalem and its environs had been destroyed, that others (most likely the Edomites) attacked these smaller settlements. The discovery may help explain some of the animosity towards the Edomites that we find in the Hebrew Bible.

Want to Put Yourself in the Bible? This Guy Did

It's undeniable that archaeomagnetic dating offers another complementary method for establishing the chronology of these events. Much like carbon dating (which works from a sample set of data), it is able to use the larger data sets gathered from the numerous archaeological studies in the region to date military campaigns with greater precision. Its promising and exciting work.

At the same time, some of the media buzz around the findings may overestimate the significance of the method and overlook some of its limits. Though you would not know it from some of the reporting, archaeology is already a highly technological savvy discipline that utilizes an array of technologies (like, for example, carbon 14 dating) to develop hypotheses and reach conclusions. As with carbon dating, archaeomagnetic findings are expressed as percentages not binaries, but this does not show up in news reports. You can forgive the transformation of a 95 percent probability into a certainty, but 68 percent probability is less decisive. Lets be frank, its a C+. This isnt Vaknins fault; its just what happens when archaeology makes news.

It's also important to note that the findings only express the facts of a sites destruction, not its cause. As Dr. Laura Zucconi, a professor of history and archaeology at Stockton University who has written on copper mines and the Edomites, told me, Its a very interesting new dating method, but it doesnt tell us why a site was destroyed. If a site has a destruction layer but lacks other information, we have no way of knowing if it was warfare or simply an earthquake with resulting fire. While we do have other methods for dating sites, says Zucconi, multiple methods of analysis are always preferable. Even if [archaeomagnetic analysis] replicates other methods, its good to have different approaches because the material used in one methodology may not always be available. Because of a phenomenon known as the Hallstatt plateau, for example, carbon 14 dating methods are unhelpful for dating materials from between 800-400 B.C.. Having another instrument in the archaeological toolbox is important.

Vaknin told Artnet news that he hopes to establish a similar chronological leger for the most controversial period of ancient Levantine archaeology: 1300-900 B.C.. This is, according to the Bible, the period during which the Exodus took place, Israelites settled in the land of Canaan, and David was king. This is a fiercely debated time period the events of which have political ramifications in the present. It will take him out of the proverbial frying and into the proverbial fire. But after five years studying the effects of incineration on clay bricks, and with a well-stocked arsenal of archaeological tools, he is well suited for the challenge.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Himalayan rocks hold magnetic clues about their origins. Craig Robert Martin, CC BY-ND

Breathing quickly in the thin mountain air, my colleagues and I set down our equipment. Were at the base of a jagged outcrop that protrudes upwards out of a steep gravel slope.

The muffled soundscape of the spectacular Himalayan wilderness is punctuated by a military convoy roaring along the Khardung-La road below. Its a reminder how close we are to the long-disputed borders between India, Pakistan and China which lie on the ridgelines just a few miles away.

This area also contains a different type of boundary, a narrow sinuous geological structure that stretches along the length of the Himalayan mountain range. Known as a suture zone, its only a few kilometers wide and consists of slivers of different types of rocks all sliced together by fault zones. It marks the boundary where two tectonic plates fused together and an ancient ocean disappeared.

Our team of geologists traveled here to collect rocks that erupted as lava more than 60 million years ago. By decoding the magnetic records preserved inside them, we hoped to reconstruct the geography of ancient landmasses  and revise the story of the creation of the Himalayas.

Sliding plates, growing mountains

Tectonic plates make up the surface of Earth, and theyre constantly in motion  drifting at the imperceptibly slow pace of just a few centimeters each year. Oceanic plates are colder and denser than the mantle beneath them, so they sink downward into it at subduction zones.

The sinking edge of the ocean plate drags the ocean floor along behind it like a conveyor belt, pulling the continents toward each other. When the entire ocean plate disappears into the mantle, the continents on either side plow into each other with enough force to uplift great mountain belts, like the Himalayas.

Geologists generally thought that the Himalayas formed 55 million years ago in a single continental collision  when the Neotethys Ocean plate subducted under the southern edge of Eurasia and the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates collided.

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But by measuring the magnetism of rocks from northwest Indias remote and mountainous Ladakh region, our team has shown that the tectonic collision that formed the worlds largest mountain range was actually a complex, multi-stage process involving at least two subduction zones.

Earths magnetic field is generated by movement within the planets outer core. Magnetic north and south drift and sometimes flip over time. VectorMine/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Magnetic messages, preserved for all time

Constant movement of our planets metallic outer core creates electric currents which in turn generate Earths magnetic field. Its oriented differently depending where in the world you are. The magnetic field always points toward the magnetic north or the south, which is why your compass works, and averaged over thousands of years it points toward the geographic pole. But it also slopes downward into the ground at an angle which varies depending on how far you are from the equator.

When lava erupts and cools to form rock, the magnetic minerals inside lock in the direction of the magnetic field of that location. So by measuring the magnetization of volcanic rocks, scientists like me can determine what latitude they came from. Essentially, this method allows us to unwind millions of years of plate tectonic motions and create maps of the world at different times throughout geologic history.

Over multiple expeditions to the Ladakh Himalayas, our team collected hundreds of 1-inch diameter rock core samples. These rocks originally formed on a volcano active between 66 and 61 million years ago, around the time that the first stages of collision began. We used a hand-held electric drill with a specially designed diamond coring bit to drill approximately 10 centimeters down into the bedrock. We then carefully marked these cylindrical cores with their original orientation before chiseling them out of the rock with nonmagnetic tools.

A few rock core samples, with the sample orientation line marked on their sides. Craig Robert Martin, CC BY-ND

The aim was to reconstruct where these rocks originally formed, before they were sandwiched between India and Eurasia and uplifted into the high Himalayas. Keeping track of the orientation of the samples as well as the rock layers they came from is essential to calculating which way the ancient magnetic field pointed relative to the surface of the ground as it was over 60 million years ago.

We brought our samples back to the MIT Paleomagnetism Laboratory and, inside a special room thats shielded from the modern-day magnetic field, we heated them in increments up to 1,256 degrees Fahrenheit (680 degrees Celsius) to slowly remove the magnetization.

Different mineral populations acquire their magnetization at different temperatures. Incrementally heating and then measuring the samples in this way enables us to extract the original magnetic direction by removing more recent overprints that might hide it.

Magnetic traces build a map

Using the average magnetic direction of the whole suite of samples we can calculate their ancient latitude, which we refer to as the paleolatitude.

The original single-stage collision model for the Himalaya predicts that these rocks would have formed close to Eurasia at a latitude of around 20 degrees north, but our data shows that these rocks did not form on either the Indian or the Eurasian continents. Instead, they formed on a chain of volcanic islands, out in the open Neotethys Ocean at a latitude of about 8 degrees north, thousands of kilometers south of where Eurasia was located at the time.

This finding can be explained only if there were two subduction zones pulling India rapidly toward Eurasia, rather than just one.

[Youre smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversations authors and editors. You can get our highlights each weekend.]

During a geologic time period known as the Paleocene, India caught up with the volcanic island chain and collided with it, scraping up the rocks we eventually sampled onto the northern edge of India. India then continued northward before ramming into Eurasia around 40 to 45 million years ago  10 to 15 million years later than was generally thought.

This final continental collision raised the volcanic islands from sea level up over 4,000 meters to their present-day location, where they form jagged outcrops along a spectacular Himalayan mountain pass.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. The Conversation has a variety of fascinating free newsletters.

It was written by: Craig Robert Martin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Read more:



Craig Robert Martin receives funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF).
A man is dead following a shooting in Parkway Village, according to the Memphis Police Department.

Police said it happened at 5:08 p.m. at 2715 Cherry Road.

At 5:08 pm, MPD responded to a shooting at 2715 Cherry Road. A male victim was located and pronounced deceased on scene. Officers have a female detained. This is an ongoing investigation. Call 901-528-CASH with tips. pic.twitter.com/7ASUpyawo7  Memphis Police Dept (@MEM_PoliceDept) October 29, 2022

A man was found and pronounced dead on the scene, MPD said.

Officers have a woman detained, according to MPD.

This is an ongoing investigation. Call 901-528-CASH with tips.

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Channel 4

Married at First Sight's April Banbury has hit out at the dating show, claiming that her stint on the reality programme left her needing therapy and almost ruined her life.

Banbury filmed this series of Married at First Sight UK earlier this year, with the episodes airing over the last couple of months. Banbury has now spoken out against the dating show in a new interview with The Sun.

"The traumas I have from being on Married At First Sight are ruining my life. I was given six therapy sessions and basically told to try and move on," Banbury said. "People say Love Island is brutal, but Married At First Sight is 100 percent worse. No one should apply to take part until they put in place more stringent background checks."



Channel 4

Related: Married At First Sight UK's George Roberts arrested on suspicion of controlling and coercive behaviour

Banbury was paired with George Roberts, who was later arrested for alleged controlling and coercive behaviour. Three of Roberts' ex-partners reportedly told Married At First Sight bosses that they had previously complained to the police about his behaviour. Roberts denies any wrongdoing.

Banbury said that she and Roberts broke up on August 15 this year after they returned from a holiday in Spain. She said that show bosses showed her the news stories regarding Roberts. She claims that they then told her she needed to support him.

"When the show told me about The Sun story, they told me I needed to be there to support George. I felt like they silenced me when I wanted to speak. I feel totally let down," she said.

Channel 4

Related: Married At First Sight star accused of emotional abuse by multiple exes

"I have a welfare officer who is amazing, but it seemed like the production team couldnt care less. It's like, 'Sorry your life has been ruined, here is a therapist, get over it, brush it under the carpet and move on'. I am angry."

Banbury continued: "They put this man into my life. I did not choose to have this man  they chose him for me."

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Fans of the show have now started lobbying for the show's dating experts to be sacked after Roberts appeared on the show. Banbury said that she is now "trying to be positive" after her experience, but said she is not "smiling inside".

"Im just trying to get through each day. If I slip down that dark hole I dont think Ill ever get out," she said.

Channel 4

Related: Married at First Sight's Sophie Brown wishes she'd been matched to another husband on the show

A spokesperson for Channel 4 told The Sun that it is "categorically untrue to suggest April was asked to take a position against her wishes, nor would we seek to silence her".

The spokesperson continued: "All cast have access to appropriate support before, during and after filming and broadcast, including access to an independent psychologist.

"This support is proactively offered at every stage and, where requested, ongoing. April has been offered and continues to access such support. All contributors are subject to thorough background and psychological checks, including the most rigorous police checks a production is able to undertake."

Married at First Sight UK airs on E4 in the UK. Married at First Sight Australia airs on Nine Network in Australia and E4 in the UK.

Interested in talking about Married at First Sight? Visit our dedicated sub-forum

Organisations including Women's Aid can provide further support and information on coercive control or coercive behaviour.

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Kjerstin Laine. Courtesy of Kjerstin Laine

Kjerstin Laine, 30, owes over $110,000 in student debt from undergraduate and graduate programs.

Laine's career in the nonprofit sector, in theory, offers a path to forgiveness.

But interest means she's barely paid it off, and Biden's forgiveness is just a drop in the bucket.

Like millions of student-loan borrowers, Kjerstin Laine is in loan-relief limbo.

For Laine, a 30-year-old who has over $110,000 in student debt, the $20,000 in forgiveness she's set to get from President Joe Biden's plan is just a drop in the bucket. As a first-generation college student whose debt has shaped the trajectory of her career, she fears her balance will balloon even more after pandemic-era payment pauses end and interest starts accruing again.

"I never miss a payment, always on time, and yet my balances never go down," Laine told Insider. "I don't understand how people can't see that there is something wrong with that picture."

Despite working through college and taking measures to cut down on the cost, Laine completed her degree in 2014 with a grand total of $98,000 in debt from her undergraduate and graduate studies. In the eight years since, accruing interest has brought her balance to today's amount, despite her consistent repayment.

Laine chose her job in communications for an education-advocacy nonprofit because it was a good fit for her skills  and because it could set her up for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, which forgives student debt for government and nonprofit workers after 10 years of qualifying payments.

But that program has historically been riddled with flaws, and she recently paused that strategy to take a marketing-agency job with a salary that brings her much closer to the $90,000 the federal government estimated she needed to make a year to afford to pay back her debt. She's also paying off medical debt.

"I also had to leave the nonprofit sector to get anywhere near that, obviously," she said. "So it's like that Catch-22."

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Laine is one of many millions of US borrowers stuck in an untenable situation. She's grateful for the relief she's set to get  though the legality of Biden's forgiveness is still under scrutiny  but she's not sure she'll be able to afford monthly payments when they restart in January.

Her situation points to the larger structural issues underpinning the student debt crisis, where first-generation and lower-income students take on huge debt burdens to get ahead and up their earnings but still find themselves buried under ever-growing balances. Many, like Laine, have shaped their lives around the hope of assistance  now that it's here in some form, it may not be enough.

"The hardest thing is that I trusted in this system that I was told from a very young age was going to be my path to prosperity or a decent  not anything exorbitant  but a decent middle-class life where I could give back to the community that helped raise me and supported me through education programs, meal programs, things like that," Laine said. "And it feels like that's a big broken promise now."

Interest on student loans can balloon, meaning balances don't go down  and could go up

As a college student in California, Laine worked at several jobs in places like restaurants and grocery stores. She took classes at her local community college and at her university in the summer and winter to try and reduce her expenses. She graduated in 2012, a semester early to cut down on costs, racking up nearly $18,000 in debt total for her undergraduate degree in journalism.

She went on to a "dream school" for a master's in journalism, still working part time and leaving with an additional $80,000 in debt in 2014. At the end of her time in school, she was hospitalized for dehydration after she said she ran herself ragged.

Despite consistent payments, the years since graduation have seen Laine's debt grow. It comes down to the issue of interest capitalization, which is when accrued interest tacks on to a borrower's principal balance and can lead to debt loads being much larger than what was initially borrowed.

Biden's administration has taken steps to prevent interest capitalization. In July, it released a proposal to end the practice in every instance that isn't required under the Higher Education Act, like forbearance periods, but those changes won't be implemented until next year. And borrowers are still struggling to stay on top of their payments.

For borrowers like Laine, within a few years, interest could cancel out any of Biden's relief she received.

"I was paying $300 until the pandemic hit. I was paying $300 a month, I think, for three to four years, and my balances never went down," she said. "They always went up."

Public servants like Laine can get their debts forgiven  but many can't even get in touch with their loan servicer

While Laine is a big proponent of public-service loan forgiveness, she said it "has been plagued by its own issues."

The company that manages the entire Public Service Loan Forgiveness portfolio  MOHELA  isn't making matters any easier. After a number of loan companies ended their federal contracts last year, all borrowers enrolled in PSLF were transferred over to MOHELA, and the process hasn't been seamless.

Insider previously spoke with two borrowers who wanted to get simple questions on their PSLF payments answered but ended up spending hours on the phone and never even got connected to a representative who could answer their questions.

"I'm really concerned about MOHELA as a servicer in total," Laine said.

Student-loan borrowers gather near the White House to call for debt cancellation on May 12, 2020. Paul Morigi/Getty Images for We, The 45 Million

While MOHELA never commented on the hours-long hold times, Scott Buchanan, the executive director of the Student Loan Servicing Alliance  a group that represents federal loan servicers  previously told Insider that the Education Department decided how many resources it gave loan companies, which affects how many customer-support staff they can hire.

But with the PSLF waiver expiring on Monday, which allows past payments, including those previously deemed ineligible, to count toward forgiveness progress, borrowers are in a time crunch to access the expanded relief. The department recently introduced permanent PSLF fixes for after the waiver's expiration, but that doesn't eliminate confusion some borrowers may be experiencing with their payment history.

"I'd love nothing more than to be able to dedicate my entire career to serving this sector," Laine said. "All of my career choices are kind of centered around this debt, and that's a really tough, not fun place to be in."

Read the original article on Business Insider
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A Melbourne man faces three counts of attempted first-degree murder after he opened fire at police officers with a handgun during a Saturday domestic violence call, Melbourne police said in a press release.

Anthony O. Rivera, 32, remains held without bond at the Brevard County Jail Complex. He made his initial court appearance Sunday morning from jail, and he will be arraigned Dec. 1 at the Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore Justice Center in Viera.

No one was injured during the incident, which occurred early Saturday at a home on Millicent Circle, a short street in a subdivision off Pirate Lane between Palm Bay Magnet High and Lipscomb Street.

Rivera also faces eight additional felony charges: two counts of shooting into an occupied dwelling, one count of aggravated battery domestic violence, one count of using a firearm in commission of a felony and four counts of criminal mischief.

More: Crystal Lagoon: Here's what we know about proposed Melbourne 'Lakoona Beach' complex

More: Brightline trains to speed up to 79 mph through 18 crossings in and near Rockledge, Cocoa

A Melbourne police cruiser.

At about 1:55 a.m. Saturday, Melbourne police responded to a call of a man attempting to stab tires at the Millicent Circle home. Officers arrived and confronted Rivera, who fired several rounds at officers, the press release said.

One officer returned fire, and Rivera retreated into the home and began firing his handgun inside the residence, the press release said.

Police established a perimeter around the house, and "the male fired a second volley of shots from the second-floor window of the residence toward officers and other homes," the press release said.

Palm Bay police and Brevard County Sheriffs Office deputies arrived on the scene, as did the Melbourne Police Department SWAT team and Crisis Negotiations Unit. Rivera voluntarily surrendered and was taken into custody.

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The police officer who exchanged gunfire will be placed on routine administrative leave, the press release said.

Rick Neale is the South Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here.) Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @RickNeale1

Support local journalism. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Melbourne man charged with attempted murder of law enforcement officers
Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong left Hanoi on October 30 morning on an official visit to China which will run through November 1, 2022.

Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong leaves Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi to start his official visit to China

Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong left Hanoi on October 30 morning on an official visit to China which will run through November 1, 2022.





The visit is made at the invitation by Xi Jinpin, Party General Secretary and President of China.





The leader was seen off at the airport by President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, and other Party and State leading officials.





Prominent among his entourage are Vo Van Thuong, Politburo member and Permanent member of the Secretariat; Truong Thi Mai, Politburo member, Secretary of the Party Central Committee and head of its Organisation Commission; General To Lam, Politburo member and Minister of Public Security; General Phan Van Giang, Politburo member and Minister of National Defence; and Le Minh Khai, Secretary of the Party Central Committee and Deputy Prime Minister.




Former President Donald Trump faces yet another legal battle  a civil trial in the Bronx starting this week filed by five men who say they were roughed up by Trumps bodyguards while protesting outside his namesake tower seven years ago.

The suit filed by Efrain Galicia, Gonzalo Cruz Franco, Miguel Villalobos, Florencia Tejeda Perez and the late Norberto Garcia seeks unspecified damages for assault and battery claims in Bronx Supreme Court for their violent clash with Trumps security on Sept. 3, 2015.

Absent some 3 a.m. surprise, we have every expectation of proceeding with jury selection on Monday, said the mens lawyer, Ben Dictor.

It has been seven long years of litigation, but our clients will finally have an opportunity to present their case to a Bronx jury.

The men accuse Trumps former head of security, Keith Schiller, and several other bodyguards of assaulting them outside the Fifth Ave. skyscraper as they exercised their lawful right to protest. The demonstration was against then-candidate Trumps inflammatory claims that Mexico sends their rapists to the U.S.

Video of the chaotic encounter shows Schiller smacking Galicia in the face after he appeared to reach for a sign with the words Trump: Make America Racist Again.

The suit alleges Trump personally instigated the violent confrontation between his staff and the protesters.

Jurors are expected to view lengthy taped deposition testimony of the former president and his one-time fixer Michael Cohen, who claims he witnessed Trump order his guards to get rid of the protesters.

Trump defended his bodyguards actions when the protesters lawyer deposed him in April, the Daily News reported.

I think they were troublemakers, yes I do, Trump said. They were very  you know, I guess you could say violent.

Meanwhile, a Manhattan Supreme Court jury was expected to hear opening arguments early Monday in District Attorney Alvin Braggs criminal case against the Trump Organization and Trump Payroll Corporation. Both have pleaded not guilty to a host of criminal tax fraud charges.

A lawyer representing Trump in his Bronx case, Lawrence Rosen, did not return a call seeking comment.
LANSING, Mich.  Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has an answer for Democrats at odds over whether to emphasize abortion rights or the economy in the campaigns final days: the two issues are one and the same.

With recent polls showing economic stress outranking abortion concerns, the embattled Democratic governor is making a pitch to voters and business owners: If they reelect her and pass a constitutional amendment to protect abortion rights, she can lure employers and workers from neighboring states where anti-abortion laws have taken effect since Roe v. Wade was overturned in June.

Im going to be working to draw investment into Michigan once we lock womens rights into law, Whitmer said in an interview. We have the best workforce, low cost of living, high quality of life and women can make decisions about their bodies. Thats the story I want to be able to tell.

There is growing anxiety among Democrats nationwide that outrage over the loss of abortion in more than a dozen states wont be enough to push their candidates over the finish line in purple states like Michigan. Though the elimination of Roe unleashed a wave of energy on the left earlier this summer, carrying abortion rights measures and those who support them to victory in some primaries, high inflation and other cost-of-living issues have chipped away at voters' enthusiasm for Democratic candidates.

Whitmer now has a 5-point lead over GOP rival Tudor Dixon, down from 12 points one month ago, according to 538 . Her race is narrowing even as polls show strong support for the measure to enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution to which shes closely tied her campaign.



With less than two weeks before Election Day, she, along with Attorney General Dana Nessel and other Democrats on the ballot in the swing state, are warning that workers will flee if the amendment fails and the states long-dormant 1931 anti-abortion law takes effect, making it harder for businesses  particularly those in tech, health care and the service sector  to recruit and retain employees.

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I hear from businesses all the time that they are feeling the weight of the she-cession, meaning women leaving the workplace during Covid, she said. If we want women to come back into the workplace in Michigan, we better not take away their right to be full citizens and make decisions about their own health care. Thats whats at risk here.

Other Democrats around the country are touting a similar message  using the final days of their campaigns to argue abortion and financial concerns are inextricably linked.

Georgia gubernatorial hopeful Stacey Abrams said in a recent interview that protecting the right to terminate a pregnancy helps individuals make economic choices about the size of their families as inflation surges. California Gov. Gavin Newsom bought billboards this year in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Texas trying to entice workers to come to his state, a sanctuary for abortion rights.

But Michigans candidates are testing a broader message aimed at employers and where they can best recruit and invest.

All you have to do is talk to any business owner in the state and theyll tell you, they dont have enough people working for them. Everyone is desperate, Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), who is in a tight contest to hold onto her swing district, told POLITICO. So, are we going to be an open-minded state that believes in equality and rights? Or are we going to be a backwards-looking state? Businesses dont like backward-looking states. That doesnt help them attract young people. That doesnt incentivize kids who go to U of M for four years to stay in the state when they graduate.

Whitmers administration points to data theyve collected showing a lack of affordable childcare is the top reason women have struggled to rejoin the workforce  particularly during the pandemic. Susan Corbin, who leads the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, added that protecting abortion rights will help stop the brain drain that has long plagued the state  graduates of Michigans top-tier colleges leaving for better prospects elsewhere. Its a message Whitmer has pushed since at least this spring, when POLITICO obtained a draft opinion indicating the Supreme Court was poised to overturn Roe, and one shes highlighted in interviews, speeches and at forums with business leaders.

But Whitmers Republican challenger, Dixon, who has voiced support for abortion restrictions and has criticized the governor for Michigans economic struggles, dismisses these arguments as unserious.

I think that we can work on child care. We can work on family leave. We can work on making adoption less expensive  that will also bring people to the state, she told POLITICO. But we cant be planning our economic development based on abortions  we have to have a more robust plan than that.

Dixon has worked to distance herself from the unpopularity of the states 1931 abortion law, arguing that voters can support both her and a referendum on the state ballot that would protect reproductive freedom. Polls indicate many voters may do just that.

Meanwhile, anti-abortion groups that are investing heavily in electing Dixon and defeating the abortion-rights ballot measure predict these hard-nosed economic pitches from Democrats will offend voters and swing the results their way.

It feels like a very callous thing to say, said Christen Pollo, the spokesperson for Citizens to Protect Michigan Women and Children, which is leading the fight against the ballot initiative. These are really difficult situations no one should be making light of, and to say that a woman having an abortion is good for business  I dont like that.

But for business owners like Chris Andrus, Whitmers argument resonates.



Andrus, who founded Mitten Brewing in Grand Rapids in 2012 and oversees the brewery and restaurants three locations, said his employees  who, like the rest of the hospitality sector, are overwhelmingly young and female  are alarmed at the prospect of the states 1931 ban going back into effect.

My staff told me its going to weigh heavily on their decisions about where to move and launch their careers, he said. This is already a difficult landscape for getting young people back to work, but if Michigan becomes like Texas and other states known for restricted abortion access, well be exporting a lot of young talent and theres no way around that.

Andrus said most business owners he speaks with have not wanted to take a public stance on the issue for fear of alienating conservative customers  particularly in his part of the state, where the Republican powerhouse DeVos family holds considerable sway.

Its a bag of lit dynamite for restaurant owners to speak up on, but I think its absolutely essential to recognize that this is an economic crisis in the making and the implications will be staggering if and when those rights are gone, he said.

Despite the tensions and divisions in the state over the issue, some business and labor groups have entered the fray and issued public warnings to elected officials that anti-abortion policies could have economic repercussions.

Abortion rights are certainly not a usual chamber of commerce issue, the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce said earlier this year, but as Michigan strives to attract skilled talent  especially young talent  to meet the demands of our ever more complex economy, the Detroit Regional Chamber urges Michigan lawmakers to consider economic competitiveness issues as they debate whether to ban the procedure.

In early October, the group endorsed Whitmer , citing her work to ensure Michigans competitiveness.

The United Auto Workers, arguably the union that holds the most sway in the state, is also urging its members to both reelect Whitmer and pass the abortion-rights ballot initiative.

When people are able to make decisions about their own reproductive health care, including whether and when to have children, they have more control over their health and their economic security, the UAW said.

Other labor groups, including the American Federation of Teachers of Michigan and the states AFL-CIO chapter, have endorsed the referendum .

But Michigans Republican candidates and the anti-abortion groups supporting them say they see little, if any, evidence that the fate of the states abortion law will significantly impact the states economy.

While companies that employ thousands of workers have spoken out against new restrictions in more than a dozen states, they argue, those companies have yet to take action.

Titus Folks, an organizer with the group Students for Life who is leading teams of student volunteers to knock on doors to defeat the referendum, pointed to neighboring Indiana, which passed a near-total abortion ban this summer that remains tied up in court.

The Chamber of Commerce came out against it, but no businesses have left the state yet or announced plans to do so, Folks said. Companies are willing to use the issue as a bargaining tool, and a lot of them are spending money to provide transportation for their employees to [leave the state for an abortion], but thats about it.

Since the June decision, other states that have outlawed abortion have seen few economic repercussions, and other Democratic officials abortion-rights-centered overtures to companies have fallen flat. While several major corporations have rolled out plans to help workers who live in states that have banned the procedure travel to a state that has preserved access, none has yet announced plans to relocate or cancel a planned expansion.

Whitmer has pointed to an August statement the Indiana-based pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly released warning that the states abortion ban would reduce their ability to attract diverse scientific, engineering and business talent from around the world and saying that because of the new law the company will be forced to plan for more employment growth outside our home state.

When POLITICO asked whether Eli Lilly would consider investing in Michigan if the abortion-rights referendum passes, the company declined to comment.

Still, Whitmer and other Democrats running this year are confident they have a winning message as they try to hold on to the states executive branch and flip the legislature for the first time in decades  aided by new maps drawn by an independent commission that make many state House and Senate districts more competitive.

Betsy Coffia, a former social worker and Democratic state House challenger in a bellwether northwest district, told POLITICO shes stressing the economic consequences of abortion rights on the campaign trail, including at a recent candidate forum held by her local chamber of commerce.

Coffia  whose race is considered a must win by the states Democratic Party  says the argument lands for folks, even for those who oppose abortion.

My district, which is more rural, is already struggling to have enough doctors  OB-GYNs in particular, she said. So this could be a health care and economic catastrophe if we ban abortion and drive more health care professionals out of this state. We could really turn into a backwater.
LGBTQ bars in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, are banning customers from wearing Jeffrey Dahmer Halloween costumes because the famed serial killer notoriously preyed on the city's gay community.

The convicted serial killer targeted the gay male community in the Wisconsin city during the late seventies to early nineties. Dahmer killed 17 men and boys, whose bodies he dismembered and occasionally ate.

Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer (May 21, 1960  November 28, 1994) was an American serial killer, who murdered 17 men between 1978 and 1991 (with the majority of the murders occurring between 1989 and 1991). His murders were particularly gruesome, involving rape, necrophilia and cannibalism. With evidence overwhelmingly against him, Dahmer pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. The court found Dahmer sane and guilty on 15 counts of murder and sentenced him to 15 life terms, totalling 957 years in prison.

Two gay bars in Milwaukee, D.I.X and This Is It, wrote on social media prior to Halloween weekend to warn patrons that Dahmer costumes were banned.

"We are here to have a great time respect everyone and make sure everyone feels welcome and comfortable," D.I.X. wrote in a Facebook post. "No Jeffrey Dahmer costumes at the bar please."

"Well said," one patron commented on the post.

"Mad respect for not allowing Dahmer costume" another wrote.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

Another bar downtown is also warning its customers not to show up in a Dahmer costume.

American serial killer and sex offender Jeffrey Dahmer, aka The Butcher of Milwaukee, is indicted on 17 murder charges, men and boys of African or Asian descent, between 1978 and 1991.

This Is It also posted a Dahmer costume ban on Facebook, saying it has been getting phone calls ever since the Netflix series about the serial killer aired.

"In solidarity, with other Queer establishments, this Halloween weekend, we reserve the right to refuse access to anyone wearing hateful, racist, and otherwise disrespectful costume choices." This Is It wrote in a post on Facebook. "This includes anyone dressed as Dahmer."

BANNED HALLOWEEN COSTUMES OVER TIME AS EBAY REMOVES JEFFREY DAHMER-INSPIRED OUTFIT

The bars recent concerns comes amid a renewed interest in the deranged killer following the hit Netflix series "Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story."

Online retailer eBay banned any Halloween costumes evoking the serial killer from being sold on its platform.

SQUID GAME HALLOWEEN COSTUMES BANNED BY NEW YORK ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

"These items are banned on eBay and are being removed under our Violence and Violent Criminal Policy," an eBay spokesperson told Fox News Digital in an emailed statement.

Story continues

Many on social media have been vocal about how dressing up as the real-life criminal is wrong, pointing out the insensitivity toward victims families.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

D.I.X and This Is It did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

Fox News' Nicole Pelletiere contributed to this post
ROMAN PETRENKO  SUNDAY, 30 OCTOBER 2022, 07:31

Law enforcement officers have recovered bodies of another five civilians, killed during the occupation: two in the village of Korovyn Yar, two in the city of Sviatohirsk, and one in Lyman.

Source: Pavlo Kyrylenko, Head of Donetsk Oblast Military Administration

Details: In addition, it became known that five civilians of Donetsk Oblast were killed by the Russians on 29 October: in Antonivka, Pervomaiske, Druzhba, Klishchiivka, and Yelyzavetivka.

Eight more people were injured yesterday.

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A man mourns on the street of a deadly crowd crush during a Halloween festival on Oct. 30, 2022, in Seoul. Chung Sung-jun / Getty Images

South Korea is in a period of national mourning as the country reels from a horrific crowd crush in Seoul on Saturday night, in which 154 people were killed and 149 others injured.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety said that 99 women and 55 men were killed. More than 100 people who died were in their 20s, and several dozen were in their 30s. A few teenagers have also been identified among the dead, the ministry said.

"Most of the casualties are young people who are like our daughters and sons, which makes it feel all the more tragic," Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said at a news conference Sunday afternoon.

A woman reacts after a Halloween crowd crush in the district of Itaewon in Seoul. Albert Retief / AFP via Getty Images

At least 26 foreigners have died, authorities said, including citizens of the US, Japan, Iran, Uzbekistan, China, Sri Lanka, and Norway. The US Embassy in Seoul said that two Americans were among those killed.

Of the 149 people who were injured, 33 sustained serious wounds, including 15 foreign nationals, CNN reported.

The deadly crowd surge happened as an estimated 100,000 people came out to celebrate Halloween in Itaewon, a party district in downtown Seoul popular with young people and foreigners. This year's festivities were the first Halloween celebrations to take place with loosened COVID preventive measures.

Videos posted on social media show a narrow alley tightly packed as the crowd is seen barely able to move. Footage after the surge shows chaos on the streets, with partygoers and medical personnel together performing CPR on people lying on the ground. Photographers then captured the bodies of people who had died from cardiac arrest lined up on the street, covered in sheets and blankets.

Emergency workers and others assist people who were caught in a Halloween crowd crush in the district of Itaewon in Seoul on Oct. 30, 2022. Albert Retief / AFP via Getty Images

In the early hours of Sunday, as news about the tragedy reached them, families rushed to a nearby community center hoping to hear about their loved ones.

A couple who took a train to Seoul from Daejeon that morning told JoongAng Daily that their daughter's friends called to tell them that they saw her lying on the street and later being carried away.

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"The last message I got from our daughter was, 'Dad, Im going to Seoul for the first time in a long time.' She is 20 years old this year. I just hope she is alive," the father told JoongAng Daily.

It's unclear what caused the crowd surge. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who went to Itaewon to assess the scene Sunday, has called for an investigation.

Nuhyil Ahammed, 32, told the BBC that he was in the crowd and there was nothing anyone could do to escape or help others.

"I couldn't sleep last night," he told the BBC on Sunday. "I can still see people dying in front of me."

A police guard at the accident site in Itaewon in Seoul on Oct. 30, 2022 The Washington Post / The Washington Post via Getty Images

President Yoon has declared a national mourning period through Nov. 5. World leaders expressed their condolences, and concerts and music releases have been postponed.

The tragedy is the deadliest that South Korea has seen in peacetime since a ferry accident in 2014 killed more than 300 people, most of them high school students.

More on this
No one is really immune from the solar-plexus knockout of a good weepie (Netflix/Shutterstock)

Some films leave a scar. Leonardo DiCaprio vanishing into the sea at the end of Titanic. Jake Gyllenhaal saying I wish I knew how to quit you in Brokeback Mountain. The prolonged labrador funeral in Marley & Me. Everyone has a particular movie that emotionally destroys them. Sometimes all it takes is a single line. For me? Ben Stillers choked-up Ive had a rough year, Dad at the end of The Royal Tenenbaums does it every time. Other movies, however, charge at you with whole hours of lachrymosity at once, wringing tears from you like a sodden dishcloth.

The genre is the weepie and it will never die. Beaches. Steel Magnolias. Love Story. Sophies Choice. The weepies sole identifying feature is to target your tear duct with laser-guided precision. Its weathered changing trends and evolving technologies, and emerged as popular as ever; the demand is so strong, a New York cinema even hosted a cry-along screening of Beaches a few years back. Youd think it would be cheaper and less embarrassing to just buy a bag of onions and have at em.

And its not just movies, either: last week saw the release of From Scratch, Netflixs eight-part TV weepie starring Zoe Saldana. The Independents Amanda Whiting describes the series as a full-on melodrama, in which Amy (Saldana) confronts the realities of a broken family and the tragedy of a husband with cancer. The question is, why do we, as viewers, allow ourselves to suffer these emotional slings and arrows? Not just allow, but willingly  eagerly  seek them out?

It turns out that whenever we watch Macaulay Culkin being maimed by bees in My Girl, we really are there with him. For a lot of people, our emotional brains struggle telling reality from fantasy, says Dr Audrey Tang, a psychologist and member of the British Psychological Society. So even though we know logically were in front of a television, we are connecting with the emotions of the characters.

Were also hopelessly projecting our own sorrows onto these made-up people. Sometimes what a character goes through can trigger memories of things that we have experienced in our lives. Or we may project our own emotions or experiences onto a character. And so when we cry, were not necessarily crying for the character, but were crying for what its triggered in us.

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The reason people eagerly turn up to the Odeon armed with tissues and a licence to blubber has to do with the safe space that films provide. For some cinemagoers, merely being in a dark room can afford them a place to cry among others without causing a spectacle. But the safe space of a weepie is also symbolic: it gives people permission to vent emotions they may otherwise be forced to suppress in their daily lives. It may well be that somebody who cries a lot at films has to put on a very brave face for whatever reason, Tang adds. So you might just go and see it for a reason to cry, rather than because youre just super-sensitive  it might be a lot deeper.

But what is actually going on in your brain while youre sitting there bawling at Up? Well, the simple answer is that we still dont completely understand this, Dr Sophie Scott, a professor of cognitive neuroscience at UCL, tells me. What we do know is that watching sad movies stimulates a very important network of areas in the brain  one that dates back far in human evolution, and that we share with other mammals. Researchers have been able to identify the process by studying people with degenerative brain disorders and brain damage.

These brain areas are associated with the generation of emotional expressions  things like crying, producing tears, making noises, sobbing, explains Scott. Now, the reason why thats happening is because of your emotional state watching the film. Eighty per cent of people feel better when theyve been crying. So there could be a strong element of emotional release thats associated with crying over something like a film, that perhaps you even knew was going to make you cry.

And what about the traditional notion that our propensity to sob depends on our gender? For decades  dating back to Old Hollywood and the era of so-called womans films  melodramas and tragic romances have typically been seen as womens fare, and so the Weepie Industrial Complex has steered its content to target them. (The very word weepie was colloquially conflated with the dated phrase chick flick for years.)

While this notion obviously doesnt represent every movie viewer, its rooted in some element of truth. Men have traditionally  more so than women  been socialised to resist crying in order to avoid showing weakness.

Women are much more likely to cry than men, says Scott. But thats subject to some cultural effects. Men used to cry a great deal more in our culture: it was a sign of emotional civility in the Victorian era. That changed a lot in the last century, around the time of the First World War, when this stiff upper lip comes in. But its not unusual for [this gender discrepancy] to pan out in other cultures as well, so there may be hormonal influences too. But I think the cultural and individual differences are likely to be bigger.

Inside Out is one of many Pixar films to be lauded for their raw emotional power (Pixar)

Of course, no one is really immune from the solar-plexus knockout of a good weepie  not men, women or even children. In fact, kids have been the target audience of some of the most potently upsetting movies around, from Disney classics like Bambi to modern Pixar animations like Inside Out or Coco. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in 2015, Inside Out editor Kevin Nolting explained: [The emotional moments] are always very relatable, but we have to earn it. We cant just add a sad beat because we need a sad beat in the movie. We spend a lot of time making sure we can get to that sad beat, that the audience is ready, and that were not forcing it on the audience.

As anyone who has sat through the opening minutes of Up will tell you, Pixar has mastered the all-ages animated weepie. Whether were talking about the poignant climax of Toy Story 3, when Woody, Buzz et al stare down their own furnace-based demise, or the soul-bruising disappearance of Richard Kinds imaginary Bing Bong in Inside Out, Pixar has practically made a cottage industry out of films that slay adults as well as kids.

It might be a stretch to say theyve got it down to a science, but theres certainly a formula: Pixar story artist Emma Coats once shared a list of 22 in-depth Storytelling Rules used to assemble the companys reliably devastating movies. (Rule #6, for instance: Whats your character most comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them.)

A widely shared academic study at Berkeley carried out a few decades ago determined that 1979s The Champ was, scientifically speaking, the saddest film of all time. But while science can attempt to distil human empathy into bar charts and chemical equations, theres simply no quantifying what you really go through when a film brings you to genuine tears. No MRI scan or psychology phrasebook could ever truly articulate what it means to sit and watch Its a Wonderful Life in the early hours of Christmas Day, sobbing like clockwork as Jimmy Stewart rediscovers his will to live.

In his classic coming-of-age novel Great Expectations, Charles Dickens wrote: Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts. I was better after I had cried, than before  more sorry, more aware of my own ingratitude, more gentle. It might sound daft to apply this sentiment to someone whos just wept their way through PS I Love You. But that doesnt mean its not true.
Elon Musk on Sunday responded to a tweet by Hillary Clinton tying an assault on Paul Pelosi to Republican rhetoric by espousing a conspiracy theory surrounding the circumstances of the incident.

A 42-year-old man allegedly broke into the San Francisco home of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her husband, Paul Pelosi, and assaulted him with a hammer, leading him to undergo surgery for a skull fracture.

Clinton lambasted the GOP while sharing a Los Angeles Times article that reported the suspect echoed QAnon conspiracy theories.

The Republican Party and its mouthpieces now regularly spread hate and deranged conspiracy theories, Clinton tweeted on Saturday afternoon.

It is shocking, but not surprising, that violence is the result, Clinton continued. As citizens, we must hold them accountable for their words and the actions that follow.

On Sunday morning, just a few days after he took over the social media platform, Musk tweeted at Clinton by sharing an article detailing an unfounded, right-wing conspiracy about the circumstances of the attack.

There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye, Musk wrote.

He deleted the tweet later in the day.

There is no evidence to back up the claims made in the article by a website known for repeatedly publishing stories that are false, including one in 2016 that claimed Clinton had died during that years presidential campaign and that a body double was sent to debate then-GOP candidate Donald Trump.

After taking over the platform, Musk quickly made moves to determine content decisions as many of the Tesla CEOs critics express worry about the spread of misinformation on the platform under more relaxed content moderation policies.

The specifics of future content moderation on Twitter under Musks ownership remain unclear, and he has vowed to implement significant changes to the platform, including layoffs and the lifting of lifelong bans, including that of Trump.

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Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences! Musk wrote in a statement posted on Thursday.

The assault on Paul Pelosi has drawn condemnations from both sides of the aisle, and it marks the latest in a long series of attacks and threats against lawmakers and prominent government officials that has grown in recent years.

The Speaker said on Saturday that her husbands condition continues to improve, calling the alleged altercation life threatening and traumatizing.

Please know that the outpouring of prayers and warm wishes from so many in the Congress is a comfort to our family and is helping Paul make progress with his recovery, she wrote in a Dear Colleague letter.

Updated: 6:05 p.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Elon Musk on Sunday tweeted a link to an unfounded rumor about the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, just days after Musk's purchase of Twitter fueled concerns that the social media platform would no longer seek to limit misinformation and hate speech.

Musk's tweet, which he later deleted, linked to an article by a fringe website, the Santa Monica Observer, an outlet that has previously asserted that Hillary Clinton died on Sept. 11 and was replaced with a body double.

In this case, the article recycled a baseless claim that the personal life of Paul Pelosi, the speaker's husband, somehow played a role in an intruder's attack last week in the couple's San Francisco home, even though there is no evidence to support that claim.

Musk did so in reply to a tweet by Hillary Clinton. Her tweet had criticized Republicans for generally spreading hate and deranged conspiracy theories and said, It is shocking, but not surprising, that violence is the result.

In response to Clinton's tweet, Musk provided a link to the Santa Monica Observer article and added, There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye."

The Los Angeles Times, the dominant news organization in the Southern California area where the Observer is located, has said the Observer is notorious for fake news.

Police in San Francisco have said the suspect in last week's attack, identified as David DePape, 42, broke into the Pelosi familys Pacific Heights home early Friday and confronted Paul Pelosi, demanding to know, as the AP has reported, Where is Nancy?

The two men struggled over a hammer before officers responding to a 911 call to the home saw DePape strike Paul Pelosi at least once, police said. DePape was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, elder abuse and burglary. Prosecutors plan to file charges on Monday and expect his arraignment on Tuesday.

Police say the attack was intentional and not random but have not stated publicly what they consider to be the motive.

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The exchange between Musk and Clinton occurred a day after Yoel Roth, Twitter's head of safety and integrity, tweeted that the company's policies toward slurs and hateful conduct were still in place.

Bottom line up front: Twitters policies havent changed. Hateful conduct has no place here, Roth wrote.

Shortly after Musk took control of Twitter, some accounts on the platform began tweeting messages ranging from racist slurs to political misinformation, such as Trump won, to see what Twitter will now tolerate.

Musk himself said Friday that he would form a content moderation council for Twitter and promised advertisers that the website would not devolve into a free for all hellscape. Musk has also described himself as a free speech absolutist.

But at least one major advertiser, General Motors, has said it will suspend advertising on Twitter while it monitors the direction of the platform under Musk.

Also on Sunday, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, said on NBC's Meet the Press that she didn't trust Musk to run Twitter.

Referring to antisemitic attacks and the QAnon conspiracy theory that were advanced online by DePape, the suspect in the attack, Klobuchar said, I think you have to have some content moderation.

If Elon Musk has said now that hes going to start a content moderation board," the senator said, "that was one good sign. But I continue to be concerned about that. I just dont think people should be making money off of passing on this stuff thats a bunch of lies.
WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 07: Nancy Pelosi and Paul Pelosi walk the red carpet during the 27th Annual Kennedy Center Honors at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on December 7, 2014 in Washington, DC. Kris Connor/Getty Images

Nancy Pelosi said she and her family are "heartbroken and traumatized" after her husband was attacked.

Paul Pelosi, 82, was attacked with a hammer by an intruder that broke into the couple's home.

The congresswoman said that her husband's condition "continues to improve."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that she and her family are "heartbroken and traumatized" after a brutal hammer attack on her husband, Paul Pelosi.

In a statement to the House on Saturday, the congresswoman said: "Yesterday morning, a violent man broke into our family home, demanded to confront me, and brutally attacked my husband, Paul."

"Our children, our grandchildren, and I are heartbroken and traumatized by the life-threatening attack on our Pop."

Pelosi expressed gratitude for law enforcement and medical professionals that responded to the incident and said her husband's condition "continues to improve."

"Please know that the outpouring of prayers and warm wishes from so many in the Congress is a comfort to our family and is helping Paul make progress with his recovery," she said.

Paul Pelosi, 82, was hospitalized after an intruder broke into the couple's San Francisco home in the early hours of Friday and "violently" attacked him with a hammer, authorities said.

He underwent surgery to repair a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hand. The congresswoman's office previously said that he is expected to recover fully.

The suspect was identified as David DePape, 42, and he faces charges including attempted homicide and assault with a deadly weapon, according to San Francisco Police Chief William Scott.

DePape shouted, "Where is Nancy? Where is Nancy?" at the speaker's husband after breaking in, according to CNN.

He allegedly had a bag containing zip ties with him when he broke into the couple's home, a source briefed on the incident told CNN.

The suspected attacker was found to have engaged in various conspiracy theories online, including about COVID-19, the global elite, and election fraud.

The attack comes amid fears over a rise in threats towards US lawmakers, according to the US Capitol police.

Read the original article on Business Insider
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO on Sunday called on Moscow to urgently renew the U.N.-brokered deal that enabled Ukraine to resume grain exports via the Black Sea amid a global food crisis.

"President Putin must stop weaponising food and end his illegal war on Ukraine," NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu said. "We call on Russia to reconsider its decision and renew the deal urgently, enabling food to reach those who need it most."

All NATO allies had welcomed the agreement that came about with the help of Turkey, she noted.

"These exports have helped reduce food prices the world over," Lungescu added.

(Reporting by Sabine Siebold; editing by John Stonestreet)
ABC News

Early voting in Georgia's Senate runoff race between Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock and Republican opponent Herschel Walker opened statewide to all registered voters on Monday, following a weekend of strong turnout in the 34 counties that offered early voting on Saturday or Sunday. Voting locations for the Dec. 6 runoff are now open in all 159 of the state's counties through Friday, with more than 181,000 Georgians having cast their ballots either in-person or absentee through Sunday, according to state election data. While total numbers weren't yet available for Monday, as voting continues, state officials said the daily turnout was on track to grow even higher -- an indication that local interest in the race has not waned.
UKRAINSKA PRAVDA  SUNDAY, 30 OCTOBER 2022, 06:25

Russian forces deployed heavy artillery in an overnight attack on the city of Nikopol. Shelling damaged residential buildings and a gas pipeline and caused a fire at the premises of a local business.

Source: Valentyn Reznichenko, Head of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Military Administration, on Telegram

Quote: "There were no casualties. Ten apartment blocks and private houses, several outbuildings and a gas pipeline have been damaged.

Russian shells hit a local household waste processing plant, causing a fire. Firefighters have extinguished the flames. Vehicles owned by the business sustained serious damage."

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NEW YORK  Pull up a chair, get cozy. Its time to have a serious conversation about RJ Barrett. This is an uncomfortable topic for a number of reasons, namely that $107 million extension that hasnt even started yet. Theres so much hope attached to Barretts future, the full-on hype of representing the franchises highest pick since Patrick Ewing and its first draftee to sign a second ...
Former President Obama was interrupted by a protester during a Democratic campaign rally in Michigan on Saturday evening as he discussed the recent attack on Paul Pelosi, who is married to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

While Obama called for elected officials to explicitly reject dangerous rhetoric from their supporters, a man in the crowd yelled at the former president.

Sir, this is what I mean, the former president responded.

Sir, weve got a  there is a process that we set up in our democracy. Right now, Im talking. Youll have a chance to talk sometime soon, Obama continued.

We dont have to interrupt each other. We dont have to shout each other down, he said.

Obama added that basic civility and courtesy work and said that is what he wanted to encourage.

Earlier, the Democrat had said demonizing rhetoric creates a dangerous climate.

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If our rhetoric about each other gets that mean, when we dont just disagree with people but we start demonizing, making wild, crazy allegations about them, that creates a dangerous climate, he said.

Politicians who stir up division and take advantage of anger and fear are violating the basic spirit of this country, added the two-term president.

If elected officials dont do more to explicitly reject that kind of rhetoric, if they tacitly support it or encourage their supporters to stand up outside voting places armed with guns and dressed in tactical gear, more people can get hurt, said Obama.

Obama also addressed the role of social media in amplifying dangerous rhetoric, criticizing platforms for feeding consumers controversy and conflict instead of facts and truth.

Sometimes it can turn dangerous, he warned.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
IRYNA BALACHUK  SUNDAY, 30 OCTOBER 2022, 15:54

On 30 October, Russian forces launched attacks on Chernihiv Oblast from the territory of Russia.

Source: Pivnich (North) Operational Command on Facebook

Quote: "The occupiers launched attacks on the Chernihiv region from the territory of Russia again.

From 12:40 to 13:04 the witnesses reported about 21 strikes, likely launched from 122 mm tubed artillery in the direction of the settlement of Halahanivka."

Details: Reportedly, there were no losses among military personnel or equipment.

There is no information concerning the losses among locals or damage to civil infrastructure.

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RICHMOND  One girl is dead and a boy suffered minor injuries following a crash, early Sunday morning, on Route 95 North in Richmond.

In a press release, Rhode Island State Police wrote that 911 calls started coming in at 4:08 a.m. for a car crash near Exit 3 in Richmond.

Officers and first responders found a 2017 Chevy Malibu drove off the highway's right shoulder and hit a tree and the front of the car was very damaged. Police said both occupants in the car were juveniles.

The driver, a boy, was outside of the car with minor injuries, State Police wrote.

Drivers beware: Drivers beware: Deer vs. car collisions on the rise, and this is prime season

The passenger in the car, a girl, was trapped in the front passenger seat, suffering from "significant" injuries. State Police gave neither names nor ages for both the people involved in the crash. Neither are Rhode Island residents.

Although Hope Valley Fire and Rescue personnel were able to get her out of the car, she was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash.

Police are still investigating the crash, State Police wrote.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Car crash in Richmond, RI on Route 95 North leads to girl's death
Photo Illustration by Kelly Caminero / The Daily Beast / Getty

Why should the benefits of dying be limited to the dead (or nearly dead)?

Thats the question that Mel Slater hasnt been able to get out of his head. Slater, a distinguished investigator in clinical psychology at the University of Barcelona, had been interested in near-death experiences, or NDEs, for years. While theyre considered fairly rare, thousands of these incidents have been documented in diaries, medical case studies, and online forumsand analyzed by researchers for similarities.

It turns out, the stereotypical bright light at the end of the tunnel is real; many people who almost die report the same key visuals. Whats less well known is that survivors also often report an overwhelming sense of peace, gratitude, and even oneness of the world. You see your life as a whole, Slater told The Daily Beast, and you realize the meaning of life is more important than buying my next car.

So Slater, whos also co-director of the universitys cutting-edge eventLAB (thats Experimental Virtual Environments for Neuroscience and Technology), decided to use virtual reality to replicate crucial aspects of a near-death experienceand, he hoped, the radical shift in perspective that sometimes accompanies it.

Hes not alone. As new technologies proliferate, researchers, artists, and more are mixing imagination and machinery in hopes of peeking behind deaths door. They aim to help users reduce their fear of death, build empathy for the dying, process grief, and more. Now, the only question is, does it actually work?

Virtual Reality Could Completely Transform Mental Healthif Were Ready

For as long as there have been modern VR headsets, people have been using them to explore the last goodbye. As early as 2016, researchers were testing whether simulations could help hospice workers, medical students, and others build empathy for their terminally ill patients. One project, designed by Embodied Labs, allowed users to see the world from the point of view of Clay, a 66-year-old man terminally ill with lung cancer, as his family gathers around his bedside.

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Now, VR and other simulations are also playing a role in processing existing grief. A recent South Korean documentary, Meeting You, followed a woman on her journey to meet her daughter, who had died of blood cancer at the age of 7, in VR. And digital clones, which allow users to chat with dead loved ones, are coming to market.

Of course, not everyone is excited about these advances; some fear that new technology could actually make grieving harder. (There is something decidedly uncanny about, say, Kanye West gifting Kim Kardashian a hologram of her dead father for her 40th birthday.) But companies in the death tech space clearly believe theres a market for these servicesand researchers think they could have immense value to the living.

That said, replicating near-death experiences in VR is proving difficult. To date, its mostly been the purview of artists, who strive for immersion over accuracy or other outcomes.

In 2018, the San Francisco-based art collective Lava Saga staged an interactive show called Second Chance at the annual Reimagine End of Life festival. Visitors sat through a 4-minute-long VR sequence of otherworldly scenes, then laid down on a nearby bed. A white sheet was pulled over their heads, while a cellist played a dirge. From there, visitors moved into small groups to discuss their feelings. I hope that people emerge with a new perspective and a new relationship with what it means to die, Kelly Vicars, who helped develop the project, told Fast Company. And thats [to] live.

Designer Jose Montemayor has also tried his hand at replicating the afterlife. He paired up with neuroscientist Tamara Russell to launch a series of workshops called The Death Incubator, which uses VR to pull participants up and out of their body and through ever-higher planes of existence in the company of supernatural beings. We fundamentally believe that a different sort of relationship with death can help us to live more fully, Russell told Freethink. Their work has been likened to exposure therapy.

Virtual Reality Can Be Used to Successfully Treat Patients With Psychosis

But Slater and his research team took things a step further. It took more than a year of full-time design work between two people to create this virtual island world. It was the hardest thing wed ever done, he says. There, three study participants, represented by blue humanoids, worked together to complete tasks over six 30-minute increments. In that time, each participant watched both of their companions die, and their own Avatar-style bodies age.

Then, in the sixth and final session, when it was their turn to die, the participants were transported through a replica of three of four crucial aspects of a near-death experience: They floated over their own virtual body, reviewed their life experiences, and moved through a tunnel toward white light. (They did not, however, meet their loved ones on the other sidean element Slater would like to test in the future.) When all was said and done, the dead participant was yeeted off the island.

The experience was well-reviewed, according to the study, published in the journal PLOS ONE. By and large, the 15 participants seemed to enjoy their time on the island and the company of their virtual friends. They werent afraid, but they were sad, Slater says. There was some movement on scales of terror management and implicit bias. But it doesnt appear that a cumulative three hours in a VR headset dramatically changed the way people lived their lives. Obviously its nowhere near as powerful as when it really happens, Slater says of a simulated NDE.

Thats because Lava Saga, the Death Incubator, and Slater face many of the same core challenges. For one, designing life-like experiences of any kind is hard. Thats especially true when the interactives are largely predetermined by the designer, and participants get little or no chance to personalize their time in the simulation.

At the same time, a real NDE is a physiologically charged experience. The body is likely flush with adrenaline, steroids, and epinephrine, in a way that cant be reliably (or ethically) simulated in the lab. Its also possible that the component parts of an NDEthe bright lights and the long tunnelscant be reverse-engineered into a reliably life-altering experience.

Nonetheless, VR researchers keep trying. Slater has found that simulating an out-of-body experience in isolation can lower peoples fear of deathat least among healthy participants. Another of Slaters studies, published in PLOS ONE in 2017, created this illusion by putting participants in a head-mounted VR set that was fed footage collected of the participants from other angles, including directly behind and above them. The effect, according to the paper, was that their real body was disowned, considered as an empty shell. Rather than causing anxiety, this new perspective seemed to ease it.

Cybersickness Could Spell an Early Death for the Metaverse

Going forward, Slater says that these methods of study must be continually refined. For example, rather than simply relying on existing accounts of NDEs to design their virtual worlds, researchers might ask people who have nearly died to beta test their simulations. That way, their feedback can be incorporated in the design stage.

While Slater hopes that one day everyone will be able to confront their fear of death, these virtual worlds may prove most useful to those who are already terminally illalmost like psychedelics, but using headsets instead of shrooms. Other research is already hinting at possible benefits: In one study from Japan, for example, simulated VR travel with Google Earth reportedly led to improvements in pain among cancer patients in a palliative care ward.

Whatever challenges lie ahead, the interest in simulating near-death experiences is sure to last. As long as people fear death, theyll want a way to face it from the comfort of their own couch.

This story is part of a series on the innovation of deathhow research and technology is changing the way we put the deceased to rest, how we grieve, and how we perceive death moving forward. Read the other stories here:

People Are Going Full Black Mirror to Bring Back the Dead

Meet the Companies Trying to Be the Uber of Funerals

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) shareholders should be happy to see the share price up 12% in the last month. But over the last half decade, the stock has not performed well. After all, the share price is down 28% in that time, significantly under-performing the market.

While the stock has risen 4.1% in the past week but long term shareholders are still in the red, let's see what the fundamentals can tell us.

Check out our latest analysis for Altria Group

To quote Buffett, 'Ships will sail around the world but the Flat Earth Society will flourish. There will continue to be wide discrepancies between price and value in the marketplace...' One imperfect but simple way to consider how the market perception of a company has shifted is to compare the change in the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price movement.

During the five years over which the share price declined, Altria Group's earnings per share (EPS) dropped by 20% each year. The share price decline of 6% per year isn't as bad as the EPS decline. The relatively muted share price reaction might be because the market expects the business to turn around.

The image below shows how EPS has tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

It is of course excellent to see how Altria Group has grown profits over the years, but the future is more important for shareholders. It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on how its financial position has changed over time.

What About Dividends?

When looking at investment returns, it is important to consider the difference between total shareholder return (TSR) and share price return. The TSR incorporates the value of any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings, along with any dividends, based on the assumption that the dividends are reinvested. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. As it happens, Altria Group's TSR for the last 5 years was 2.4%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

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A Different Perspective

We're pleased to report that Altria Group shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 13% over one year. And that does include the dividend. That's better than the annualised return of 0.5% over half a decade, implying that the company is doing better recently. In the best case scenario, this may hint at some real business momentum, implying that now could be a great time to delve deeper. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Altria Group better, we need to consider many other factors. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for Altria Group you should be aware of.

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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When I arrived in Thailand, I was greeted warmly by friends. One of them invited me to eat Thai-style "Korean barbecue" and hot pot.



The hot pot was neither Korean style nor Chinese. But it was tasty, and the whole experience was a lesson in how culture melds and flows between peoples and nations.

Hot pot is a Chinese dish that includes a pot of boiling broth in which meats and vegetables are cooked by friends sitting around a table. It was popular with China's emperors for centuries. Containers that might have held heated broth have been found in tombs from the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC). The Emperor Qianlong of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) was particularly fond of hot pot. According to records from the Imperial Household Department, he ate it 200 times in one year.

I can sympathize. It sure is fun to dip food into the boiling water, watch it cook, and then cover it with delicious sauces.

With hot pot's simplicity, its consumption expanded as a food for the masses and reached many countries. Hot pot has different flavors in different places  even within China. The spicy and mouth-numbing broth in Sichuan province is the most famous, while northern Chinese hot pot is less fiery. Usually, the pot is divided in two so that groups can order different flavors of broth.

The broth in the pot simmering on the hot plate in front of me at the Thai restaurant was nothing like the red broth of Sichuan hot pot. The color was a light yellow, while the taste was of lemongrass, basil and lime  like Thai food.

My friend told me that this is called "chim chum." While it can be a little plain on its own, if you want to make it spicy, there is a spicy sauce called "jeaw." Jeaw is the sauce, and the soup is called "jeaw horn" (hot soup) when you add the sauce inside.

My friend poured in the whole bowl, then he added a raw egg, and mixed it up, creating a delicious result.

There are actually two kinds of hot pot in Thailand. Chim chum is the traditional Thai dish, whereby meat is marinated in an oyster sauce mix then cooked in a chicken or pork broth in a clay pot over a fire. It comes from Northern Thailand, but by the time it arrived in urbanized Bangkok, it changed, and it's no longer easy to find a restaurant serving the dish in clay pots. The pot at our restaurant was aluminum, like modern-day Chinese hot pot, but the broth seemed to have many Thai ingredients.

The other kind of Thai hot pot, which has a more direct connection to China, is called "Thai suki." It's not sukiyaki, either, but it took that name in the 1950s, when Japanese culture was extremely popular across Southeast Asia.

Multiple restaurants claim to be the first to have introduced Thai suki to Bangkok. Coca is one such eatery, according to its website. It originally started out as a 20-seat Cantonese restaurant in 1957 that soon expanded to 150 seats and now has multiple locations.

But another restaurant, Number One Suki, says it opened in 1955. There are arguments over the origins of many dishes and beverages, as every chef, bartender and restaurant wants to claim credit. The hazy lines of culinary ancestry are the norm.

Aiken Unni, a scholar at the University of London's Courtauld Institute of Art, said: "You get a lot of these kind of dishes in Thailand  and everywhere, actually. Dishes like this come about from cultures that have contacts with Thailand. They blend local elements with these foreign elements and create these new elements."

Mitchell Blatt is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/MitchellBlatt.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.

If you would like to contribute, please contact us at opinion@china.org.cn.
Republicans have political winds at their back, but the partys nominees in Pennsylvania for governor and Senate are running dramatically different campaigns and targeting two very different types of voters.

Campaign strategists say that dynamic is complicating a path to victory for Mehmet Oz, the heart surgeon-turned-TV celebrity, in the Senate race and Doug Mastriano in the governors contest.

Strategists say it makes sense for Oz to avoid Mastriano because Mastrianos running a far-right campaign and trailing Democrat Josh Shapiro in polls.

Strategists also say Mastriano is driving away the moderate voters that Oz will need to beat Democrat John Fetterman in the closely contested Senate race.

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Gabriel Martinelli (centre) holds up team-mate Pablo Maris shirt (John Walton/PA) (PA Wire)

Pablo Mari has been discharged from hospital after the Arsenal defender was injured in a supermarket stabbing in Milan.

The 29-year-old, who is currently on a season-long loan at Monza, underwent surgery to reconstruct damaged back muscles, but the Serie A club confirmed on Sunday that Mari has now returned home.

He was one of five victims of a knife attack in a Carrefour supermarket in Assago, on the outskirts of Milan, on Thursday evening.

The chairman and chief executive of the Carrefour chain said one employee died from their injuries, while a sixth person was treated for shock.

Monza said in a statement that Mari will undergo a period of absolute rest.

It added: AC Monza sincerely thanks Professor Osvaldo Chiara and all the professionals of the Trauma Center of the Niguarda Hospital in Milan.

Arsenal players paid tribute to their team-mate after opening the scoring against Nottingham Forest on Sunday, with goalscorer Gabriel Martinelli and skipper Granit Xhaka holding up Maris shirt in tribute.

Despues del duro momento que vivimos ayer, tanto mi familia como yo queremos comunicar que afortunadamente estamos todos bien a pesar de las circunstancias, y agradecer todos los mensajes de apoyo y carino que estamos recibiendo. pic.twitter.com/8NywRczNS8  Pablo Mari Villar (@PabloMV5) October 28, 2022

The Spanish defender thanked well-wishers on social media on Friday, posting a picture of himself in a hospital bed alongside his wife.

He wrote: After the hard moment we experienced yesterday, both my family and I want to communicate that fortunately we are all fine despite the circumstances, and we want to say thanks for all the messages of support and affection that we are receiving.

A Monza statement published on Friday suggested Mari would be out of action for around two months.
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - A Palestinian was shot dead after he carried out a car-ramming attack against Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank on Sunday.

The Israeli military said the Palestinian attacker drove his car into the soldiers at a bus station and then struck others by a nearby intersection, injuring five of them.

He tried to flee the scene when he was shot by a police officer and an armed civilian, the military said.

The Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed the Palestinian died from his wounds.

The incident follows months of tensions that have deepened since Israeli forces began a crackdown in the West Bank in March in response to a series of attacks by Palestinians in Israel.

(Reporting by Ali Sawafta and Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Alison Williams)
New Hanover County Sheriff's Office car

The New Hanover Sheriff's Office charged a 38-year-old man for a robbing a PNC Bank on College Road in Wilmington on Saturday.

Elijah Muhammad McFarland was taken into custody just after midnight at a local hotel without incident, according to a news release from the department.

According to earlier reports, a man wearing a black jacket and dark sunglasses entered the bank at 2314 N. College Road and passed a note to the bank teller demanding cash around 10 a.m. Saturday. The teller complied with the demand and the man left with the cash. The department was unable to release how much he took.

Witnesses said the bank robber got in a vehicle in Lowes Foods parking lot, before he fled in an unknown direction. It's unknown if he was driving or in the passenger seat with someone waiting on him, but authorities said he could have acted alone.

McFarland was charged with common law robbery and was transported to the New Hanover County Detention Facility. A secured bond was set at $250,000.

Reach reporter Sydney Hoover at shoover@gannett.com or on Twitter at @sydneymhoover.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Suspect charged in connection to robbery at Wilmington bank
Oct. 29EAU CLAIRE  A UW-Eau Claire student faces two felony charges after police say he made a bomb threat against Towers Hall.

Mason J. Waymire, 19, of Chanhassen, Minn., is charged in Eau Claire County Court with terrorist threats and making a bomb scare.

Waymire is scheduled to make his initial court appearance on Nov. 17.

According to the criminal complaint:

A UW-Eau Claire police officer received a call Sept. 29 from the residence hall director at Towers Hall concerning a bomb threat.

The hall director said she saw an anonymous post on Yik Yak that stated, "There's a bomb in Towers." The post was made one minute prior to the hall director calling the police.

The officer arrived at Towers Hall and conducted a foot patrol around the buildings and in the commons area. The officer didn't notice anything unusual.

The following day, the officer received a call from the FBI indicating that Yik Yak contacted the FBI about the bomb threat.

An FBI agent said the Yik Yak account where the bomb threat was made was traced to Waymire.

The UW-Eau Claire police officer learned that Waymire was a student at the university and lived on campus. Police interviewed him after he was contacted at his residence.

Waymire said he was with his friends on Sept. 29. They were hanging out at Towers Hall South watching TV and were drinking alcoholic beverages.

Just before midnight, Waymire said two of his friends dared him to make a bomb threat on Yik Yak. He said he then logged into his account and created a post stating there was a bomb in Towers Hall.

When he made the threat, Waymire said he had no thoughts about how serious this was. He said he was not thinking clearly because of his alcohol consumption.

Waymire said he later felt stupid for making the threat. He said he is a chemistry major but does not have any knowledge on how to make a bomb.

Waymire said his high school received a bomb threat about a year ago. He knew that the school was shut down and law enforcement conducted a long investigation into the threat. Through this experience, Waymire said he knew how serious these threats are.

On Oct. 1, police interviewed one of the people Waymire was with on Sept. 29. The person said he did not dare or pressure Waymire into making the threat. He added that he didn't hear anyone else dare or pressure Waymire into making the threat.

If convicted of both charges, Waymire could be sentenced to up to three years in prison.
By Maya Gebeily and Laila Bassam

BAABDA, Lebanon (Reuters) -Michel Aoun, the 89-year-old Christian president who presided over Lebanon's cataclysmic financial meltdown and the deadly Beirut port blast, left the presidential palace on Sunday with his term ending, leaving a void at the top of a failing state.

Parliament has so far been unable to agree on a successor in the role, which is reserved for a Maronite Christian and has the power to sign bills into law and appoint new prime ministers.

That leaves Lebanon in the unprecedented situation of having a presidential vacuum and a caretaker cabinet with limited powers, as the premier-designate has been unable to form a government for six months.

In an interview with Reuters a day before his departure, Aoun said Lebanon was sliding into "constitutional chaos", given the lack of clarity over what prerogatives the caretaker cabinet and the parliament would each have.

On Sunday, hundreds of his supporters gathered at Baabda Palace to say farewell, wearing the orange associated with his Free Patriotic Movement party and carrying portraits of him as president and from decades ago when he served as army commander.

Therese Younes, 16, said she had backed Aoun since she was eight and was sad to see him go.

"If I was 18 years old, I would have left the country. There's no Lebanon left after Michel Aoun," said Younes.

Lebanon's parliament has convened four times to try to elect a successor but no candidate has won a majority.

Top Maronite Christian cleric Patriarch Beshara al-Rai on Sunday blamed politicians and parliamentarians for leaving the "presidency in a vacuum, either deliberately, or out of stupidity or selfishness".

DIVISIVE LEADER

Aoun is a deeply divisive figure, adored by many Christians who viewed him as their defender in Lebanon's sectarian system but accused by critics of enabling corruption and helping armed group Hezbollah gain influence.

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During Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, he served as commander of Lebanon's army and the head of one of two rival governments.

After 15 years in exile, he returned to Beirut and allied with Hezbollah, which lent the armed group important Christian backing and ultimately helped him become president in 2016.

His six-year term saw Lebanon's army fight off Islamist militants on the Syrian border in 2017 with Hezbollah's help and pass a new electoral law in 2018.

In his final week, he signed onto a U.S.-mediated deal delineating Lebanon's southern sea border with Israel, paving the way for possible maritime gas discoveries.

His fans hail those achievements but critics say they were overshadowed the 2019 financial meltdown, which has pushed more than 80% of the population into poverty, and the massive 2020 blast at the Beirut port that killed more than 220 people.

"He was by far the worst president in Lebanon's history" said Michel Meouchi, a 41-year-old lawyer and father. "I prefer a void in the presidency to him."

Aoun later said he had known about the chemicals stored there and told other authorities to take action. Victims' families said he should have done more.

He declined to comment on the blast on Saturday and said his presidential powers were not wide enough to address the economic crisis.

He left the palace a day before his term officially ends, arriving at his residence in Rabieh where he was greeted by Gebran Bassil, his son-in-law and the current head of the FPM.

"Gebran after his father-in-law!" said the waiting crowds.

Bassil, a parliamentarian with presidential ambitions, was sanctioned by the United States in 2020 for alleged corruption but denies the charges.

Aoun on Saturday said the sanctions would not stop Bassil from becoming president and said they could be "removed" if he were to be elected.

(Reporting by Maya Gebeily and Laila Bassam; Writing by Maya Gebeily and Tom PerryEditing by Dominic Evans, Alison Williams and Frances Kerry)
Invest in Education passed by a slim margin and was later halted by the courts. Lawmakers clearly haven't forgiven or forgotten about that.

Invest in Education, a ballot initiative to tax the rich for schools, broke largely along partisan lines and won passage by less than 52% of the vote in 2020.

The income-tax increase got tossed by the courts before it could be enacted.

Republican lawmakers who were incensed at progressives for pushing the measure havent forgiven. Nor forgotten.

Their imprint of payback is glaring in three Legislature-referred ballot propositions that would rewrite the Arizona Constitution to curb the power of voters:

Proposition 128 gives state lawmakers the authority to change any citizen-led measure as they see fit if any portion of it is found by the courts to be unconstitutional or unlawful.

Proposition 129 limits citizen-led initiatives to a single subject and requires that subject to be spelled out in the title.

Proposition 132 requires that any initiative or referendum dealing with a tax increase be approved by 60% of voters to take effect.

We encourage a no vote on all three.

They are wolves in sheeps clothing. Read for yourself the arguments in support of the proposals.

Lawmakers can act without Proposition 128

Start with Proposition 128.

Backers, such as the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, lament that theres currently no simple mechanism to fix a broken measure, except to have it go back to the voters, a costly and confusing option. Fair point.

They say Proposition 128 would uncuff lawmakers to help rescue voter-approved measures like Invest in Education that a judge or appellate court finds problematic.

If it were only so.

Lawmakers had no trouble responding to Invest in Ed. The GOP-led Legislature unilaterally killed the intent of Proposition 208 by cutting income tax rates so that high earners would not pay any more taxes than they are already  even before the courts found the measure largely unconstitutional.

Another view: Was taxing the rich worth it, now that the rich have their revenge?

In fact, the Legislature could have simply raised the ceiling on educational spending, as it has done in years past, and given life to Invest in Ed. Gov. Doug Ducey and GOP lawmakers purposely chose not to exercise that authority.

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Read Proposition 128 more carefully and note that any finding of legal problems with a voter-approved measure  even minor points that, if struck, would still leave the bulk of the initiative intact  would allow the Legislature to also sweep funds from the measure and use them however they like.

Does that come across as doing the voters will?

Courts have stepped in without Proposition 129

Proposition 129 is more of the same shenanigans.

The same set of supporters claims the the state constitution should be amended to hold citizen groups to the same single subject or adequate title standard that binds the Arizona Legislature.

Its a false argument.

Lawmakers, indeed, must follow the standard. Three of the Legislatures Budget Reconciliation Bills were tossed by a judge last year for violating the adequate-title provision.

Not on the ballot: Court strikes measure to expand voter access

But their sole job is to legislate. They have months to adjust language on bills. They have staff and attorneys to help them research and adhere to rules.

Citizens arent afforded the same resources and time. But that doesnt mean any petition initiated by them and signed by sufficient number of voters automatically qualifies for the ballot.

A number of them have been challenged in court and disqualified over omitted or misleading language in the propositions 100-word summary. That safeguard rebuts a key argument from supporters of Proposition 129: That it would prevent special-interest groups from jamming unrelated provisions into one measure to sneak in pet projects.

Dont buy this nonsense that whats good for the goose is good for the gander. Citizens neednt be held to the same rigid lawmaking standard as fulltime legislators.

Proposition 132 carries unintended consequences

Lastly, there is Proposition 132, a well-intentioned but misguided effort to watch out for Arizona taxpayers.

We're sympathetic to the position that raising taxes should not be taken lightly. Were certainly mindful of the divisive Invest in Education measure, which we opposed in 2020, that got us here.

Stuck filling out your ballot? How to vote confidently in key races

We also appreciate that Arizona voters in 2012 imposed a rigorous threshold for lawmakers  requiring a two-thirds supermajority in both chambers of the statehouse  to enact a tax increase.

That said, demanding more than a simple majority for voter-approved revenue measures is extreme. Only nine states require supermajority approval at the ballot box, four of them solely on constitutional amendments.

More importantly, lets beware of unintended consequences.

Several key education-funding initiatives in Arizonas history won with less than the 60% approval threshold that Proposition 132 imposes. Among them:

Proposition 203, aka First Things First, in 2006, which increased tobacco taxes to fund early childhood programs; and

Proposition 301, a six-tenths of a penny sales tax for education in 2000 that was championed by then-Republican Gov. Jane Hull and which Gov. Ducey and the Legislature saw fit to extend in 2018 for another two decades.

Is it fair or wise to trim voters' voice?

Given the ongoing debate about more money to attract and retain teachers  never mind the frustration over the Legislatures tax cuts that repudiated voters will on Invest in Education  do we really want to restrict Arizonans ability to effect change? Or to reduce their voice?

Is that fair or wise?

The ballot initiative process isnt perfect. Measures can come with unintended consequences. Protected financial measures can make it difficult to ensure funding for other priorities and budget holistically, especially when there are cuts to be made.

But these proposed fixes are bad faith attempts by lawmakers to assume greater power at the expense of the constituents they serve.

Vote no on Propositions 128, 129 and 132.

This is an opinion of The Arizona Republics editorial board.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Prop. 128, 129 and 132 would limit your power. Vote no
Rebuilding. George Rose/Getty Images

The instinct to restore homes and businesses in vulnerable areas is being questioned as climate change intensifies. Here's everything you need to know:

Why is rebuilding an issue?

As wildfires, powerful hurricanes, and flooding grow more frequent and severe, it makes less sense to spend billions to restore what was lost. Hurricane Ian inflicted at least $60 billion in damage on Florida's Gulf Coast last month, leveling several coastal communities and barrier islands. The storm left both homeowners and policymakers wondering at what point the risks of oceanfront property outweigh the benefits. It's a question now facing residents throughout the Eastern Seaboard as sea levels rise and storm surges become more commonplace. In California, taxpayers have spent billions rebuilding woodsy communities left in ashes by wildfires, but another 6,800 wildfires ravaged the state this year. Given a choice between moving or staying and adapting to a changing climate, most people prefer "to adapt," said Nadia Seeteram, a researcher at Columbia University's Climate School. But a growing number "recognize that moving might be something that they may need to consider in the long term."

Why do people keep rebuilding?

Sentimentality, combined with either extreme denial or extreme acceptance. In 2021, two-thirds of Americans polled said they would rather rebuild than relocate if their home were damaged. On the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts, where climate change is eroding the shoreline, homeowners are raising the foundations of their multimillion-dollar houses and moving them back a few dozen yards from the beach in hopes of escaping the rising sea. Most municipalities encourage rebuilding, at least partly because a decrease in the number of houses and businesses shrinks the tax base. Charleston, South Carolina, is constructing a $1.1 billion seawall to protect against frequent hurricanes, but development in flood-prone areas continues, and the port city's population grew 25 percent from 2010 to 2020. Charleston just approved a development that would put 18,000 housing units in a floodplain near the coast. This disconnect points to a sense of fatalism: If storms, fires, droughts, flooding, and heat waves are making many parts of the country increasingly unlivable, why not enjoy a gorgeous setting while you can? "We all kind of pick our poison, don't we?" said Jonathan Kusel of the Sierra Institute for Community and Environment in fire-prone Northern California.

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Who's footing the bill?

The government, mostly. Under the 1988 Stafford Act, the federal government provides aid with few restrictions once the president declares a federal disaster. This provides a strong incentive to rebuild devastated areas, even if it's likely they'll be devastated again. The government also spends billions every year on resilience projects to protect existing infrastructure, such as beach nourishment projects, which have been found to increase oceanfront development. Last year's infrastructure act allocated about $47 billion over several years for resilience projects, and communities that receive aid aren't required to strengthen their disaster planning or alter floodplain development. This creates a moral hazard: Why not take the risk of living on the coast when the government is picking up the tab?

What about homeowners' insurance?

Most homeowners' policies don't cover damage from flooding. FEMA offers a National Flood Insurance Program, but after several massive hurricane payouts, premiums have risen to about $1,000 a year, and can be higher depending on a home's flood history. Only 1 in 5 homeowners in Hurricane Ian's evacuation area had national flood insurance. Federal emergency aid provided through the Stafford Act can help individual homeowners rebuild, but it often can take years for the money to trickle down through the bureaucracy. So, many residents rely on savings, charity, or loans. It can be very costly to rebuild, because they usually have to adhere to new building codes designed to makes structures better able to withstand extreme weather. After Hurricane Charley hit Florida in 2004, rebuilt homes had to comply with some of the strictest building codes in the country. Those homes fared much better in Hurricane Ian than older houses constructed under laxer codes. This is one of the many reasons why natural disasters fuel inequality.

What are other reasons?

Wealthier people are more likely to be able to afford national flood insurance, and are more likely to navigate bureaucracies to qualify for federal disaster aid. In addition, home values generally rebound more quicky in wealthier neighborhoods. In Fort Myers Beach, one of the areas hardest hit by Ian, Trixie Parkes' 1976 wood-frame cottage was completely wrecked, and since she had no flood insurance, Parkes, 59, plans to sell her property and move away. Five blocks away, Fernando Gonzalez's $2 million home barely suffered any damage. When he had it built in 2016, he went beyond building code requirements, raising the first floor 16 feet off the ground and digging a deep foundation with thick concrete walls that are vented to allow water to flow through them in a storm surge. "If you want the luxury of living near the ocean," Gonzalez said, "you have to pay."

Choosing to retreat

Some homeowners don't rebuild after disasters, either out of financial concerns or recognition of the futility of living in areas that climate change is making more vulnerable. But most of the available disaster aid focuses on rebuilding, so people have little support to move away from shore communities, low-lying floodplains, and fire-prone woods. In California's Mariposa County, frequent fires and a housing shortage are making relocating a challenge; by 2050, officials warn, wildfires will threaten an estimated 79.8 million homes. A strategy called managed retreat is slowly gaining traction, encouraging officials to relocate communities out of vulnerable areas, but this strategy is hampered by the fact that it also requires expensive investments in the public services on which residents rely. Some homeowners who've seen their property destroyed are becoming climate refugees, and are resettling in New England and the upper Midwest and other areas where disasters are less common. "Where people live is very sticky," said Beth Gibbons of the American Society of Adaptation Professionals. "They're reluctant to move. But the day is going to come that they are not going to be able to stay there."

This article was first published in the latest issue of The Week magazine. If you want to read more like it, you can try six risk-free issues of the magazine here.

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Virginia GOP House candidate Karina Lipsman said her opponent in November's election, Democrat Rep. Don Beyer, should be stripped of certain committee assignments after an investigation found a now-former aide of his had worked with the Chinese Embassy.

An investigation conducted by the House Sergeant at Arms discovered that Barbara Hamlett, who had worked as a scheduler in Beyer's office, had been working on behalf of the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., to set up meetings with congressional offices. Beyer fired her after he was notified of the findings on Tuesday.

Lipsman, a 14-year member of the U.S. defense and intelligence community, also called for a Congressional investigation into the matter to determine the extent to which national security has been compromised.

"I have been part of investigations on sensitive national security subjects before, and it's very clear to me that, based on what we know, this matter must be thoroughly investigated by Congress," Lipsman said in a statement to FOX News Digital.

AIDE TO DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSMAN DON BEYER FIRED AFTER ALLEGEDLY WORKING WITH CHINESE EMBASSY

The Republican Ukrainian immigrant also compared the situation to Rep. Eric Swalwell's, D-Calif., past intimate relationship with a Chinese spy named Fang Fang, who reportedly was involved in fundraising for the congressman's 2014 reelection campaign. The Chinese national did not make donations and there was no evidence of illegal contributions.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

"This is a similar situation as the one Rep. Eric Swalwell found himself in -- Swalwell should be removed from the House Intelligence Committee, and Don Beyer should be removed from the House Ways and Means Committee, which handles international trade and all free trade agreements, as well as the Joint Economic Committee," Lipsman said.

"The extent of Beyer's office's ties to the Chinese government needs to be determined, so the level of national security risk can be determined," she continued. "His office has clearly been compromised. Again, I've held top-level security clearances for years and this situation is well within my experience. It needs to be treated extremely seriously."

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COVID-19 PANDEMIC LIKELY ORIGINATED WITH CHINESE LAB LEAK, SENATE REPUBLICAN REPORT FINDS

Beyer moved swiftly to remove the aide after learning of her activity from security officials.

And in a Twitter thread, Lipsman noted that Virginia's eighth congressional district that Beyer represents is home to the Pentagon and CIA. The district comprises Arlington County, parts of Fairfax County and the entirety of the cities of Alexandria and Falls Church.

"This district, probably more than any other, keeps America safe," she wrote.

Beyer's office said the congressman was "totally unaware" of Hamlett's behavior before he was contacted by the Sergeant At Arms.

"As soon as he learned of them, he followed every directive he was given by security officials," Beyers deputy chief of staff Aaron Fritschner told National Review. "The staffer in question is no longer employed by the office of Congressman Beyer."

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Hamlett had allegedly contacted congressional staffers through emails, phone calls and office visits to invite them to meetings and lunches on behalf of officials for the Chinese Embassy.

Two of the meetings were requested in the context of meals, including one at the Charlie Palmer Steak located near the Capitol.

After the meeting requests, staffers at congressional offices became alarmed and notified the Sergeant at Arms to investigate. The Sergeant at Arms reportedly contacted federal counterintelligence authorities about the matter.
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The Japanese government will establish a new joint military command in 2024 to manage the operations of its Ground, Maritime and Air Self-Defense Forces, Nikkei reported on Saturday.

The joint command will be positioned as "an organization responsible for communication and strategic coordination," aiming to strengthen operations with the U.S. military, the report said.
Sen. Rick Scott (Fla.), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said on Sunday he expects the GOP will win at least 52 Senate seats on Election Day.

Speaking with CNN State of the Union co-anchor Dana Bash, Scott painted a rosy picture of Republican battleground nominees chances in next weeks midterm elections, saying he believes the GOP will win in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada, if not other states.

Were gonna get 52 plus, Scott said. Herschel Walker will win in Georgia. Were going to keep all 21 of ours. [Mehmet] Oz is going to win against [John] Fetterman in Pennsylvania. Adam Laxalt will win in Nevada.

Republicans are seen as heavy favorites to win control of the House, but the Senate appears to be a closer contest, according to recent polling.

Nonpartisan election analyst FiveThirtyEights model suggests Democrats have a 53 percent chance of maintaining their razor-thin majority in the upper chamber, while Republicans are close behind with a 47 percent chance. Democrats had held a lead over the summer, but it appears to have wavered in recent weeks.

Scott on Sunday projected Senate Republicans will have a stronger-than-expected performance on election night, suggesting Don Bolduc in New Hampshire will win in an upset against Sen. Maggie Hassan (D) and Tiffany Smiley and Joe ODea will do the same in Washington and Colorado, respectively.

Those three nominees have been trailing their opponents in most polls.

But the political environment has shifted toward Republicans in recent weeks and tightened many of those Democratic candidates leads, providing glimmers of hope within the GOP that the party could eke out more seats than anticipated.

Scott has previously suggested that Republicans may win as many as 55 seats in the midterms.

This is our year. The Democrats cant run on anything theyve done, Scott told Bash. People dont like what theyve done. They dont like high inflation. They dont like gas prices, food prices up. They dont like it. The public doesnt like an open border. They dont like they dont like high crime. And thats what the Democrats are known for.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel. AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson

Ronna McDaniel said it was "unfair" to link GOP messaging to the attack on Paul Pelosi on Sunday.

On "Fox News Sunday," McDaniel rejected any notion that Republican rhetoric had been overheated.

Nancy Pelosi, who has led House Democrats since 2003, has long been a political foil for the GOP.

Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel said it was "unfair" to suggest that GOP messaging contributed to the violent assault on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband at the family's San Francisco home last week.

During an appearance on "Fox News Sunday," host Shannon Bream presented McDaniel with a recently-published Washington Post article that detailed the party's yearslong drive to demonize the veteran California Democrat, who in 2007 became the first female House speaker in United States history.

McDaniel pushed back against any allegations that GOP messaging was problematic or incited violence and instead flipped the narrative to lambast Democrats.

"You can't say people saying 'Let's fire Pelosi,' or 'Let's take back the House' is saying 'Go do violence.' It's just unfair. I think we all need to recognize that violence is up across the board," she said. "But I think the other thing to remember is, if this weren't Paul Pelosi, this criminal would probably be out on the street tomorrow."

"We saw Lee Zeldin's attacker was on the street right after he attacked him. This is what Democrat policies are bringing," she added, referencing an attack earlier this year against the New York GOP gubernatorial nominee. "But of course we wish Paul Pelosi a recovery. We don't like this at all across the board."

Paul Pelosi was assaulted in the couple's San Francisco residence on Friday by an intruder who broke into the home and demanded to know the location of the speaker, who was not at the residence at the time.

The speaker has been a longtime political foil for Republicans, especially in the current election cycle as they angle to regain a House majority this fall.

Many GOP lawmakers have spoken out forcefully against the attack, but former President Donald Trump  who repeatedly clashed with the speaker during his White House tenure  has not yet issued a statement on the incident.

Read the original article on Business Insider
An off-duty officer was shot while driving with his son in an apparent road-rage attack, according to Texas police.

The 48-year-old San Antonio officer told investigators that another vehicle was road raging with him along a stretch of highway on the citys north side around 9 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 29, aSan Antonio Police Department release said.

That vehicle was speeding and tailgating the officer, police told KENS.

The other driver then pulled alongside the officers truck and a passenger opened fire, the release said. Several bullets hit the truck and one hit the officer, according to police.

His 16-year-old son was not injured and dialed 911, TV station KABB reported.

Police arrived to find the truck stopped on the shoulder of the highway, the release said. The officer was taken to a hospital in stable condition.

No suspects have been identified, but an investigation is underway, police said.

Officer kills driver after woman thrown from car during fit of road rage, GA cops say

Passenger shot and killed as driver tries to escape road-rage incident, WA cops say

Handcuffed man jumps in pond to escape police and doesnt resurface, Oklahoma cops say

Cancer patient with one leg severely beaten after minor accident, Louisiana cops say
Police block a street during an anti-government protest in Chisinau, Moldova. October 23, 2022

Read also: Moldova seeks to build up its air defenses

"Russia has been doing all that for 30 years in Moldova and, I think, in Ukraine, Georgia, and other post-Soviet states, Radu said.

Of course, after the war Russia unleashed in Ukraine, they want things to go bad for Moldova, because it may give them some chance or opportunity to surround Ukraine from our side.

Read also: Air Moldova banned from resuming flights to Russia

However, over the past five weeks, there have been numerous, aggressive protests in the national capital of Chisinau. Radu notes that they come out with slogans calling for the removal of pro-Western President Maia Sandu from power in order to let Russia supply gas to the country:

"It is clear that Russia is convincing the opposition and somehow threatening that Moldova will get frozen if this government remains in place; and Moldova will have a very cosy supply of gas if this government leaves."

Read also: Moldova accuses Russia of making false claims to destabilize situation in country

Radu noted that while the protests did not attract large crowds, they have managed to make the headlines in the European country. Ziarul de Garda found the protests odd and therefore conducted their own investigation.

"We found out how all those people got paid, the journalist said.

It is, of course, terrible. This is not a protest for democracy, it's just the screams of some people who are paid every day to go to the center of the capital and shout that they want to be friends with Russia.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO  SATURDAY, 29 OCTOBER 2022, 23:40

After stopping the country's participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative [an agreement brokered by the UN with Russia and Turkey launched on 22 July to enable ships to transport grain from Ukraine - ed.], the Russian Ministry of Agriculture has announced that Russia is ready to completely replace Ukrainian grain on the world market.

Source: Dmitry Patrushev, Head of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, according to information from Kremlin-aligned news agency RIA Novosti and Latvia-based Russian media outlet Meduza.

Quote from Patrushev: "Taking into account the current year's harvest, the Russian Federation is ready to completely replace Ukrainian grain and to make deliveries at acceptable prices to all interested countries."

"Given that Russia has always been and remains a reliable partner and is ready to provide the world with the necessary amount of food, our country is ready to supply up to 500,000 tonnes of grain to the poorest countries free of charge in the next four months. In particular, we will do this with the participation of our reliable partner  Turkey."

Details: Patrushev also stated that the grain agreement "not only failed to solve the problems of the countries in need, but even aggravated them in a certain sense", since ships from Ukraine were allegedly mainly destined for Europe, which was repeatedly denied by representatives of Ukraine.

Background:

On 29 October, Russia announced the suspension of its participation in the implementation of the "grain agreement" allegedly because of a "terrorist attack" in the Sevastopol Bay on Saturday morning.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Russia had found a pretext to withdraw from the "grain agreement", and called on the world powers to demand that the Russian Federation stop playing hunger games and return to its commitments.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expects a strong international reaction to the suspension of Russia's participation in the "grain agreement", in particular from the UN and the G20.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Reuters Videos

STORY: It's the first World Cup held in the Middle East  and the region's politics are never far away. Iran's protests, Arab fans' pro-Palestinian sympathies and host-nation Qatar's own ambiguous diplomacy have all been under the spotlight.Iran's matches have been the most politically charged, both on the pitch  when the Iranian team refrained from singing the national anthem  and off it. A headache for Qatar, which has good ties with Tehran.Ahead of Iran's first match, security denied entry to fans carrying Iran's pre-Revolution flag and T-shirts with the slogan "Woman, Life, Freedom" and "Mahsa Amini"  the young woman whose death in custody sparked the current protests."Take to storage? We have nothing else to wear. What do we wear?" "Go to the mall and buy a t-shirt." "You go to the mall and buy a t-shirt?"Iranian-American fan Shayan Khosravani shows Iran's pre-revolution flag, banned inside the country. He says he has been told to hide it."I wanted to come to the World Cup to support the people of Iran, because we know it is a great opportunity to speak for them, we know the national team is not speaking for them so we kind of wanted to put them in shame too, telling them like, hey, we come across the whole world to just use this opportunity to tell you guys and the rest of the world like hey what is happening in Iran is messed up, like you guys need to back people up."Pro-Palestinian sentiments are also on display.Qatari players have worn pro-Palestinian arm-bands...And this Israeli journalist reporting from Qatar met a cold response from Arab fans..."I am from Israel brother" "You are from Israel? What brought you here?"Qatar wants a smooth tournament that will cement its role on the global stage and in the Middle East.It's something of a regional maverick: it hosts the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas but allowed Israeli fans to fly in for the first time.It has given a platform to Islamist dissidents deemed a threat by Saudi Arabia and befriended Riyadh's foe Iran. The largest U.S. military base in the region is here.Omar Barakat is a soccer coach for the Palestinian team, which didn't make the tournament. He says security staff have allowed him into matches wearing the Palestinian flag."It is the Arab cause, we have seen many non-Palestinians wearing the flag, non-Arabs wearing the flag. This is my fourth flag. I have given away four and I let people borrow a lot of flags during the match just to take a photo. It is a political statement, and we are proud of it."Such loyalties and rivalries have added to the political dimensions of a tournament already mired in controversy over the treatment of migrant workers and LGBT+ rights.
KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO  SUNDAY, 30 OCTOBER 2022, 17:57

The Ukrainian Air Force shot down a Russian combat helicopter in Kharkiv Oblast on Sunday, 30 October.

Source: Air Force of Ukraine

Quote: "On 30 October, at around 16:00, an anti-aircraft missile unit of the East air command shot down a Russian combat helicopter in Kharkiv Oblast."

Details: The Air Force added that the type of downed helicopter is being clarified.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Lavrov said that Putin is ready for negotiations with the West

Were always ready to listen to our Western colleagues if they make another request to organize a conversation, Lavrov said.

Read also: Ukraines success in negotiations with Russia to depend on victories on battlefield, says NATO chief

I hope that, in addition to reproducing in contacts through diplomatic agencies and other channels what they publicly say in propaganda zeal, they will be able to offer us some serious approaches that will contribute to de-escalation of tensions and fully take into account the interests of the Russian Federation and its security.

Read also: Negotiations have no chance of ending Russias war against Ukraine, says Germany

He said there had allegedly been several initiatives by the U.S. and some other Western counterparts over the past six months who asked for talks with the Russian dictator.

Lavrov also said that some foreign ministers had allegedly approached him with the same request, and he always gave his consent.

In response, Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko wrote on Facebook that the only realistic proposal for possible negotiations with Russia is an immediate end to Putins full-scale war against Ukraine, and the withdrawal of Russian troops to the borders in effect as of 1991.

Read also: Russia must respect Ukraine's sovereignty and integrity before talks can begin, Zelenskyy says

He noted that if the Russians were serious about negotiations, they would not target Ukraines power infrastructure to freeze out Ukraines people in the winter, commit mass executions of civilians, shell residential areas, announce additional mobilizations, block grain exports, or put forward ultimatums.

Lavrovs statement about readiness for negotiations is nothing more than another smoke screen to gain time amid the Russian armys defeats, Nikolenko said.

As long as Russia continues to commit crimes in Ukraine, there should be only one answer  on the battlefield.

Story continues

The Ukrainian official also thanked Ukraines international partners.

Only by joint determined efforts it is possible to stop Russia, which poses a threat to the peace and security of not only Europe, but also the world, the spokesman said.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO  SUNDAY, 30 OCTOBER 2022, 22:31

Russian forces carried out attacks on the Krasnopillia and Seredyna-Buda hromadas [administrative units designating the town of Krasnopillia and the city of Seredyna-Buda and their adjacent territories - ed.] in Sumy Oblast, injuring a local resident.

Source: Dmytro Zhyvytskyi, Head of the Sumy Oblast Military Administration, on Telegram

Details: Russian forces struck Sumy Oblast a total of 28 times on 30 October.

In the Krasnopillia hromada, Russian forces deployed mortars, launching a total of twelve 82 mm mortar bombs and injuring a local resident.

"The woman sustained a blast injury; surgeons extracted a fragment of the bomb from her skull. Her life and health are not currently in danger," Zhyvytskyi said.

In the Seredyna-Buda hromada, Russian forces similarly deployed mortars, launching a total of 16 120 mm mortar bombs. A private house and a car were damaged in one of the villages in the hromada as a result of the Russian attack.

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 Flash

Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a message of condolence Sunday to South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol over a stampede in the South Korean capital Seoul, which caused heavy casualties.

In his message, Xi said he was shocked to learn of the stampede. On behalf of the Chinese government and people, Xi extended deep condolences over the deaths and sincere sympathies to the bereaved families and the injured.

Several Chinese citizens were unfortunately killed or injured in the accident, Xi said, expressing his hope that the South Korean side will make every effort to treat those injured and handle the follow-up matters properly.

On the same day, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang also sent a message of condolence to South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo.
IRYNA BALACHUK  SUNDAY, 30 OCTOBER 2022, 13:13



Serhii Haidai, the head of Luhansk Oblast Military Administration, has stated that the Russian occupiers blew up a bridge over the Krasna River near the village of Krasnorichenske in Luhansk Oblast, because they were afraid that Ukraines Armed Forces were closing in.



Source: Haidai on Telegram



Quote from Haidai: "They are scared because we are very close. The Russians blew up the bridge over the Krasna River near Krasnorichenske."



Details: Haidai has revealed photos of the wrecked bridge.

He also added that the occupiers had blown up another bridge near Kreminna (Luhansk Oblast) on 29 October.

Haidai stated that the Russian command tasked its troops with stopping the advance of Ukraines Armed Forces, but the weather was getting better, so "things would speed up for the defenders".

The head of Luhansk Oblast Military Administration noted that the Russians systematically attack Bilohorivka, and after that they send troops ahead to scout, but these "traditionally do not return".

Heavy fighting is also taking place on the Svatove front.

The route between Svatove and Kreminna is under the fire control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, so the Russians cannot receive reinforcements and new ammunition in these areas of the contact zone quickly.

According to Haidai, almost everything around Kreminna and Svatove was mined, including riverbanks, roads and bridges.

The situation on the Bakhmut front is very tense, too.

In addition, Serhii Haidai with reference to intelligence has reported that as a result of the liberation of the village of Nevske, the Armed Forces of Ukraine killed 34 occupiers.

Three more Russian "contract military" were captured. Ukraines Armed Forces also seized a military KAMAZ truck with ammunition and two infantry fighting vehicles.

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GOMA, Congo (AP)  Rwanda accused neighboring Congo of escalating tensions between the two countries on Sunday, a day after the Rwandan ambassador to Congo was given 48 hours to leave the country following rebel advances in the east.

Congo believes that Rwanda is supporting the M23 rebels, who have expanded their control over the past year. On Saturday, residents said the rebels gained control of two more towns, including Kiwanja.

In a statement issued after Rwandan Ambassador Vincent Karega was order to leave Congo, the Rwandan government said its forces along the border remain on alert.

It is regrettable the government of the DRC continues to scapegoat Rwanda to cover up and distract from their own governance and security failures, said the statement attributed to the Office of the Government Spokesperson.

In a sign of mounting tensions, about 100 demonstrators in Congo marched through the streets of Goma from the city center to the Rwandan border, denouncing Rwandan aggression. Some carried torn Rwandan flags and chanted hostile slogans. At the border, a Rwandan flag was set on fire.

The M23 rose to prominence more than a decade ago when its fighters seized Goma, the largest city in Congos east, which sits along the border with Rwanda. After a peace deal, many of M23s fighters were integrated into the national military.

Then the group re-emerged last November, saying the government had failed to live up to its decade-long promises. By June, they had seized the strategic town of Bunagana near the border with Uganda.

M23 has been a flashpoint for relations between Congo and Rwanda: Many of the M23 fighters are Congolese ethnic Tutsis and Rwandas president is of Rwandan Tutsi descent.

In August, a report by U.N. experts said they had solid evidence that members of Rwandas armed forces were conducting operations in eastern Congo in support of the M23 rebel group.

Rwanda, though, has repeatedly denied the allegations and has accused Congolese forces of injuring several civilians in crossborder shelling.
AccuWeather

An atmospheric fire hose will blast areas of the Pacific coast this week and could result in major travel disruptions from heavy snow, flooding and strong winds, AccuWeather meteorologists warn. A phenomenon, known as an atmospheric river, or a plume of intense moisture, will take aim at part of the West coast and move southward during the middle days of this week, before weakening by Friday prior to reaching Southern California. The setup can lead to excessive amounts of rain and snow in a shor
STEPHENVILLE, Texas (AP)  Zach Hrbacek rushed for an 80-yard touchdown on the second play of the game, Seth Morgan made four field goals, and Sam Houston eased by Tarleton 40-21 on Saturday.

Sam Houston led 20-7 at halftime after intercepting Beau Allen three times. Dezmon Jackson added an 18-yard touchdown run early in the fourth for a 30-7 lead.

Sam Houston DB DaVeawn Armstead had back-to-back highlight plays to end the half. His strip sack with 53 seconds left ended in a 28-yard loss for Tarleton and he intercepted a tipped pass on the next play.

Keegan Shoemaker was 16 of 35 for 182 yards for Sam Houston (5-2, 3-0 Western Athletic Conference). Morgan made field goals of 23, 52, 32 and 49 yards.

Allen threw for 136 yards and one touchdown for Tarleton (5-3, 2-1). Derrel Kelley III had 119 yards rushing, 104 coming in the first half on 13 carries.

___

More AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://twitter.com/ap_top25. Sign up for the APs college football newsletter: https://tinyurl.com/mrxhe6f2
BBC Twos new primetime Sunday night drama, SAS Rogue Heroes, will follow the adrenaline-fuelled origins of the SAS during the Second World War.

Written and directed by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, and based on bestselling author Ben Macintyres book, SAS Rogue Heroes stars Jack OConnell, Alfie Allen and Connor Swindells as the fearless real-life soldiers who formed the Special Forces unit.

Knight, meanwhile, previously shared that he had to tone down the script to make the true tories of the war heroes seem more plausible, with the series carrying a disclaimer that the events in the show seem most unbelievable but are mostly true.

Macintyre told The Times that the new TV adaptation of his book has a rocking modern soundtrack, gripping action and some superb individual performances.

Knights script [depicts] a group of courageous warriors who teeter on the edge of madness, revelling in warfare, and deeply, irrevocably damaged by it, he said.

So who are the real-life war heroes portrayed in the forthcoming drama?

David Stirling (Connor Swindells)

Sex Education star Swindells plays Stirling, the founder and creator of the SAS.

The series follows the eccentric young officer and his comrades after he grows increasingly frustrated by the armys operations and imagines the beginnings of the special service.

Swindells plays SAS creator David Stirling (BBC)

Stirling fights for permission to recruit the toughest, boldest and brightest soldiers for a small undercover unit that will create mayhem behind enemy lines.

Knight shared that while researching Stirling, who died in 1990, he found that he and his fellow soldiers did not seem to fear death, with the series depicting them blowing up planes and throwing hand grenades for fun.

In his later life, Knight said Stirling still wanted the possibility of death and would even go as far as to close his eyes when crossing main roads, according to his secretary.

Blaire Mayne (Jack O'Connell)

O'Connell, who is best known for playing Cook in Skins, stars as Mayne in SAS Rogue Heroes.

Story continues

Also affectionately and commonly known as Colonel Paddy, Mayne was a British army officer from Newtonards, Ireland, and was one of the founding members of the SAS.

OConnell plays Blaire Paddy Maybe (BBC)

OConnell told The Telegraph that Mayne, as a man who went to war, was required... to be violent.

These are the lads that society probably does want to lock up in peacetime. But when it comes to situations of conflict, theyre your heroes, he explained.

Mayne was also a poet and a rugby player, and there is debate about the late soldiers sexuality, which OConnell said he enjoyed playing the ambiguity of. The war hero died in a car accident in 1955.

Jock Lewes (Alfie Allen)

Allen, who starred as Theon Greyjoy in Game of Thrones, will play army officer Jock Lewes.

Born in Kolkata, India and raised in Australia, Lewes co-founded the SAS with Stirling and Mayne and established a gruelling programme of physical exercise, parachute training and desert survival for recruits, expected to be explored in the series.

Alfie Allen (L) and Theo Barklem Biggs (R) in the series (BBC)

Lewes was killed in combat in 1941. It is not known if the series will show Lewess death.

SAS Rogue Heroes begins on 30 October at 9pm on BBC One.
Allison Joyce

North Carolina MAGA champion Sandy Smith has mostly avoided mainstream journalists, opting instead for the safe spaces of right-wing propagandists. Perhaps thats why a conservative radio hosts modest pushback flummoxed her.

During an Oct. 6 interview with Henry Hinton, Smithamid her own complaints about the Soros media and her psychotic ex-husbandexclaimed: Last week, I was notified that Id been married seven, 10 times!

How many times have you been married? Hinton asked.

Three times, Smith said.

In fact, Smith has been married at least four times, The Daily Beast has learned. The Republican congressional candidates current marriage to businessman William Smith and two earlier marriagesto Randall Auman Jr. from 1995 to 2001 and Eric Goranson from 2007 to 2010have previously been reported. But Washington State family court records obtained by The Daily Beast reveal that Smith also married a man named Ken Davis on Dec. 23, 2003, then divorced him a year later.

Its unclear why Smith didnt mention this relationship. Smith and her campaign did not respond to repeated requests for an interview to clarify the discrepancy, and Davis could not be reached for comment.

But thats not the only scab that Smith picked at in that interviewnor the most serious.

Sandy Smith, a Republican candidate from North Carolina, running for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2022 U.S. midterm elections. Sandy Smith

A week before an election that couldin a large-enough Republican wavecatapult Smith to Washington, D.C., interviews and police reports unearthed by The Daily Beast raise fresh questions about Smiths past. They also underline the concerns establishment Republicans have harbored about Smiths viability.

A super PAC affiliated with Kevin McCarthy, the presumptive House Speaker if Republicans retake Congress, spent nearly $600,000 to prevent her from winning her primary in May. Smith, who made rejecting the 2020 election results central to her primary campaign, narrowly prevailed over a crowded field anyway.

Smith is running in North Carolinas 1st District, a racially divided swath of rural counties that lost population over the last decade. Though the 1st District was once solidly Democratic, the Cook Political Report gave Democrats just a two-point advantage after redistricting. And with longtime incumbent G.K. Butterfield retiring, the seat was up for grabs.

Story continues

But Smith is an unapologetic extremist. She participated in the Jan. 6 Stop the Steal rally that preceded the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol, andlike many MAGA Republicansshe has a long history of unhinged social media posts. They include calling for the trails [sic] and executions of those she believes treasonously denied former President Donald Trump a second term.

Most importantly, Smith has repeatedly been accused of domestic violence.

Her first husband Auman told multiple North Carolina media outlets earlier this year that Smith once drove aggressively at him in his Ford Mustang, though he wasnt sure whether she meant to scare him or run him over. Goranson alleged in divorce filings that Smith bashed him in the face with an alarm clock in 2009. Smith has denied both claims.

For her part, Smith accused Goranson of physically abusing her and her daughter, who was 14 at the time, according to court records obtained this spring by the magazine The Assembly. Smiths daughter told a social worker that she feared Goranson.

Both Goranson and Smith were arrested on misdemeanor charges of assaulting each other in July 2009, but the charges were quickly dropped, The Assembly reported. Goranson denies assaulting Smith or her daughter and says Smith attacked him after he saw Smith assaulting her daughter and told her to stop.

After an argument on July 9, 2012, Smiths then-17-year-old daughter sought a protective order against her mother in Lenoir County, North Carolina, alleging that she held me down by my hair and punched me in the face with a closed fist. Her daughter, whom The Daily Beast is not naming, also said Smith called her a slut, cunt, bitch, whore, tramp, loser, crackhead, trailer park trash, etc., according to the request for a protective order she filed two days later.

A district court judge granted Smiths daughter a temporary domestic violence protective order on July 11, 2012, ruling, It clearly appears that there is a danger of acts of domestic violence against [Smiths daughter]. The judge set a hearing for July 20. But Smiths daughter withdrew the protective order on July 17.

Congressional candidate Sandy Smith. Allison Joyce

(One of Smiths rivals posted hundreds of pages of opposition research, including the protective order, to a public Google Drive two weeks before the Republican primary.)

Smith has denied allegations that she abused her daughter. A statement she posted to her website quotes her daughter saying, My mom is NOT a domestic abuser; she is a survivor and a protector. This past week, Smith tweeted a video of her daughter criticizing the disgusting attacks on my mom and these horrific lies. (Smiths campaign has not made her daughter available for interviews, and attempts to contact her for this story were unsuccessful.)

In the recent interview, Smith told Hinton that two adultswhom she did not namecoerced her daughter into seeking the protective order.

She actually went to the court and requested it be dropped five days later because it was filed under duress, Smith said. And what people dont want to tell you is the adults that were involved in this were charged and convicted criminally.

Thats somewhat accurate.

Let me say this, just to be very clear, Smith added. Ive never lost custody of my kids.

That part is disputed.

Smith pressed criminal charges against her daughters then-19-year-old boyfriend and his mother. But Nick Sugg, the boyfriend, was acquitted on misdemeanor counts of trespassing and communicating threats, according to North Carolinas record of the cases histories. Terry Sugg, his mother, was acquitted of communicating threats but convicted of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and sentenced to community service.

Terry Sugg said she could not recall how, exactly, Smith claimed that she contributed to her daughters delinquency. (Lenoir County court officials told The Daily Beast that the case files had been destroyed.)

I cant tell you the heartache that woman caused me, she said.

In separate interviews on Friday, the Suggs said their prosecutions were payback for Terry Sugg helping Smiths daughter seek a protective order, which they both claimed caused Smith to briefly lose custody of her when the teen went into foster care until the order was rescinded.

The Suggs version of events could not be independently verified. But their accounts reflect what Smiths daughter wrote in her request for a protective order: Both Terry and Nick Sugg said Smith called her daughter a whore and a cunt. And both recalled Smiths daughter having a black eye after the argument on July 9, 2012.

Terry Sugg sent The Daily Beast pictures that appear to show Smiths daughter with a swollen left eye and bruising around her left temple, suggesting that she had been punched. She said she took those pictures two days after the fightwhen the bruises were already changing color, she recalledat the domestic violence agency where she worked at the time.

(Smith told sheriffs deputies that night that during an argument, she grabbed her daughter to keep her from hitting her, according to an incident report. Shortly after The Daily Beast asked her to comment on the Suggs story Friday night, Smith blocked a reporter on Twitter.)

Whatever happened in 2012, Smith and her daughter appear to have reconciled since. But Smiths hard-right positions and personal baggage might have damaged her chances.

North Carolina Senator Don Davis. North Carolina General Assembly

Though Smith has been endorsed by Trump and raised nearly $2 million as of the end of September, the Cook Political Report has deemed the race Likely Dem, and FiveThirtyEight gives Smiths Democratic opponent, State Sen. Don Davis, a 95 percent chance of winning.

Still, Democrats shouldnt get overconfident, according to Western Carolina University political scientist Christopher Cooper, an expert on state politics. The environment in the state is getting friendlier to the Republicans every minute, he said.

Smith ran for Congress in 2020 and lost to Butterfield by nine points. (She first claimed fraud, then claimed shed scared Butterfield into retirement.) This time, Smith is trying to keep a low profile outside of MAGA circles, Cooper said. Shes hoping to ride a red wave to victory.

It seems to be the Sandy Smith strategy to avoid the media and hope for a good year for Republicans, Cooper added. Given the set of circumstances she has, thats probably a pretty good political play. The more attention there is on her as a candidate, the worse I think its going to be for her candidacy and for the Republican Party.

Its hard to tell how much Republican support Smiths past will cost her. Although Terry Sugg does not live in the 1st district, if shes any indication, Smiths history might doom her second bid for Congress.

You know whats so funny about it? Terry Sugg said. Shes running as a Republican, and, well, Im gonna vote Republican. But that woman is a witch. I dont care if she is running as a Republican. I would never vote for her. I wouldnt let her run the dog pound.

with additional reporting by Leigh Tauss

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Skechers staff (played by a group of SNL cast members) were delighted for Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, to choose their company to reject him in a sketch mocking his business troubles on Saturday.

The sketch poked fun at Ye  a former Saturday Night Live musical guest  following his unannounced and uninvited visit to Skechers corporate offices on Wednesday.

The Jewish-owned company condemned Yes string of antisemitic remarks and said it has no intention of working with Ye after shoe company Adidas dropped its partnership with the rapper last week.

In the sketch, a Skechers marketing director (played by Cecily Strong), along with other staffers (Bowen Yang, Marcello Hernandez, Punkie Johnson and Chloe Fineman), took a stand against Ye as the marketing director said the company is happy the rapper came to them to cut ties.

Fineman added, Kanye came to Skechers and Skechers said no. Do you realize how satisfying that is?

Yang added that Ye and Skechers would have been a perfect pairing. However, he said the company would never partner with him.

Besides what would you even call a Kanye Skechers shoe anyway? The Skeezy? Yang asked. Now I noticed we havent heard anything from Crocs. Not saying theyre antisemitic  I just think its interesting we havent heard from them.

You can watch more from the shoe company sketch below.

Skechers has an important announcement pic.twitter.com/lZacNz8SU5  Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) October 30, 2022

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

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During her first trip to Quebec, Insider's reporter visited Quebec City and Montreal. Joey Hadden/Insider

I spent two days in Quebec, Canada's largest province, during a train trip through Eastern Canada.

I spent one day exploring Quebec City and another day walking around Montreal.

I loved the the architecture, hilly landscape, and poutine in both cities. I can't wait to go back.

Welcome to Quebec, the largest province in Canada.

A view of Quebec City as the sun sets in August 2022. Joey Hadden/Insider

In August 2022, I took a train trip from my home in New York City up to Eastern Canada to explore Niagara Falls and Toronto in the province of Ontario, as well as Montreal and Quebec City in the province of Quebec.

It was my first time visiting Canada, and I left wishing had more days in each place, but especially in Quebec. It's the largest province in Canada, and Montreal and Quebec City are its biggest cities.

The province is steeped in rich European history and I was expecting the cities I visited to be filled with French signage and storefronts and old-world architecture. And indeed, I thought that Quebec City felt frozen in time while Montreal seemed more like a modern metropolis filled with green spaces and pockets of history to stumble upon.

Quebec City drew me in with its dramatic historical buildings and charmed me with quaint cobblestone streets lined with colorful, modest buildings, while Montreal had contemporary skyscrapers surrounding parks and historical streets.

I left both cities longing for more time to wander, shop, and dine, and also wished I had the chance to venture further out to explore more of Quebec. Here's what impressed me, and why I hope to be back soon, and for longer next time.

Quebec is a province in Eastern Canada, and home to some of the country's oldest cities, Quebec City and Montreal.

A map of Quebec with arrows pointing to Montreal and Quebec City. Joey Hadden/Insider

Quebec is located in Eastern Canada, northeast of Ontario.

Britannica reports that Quebec makes up one-sixth of the country's total land mass, at 643,803 square miles, according to the Quebec Secretariat for Canadian Relations. Ontario is the second-largest province, according to Britannica.

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Quebec's borders contain thousands of lakes and rivers that provide 71,000 square miles of fresh water, according to the same source.

Quebec is not only large, it's also quite historic. The province originated in Quebec City in 1534 and I was fascinated to learn all about the history and well-preserved areas, some of which I thought still look as they did in the 1700s.

Quebec in the 1800s and 2022. The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images; Joey Hadden/Insider

I was fascinated by the history of Quebec long before I arrived.

Quebec City, the province's capital, was founded in 1608, making it the oldest city in Canada, according to the city's website.

But its history goes back even further than that. BBC reports that in 1534, French explorer Jacques Cartier found and claimed the land surrounding the St. Lawrence River, Quebec, then known as New France, for his country.

Then, in 1763, after British colonists settled in the Americas, war broke out over the land, according to the same source, and the British took over all French colonies east of the Mississippi River. England ruled Quebec until it became a part of Canada in 1867, but the French language was still recognized.

Since then, there have been many efforts to preserve French history and culture. In 1972, the government of Quebec instituted the Cultural Property Act, which allows the government and local officials to identify and protect elements of the land's heritage from being altered in a way that destroys its history, such as buildings and artwork.

And in 1985, the Historic District of Old Quebec, a neighborhood in Quebec City that has been preserved for 400 years, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

According to UNESCO, Old Quebec was selected because of its roots in French-American civilization and preserved French and British colonial architecture, from Neoclassical cathedrals to government buildings inspired by the Second Empire, an architectural style classified by prominent rooftops, according to the Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation. These elements make it the "most complete example of a fortified colonial town north of Mexico," according to UNESCO.

Because of its title as a UNESCO World Heritage site, I expected Quebec City to look historic but I didn't realize that little has physically changed since the 1700s. I was amazed at how some areas, like Dufferin Terrace, a wide, wooden pedestrian walkway in Old Quebec between the Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac and the cliff overlooking the St Lawrence River, looked to me exactly like it did in 1753, despite being enlarged twice, according to the city's website.

Montreal was founded 34 years after Quebec City. I found intriguing elements of history tucked away between the streets' modern skyscrapers. I wish I had more time to dig deeper into the city's vast history.

Montreal in the 19th century and today. The Print Collector/Getty Images, Joey Hadden/Insider

Montreal was founded by the French in 1652, according to The Canadian Encyclopedia, and it quickly became the center of Quebec's fur trade. Montreal relied on fur trade through the British conquer of Quebec until the 1800s, when the city's economy relied on establishing rural settlements outside of the metropolis, according to the same source.

Montreal grew through the next 200 years, as people living in the surrounding suburbs found work in the city. In the 19th century, many of the buildings and streets from the original French settlement were destroyed and replaced with modern skyscrapers. Montreal is now the second-largest city in Canada after Toronto, according to the Council of Europe, so I was only able to explore a slice of it.

While the city has grown into a modern metropolis, organizations have sought to preserve what's left of the city's history. Since 1975, Heritage Montreal, a non-profit organization, has worked to care for Montreal's history.

While Old Montreal, a neighborhood full of cobblestone streets and 17th-century buildings, was designated a historic district by the government of Quebec in 1964, Heritage Montreal has since fought to preserve other parts of the city, like Avenue McGill College, a street in downtown Montreal, and historical architectural treasures throughout the city, according to the organization's website.

Compared to Quebec City, I thought Montreal had a more modern feel with pockets of history to explore, and I wished I had more time to take it all in.

I thought Quebec City and Montreal were both very walkable cities and loved exploring on foot.

Walkable neighborhoods Old Quebec (L) and downtown Montreal (R). Joey Hadden/Insider

My first stop in Quebec was Montreal, where I had roughly 24 hours. Since my trip was so short, I stayed in the Vogue Hotel in the downtown area to make the most of my time. The area was very walkable, as it was close to popular areas like Old Montreal, Mount Royal, and the Underground City. I only took one cab to grab a bite at a poutine restaurant, La Banquise.

I then traveled to Quebec City by train from Montreal and took a 20-minute uphill walk from the station, Gare du Palais, to the neighborhood of Old Quebec, where I stayed at the hotel, Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac, which is famous for being the most photographed hotel in the world, according to World Atlas.

I spent my time in Old Quebec walking around the hotel's surrounding photogenic streets and was immediately impressed. The hotel sits on a cliff overlooking the St. Lawrence River with stunning views of the streets below, dotted with red and yellow rooftops.

Although I saw plenty of history and culture close to my hotel, I longed for more time to explore the walkable streets I viewed from above.

Both cities impressed me with their atmospheric neighborhoods, containing sprawling cobblestone streets and historic buildings.

Old-world streets in Quebec City (R) and Montreal (L) in August 2022. Joey Hadden/Insider

In both cities, I explored the most preserved neighborhoods  Old Quebec and Old Montreal. I thought they looked quite similar and both transported me back in time with narrow cobblestone roads lined with European-style buildings.

In Quebec City, I stayed in Old Quebec, which has been preserved for 400 years, according to the city's website. I felt immersed in the history as I walked through streets lined with shopping and restaurants, as well as Art Deco homes and storefronts with pops of color on an otherwise pale facade.

In Montreal, as I walked around Old Montreal, I found historic buildings with intricately molded facades, which reminded me of Europe. Next time I'm in Montreal, I plan to find accommodations in Old Montreal so I can learn more about the city's history and stay in the heart of it.

While I took beautiful pictures in both cities, I didn't have time to go inside the many shops, museums, and restaurants along the way, and hope to be back to explore more of these inviting neighborhoods.

In both cities, old-world architecture wowed me with a mix of Neoclassical and Gothic Revival styles.

Old-world architecture in Quebec City (L) and Montreal (R) in August 2022. Joey Hadden/Insider

Both cities showcased several different architectural styles that I wanted to learn more about.

In Quebec City, staying at Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac allowed me to marvel at all of the European-style architecture that filled the area.

Since Quebec City city was founded by the French and conquered by the British, there is a variety of architectural styles from these influences, like Neoclassical and Art Deco, according to Culture Trip. Neoclassical buildings are characterized by simple, symmetrical, and massive structures with towering columns, according to Architectural Digest, while Art Deco buildings have a linear structure with stucco facades and geometric details, according to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.

I spotted examples of this in old-world cathedrals like Notre-Dame de Quebec Basilica-Cathedral, which has a Neoclassical style with towers and stained-glass detailing, according to Quebec City's website. I noticed government structures like the National Assembly building, L'Hotel du Parlement, which was inspired by the Second Empire, a European architectural style that was popular between 1877 and 1887, Culture Trip reports.

Some of these buildings have been preserved for hundreds of years, according to the city's website. Viewing their details, like the statues of historical figures on the facades of Second Empire buildings and the turrets I spotted on the facade of the Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac, made me feel like I was traveling back in time. I'd love to return to Quebec City to see them up close.

In Montreal, I spotted historic architecture from downtown to Old Montreal. I thought Montreal was one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen, thanks to the contrasting modern and historical architectural styles, from Art Deco to Gothic Revival, according to Culture Trip. Gothic Revival buildings are classified by pointed arches and ornamental facades, according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In downtown Montreal, I spotted historic structures that stood out next to modern skyscrapers, like Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral, a Neoclassical structure that's one of the largest churches in all of Quebec, according to Culture Trip.

Another building that stopped me in my tracks was the Sun Life building, which I later found out secretly stored British gold during the second world war, Culture Trip reports. The building's Gothic Revival architecture impressed me because it was taller than some of the more modern skyscrapers.

In each city, I accessed high points where I could marvel at the city streets below, leaving me longing for more time to explore other pockets of each city.

The top of Quebec City (L) and Montreal in August 2022. Joey Hadden/Insider

Quebec City and Montreal both have places where visitors can experience incredible views. Walking up and down the hills of each city was strenuous but rewarding as I enjoyed impressive all-encompassing views. Those same views also reminded me I had only experienced a tiny portion of each city.

In Quebec City, Dufferin Terrace is hugely visited by locals and tourists alike to take photos, according to the city's website. And after visiting for myself, I thought it was easy to see why.

I first visited the terrace around 7 a.m. after waking up in the Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac. All I had to do was go downstairs and walk outside to be welcomed with a view of the St. Lawrence river on the quiet, empty boardwalk. Since the terrace and hotel are situated on a cliff, I had a high position to view the lower streets of Quebec City. Leaning on the fence lining the terrace, I could see cobblestone streets and colorful rooftops below.

I returned to Dufferin Terrace again in the afternoon to find the boardwalk had come alive with crowds of people taking a stroll or sitting on the benches next to the fences. Many had a phone taking pictures in one hand and ice cream in the other, as the terrace had a couple of restaurants and ice cream shops.

In Montreal, I thought that Mount Royal, a small mountain in the middle of the city, was just as rewarding from the top.

Since I only had one night in the city, I got up around 6 a.m. and walked from my hotel downtown to Mount Royal. It was a 30-minute uphill walk followed by another half hour of climbing stairs that traversed the mountain. It was tiring, but when I got to the top, I thought it was totally worth it. I could see the whole city and wished for more time to wander specific streets.

Stores in Quebec charmed me with intricate window displays, and I wished I had time to shop.

Storefronts in Quebec City (L) and Montreal (R) in August 2022. Joey Hadden/Insider

While visiting Quebec City and Montreal, I thought both cities were filled with inviting shops and markets.

I spent a few hours in Quebec City exploring and photographing the streets of Old Quebec, full of shops and restaurants, like Rue Saint-Jean, where I spotted street vendors selling art, as well as gorgeous brick-and-mortar storefronts with elaborate window displays showcasing fashionable outfits and home decor that made me wish I had the time, budget, and luggage space to shop.

Next time, I'll bring a larger suitcase to make room for the unique finds I imagine I would have found here.

In Montreal, I spotted plenty of shops, too, including a handful of bookstores. Window displays for these stores made me pause when I saw familiar titles written in French, like "The Little Prince." I didn't have time to shop here either, but next time, I'd like to go inside some of the bookstores I walked by.

In Plateau Mont-Royal, the neighborhood surrounding Mount Royal, I saw boutique shops and vintage stores like Annex Vintage, a high-end second-hand store, and Boutique Unicorn, a shop full of clothes made by Montreal designers. I longed for the time and budget to shop for designers that are unique to Montreal.

After trying poutine, a dish that's popular in Canada for the first time, I want to go back to sample some different renditions.

Poutine from Montreal's Ls Banquise restaurant in August 2022. Joey Hadden/Insider

Poutine is a Canadian comfort food. Originating in Quebec, it's a pile of fries topped with cheese curds and smothered in gravy, according to the Food Network.

Before visiting Canada, I had never tried poutine or even saw it on a menu. But that all changed in Montreal when I dined at La Banquise, a casual joint serving classic poutine, as described above, as well as more creative renditions loaded with meats, veggies, bacon, or more sauces like Caesar and chipotle.

I decided to go with the classic since it was my first time. The fries were crispy and greasy  just like I like them. I thought the gravy was reminiscent of Thanksgiving dinner, and the curds added a unique texture without adding too much flavor. All together in one bite, I could see why this dish was so popular and comforting. I found it to be warm, filling, and nostalgic as it transported me back to Thanksgiving dinners.

Next time I'm in Montreal, I'll go back to La Banquise to try some of the more loaded poutines on the menu.

During my short stay, I learned that you can't see Quebec properly in just two days. There are so many grand sights that warrant a much longer trip, and next time, I'll plan accordingly.

The author in Quebec City (L) and Montreal in August 2022. Joey Hadden/Insider

On my way to the airport leaving Quebec City, I couldn't help but feel like my trip to Quebec was just an introduction to the area.

Next time I'm in Quebec, not only do I want to return to Quebec City and Montreal, but I also want to explore the pine-covered Canadian wilderness outside of the cities. Parks like Parc National de la Jacques-Cartier and Montmorency Falls in Quebec showcase the grandness of Canada with deep valleys between mountains and a waterfall more than 100 feet taller than Niagara Falls, according to the Crazy Tourist.

Since I live in NYC, just a 90-minute flight away, I'll definitely be back to get a better sense of the culture and history of this place.

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Oct. 30Students in Springfield this week will celebrate a day that encourages the love of literacy and its programs.

Clark Preschool students will celebrate National Family Literacy Day at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 1, with the help of Clark State College and the United Way of Clark, Champaign and Madison counties.

The day not only highlights the power and joy of reading, but it can also improve creativity, widen perspectives on life, and it aims to bring families closer together.

Clark State President Jo Alice Blondin will read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle, and students will be able to participate in the story with props, complete an activity related to the book, and enjoy a snack.

"Family literacy is the hallmark of a thriving community, and it is Clark State's mission to support any learning or activity that results in increased educational opportunity and stronger families," Blondin said.

The college's early childhood and teacher education program will provide the reading activity to children, and the United Way provide each student with a copy of the book to take home and read with their families.

"(The) students learn about the importance of early literacy which includes reading, writing and speaking. Our students are encouraged to share that knowledge throughout the community with the belief that each one can teach one," said Bridget Ingram, professor for the early childhood education and teaching program.

Kerry Pedraza, executive director of the United Way, will also read to a Miami Valley Child Development Center Head Start classroom. She said reading together has many benefits, including creating special bonds, encourages imagination and builds stronger brains.

Families across the country come together on Nov. 1 to celebrate the annual day, which was first observed in 1994. The day serves as a way to appreciate the empowerment effort of literacy programs, and allows families to encourage the love for literacy in their homes.
A local family is grieving after losing a family member in a horrible accident in Seoul, South Korea.

More than 150 people tragically died in the Halloween incident after being crushed by a crowd.

Channel 2 Action News learned that one of the victims was Steven Blesi II, a Kennesaw State University student from metro Atlanta.

I feel like I have a hole in me. A big hole in my chest, his father, Steve Blesi, said after he received the news about his son. Its like being in a nightmare that you cant wake up from.

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

Blesi told Channel 2s Larry Spruill that his son was a student at KSU and was studying abroad in South Korea. Blesi said he talked to his son before he went out that night.

We knew that him and his friends, they were going to go out, because they just finished midterms, he said. I texted him through WhatsApp because hes over there and said, I know youre out and about, but be safe I love you.

Blesi told Spruill that shortly after that, he got a call from his brother asking if he had heard what happened in South Korea. He turned on the TV and saw the news that more than 150 people were killed.

We started calling his phone through the WhatsApp, over and over, just kept calling for like two hours, where finally a police officer answered, he said.

TRENDING STORIES:

Steven Blesi, an international business major, was one of 11 students from KSU in South Korea as part of a study abroad program. KSU said all other students are reported safe.

On behalf of the entire Kennesaw State community, our thoughts and prayers go out to Stevens family and friends as they mourn this incomprehensible loss, said Kennesaw State University President Kathy Schwaig. We have been in contact with Stevens family and have offered all available resources of the University to them.

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The university has made counseling support available to students who have been impacted by this tragedy through Kennesaw States Counseling and Psychological Services.

Meanwhile, Steve Blesi said, I cant tell you the pain Im feeling. I wish I not let him go.

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IN OTHER NEWS:
The future of affirmative action in higher education hangs in the balance as the Supreme Court on Monday hears arguments over race-conscious admissions policies at two prestigious universities.

Harvard and the University of North Carolina (UNC) will be defending their use of race  as one of many admissions criteria  to attain the educational benefits of a diverse student body.

Their conservative-backed challengers, Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), contend that the schools approach violates constitutional protections and federal law and want the court to prohibit admissions offices from considering an applicants race at all.

Ishan Bhabha, a partner at the law firm Jenner & Block who filed an amicus brief on behalf of Ivy League and other elite schools, said that if the Supreme Court takes that dramatic step, the repercussions for higher education would be severe.

If you dont have a series of divergent viewpoints  then one of the most important priorities of institutions of higher education  which is to forward knowledge, to ask difficult questions, to explore unknown concepts and have one idea clash against another to try and figure out which one is correct or which one is defensible  that is significantly hampered, said Bhabha, who co-leads his firms initiative on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

With the case coming on the heels of a Supreme Court term that saw conservative justices overturn landmark rulings including Roe v. Wade, many legal experts believe that longstanding affirmative action precedent is now on the chopping block.

This is a court that I think has a solid six-justice majority that sees racial labeling or racial tagging, for any purpose whatsoever, as a constitutional evil, said Steve Schwinn, a law professor at the University of Illinois Chicago.

The challengers are asking the 6-3 conservative majority court to overrule its landmark 2003 decision in Grutter v. Bollinger, which permits colleges to diversify their student populations by using race as one part of a holistic assessment of individual applicants.

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Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, one of the courts more liberal members and the nations first female African American justice, is recused from the Harvard case because of her recent role as a member of Harvards board of overseers.

Among SFFAs arguments in suing the schools is its claim that they failed to pursue diversity goals through available race-neutral alternatives, as required under Supreme Court precedent. The schools, for their part, have countered that there are no workable alternatives available.

SFFA suffered defeat in the lower courts, where judges rejected its arguments based on the 5-4 ruling in Grutter, prompting their appeal to the Supreme Court.

In court papers, SFFA has urged the justices to find that Grutter defies the constitutional and statutory guarantee of equal treatment under the law. The use of race in admissions decisions, they say, has led college admissions officers to engage in crude stereotyping.

Applicants who check the box for African American at Harvard and UNC, for example, receive a preference because of their race whether they grew up in poverty and went to failing schools, have parents who were multimillionaire executives, spent their formative years in Europe, are the direct descendants of slaves, or are second-generation immigrants from Africa, SFFA wrote, urging the justices to upend decades of affirmative action precedent.

In its suit against Harvard, SFFA goes a step further, alleging that the schools admissions policy discriminates against Asian Americans. The group argued that Harvards subjective personal ratings scores, which tended to reflect cultural stereotypes, had made it harder for Asian Americans to be admitted compared to applicants of other races, regardless of personal circumstances.

Several Harvard students with Asian American backgrounds who spoke to The Hill pushed back forcefully against how SFFA had framed their schools admission policy. They are part of a diverse group of thousands of current Harvard students and alumni whose views are reflected in an amicus brief filed by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

Among them is Angie Shin, a Korean American who entered Harvard after graduating from an underfunded Los Angeles County public high school, which she described as having a student body of largely low-income, immigrant students from Black, Latino, and Asian backgrounds, where only around half graduated on time and relatively few went on to obtain college degrees.In this environment, Shin said, the burden fell to her to get literate about what higher education opportunities were available.

For instance, it took me so many years of Googling around on the internet and trying to figure out what scholarships were, how they worked and why they were taking applications so early, she said.

As the more than 100 friend-of-court briefs filed in the case illustrate, the potential stakes of the dispute extend beyond academia.

According to Bhabha, of the firm Jenner & Block, if the court overrules Grutter, it could represent the first step in a coordinated effort to prohibit the consideration of race in other dimensions of American life.

If Grutter is overturned, it will light a fire to systematically remove DEI initiatives from all aspects of society, Bhabha said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
College admissions experts want to let students and their families in on a little secret: Its not really a prospective students fault when they are turned away from an Ivy League institution or similar college that rejects most applicants.

And race matters far less than they may think.

Most people  Black, white, Latino and Asian Americans included  who apply to Harvard, Stanford or Princeton are rejected. The story is the same at dozens of other selective schools in the country, while the remaining thousands of institutions of higher learning are likely to accept almost everyone who applies.

Live coverage: Supreme Court hears arguments on affirmative action cases

Of the more than 1,000 institutions that use the Common Application, for instance, just 70 admit fewer than 25 percent of their applicants, CEO Jenny Rickard said.

At those few colleges, its not about you, Rickard said. Its not about your race. Its not about your gender. Its actually about the pool of applications and institutional priorities.

Not just colleges: Supreme Court's affirmative action cases could affect hiring, employment

Some public institutions, including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, cap the number of out-of-state residents allowed to attend. Colleges looking to grow their undergraduate student body may opt to enroll students they hadnt in years past. And universities are likely to alter their admissions practices as the pool of traditional college students continues to shrink.

But it's the recruitment practices of Americas top universities that will be thrust into the national consciousness as the Supreme Court weighs the constitutionality of considering race in college admissions in two cases involving Harvard and UNC. Observers in the college admissions space fear the courts conservative majority will strike down affirmative action, setting back efforts to diversify the nations elite colleges.

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Listen live: Supreme Court considers race-conscious college admissions

Columbia University President Lee Bollinger is one of the many university officials raising the alarm. He was the president of the University of Michigan when Barbara Grutter, who is white, accused the public institution of denying her entrance to the universitys law school based on her race more than 20 years ago. The Supreme Court ultimately took up that case, Grutter v. Bollinger, in 2003, and ruled the university could consider race in limited circumstances.

Some colleges drop test requirements: Applications pour in because of optional ACT, SAT test scores amid COVID-19

Justice Sandra Day O Connor wrote in her decision that within 25 years affirmative action would no longer be needed. Justice Clarence Thomas agreed, but said if a practice 25 years in the future would be unconstitutional, it would also be unconstitutional at the time.

In a call with reporters Thursday, Bollinger said he appreciated OConnors decision overall, but disagreed that the need for considering race in admissions would wind down within a quarter of a century.

Should the court reverse the decision, he said, it would impact the ability of underrepresented students to secure access in more selective colleges. It will take generations, not merely 25 years, he said, to provide the same opportunities to students of color that many white students already have.

It would put us into a new era in which we would fall back on societys efforts to address issues of racial injustice that are part of our history, Bollinger said.

Opinion: Ruling against diversity efforts in higher education would deny reality of race in America

Do all colleges use race in admissions?

Most universities cant afford to be as picky as the nations elite colleges. In fact, most universities accept a large majority of the students who apply. A 2019 Pew Research Center analysis of more than 1,300 four-year colleges found more than half of the schools sampled accepted 2/3 or more of their applicants.

That isnt to say that barring race from being considered in admissions wont affect these universities or how they operate. In its arguments, Harvard cited surveys that found about 40% of universities consider race to some degree, though that rate is at 60% for institutions that accept about 40% or less of their applicants.

The history of affirmative action: Landmark decisions shaped higher education, but the Supreme Court might ban it for good

And several organizations, including some that represent colleges, have filed briefs in support of the continued use of race in the admissions process. Advocates for considering race in admissions, Bollinger included, mention the challenges for public institutions in states where considering race is banned  including California and Michigan  in building a diverse class. In all, nine states already prohibit the use of race-conscious admissions.

However, most college admissions staff dont need to consider the race of most applicants. Community colleges, for example, serve millions of undergraduates, and most have minimal admissions requirements. Typically, students need only prove they graduated from high school or have earned a similar credential.

In fact most Americans with a high school diploma are almost certain to find a college that will accept them. Most universities, especially those reliant on tuition-paying students to stay afloat, are trying to retain and grow their undergraduate classes. The National Association for College Admission Counseling, a trade group of professionals working in college admissions, maintains a running list of universities, public and private, with open slots on their campuses.

Competition between universities for undergraduate students is also expected to increase in the near future as the pool of traditional college age students continues to decline. Whats more, college enrollment has been falling for years, and the pandemic exacerbated some of the declines in the nations undergraduate population. The National Student Clearinghouse earlier this month reported college enrollment was down by nearly 4% since 2020.

The bigger challenge for students may be finding colleges they can afford and align with their interests. Proximity to universities, too, is likely to be a factor.

How do college acceptance rates vary campus to campus?

Its not just community colleges with open-access campuses that accept the large majority of students who apply. Many four-year universities, and sometimes a states public flagship institution, may accept most students who apply, though a fraction do turn away more than half of their applicants. The University of California, Los Angeles, for example, accepts only 14% of applicants, while the University of New Mexico accepts 98% of people who apply, according to federal government data.

College selectivity may vary even among institutions near one another. For example, the University of North Carolina accepts just about a quarter of applicants while the University of South Carolina accepts about 70% of applicants. Schools dedicated to the sciences, technology and engineering also tend to have a lower acceptance rate compared with other public institutions.

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Nikki Kahealani Chun is the vice provost of enrollment at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the states public flagship, and previously served as the admissions director at the private California Institute of Technology. The latter has an acceptance rate of 7%. At the university where she works now, 84% of applicants are accepted.

Chun described the admissions process as a conversation between the student and the institution. She said much of the frustration stems from the fact that students only get to hear the end result of that conversation  whether they got into their preferred college.

I also tell students, they have no clue how we agonized over, especially in places that are more selective, the literal limitations of spaces and offerings, Chun said.

A tour group walks through the Harvard campus in 2012. A federal judge's ruling on its use of race in admissions is before the Supreme Court.

Public universities mission, often, is to educate their populace, which helps explain why some are more accepting than private institutions, Chun said.

What's in a college ranking? US News & World Report ranks America's 'best' colleges. Is there really a way to know?

She added that acceptance rates can fluctuate based on the universitys needs and cautioned against using those figures as a proxy for a universitys value. When colleges expand or contract their undergraduate classes, their acceptance rates change as well. Outside factors, like natural disasters, can also affect how many and what types of students it accepts.

Families seeking private universities also can choose from many colleges that accept half or more of their applicants. Though they generally carry a higher price tag  itself is a type of sorting mechanism  many adjust how much they charge based on the wealth of individual students and their families.

But wait, how do elite colleges use affirmative action?

At the moment, some colleges can consider race if their goal is to create a diverse class. The thinking goes that students who interact with people from different backgrounds will get more out of their education. A persons racial background, however, is but one tool universities use to try to build a diverse class.

Race is one of many factors that is used to help provide some of the context that generations of applicants have been just sort of systematically excluded in our society from opportunity, Rickard said.

Students may be considered diverse based on how much their families earn, their home state or country, or even what sport they play. And race alone doesnt guarantee a student a spot on campus. A persons racial background can serve as an edge among similarly qualified applicants.

Whitney Soule, dean of admissions at the University of Pennsylvania, said her Ivy League institution relies on holistic review, which means they track not only the students academics and goals, but also their, ability to use their own experiences to support others, pursue tough questions, and connect what they see and learn from different various experiences.

Race and ethnicity, among many other aspects of a person's identity, influence the experiences and relationships in our lives, Soule said. Therefore, race is relevant and embedded in creating an environment for learning that advances solutions for the world in which our students will work and lead.

The university receives tens of thousands of applications, and Soule said administrators try to build an undergraduate class of about 2,400. Admissions staff consider how students will spend their time on campus both in the classroom and use information from their application to imagine the students in Penn classrooms, campus housing, student clubs, research labs, and so forth, because we know that's where they'll spend most of their time.

What are legacy admissions? And how do colleges use them?

Some applicants can game the university application process through different avenues. Students who are willing to commit to a school early, for example, are often accepted at higher rates than those who wait.

Guixue Zhou of North Potomac, Maryland., left, and others protests against racial quotas outside the Supreme Court in 2015, as the court heard oral arguments in the Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin case.

Whats more, some institutions may give an edge to applicants whose family members previously attended the college, a practice is known as legacy admissions. The once common measure has fallen out of favor as critics say it unfairly favors the wealthy.

What about Brown v. Board? Affirmative action cases spark heated debate over landmark anti-segregation case

Education Reform Now, a non-partisan think tank focused on education, found in a recent paper that 100 universities have dropped the use of legacy admissions since 2015, including public institutions like the universities of Florida and Connecticut, but also several highly selective colleges, including Amherst College in Massachusetts and Pomona College in California.

The paper found about half of the 2,000-plus universities that participate in a survey known as the Common Data set considered an applicants relationship to alumni. It found four in five of the most selective universities  a set of 64 that accept less than 25% of applicants  gave an advantage in the admissions process to the children of alumni. Like race in admissions, being a legacy isnt enough to guarantee entry alone. Rather its a similar tip for qualified candidates.

Legacy is one more way the deck is stacked against even the most talented students of color and first-generation students applying to elite universities, since most legacies are white, and all of them have parents with at least a bachelors degree, the report stated. More than two-thirds of Latino, Native, and Black college students, however, were first-generation students in 2015.

The report also said it would be even more pressing to reexamine the practice should the nation's high court strike down affirmative action.

Contact Chris Quintana at (202) 308-9021 or cquintana@usatoday.com. Follow him on Twitter at @CQuintanadc

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 2022 Supreme court affirmative action case won't affect most colleges
A Somerset schoolteacher flew to Malawi during the half term to officially open a nursery she helped set up there.

Sarah O'Gorman, who teaches English at Priory Community School in Weston-Super-Mare, launched Sunrise Nursery in the suburbs of the town of Mzimba.

The aim was to develop and learn from the link between UK schools and Malawi, Mrs O'Gorman said.

Plans to open a community library in the town, stocked with donated books, are also under way.

Mrs O'Gorman previously started a campaign called 'Send a book' to encourage people in North Somerset to donate books for primary school age children to Malawi.

"There is no access to books for local primary-aged children, no access to education or resources," Mrs O'Gorman said.

"We want to improve the culture of reading which is not common here.

"We have a team here that is ready to start the work.

"We are hoping to secure a free building to act as our library."

More than 50 community members, four village Headmen and two members of the Social Welfare Department attended the launch.

Mrs O'Gorman said the project was embraced by the community.

"We had a brilliant launch, it was all very successful," she added.

Two local teachers have been recruited to teach the children.

The next step is to start a porridge plan as part of a nutrition programme to encourage parents to bring children to nursery.

Follow BBC West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: bristol@bbc.co.uk
TECUMSEH  Tecumseh Public Schools will receive legal aid in a Michigan Supreme Court case involving a former school principals certification during the 2018-19 school year.

During the Tecumseh Board of Education meeting Monday, board members accepted up to $25,000 in aid from the Michigan Association of School Boards.

Carl Lewandowski, who is now a principal in the Adrian school district, was told that he was grandfathered in for certification and did not renew his certification until the spring of 2019. Over the years of Lewandowski's career, the Michigan Department of Education changed the rules about the certification of administrators like Lewandowski who were employed prior to Jan. 4, 2010.

At the time, Tecumseh Public Schools appealed the decision, which was the deduction of $65,581.50 in state aid. However, the state superintendent denied the appeal. The deduction was nearly the equivalent of Lewandowskis pay.

Last month, the appeals court ruled the Michigan Department of Education improperly withheld the funding after it was determined the MDE failed to recognize the school district and Lewandowski were not violating state law regarding administrator certification.

More:Tecumseh schools win appeal in principal certification case

The original fine was appealed to the State Superintendent for Instruction, who upheld the fine. We took it to court, and the decision was overturned in our favor, but MDE has asked the Michigan Supreme Court to hear the case, and it has agreed to do so, said Superintendent Rick Hilderley.

The MDE is appealing the appellate courts decision to the Michigan Supreme Court, and the support from the MASB will go toward the districts financial legal battle.

The school board did this when the case was at the Court of Appeals and received $15,000 toward $30,000 for attorney fees.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Tecumseh Public Schools to receive legal aid in Supreme Court case
Oct. 29COOKEVILLE  Cumberland's men led at the half by three points but Tennessee Tech posted a big second half to run away with the exhibition match 80-69 at the Eblen Center.

The loss will not count towards the Phoenix record as it was an exhibition for both teams.

Cumberland had two players post double-digit figures in Mt. Juliet's Isaac Stephens who led with 18 and Ty'Reek Johnson with 16. Stephens went 9-for-9 in field goals on the night while also leading his team with six rebounds.

The teams were closely matched in their shooting with the Phoenix going 25-57 (43%) and the Golden Eagles just topping them shooting 29-55 (52.7%). Tennessee Tech came into the second half being nearly perfect from the three-point range, totaling 13 for a 56.5% compared to only six made by Cumberland.

The Golden Eagles had three double figure scorers led by Brett Thompson with 17. They outrebounded the Phoenix with 36 total boards compared to Cumberland's 29.

Cumberland had a very solid first half and took the lead on multiple occasions, never falling behind their opponent by more than six points. Tajah Fraley came off the bench and buried two 3-pointers for the Phoenix to give them a solid seven point edge over the Golden Eagles. TJ Stargell assisted Stephens for a layup to close out the half with a Phoenix advantage of three points at 40-37.

The second half seemed to be promising for the Phoenix as they forced five Tennessee Tech turnovers in the first three minutes of play, during which Stephens put up the first two buckets of the half. After recollecting in a timeout, the Golden Eagles made up for their missed opportunities by drilling several three-pointers. They had eight total from the three-point range in the second half alone, largely adding to their success in the half and allowing them to run away with the lead. Jordan Stephens had a solid night for the Phoenix as he led all players with four steals and put up eight points. TJ Stargell, Cumberland's all-time assist leader, led all players with nine total assists on the night.

The Phoenix will have their home opener next Tuesday when they will face RV Reinhardt University at 6 p.m. in the Dallas Floyd Phoenix Arena/Cliff Ellis Court.
When a popular TikToker re-posted a video showing the attack of an Indigenous woman in Canada and asked police what they were doing about it, the department responded online within hours.

Ottawa police quickly explained they had arrested a 37-year-old woman for the attack, charged her with assault and that they take this investigation very seriously.

Though the victims video had amassed a huge number of views on its own, it wasnt until TikToker Michael McWhorter  whose handle is @tizzyent  posted about it that police publicly addressed the attack.

McWhorter, whose full-time job is editing and directing movies and music videos, has gained five million followers by calling out apparent racist, homophobic, violent or otherwise illegal behavior. Oftentimes the videos he posts are an effort to track down perpetrators caught on film, either to report them to police or as a way to call them out in our modern-day village square.

"I do not get joy out of being like, 'This horrible thing happened to these poor people and this is the person who did it,'" McWhorter, 45, said from his home in central Florida this week. "I do it to try and help people who've been victimized and that's it. I feel an obligation. If I can help, why wouldn't I?"

A butterfly urn and a battered Bible: The sad scavenger hunt after Hurricane Ian

Michael McWhorter of central Florida has turned his TikTok account into a tool to track down people caught on video engaging in racist, violent, misogynistic or violent behavior. Law enforcement has taken notice.

McWhorter is part of a growing number of online creators drawing attention to injustice and helping hold police accountable for incidents that may have gone unanswered before the internet age.

"It is very popular and is becoming more and more popular," said Eric Miller, a law professor specializing in criminal procedure and policing at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.

But that growth in popularity can come with risks.

While some creators can help police track down people committing crimes, an internet mob isn't always productive, Miller said.

Sometimes they can misidentify wrongdoers or otherwise innocent people can get caught up in the frenzy.

Story continues

'The bird is freed': Elon Musk now owns Twitter. What's next for the social media giant?

From lip syncing to launching investigations

In McWhorter's case, he said he never set out to become a creator who exposes injustice. In fact, when he first joined TikTok in 2018, he was doing lip sync videos like so many of its initial users. Then one day last year McWhorter made a video acting like he was shaving off his beard, which became a trend and attracted 200,000 new followers.

With a larger audience, McWhorter started exposing misinformation that proliferated on the app, particularly around politics. He gained some national media attention last August when he helped expose a New Jersey woman who was selling fake coronavirus vaccination cards on Instagram and fraudulently entering people into New York's immunization database.

In his video, McWhorter shares private messages he exchanged with the woman on Instagram in which she explained how she was getting unvaccinated people entered into the database.

Since then, he's gone after a man attacking homeless people in Los Angeles, resulting in an arrest, someone threatening women with violence at a political rally and others hurling racial or homophobic slurs. He's called out others engaging in road rage or throwing angry tantrums over mask requirements.

When TikToker Michael McWhorter posted a video to Twitter in hopes of identifying the attacker of a Canadian woman, police in Ottowa were quick to reply that they had made an arrest and charges had been filed.

Before social media creators who can reach millions started getting involved, oftentimes police couldn't do much with a video submitted by a victim.

"A lot of times it seems the response from law enforcement is, 'Well, yeah, it's great to have that video, but we don't know who that person is. And without knowing who it is, there's not a lot that we can do,'" McWhorter said.

That's where he and his followers come in.

"While the world is a great big place with a lot of people in it, the internet is kind of like one big, small town," he said. "If you do something bad in a small town, everyone knows that you did it, it spreads very quickly. The internet is kind of like that. If you do something terrible on the East Coast, but you grew up on the West Coast, and a video goes online and gets traction and gets interaction, people who went to high school with you will see it and will say, 'I know who that person is.'"

When innocent people become targets

But those identifications aren't always accurate and the internet, like a game of telephone, has a tendency to twist things.

For instance, when McWhorter re-posted a woman's video and called out a Virginia fish store owner for allegedly attacking her, two similarly named businesses were flooded with angry phone calls and bad reviews.

Its been devastating emotionally, one of the innocent business owners, Adam Oberheim, told WSLS-TV in Roanoke, Virginia.

In a follow-up video to try to help the innocent businesses, McWhorter said he had "made it a point to say who it was and where it was and the exact name so that people wouldn't go looking for any business ... and give them bad reviews online or call them with hate messages.

"But people are doing that so I'm going to try to use my platform to get the word out," he said.

He told USA TODAY that the original video he had re-posted had a life of its own and he thinks most of the misguided anger came from people who hadn't seen his video specifying the exact business name, owner's name and location of the store involved.

Michael McWhorter has amassed five million followers, largely for helping track down people engaging in bad behavior caught on video.

Though it can be a dangerous game, McWhorter said he feels like the net benefit far outweighs any potential negatives, including the personal cost of publicly exposing wrongdoing, like the death threats he's gotten.

He points to a video he re-posted showing a white man grabbing a young Black man with mental disabilities by the neck in Milwaukee over a stolen bike he had nothing to do with.

Now, police are investigating the incident and thousands of people have made donations to help the young man.

"This young man had this experience with one bad person that is terrible and traumatic," McWhorter said. "But if nothing else, here's almost 3,000 people who came and said, 'You matter, we care about you' ... This kid is facing a completely different life than he was facing before all this happened because a bunch of people said, 'What happened to you wasn't right, and we want to support you and help you.'"

"That's the thing that keeps me going."

More coverage from USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: TikToker Michael McWhorter videos crowd source social justice online
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at her weekly news conference on Capitol Hill on June 16, 2022. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

A man who violently attacked Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul Pelosi, may have been looking for her.

Violent threats to lawmakers have increased drastically in recent years, according to police.

Nancy Pelosi has faced several threats, including some that resulted in charges or conviction.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul Pelosi, was attacked with a hammer at their home in San Francisco on Friday, but the intruder, who was said to have shouted "Where is Nancy," may have been looking for her.

Though the speaker was in Washington, DC, at the time of the attack, the incident followed many violent threats that have been made against her and other members of Congress in recent years, as such threats are on the rise.

According to Capitol Police data, threats to Congressional lawmakers increased by 144% between 2017 and 2022. In the first three months of this year, nearly 2,000 threats made to Congress members resulted in the Capitol Police opening cases.

Pelosi, as the top Democrat in the House who has often sparred with Republicans, has been the target of several violent threats prior to the invasion of her home on Friday, including some that led to criminal charges.

March 2019: A man in Florida threatened to behead Pelosi

In March 2019, a man in Florida called Pelosi's office to tell her staff that he would "come a long, long way to rattle her head with bullets" and that he would behead her "jihadist style," according to court documents from his trial.

"Sleep with one eye open, we're coming to get you. America's tired of this shit... all-out war. Bunch of you fucks are gonna die," he added in one of the calls, the documents said.

The man, identified as Paul Vernon Hoeffer, also threatened and used racist slurs against Kim Foxx, a Cook County, Illinois District Attorney, and made violent threats against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over the phone, saying he would "rip her head off," according to court records.

Hoeffer was charged in December 2021 with three counts of interstate transmission of threats to kidnap or injure for his threats to Pelosi, Ocasio-Cortez, and Foxx. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

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March 2020: A man in Texas accused Pelosi of being part of a Satanic cult, prosecutors said

In March 2020, a 27-year-old man was accused of posting on Facebook and ordering that his followers remove Democratic lawmakers such as Pelosi "by any means necessary," including by killing them, CBS news reported.

The post said Pelosi was part of a "satanic cult," according to the criminal complaint.

"Nancy Pelosi is apart [sic] of a satanic cult and so are the people who work closely with her. Dems of the establishment will be removed at any cost necessary and yes that means by death," the post said, per the complaint.

"Shoot to kill. This is a revolution," Perry wrote, according to the complaint.

The FBI arrested Perry after he said he owned the account behind the messages. He was charged with one count of transmitting a threatening communication but was later found not guilty.

January 1, 2021: Pelosi's home is vandalized with fake pig blood and a real pig head

On New Years Day of 2021, vandals spray painted Pelosi's home with the words: "$2k CANCEL RENT! WE WANT EVERYTHING."

They also covered her driveway with fake blood and a detached pig head.

Pelosi was not home while her home was being vandalized, CBS Bay Area reported

The graffiti was in reference to the 2021 COVID-19 stimulus checks, which Congressional Republicans had blocked from being increased from $600 to $2,000. Similar graffiti appeared at Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's home with the questions "Where's my money?"

"Vandalism and the politics of fear have no place in our society," McConnell told the Courier-Journal in 2021.

January 6, 2021: Rioters breach the Capitol asking for Pelosi

When a pro-Trump mob breached the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in protest of the 2020 election results, some rioters said they were specifically looking for Pelosi.

"Nancy...Nancy...We're coming for you Nancy," a rioter threatened, according to a video recording cited during one rioter's case.

"Where's Nancy Pelosi?," another one, David Antonio Ticas, asked during the attack, according to prosecutors.

Another man who planned to be at the the Capitol on January 6 drove from Colorado to Washington, DC, with an assault rifle, a handgun, and multiple rounds of ammunition after threatening to put a bullet in Pelosi's head, according to a criminal complaint.

Cleveland Meredith Jr., a 53-year-old man from North Carolina, was found in his hotel room a mile from the Capitol on January 7, 2021, after his mother turned him in to the FBI. A relative had informed her of a text Meredith sent in which he threatened Pelosi, prosecutors said. He was later sentenced to 28 months in prison.

Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a New York University expert on extremism, told Insider's Charles Davis that the threatening calls to Pelosi during January 6 were similar to the ones uttered by the man who attacked her husband Friday morning.

"We know that Nancy Pelosi, as Speaker of the House and third in line for the Presidential succession, was a main target of insurgents on January 6," Ben-Ghiat said. "The attacker who injured Paul Pelosi was looking for Nancy Pelosi, likely wanting to finish the job."

January 17, 2021: An Arizona man says he's coming to kill Pelosi

On January 17, 2021, less than two weeks after the Capitol attack, a man called Pelosi's Washington, DC, office and left a voicemail saying "I'm coming to kill you," according to the Justice Department. He later followed up that voicemail with another one, telling Pelosi: "You're dead."

The man, identified as Steve Arthur Martis of Arizona, had previously been approached by the FBI for making threatening calls in the past, the DOJ said in a press statement.

Martis was later charged and found guilty of one count of communicating an interstate threat to kill or harm and sentenced to 21 months in prison.

Read the original article on Business Insider
SYDNEY (Reuters) - An international traveller has been fined and refused entry to Australia after trying to bring meat into the country in what the government said on Sunday was a "significant breach" of biosecurity laws to protect Australia from foot and mouth disease.

Australia earlier this year stepped up protection against foot and mouth disease at its international airports following an outbreak in Indonesia.

In a statement, Agriculture Minister Murray Watt and Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil said the traveller had been fined $2,664 and blocked from entering Australia after attempting to bring 6 kilograms of meat products into the country.

"Australian biosecurity officers uncovered the undeclared meat during a baggage inspection at Perth Airport (on) October 18," the ministers said.

The traveller failed to declare 3.1 kg of duck, 1.4 kg of beef rendang, over 500 grams of frozen beef and nearly 900 grams of chicken concealed in his luggage, they said.

ONeil said the traveller was referred to Australian Border Force officers, who cancelled the man's visa.

This is why legislation is in place to cancel the visa of any traveller who commits a significant biosecurity breach or repeatedly contravenes biosecurity laws, she said.

Foot and mouth disease is highly transmissible and causes lesions and lameness in cattle, sheep, goats and other cloven-hoofed animals, but does not affect humans.

The government has estimated a large outbreak in Australia could see revenue losses of up to $A51.8 billion ($33.2 billion) over ten years.

In Indonesia, authorities have been working to get an outbreak under control that has infected hundreds of thousands of livestock and killed thousands of animals.

(Reporting by Sam McKeith; Editing by Chris Reese)
Hudson Area Schools Superintendent Michael Osborne

Every school day, students across Lenawee County rush through their morning routines at home. They dash out the door to wait in our brisk, dark Michigan mornings for their ride to school. From a distance you can hear and feel the rumble of the diesel engine. Moments later, headlights come into view and flashing red lights bring everything to a stop. As the door folds open, students are greeted by the very first friendly school face of the day, their bus driver!

Driving a school bus is a great responsibility. A school bus driver is responsible to maneuver 7.5 tons of bus with up to 72 students safely down the road. They keep the vehicle between the lines, follow the laws of our roads, and maintain discipline, order and safety among their passengers. It is no exaggeration to say that school bus drivers are some of the most critical employees in a school district.

According to the Michigan State Police, riding in a school bus is safer than walking, riding a bicycle or being driven to school in a private vehicle. This is due in part to the extensive training our drivers receive. To become a school bus driver, candidates must complete a number of exams to get their commercial learners permit (CLP). They complete a commercial drivers license (CDL) training course, they must pass a commercial road test, they take a beginning school bus driver training course, and they receive on the job trainings. School bus drivers are professional drivers.

Statistics show that students are more likely to attend school if they ride the school bus. Thanks to our professional, local school bus drivers, thousands of students arrive to school and home safely each day. The average student rides the bus for about 20 minutes, but there are routes that go up to an hour. Drivers are also responsible for a wide age range of students. In most schools, drivers are picking up elementary students as young as 5 years old and can also be responsible for students 18 years old or older. It is not always easy to connect with students of such varied ages. We are fortunate to have drivers in Lenawee County who work so hard in developing positive professional relationships with students. It is amazing that drivers can get to know students and their families so well in this brief period of time and with all their other responsibilities.

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School bus drivers typically have a morning and afternoon run, but they also transport sport teams, bands and various groups of students to their events throughout the day and into the evenings and weekends. It is not unusual for drivers to become honorary members of some of our school teams, groups and organizations because of the positive relationships they have with students.

Drivers across our region log thousands of miles each year and do it very safely. They drive rural areas with dirt roads, which are not always well maintained. They also take school trips to urban areas like Detroit, Chicago or Washington, D.C. In addition, they need to be prepared to drive in the different seasons and weather conditions that we experience in southeast Michigan. It takes a great deal of skill to navigate the challenging road conditions our drivers often encounter.

Locally we are struggling with driver shortages just like schools across the nation. Frequently, schools are scrambling to cover routes and transportation to events. There are times that schools cancel routes or have drivers run double routes.

In recognition of the great responsibility of being a bus driver and for the dedication and care that bus drivers display, we would like to say thank you to the school bus drivers across Lenawee County. We are proud of you and appreciate all that you do. We appreciate your focus on safety. We appreciate your dedication. We appreciate the care and support that you show to all Lenawee County students. Yours is a challenging job, but you are making a positive difference!

If you are interested in becoming a school bus driver in your community, contact your school district for more information.

Michael Osborne is superintendent of Hudson Area Schools.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Michael Osborne: A tribute to local school bus drivers
Faisal Fareed, Faizaan Fareed and Nicholas Shaw (L-R) kidnapped and assaulted an innocent man as he returned home from work in a case of mistaken identity. (Lancashire Police)

Three men who stabbed and kidnapped an innocent man, wrongly thinking he was a drug dealer, have been jailed for a total of 27 years.

Faisal Fareed, 23, Faizaan Fareed, 26, and Nicholas Shaw, 45, set about the man, in his 40s, as he returned home from work before bundling him into his own car and kidnapping him in Darwen, Lancashire.

They drove him to Dove Lane, also in the town, where they accused him of being an Albanian drug dealer.

Despite realising it was a case of mistaken identity, they continued to threaten him with knives before fleeing to Blackburn when they spotted a police car, leaving their victim inside the car.

He was taken to hospital and treated for 14 stab wounds and a collapsed lung.

The trio drove the victim to Dove Lane in Darwen, where they continued to threaten him, despite realising they had the wrong person. (Google Maps)

Lancashire Police said detectives launched an investigation after the incident in June last year, and quickly linked the three men to the crime using forensics and phone evidence.

All three pleaded guilty to offences including conspiracy to kidnap, while Faisal Fareed and Faizaan Fareer also admitted affray, assault and conspiracy to supply drugs.

They were jailed for a total of 27 years at Preston Crown Court. Faisal Fareed, of Lawrence Street, Blackburn, was jailed for 11 years; Faizaan Fareed, of Lawerence Street, Blackburn, was handed a 10-year sentence; and Shaw, of Medina Close, Accrington, was jailed for six years.

Read more: Woman watches boyfriend plunge to his death in River Thames in freak accident during Facetime call

Detective Constable Rachel Norris, from Blackburn Police, said: "Both Fareeds and Shaw launched an ill-conceived plot to attack and torture the victim, believing he was an Albanian drug dealer. He was neither Albanian, nor a drug dealer.

"Despite him being in a serious condition, bleeding heavily, as well as knowing they had got the wrong man, the attackers continued to use their knives pressing them into his chest and legs. He believed he was going to die.

The trio were sentenced to a total of 27 years in jail at Preston Crown Court. (Stock image: Getty)

She added: "The men took the victims keys believing they would give them access to a closed public house, however, when they realised this was not the case, they drove off with the victim still in the car, all the time threatening him.

"Eventually after seeing police, they drove to Blackburn and after an hour left him in the car, not caring if he died.

This was an absolutely horrendous attack which left the victim seriously injured. The damage inflicted on him has been long-lasting and he continues to be affected by what happened to this day."
It's spooky season, and what better way to celebrate than by looking at frightening facts from out past?

To get into the Halloween spirit, we raided The Enquirers morgue  thats newspaper jargon for the archives  to dig up the creepiest, spookiest trivia from the annals of Cincinnati history. You can test your knowledge of the macabre or be treated to some tingly tidbits of arcane history by taking our quiz below.

We promise its more treat than trick.

Spooky Cincinnati trivia

Spiritualist and medium Laura Pruden of Price Hill was noted for her slate writing, in which she claimed to communicate with the dead.

1. Laura Pruden, a famed medium living in Price Hill, was noted for her slate writing in which she claimed to communicate with the dead. In 1922 and 1923, Pruden performed seances with which famous author and believer in spiritualism?

2. Prudens son, Albert Carter, was inspired by her slate-writing to create the novelty Syco-Seer pocket fortune teller in 1944. It evolved into what popular toy?

3. In the early 20th century, Cincinnatians would gather each Halloween for a Mardi Gras-like party at what local site?

4. Dick Von Hoene portrayed what orange-haired horror movie host, known for his trademark Bleah, bleah, BLEAHH! on WXIX-TVs Scream-In?

5. What noted writer was known for translating legends and ghost tales from Japan, including The Boy Who Drew Cats?

6. Evel Knievel, that death-defying daredevil in the white jumpsuit, performed his biggest stunt at Kings Island in October 1975, jumping his motorcycle over what objects?

Evel Knievel at the scene of his planned leap across the Snake River Canyon, near Twin Falls, Idaho in 1974. He performed his biggest stunt at Kings Island in October 1975.

Spooky season:What would a true Ohioan wear on Halloween? Here are 11 costume ideas no one asked for

7. On Oct. 31, 1864, actor James E. Murdoch was honored at Pikes Opera House on Fourth Street, where he gave the first public reading of what acclaimed Civil War poem that was written just that morning?

8. Flush from the success of its "Star Wars" toys, Cincinnati-based Kenner Products signed on to create more movie tie-ins, but not all were successful. Kenner had to recall its 18-inch figure from what R-rated horror film after parents complained it was grotesque?

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9. In one Halloween ritual during the Victorian age, maidens would peel an apple, whirl the peel three times and drop it on the floor, where it would take what form?

10. What Green Township road got its spooky name for the jagged cliff running up from Muddy Creek?

11. What Halloween candy was popularized by the Goelitz Confectionery Co. in Cincinnati in 1898?

12. What 1950s television star was intended to be buried in Spring Grove Cemetery, but there was no room for the planned mausoleum on his familys plot?

13. Pearl Bryan's headless body was found on a farm near Fort Thomas, Kentucky, on Feb. 1, 1896. The gruesome murder was notorious and mysterious, even sung about in murder ballads. The killers had taken the head to keep the 22-year-old Indiana woman from being recognized, but officials identified her and caught the killers by tracing what important clue?

14. Filmmaker Steven Spielberg, who was born in Cincinnati, is best known as a director, helming such frightful films as Jaws (1976) and Jurassic Park (1993). He also wrote what classic horror film?

Director Steven Spielberg is on the phone while filming "Jaws" in 1974. Spielberg was born in Cincinnati.

Halloween in Cincinnati:13 spooky movies with Cincinnati connections 

15. You could say Harry Andrews came back from the dead. As recounted in Haunted Cincinnati and Southwest Ohio by Jeff Morris and Michael A. Morris, while stationed at Fort Dix, New Jersey, during World War I, Andrews was afflicted with cerebrospinal meningitis and declared dead. Hours later on the dissection table, he was revived with an adrenaline shot. He made a full recovery and the antibodies in his blood were used to help prevent the spread of the disease. Andrews later settled near Cincinnati, where over a period of nearly 30 years he built what local landmark?

16. Lafcadio Hearn began his journalism career writing lurid details of the gruesome Tanyard Murder for The Enquirer in November 1874. Hearn enlisted which two of his artist friends to illustrate the story?

Was the Dent Schoolhouse originally a real schoolhouse?

17. True or false? The Dent Schoolhouse, the popular haunted house attraction in Green Township, was once an actual schoolhouse.

18. On Oct. 22, 1844, more than 2,000 Cincinnatians ascended to the summit of what is now Fairview Park to witness the return of Jesus Christ and the coming apocalypse as predicted by Baptist preacher William Miller. The world did not end that night, and The Enquirer called the estimated 500,000 Millerites deluded fanatics of this most ridiculous religious humbug. The national Millerite movement is known historically by what sad name?

19. The Serpent Mound is the most famous of the effigy mounds in Ohio. Archaeologists credit the earthwork to what ancient peoples?

20. What Cincinnati park was built atop 19th-century Presbyterian and Episcopal burial grounds?

21. What local politicians body was stolen from his grave and then was found hung up in the Medical College of Ohio on Sixth Street in 1878?

22. Frances Trollope, who created the ill-fated Trollopes Bazaar, also suggested the popular Infernal Regions exhibit at the Western Museum at Main and Columbia (later Second) streets in 1828 that depicted scenes of hell from Dantes descriptions of Inferno in The Divine Comedy. Moving wax figures of phantoms, Lucifer and Minos, the judges of hell, were created by what local sculptor who later went on to international fame?

23. Music Hall has a reputation as one of the most haunted places in Cincinnati. Nameless remains buried in a potters field were unearthed at the site when the hall was under construction in 1876, as well as during the recent renovation in 2016. Many of the bones were from those killed in what famous disaster in 1838?

Silent movie actress Theda Bara graduated from Walnut Hills in 1903. She was cast as the lead in A Fool There Was (1915), portraying a seductress who would popularize the term vamp.

24. Theda Bara, the silent film star who introduced the screen vamp in such films as A Fool There Was, The Devils Daughter and The Vixen, was born in Avondale in 1885 under what name inspired by a historical figure?

25. What legendary amphibious creature that has reportedly been spotted in Greater Cincinnati since 1972 is also the subject of a musical?

Answers

1. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes.

2. Magic 8 Ball.

3. Fountain Square.

4. The Cool Ghoul.

5. Lafcadio Hearn.

6. Fourteen Greyhound buses.

Evel Knievel soars over 14 Greyhound buses in the longest jump of his career.

7. Sheridans Ride by Thomas Buchanan Read. (Although several sources say the poem was written on Nov. 1, the event and the poems debut the previous night were reported in the Cincinnati Daily Commercial on Nov. 1.)

8. Alien (1979). The action figures are now highly collectible.

9. The initials of the man she would marry.

10. Devils Backbone Road.

11. Candy corn.

A box of Goelitz recipe candy corn in a bed of Brach's candy corn in 2018. Goelitz popularized the candy in 1898.

12. Superman actor George Reeves.

13. Her custom-made shoes.

14. Poltergeist (1982).

15. Chateau La Roche, better known as Loveland Castle.

16. Frank Duveneck and Henry Farny.

17. True. It was the Dent Public School from 1894 to 1949, but there were no reports of missing schoolchildren or a homicidal janitor.

18. The Great Disappointment.

19. Were not sure. Archaeologists have found evidence pointing to either the Adena culture (800 B.C.-A.D. 100) or the Fort Ancient culture (1000-1650), but more study needs to be done.

20. Washington Park. Some remains were found during the 2010 renovation of the park.

Washington Park in Over-the-Rhine in June. The park was built atop 19th-century Presbyterian and Episcopal burial grounds.

21. John Scott Harrison, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives as well as the son of President William Henry Harrison and the father of President Benjamin Harrison.

22. Hiram Powers.

23. The explosion of the steamboat Moselle near Cincinnatis riverfront.

24. Theodosia Burr Goodman, named for the daughter of Aaron Burr, the vice president who dueled with Alexander Hamilton.

25. The Loveland Frogman.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Think you're a Halloween expert? Here is some spooky Cincinnati trivia
President Donald Trump reaches into his suit during a news conference where he prematurely declared victory in the election on November 4, 2020. Evan Vucci/AP

Trump lawyers will defend him and his business empire in 3 New York City courthouses this week.

Testimony is beginning in the Manhattan DA's tax-fraud case against the Trump Organization.

The state AG's fraud lawsuit is in court Thursday; jury selection is starting in a Bronx lawsuit.

Donald Trump's lawyers will be in a New York state of mind this week, when they'll argue on behalf of the former president and his company before state judges in three courthouses within the city limits.

Just one of the three cases could ultimately do Trump severe damage  New York Attorney General Letitia James' $250 million fraud lawsuit, which seeks to run him, his three eldest children, and his company, the Trump Organization, out of New York state.

That lawsuit is before a civil judge in Manhattan for a court hearing on Thursday, when Trump lawyers will fight the attorney general's latest moves in the matter.

James wants state Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron to quickly appoint an independent monitor to keep an eye on the company's finances. She also wants the judge to bar Trump from moving assets to something called "Trump Organization II," a new entity Trump registered in New York on the same September day her lawsuit was filed.

But the other cases in New York City courthouses this week could cause significant reputational damage and several million dollars in penalties if their juries reach guilty verdicts.

There is the Trump Organization criminal tax-fraud trial just up the street, which will start its second week Monday with opening statements by company lawyers and Manhattan prosecutors.

Trump's company faces nearly $2 million in potential penalties if found guilty in an alleged payroll tax-dodge conspiracy.

Prosecutors allege that for 15 years, executives received significant amounts of their pay off the books, in perks such as rent-free Trump-branded apartments that were then never claimed as income to the IRS or to state and city tax authorities.

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The Manhattan judge in that case, state Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, will preside as a jury of four women and eight men hear prosecution testimomy by at least three company executives involved in the alleged scheme.

They'll also hear an aggressive defense that appears poised to insist these executives acted without the knowledge of anyone named Trump.

Then there is the third Trump case, a 2015 civil lawsuit which begins jury selection in state court in the Bronx on Monday.

The former president is accused in the lawsuit of siccing his security staff on protesters of Mexican heritage to attack them as they held a peaceful mock "Make America Racist Again" rally outside Trump Tower a few months after Trump announced his presidential run by calling immigrants from Mexico rapists and drug dealers.

That jury will eventually watch a pair of dueling video depositions, to be screened in a Bronx courtroom after being kept under wraps since their taping.

One from Trump will show him swearing under oath nearly a year ago that he didn't even know about the protest until the next day.

A more recent videotaped deposition from Michael Cohen will show the Trump attorney-turned-nemesis swearing under oath that the opposite is true  that the then-presidential candidate was the one who ordered his security to "get rid of them," meaning the protesters and their signs.

Trump's lawyers have repeatedly insisted on his innocence, and Trump himself is not required  nor is he expected  to attend court in any of the three New York City-based cases.

Read the original article on Business Insider
EUROPEAN PRAVDA  SUNDAY, 30 OCTOBER 2022, 17:09

After Russia's announcement of temporarily suspending its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative [an agreement brokered by the UN with Russia and Turkiye launched on 22 July to enable ships to transport grain from Ukraine - ed.], Turkey has begun negotiations and hopes for their successful conclusion.

European Pravda reports that a Turkish official anonymously informed Bloomberg about this on Sunday, 30 October.

The representative of Turkey stated that "there are reasons to be optimistic about the negotiations (with Russia)."

He also added that outbound vessels that have already reached Istanbul are being inspected Sunday and Monday, but no new grain ships will sail from Ukraine for now.

Updated at 17:20. The Ministry of Defence of Turkey officially confirmed that the negotiations with the Russian side are being conducted.

"Hulusi Akar, the Minister of National Defence (of Turkey), continues negotiations and coordination with his counterparts, while corresponding governmental bodies continue to negotiate and coordinate among themselves",  the report states.

"At these meetings, the sides are being reminded about the importance of extending the initiative for the good of the entire humanity and told that crises can be solved through goodwill and dialogue. They are also told to avoid any kind of provocations that may hinder the continuous work of the mechanism",  the Ministry adds.

Background: On 29 October Russia claimed that was pulling out of the grain initiative allegedly due to a "terrorist attack" which occurred in the Sevastopol Bay earlier that morning. The Ministry of Defence of Russia claimed that the Black Sea Fleet ships that allegedly facilitated the security of the grain corridor were the target of the Sevastopol Bay attack.

The UN commented that they are "maintaining contact" with Russian authorities after Russia pulled out of the agreement. The EU and the USA in turn have called upon Russia to resume its participation in the grain initiative.

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Dmytro Kuleba, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, stated that Moscow used the attack on the Russian ships in the bay of the occupied city of Sevastopol in Crimea as a reason to pull out of the grain initiative, but that it had started taking steps towards sabotaging it long before this.

It should be mentioned that the grain initiative was supposed to last until November. Russia threatened to pull out of the agreement if its requirements were not fulfilled.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
(iStock)

Each year, at 2am on the last Sunday of October, the clocks go back which signals that winter is drawing closer and the days growing shorter.

Although the day that the clocks go back is sometimes considered the good one as people get an extra hour in bed, the system of changing the clocks twice a year can be controversial.

In 2019, the European parliament voted to get rid of the change of clocks after a study found that 84 per cent of people in countries that took part in daylight saving time would like it to discontinue.

However, a YouGov poll found that majority of Britons were marginally in favour of keeping it, with 44 per cent voting to keep the current system and 39 per cent voting to scrap it.

There are also some health concerns linked to the time change, as some studies have shown it disrupts the bodys natural sleep cycles, which can affect both physical and mental health.

So what is the impact of turning back the clocks on our health?

How does changing the clock impact physical health?

According to the Mayo Clinic, the human brain has a biological clock, also known as a circadian rhythm, that runs on a 24-hour cycle.

Whether it is gaining an extra hour or losing an hour of sleep, this causes disruption to the sleep cycle and can be difficult for some people to adjust back to a normal schedule. Disturbed sleep could also potentially lead to a higher risk of cardiovascular disease.

A 2019 study by researchers at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital examined the impact of sleep deficiency on heart disease in mice. It found that, after 16 weeks, mice who had their sleep cycles disrupted developed larger arterial plaques compared to the mice with normal sleep patterns.

The sleep-deficient mice also had twice the level of certain white blood cells in their circulation, and lower amounts of hypocretin, a hormone that plays a key role in regulating sleep and wake states.

This appears to be the most direct demonstration yet of the molecular connections linking blood and cardiovascular risk factors to sleep health, said Dr Michael Twery, director of the National Heart, Lunch and Blood Institutes National Centre on Sleep Disorders Research in the US.

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Losing an hour of sleep during the time change in the spring has been linked to a surge in heart attacks and strokes. In the US, hospitals report a 24 per cent spike in heart attack visits every year on the Monday after the clocks go forward.

Turning the clocks back means an extra hour in bed (Getty Images)

Research has also shown an increase in car accidents when the cars go back in the colder months as drivers adapt to the time change.

According to data by Zurich Insurance, drivers are more likely to have an accident between 4pm and 7pm in November, as the evenings get darker earlier. After the clocks change, the company noted a 10 to 15 per cent increase in accident volumes during that time compared to the rest of the day.

How does changing the clock impact mental health?

When the clocks go back in the autumn, we get an extra hour of daylight in the morning  however, this only lasts a couple of weeks before the days shorten and the sunrise gets later and later.

On the shortest day of the year, 21 December, the UK enjoys less than eight hours sunlight.

The increased hours of darkness can result in low mood and depression in some people, as well as fatigue, muscle pain and weakened bones due to a lack of vitamin D from exposure to sunlight.

Some people also experience seasonal affective disorder (SAD) as a result of the shorter days. According to the NHS, SAD symptoms include a persistent low mood, loss of pleasure or interest in normal everyday activities, irritability, feelings of despair or guilt, and sleeping for longer than normal.

The health service says that the lack of sunlight may stop a part of the brain called the hypothalamus from working properly, which may affect the production of melatonin (a sleep hormone) and serotonin (a mood hormone), as well as the bodys circadian rhythm.

How do I adjust to the clocks going back?

The clocks have already gone back, but there are some practical things you can do to help adjust if you are sensitive to the change in time.

In a blog post, Dave Gibson, founder of The Sleep Site, emphasises the importance of practicing good sleep hygiene.

Sleep hygiene refers to daily routines and a bedroom environment that promotes consistent, uninterrupted sleep.

Gibson writes that exercising in the morning can help people get to sleep more easily in the evening, and doing things that help you relax in the evening are also beneficial.

Perhaps get your body to relax by having a bath with lavender, or do some stretching or yoga, he says. Finally, in order to help your brain wind down, dimming the lights and reading a book, rather than watching TV, are tried and tested relaxation methods.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United Nations, Turkey and Ukraine agreed on Sunday on an Oct. 31 movement plan for 14 vessels that are in Turkish waters, a day after Russia suspended its participation to the Black Sea grain initiative that allowed food exports from Ukrainian ports.

In a statement, the Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) in Istanbul, where Russian, Ukrainian and Turkish and U.N. personnel are working, said the three delegations had also agreed for inspections to be provided on Monday to 40 outbound vessels.

JCC said the Russian delegation was informed of both plans.

(This story has been officially corrected to fix number of vessels in headline and first paragraph after U.N. revised its information)

(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Sandra Maler)
Several government agencies are warning that political extremists pose a heightened threat around the midterm elections as political candidates and election officials could become targets, according tomultiplereports.

The bulletin from the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Capitol Police and the National Counterterrorism Center reportedly came out the same day a man broke into the San Francisco home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and assaulted her husband with a hammer.

Such threats by lone actors pose the greatest security risk, NPR reported.

The agencies distributed the document to their partners in law enforcement across the country.

Following the 2022 midterm election, perceptions of election-related fraud and dissatisfaction with electoral outcomes likely will result in heightened threats of violence against a broad range of targets  such as ideological opponents and election workers, it said, according to CNN. The outlet noted it did not contain any specific examples of threats.

It builds, however, on a warning the FBI issued earlier this month that election workers were facing unprecedented threats in seven states: Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Wisconsin.

With less than two weeks left to Election Day, the new document listed many potential targets for domestic violent extremism (DVE) violence, per CBS News: candidates running for public office, elected officials, election workers, political rallies, political party representatives, racial and religious minorities, or perceived ideological opponents.

Officials have not yet stated the motive behind the attack on the Pelosis home, which left Paul Pelosi, 82, in the hospital needing surgery to his skull and other parts of his body. (He is expected to make a full recovery.) But the suspect in police custody appears to have a history of posting right-wing conspiracy theories and doubting the validity of the 2020 election.

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Over half of Republicans running for major offices this year are election deniers, according to an analysis by The Washington Post. Around 50 are running in close races.

Heavily armed poll watchers have already cropped up in Arizona, where they have been spotted surveilling ballot drop boxes in what was a hotly contested county two years ago.

More than 100 lawsuits have also been filed  largely by Republicans  in states complaining about mail-in and early voting rules, how voters are registered, and what machines they use at the polls.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Related...
Britains year of global climate leadership has fallen short on multiple fronts, the governments top adviser has warned, just as the UKs Cop presidency comes to an end.

At the Cop26 summit in Glasgow last year, Boris Johnson urged countries to pull out all the stops to limit global heating, arguing that commitments made at the summit would be 100 per cent useless if promises are not followed up with action.

But with only a week remaining until world leaders gather in Egypt for Cop27, Lord Deben, the chair of the independent Climate Change Committee, said Britains own bid to tackle emissions was off track, while cuts to foreign aid risked undermining its leadership on the top priority for this years summit.

The peer said that the turmoil at the top of government had meant that the UK had failed to lead anybody on the issue in recent months.

This week the UN warned that there is no clear pathway in place to limit global heating to 1.5C  a target from the 2016 Paris Agreement  as only a handful of countries had strengthened their pledges to take action.

Rishi Sunak announced that he would not attend Cop27, leading to criticism from Labours shadow secretary for climate change, Ed Miliband, who said it was an embarrassing reflection of the UKs failure to deliver.

Lord Deben said it would be very valuable for Mr Sunak to go to Egypt, warning that the climate crisis is the most important issue which faces him as prime minister.

Lord Deben, the chair of the Climate Change Committee, has blamed turmoil at the top of government for the UKs failure to lead on net zero (Getty)

He added that the war in Ukraine and the ensuing cost of living crisis, along with concerns about energy security, had distracted the world from taking sufficient action on climate.

Lord Debens comments come amid reports that Mr Sunaks former leadership rival Boris Johnson intends to go to the summit in Egypt, in a move that could cause embarrassment for the new prime minister.

Alok Sharma, the outgoing climate minister who was president of Cop26 in Glasgow, said he was pretty disappointed that Mr Sunak would not be going to Egypt.

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I understand that hes got a huge in-tray of domestic issues that he has to deal with, he told The Sunday Times. But I would say that going to Cop27 would allow for engagement with other world leaders.

On Sunday, cabinet minister Michael Gove insisted that the government would field the strongest possible team for the climate summit despite the PMs absence, explaining that there are strong pressures on the prime ministers diary.

When leaders arrive in Sharm el-Sheikh next week, the biggest issue on the agenda will be how to provide resources to help developing countries make progress without harming the planet, said Lord Deben.

The peer said that the governments decision to renege on its commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of GDP on overseas development aid means that countries will find it hard to believe Britain will deliver on its pledges, which will in turn make it harder for the UK to persuade others to act.

Prime minister Rishi Sunak will not be attending this years Cop summit (PA)

He added that the government should make clear that once it has received Tory MP Chris Skidmores review of net zero, it will move quickly to a detailed programme of delivery that assures the world our commitment is not only in principle but in reality.

Lord Deben commended Cop26 president Alok Sharmas international leadership, and said there had been good progress in a number of areas in the governments domestic programme of reforms.

But he added that there were also large gaps in action on energy efficiency, new building, land use and agriculture.

In July, the government was ordered to update its net zero strategy after the High Court ruled it was too vague.

Alok Sharma was praised for his presidency of Cop26 ahead of the summit in November (PA Wire)

Government projections published this week show that the UK remains off track to meet the emissions-reduction pledge it made prior to hosting the Cop26 summit last year.

In December 2020, the UK committed to reducing its emissions by at least 68 per cent by 2030 compared with the levels recorded in 1990. The official figures show it is set to reduce its emissions by just 56 per cent.

Lord Deben said that while the government is off track on delivering net zero, it is clear that ministers have the opportunity to course-correct if they choose to do so.

A government spokesperson said: We remain fully committed to the legally binding target of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The UK is leading the world on climate change and, between 1990 and 2019, we have grown our economy by 76 per cent while cutting our emissions by over 44 per cent, decarbonising faster than any other G7 country.

Our net zero review will help ensure the UKs fight against climate change maximises economic growth, energy security and affordability for consumers and businesses.
Charwe Nyakasikana, or Mbuya Nehanda, (centre), opposed colonial rule in the late-19th Century

London's Natural History Museum and Cambridge University have said that they are ready to co-operate with Zimbabwe to return human remains that were taken in the colonial era.

The fresh statements come after a delegation from Zimbabwe held talks with officials from both institutions.

The Zimbabweans are looking for the skulls of late-19th Century anti-colonial heroes, which they believe could be in the UK.

But these have not yet been found.

The authorities in Zimbabwe have long suspected that the remains of some of the leaders of an uprising against British rule in the 1890s - known as the First Chimurenga - were taken to the UK as trophies.

The most significant among them was a woman who became known as Mbuya Nehanda. She was executed in what is now the capital, Harare and is revered as a national heroine.

In doing a search of its archive, the Natural History Museum did uncover 11 remains "that appear to be originally from Zimbabwe" - but its records do not connect them with Nehanda. These include three skulls taken in 1893, thought to be from Zimbabwe's second city, Bulawayo, as well as remains uncovered in mineshafts and archaeological digs and later donated.

Cambridge University's Duckworth Laboratory has not been so specific, simply saying it has "a small number of human remains from Zimbabwe", but in a statement sent to the BBC it said it had not identified any of these as belonging to First Chimurenga figures.

The Natural History Museum, with 25,000 human remains, and the Duckworth Laboratory, with 18,000, have some of the largest such archives in the world.

These have come from a variety of sources including archaeological excavations of ancient sites, but for many the exact origins have been obscured by time.

During the colonial era, body parts were sometimes removed from battlefields or dug up from graves either as trophies or for research into a now-discredited scientific field.

In the 19th Century, phrenology, which investigated the idea that human characteristics could be determined by the shape of the skull, was very popular in the UK and other parts of Europe. Phrenological societies would collect skulls to help develop the theory, which for some extended to racial classification.

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Some researchers set out to show that skull shape indicated that people from different parts of the world were inherently inferior.

Some of the archives that now exist in the UK are amalgamations of what had been amassed by defunct phrenological societies as well as private collectors.

Zimbabwe's government believes that somehow the skulls of the country's heroes ended up in the archives of a British museum.

Chief among them were spiritual leaders, including Charwe Nyakasikana, who became known as Mbuya (Grandmother) Nehanda as she was the medium of the revered ancestral spirit Nehanda. She was arrested after being accused of murdering a British official.

Nehanda was then hanged and her body decapitated, it is believed. What happened next is not clear, but in recent years, Zimbabwean officials have made several public statements saying it ended up in the Natural History Museum.

With a death cry of "my bones will surely rise", Nehanda became an increasingly potent symbol for those fighting against white-minority rule in what was then known as Rhodesia from the late 1960s.

Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980.

The Mbuya Nehanda statue in Harare was put up in 2021

A three-metre statue of Nehanda now stands over a major road in the centre of Harare. At its unveiling in 2021, President Emmerson Mnangagwa pledged to continue to call for the return of her skull and others from the Natural History Museum.

For Zimbabweans, the removal of the head "means that you have literally punished the person beyond the grave", Godfrey Mahachi, who led the delegation to the UK, told the BBC in 2020 when the visit was being planned.

"If the head is separated, that means that the spirit of that person will forever linger and never settle."

Despite not finding what the Zimbabwean delegation was looking for, both the Natural History Museum and Cambridge University say they are committed to working with the Zimbabwean government to repatriate what was found.

As part of its policy of repatriation, earlier this year, the Natural History Museum returned ancestral Moriori and Maori remains.

In a press statement following a recent cabinet meeting, Zimbabwe's government said that the delegation that went to the UK was satisfied that "there are indeed human remains of Zimbabwean origin in the UK".

"Government will spare no effort to ensure the repatriation of our ancestors," it added.

The Zimbabwean delegation also held talks with the British Museum, Oxford University's Pitt Rivers Museum, the University of Manchester Museum and the UK's National Archives. But no details are given about what was discussed.

Despite the lack of success in this trip to the UK, the historical significance to Zimbabwe of the remains of Nehanda and others means that the search will continue.
Russia's blockade of grain exports makes it "impossible" for fully loaded ships to leave port, Ukraine charged Sunday after Moscow claimed drone attacks on its Crimea fleet had exploited the grain corridor safe zone.

Kyiv's maritime grain exports were halted after Russia pulled out of a landmark agreement that allowed the vital shipments.

The July deal to unlock grain exports signed between Russia and Ukraine and brokered by Turkey and the United Nations, is critical to easing the global food crisis caused by the conflict.

"(A) bulk carrier loaded with 40 tons of grain was supposed to leave the Ukraine port today," Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov tweeted.

"These foodstuffs were intended for Ethiopians, that are on the verge of famine. But due to the blockage of the 'grain corridor' by Russia the export is impossible," the Ukrainian minister said.

The agreement had already allowed more than nine million tonnes of Ukrainian grain to be exported and was due to be renewed on November 19.

Russia's defence ministry alleged Sunday the attack drones had "Canadian-made navigation modules", saying it had recovered debris from some of the weapons in the sea.

Specialists had "conducted an examination of Canadian-made navigation modules installed on the marine unmanned vehicles", the ministry said.

On Saturday Russia announced its suspension after accusing Kyiv of a "massive" drone attack on the Black Sea fleet, which Ukraine labelled a "false pretext".

US President Joe Biden called the move "purely outrageous" while Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Moscow was "weaponising food".

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday expressed "deep concern" about the situation, his spokesman said, and delayed his departure for an Arab League Summit in Algiers by a day "to focus on the issue".

The EU on Sunday urged Russia to "revert its decision".

- Enough grain to 'feed millions' -

The centre coordinating the logistics of the deal said in a statement that no traffic was planned for Sunday.

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"A joint agreement has not been reached at the JCC for the movement of inbound and outbound vessels on 30 October," it said. "There are more than 10 vessels both outbound and inbound waiting to enter the corridor."

Turkey's defence ministry later Sunday said ships would not leave Ukraine "during this period" but Turkey would continue checks of ships in Istanbul carrying Ukrainian grain "today and tomorrow".

It also said Russia had formally notified Turkey of its suspension but "Russian personnel remained at the coordination centre" in Istanbul.

Ukraine's foreign minister said on Twitter that Russia was blocking "two million tons of grain on 176 vessels already at sea" that he said was "enough to feed seven million people."

He accused Moscow of having planned to "resume its hunger games" in advance and said the Black Sea explosions were "220 kilometres away from the grain corridor".

- 'Peddling false claims' -

Kyiv and the UN earlier urged that the agreement remain in force.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called Russia's move "an absolutely transparent intention of Russia to return the threat of large-scale famine to Africa and Asia".

Sevastopol in Moscow-annexed Crimea has been targeted several times in recent months and serves as the Black Sea fleet's headquarters and a logistical hub for operations in Ukraine.

Russia's army claimed to have "destroyed" nine aerial drones and seven maritime ones in an attack on the port early Saturday.

It alleged British "specialists" based in the southern Ukrainian city of Ochakiv had helped prepare and train Kyiv to carry out the strike.

In a further singling out of the UK -- which Moscow sees as one of the most unfriendly Western countries -- Russia said the same British unit was involved in explosions on the Nord Stream gas pipelines last month.

Britain strongly rebutted both claims, saying "the Russian Ministry of Defence is resorting to peddling false claims of an epic scale".

Moscow's military said ships targeted at their Crimean base were involved in the grain deal.

- 'Massive' attack -

Russia had recently criticised the deal, saying its own grain exports have suffered due to Western sanctions.

Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Moscow-installed governor of Sevastopol, said Saturday's drone attack was the "most massive" the peninsula had seen.

Attacks on Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014, have increased recently as Kyiv presses a counter-offensive in the south to retake territory held by Moscow.

In early October, Moscow's key bridge linking Crimea to the Russian mainland was damaged by a blast that President Vladimir Putin blamed on Ukraine.

Kyiv said Sunday its troops in the south are "holding their positions and hit the enemy in order to create conditions for further offensive actions."

Moscow-installed authorities in Kherson, just north of Crimea, have vowed to turn the city into a fortress, preparing for an inevitable assault.

burs/raz/gw
Armed Forces of Ukraine

Specifically, fighting was reported near the settlements of Bakhmut, Avdiivka, Krasnohorivka, Mariinka, Yakovlivka, Bakhmutske, Oleksandropil, Kamyanka, Pervomayske, and Novomykhaylivka in Donetsk Oblast.

The situation did not change drastically in the Volyn and Polissia sectors, the General Staff said. Russia continues redeploying individual units to Belarus. On Oct. 26, an echelon with military equipment was seen in Brest, Belarus. Along with Russian soldiers, so-called Kadyrovites, the personal troops of Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov, were also reportedly in Belarus.

Read also: Russian troop losses in Ukraine exceed 71,000, says Ukraines General Staff

Over the past 24 hours, Russian invasion forces launched five missiles and 23 air strikes, and attacked 100 times with the use of multiple rocket launchers. Over 45 settlements were impacted, the Ukrainian military said.

Meanwhile, Russian forces have been preparing defense positions around Kherson. The arrival of around 100 members of Russias National Guard from Grozny, Chechnya, were also spotted near the village of Kalanchak in Kherson Oblast.

Russian special services are reportedly intercepting telephone calls of civilians in Nova Kakhovka.

Read also: Russian troops shell Enerhodar, leaving most of it without power

Russia's commanders continue to quarter their troops in the houses of local residents in the Zaporizhzhya Oblast village of Velyka Znamianka.

The General Staff also reported 32 Ukrainian air strikes against enemy positions in the past day, hitting 23 areas of the concentration of weapons, vehicles and manpower, three fortified positions, and six air defense positions.

Ukrainian missile forces and artillery struck six areas of the concentration of weapons, vehicles and manpower, three ammunition depots, two air defense systems and nine military facilities of critical importance.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Does the October share price for Vistry Group PLC (LON:VTY) reflect what it's really worth? Today, we will estimate the stock's intrinsic value by estimating the company's future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. Our analysis will employ the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. Believe it or not, it's not too difficult to follow, as you'll see from our example!

We would caution that there are many ways of valuing a company and, like the DCF, each technique has advantages and disadvantages in certain scenarios. If you want to learn more about discounted cash flow, the rationale behind this calculation can be read in detail in the Simply Wall St analysis model.

View our latest analysis for Vistry Group

The Method

We have to calculate the value of Vistry Group slightly differently to other stocks because it is a consumer durables company. In this approach dividends per share (DPS) are used, as free cash flow is difficult to estimate and often not reported by analysts. This often underestimates the value of a stock, but it can still be good as a comparison to competitors. The 'Gordon Growth Model' is used, which simply assumes that dividend payments will continue to increase at a sustainable growth rate forever. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a company's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In this case we used the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield (1.0%). The expected dividend per share is then discounted to today's value at a cost of equity of 8.2%. Compared to the current share price of UK6.0, the company appears quite good value at a 36% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Valuations are imprecise instruments though, rather like a telescope - move a few degrees and end up in a different galaxy. Do keep this in mind.

Value Per Share = Expected Dividend Per Share / (Discount Rate - Perpetual Growth Rate)

= UK0.7 / (8.2%  1.0%)

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= UK9.4

dcf

The Assumptions

Now the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate, and of course, the actual cash flows. You don't have to agree with these inputs, I recommend redoing the calculations yourself and playing with them. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Vistry Group as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 8.2%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.355. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business.

Next Steps:

Whilst important, the DCF calculation is only one of many factors that you need to assess for a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Preferably you'd apply different cases and assumptions and see how they would impact the company's valuation. For example, changes in the company's cost of equity or the risk free rate can significantly impact the valuation. What is the reason for the share price sitting below the intrinsic value? For Vistry Group, we've put together three pertinent items you should consider:

Risks: For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for Vistry Group (1 shouldn't be ignored) you should be aware of. Management:Have insiders been ramping up their shares to take advantage of the market's sentiment for VTY's future outlook? Check out our management and board analysis with insights on CEO compensation and governance factors. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered!

PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every British stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here.

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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Lanson Moore with the painting into which her father's ashes will be added

An artist who intends to add her father's ashes to a painting says she wants to help others "immortalise" their loved ones in art.

Lanson Moore, 38, from Wakefield, said she had long thought about making a piece of art for her father, Kev, who died from lymphoma in December 2016.

Ms Moore said making the work had been a "healing" process.

She has secured funding from Arts Council England to work on 10 commissions for bereaved families.

The full-time artist and mother-of-one said of her father: "I felt like he was on the journey with me. He always supported my art."

Ms Moore has called the work "Abu in Port Lligat". Abu is short for Abuelo - grandfather in Spanish.

It is what Ms Moore's father asked his grandchildren to call him, she said, while Port Lligat is a small village on the Costa Brava.

"He wanted me to paint this picture for him to put on his wall. He wanted me to do a big mural of one of his favourite landscapes, which is Port Lligat by Salvador Dali," said Ms Moore.

"My dad loved Spain and he loved going off the beaten track and this is where Dali actually lived for most of the later part of his life."

Ms Moore said her father was "such a character", adding he was "quite expressive and eccentric".

'Quite special'

She consulted carefully with her family to ensure she got the painting just right.

"I'm an abstract artist, so my gut instinct was always to produce an abstract piece of art," she said.

"My sister and brother-in-law were actually quite heavily involved in the design of the artwork as well because it is going to be a piece for the entire family."

The final result is a large painting of pink, red, blue, and yellow mountains, the tops of which are marked with a sparkling gold line.

Her father's ashes are being embedded into the line.

She added she is "really passionate" about being able to do the same for others.

"I can offer that service to other people who may also want to immortalise their loved ones in art," she said.

"If I can create something where as soon as they look at that piece it reminds them of that person, then it will be quite special."

Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk.
Former President Barack Obama campaigns for Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, left, during a "Get Out the Vote Rally" at Renaissance High School in Detroit, Mich., on October 29, 2022. JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images

Former President Obama was interrupted by a heckler as he spoke about the attack on Paul Pelosi.

Obama remarked on the assault during a Michigan rally, where he spoke of the need for civility.

Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Pelosi, was attacked in their California home late last week.

Former President Barack Obama was interrupted by a heckler during a Democratic political rally in Detroit on Saturday after he remarked on the recent assault of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband.

While stumping for Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and other Democrats, Obama spoke of the need for civility, a throwback to his calls for bipartisanship during his first presidential campaign in 2008.

"When we don't just disagree with people, but we start demonizing them, making wild, crazy allegations about them. That creates a dangerous climate," the former president said. "If elected officials don't do more to explicitly reject that kind of rhetoric, if they tacitly support it or encourage their supporters to stand up inside voting places armed with guns and dressed in tactical gear, more people can get hurt. And we're going to be violating the basic spirit of this country."

Immediately after Obama called on lawmakers to reject dangerous rhetoric  with his mind on the attack on Paul Pelosi, the speaker's husband, at the couple's San Francisco home  the heckler began yelling at the former president.

The heckler's voice began with "Mr. President," but trailed off and was inaudible on camera for the bulk of the exchange.

Attendees in the crowd began to chant "Obama" to drown out the protestor, although the former president was attempting to speak with the man in a conversational way, reiterating that they could both be respectful of each other without talking over one another.

Obama responded: "Sir, come on. This is what I mean. There is a process that we've set up in our democracy. Right now, I'm talking. You'll have a chance to talk sometime soon. We don't have to shout each other down. It's not a good way to do business."

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He continued: "You wouldn't do that in a workplace. You wouldn't just interrupt people in the middle of a conversation. It's not how we do things. And this is part of the point that I want to make. Just basic civility and courtesy works  and that's what we're trying to encourage."

The crowd soon became restless with the heckler's conduct, and he was escorted out of the gymnasium at Renaissance High School.

Obama, seeking to tamp down the situation, said: "Hold up. Hold up. Hold on a minute."

The crowd then leaned into Obama's energy at the rally, as the former commander-in-chief would go on to boost Whitmer, who is running for a second term against Republican gubernatorial nominee Tudor Dixon.

Obama carried Michigan in both 2008 and 2012, but the swing state supported Donald Trump in 2016 before President Joe Biden flipped it back into the Democratic column in 2020.

Read the original article on Business Insider
We as Black people remain at risk, Dr. Melissa Clarke told theGrio, especially those of us over 50 and/or with underlying health conditions like diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure and cancer.

As the nation enters the winter season, the Biden-Harris administration is urging Americans to get their shot of the updated COVID-19 booster vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech. Biden, leading by example, got his shot in front of cameras on Tuesday in an attempt to encourage the public to do the same amid concerns that the United States could see an uptick in COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations as people head indoors this winter.

Its incredibly effective. But the truth is, not enough people are getting it, said the president before getting his shot to the arm. Weve got to change that so we can all have a safe and healthy holiday season. He added, as a country, we have a choice to make.

U.S. President Joe Biden receives his updated COVID-19 booster in the South Court Auditorium at the White House campus on October 25, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Looking at the COVID infection numbers of the past two winters, Biden questioned, Can we repeat what happened in the past winters  more infections, more hospitalizations, more loved ones getting sick, even dying from the virus? Or can we have a much better winter if we use all  all  the tools we have available to us now?

Most Americas are eligible for the updated booster shot. The CDC and the FDA have cleared children as young as 5 to be boosted with the updated Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine shot.

That clearance comes as the White House warned that recent history shows that over the past two winters, the number of COVID-19 infections has spiked. The concern is a very real one after Biden previously declared the pandemic was over but also warned that COVID is still a persistent public health issue.

Dr. Ashish K. Jha, the coordinator for the White House coronavirus response team, spoke to the press last week from the briefing room podium. He cautioned that 200 to 300 people still die daily from COVID-19 and advised the public to get booster shots to head off another spike of infections, hospitalizations, and, worse, deaths.

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The ramifications of the pandemic have extended beyond health matters and have reached nearly every aspect of American life. Notably, the impact has been devastating to the nations education system. Last week, the National Assessment of Educational Progress released its annual report card that found that test scores for students in reading and math saw notable declines since the pandemic.

U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cordona, in an interview with theGrio, acknowledged that, overall, there had been major setbacks in classroom learning. As we enter the winter months of the 2022-2023 school year, Cordona said that a lot of planning and federal dollars went into combating the negative impact of COVID in schoolhouses across the nation.

Cardona told theGrio, We have levels of mitigation that we can employ if the levels get high.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, April 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

The secretary said schools are ready for the winter, partly due to the funding from the American Rescue Plan, where we saw about 28% of the funds were being used to improve ventilation and air quality systems. He added, We expect that thats going to have an impact on air quality to make sure that the school environment is safe for students and theyre breathing.

However, Dr. Melissa Clarke, a population health expert and steering committee member of the Black Coalition Against COVID, told theGrio, Much of those dollars for upgraded ventilation systems have yet to be used and urged community members to lobby your local school board to ensure the ventilation is upgraded.

The White House did not immediately respond to theGrios request for comment on the status of ventilation in classrooms across the country.

Clarke, who continues to wear a mask indoors, said what is successful at curbing infection numbers is a return to masking indoors, even if not required. She added, especially if there are vulnerable people in your family; and get boosted if 5 years and older.

Meanwhile, Dr. Jah said the White House remains concerned for those who are in confined quarters with other people, as well as those who have underlying health issues and are at higher risk. One community that remains disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 is Black America.

We as Black people remain at risk, said Dr. Clarke, especially those of us over 50 and/or with underlying health conditions like diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure and cancer (which we have at higher rates).

She warned that, in addition to the initial impact of the virus, we also know that everyone, regardless of health status and age, can develop long COVID. There are over 4 million people out of work now as a result.

Clarke continued, Getting a COVID booster and masking and testing prior to gathering indoors can cut down on your risk. Now is a great time to get a booster  prior to gathering for the holidays with friends and family.

TheGrio is FREE on your TV via Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku and Android TV. Also, please download theGrio mobile apps today!

The post White House urges Americans to get updated COVID-19 vaccine booster shot amid fears of winter holiday spike appeared first on TheGrio.
People arent open about the intimate, gnarly details of their relationships (Pip)

Will Sharpe is the secret ingredient. The actor-writer-director is to television what a spoonful of instant coffee is to a tasty bolognese. With his eccentric masterpiece Flowers, the sitcom with a mental illness that ran on Channel 4 from 2016 to 2018, he quietly wrote Oscar winner Olivia Colman one of her most brilliant  if least known  parts. In 2019, his witty, razor-tongued performance as a self-sabotaging rent boy in BBC Twos London-Tokyo thriller Giri/Haji had fans calling for him to get his own spin-off, and won him a Bafta.

Sharpes writing and directing on 2021s Landscapers  a show about a real-life killer couple, which aired on Sky Atlantic  elevated the miniseries from what, in the wrong hands, might have been sensationalist true crime, to romantic psychodrama. And in his latest project, season two of the delicious black comedy The White Lotus, Sharpe is the unsettlingly still centrepiece of a friends holiday from hell. Sharpe isnt the face of any of these shows  hes tinkering behind the scenes in some, acting as part of an ensemble in others  but without him, they might have lacked that unique zing that turns a good recipe into a great one.

The White Lotuss first season was TVs breakout smash of last year, winning 10 Emmys for its merciless mockery of the one per cent. Set in the fictional White Lotus luxury resort in Hawaii, it placed us in the (very deep) pockets of a group of self-obsessed, rich Americans, and earned itself a reputation as the best satire of our times. For its second season, a new set of guests have jetted off to Sicilys White Lotus, in the tourist town of Taormina, where the lava-spewing Mount Etna looms large over the sprawling hotel. Its interesting how the location affects the series, says Sharpe. This season feels darker... as if it has this operatic quality to it, like a Roman tragedy or something. The volcano being right there was sort of surreal  he lets out a nervous laugh  and it does affect the psychology of the show.

Sharpe plays a newly minted tech entrepreneur called Ethan, who  along with his lawyer wife Harper (a sublimely uptight Aubrey Plaza)  has been invited to Sicily by his old college roommate Cameron (Theo James) and Camerons wife Daphne (Meghann Fahy). As Sharpe says, Its almost like theyve come on holiday together by mistake. The two couples are chalk and cheese: Ethan and Harper are conscientious, news-reading, intellectualising cynics, while Cameron and Daphne are indulgent, PDA-loving optimists. Its not going to end well.

When I speak to Sharpe over video call, hes staying in rented accommodation while his partner Sophia Di Martino  an actor, too, and one of the stars of Flowers  is working. The 36-year-old is wearing a turquoise top with a shirt over it; his black rocker hair is swept to the left. Hes in a room with dark navy walls and high, corniced ceilings, which he casts his eyes up to whenever hes searching for the right phrase. I can hear the couples children squealing with delight somewhere in the house.

Sharpe is a little shy, and softly spoken  traits he accentuates to potent effect in The White Lotus. Poor old Ethan takes a lot of crap. Harper is so neurotic and domineering that Ethan practically has to ask her permission to order the fish at dinner (I just dont like it when its too fishy, she groans). Cameron, meanwhile, alpha-dogs him  mocking him for his poor motoring skills and for being the original incel in college. Through all of this, Ethan just smiles sweetly, blinks slightly. At some point  its inevitable  hes going to snap.

Hes getting it from all sides, says Sharpe, who seems to be equally cerebral. As I was trying to get into Ethans head, I started trying to do the run that he does up a very steep hill every morning in Taormina. The first time I did it, I thought I was gonna die, and then it gradually got easier. But there is something inevitably existential about being high up in a beautiful place, and I can see how that could add fuel to a fire, or leave space for him to start simmering away. Theres definitely something going on internally with him  some looming crisis.

Not only are Ethan and Harper suspicious that theyve been invited away by Cameron and Daphne to be paraded around as their liberal, diverse, white-passing friends with Japanese and Puerto Rican heritage; theyre also confronting the fact that their own marriage has gone a bit stale. Theres this unhelpful lack of mystery, says Sharpe, to the extent that when Harper walks in on Ethan masturbating, he doesnt even pretend that he was doing something else. Has Sharpe met people like Ethan and Harper? Im sure I have, he says, but people arent habitually open about those intimate, gnarly details of how the relationship actually is.

In the background of all this is the unhinged millionaire Tanya, played by Jennifer Coolidge  the only actor from the shows first season to reprise her role. Sharpe didnt shoot many scenes with Coolidge, but he did enjoy the strange chaos the American national treasure brought to everything she did. Its really infectious, he giggles. There was one time when she wore a Russian hat at dinner.

Aubrey Plaza, Will Sharpe, Theo James and Meghann Fahy as chalk-and-cheese couples in The White Lotus (Sky)

Sharpe has made some of his best work with another national treasure: Britains own Olivia Colman. He cast her in Flowers because he knew he needed to fill the show with actors who had funny bones but could also do depth and melancholy. He thinks Colman  who played the flirtatious, misguided Mrs Flowers  is ace and exhilarating to work with. Colman clearly thinks the same of him, as she selected him to work on Landscapers, written by her husband Ed Sinclair  just like Benedict Cumberbatch singled him out to direct the whimsical biopic The Electrical Life of Louis Wain.

When Im in a certain state of bipolar, the colours seem especially vivid

But Flowers is the show that changed his life. Made five years after his debut feature film, the charming little curio Black Pond, Flowers was his first proper grown-up commission, as he puts it. The show gave him the confidence to call himself someone who makes TV and films for a living.

Sharpe, who is half Japanese and lived in Tokyo until he was eight  he was born in London and, after Tokyo, grew up in Surrey  describes it as a family sitcom, but one where you ask the characters how theyre really feeling, whats really going on with them, and they dont have to be trapped at surface level. The first season introduced us to Colman and Julian Barratt as Deborah and Maurice Flowers, who live in a tumbledown house with their dysfunctional twins Amy (Di Martino) and Donald (Daniel Rigby). Sharpe played an illustrator who works with Maurice, called Shun. Flowers season one was full of poetic gloominess, but its second and final year was comparatively an explosion of colour and light, and followed Amys struggles with bipolar disorder and hypomania.

Sharpe himself has type two bipolar. Writing his experiences into a character played by his partner was emotional, he says, but they have a good way of separating work from life. He used vivid colour in that season to get across what it can feel like to experience hypomania  periods of overactive, excited behaviour that someone with bipolar might experience.

Coming up  or when youre high, as it were  it can feel good, he says. And the dangerous thing about it is that if youve not been feeling so good, it can almost feel like youre starting to get better. It can feel like youre actually sort of feeling OK now. And then you can get carried away with it. I do find that my senses change, and for me, when Im in a certain state, the colours do seem especially vivid. So I wanted the second season of Flowers to feel very sensory.

Will Sharpe as illustrator Shun in eccentric masterpiece Flowers (Channel 4)

When I ask whether he ever felt he had made himself too exposed, too vulnerable, by sharing Flowers with the world, he murmurs a quiet Wow. He seems to struggle with the question. He looks up at those cornices. Laughs a little. I felt compelled to do it, I suppose.

Di Martino wasnt the only loved one of Sharpes who collaborated with him on Flowers. The score for the show, along with those for Landscapers and Louis Wain, was composed by his brother, Arthur. When he sent me the first demo for Flowers, says Sharpe, it really helped me to get a sense of the world a little bit. It was a slightly dark but also mischievous track that had this slightly cheeky, lilty feeling to it. I found that genuinely quite influential in the early stages.

[Arthur and I] are close and work closely together, but we dont have the sort of relationship where we go for a drink and talk for hours and hours about life. But because we work together on stories that are emotional and are about life, I have a sense... thats almost how we communicate a little bit. He knows whats going on with me from scripts, and I can feel whats going on with him through the music hes writing.

This story about how he connects with his brother doesnt surprise me  Sharpe has a tendency to be quite ambiguous, tentative even, and he takes a fair bit of coaxing. It certainly seems that the best way to read him is through what he puts on screen.

Given that Flowers is his most intimate work, thats a good place to start. But hes got no plans to make more of it. Probably not. Never say never, says Sharpe, who has said before that hell think of his life as pre- and post- that show. It turned out to be a very personal project, and I was unpacking stuff about myself that I didnt realise I needed to unpack, saying things I didnt realise I needed to say. I found it, all round, a very beautiful experience.

As were about to wrap up, Sharpe goes back to the answer he was stumbling over earlier, about laying bare his soul in Flowers. As to your previous question, he says, it was the vulnerability, and the readiness of everybody involved to come with me on that journey, that... he searches for the words again  that made it special.

The White Lotus is exclusively available from 31 October on Sky Atlantic and streaming service Now
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP)  A Haitian journalist died Sunday after being shot in the head when police opened fire on reporters demanding the release of one of their colleagues who was detained while covering a protest, witnesses told The Associated Press.

Reporters at the scene identified the slain journalist as Romelo Vilsaint and said he worked for an online news site. His body was lying face down inside the parking lot of a police station in Delmas in the capital of Port-au-Prince as colleagues surrounded it, crying out as they lifted their arms.

Richard Pierrin, a freelance photographer for Agence France-Presse, told the AP he saw police open fire and Vilsaint get hit.

Gary Desrosiers, a spokesman for Haitis National Police, confirmed to the AP that Vilsaint was fatally shot but declined further comment except to say it was a lamentable situation.

As journalists and citizens surrounded the police station after Vilsaint was killed, officers fired tear gas to disperse them.

Reporters at the scene said the journalist being held is Robest Dimanche, who works at local Radio Tele Zenith and was covering a protest when he was detained.

The Online Media Collective, a local journalists association, denounced Dimanches arrest, saying he was being treated like a dangerous criminal and said he was charged with disturbing public order. Dimanche also is a spokesman for the organization.

Our spokesperson acted within the framework of the journalistic mission by covering a protest movement, the organization said. The detention ... is the latest signal, without doubt the most worrying, of a resurgence of attacks on freedom of information, and this journalist must be released.

The organization also demanded that those responsible for the recent killing of radio journalist Garry Tess and the Oct. 25 attack on Roberson Alphonse, a reporter for Le Nouvelliste newspaper, be brought to justice.

On Wednesday, Le Nouvelliste, Haitis largest newspaper, announced it was suspending publication of its print product given serious security problems that are hampering production and distribution.
President Joe Biden was among several world leaders to send his condolences to South Korea after at least 153 people were killed and 103 others were injured during Halloween festivities in a popular nightlife district, in the capital Seoul.

Biden tweeted that together with his wife, first lady Jill Biden, he was sending his deepest condolences to the families who lost loved ones in Seoul.

We grieve with the people of the Republic of Korea and send our best wishes for a quick recovery to all those who were injured, he said.

Later Sunday, Biden specifically made note of the two American lives reported lost in the tragedy.

"Jill and I are devastated to learn that at least two Americans are among so many who lost their lives in Seoul. Our hearts go out to their loved ones in this time of grief, and we continue to pray for the recovery of all who were injured," Biden tweeted.

Chinese President Xi Jinping also said in a letter that he would like to express deep condolences to the victims and extend sincere condolences to their families and the injured, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.

Choi Seong-beom, the chief of Seouls Yongsan fire department, said early Sunday that 19 foreigners were among the victims, some of them Chinese citizens, as well as citizens of Iran, Norway and Uzbekistan.

Xi added that he hoped South Korea will make every effort to cure and deal with the aftermath, Xinhua reported.

A man pours a glass of an alcoholic beverage, in tribute to those who were killed in a Halloween stampede late on Saturday in Seoul's Itaewon district, on Oct. 30, 2022. (Anthony Wallace / AFP - Getty Images)

A Norwegian citizen was confirmed to have died in the crush, a spokesperson for Norways Foreign Affairs Ministry told Reuters. Citing confidentiality, the spokesperson provided no details about age or identity.

I am devastated by news of the terrible incident in connection with Halloween celebrations in Seoul, Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt said in a statement. My deepest condolences to families and friends who lost their loved ones. My thoughts are with those affected by this tragedy.

Her comments were echoed by Britains new prime minister, Rishi Sunak, who tweeted: All our thoughts are with those currently responding and all South Koreans at this very distressing time.

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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also tweeted that he was wishing a fast and full recovery to those who were injured.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida offered his condolences Sunday. I am greatly shocked and deeply saddened by the loss of many precious lives, including young people with a bright future, as a result of the very tragic accident that occurred in Itaewon, Seoul, he said in a statement.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz wrote on Twitter that he was deeply shocked by the tragic events in #Seoul and added: This is a sad day for South Korea. Germany stands by their side.

And French President Emmanuel Macron shared the sentiments, tweeting Saturday: A moving thought this evening for the inhabitants of Seoul and for all the Korean people after the drama of Itaewon. France is at your side.

Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted his thoughts. "Even as Ukraine endures its own suffering, I am deeply saddened by the tragedy in Seoul," he wrote. "My heart goes out to those who lost their loved ones and I wish a speedy recovery to the injured. Dear Korean friends, please accept Ukraines deepest sympathy and solidarity."

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
West Texas A&M linebacker Christopher Thomas (31) wraps up Midwestern State quarterback Dillon Sterling-Cole in the win on Saturday, Nov. 6, 2021 at Buffalo Stadium in Canyon.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

LONE STAR CONFERENCE

WESTERN NEW MEXICO 41, WEST TEXAS A&M 37

What this game means: It was a heartbreaking finish for the Buffs. They fought tooth and nail all game, matching WNMU blow for blow throughout. The final blow from the Mustangs, however, came when there were just seven seconds left in the game and WT didn't have enough time to answer and fell to 5-4 overall and 3-4 in LSC play.

High school football results from the Texas Panhandle in week 10

Game highlights: After Devin Larsen scored from 30 yards out for WNMU early, Gage Urias answered with a 23-yard field goal later in the first quarter. Quarterback Nick Gerber called his own number and scored from 21 yards out in the second to put WT up 10-3. The Mustangs scored 10 unanswered to go up 13-10 before Gerber hit Noah Bogardus for a 64-yard touchdown to put the Buffs up once more. Adrian Zamudio hit a 26-yard field goal with 22 seconds left for WNMU, but Urias nailed a 45-yarder as time expired before the half to make it 20-20 entering the locker room. Maurice Smith scored early in the third for the Mustangs to break the tie, but Gerber knotted it up once again with a 61-yard touchdown to Tyler Sweet. Larsen punched it in from 1-yard out to put WNMU back up late in the third and Urias pulled the Buffs back within four in the fourth with a 38-yard kick. Gerber put WT in front for the first time with a 28-yard scoring connection to Shakell Brown, but Larsen scored from two-yards out with seven seconds to go to give the Mustangs the win.

High school football results from the Texas Panhandle in week 10

Stars of the game: Credit Gerber for putting up one of the best performances of his career as he went 18-of-28 for 336 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions. He also rushed for 57 yards and a score. Christopher Thomas led the defense with nine tackles while Gage Smith forced and recovered a fumble.

Up next: WT will face Eastern New Mexico in the Buffs' final home game of the season. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. Saturday at Bain-Schaeffer Buffalo Stadium in Canyon.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: WT loses heartbreaker to Western New Mexico, 41-37
(Bloomberg) -- China will host a flurry of top foreign leaders this week, as President Xi Jinping kicks off a norm-busting third term during which hes vowed to increase his nations global influence.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Vietnams Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong will arrive in China on Sunday for a four-day trip, becoming the first foreign leader to meet Xi since the Chinese president removed rivals and installed loyalists at a leadership reshuffle earlier this month.

Xi and his top officials are then expected to hold talks in the capital with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan. In November, he will likely travel to Indonesia and Thailand for major summits attended by global leaders including President Joe Biden and Russias Vladimir Putin.

The 69-year-old is also planning a trip to Saudi Arabia, the oil-rich kingdoms foreign minister was cited as saying by Agence France-Presse on Friday. No timeframe was specified.

Xis busy diplomatic schedule comes after he pledged at the Communist Partys twice-a-decade congress to ensure China leads the world in international influence. His itinerary also telegraphs a continued return to the world stage, after the nations Covid Zero policy for years constrained diplomatic visits to and from China.

READ: Xi Allies Fill Chinas Top Jobs in Move Toward One-Man Rule

Xi didnt leave his nation for nearly 1,000 days after imposing the countrys first Covid lockdown in January 2020. He broke that spell of self-imposed isolation with a visit to Central Asia in September, where he met with Putin at a security summit that centered on countering the US-led world order.

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Scholzs first visit to China since taking office is likely to come under scrutiny, as unease grows in Europe over Beijings human rights violations and ambivalent position on Russias invasion of Ukraine. The German leader is traveling with a business delegation seeking to boost trade ties.

Other visiting delegations have less complicated ties with Beijing. Pakistan has stood with China at the United Nations, most recently voting to shoot down a debate on human rights abuses in Xinjiang, while China is the largest trading partner of Vietnam and Tanzania. All three countries have signed significant Belt and Road agreements with Beijing.

Those meetings at home foreshadow a tougher diplomatic date for Xi, who is expected to visit to Indonesia next month for the Group of Twenty summit where he could have his first in-person meeting with Biden since the US leader took office. Tensions between Beijing and Washington have soared in recent months, in particular over Chinas military aggression toward Taiwan and US curbs on Chinese chip-making.

Xi is then slated to travel to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in Thailand, which takes place from Nov. 18-19. Biden is expected to skip that event, but Putin is set to attend.

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2022 Bloomberg L.P.
Ervin Yen

What would you do to improve Oklahoma's low ranking in education?

We need to increase teacher pay by $5,000 per year, for the next 2 years. And I have a plan to make sure we can do this! I'd also like to make sure that we start equitably distributing education funds across the state. And we must also stay committed to fixing our public education system prior to attempting to fund any other kind of education first.

With issues like the 2020 election, gender identity and critical race theory deepening the political divides in the state, what would you do to help heal the rifts and bring people together?

Remind all of the voters in Oklahoma that this is exactly why we need an Independent governor. These extremist ideas are coming straight out of the playbook from both major parties and they are using them as scare tactics against each other's voter base. Oklahomans have too many real issues we need to focus on and not allow ourselves to get caught up in these divisive political games.

Oklahomans increasingly are spending more for goods and services. What would you do to help residents deal with those higher costs? And how would you ensure Oklahomas economy stays strong?

The more we do to fix these other issues in Oklahoma (like education and infrastructure) the more attractive Oklahoma becomes to Fortune 500 companies who can bring in higher paying jobs. We are a state that is wholly dependent upon oil and gas. We need to diversify our economy, and we can do this by expanding our aerospace, and farming and ranching industries.

Oklahoma ranks poorly in most health outcomes, including mental health, what would you do to make Oklahoma a healthier state?

We need to start by capping the cost of prescription drugs in Oklahoma and stop allowing big pharma to gouge our citizens. We need to ensure that rural Oklahomans have access to healthcare. We need to fund more mental health organizations. We need a statewide education program that educates everyone on the dangers of using street drugs as well as prescription opioids, while simultaneously investigating doctors who are continuing to needlessly prescribe opioids to patients (although the majority of doctors I know would never overprescribe opioids, it is still an issue that needs to be addressed).

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With the increasing amount of dark money in political campaigns, including this campaign, do you think campaign finance reform is needed to address the influence of money in politics?

There has to be a much more transparent reporting process. There should be no such thing as "dark money." Everything should be in the light and everything should be transparent so the voters of Oklahoma understand who is contributing to each campaign, both directly and indirectly.

Oklahoma now has some of the strictest anti-abortion laws in the country and many women say they have gone too far. Would you seek or approve legislation to allow exceptions that include cases of rape or incest?

Absolutely, 100% the current abortion ban has gone too far. I believe this needs to be sent to the vote of the people of Oklahoma. I also believe we should write it in such a manner that it will pass (which means termination of pregnancy within reasonable limits). Until that time, I would immediately ensure that women and their partners have access to the "morning after" pill, and those who need to terminate their pregnancy have transportation to be able to do so legally and safely (which I believe will be privately funded without issue).

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Ervin Yen on issues in Oklahoma
New York City police are searching for a man accused of stabbing a subway rider Friday morning at a Harlem station.

Police said the victim, a 58-year-old man, was walking on a southbound A line platform in the station located at 125th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue around 4:20 a.m. Friday when he was approached by the suspect.

The suspect reportedly attempted to start a "verbal dispute" with the victim, but was ignored, according to NYPD Crimestoppers.

When the victim walked off, the suspect followed behind him, pulled out a knife and stabbed him once in the upper back.

NYC SUSPECTS ASSAULT ELDERLY MAN WHO ASKED TO TURN DOWN VOLUME ON SUBWAY TRAIN: POLICE

After the attack, the suspect fled the station in an unknown direction.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

He is described as a Black male between 28 and 35 years old who is approximately 5 feet, 8 inches tall with a thin build.

Fox 5 New York reported the victim was taken to Mount Sinai-Morningside Hospital in stable condition. He received multiple stitches for his injury.

VIOLENT SUBWAY SHOVE CAUGHT ON CAMERA SPARKS OUTRAGE AFTER MAYOR PROMISED TO FLOOD WITH POLICE

In 2021, there were 461 felony assaults in the NYC subway system and eight homicides, according to a January 2022 report by the New York Post.

Last weekend, New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul announced an additional 1,200 law enforcement shifts to the subways after promising a larger police presence within the system in April.

Adams said Wednesday that cops are not in "every station in the city, every day." He added, "But we are strategically placing those officers during the ridership times, during when we see the crimes are taking place."

On Saturday, the NYPD made multiple posts on Twitter showing officers patrolling in subway stations and conducting checks on the trains.

"Whether its on a train platform or riding down your block, NYPD officers remain steadfast in our commitment to public safety," one tweet said.

Story continues

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Anyone with information on the stabbing is asked to call NYPD's Crimestoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or 1-888-57-PISTA (74782) for Spanish speakers. Tips can also be submitted on the Crimestoppers website or on Twitter @NYPDTips.

A reward of up to $3,500 is available for credible tips.
Zach LaVine returned to the Chicago Bulls lineup against the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday night at the United Center after sitting out his third game of the season, playing the second half of a back-to-back. But the All-Star guard couldnt offset injuries across the roster in a 114-109 loss.

The Bulls followed a familiar script in their second straight defeat  falling behind by 19 points in the first half, then spending the rest of the game attempting to dig out of the hole. Despite erasing the deficit and taking a five-point lead in the second half, they couldnt hold off Joel Embiid, who sank a game-winning 3-pointer with 18.1 seconds left, and the 76ers escaped with the win.

DeMar DeRozan led the Bulls with 24 points, LaVine scored 20 and Nikola Vucevic had 23 points and 19 rebounds for the Bulls, who fell to 3-4.

Seven games into the season, they have won only two first quarters.

For whatever reason, we cant find our way starting some of these games, coach Billy Donovan said after the loss. Weve got to figure that out because it probably took until midway through the second quarter to really start to play to the style and to an identity that is how were trying to play.

LaVine is still at least several weeks away from returning to full strength as he continues to ramp up from undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left knee in the offseason. But his availability will be key as the Bulls face the first serious test of their depth early in the season.

The Bulls faced the Sixers without starting point guard Ayo Dosunmu (thoracic contusion) and Andre Drummond (left shoulder strain). Both players could miss at least one more game, with Dosunmus injury posing a longer-term concern.

Dosunmu briefly entered the concussion protocol during Fridays road loss to the San Antonio Spurs after slipping and smashing his head into the knee of Spurs forward Keldon Johnson. Although Dosunmu was cleared to return in the fourth quarter, the blow created extreme soreness and stiffness in his upper back and neck.

Story continues

Its just a really hard time mobility-wise, Donovan said before the Sixers game.

Drummond faced a similar status after spraining his shoulder in the third quarter Friday. The injury occurred when Spurs forward Josh Collins challenged Drummond on a drive to the basket, sending the center crashing to the court.

Certainly the way he fell, just the noise of him hitting the floor, hes a big guy going down like that, Donovan said. In the time Ive been around him, hes a very tough guy. Hes a guy who likes to play.  Its not something that the medical guys seem to be concerned about.

Although both players were able to return against the Spurs, Donovan said the Bulls are electing to be cautious with players this week, especially when their mobility is affected.

Drummond could return in a few days, but Dosunmus return could take longer as he will not be cleared until his mobility returns to normal.

All these guys, Andre, even Zach, these guys want to play, Donovan said. But sometimes when youre watching them with your eyes and youre seeing that theyre not quite doing the things that they normally do, theres a detriment to keeping them out there.

Dosunmu and Drummond have been two of the most critical players for the Bulls this season. As the fill-in starting point guard  who could remain in the position until Lonzo Ball returns  Dosunmu is averaging 12.5 points on 50.8% shooting, 4.7 rebounds and 3.2 assists.

While Drummond isnt a big-time scorer  he is averaging nine points  his 10.2 rebounds account for nearly one-quarter of the Bulls total per game (44.2). Drummond had season highs of 17 points and 14 rebounds Friday against the Spurs.

Against teams like the Sixers, who boast dominant a center in Embiid, the loss of Drummond radically changes the way the Bulls can approach their offense. The Bulls struggled to contain Embiid without Drummond, allowing the star a team-high 25 points.

It always takes a little bit of time, but Ive seen (Drummond make) a lot of progress and growth in terms of how were playing, what we do, Donovan said. Hes getting more and more comfortable to play in that way.  For him, its probably not as normal to be spaced out as much as hes been, but its also generated a lot of good things for him on rolls and for other guys on screening actions.

Without the two players, the Bulls already are digging deep into their bench for alternative options at point guard and center.

The loss demonstrated the importance of bench depth. The Bulls trio of All-Stars still dominated against the Sixers, but with their rotation disrupted, the bench scored only 22 points.

The upcoming stretch  which likely will include LaVine sitting for one game of another back-to-back this week  will test the Bulls bench again.
(Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday that Ukrainian forces had repelled a "fierce offensive" by Russian troops in the eastern Donetsk region.

Zelenskiy said a military unit from Chop in western Ukraine had undertaken the action, but did not say where the clash had occurred.

"Today they stopped the fierce offensive actions of the enemy," Zelenskiy said in his nightly address. "The Russian attack was repelled."

The president also said Ukraine's "exchange fund" had been replenished, meaning Russian servicemen had been taken prisoner. The fiercest fighting in Donetsk region has been around the towns of Bakhmut and Avdiivka.

(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Elaine Monaghan)
KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO  SUNDAY, 30 OCTOBER 2022, 18:21

Volodymyr Zelesnskyy, the President of Ukraine, held the Commander-In-Chief meeting Sunday.

Source: President of Ukraines website

Details: Commanders of troops deployed in the operational fronts reported about the operational situation on the front. The possible actions of the Russian troops in the near future were discussed.

Members of the meeting discussed the current state of the logistics of the Defence Forces of Ukraine, specifically the pace of ammunition supply and military equipment as well as armament repair.

The participants also made a detailed review on how decisions from the previous Commander-In-Chief Meeting are being fulfilled. Among other things, the facilitation of security of important infrastructure and energy facilities was discussed.



Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
IRYNA BALACHUK  SUNDAY, 30 OCTOBER 2022, 12:32

Locals in the Russian city of Belgorod have found zinc coffins, like those used to transport the bodies of Russian invaders who died in the war in Ukraine, in a rubbish dump.

Source: Telegram channel Baza

Quote from Baza: "Residents of Belgorod had complained to the police about some undertakers who had disposed of zinc coffins in an ordinary rubbish dump. Coffins like these are used to deliver soldiers who died in the special military operation [as the Russian Federation calls the war in Ukraine  ed.]."

Details: According to Baza, several coffins, some complete with icons and packages [an old Slavic custom, which foresees that icons and small burial kits are put into coffins before funerals], were dumped near some garages on Privolnaya Street.

Zinc coffins in a landfill in Belgorod, Russia

PHOTO FROM THE TELEGRAM CHANNEL BAZA

The coffins were noticed by local residents when they brought rubbish to the dump. It later turned out that this had been arranged by a local funeral company.

The bodies of invaders who died in Ukraine are delivered in zinc coffins, and their relatives then buy other ones made of wood for their funerals.

Background:

As of 30 October, the Russians total combat losses in Ukraine amount to about 71,200 soldiers and thousands of units of military equipment.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Lynchburg is a city with a lengthy and rich history, so it only seems right that there might be a ghost or two rambling around some of its antebellum homes and historic sites.

To get in a delightfully spooky mood for All Hallows Eve, The News & Advance dug through its own historical archives to bring you the tales of hauntings in the Hill City and surrounding counties. Some of these stories are well-known classics  the rocking cradle, for instance. And others were obscure clippings from 60 years ago, such as the few paragraphs about a never-again referenced sighting of devil eyes on a hot summer night.

We hope you enjoy the retelling of these spooky tales. Happy Halloween!

The cradle that rocks by unseen hands

A small, unassuming house on Jackson Street is home to perhaps the most famous of Lynchburg ghost lore.

The Poston House, also known as the Rocking Cradle House, is the original home of the self-rocking cradle that terrorized its owners in 1839. The house, presently undergoing restoration, sits in the Federal Hill Historic District, which primarily served as a residential neighborhood favored by merchants and civic leaders in the 1800s.

The cradle in question was lost to public record for 85 years  last referenced in a 1937 Virginia Works Progress Administration report until Tom Jackson and his sister Joan Coleman, the great-great-great grandchildren of the cradles original owner, donated it to the Lynchburg Museum last year where it is on display.

According to William Asbury Christians Lynchburg and Its People, published in 1900, the story of the cradle took place in the spring of 1839. The Rev. William Smith was renting the Jackson Street home while working as a Methodist preacher in Lynchburg. He and his wife borrowed a cradle from the Rev. John Early, a prominent leader in the Methodist church, who would later become Bishop Early.

One morning, the Smiths noticed the cradle began to vigorously rock on its own. According to the account: Dr. Smith moved the cradle from near the fire-place into the middle of the floor, and said: Now Geoffrey (he called the Devil by that name), rock! and he did.

There's a number of different accounts, but the location of the house is almost always agreed upon. The exact date of the home's construction is not known. According to author L.B. Taylor's account in his book "Ghosts of Virginia," it was called the Poston House after W.C. Poston, who bought the property in 1902. It is "impossible to determine who built it," but records indicate it was built in about 1819 by Edmund B. Norvell, or by Thomas Wyatt, before 1813.

Some reports say the house was "dreadfully haunted"  not just by the mysterious cradle rocker. Other ghost sighting in the house, as told by Poston, include a story about Walter Addison, then editor of The Lynchburg News. He and his wife were guests in the house when Addison saw an old woman on the landing and later would come to find no such woman was living the house.

Another story involved a major in the Confederate Army who once lived there. When he would overindulge on alcohol, his family would lock him in the dining room, and he would attempt to beat his way out of the room with a poker. According to Poston, it was said that at midnight, the doors in the room would all open, whether they were locked or not.

The final story told by Poston, as outlined in the WPA report, was a "very vague rumor of a body which drops out of an upstairs dormer."

'Eyes of fire'

A brief report in late June of 1960, found in the The Lynchburg News, noted carloads of people gathering along the Graves Mill Road near the old Tomahawk Mill.

State troopers were called at midnight Friday to Graves Mill Road to disperse several carloads of curious ghost watchers. All of them were keeping the second consecutive vigil for a visitor with eyes of fire, who shakes chains and rattles something that sounds like bones, according to the report.

Virginia State Police were called to chase off those who had gathered to look for the specter. State Trooper Ray H. Keys told The News the five carloads of people, young and old, had not been drinking and were waiting for the ghost they insisted appeared the night before. No one seemed clear on the ghosts identity.

A couples bitter feud

This is the tale of two houses on Cabell Street and a couple who couldnt agree.

According to a 1998 article in The News & Advance, the Hurt house, which no longer stands, once occupied the lot of 416 Cabell St. Sanborn Fire Insurance maps show the house to have been a 2 story house with a sitting porch across the front bay. It was one of the largest homes in Daniels Hill at the time.

The house was built for William Hurt, who served as president of Piedmont Mills on Jefferson Street.

Sometime in 1918, William and his wife Annie sat around the breakfast table arguing over what color to paint the kitchen. Unable to resolve their fight, both got up and left the house, never to return.

William moved across the street to 502 Cabell and stayed there until he died. Annie took the children up to New York for a time, before setting up her home at 509 Cabell St. After Annies death in 1948, the house at 416 Cabell St. was slated for demolition and the contents of the home were either sold or trashed. Remnants of the breakfast over which the couple bickered still sat on the table.

Children in the neighborhood believed the house at 416 was haunted. It was rumored that Annie often sat in the window of her new home with a gun, looking over her old property. Phyllis Gay, who grew up on Harrison Street, told the paper Annie really did watch over her house, but not with a gun.

She really did sit there and watch the house as only a bitter woman can, she said.

Helen Bunch lived next door to the Hurts during the saga and recalled to The News & Advance that she purchased a pair of button top shoes and a pan of rock hard biscuits abandoned that morning in 1918.

Hiram T. Campbell was the man hired to demolish the home. His son recalled someone in the family purchased the couples ornate bed. The first night they slept in it, the bed began to jump up and down by itself. It scared the couple so badly they broke it apart and threw it out, burning it the next day.

Looking over her legacy

The death of Maria Georgiana Daisy Williams, the only child of Indiana Fletcher and James Henry Williams, at age 16 from an inherited lung condition in 1884 led to the founding of Sweet Briar College.

It seems only natural that her ghost and that of her mother, Indiana, who died in 1900, still exude influence over the womens college.

One such ghostly tale stems from the 1927 fire at the Sweet Briar House, according to a pamphlet entitled Ghost Stories and Mysteries of Sweet Briar.

After the blaze was extinguished, a faculty member stood looking over the blackened home with debris strewn about the yard at dusk, when she noticed movement in the boxwoods. She watched as a tall woman and a young girl walked arm-in-arm toward the porch before disappearing inside the blacked home. Another colleague saw the same thing about 30 minutes later, describing the pair as dressed in 1890s-style clothing.

In 1988, books belonging to Daisy appeared in the library that had never been catalogued into the library's collection, with no explanation of their arrival. They simply appeared in a neat stack. A similar thing happened with a medallion of Daisy that showed up in a storage area in 1931. And then there's the portrait whose eyes follow visitors, and tales of a broken music box that sometimes plays.

Many believe the unexplained phenomena to be the handiwork of Indiana and Daisy, with one student telling The News & Advance that instead of the "dog ate my homework" excuse, they have "Daisy took it."

Keeping watch over the school

In 1992, the security company that monitored Lynchburg public schools recorded voices in room 307 of William Marvin Bass Elementary on Seabury Avenue in the early morning hours of summers day, The News & Advance reported.

The voices, one a tenor and the other bass, were captured on a few seconds of recording in a security office in Richmond, prompting the Lynchburg Police to respond to the school a little before 6 a.m. When they arrived, the doors and windows of the high-ceilinged room remained closed and locked, and the sensor on the door hadnt been tripped. Officers found no one inside.

That isnt the only tale of mysterious happenings at the school  windows sometimes open on their own, door slam and teachers' items vanish.

Speculation on the source of the ghostly activities centers around Marvin Bass, the schools namesake, a revered educator and former principal of Fairview School. Bass died of a heart attack in 1963, though not at the school, as is often rumored. Bass often was described as a straightforward man whom the children respected.

Lawrence Stratton, a former custodian at the school, told The News & Advance he believes the ghost has a special but harmless interest in the building.

He likes to make sure that no one is doing anything back to his building, Stratton told the paper in 1992 after he had experienced a gust of wind in the building that he could not explain. He just wanted to let me know he was present.

The White Lady of Avenel

Its oft rumored the ghostly mistress of Avenel still roams the halls of the old plantation home in the heart of the town of Bedford.

Avenel was named for a castle in a book by Sir Walter Scott. The house was built for William Burwell and his wife, Francis Steptoe Burwell in 1836. Described as the very essence of Southern hospitality, the homes famous visitors included Edgar Allan Poe and Robert E. Lee.

The first reported sighting of the lady in white came in 1906, and the house soon gained its haunted reputation.

When we first saw her, my mother and a whole crowd of us went to the end of the porch, Peggy Ballard-Maupin told The News & Advance in 1993. It was about dusk when the white lady walked up the lane that passed by the house. My mother said, Do you see what I see? and just then the apparition disappeared in an old oak tree.

Maupin believed the ghost was that of Fannie Steptoe Burwell, daughter of the original owner. She lived at Avenel for 80 years, after her father bought the mansion from the Burwell family. It now belongs to a foundation, which uses the home as a historic venue while continuing its restoration.

Over the generations, much of the original furniture and portraiture of the house was lost. At one point several portraits from another house were brought in to decorate the walls. Those portraits would end up on the floor or turned around facing the walls. When some original portraits were found and returned to the home, the movement of the portraits stopped.

Perhaps the White Lady of Avenel is just Fannie looking over her family's home.

The headless horse and its rider

An apparition of a beautiful young woman riding a headless horse appeared from time to time on the old racetrack near New London, according to a 1960 article in The Lynchburg News.

As the tale goes, a new bride was trying out her mount gifted to her by her husband. As she galloped around the track, the horse stumbled, throwing her to the ground and breaking her neck. Her bereaved husband, in a fit of rage, killed the horse by chopping off its head.

Reports from decades ago indicate the young bride continues to ride her steed.

The 'nagging wife'

A 1974 issue of The Lynchburg News tells the tale of the ghost of an 18th-century wife who might still roam a house built in 1748 near Clifford in Amherst County.

The haunt is believed to be the ghost of Mrs. Hugh Rose, who has been known to play the piano and even ride a white horse through the fields surrounding the home called Geddes, according to local legend.

Colonel Hugh Rose, son of Geddes builder, the Rev. Robert Rose, added a study onto the house in the late 1700s, said to be a retreat from his wife.

Unable to nag the Colonel sufficiently during his lifetime Mrs. Hugh Rose has lingered through the centuries to pester his descendants and anyone else nearby, according to the article.

This house was one of the first built in the area. It sits as a one-story, nine room house with two large stone chimneys and once served as a social center for the community in the early 20th century.

Miss Cornelia Clopton came home

An antebellum house on Rivermont Avenue may still be home to a former owner  the benevolent ghost of Miss Cornelia Clopton.

A former owner of the house, who wished to remain anonymous when he was interviewed by The Lynchburg News, said he was awakened early the morning of April 5, 1974, when he heard the muffled sound of a door opening. He looked at the clock and it read 5 a.m.

The man crept to the top of the stairs and saw a strange light coming from the downstairs hallway. He watched as it took on the ghostly form of a woman, standing about 5 feet talk, with her hair pulled back and dressed in a full skirt. As she moved across the hall, she seemed to glow brighter. Shaken, the man returned to his bedroom to tell his wife what he had seen.

Later, the couple began researching their home, only to learn a former owner, Cornelia Clopton, was the last of her family to live in the house. In the spring of 1917, when Cornelia was in her 60s, she went to visit relatives up North. She contracted the flu and died away from her home. Her body was shipped back home, arriving April 5th, just after 5 a.m.

The owner said theyve heard noises since, but I dont go looking for her, but I dont avoid it either. If it happens, it happens. Shes a sweetheart. Its a very happy house.
After many years of research and planning, Thomas Jeffersons Poplar Forest has unveiled a brand-new exhibit highlighting a story that has been left on the sidelines in decades past: the daily lives of the enslaved people who made the plantation prosper.

Poplar Forests African American Advisory Group, with the rest of the organizations administration and board of directors, has debuted the project, which was years in the making: eight new interpretive signs for the plantations Quarter Site, featuring original artwork by Caldecott Medal-winning artist E.B. Lewis.

The exhibit is titled Inextricably Intertwined: Jefferson and the Enslaved Community at Poplar Forest.

The signage is Poplar Forests first new interpretive exhibit at the Quarter Site  a location where those enslaved by the third U.S. president lived from about 1790-1812  in more than a decade, according to the organization. It is a step in the organizations ongoing endeavors to restore humanity to the ones who ultimately built and operated Poplar Forest.

The exhibit features reproductions of artifacts found at the site for visitors to touch and examine up close, and the illustrated signage lists all the known names of the plantations enslaved population, heavily drawn from Jeffersons extensive records. Not only names are featured, but the stories pieced together of the individuals who lived there, told in a combination of words and watercolor illustrations. Visitors will get to learn about the daily life of these people, including the tradition of Sunday dinner  the only day off they had from their work  religion, community life and indoor living conditions.

Research on this topic has been ongoing since at least the 1990s, said Alyson Ramsey, president and CEO of Poplar Forest, and in 2015-2016, planning for the new exhibit really started gaining traction. After some delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the endeavor is at last ready to debut.

This initial exhibit marks the beginning of our effort to fully restore the Quarter Site over the coming years, said Kathryn Pumphrey, chair of Poplar Forests board of directors.

Lewis, a watercolor illustrator, painted using live models dressed in period clothing, paying close attention to the historic detail of Poplar Forests enslaved quarter buildings to create the images for the eight new signs. This project, which took about three years from start to finish, is similar to a previous commission Lewis worked on painting for an Underground Railroad museum at Niagara Falls, he said.

For Lewis, his work on the Quarter Site exhibit is largely about education, both for the present and for generations to come.

When I think about the work that I do, especially in this vein  working on historical issues, working and telling stories about my people  it comes from a place of love, Lewis said. The reason I do this work is because I love my people, and telling their story, its like a form of protection. Its like creating this opportunity to share the life of somebody that you love and say, The stories that youve heard  this is what it really looked like. This is what the pain looks like. This is what it felt like. They were unable to tell their story. So, Ive been given a wonderful opportunity to share this story. To tell about their suffering, and their pride, and their dignity, and their resilience.

Watercolor lends itself well to this type of storytelling, Lewis said.

Its such a medium that has vitality. It has a lot of light in it, he said. Although watercolor has been Lewiss specialty for about 50 years, and as such, he said, he might be partial to it, to him this was the only medium for such a project.

The history of enslaved people in the United States is everyones history, not just Black history, or otherwise one-sided, Lewis said.

This is not African American history. This is American history, Lewis said. If youre telling the story ... there are parts that you want to cut out. You want to edit. What has been edited is the ugly part. The part that we dont want to tell, the part that we dont want to let our children know actually happened. But its necessary to tell that story, so we can see that theres good and bad. Youre going to have some dark sides, and youre going to have some light sides. You learn from the dark sides.

Ramona Battle, a member of Poplar Forests African American Advisory Group since its inception in 2016 and an affiliate of the organization for even longer, credited a very cohesive team who helped make this exhibit possible. The support from Poplar Forest staff, board of directors, other partners and the advisory group brought the years-long goal to fruition.

Generally, visitors went to Poplar Forest to learn about Mr. Jefferson and all his exploits, his daily life and his family, et cetera. This focus is not on him. This focus is on the enslaved family members who lived there, and what they did and who they were, Battle said. If it wasnt for them, the plantation couldnt have been sustained. They did all the hard work. It was their efforts that brought about the success of plantation life.

While Jefferson traveled extensively, not staying permanently at Poplar Forest most of the time, Battle said the enslaved population remained there consistently: seven days per week, 365 days per year.

Theyre part of the fabric of the plantation. You cant do the research, you cant look at the history, and not see them come forward, she said.

The exhibit plans evolved over time, Battle said. She recalled discussions years ago about how few people of color came to visit historic plantations compared with visitors not of color, and organizations asked why that was. The observation was that appeal tended to lack when ones story was ultimately relegated to the sidelines. Visiting a plantation as a person of color was simply not very relatable or uplifting for many in that population.

You dont see yourself being reflected, Battle said. This, hopefully, will allow people to come see the humanistic side to the folks who lived there and the folks who worked there.

Battle added she hopes this exhibit also will help provide expanded resources for descendants of enslaved people who may have resided at Poplar Forest or nearby.

Some of the funding for the exhibit was provided by money from the Institute for Museum and Library Services, Battle said, as well as other donations and sponsorships.

Telling the full story of Poplar Forest and restoring humanity are highlights of the new exhibit for Battle.

The all-day event, formally called Roots and Reconnection: Celebrating Our Story, featured a lineup of traditional African music and dance; an art workshop led by Lewis; African American folktales, work songs and other storytelling events; book talks and signings by invited authors; archaeological exhibitions in the field; period games and other activities to try; and a descendant of both Thomas Jefferson and Peter Hemings, an enslaved man, was invited.

These stories should have been told long ago, and they werent. Now were on the right path, Battle said.
Im about to raise some eyebrows among our veterans and their supporters here in Lynchburg. I have a problem with the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP).

Readers may recall how the organization came under fire in 2015. Founded in 2003 in Roanoke, it had grown to be one of the largest charities in the United States, taking in millions of dollars and claiming to be spending 80 percent of donations on programs and activities for wounded veterans. Investigative reports revealed the actual figure to be 58 percent. Much of the WWPs revenue was going toward branding and self-promotion. It was further revealed that the leadership was claiming large salaries and that a lot of veterans were unhappy with the help they were receiving, or failing to receive, from the WWP.

Some complained of about merely receiving trivial branded merchandise  such as fleece beanies or backpacks, rather than the help they really needed, such as rides to VA facilities. One veteran aptly summed up what rubbed him the wrong way about the WWP: Everything is a dog and pony show. The consensus seemed to be that the organization should be spending a lot less on touting their own good works and more on actually helping injured veterans.

All that, Im given to believe, has since been remedied. The organization is under new management, and I dont doubt they are doing a lot of good for wounded veterans and their families. I do still wonder about how much they are spending to produce those slick TV commercials hosted by Trace Adkins. And as a Vietnam veteran myself, I hate to see maimed, disabled, and disfigured veterans trotted out to raise money even for a good cause. But thats not my main concern.

I have this social-democratic belief that the government that sends you off to war to be wounded should shoulder the full burden of your treatment and rehabilitation  physically and psychologically. So kudos to the WWP as it now exists and for what it does, but we never should have needed them in the first place.

It was President Eisenhower, in 1960, who first warned us about the unwarranted influence of the military-industrial complex. But Ike couldnt foresee the half of it. Who would have thought back then that we would even be outsourcing the care of our wounded veterans to private-sector charities? For the moment at least, were no longer at war, and donations may dry up. What then for those veterans who have come to rely on charities such as the WWP? Will Congress fund and expand VA facilities to take up the slack?

I have a problem, moreover, with the WWPs branding that I cant really pin on them. When did we start styling everyone who serves in the military as a warrior? Not only is the term pretentious, it carries with it the wrong connotation  the war lover who longs for war, any war. We dont need warriors. We need soldiers  and I use the term generically to encompass the members of each branch of the armed services. Soldiers prepare to do what is necessary to defend our country and our way of life. Ours is not a militaristic society. This is Athens, not Sparta  and that is a good thing.
When Iowa House District 19 candidate Elizabeth Christensen is canvassing neighborhoods, shes knocking on everyones door, not only the doors of fellow registered Democrats.

She said she wants to hear from all of her potential constituents, not just those who share the same party affiliation.

Im getting a real smattering of insight from everyone here in Council Bluffs District 19, Christensen said in an email. Weve had really great conversations.

Of foremost concern to most residents she has spoken with are issues that directly impact their lives and their families  wages, job growth and renters rights.

Ive learned people want to keep having the security to plan and raise all of their family members  like so many of residents and I commiserate on  that we saw and experienced ourselves growing here in the last 30 years, said Christensen, who has a young daughter.

That doesnt mean voters arent also concerned about larger issues, such as the erosion of civil liberties for certain members of the population and access to affordable health care.

Christensen said that voters from both parties told her that they were concerned about the violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Some folks, they werent comfortable in defining what happened on January 6th one way or the other, but completely recognized the violence took place and wanted to lean heavily into dismissing lies that questioned the legitimacy of the election and encourage instead trust in the institutes of our government working, she said. It was important for many people from all backgrounds that their representative would actually denounce the lie pushed that the 2020 election was stolen, and that their representative would speak plainly and defend the results of the 2020 election.

Asked to clarify his position by The Daily Nonpareil, Christensens opponent, Brent Siegrist, said that Joe Biden won the 2020 election and said that he has never claimed otherwise: If voters want a representative who doesnt lie about the 2020 election, they can just vote for me, he said. (Siegrist was featured in a campaign profile in Fridays Nonpareil.)

Christensen said that trust in government is one of her key issues, and she wants to help restore that trust by urging for more transparency when local governments want to raise property taxes.

On her campaign website, Christensen cites an op-ed written by John Hendrickson, policy director for the Iowans for Tax Relief Foundation, who argues that truth-in-taxation laws in Utah and Kansas have led to more transparency and increased public participation in government.

Such a law would require local governments to send notices to taxpayers, providing information about the proposed tax increase and how it will impact their tax bill. The law also triggers a public hearing, after which lawmakers would have to go on record with their vote whether to raise the property tax or not.

Christensen said that because of her career as a information technology project manager, residents should know that she thrives with details.

Because of my technical career, I care specifically about transparency, and am goal oriented, as well as tough and familiar with navigating complexities, she said. (Voters should) feel really good that I am committed to my campaign goals.

In addition to increased transparency in taxation, Christensen wants to continue pushing for ranked choice voting, which would provide more opportunity in representation, she said.

The electoral system has voters rank their choice of candidates by ordered preference, with those rankings used to determine a winner in the event no candidate wins a majority of ballots as voters first preference.

Introducing a ranked choice vote will help eliminate the spoiler effect and give voters an opportunity to become engaged with their civic duty again, Christensen wrote on her campaign Facebook page.

I chose these goals specifically because better control over our property tax and more representation is what every Iowan deserves, and they can get behind, Christensen said.

From speaking with her fellow residents, Christensen came away with the impression that residents are ready and excited for the next generation of representatives, she said.

Ive learned theyre excited about people who are capable of understanding the complexity that is the legislative landscape, and also care implicitly about preserving the simplicity and uniqueness of living in Council Bluffs, Christensen said. I know voters are weighing heavily right now on choosing an elected official who will have the conviction and grit to protect the city/county/state from any deterioration in confidence of our elections. They can count on me to commit to my two campaign goals that benefit all; to have the competency in navigating legislative complexity; and the mettle to protect our democracy.
DES MOINES  Republican Mike Naig is seeking another four-year term as Iowas secretary of agriculture in order to continue to seek new markets for Iowa agriculture products and to continue work on improving water quality in the state.

Democrat John Norwood, a businessman and Polk County Soil and Water commissioner, wants to expedite Iowas work on improving water quality and foster an agricultural system that he says would be built to last.

Naig had been working as deputy secretary of the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship when, in 2018, he was promoted to the post after former Secretary Bill Northey accepted a position in the federal ag department. Later that year, Naig won election to a full, four-year term as ag secretary.

Mike Naig

During an interview, Naig, 44, praised his departments work over the past four years in response to historic flooding, droughts, a derecho, and return of the bird flu, not to mention a global pandemic.

Weve had to be very flexible. Weve had to be responsive to the times. And, frankly, those were some things that were historic and unprecedented. We hadnt seen things like that before, Naig said. And Im proud of the way that our team has reflected the agriculture community in how they had to deal with these things, to be resilient and really still get the job done.

Naig said he is proud of the work that has been done to improve Iowas water quality during his tenure, and that he hopes to expand upon that work in another four-year term. He said with dedicated funding from the state in place for the next 17 years, he expects the state can leverage that funding to obtain even more resources through federal and private funding.

The percentage of Iowas waters that are deemed impaired declined slightly in 2022, but still is at more than half, according to an annual state Department of Natural Resources report. That percentage has been higher than 50 percent since 2010, according to the report.

We finally secured long-term, dedicated funding that has allowed us to turn the page now and focus on how do we scale up, Naig said. Were looking at ways to leverage those state resources with federal dollars, with private sector dollars, with farmer and landowner dollars, cities, and how do we just continue to leverage and get more and more efficient in our work and get more and more done.

John Norwood

Before Norwood moved to Iowa in 2002, he lived and worked for a large water utility in Boston and led an agricultural land trust California. In Iowa, he owns a small business and is a business adviser.

During an interview, Norwood, 58, said the pace of Iowas work on water quality issues is not sufficient.

We cant do things one at a time and hopefully move the needle, Norwood said.

He said the state needs to scale up its work, should work more with local drainage districts and develop a strategy that includes all stakeholders, including both the farm operators and land owners on farms where those are separate.

Norwood said he believes Iowas agriculture system is unbalanced, with too much reliance on growing corn and soybeans, which can have a detrimental impact on water quality if farmers grow crops too close to waterways.

He believes the state should find ways to encourage farmers to diversify their crops.

The commodity markets were so good at. Its really the specialty markets we have to get better at, ensuring things that complement the systems. We need that because the foundation of our economy is agriculture. But our agriculture is unbalanced, Norwood said. We need to add resiliency. We need to add diversity and inclusiveness. We need to add flexibility to the system.

Norwood said he feels that some government programs, like crop insurance, may be encouraging farming practices that will be bad for the land in the long-term. He proposes using incentives to encourage practices that will preserve or even improve water quality and soil health.

I use sort of that model for when youre a physician: first do no harm. Were doing things today where were harming the system, Norwood said. The first responsibility is to protect the resource. If we dont protect the resource, then were trading present productivity for future productivity.

Its an intergenerational issue. And I think we have a moral and ethical responsibility not to run the system aground.

Early voting is underway. Election Day is Nov. 8.
Time is marching steadily toward the Council Bluffs Veterans Day Parade.

The annual event will step off at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 5, at South Main Street and Ninth Avenue.

Clayton Cactus Schaner and Brad Powell will be honored as grand marshals for this years parade.

Vietnam veteran to serve as Grand Marshal for Veterans Day Parade After serving in the U.S. Army for more than 20 years  including two tours of duty in Vietnam  Clayton Cactus Schaner of Council Bluffs wi

Schaner, 85, joined the U.S. Army on Sept. 13, 1955, at the age of 18 and served for more than 20 years, including two tours of duty in Vietnam.

Along the way, Schaner was assigned to Fort Benning, Georgia; Heidelberg, Germany; Fort Lewis, Washington; Fort Mead, Maryland; Fort Riley, Kansas; and Fort Carson, Colorado. He was discharged on May 1, 1976, at the rank of sergeant.

Despite a long career in trucking, he has been involved in multiple activities of American Legion Post No. 2 in Council Bluffs.

Powell also a Grand Marshal in 2022 Council Bluffs Veterans Day Parade This years Council Bluffs Veterans Day Parade will honor Brad Powell as a Grand Marshal, as well as Clayton Cactus Schaner, who was feature

Powell, 71, joined the U.S. Navy after earning an associate degree in computer programming at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids.

After basic training, Powell was assigned to a naval base in Tennessee now known as Naval Support Activity Mid-South. The base was a regional center for training for personnel from the Army and Navy. Powell was involved in scheduling training sessions and keeping records of the students who trained there. He served for four years and was discharged on Jan. 18, 1975.

He and his family moved to Omaha, where he worked for First Data Resources for 31 years. After their four sons graduated from high school, he and his wife, Susan, moved to Council Bluffs. He has been active in many veterans organizations on the state, district and local levels and has served as an officer in most of them, as well as webmaster for several.

The parade will follow its usual route, proceeding north on South Main Street and Pearl Street to West Broadway, jogging east to Main Street and returning south on Main as far as Story Street, where participants will fall out.

A free lunch will be served after the parade at American Legion Post No. 2, 716 S. Fourth St. The event will include raffles, auctions and prizes.

Parade information, including online and mail-in entry forms, the parade route and rules, can be found at councilbluffsveteransdayparade.org.

For more information, contact the Council Bluffs Veterans Day Parade Committee at CBVeteransdayparade@gmail.com or call 402-319-3999 or 402-490-3070.
An Iowa judge should allow a law passed in 2018 that bans most abortions to take effect, three years after the measure was ruled unconstitutional, lawyers for Gov. Kim Reynolds argued Friday.

Chris Schandevel, a lawyer for the Republican governor, said Judge Celene Gogerty should set aside a 2019 permanent injunction that prevented Iowa from enforcing a law that would block abortions once cardiac activity can be detected. That is usually around six weeks of pregnancy and before many women know theyre pregnant.

Schandevel said the injunction rests entirely on an Iowa Supreme Court 2018 decision that guaranteed the right to an abortion under the Iowa Constitution and cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1992 and 1973 that established abortion rights nationally.

All three cases were overruled this year by more conservative courts and given that, Reynolds lawyers argued the judge should reverse the injunction and let the 2018 law take effect.

It would be inequitable to prevent the people of Iowa to have their voices heard through a validly enacted law, enacted as recently as 2018, he said.

Rita Bettis Austen, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, countered that there is no precedent or legal support in Iowa for a judge to reverse a final judgment entered three years ago,

This case is closed, said Bettis Austen, who is representing Planned Parenthood, the states leading abortion provider, which challenged the law in court. Iowa rules of civil procedure clearly govern this type of motion.

She said the rules only allow a court to vacate a final judgement within a year and do not allow such a reversal for a change in law.

The judge said she would issue a ruling soon.

The case should at least in the short term decide whether most abortions remain legal in Iowa. Reynolds, who is running for a second term as governor, opted for the court strategy instead of attempting to pass a law banning abortions in the midst of the midterm elections.

Iowa Democrats and the liberal advocacy organization Progress Iowa held separate news conferences this week to call attention to the hearing and espouse their support for a pregnant persons access to an abortion.

What were hearing today is not about politics. Its not about the election. Its about womens lives, Jennifer Konfrst, the Democratic leader in the Iowa House, said Friday at the Progress Iowa news conference. Its about whether or not women will have the opportunity to survive a miscarriage, to survive an ectopic pregnancy, to thrive in a life where she can have the resources she needs to care for her family.

At the Progress Iowa news conference at the Iowa Capitol in Des Moines on Thursday, an Iowa City woman explained why she believes an abortion restriction would put her life in danger.

Clara  the woman was identified only by her first name in order to protect her privacy, a state party spokeswoman said  described the harrowing ordeal that led to her baby being born premature and later dying. She said her life would be in danger if should would become pregnant again and be required to carry a fetus to term.

A Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll released earlier this month showed that 61% of Iowans believe abortion should be legal in most or all cases. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

During Fridays hearing, Schandevel said courts have an inherent authority over their own injunctions and can reverse them regardless of how long ago they were decided.

Lawyers for both sides also argued about whether the law remains constitutional under Iowas current legal status.

The Iowa Supreme Court, in its June decision overturning the state constitutional right to an abortion granted four years ago, did not decide on the level of scrutiny that judges must use to weigh new abortion bans. Instead, the court left that issue to be further considered.

Since the 2018 decision granting Iowans a constitutional right to an abortion, Iowa courts have held abortion restrictions to the highest level of strict scrutiny, which requires laws to be narrowly tailored to fulfill a compelling governmental interest.

With that constitutional right struck down, Bettis Austen argued the undue burden level of scrutiny remains in Iowa until the courts change it. She noted that the Iowa Supreme Court has previously said bans on abortion early in pregnancy, including six-week bans, could not survive the undue burden test.

Schandevel said it is appropriate for the judge to reject the undue burden test and instead analyze the law using rational basis review. That is the lowest level of court scrutiny that allows most laws to survive legal challenges.

Under this test lawmakers need only to show they have a legitimate state interest in passing a law and that there is a rational connection between the law and its intended goals. Many courts have upheld abortion restrictions under the rational basis test.

The abortion law approved by lawmakers and signed by Reynolds requires providers to perform tests to detect a fetal heartbeat  which usually occurs at about six weeks after a womans last menstrual period  with exceptions for medical emergencies, rape and incest. Embryos dont have hearts at this gestational stage, so an ultrasound actually measures electrical impulses, not a true heartbeat, providers say.

Any decision Gogerty makes is likely to be appealed.

Twelve states currently ban abortion at conception. Georgia currently enforces a six-week ban similar to what Iowa would have if allowed by the courts. Kentucky, Louisiana, North Dakota and Oklahoma have six-week bans that have been prohibited from enforcement by court orders. In Wisconsin, clinics have stopped providing abortions though there is a dispute over whether a ban is in effect.
A vote for Belt, Jorgensen and Miller

As with most citizens in Pottawattamie County, over the years we have had concerns and questions that needed to be addressed at either the Council Bluffs or Avoca courthouses.

During our interactions with county employees, we have found them to be professional, competent, hardworking and respectful; always willing to go that extra mile.

Let that can do, positive attitude continue with this midterm election.

In November, we will be electing three Pottawattamie County supervisors. We urge you to use all three of your votes to re-elect the experienced Scott Belt and elect budget conscious Jeff Jorgensen and the very capable Susan Miller to the Board of Supervisors.

Gene and Betsy Moniz

Oakland

I trust Shudak

Im a lifelong Republican and a 30-year resident of Pottawattamie County. Today I received a text message attacking Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors candidate Jeff Shudak, which paints Jeff as a Liberal Democrat.

The text in question would be concerning, if true. However, Ive been working with Jeff on his campaign for more than six months, and we have had hours of conversations. I consider myself a moderate Republican, and in all my conversations with Jeff, I consider him to be a moderate Democrat. Ive never heard Jeff have an opinion on gun control, which is a national and state issue, not a Pottawattamie County issue. Ive never heard him bad-mouth law enforcement in any way. On the contrary, he has sought (and in many cases, received) their endorsements. He has expressed solidarity with them as union members, and he has advocated for greater respect and higher wages for those in Pottawattamie County who keep us safe. Thats the truth of who he is.

I trust the Jeff Shudak I know. I have campaigned with him and his supporters for more than six months and Jeff is always who he represents himself as  a plumber, not a politician, who wants to bring transparency and accountability back to our county government. Hes a person whos concerned with our tax spending while also looking to the future of Pottawattamie County.

As a former employee of the Douglas County Sheriffs Department, I spent 14 years around politicians in the County Courthouse. Believe me when I tell you that Jeff Shudak is no politician. Jeff is a union plumber, and he has my vote.

Jim Bojanski

Council Bluffs

Vote NO on the Iowa Constitutional Amendment

The Nov. 8 ballot has an amendment to the Iowa Constitution, Public Measure 1, an amendment that would subject current and future gun laws to strict scrutiny. Please vote no. This appears on the back side of the ballot.

Voting no on this amendment will not take away our guaranteed constitutional rights. The right to bear arms is secure and established by the Second Amendment of our United States Constitution. The sovereign state of Iowa affirms and recognizes this right to be a fundamental individual right.

Voting no means that felons or persons with mental health issues could not legally carry any type of weapon.

Voting no further protects our law enforcement officers who face criminals who could have unrestricted abilities to carry any type of weapon. In 2020, homicides by gun increased by in the state of Iowa by 80%.

Voting no means that Iowa gun owners will continue their rights without forfeiting the safety of our Iowa children and their future.

Irene Brucker

Council Bluffs

Jorgensen a great choice

Jeff Jorgensen is a great choice for the Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors. As a veteran, Jeff has a passion for our country and will continue to have that passion while serving the citizens of Pottawattamie County.

He goes above and beyond, not for recognition, but because it is the right thing to do. Very few people are as committed as Jeff. Hes open, honest, and transparent. He will work hard for the people and for the good of our county. Vote Jeff Jorgensen.

Monica Bentzinger

& Jackie Wahl

Carter Lake

Vote no on strict scrutiny

There is an amendment on the ballot this year that reads almost like the second amendment. Almost but not the same. They have included the phrase strict scrutiny. Because of that legal phrase it would be very difficult to enact any commonsense gun laws, like preventing felons and domestic abusers to get guns. Iowa does not need this amendment. Please vote no on this amendment.

Dolores Bristol

Council Bluffs

Vote Melton

Is Randy Feenster working for Iowa? Every Iowa candidate seeking a statewide or federal office has agreed to at least one televised debate, with one exception: U.S. Representative Randy Feenstra. He is the Republican running for a second term in Iowas fourth Congressional district who rejected an invitation from Iowa PBS without explanation.

It appears that he doesnt want to be debated or on a discussion panel, as he also didnt show for an event at the Clay County Fair. He is also declining to be interviewed by the news media. Isnt he supposed to keep his constituents informed on the platform he is running on?

If he isnt willing to do his job, then Ryan Melton is more than capable and willing to accept your vote. He holds degrees from University of Iowa and University of Kansas. He works for a Fortune 500 and has 19 employees working for him in that capacity.

Do you want to vote for a person that will not indicate where he stands on the issues that affect Iowans, or do you want to vote for Ryan Melton who has already presented his platform on womens choice, education and opposing the use of eminent domain to acquire property for carbon pipeline projects? I know who I will vote for and that is Ryan Melton.

Marianne Dirksen

Council Bluffs

Renewable energy powers southwest Iowa

Its no secret that Iowa knows what were doing when it comes to renewable energy. Weve been doing it since 1983, when Iowa became the first state in the nation to adopt a renewable portfolio standard. Today, 59.5% of all electricity produced in Iowa comes from renewable sources, totaling 12,591 MW.

The positive impacts of this development can be seen in every corner of the state, specifically here in southwest Iowa.

Major companies and organizations see what Iowa is capable of in terms of renewable energy generation and choose to bring their operations here to help meet their clean energy goals. The business and investment that have been attracted to this region is outstanding: food production, manufacturing, distribution, transportation, logistics organizations, technology, data centers and more.

These industries are critically important to what were able to attain here in our community, and its thanks to our renewable portfolio.

But it doesnt stop there. Council Bluffs own Iowa Western Community College offers programs in renewable energy technology and solar installation  programs that are designed to provide the skills and knowledge required for careers in the installation and maintenance of renewable energy systems.

The renewables industry offers students in Iowa a whole new world of opportunities for their future, and were able to educate them right here in our own community and often keep them here with the jobs that clean energy projects create.

The success that we have seen here in southwest Iowa can be achieved in every community in Iowa with the acceptance and implementation of clean energy. It is my hope that fellow community leaders can use our region as an example to follow and help Iowa continue its national success.

Drew Kamp

Council Bluffs

Commonsense laws protect pit bulls

Misleading people to believe pit bulls are like any other breed, as Colin Dayans opinion piece does, is dangerous and irresponsible.

In my 35 years of animal protection work, including as an animal control officer and shelter manager, Ive seen firsthand that pit bulls are the most abused dogs. Their strength, tough appearance and tenacity make them frequent targets for dogfighters and other criminals. On a daily basis, PETA fieldworkers find pit bulls chained, starved and neglected.

Dogs who were designed and bred to kill other animals and are disproportionately abused sometimes lash out, with fatal results. One man told me that his pit bull was never right after being fed gunpowder. A police officer shot the dog to death in an attempt to stop his relentless, ultimately fatal attack on another dog.

Pit bulls are also the number one breed admitted to shelters, and the hardest to place responsibly. With millions of animals suffering for lack of homes, breeding more of any kind especially a breed so vulnerable to exploitation  should be illegal.

People who have pit bulls best interests at heart support humane, commonsense laws regulating these dogs acquisition and care, including requiring them to be spayed or neutered.

Teresa Chagrin

Animal Care and Control Issues Manager, PETA
Namibia has called on Germany to go back to the negotiating table to discuss again and review the genocide agreement reached in May 2021 between the two governments.

Technical committees of Namibia and Germany discussed the issue and proposed that amendments be made to the joint declaration in the form of an addendum which was submitted to the German government, Namibias Vice President Mbumba told a meeting of traditional leaders in the capital Windhoek, earlier this week. No details of the proposed changes were given, as Namibia now awaits a response from Germany.

Tens of thousands of Namibians, mainly members of the Herero and Nama ethnic groups, were killed by German settlers during the 1904-1908 period in what historians call the first genocide of the 20th century.

Berlin acknowledged in May 2021 that it had committed genocide in the southern African territory which it colonized between 1884 and 1915. After over five years of negotiations, Germany offered about a billion dollar in development aid spread over 30 years to benefit descendants of the affected ethnic groups. But the agreement stresses the funds would be paid on a voluntary basis and that the agreement was not comparable to reparations.

The request to review the deal was made in July following discussions in the Namibian National Assembly after the government came under mounting criticism from the opposition. Many Namibians rejected the agreement, arguing that the descendants of the Herero and Nama had not been sufficiently involved in the talks.
YBO - Tran Huy Tuan, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the Peoples Committee of Yen Bai province, attended a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the friendly cooperation between Yen Bai and Xayabury province of Laos, as part of his working trip to the neighbouring country on October 27.

The ceremony saw the attendance of Phongsavan Sitthavong, Secretary of the Party Committee and Governor of Xayabury province; and Kieu Thi Hang Phuc, Vietnams Consul General in Northern Laos, among others.





In his remarks, Phongsavan Sitthavong stressed that the meeting offers an opportunity to review the special solidarity and whole-hearted mutual support between the two Parties, States, and localities in particular.





The cooperation has brought about good results in such spheres as delegation exchange, education-training, health care, agriculture, military and infrastructure construction, the official said.





Tran Huy Tuan, Chairman of Peoples Committee of Yen Bai province, speaks at the vent.





Xayaburys officials and students who underwent training courses in Yen Bai have actively contributed to local socio-economic development after returning home, he noted.





For his part, Tuan thanked Party leaders, authorities and people of the Lao province for their efforts in building and promoting the traditional friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between the two localities in the past decade.





Over the past years, Yen Bai and Xayabury have diversified their cooperation activities across spheres. They have worked hard to effectively implement the reached cooperation agreement, while expanding cooperation to the areas of shared concern.





Yen Bai has support Xayabury in the building of hospitals and schools and information-technology development with 14.5 billion VND (583,970 USD). The two localities have also assisted each other in personnel training and cooperated in health care, agriculture and industry and trade.





Earlier, the Vietnamese delegation paid tribute to late President Kaysone Phomvihane and held talks with representatives from Xayabury, during which they reviewed cooperation between the two provinces in 2012-2022 and sketched out a cooperation plan for the time ahead.





An art performance at the celebration





Tran Huy Tuan, Chairman of the Peoples Committee of Yen Bai province, planted a tree at Xayaburys convention centre.





The Yen Bai delegates to the event.
Ahead of the COP27 in Egypt, Namibian and European Union officials say they have reached an agreement for Namibia to export rare earth materials to the EU, as Namibias total exports to the EU market have soared by 50%.

The EU is interested in developing the mining of minerals like lithium, cobalt and graphite, which are currently mined on a small scale in the country, according to Erasmus Shivolo, a senior official from Namibias Ministry of Mines and Energy.

The EU is the one saying, Well, Namibia has got certain minerals that are critical to the energy transition and therefore we want to explore opportunities in working together to develop projects in that space, Shivolo said. This possible agreement comes at a time when Western nations are seeking sources besides China for these minerals, which are used to make batteries for mobile phones, electric cars and other technology.

Shivolo added that the EU is also interested in Namibias ambitious plan to become a producer of green hydrogen, a clean power source that could be used by industry and to power electric vehicles.

According to EU Ambassador to Namibia Sinikka Antila, both parties are now working on a MoU, which is an outgrowth of an African Union-European Union summit that took place in Brussels last year. The agreement has not yet been signed, but it will be soon, Antila said, adding that both sides agreed that we will start on building a partnership on sustainable raw materials and the green hydrogen. Antila pointed to another factor speeding up the EUs pursuit of alternative energy sources  Russias invasion of Ukraine. This situation makes it even more important now, because the fact is we have to get rid of the dependency on Russian gas because Russia is not a reliable partner at the moment, she said. Meanwhile, the big picture is that Namibias exports to the EU market has grown by 50%, and at one point reached 36 billion while imports only grew by 8.9%, EU Ambassador to Namibia said.
The majority of the Colombian people is opposed to the decision to establish relations with the polisario, a separatist group that is not recognized by the UN, nor by any European or Arab country, except for Algeria, said Colombian Senator German Blanco, who pleaded for the revision of this decision.

German Blanco stressed that the signing this week by a majority of Colombian senators (62 out of 108) of a motion that rejects the decision of President Gustavo Petro to establish relations with the so-called SADR is a strong signal on the rejection of this initiative by the majority of the Colombian people.

In the Senate, we believe that Colombia should not interfere in the internal affairs of another sovereign state and that Morocco deserves all our respect, insisted the senator in an interview with MAP.

We have had bilateral relations with Morocco for 50 years, relations reflected in conventions and trade agreements that make the Kingdom a strategic partner for Colombia, Senator German Blanco added.

For these reasons, Colombia, contrary to what President Petro and his Minister of Foreign Affairs do, cannot establish relations with a separatist group.

The Colombian senator emphasized that the motion to reject this decision was signed by a majority of senators from the center-right and the left, including those who are political allies of Gustavo Petro. The motion urged the current government to corrects its position towards the polisario separatist group.

He added that the motion stresses that Colombia aspires to strengthen relations with Morocco () which we consider a strategic partner in the current international context and a gateway to Africa.

German Blanco also said that the Colombian governments decision, which does not reflect the position of all Colombians, nor that of Congress, risks deteriorating a very solid relationship with Morocco.

Last Tuesday, a motion endorsed by an overwhelming majority of the Colombian Senate expressed its outright rejection and its total disagreement with the decision of Gustavo Petro which goes against the fundamental principles of Colombian diplomacy.
Germany has donated security materials and equipment to the Casablanca Mohammed V Airport to help strengthen security, improve passengers experience and strengthen the efficiency and operational performance at the airport.

The donation consists of three security equipment of the latest generation, a corridor of air security control and two security scanners. This security equipment, already installed in the international transit area of the Mohammed V airport, is used by border police for checking passengers and their cabin luggage.

Thanks to this advanced technology, the processing capacity is increased to 200 passengers per hour, reducing waiting time and increasing the fluidity of the circuits in the transit area.

The donation was made under an agreement between Moroccos National Office of Airports (ONDA) and the Embassy of Germany.
A Global Congress on Chemical Security & Emerging Threats, held this week in Marrakech, called for enhanced international cooperation in these fields.

This conclave was organized by the INTERPOL, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the U.S. Department of Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and the FBI, in partnership with Moroccos Directorate General for National Security (DGSN) and the G7 Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction.

At the closing ceremony of this three-day event, participants also called for the exchange of expertise and information to address challenges related to chemical security and emerging threats, as well as the promotion of specialized training in this area.

INTERPOL Counter-Terrorism Director Greg Hinds said the experts proposed recommendations to enhance chemical security throughout the chemical supply chain, empower retail outlets to report suspicious purchases and activities, develop INTERPOLs Global Knowledge Platform as a collaborative tool for interactive discussions and access to resources, and strengthen the network through greater diversity of expertise across regions and sectors.

Delegates brought new methods, technologies and strategies to help them work more securely and effectively and in a collaborative approach, Greg Hinds noted, adding that participants are all committed to consolidating the outcomes of this meeting and sharing them with network members to jointly address the threats that continue to evolve.

Judicial Police Central Director, Interpol Director in Morocco Mohamed Dkhissi, on his part said the meeting adopted a series of recommendations to strengthen and develop the capacity of law enforcement agencies in detecting and preventing the acquisition and use of chemical materials and explosives for criminal purposes.

Dkhissi noted that the international experts have stressed the importance of strengthening international cooperation in the field of chemical security and emerging threats related mainly to terrorism and organized crime, to promote the exchange of expertise and information between various law enforcement agencies, and to support specialized training in this field.
Moroccos approach to the fight against cross-border organized crime was highlighted during the 25th International Conference of Border Police, held in Warsaw October from 26 to 28 by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex).

Director of migration and border surveillance at the Ministry of Interior, Khalid Zerouali, who took part in the conference, explained that Moroccos approach falls in line with a global logic, that integrates legislative and institutional reforms in several areas related to money laundering, crypto-currency, cybercrime, smuggling, dual-use products, the fight against trafficking, anti-terrorism and arms trafficking.

In this approach, the monitoring of borders remains a major and central axis, especially since the concept of borders has evolved and the new borders are reflected in a decompartmentalized connection between all countries even in the absence of physical borders or demarcation lines, he said, stressing the need for a stronger cooperation between partners on smart borders and control mechanisms.

Surveying the actions made by Morocco, the official noted that the Kingdom has established and maintains, despite the exorbitant cost, a large-scale control of its Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts, two maritime facades of over 3,200 km, and its border routes to prohibit illegal cross-border activities.

The surveillance system in place is not part of a logic of mono-targeting aimed only at the trafficking of migrants, but represents a shield against all forms of organized crime, he explained.

The resilience of the surveillance system is also highlighted by its unique operational configuration, since not only does it struggle against infiltration attempts on the national territory, but concomitantly it neutralizes, as part of its major contribution to regional security, attempts to cross-border trafficking, from the national territory.

Through this strategy, tangible results have been achieved, said Khalid Zerouali, referring in this connection to the abortion of more than 560,000 attempts of irregular migration over the past decade, in addition to the dismantling of more than 2,000 networks of trafficking in migrants and human beings, the seizure of large quantities of drugs and the abortion of several terrorist projects planned both on the national territory and in several friendly countries in Europe.

Border security and the fight against cross-border trafficking networks cannot be the prerogative of a single country, he insisted, noting that a concrete, frank and loyal international cooperation is the keystone to hope for decisive results by giving the means to the ambitions displayed.

However, Zerouali deplored that multilateral efforts are fragmented and do not allow an appropriate and timely response to current challenges.

Our meeting today is an opportunity to explore ways to make the multilateral tool more effective and more concerned with the synergy between the different areas of cooperation between the two shores of the Mediterranean, he said, underscoring the strategic relationship and the plural partnership dimension of relations between Morocco and the EU, relations which are part of a constant dynamic of strengthening.

Onn the sidelines of his participation in the international conference, Zerouali held talks with Frontex Executive Director ad interim Aija Kalnaja, who highlighted the role of Morocco as a reliable and credible partner to meet common challenges.

The talks that focused on cooperation in the field of border management were part of the Frontex-Morocco meeting, the third of a set of annual discussions held within the framework of the Frontex-Morocco joint committee.

The European official stressed the role of Morocco as a gateway to the African continent and the close collaboration between the Kingdom and Frontex to address common challenges.

We are sharing lots of challenges and are working closely together to overcome these difficulties and prepare better future, she stated.

Frontex acknowledges the immense efforts made by the Moroccan authorities to address the challenges of migrant smuggling, trafficking in human beings and other types of cross-border crime, Kalnaja added.

The official also expressed Frontexs commitment to further strengthen partnership with Morocco as a reliable and credible partner, so that we can tackle those challenges together.

As a follow-up to the meeting, the two parties will work together in implementing a joint roadmap, including activities in the area of coast guard cooperation, risk analysis and addressing trafficking in human beings.

The 25th International Border Police Conference (IBPC) which brought together the law enforcement community discussed contingency planning for emergencies at the borders.

Efficient responses to crises, cross-border health threats and protection of migrants and refugees were among the key items on the agenda of the international event.
King Mohammed VI has sent a message to President of Guinea-Bissau, Mr. Umaro Sissoco Embalo, on the strengthening of relations between the two countries.

The royal message was handed over to President Embalo by Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita at an audience Friday at the Presidential Palace in Bissau.

The message dealt with the strengthening of bilateral relations which are already very strong, since the visit by the Sovereign to Bissau in 2015, said Bourita after the audience.

The Moroccan official said he congratulated President Embalo and the diplomacy of Guinea-Bissau for the success of its presidency of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Thanks to its action, Guinea-Bissau leads the way in the ECOWAS area and beyond and on several regional and international issues, he said.

During his visit, Bourita held a meeting with Guinea-Bissaus Minister of Foreign Affairs Suzi Carla Barbosa, who seized the opportunity to reiterate her countrys constant support to the territorial integrity of Morocco.

We want to maintain the same constant position expressed since 2015, that Guinea-Bissau supports the territorial integrity of Morocco, as we are faithful to our commitment, the Guinea-Bissaus minister told the media.

Carla Barbosa said that the visit of the Moroccan minister aims to analyze bilateral relations not only at the political and diplomatic levels, but also in new areas, namely tourism and health.
The Lincoln County commissioners will discuss a statewide election integrity lawsuit at Mondays regular meeting.

The suit, filed in Lancaster County District Court by Rick Hill, names all of Nebraskas county election commissioners along with state officials, according to reporting by the Beatrice Daily Sun. The Gage County commissioners were briefed on the Oct. 17 lawsuit last week.

This alleges that the elections are done in an unconstitutional fashion and it brings in all kinds of stuff, Gage County Attorney Roger Harris said, according to the Daily Sun.

Monday, the Lincoln County panel will consider authorizing Chairman Chris Bruns to sign a concurrent representation letter for the lawsuit.

The commissioners will also consider authorizing Torrey Gerdes and Baylor Evnen to sign a joint defense agreement with counsel for the remaining defendants in the lawsuit.

The panel will also hear a report from Region 51 Emergency Management Director Brandon Myers at Mondays meeting about events and training the department has participated in.

The commissioners will discuss informal bids for desks for the County Treasurers Office. This item was tabled from a previous meeting to allow for more research on costs.

The meeting begins at 9 a.m. in the Commissioners room at the Lincoln County Courthouse, 301 N. Jeffers St. The meeting may also be viewed online at youtube.com/channel/UCHdGjLPMx3O-wSu3T3aMWlg

The Beatrice Daily Sun contributed to this report.
Not all of Rhules longtime assistants will find their way to Lincoln, but many are likely to. The next few weeks will reveal just who the new arrivals will be.
Oh I know Cedric B is Cedric Bixler-Zavala from At the Drive-In.



He's been shouting from the rooftops for years about Danny assaulting his now-wife.

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and the mars volta

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Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in Hello! Your entry got to top-25 of the most popular entries in LiveJournal!Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in FAQ

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Second comment?? Calm down.

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as the defense lawyer brought up that maybe Masterson just was a really bad lover.



This is fucking vile.

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I was 18 years old when I met him. We lived together for six years. I would always repeat over and over  he saved my life. He got me into Scientology. I believed it was true. Things are less painful if you believe something like that.



Replace Scientology with pretty much any other religion and you have the reality of so, so many women. It's depressing how these cults have such power within our society, and if anyone's in the mood for a debate over this, please find another comment to have it cause I do not give a flying fuck if you think not all religions~ or whatever the hell you tell yourself to feel better. Religion is the fucking cancer of this world.

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A friend of mine became a hardcore evangelical after being raised in a non-religious household because of a man she had a crush on  she thought she would like him if she would just become uber-religious, but they ended up married to separate people and she's still hardcore. We're no longer friends obvs.

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Heart reaction bc I'm glad she's an ex friend! 

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TY! But I'm realizing I meant to say "she thought he would like her" LOL ugh it was late I've had an eh weekend...

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Religions are just cults who managed to exist long enough that they become normal. Ever notice that most of them are just small men making themselves look big and important by exploiting people around them? Sadly, due to misogyny and ingrained sexism, women are the easy target.

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I hate how organized religion exploits our need for community and security. Theres been times when I wished I did believe in God just so I could be part of a church community. But alas, Im too mouthy and neurodivergent to be a good cult member.

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Hes disgusting, I hope his sentence is long.

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I really hope these women get the justice they deserve.



Also, baffled he was triggered by being called pale and a curly haired redhead like have you looked in the mirror ever.

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The way SA survivors are questioned is so deeply troubling and upsetting.

I hope Masterson rots.

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Its really fucking gross how victims of SA are treated the entire process, but the shit they have to go through on the stand is particularly infuriating. Fuck this man.

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I can't believe at this day and age that women still have to stand in court, teaching the jury what the definition of rape is.

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The highest court in the land doesnt recognize bodily autonomy so Im not surprised

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Straight to the wood chipper for this dude.

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I hope the survivors get justice.



Cedric B sounds like a good guy. I'm glad that his wife has him in her corner.

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According to Tony Ortega/Reddit, the guy that the judge warned twice is a known enforcer/fixer type for Scientology. Sounds like hes there to intimidate the victims and others testifying, he shouldnt be allowed in court. Thats all that cult is good for, coverups, lies, intimidation and just ruining peoples lives.



I dont believe juries are capable of handling these types of trials especially when the accused is a public figure so I can only hope justice is served.



Thank you, OP!

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Having to go through a rape trial is hard enough but when you add Scientology into the mix? I can't imagine the absolute nightmare these women are living through. I hope they get justice.

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the defense revealed that CB had untruthfully taunted Masterson in the early years of their relationship with the claim that she slept with his brother. That 1998 remark, upon CBs return from a trip to Paris, is part of a sequence of events that led to Masterson dragging her along the floor of their Hollywood Hills home. Thus, the defense argued to the judge that the mention of the brother in the argument shed some light on Mastersons reaction.



One more time for the assholes in the back - infidelity is not a justification for violence against women.





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Im really scared hes going to get away with it, he needs to be thrown in an oubliette somewhere

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As part of its major renewable energy plans to tackle climate change, the U.S. government is investing heavily in the future of tidal power. Meanwhile, Europe is also funding the development of tidal energy technology to help advance the renewable energy sector. This initial funding period in research and development is expected to contribute to the widescale rollout of tidal energy projects worldwide within the next decade.

Tidal energy is produced in three principal ways. The first is tidal barrages, which use a dam-like structure that juts out into the ocean to create a tidal basin. Sluice gates on the barrage control water levels and flow rates, allowing the area to fill when the tide is high and empty into an electricity turbine system to produce energy. The second is tidal turbines, which use blades to turn a rotor that powers a generator. These can be installed on the sea floor in strong tidal waters, but this requires the equipment to be extremely heavy-duty. The third is tidal fences, which use vertical axis turbines mounted on a fence or on the seabed to allow water to pass through turbines and generate electricity.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) stated that it would be providing $35 million, from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, for the advancement of tidal and river current energy systems. The DoE has identified major potential for the development of tidal and current energy production, which at present is largely underdeveloped. The funding is expected to be released in 2023, marking the largest investment in tidal and river current energy technologies in the United States, according to the DoE. The government has already released a notice of intent announcing the new funding opportunity. Related: Is The IEA Too Optimistic About The Energy Transition?



The sector will require greater research and development prior to the development of large-scale projects, due to underinvestment in the renewable energy source to date. However, the DoE is optimistic that tides and river currents will provide an excellent source of green energy for the U.S. The funding is expected to build upon the work of existing developments as well as help bring more projects online.

Awareness of the potential for tidal power development has been steadily growing in recent years, with notable projects being established across the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and India. In July 2021, the worlds most powerful tidal turbine became operational in U.K. waters, drawing attention to the sector. This year, a $5.18 million testing facility for turbine blades opened its doors, to enhance the development of tidal power technology.

Despite optimism around the funding, the DoE has highlighted several challenges that have so far prevented the widescale rollout of tidal and river current energy projects. It stated, The U.S. tidal and river current energy industry requires long-term and substantial funding to move from testing devices one at a time to establishing a commercial site. It added, The complexity of installing devices and navigating permitting processes, combined with a lack of connection to local power grids, have proven to be a consistent barrier to advancing tidal and river current energy.

As well as the U.S., the European Union is also steadily advancing its tidal power projects. In 2021, Europe installed 2.2 MW of tidal stream capacity, compared to 260 kW in 2020, according to Ocean Energy Europe. Further, 681 kW of wave energy was installed, marking a threefold increase. This was a significant contribution to the 1.38 MW of wave energy and 3.12 MW of tidal stream capacity installed worldwide. However, this figure remains significantly lower than other forms of renewable energy, with Europe installing 17.5 GW of wind energy and 25.9 GW of new solar PV capacity in 2021.

This month, Europe announced $19.3 million in funding for large-scale wave energy projects. WEDUSEA, a group of 14 partners from academia and industry, supported by funding from Innovate UK and the European Unions Horizon Europe programme and coordinated by OceanEnergy, will lead the project over four years. In phase, WEDUSEA will focus on the design of the 1 MW OE35  a piece of equipment developed by OceanEnergy and named the worlds largest capacity floating wave energy device.

The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) hopes to create a technology deployment pathway for a 20 MW pilot farm. Myles Heward, project manager at EMEC, explained The innovative actions taken in this programme aim to improve the efficiency, reliability, scalability and sustainability of wave energy technology, and reduce the LCOE of the technology by over 30 percent. He added, This will help to de-risk investments in wave energy.

Major funding in the research and development of tidal and river current energy technology is expected to lead to the wide-scale rollout of several renewable energy projects in both the U.S. and Europe. The initial funding period could provide the answers needed to establish tidal power projects in several locations worldwide within the next decade, contributing to the broader transition away from fossil fuels to green energy sources.

By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
As the Halloween season wraps up on Monday night, Omahas Hispanic community is preparing to celebrate a different holiday to honor its ancestors and cultural roots.

Dia de Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is traditionally celebrated on Nov. 1 and 2. In Hispanic cultures, the holiday marks a time to celebrate the lives of the deceased and keep their memory alive.

Its a form of giving back and finding a way to reach to the other side and be comfortable with it, said Jose Garcia, executive director of the Mexican American Historical Society of the Midlands. Not doing the Halloween thing and being haunted and spooked. Not going to a funeral and seeing death  but recognizing death as a process, as a part of life. Its incredible to see people realize how emotional it can be to be relieved of grief and celebrate the life of someone. Its almost like a therapy.

A central part of Dia de Muertos celebrations are ofrendas, which are altars decorated to represent the dead. These altars are often placed in the home or near gravesites, while others are built in community spaces so that people can pay tribute together.

Garcia says that creating these spaces for people to celebrate as a community is integral to keeping culture and tradition alive and thriving.

Dia de Muertos is coming into the front, the vanguard, of how we are associating our Mexican identity, he said. We codify our history through tradition and culture. Its an educational and a spiritual process.

Multiple events across Omaha will celebrate the holiday during the first week of November. Look below for a list of ofrenda installations and verbal ofrenda performances.

Events

Two performances featuring poetry, music, dance and verbal ofrendas from local Hispanic artists will be open to the public on Nov. 1 and 2. Verbal ofrendas are live performances of plays or poetry that honor the life of the deceased. The term was coined by Scott Working at Metropolitan Community College about five years ago.

He gathered poets, actors and playwrights and instructed them to remember their ancestors and write a poem or play or vignette as a type of verbal ofrenda, Garcia said. He took the memory of someones life and existence and turned it into poetry.

The first performance will be held on Nov. 1 at the Metropolitan Community College South Omaha campus. Performances will begin at 7 p.m. at room 120 of the Center for Advanced Manufacturing. Admission is free.

At 7 p.m. on Nov. 2, another performance will be held at the Benson Theatre. Admission is $10 general and $5 for students and seniors (65+).

Ofrenda Installations

Multiple community ofrendas have been set up for anyone to honor their departed loved ones. Community members can bring a photo or memento of their loved one to add to the ofrenda.

The Boys Town Hall of History will have a community ofrenda open to the public until Nov. 4. The exhibit is open daily from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Monday through Saturday, and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.

There will also be a community ofrenda at St. Cecilia Cathedrals Nash Chapel open until Nov. 6. It is open weekdays from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on weekends from 7 a.m. until 6:30 p.m.

Ofrendas will also be installed at the Benson Theatre and at Metropolitan Community College as a complement to the performances.
LINCOLN  Jim Pillens proposal to change Nebraskas school funding formula to a per-student basis could cost some districts $270 million, according to a new analysis.

The OpenSky Policy Institute published a report earlier this month stating that a per-student funding system would mean that districts serving the majority of Nebraska students would lose funding they are receiving under the current per-district formula.

The report doesnt specifically mention Pillen, but the Republican gubernatorial nominee has made a per-student funding system a prominent part of his campaign. The topic was the subject of a campaign ad that started airing in early October.

We should never, ever give up on a kid, Pillen says in the ad. As governor, Ill reform education funding and stop the state from picking winners and losers so that every single Nebraska kid has the opportunity they deserve.

Under Nebraskas current formula, the lions share of education funding  about $880 million of the total $1.07 billion  comes in equalization aid, which goes to high-need districts. For the 2022-23 school year, the aid was distributed to 86 of the states 244 districts, but the OpenSky report said those 86 districts serve 78% of Nebraskas students.

The states largest public school district, Omaha Public Schools, also is the largest recipient of equalization aid, with the district calculated to receive $269.08 million for 2022-23, according to data from the Nebraska Department of Education. The states second and third largest districts by student population, Lincoln Public Schools and Millard Public Schools, receive the second and fourth most equalization aid, at $106.7 million and $44.7 million respectively. Grand Island Public Schools is set to receive the third most equalization aid at just under $53 million.

Pillen has argued that it is unfair that the 158 remaining districts dont receive any equalization aid.

Christian Barnard, senior policy analyst for the Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank, said the gap makes the current funding formula irrelevant for two-thirds of Nebraskas school districts.

Its almost like theyre in different worlds, Barnard said.

The OpenSky report said most districts receiving equalization aid are already near their property tax levy limits, so the drop in funding through a per-student system would mean many districts would have to seek tax increases to avoid major service cuts. The report estimated it would take an average levy override of 41 cents to compensate for the losses in state aid.

State Sen. Lynne Walz of Fremont, chair of the Education Committee, said she believes the current funding formula is the most effective tool the state has at discerning the true funding needs for all districts.

Its easy to just throw out an idea and then step away, Walz said in an email. However, those ideas affect every single Nebraskan.

In an email statement, Pillen attacked the OpenSky report, saying it was backed by entrenched interests intent on maintaining the status quo.

When you make as many assumptions as this back-of-the-napkin analysis does, you can arrive at whatever conclusion you want, Pillen said in the statement.

Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn echoed Pillens sentiment, and said OpenSky is supported by the most populous school districts in the state. In the past, she said, the organization has criticized the current funding formula for underfunding larger districts.

Pillens opponent, Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue, called these claims ridiculous. She said neither OpenSky nor the Platte Institute, a think tank established by Gov. Pete Ricketts, are biased, and both provide important research.

Numbers never lie, said Blood, a Democrat.

Though Blood doesnt support a per-student funding system, she said the states current formula is antiquated and relies too much on property taxes.

Barnard said Nebraska ranks third in the U.S. for dependence on property taxes for school funding.

Nebraskas property taxes are high because the state doesnt fully fund its schools, Blood said.

Jenni Benson, president of the Nebraska State Education Association, said the only way to lower property taxes is for the state to increase school funding. She described Pillens approach as the wrong solution to the right problem.

Youre just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic with a plan that simply robs Peter to pay Paul, Benson said in an email.

Spencer Head, an Omaha Public Schools board member, noted in an email that per-student funding proposals have come up many times in previous legislative sessions. None of them have passed, but Head said he believes the idea has some merit. It just cant be the only metric, he said.

Linehan, a member of the Education Committee, also said there are ways the state can switch to per-student funding without hurting districts that receive equalization aid, although she did not give specifics on how that would be possible.

Everybody can win, Linehan said. Nobody has to be a loser here.
UNO hit .418 as a team as the Mavericks cruised to a 25-14, 25-15, 25-10 win Saturday afternoon over Western Illinois, the last-place team in the Summit League.

UNO, which had 46 kills and five hitting errors on the day, featured a balanced attack once again as four Mavs had either nine or 10 kills.

McKenna Ruch had 10 kills and hit .556, while Rachel Fairbanks also had 10 kills and hit .471. Shayla McCormick had nine kills, 11 digs adn hit .474, while Marriah Buss also had nine kills.

Sami Clarkson finished the day with 24 assists as the Omaha Concordia graduate moved to No. 4 on UNO's career assist list. Clarkson, who started the week in sixth place, has 3,985 assists for her career.

The Mavs improve to 10-3 in league play and will host UMKC on Thursday.
NORMAL  When disembarking from a monster truck ride Sunday at Rader Family Farms in Normal, Bloomington dad Michael Garrison reviewed the ride with much fatherly sarcasm.

He joked that his three kids hated it and had he worst time riding Wheels of Freedom. But his 6-year-old daughter, Naomi Garrison, was quick to correct him. She merrily shouted: It was the best!

I put my hands up like I just dont care.

From getting to trick-or-treat at the farm, or riding monster trucks and a tractor-wagon train, the Garrison parents agreed they were having a fun Sunday. Family friend Gabe Wells, 6, joined them too.

Mother and wife Jamie Garrison said one of the best things about the Twin Cities is that she always looks forward to spending fall at the Rader farms. She said theyve come every year since their other daughter, Cici, 10, was just 1 year old.

Jason Bonnow drove the Wheels of Freedom out of Sarcoxie, Missouri. He said seeing smiles on all his riders' faces  kids and adults alike  gives him instant gratification.

Donna Verda, business development manager for the farm, said hosting the monster truck rides was their big sendoff for the last day of their fall season. Another special event lined up Sunday was the orange crush pumpkin drop onto a wrecked car.

She noted about six new additions to the grounds this year, including a low ropes obstacle course, a wall ball, a roller-bowler, a little village and other things kids of any age would enjoy.

Verda said operations and development manager Adam Rader wanted to reach a new level of guests who may have aged out of some activates. She said they wanted to put in the obstacle course last year, but lumber costs never dropped backed down. They went ahead anyway.

The farm also built a 40-foot dirt mound from 1,200 truckloads of dirt, Verda said, which they plan install a slide on for next year. She added the dirt came from the Rivian factory, and so, we love our neighbors.

It was a successful season for the farm, Verda said, and numbered 119,000 pounds of pumpkins sold.

Fan favorites like the apple blaster cannon were back this season. Jamison Cox, 6, got some shots in dressed as Iron Man, with help from father Tyler Cox. He said his favorite things to at the farm are smash pumpkins and play in the corn bin.

His mother, Holly Cox, said her boys like to bury each other in corn in the bin. Jamisons brother Rett Cox came to the farm dressed as Batman, and grandmother Kay Cox went too.

Holly Cox said theyve been getting season passes for years.

Bloomington father Henry Rivera got buried as well after braving the corn pit with two of his children, Olivia, 9, and Ezekiel Rivera, 12. He said the more you walk into the bin, the deeper your feet sink in. The father reported finding corn in their laundry for weeks after visiting last time.

His other son, Corvin Rivera, said the corn bin is fun, but you have to be prepared.

Verda calculated 900 bushels of corn fill the bin. She added they find a lot of corn pieces in their restrooms.

If playing around in corn or going on truck rides doesnt get kids laughing, petting farm animals will send them smiling.

Adam Ternes, 8, of Normal, stopped by the farm so regularly this season, he named one of the baby goats Snow.

Ternes said: Its just the first name I thought of and I think she loved it.

He added that Snow the goat, dressed in a lobster costume, always comes out to say hello. Ternes was dressed in a Dog Man costume from the Dav Pilkey kids book series.

His father, Nick Ternes, said he also takes his son to the double slides and the corn bin at the farm.

Aaron Addicks got his fill of funnel cake while his daughter was in the corn bin. He described the venue as a small, local Six Flags, but on a farm.

He said he likes that he doesnt have to wait for a fair to happen to get a funnel cake.
Bloomington- Normal

Galleries, museums

Some cultural institutions are open or making plans to reopen under current COVID restrictions. Check with each facility for indoor, online or outdoor programming. Open facilities have face covering, distancing and other guidelines in effect; see websites or call for details.

Angel Ambrose Fine Art Studio; 101 W. Monroe St. Suite 201, Bloomington; Open First Fridays 5-8 p.m. and by appointment; 309-825-4655; angelambrose.com.

David Davis Mansion; 1000 Monroe Drive, Bloomington; open for tours, 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Wed.-Sat.; by donation; daviddavismansion.org; 309-828-1084.

Eaton Studio Gallery; 411 N. Center St., Bloomington; 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays; 5-8 p.m. First Fridays, or by appointment or ring bell; eatonstudiogallery.com; 309-828-1575.

Illinois Art Station; 101 E. Vernon Ave., Normal; Gallery open Saturdays 10 a.m.-2 p.m.; illinoisartstation.org; 309-386-1019.

Inside Out: Accessible Art Gallery & Cooperative; 200 W. Monroe St., Bloomington; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; Saturday 8 a.m.-2 p.m.; by appointment Sunday-Tuesday; and 10 a.m.-8 p.m. First Friday; insideoutartcoop.org; 309-838-2160.

Jan Brandt Gallery; Normandy Village, 1100 Beach St., Building 8, Normal; by appointment; janbrandtgallery.com; 309-287-4700.

Joann Goetzinger Studio and Gallery; 313 N. Main St. Suite A, Bloomington; open first Fridays 5-8 p.m., Saturdays 9 a.m.-4 p.m., also by appointment; masks and social distancing required; 309-826-1193.

Main Gallery 404; 404 N. Main St., Bloomington; 12-5 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays; 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Saturdays; By chance or appointment at 309-590-6779.

McLean County Arts Center; 601 N. East St., Bloomington; open; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday, 12-4 p.m. Saturday; masks and social distancing required; mcac.org; 309-829-0011.

McLean County Museum of History; 200 N. Main St., Bloomington; 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Tuesday; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday; closed Sundays, until further notice; reservations at education@mchistory.org or 309-827-0428; mchistory.org; 309-827-0428.

Merwin and Wakeley Galleries; Illinois Wesleyan University; Bloomington; open; 12-4 p.m., Monday through Friday; 7-9 p.m., Tuesday evening; 1-4 p.m., Saturday through Sunday; iwu.edu/art/galleries; 309-556-3391.

Prairie Aviation Museum; 2929 E. Empire St., Bloomington; opens April 2; hours 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays; prairieaviationmuseum.org; 309-663-7632.

University Galleries of Illinois State University, Normal; open; 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 9:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday, noon-4 p.m. Saturday, Sunday; 309-438-5487; galleries.illinoisstate.edu/about/visit/.

Central Illinois

Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily, 212 N. Sixth St., Springfield; advance reservation required; adults $15, seniors $12, under 5 free; presidentlincoln.illinois.gov; 217-558-8844.

Art Center at Greater Livingston County Arts Council; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday; noon-4 p.m. Sunday; 209 W. Madison St., Pontiac; pcartcenter.com; 815-419-2472.

Contemporary Art Center of Peoria; Riverfront Arts Center, 305 S.W. Water St., Peoria; 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; peoriacac.org; 309-674-6822.

Dickson Mounds Museum; 10956 N. Dickson Mounds Road, Lewistown; open, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; free; illinoisstatemuseum.org; 309-547-3721.

Illinois State Museum; 502 S. Spring St., Springfield; open, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; Monday-Friday, free; illinoisstatemuseum.org; 217-782-7386.

Lincoln Heritage Museum; Lincoln Center at Lincoln College, 300 Keokuk St., Lincoln; 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Friday; 1-4 p.m. Saturday, closed Sundays, Mondays and on Lincoln College breaks; $4-7; museum.lincolncollege.edu; 217-735-7399.

Peoria Art Guild; 203 Harrison St., Peoria; open; 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesday-Friday or by appointment; peoriaartguild.org; 309-637-2787.

Peoria Riverfront Museum; downtown riverfront Peoria; open 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday and Friday; 9 a.m.-6:30 p.m., Tuesday-Thursday; 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday; and closed Sunday; adults $11, seniors, students $10, ages 3-17 $9; peoriariverfrontmuseum.org; 309-686-7000.

Simpkins Military History Museum; 605 E. Cole St., Heyworth; Open Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 1-5 p.m.; Free admission (donations accepted); Private tours, call first; 309-319-3413; Open House, 1-5 p.m., March 19, marking 63 years of collecting military items.

Time Gallery; 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday-Friday; 9 a.m.-12 p.m., Saturday; Closed Sunday; Clock Tower Place Building, 201 Clock Tower Drive, East Peoria; 309-467-2331.

U of I Krannert Art Museum; 500 E. Peabody Drive, Champaign; open; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; Thursdays until 8 p.m. when classes are in session; closed Sunday and Monday; kam.illinois.edu; 217-333-1861.

Exhibits

Andy Warhol: Endangered Species; Owens Gallery; through Dec. 11; Mars; Experience Gallery; through Spring 2023; American Revolutionaries: Art & Distribution; Gallery 1; through Spring 2023; Archibald Motleys Bronzeville at Night; Owens Gallery, through March 2023; Peoria Riverfront Museum.

Stories of Survival; Object. Image. Memory.; through Jan. 22, 2023; Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.

2022 Honoring the Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans; through Nov. 12; Simpkins Military History Museum.

Climate Change in Your Back Yard; first floor Hot Science Gallery; through April 22, 2023; Illinois State Museum.

Midwest; group exhibit; through Nov. 4; Holiday Show and Sell; group exhibit; Nov. 10-Dec. 23; Lincoln Arts Institute.

When All Things Could Speak; Sarah Edmands Martin; Merwin Gallery; In the Foothills of the Endless Mountain, Vol. 2; Lisa Lofegren; Wakeley Gallery; through Dec.11.

Holiday Treasures; Brandt/Armstrong/Dolan Galleries; Nov. 8-Dec. 31; McLean County Arts Center.
JERUSALEM, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Sunday visited the Karish gas rig in the Mediterranean for the first time since his country signed a historic maritime demarcation deal with Lebanon.

Standing at the Karish rig, where gas production started on Wednesday, Lapid said the natural gas field "is the energy and economic future" of Israel.

"From here flows the gas that promises a lower cost of living," he said in a video statement, adding revenues from gas production would "lower energy prices in Israel, turn Israel into a regional energy supplier, and help Europe take on its energy crisis."

Energean, a London-headquartered energy giant, holds gas production rights from Karish. Natural gas from the field has been "providing electricity to customers in Israel since last weekend," according to a separate statement released by Lapid's office on Sunday.

The maritime deal, signed on Thursday, sets a sea boundary between Israel and Lebanon, which have been technically in a state of war since the statehood of Israel in 1948.

Under the U.S.-brokered deal, Israel will keep its control over the Karish gas field. Israel would receive 17 percent of the profits from the Qana natural gas field, which will be under Lebanese control. Under the deal, the Qana field will be explored by the French energy giant Total. 
BLOOMINGTON  A 36-year-old man was arrested Saturday after police said he broke into a Bloomington church and stole a liturgical garment.

Charging documents provided to The Pantagraph by the McLean County States Attorneys Office said dispatchers took a call at 5 a.m. Saturday from a man who said he needed access to a warm room so he could sleep; the man then hung up. The documents said the man had slurred his words, became belligerent, and then called back around 6 a.m.

He stated, per the record, that he was in the 1200 block of West Locust Street, and police traced his call as coming from within St. Patricks Catholic Church, 1209 W. Locust St., Bloomington. Police responded there and found the front glass entrance door was smashed, and a large baptismal font had been pushed over and broken, the report continued.

The documents state police were then called to a report of a suspicious person at 6:15 a.m. Dispatchers reported a man was running down West Market Street in a white liturgical vestment toward Pilot Travel Center in Bloomington.

The affidavit said police arrested the man, identified him as Doug L. Hall, and discovered he also had stolen a rosary from the church. The report listed damaged to St. Patricks church as exceeding $500.

Hall is charged with three counts of burglary, a Class 2 felony; criminal damage to a place of worship, a Class 3 felony; and theft from a place of worship, a Class 4 felony.

In a Saturday bond court hearing, Hall was released on a $30,000 personal recognizance bond. He was ordered to have no contact with St. Patricks Catholic Church.

His arrangement was scheduled for 10 a.m. Dec. 2.
BLOOMINGTON  America's Gold Star Families Inc. and Casper Brewing Co. will host a dedication ceremony to unveil a Fallen Hero Wall of Honor on Veterans Day.

The dedication will take place at 1:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 11, at Casper Brewing Co., 3807 Ballybunion Road, Bloomington. The event is open to the public.

Brewery owner David Casper is dedicating the wall to honor fallen military servicemembers, according to a news release. The inaugural event has identified local Gold Star Families in the Bloomington-Normal area and will honor nine fallen heroes. Military branch symbols and pictures of the nine fallen will be available for viewing, which will serve to honor and remember the sacrifices they made for the country.

Those to be honored include the following:

2LT. Larry G. Stone, served from 1963-67, United States Marine Corps, Vietnam

Frank (Butch) Pistole, served from 1940-42, USMC and Navy, World War II (rank unknown)

Major Reid B. Nannen, served from 2004-14, USMC, OEF Afghanistan

Pfc. Raymond G. Witzig, served from 1967-68, Army, Vietnam

Pvt. Francis (Butch) G. Moews, served from 1943-45, Army, WWII

Sgt. Joseph M. Ekstam, served from 1988-2000, Army, Bosnia

Sgt. Edmund David Zuck II, served from 2008-15, Army, OEF Afghanistan

Sgt. Anthony R. Maddox, served from 2011-13, Army, OEF Afghanistan

Sgt. Joshua P. Rodgers, served from 2013-17, Army, Global War on Terror, Afghanistan

America's Gold Star Families is a 501c3 organization that provides honor, hope and healing to those grieving any military loss through various programs and services.

For more information, contact Art Rodriquez at 309-750-6787, Frances Maddox at 309-825-5121, or go to americasgoldstarfamilies.org.
On Nov. 1, 1883, residents of Bloomingtons west side woke up to discover their chimneys stopped with rotten cabbage and other unwelcome rubbish. As families shivered while their flues were cleared, word came of additional mischief perpetrated in the night, such as the spectacle of 20-some wagons and carts that were not only overturned, but stripped of their wheels.

Halloween night pranks were widespread elsewhere in the city, including the German neighborhood of South Hill.

Gates were lifted from their hinges and carried for blocks, and exchanged for other gates, reported The Leader, a Bloomington daily newspaper from the time. Wagons were lifted bodily and placed in front yards, while several families were smoked out of house and home.

Although great fun for young America, 19th century Halloween (once spelled more exotically as Halloween or Halloweve) proved a trying time for adults, especially those targeted by these midnight marauders. For 21st century parents who complain about todays sugar-saturated holiday and their grade-schoolers morning-after tummy ache, know that things could be worse. Much worse!

Hows that? For the simple reason that Oct. 31, 1883, was not a one-off night of Halloween-inspired pandemonium, but rather an annual ritual. Back in the 19th century, there was a whole lot more tricking than treating when it came to All Hallows Eve.

Tonight is Halloween and the mischievous youths and maidens will remove gates, drag away wagons, throw cabbages at front doors and otherwise deport themselves as heathens, warned the Oct. 31, 1888 Pantagraph. The day has sadly degenerated from one of pretty legends and interesting evening parties to one of idiotic actions on the part of the young.

Halloween came to American shores primarily by way of the Irish, who arrived in great numbers beginning in the mid-19th century with the Potato Famine. The roots of the holiday, ties of which are mostly forgotten today, were well understood back then.

The boys were out last night  and a number of gates were unhinged and other petty deviltries perpetrated, noted the Nov. 1, 1878, Pantagraph. Among the Irish and Scotch people, the evening was once of especial interest, bringing up vividly the happy days in lands beyond the seas.

Not surprisingly, college students from Illinois Wesleyan and the Normal, the majority of whom were male (again, not surprising), were always happy to contribute to the chaos.

Bands of Wesleyan students roamed wild over the northeast part of the city, and played many a practical trick or alleged joke, relayed The Pantagraph of Nov. 1, 1881. But it remained for a party of Normal students to rise to the sublimest height of idiotic sport.

"Early in the night about a dozen of them appeared in the eastern part of (Bloomington) with tin horns, and deafened the residents of that section.

Bloomington police Sgt. William H. Reynolds and patrolman Ephraim Potts then confiscated the noisemakers and ordered the naughty young men back to Normal where they belonged.

Generally speaking, the community tolerated  at least up to a point  such acts of general nuisance and mischief.

The Halloween capers of the boys are not to be commended, though we were all boys ourselves, and delighted in the same sport, confessed a Pantagraph scribe in 1882.

Homeowners were even cautioned to take preemptive measures to curtail various pranks and plots perpetrated by unruly youth. It would be well for all who have not yet done so, to harvest their cabbage and gather their front gates, went one such warning on Halloween in 1884.

Small towns were not immune to the trouble. Lexington will employ a force of special police on Halloween night, to prevent the boys from raiding the village as they usually do, announced The Pantagraph several days before Oct. 31, 1885.

Not all mischief was harmless. During Halloween 1899, for instance, marauders interrupted a party hosted by J.C. Means at his East Grove Street residence by piling chairs and other items on his porch.

When guest Robert Gottschall opened the front door he was struck in the temple with a piece of brick, leaving him with a bad gash above the right eye.

An open letter to the Oct. 26, 1900, Pantagraph, signed by A Sufferer, noted that the annual spate of lawless pranks, such as turning over outhouses, taking off gates, throwing bricks and stones on porches, and placing baskets of rotten eggs on doorsteps, were not limited to boys.

Rather, according to this concerned citizen, adults also participated in Halloween hooliganism, with certain men even disguising themselves as women.

Some of these grown persons, declared the writer, have been occasionally recognized and if their names were disclosed, it would cause great surprise, as they class themselves among respectable citizens.

The pranks, both playful and not so playful, continued into the first two decades of the 20th century. And sometimes the wave of impish troublemaking began a day or two before the big night.

Judging from the damage to property occasioned by raids by bands of small boys in various sections of the city last night, the celebration of Halloween this year promises to be anything but a sane one, reported an exasperated Pantagraph on Oct. 31, 1913.

The night before Halloween, John Hegarty, Bloomington police night captain, was kept busy answering calls and sending officers out  to disperse juvenile crowds of celebrants, who persisted in their destruction of property, added The Pantagraph. Fences were torn down, garbage cans overturned, walks torn from position, window lights broken in some instances and all manner of trouble was experienced.

A police sergeant and two detectives, it was said, used a light rig (an early spotlight) to disperse bands of small boys, the majority of whom were under 15 years of age.

The much more family friendly tradition of trick-or-treating did not become widespread locally until the late 1940s and 1950s.

For better and worse, the pranks and vandalism common to 19th and early 20th century Halloween night survive in a series of regional traditions held Oct. 30 or Oct. 31, such as Cabbage Night in parts of New England, Gate Night in stretches of Canada, and, most infamously, Devils Night in Detroit.
FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS  The Illinois State Police is investigating a report of gunshots fired from one vehicle at another vehicle Saturday afternoon on Interstate 64 in Fairview Heights.

Bullets hit the second vehicle, but no one was injured, according to Trooper Jayme Bufford, of the agency's public information office, when contacted with questions Sunday.

The shooting took place about 12:18 p.m. Saturday near the intersection of Interstate 64 and Illinois 159, just south of Fairview Heights Plaza and northwest of St. Clair Square mall.

"They were merging onto I-64 west from Illinois 159," Bufford said, speaking of the shooter's vehicle. "They pulled alongside another car, and that's when they discharged the weapon."

The Fairview Heights Police Department sergeant on duty Sunday referred calls to administrators not expected back in the office until Monday. The shooting wasn't mentioned on the department's Facebook page.

Several social-media commenters described a traffic jam on Interstate 64 around the same time as the shooting, but Bufford said that likely wasn't related because occupants of the vehicle that was hit didn't report it until after getting off the highway.

"The investigation is still open and ongoing, and no further information is available at this time," Bufford said.
MOUND BAYOU, Miss.  The tiny, all-Black town of Mound Bayou became a safe haven for Emmett Till's mother as she traveled to Mississippi to testify in the murder trial of two white men who lynched her son in 1955.

Hundreds of people  a good portion of Mound Bayou's 1,500 residents  turned out Thursday evening to watch the movie "Till." The feature film is going into wide release across the U.S. this weekend after being in limited release since Oct. 14.

"This place, this city, is very sacred to the story of Emmett Till," one of the filmmakers, Keith Beauchamp, told the mostly Black audience in the gymnasium/auditorium of Mound Bayou's John F. Kennedy High School.

The screening happened days after a bronze statue of Till was unveiled about 50 miles away in Greenwood, Mississippi.

Beauchamp is one of the producers and writers of "Till," which largely focuses on Mamie Till-Mobley's reaction to the loss of her only child and her evolution into a civil rights leader. Her 14-year-old son had traveled from Chicago to Mississippi to visit relatives in August 1955, and white men kidnapped, tortured and killed him after accusations that he flirted with Carolyn Bryant, a white woman working in a country store.

Till-Mobley, who was named Mamie Bradley at the time of her son's death, insisted on an open-casket funeral in Chicago so the world could see her son's brutalized body. Jet magazine published photos.

An all-white, all-male jury in Tallahatchie County acquitted the shopkeeper's husband, Roy Bryant, and his half brother J.W. Milam just weeks after Till's body was pulled from a river. The two men later confessed in an interview with "Look" magazine.

Mound Bayou was founded by formerly enslaved people in the cotton-growing Mississippi Delta in 1887 as a freestanding community where Black people could thrive amid the hostility of the Jim Crow era.

NAACP leaders, including Mississippi's Medgar Evers, coordinated with Dr. T.R.M. Howard, a physician and entrepreneur in Mound Bayou, to provide safety and security for Till's mother in the town. Mound Bayou also provided shelter for Black journalists who covering the trial 35 miles (56.3 kilometers) away in Sumner.

The lynching of Till galvanized the civil rights movement, and it has reverberated for generations with Black parents who tell their children to be careful in a country that has not shaken racism.

One of the Till relatives who attended the screening Thursday was 65-year-old Joe Stidhum, born two years after Till was killed. He said his grandfather and Till's mother were brother and sister.

Stidhum said his mother was always strict on him as his 10 siblings as they were growing up in Mound Bayou, but "she didn't tell us her side of it until we got older." He said he was about 12 or 13 before he learned about Till's violent death.

"Once we got up into teens, that's when my mom kind of explained to us why she was so protective of us," Stidhum said after the movie.

The closest cinema to Mound Bayou is more than 30 miles to the south, in Greenville, Mississippi.

Nobody has ever been convicted in Till's lynching. The U.S. Justice Department has opened multiple investigations starting in 2004 after receiving inquiries about whether charges could be brought against anyone still living.

The Justice Department reopened an investigation in 2018 after a 2017 book quoted Carolyn Bryant  now remarried and named Carolyn Bryant Donham  saying she lied when she claimed Till grabbed her, whistled and made sexual advances. Relatives have publicly denied Donham, who is in her 80s, recanted her allegations. The department closed that investigation in late 2021 without bringing charges.

Deborah Watts, another cousin of Till and co-founder of the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation, was among the people who found an unserved 1955 arrest warrant for "Mrs. Roy Bryant" earlier this year in a courthouse basement. In August, a Mississippi grand jury found insufficient evidence to indict Donham. Watts said Thursday that she still wants officials to serve the arrest warrant on Donham.

"Justice delayed since 1955 is justice denied," Watts told The Associated Press. "Without any hate, malice or violence, we want the same thing any victim's family would want, and that is that those that were responsible be held accountable. No one should be above the law."

In March, President Joe Biden signed the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act. After the movie screening, Beauchamp told the audience that he is all for honoring Till's memory, but he wants more.

"If we're looking for racial reconciliation in this country, it's not going to happen with a statue or a law," Beauchamp said. "We have to have truth and justice."

Some in the crowd, sitting on blue plastic chairs and bleachers, nodded and said: "Alright. Alright."
Pantagraph readers who reside in the 15th Congressional District would be wise to vote for Paul Lange on Nov. 8.

Paul Lange is not a career politician. Instead he is a moderate who recently retired from his job as a commodities broker. In retirement Paul seeks to strengthen our government while protecting our personal freedoms. He is a good listener and he is willing to listen to everyone.

His opponent, however, listens only to extreme proposals from a single television personality. Together they embrace a "new agenda" which would dismantle much of our Social Security system. She has voted against bills to fund our military. She voted against aid to Illinois during the COVID crisis, aid that pulled Illinois out of junk bond status. She rejects the idea that women should be responsible for their own healh care.

While campaigning against her last spring, Rodney Davis warned against her radical proposals. Voters in the 15th district should reject her extreme views and instead elect a true moderate: Paul Lange.

Gary Davis, Lincoln
Twin car bomb explosions near a busy junction in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, killed at least 100 people, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud says.



Among the victims "who were massacred [were] mothers with their children in their arms", the AFP news agency quotes the president as saying.



He appealed for international medical help to deal with the 300 injured.



The president blamed the al-Shabab militant group for Saturday's attack which targeted the education ministry.



The pro-jihadist Somali Memo website has reported that the group has said it was behind the blasts.

An affiliate of al-Qaeda, al-Shabab has engaged in a long-running conflict with the federal Somali government.



President Mohamud, in power for five months pledged "total war" against the Islamist militants after they attacked a popular hotel in Mogadishu in August killing at least 21 people.



Saturday's blasts happened within minutes of each other, destroying buildings and vehicles in the vicinity.



The first hit the education ministry and then the second went off as medical teams arrived to deal with the aftermath, the Reuters news agency reports.



A lorry exploded at the same junction almost exactly five years ago, leaving more than 500 people dead - the worst such attack in the country's history.



After Saturday's attack, hundreds of people have gathered near the site, looking for missing family members.

Among those killed were a prominent journalist and senior police officer.



"I am here to tell the Somali people that such October attacks will not happen again, God willing," President Mohamud said after visiting the scene of the attack.



"The bombings were a message sent by the militants to show that they are still alive, despite the fact that they were defeated in the battlefield by government forces," he added.



The African Union (AU) mission in Somalia said that the "attacks underline the urgency and critical importance of the ongoing military offensive to further degrade al-Shabab".



The US, Turkey, Qatar and Germany have all condemned the attack.



Al-Shabab has been battling the AU-backed federal government for control of Somalia for around 15 years.



The group controls much of southern and central Somalia, but has also been able to extend its influence into areas controlled by the government based in Mogadishu.

Source: BBC









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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More than 80 NPP MPs surprised the nation and their party members when they held a press conference demanding the dismissal of Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta and Charles Adu Boahen, Minister of State at the Finance Ministry.



They threatened to boycott parliamentary business should President Akufo-Addo refuse to sack them.



"If our request is not responded to positively, we will not be present for the budget hearing, neither will we participate in the debate," the MPs said.



The President, following the MPs' protest, held an emergency meeting with them and pleaded for some time.



According to a statement, the President wants Ken Ofori-Atta to conclude with "the round of negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the presentation of the Budget Statement and Economic Policy in November 2022 and the subsequent passage of the Appropriation Bill after which time the demand will be acted upon.



On Friday's edition of Peace FM's morning show 'Kokrokoo', host Kwami Sefa Kayi asked the Member of Parliament for Nhyiaeso constituency, Stephen Amoah popularly known as Sticka if he was part of the '80'



He said: "we have resolved that no one will comment on it publicly. I can tell you off air but not on air...we are not to comment on who is part and who is not part"





Source: Peacefmonline.com









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President Akufo-Addo has reacted to a two-minute video circulated on social media suggesting that there will be a "haircut on Government bonds"



Addressing the nation on measures being taken by the government to rescue the economy, he said: "I also want to assure all Ghanaians that no individual or institutional investor, including pension funds, in Government treasury bills or instruments will lose their money, as a result of our ongoing IMF negotiations.



"There will be no haircuts, so I urge all of you to ignore the false rumours, just as, in the banking sector clean-up, Government ensured that the 4.6 million depositors affected by the exercise did not lose their deposits"



Meanwhile, he has cautioned "those who make it a habit of publishing falsehoods, which result in panic in the system, I say to them that the relevant state agencies will act against such persons".





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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Returning to the nations heritage of trust-busting would till the economic soil to revive the regions agricultural prosperity, suggested Democratic congressional candidate Matt Castelli.

Thats one of the reasons I do like Teddy Roosevelt, he said referring to the Republican and Progressive politician of more than a century ago who was noted for breaking up monopolies.

Castelli, speaking at a recent campaign town hall forum at Lewis County, said that monopolies control the prices farmers pay for supplies such as fertilizer, feed and seed, and for fuel to run their equipment.

Petroleum is also an ingredient in many fertilizers and herbicides.

Its an issue that is often overshadowed by other agricultural issues, Castelli said at the forum, which the campaign filmed on Oct. 12 and posted Tuesday on YouTube.

Im a proud capitalist. But for capitalism to work, we need to have competition, he said. Competition reduces prices for goods. And we need to bust up the monopolies.

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.

Castelli said monopolies in the food distribution and processing industries also should be broken up.

Certainly, on the other side of that as well, when a farmer wants to bring a product to market, he oftentimes has only one buyer, Castelli said. And that buyer is in the position of controlling the prices.

Contacted Wednesday, Castelli said that no new legislation is needed.

We have laws on the books  the Sherman Antitrust Act, and the Clayton Antitrust Act, for example  that are supposed to protect against things like price-fixing and excessive market domination. We saw with the pandemic that when we have a centralized market with a few firms dominating our supply of staples like beef, corn and soybeans, food chains can be dangerously disrupted leaving shelves bare and smaller farmers without basics like feed, he said in a statement. I want to see the laws we have more aggressively enforced to protect our small and mid-sized farms in New York, and to create food systems that are far more resilient.

Stefanik has said that reducing federal regulations is a way to address high prices and shortages of farm supplies.

In July, Stefanik co-sponsored legislation to remove or soften federal environmental regulations on the agriculture and livestock industries, legislation that some area farmers praised but Castelli opposed.

Contacted Wednesday for Stefanik to respond, Alex DeGrasse, a senior adviser for Stefanik, touted her support for agriculture.

Congresswoman Elise Stefaniks priority is fighting for family farms and ag businesses in upstate New York, he said.

DeGrasse said Stefanik has been vocal about opposing a plan for New York to lower its threshold for farm worker overtime from 60 to 40 hours, a plan Castelli also opposes.

She is focused on securing our domestic agricultural production and protecting against the Communist Chinese Partys attempts to purchase farmland and agricultural companies, he said.

Stefanik has generally been popular among the farm community.

On Wednesday, she announced endorsements from more than 200 owners of farms and agricultural businesses in the 21st District.

In other topics discussed at the forum, Castelli said, if elected, he would seek to be appointed to the House Agriculture Committee.

Make sure that we have a decisionmaker in Washington, D.C., on this important committee that can actually deliver some real results, he said.

Responding to a question from the audience, Castelli said his first legislative priority would be passing legislation to protect the right to abortion nationwide.

Responding to another question, he did not take a position on the so-called Rooftop Highway, a long-discussed proposal to connect a four-lane highway connecting Watertown with Plattsburgh, and possibly further east into Vermont.

I always want to defer to our local government officials to make decisions about infrastructure, he said.
ADDIS ABABA, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, on Sunday condemned the deadly terrorist attack in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.

The chairperson "condemns in the strongest terms the horrific terrorist attack that killed more than 100 innocent civilians and wounded many more in Mogadishu, Somalia, on October 29," an AU statement read.

Twin car bomb explosions targeting Somalia's Education Ministry building on Saturday killed at least 100 people and injured more than 300 others, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said Sunday. The fatalities are likely to rise as several government offices, hotels and restaurants are situated near the bombing site.

The AU Commission chairperson further expressed the African Union's condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured. He conveyed the AU's solidarity with the government and people of Somalia, at this difficult time.

Faki reaffirmed the continued determination of the continental bloc, including through the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), to support the Somali government and people in their efforts to achieve sustainable peace and security in the country.

He appealed to the international community to redouble efforts to ensure robust international support to Somalia's institutions in their struggle to defeat terrorists in order to consolidate the key security gains made in recent years. 
GLENS FALLS  Local author Matthew Rozell takes readers back to the Pacific theater in his new book On to Tokyo, the eighth in his series about World War II called The Things Our Fathers Saw.

The 370-page book recounts stories told to Rozell when the now-retired Hudson Falls High School history teacher invited World War II veterans into his classroom to speak to his students.

Rozells first book, published in 2015, told the memories of veterans from Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. His second book and all that followed told stories of the war from the European theater.

But it really needed to be more than one volume, Rozell said. So Volume 8 is going back to the Pacific, because I immediately went to Europe and followed the war chronologically.

The new book tells tales from about 10 local veterans, who are now all deceased.

The book starts with Rozell walking through a Troy cemetery looking for the grave of a Medal of Honor recipient named William OBrien, a lieutenant colonel of the 115th infantry regiment, 27th infantry division.

Rozells book features a photograph of OBrien on the island of Saipan in summer 1944.

Saipan was the site of what turned out to be the worst Banzai charge of World War II. Those were basically the suicide charges, and on the night of July 7, they say about 4,300 Japanese overran this regiment, the 105th of the 27th Infantry.

About 2,000 Americans died that night, including OBrien.

The book ends with Rozell locating OBriens modest grave.

Man, I had to look to find this thing, Rozell said. I actually had to go online and find the coordinates, because theres no monument to him.

Another man featured in the book is war correspondent Ernie Pyle. Rozell tells Pyles story through one of his last columns, which was found crumpled in his pocket when he was shot and killed by a Japanese sniper on April 18, 1945.

He was very well known for just slogging in the mud with the average GIs, Rozell said. He didnt care to talk to the generals or the admirals or anybody.

Rozells book, available for $25 for paperback and $35 for hardcover, can be purchased on www.matthewrozellbooks.com and amazon.com. Books will also be sold at his studio in The Shirt Factory during Black Friday weekend.

His next two books in the The Things Our Fathers Saw series will focus on the homefront and the role of women in World War II. He will start writing his next book in January.

We were fighting two full-blown wars at the same time, Rozell said. But if you ask people today or even asked people back then exactly what was going on, how it unfolded  youre going to get a lot of blank stares, because all of the attention was on the European theater.
New Jersey could become a leader in a growing new sector of aviation technology that may one day lead to air taxis transporting people and cargo between cities and communities via electric-powered, vertical-landing aircraft.

The new technology is called Advanced Air Mobility, and Atlantic County is poised to reap millions in tax revenue and create thousands of new jobs over the next 15 years, according to a recent study done by Deloitte Consulting LLC.

The study was undertaken for the National Aerospace Research and Technology Park in Egg Harbor Township, which sees the new technology as a job and revenue creator for South Jersey.

Advanced Air Mobility gives us a once-in-a-generation economic development opportunity with statewide benefits that starts here in Atlantic County, Howard Kyle, president and CEO of the National Aerospace Research and Technology Park, said. It will create technology-based jobs and will help to attract aviation-related companies.

The new aviation technology being developed is in the early stages of planning and development but advancing quickly, Kyle said.

The Atlantic County-based research and technology park is helping to lay the foundations to bring the new industry to the county, hoping to solve the economic crisis and make the state a leader in Advanced Air Mobility, or AAM.

We have a critical need for economic diversification because when the casino industry tanked a few years ago, it had a devastating effect, Kyle said. We had an economic study done, identified five sectors, and the most promising one for immediate payoffs was aviation.

According to the study, the industrys growth will create jobs in four categories: direct, indirect, induced and catalytic.

AAM is projected to create 3,079 direct jobs, positions needed to make the operations possible.

Indirect jobs that would make the critical components and services needed by the new vertical flight aircraft would grow by 4,936, according to the Deloitte Consulting report.

Another 5,456 new jobs would be created to serve the new workforces needs, which are known as induced jobs, while another 12,208 jobs are projected to spring up around tourism, insurance, legal firms, and real estate jobs, according to the study.

The Advanced Air Mobility technology will not only help to create technology-based jobs but also is expected to draw the attention of aviation-related companies, Kyle said.

Joby Aviation, a Santa Cruz, California-based aviation company developing vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, has short-listed Atlantic County as a place to develop and research, Kyle said.

Deloitte also found that Advanced Air Mobility will create tax revenue for New Jersey through the newly established jobs. The study estimated tax benefits would reach $152 million annually.

According to the study, New Jersey is an economically viable location due to its proximity to Philadelphia and New York.

The county also has an aviation hub that includes resources like the FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center, Atlantic City International Airport, and the research park.

Kyle said that the Atlantic County Economic Center has partnered with the National Aerospace Research and Technology Park to develop a state-of-the-art maintenance and repair academy that will incorporate AAM and unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) aircraft.

On top of that, it will have augmented and virtual reality training, Kyle said. The Air Force signed a (memorandum of understanding) to participate in the planning of that academy.

Academic institutions such as Rowan University, Atlantic County Institute of Technology, Atlantic Cape Community College, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and the National Institute of Aerospace are also partners with the technology park.

Part of the plan also includes an emerging aviation research triangle  connecting Atlantic Countys aviation hub with Cape Mays UAS program, and the Joint Base McGuireDixLakehurst Naval Air Station.

You can start seeing these linkages form, Kyle said. We have laid the foundation for an aviation industry that expands beyond Atlantic County that links together the aviation-innovation hub we have here, the Joint Base, and what Cape May is doing.

The research goes further than the aircraft, which run on electric or hybrid-electric power and are designed to be quieter. It also includes putting automated devices in airports and on airfields, starting with simple mechanics like lawn mowers.

This simple automation will also cut costs for airports.

You have to control the grass because birds, and animals habitate in it, and if theyre at the end of the runway theyre going to get in the way of the airplane and kill somebody, said Chris Seher, a subject matter expert with the the technology park. So, the amount of money it costs to man and cut grass is a large budget. If you can automate that, youre going to save a lot of money.

Seher said the new technology will also benefit the military.

They put portable, temporary airports in deserts, on mountains, in combat zones, and theyve got military people in harms way who are out there having to cut grass. Well, if you automate that, you can keep that airman or airwoman out of harms way and save money.

Seher said they hope to have the first prototypes of the lawnmowers at the McGuire Base and ACY next spring.
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Compliance checks on Scott County registered sex offenders were held Oct. 23, 24, 25 and 26 that led to the arrest of 10 people for registration violations and investigations into seven others, Scott County Sheriff Tim Lane said.

Lane said 418 home compliance checks were done on the current 507 registered sex offenders living in Scott County. Of those, 17, were found to be non-compliant. Ten were arrested and there are investigations going on with the other.

Involved were the Scott County Sheriffs Department, Scott County Sheriffs Reserve, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, and the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force.

The goal of the registry is to insure voluntary compliance, Lane said. Our goal is to find violations.

The ultimate goal of the registry is to eliminate recidivism, he added. The recidivism rate for sex offenders is actually lower than it is for other crimes. I attribute that to the hard work of the Sheriffs Department and the Iowa Department of Corrections.

Gary Alan Swift, 60, was arrested Monday on two counts of sex offender registration violation-first offense. Each of the charges is an aggravated misdemeanor that carries a prison sentence of two years.

Justin Tyler Fonner, 27, was arrested Monday and is charged with one count of Class D felony child endangerment for living with his girlfriend and her child. Fonner has two non-Iowa convictions for sexually abusing a 13-year-old in 2017 and a 16-year-old in 2019, according to the arrest affidavits filed by Scott County Sheriffs Deputy Anthony Johnson. The charge carries a prison sentence of five years.

Fonner also is charged with two counts of sex offender registration violation-first offense, each an aggravated misdemeanor.

Aaron Jorge Diaz, 46, was arrested Tuesday on one count each of sex offender-providing false information by not registering his Facebook page; sex offender-area violation for approaching a staff member of Fillmore Elementary School to perform contract roofing work on a shed; and, sex offender registration violation-first offense. Each charge is an aggravated misdemeanor.

Tanaka Tremaine Clay, 46, arrested Tuesday, is charged with three counts of sex offender-registration violation-second offense for failing to register that he was living at the Relax Inn in Davenport for 14 days. Sex offenders are required to register an address at which they are living within five business days. Each charge is a Class D felony that carries a prison sentence of five years.

Clay also is charged with three count of probation violation.

District Judge John Telleen sentenced Clay to three years on probation on Sept. 10, 2021, after he pleading guilty to a charge of violating the sex offender registry statutes. During that same sentencing hearing, Telleen sentenced Clay to a concurrent term of three years on probation after Clay pleaded guilty to charges of domestic abuse-second offense, child endangerment and threatening to commit arson.

On June 15, 2022, District Judge Christine Dalton sentenced Clay to one year on probation after he pleaded guilty to a charge of third-degree theft, an aggravated misdemeanor.

Clay also is awaiting trial in Scott County on two domestic assault cases

Angelic Navoris Roberts, 52, arrested Tuesday is charged with one count of sex offender-failure to register, an aggravated misdemeanor.

Adam Scott Hills, 28, arrested Tuesday, is charged with sex offender-registration violation-second offense, a Class D felony. Hills failed to provide information about others living with him.

Marvin Dwayne Sayles, 55, arrested Tuesday, is a sex offender out of Illinois and Indiana, according to the arrest affidavit filed by Scott County Sheriffs Deputy Hope Wager. Sayles is charged with three counts of failure to register-first offense. The charges are aggravated misdemeanors.

Ryan Keith Grunewald, 27, arrested Tuesday, is charged with sex offender-registration violation-second offense. Grunewald failed to provide information about others living with him. The charge is a Class D felony.

Travis Sentell Norman, 43, was arrested Wednesday on a charge of sex offender-registration violation-first offense, for not registering his vehicle with the sex offender registry. The charge is an aggravated misdemeanor.

Michael James Walker, 24, was arrested Wednesday. He is charged with two counts of registration violation-second offense, sex offender-providing false information-second offense and child endangerment-registered sex offender.

According to the arrest affidavit filed by Scott County Sheriffs Deputy Anthony Johnson, Walker has not been living where he had registered. Instead, he had been living with his girlfriend and her 2-year-old daughter.

Each of Walkers charges is a Class D felony.
CHICAGO - Four people were hospitalized in critical condition early Sunday after reportedly overdosing at a River North nightclub, according to the Chicago Fire Department.

At approximately 2:50 a.m. Sunday, fire officials responded to Sound Bar at 226 W. Ontario St. after reports of multiple overdoses inside the nightclub.

Two men were taken to Rush University Medical Center, while another man and a woman were transported to Northwestern Memorial Hospital. All four were in critical condition, according to fire officials.

No further information was immediately available.
SPRINGFIELD  Three former Illinois prison guards face life behind bars after the 2018 fatal beating of a 65-year-old inmate in a case marked by the unpunished lies of other correctional officers who continue to get pay raises, records obtained by The Associated Press and court documents show.

Juries convicted Department of Corrections Officer Alex Banta in April and Lt. Todd Sheffler in August of federal civil rights violations owing largely to the cooperation of the third, Sgt. Willie Hedden. Hedden hopes for a reduced sentence  even though he admitted lying about his involvement until entering a guilty plea 18 months ago.

But Hedden's account of what happened to Western Illinois Correctional Center inmate Larry Earvin on May 17, 2018, is not unique. Similar testimony was offered by six other correctional officers who still work at the lockup in Mount Sterling, 249 miles southwest of Chicago.

Like Hedden, all admitted under oath that initially, they lied to authorities investigating Earvin's death, including to the Illinois State Police and the FBI. They covered up the brutal beatings that took place and led to Earvin's death six weeks later from blunt-force trauma to the chest and abdomen, according to an autopsy reports.

Documents obtained by The AP under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act indicate that none of the guards has been punished for the coverup. Despite admitting their indiscretions, Lts. Matthew Lindsey and Blake Haubrich, Sgts. Derek Hasten, Brett Hendricks and Shawn Volk and Officer Richard Waterstraat have flourished  three have been promoted, one has been on paid leave, and on average, they've seen salary hikes of nearly 30% and increases in pension benefits.

Even if fired from their jobs now, they'd keep the extra money from salary hikes  tied to promotions or contractual agreement  and the accompanying boosts in retirement benefits.

Phone numbers associated with the officers are not connected, or messages weren't returned. None has responded to a request through the Corrections Department to speak to them.

Corrections spokeswoman Naomi Puzzello said an internal review of the Earvin incident has been postponed until the federal probe is complete. She promised that Corrections will take "all appropriate steps" to punish misconduct. But it has no authority "to take past wages from an employee or impair a pension," she said.

Banta and Sheffler are in federal custody, awaiting sentencing  Banta on Tuesday and Sheffler on Jan. 6. Hedden's sentencing has not been scheduled.

Hedden testified in April that he ascribed to "the culture at Western" which called for roughing up troublemakers while escorting them to the segregation unit used to discipline inmates who break rules or threaten prison safety.

Western's warden was replaced in 2020 in efforts that Gov. J.B. Pritzker said last spring were a part of changing the culture, which also have included initiatives to address the use of force and establish a more affirmative approach to inmates.

Accountability, however, matters, too, said Jennifer Vollen-Katz, executive director of the John Howard Association, a prison watchdog.

"There is a disturbing lack of transparency around staff discipline when it comes to Corrections,"Vollen-Katz said. "It's really hard to have faith in culture change ... when you have staff that behave like this and there seem to be little or no repercussions."

The Justice Department also has a stake. Lying to the FBI is a felony. Timothy Bass, the U.S. attorney's lead prosecutor on the case, said he couldn't comment on whether there would be further prosecutions.

The officers whose stories changed only when the investigation intensified were clear about their reasons when testifying under oath at the trials.

"There's an unwritten rule, the saying that goes around that 'Snitches get stitches...,'" Volk testified, explaining his untruthful interview with the Illinois State Police the week following the Earvin incident. "You're part of a brotherhood with everybody out there and you don't want to be the guy that snitches."

Lindsey was in charge of segregation that day and testified he saw Hedden, Sheffler and Banta bring Earvin into the segregation unit's vestibule, where there are no security cameras. He was among several witnesses who reported seeing Earvin punched, kicked and stomped before motioning to Sheffler through an interior window to stop.

Lindsey told no one what he had seen. When the FBI called in late summer 2018, he lied for "fear of retaliation," according to his recent testimony.

Since May 2018, Lindsey has been promoted and his salary has increased 42% to $105,756, according to records disclosed by Corrections.

Hasten, too, said he "was just scared of the retaliation," adding that his wife also works at the prison. His salary has grown 17% to nearly $79,000 even after voluntarily changing to a lower-paying job at Western.

Hendricks and Volk were also in the segregation vestibule with Sheffler, Hedden and Banta. Hendricks testified that he was shocked by the violence against Earvin, who was handcuffed behind the back and face down on the ground. But when asked why he lied to investigators, he admitted: "I didn't want to tell on my coworker."

Hendricks has since received a promotion and pay increases totaling nearly 30%.

When state police officers talked to Haubrich, they were focused on rough treatment of Earvin that began in his housing unit. They were unaware that it had continued in the segregation entrance. But like Hendricks, Haubrich volunteered nothing about the brutality he had seen because he "was covering the backs of my fellow officers and brothers."

Haubrich has been on paid leave from the prison since May 2018, watching his salary increase nearly 30% to $96,396. That's also the case for Lt. Benjamin Burnett, escorted off the prison grounds days after the attack with Haubrich, along with Hedden and Banta.

Waterstraat, who's been promoted with a 44% pay increase, didn't come clean with authorities until faced with a grand jury.

___

AP Researcher Jennifer Farrar in New York contributed.
Bitter Root Arts Guilds Extravaganza Holiday Show will be at the Ravalli County Fairgrounds on Nov. 4 and 5.

Bitter Root Arts Guild (BRAG) President Trish Becker said the event is highly anticipated each year.

We are bigger and better than ever with over 80 members, Becker said. All of our artists live in Montana and all their creations are handmade. We have a lineup of some of the finest craftspeople and artists that Montana and the Bitterroot Valley have to offer.

Each BRAG vendor member contributes their wonderful creations to a raffle that benefits BRAG Arts. Raffle tickets are available for purchase near the entry.

The event will have wine tastings from Blodgett Canyon Cellars and barbecue from Moose Creek BBQ for dining or take-out.

Sit down in our dining area and enjoy lunch and a glass of wine with us during your shopping experience, Becker said.

This year Darby High Schools SkillsUSA will have a gift-wrapping station as a fundraiser. SkillsUSA is a student-led organization that partners with trades and participates in competitions such as welding, carpentry and job interviewing. In SkillsUSA, students work to build job skills, personal skills and workplace skills.

Vendors for the Bitter Root Arts Guilds Extravaganza Holiday Show include Love the Colors Stained Glass, Carolyns Country Creations, Dream in Color Gallery, Desert Mountain Gems, and many others selling everything from Christmas ornaments and salsa mixes to lotions and candles.

Visit the Bitter Root Arts Guild Facebook Page to see photos of all our great creations, Becker said. Make a list and come shop with us. BRAG is a nonprofit organization and all our proceeds benefit the arts and people of our community.

She said the goal of Bitter Root Arts Guild is to increase knowledge and encourage participation in all art forms for its members and the general public through educational enrichment lectures, workshops and classes.

The Bitter Root Arts Guilds Extravaganza Holiday Show with free admission will be 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 4, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 5, in the Events Center at the Ravalli County Fairgrounds in Hamilton.
When the National Assessment of Educational Progress released its much-anticipated report on fourth and eighth grade reading and math test scores last week, the results were alarming: Across the country, the pandemic led to the largest declines in math ever recorded on the Nations Report Card; reading scores dipped to 20-year lows.

No state in the country escaped unscathed. In Virginia, fourth-grade reading scores declined by 10 percentage points since 2019, the biggest drop in the country, according to NAEP data. Fourth-grade math scores fell 11 points.

Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who has staked his governorship and presidential ambitions on politicizing public education, wasted no time pinning the blame on his Democratic predecessors. Before most had even opened the report on Monday morning, Youngkin was at the podium flaying Democrats over the catastrophic learning loss.

The scores were dismal, no doubt: Just 32% of Virginias fourth-graders and 31% of eighth-graders scored at or above proficient reading levels in 2022; in math, those figures were 38% and 31% respectively. The numbers mirrored a national trend of students falling behind during the pandemic as schools closed to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Our nations children have experienced catastrophic learning loss, and Virginia students are among the hardest hit, Youngkin said.

While theres little argument that the pandemic created substantial learning loss, Virginias scores were in line with most states, with only a handful performing significantly better on the math and reading tests. And thats the point of the NAEP report: Unlike Virginias Standards of Learning tests, which are administered to gauge student progress on actual school curriculums, NAEPs report is intended as a state-by-state comparative analysis. Using this metric, Virginia fared as well or better than most.

Thats not to say Virginia, along with the rest of the country, doesnt have work to do. Theres no question students fell woefully behind during the past two years. Statewide, the achievement gap between students from higher-income families and the economically disadvantaged continues to widen. Youngkin is right to focus on this growing disparity, which is clearly reflected in both the national and state test scores.

But conflating NAEP and SOL scores makes for bad analytics. In May, Virginias superintendent of public instruction, Jillian Balow, did just this when she issued a critical assessment of the states public schools, hinging her report primarily on the so-called honesty gap, i.e., the difference between student proficiency scores in NAEPs report and on Virginias SOLs.

Balow, who was appointed by Youngkin in January, continued the narrative on Oct. 24. Taken together, the significant pre-pandemic declines we saw on the 2017 NAEP, and these latest results have wiped out more than 20 years of progress Virginia students have made on the national reading and math tests since the commonwealth launched the SOL program in the late 1990s, she said in a statement.

In 2017, the Virginia Board of Education didnt substantially change the SOLs themselves, but how the tests were used in determining accreditation standards and measuring student achievement. It shifted from using only a simple metric  how students performed on the tests  and began incorporating other measures, such as chronic absenteeism, dropout and graduation rates, along with college readiness. Two decades of using SOL scores as the primary measuring stick  you either pass or fail  had resulted in worsening gaps in achievement. In essence, educators forced to teach to the test focused on students who had a higher probability of passing the SOL tests, leaving those who needed the most attention behind. This led to a host of other issues: Underperforming schools remaining locked in accreditation limbo, leading experienced teachers and higher-income families searching for new neighborhoods with higher performing schools. Students with higher needs were getting left behind.

We wanted to close the achievement gap, Daniel Gecker, chair of the Virginia Board of Education, says of the changes made in 2017. We wanted to close the achievement gap by raising scores, lifting up the children who were the poorest performing.

Blaming the recent drops in test scores on lowering SOL cut scores as Youngkin has done, is also misleading. The cut scores  the minimum number of correct answers required to be considered proficient and advance to the next grade level  were lowered on portions of the math SOL tests, but thats only because the tests themselves changed.

In 2019, the board adopted the recommendation of its articulation committee, which is mostly comprised of teachers, and the previous state superintendent, James Lane, for the math SOL tests and lowered the cut scores in part because there were fewer questions on the new tests. In 2020, two of the cut scores for the six SOL reading tests changed, but they werent exactly lowered: The board adopted the recommendation of the articulation committee instead of the superintendents recommendation to raise the reading scores  by a single point.

Perhaps the revisions will turn out to be a mistake, but its difficult to see how recently revised SOL tests and accreditation standards, which werent even fully implemented prior to the pandemic, could be responsible for Youngkins honesty gap.

The likelier culprit is the states much longer history of underfunding public education. Virginia falls in the bottom 20% of states when it comes to state funding per pupil, according to census data. And how that funding is distributed  using an archaic formula known as the local composite index, which determines how much state funding a school district receives based on the localitys requisite tax revenues  ignores differences in student need. As a result, state funding falls significantly short of whats required to educate students. In Virginia, state funding only represents 44% of the cost of education, with localities picking up most of the tab (47%), and the rest coming from the federal government, according to an August report from The Commonwealth Institute.

After the last major recession in 2007-09, the state slashed funding for schools. While Virginias recently passed biennial budget includes an additional $3.4 billion in direct aid for public schools, it still hasnt caught up to pre-2009 funding levels. State funding for support staff  such as teachers aides, counselors and janitors  remains roughly $500 million short of 2009 funding levels. Meanwhile, school districts across the state are experiencing a mass exodus of teachers leaving the profession, as well as substantial increases of economically disadvantaged schoolchildren.

Youngkin is right about one thing: Virginias public schools are in crisis. But prescribing policy solutions that work first requires an honest assessment of the causes. Misinterpreting and politicizing testing data isnt the answer.
PHNOM PENH, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen on Sunday expressed his deepest condolences to the victims and members of the bereaved families in a deadly stampede in South Korea's capital Seoul.

"I am deeply saddened to learn about the tragic accident in the Itaewon district of Seoul on 29 October, 2022 which caused loss of many lives and many injured," Hun Sen said in a condolence message sent to South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol.

"On behalf of the Royal Government and people of Cambodia, I would like to extend my deepest condolences and sympathy to Your Excellency and, through you, to the people of the Republic of Korea, particularly the bereaved families for their loss," he said.

"While Cambodia is with the Republic of Korea at this sorrowful moment, I also wish for a speedy recovery to those who are injured," Hun Sen added.

At least 153 people were killed and 103 others injured in a stampede that occurred Saturday night in the Itaewon district of Seoul during Halloween gatherings, local authorities said on Sunday. 
The Salem-Roanoke County Chamber of Commerce announced last week it has a new executive director.

The chamber chose new Roanoke County resident Amanda Livingston among more than 80 candidates to take the reins, according to a chamber news release.

Livingston holds her real estate license in both Virginia and South Carolina, and before moving here she was a real estate salesperson for a development company in South Carolina, according to the chamber.

Prior to that, she had a 21-year career with Jackson Hewitt Tax Service, Inc., leaving as a divisional vice president, and has a bachelor of arts in speech and communications from the University of Rhode Island.

Allen Lawrence, one of the chambers vice chairs, led the search team composed of board members, chamber ambassadors and chamber members, which selected Livingston .

We felt Ms. Livingston has the qualities and skills necessary for our members growth and programming service, Lawrence said. The board of directors is the organizations policy-making arm and represents the members interests.

The executive director works for this board to manage and execute the organizations strategic plan, goals, and objectives.

Board Chair Ashley King acknowledged its been bumpy for the chamber but believes Livingstons presence will help turn that around.

The board has implemented multiple strategies to ensure Ms. Livingstons success, King said in the chambers release. We are pleased to bring in Cathi Hight, a nationally recognized consultant for chambers of commerce, to assist us in creating a strategic direction and plan to better position our chamber in our community in the second quarter of 2023.

King and Lawrence both praised Livingstons positivity and energy around the building and engaging with the business community, and said she has the skills to take the chamber to the next level.

Meanwhile, Livingston, who just finished her first week on the job, said she is ready to tackle her new role. She believes the experience from her real estate and corporate background will translate into her new role as executive director.

I quickly learned that the franchisor-franchisee model is highly relational, she said referring to her time at Jackson Hewitt. Each partys success is dependent on each other creating a truly win-win environment. I think the same can be said of the chamber, board and the community dynamic.

Livingston also noted she is looking forward to meeting with different community stakeholders and is currently brainstorming ideas for new programming by the chamber.

She lives in Roanoke County with her Husband, Ken Delp, and their blended family, according to the release.

We relocated from Charleston, South Carolina, and the more I learn about Roanoke and Salem, I know in my heart this is the place for our family. We are home, she said.

The Salem-Roanoke County Chamber of Commerce currently serves more than 400 members in the region. For more information on the chamber, visit www.s-rcchamber.org, email info@s-rchamber.org or call 540-387-0267.

The chamber is located in the Carriage House in Longwood Park, located at 611 E Main St. in Salem.
Luck played a part in it. The water level was very low when Tim Lawson took his photograph of the famous tree in Lake Wanaka on the South Island of New Zealand. But how does a professional photographer create a special image of one of the most photographed trees in the world?

The Lake Wanaka tree is just one of the images in a new exhibit at the Montgomery Museum of Art & History. There will be a public reception with wine and light refreshments on Thursday, Nov. 3, from 5 to 7 p.m., and the show will run through December.

The tree in Lake Wanaka is a type of willow, Salix fragilis, sometimes called a crack willow because its bark is so brittle. The tree is not rare, and it is only 70 or so years old. What is unusual about this specimen is that it appears to be growing alone in the middle of a lake. Willows grow in wet habitats but not this wet. The Lake Wanaka tree only appears to be growing in the lake, as it is actually rooted in a tiny island. Most photographers try to capture the unusual setting and the beautiful mountains in the background. On the day Lawson took his picture, the water was just small puddles about 3-by-5-feet. So, luck was a part of it, but then artistry, skill and experience took over. Lawson arrived in the early morning when the light was great and the wind had not yet picked up to cause ripples. The puddle was as still as a piece of glass.

Its bare branches seem like they are reaching out to the rising sun, Lawson said.

Taking that photograph is one of his most special memories. The photograph showing the Lake Wanaka tree with its mirror image is part of the MMAH exhibit.

Tim Lawson has lived in Christiansburg since the 1980s. He first got interested in photography while taking pictures of his two daughters playing softball and volleyball. Catching a softball coming off the bat or a volleyball compressed against a hand was exhilarating. Then the children grew up, and Lawson transitioned into landscape photography, which has become his favorite art form. At least landscapes hold still. Or do they? He has traveled widely and many of the pictures in the MMAH exhibit come from far off places.

While he was in Denmark, Lawson visited the Roskilde Viking Ship Museum near Copenhagen. The precious thousand-year-old Viking ships are inside the museum, but replicas of the boats are outside in the harbor, where Lawson photographed them. Neither the museum nor the picture was the highlight of his trip, as Copenhagen has a lot to offer, and he put the photograph away for two years. Then one day Lawson was scrolling through some raw files, and the color and light of this shot caught his seasoned eye in a new way. Using a program called Topaz that allows post-processing, he converted the image to a more painterly experience. The result is the work of art that is part of this exhibit.

There are 35 photographs in the MMAH exhibit. Some works are printed on metal such as aluminum. Thanks for taking your time to see the world through my lens, Lawson said.

The Montgomery Museum of Art & History is located at 4 East Main St. in Christiansburg. Learn more at https://montgomerymuseum.org.

 Submitted by Sue Farrar
You may recall Frankie Four Eyes, my degenerate gambler pal. Mostly he bets on sports, and occasionally Bitcoin (ouch!), but each election season Frankie and I also get down a wager regarding politics. The loser buys dinner.

This year, hes betting Republicans will regain control of the House and the Senate. I bet Democrats would retain control. Any other outcome and the bets off. But lately, Frankies been tormenting me. Hes drooling with anticipation.

Frankies so sure hell win, he began text-gloating me two weeks before the election.

Id load up on antidepressants Nov. 8, Frankie suggested in a jubilant text Wednesday, after the Pennsylvania Senate debate. Thank God for [Democratic candidate John] Fetterman! Hes got all the Dems in a free fall.

Our dinner bet isnt the only thing on the line in the general election. Im offering lunch to the reader who most closely predicts the percentage of the vote Rep. Ben Cline, R-Botetourt, garners within the city of Roanoke.

By now youre familiar with Cline, who has the better part of two congressional terms under his belt. He once worked on Capitol Hill for former Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke County. Later, Cline served in the Virginia General Assembly as a delegate from Rockbridge County.

The 6th Congressional District comprises 10 counties and seven cities, plus parts of Roanoke and Bedford counties. Most of that area constitutes the Shenandoah Valley, and Roanoke is the districts largest city. (The 6th District also includes Bath and Highland counties.)

These days, only a fool would bet on a Democrat to win that district. The last time it happened was in 1990, when then-incumbent Rep. Jim Olin pulled 83% against independent Gerald Berg. Since then, its been a reliable Republican seat.

Goodlatte first won it in 1992, after Olin retired. Early on, Goodlatte said hed limit himself to six terms, but he later changed his mind. He held the seat for 12 terms.

In that first outing, 1992, Goodlatte won 60% of the vote districtwide, which proved to be his lowest margin ever. But he lost the city of Roanoke to Democrat Steve Musselwhite that year. Goodlatte pulled 48.1% of Roanoke votes in the election. The difference between the two candidates was slightly more than 1,200 votes, out of 33,559 ballots cast.

Goodlattes popularity proved so strong that 6th District Democrats didnt even bother to field a candidate in more than half of his subsequent elections.

One of those was in 1994, Goodlattes first bid for reelection. That year, he took 99.9% of votes across the district and in Roanoke. Districtwide, the only dissenting votes were 189 write-ins, out of 126,455 votes cast.

And Goodlatte was popular in the city for the rest of the 1990s. Seeking a third term in 1996, Goodlatte trounced Jeff Grey, a largely unknown Rockbridge County Democrat, winning 56% of Roanokes 30,053 votes.

In 1998, Goodlatte performed even better against former Democrat (and now independent) David Bowers, Roanokes mayor at the time. Versus Bowers, Goodlatte won 57.9% of Roanokes general election votes, which numbered 20,174.

Democrats didnt even bother to field a 6th District candidate in the next four elections. Then in 2008, Democrats nominated political newcomer Sam Rasoul of Roanoke, who lost the election but won the city handily. That year, Goodlatte pulled 43.9% of the city vote, out of 39,882 votes cast. (Currently, Rasoul is a delegate from Roanoke in the Virginia General Assembly.)

The next election, in 2010, was one of those years Democrats didnt field a candidate. That year, two independents ran against Goodlatte, including Jeff Vanke of Roanoke. Goodlatte won 65.3% of the citys 18,595 votes.

In 2012, a presidential election year, 36,627 Roanoke voters cast ballots in the 6th District election. Running against Democrat Andy Schmooker, Goodlatte lost Roanoke with 47.6% of the vote (although he won the 6th District with more than 65%).

In 2014, the Democrats once again failed to field a candidate. Goodlatte ran against Libertarian William Hammer and Independent-Green candidate Elaine Hildebrandt. Goodlatte won 61.4% of Roanokes 18,738 votes that year.

The presidential election year of 2016 was Goodlattes last election, and he won the 6th District with 66.6% of the vote against Democrat Kai Degner, a former mayor of Harrisonburg. In Roanoke that year, 38,086 residents voted, with Goodlatte taking 48% of the Roanoke vote.

Clines first congressional election was in 2018, against Democrat Jennifer Lewis of Waynesboro. That year, Cline won the district with 59.7% of the vote. But Cline didnt do as well in Roanoke.

Out of 31,243 ballots in the city, he pulled 36.9%. That was the worst showing by a Republican congressional candidate in Roanoke since 1982, when GOP nominee Kevin Miller pulled 34.2% of the city vote against Democrat Olin.

In 2020, 42,082 Roanoke voters cast ballots when Cline ran against Democrat Nicholas Betts. Cline took 41.2% of the Roanoke vote, although he won the 6th District with just under 65%.

This year, Lewis is once again challenging Cline, and the question of the day is, how will he do among Roanoke voters this time around?

The contest is open to any reader, whether a resident of the city or not. You can enter by emailing your predictions to dan.casey@roanoke.com, no later than 11:59 p.m. Nov. 7.

Put ClineRoanoke in the subject line. In the email body, guess the percentage Cline will take in the city, in terms of three digits, such as 44.8%.

As a tiebreaker, entrants should also predict the total number of congressional votes cast in Roanoke for the 2022 election. Thatll decide the lunch winner in the event more than one person nails Clines percentage.

Contestants must also send me their name and locality of residence, which may be published, and a phone number (which will not be). A winner will be determined once the vote is certified.

Hint: The Virginia Department of Elections Historical Elections Database may be useful in devising your prediction. However, its not always accurate. I found three errors in its listings while plumbing the 6th Congressional Districts elections history.

So beware!
While many public schools in Western Virginia contend with stagnant or declining numbers of students, some divisions in Southwest Virginia have grown enrollment by embracing virtual learning options.

Franklin County Public Schools saw a significant decline in student membership over the last decade. Meanwhile, Radford City Schools has experienced a recent enrollment increase by expanding its virtual classrooms.

The coronavirus pandemic has, so far, only hastened a decade-long decline in Franklin Countys membership.

Average daily membership, or ADM, is based on the average number of students attending school in a division. ADM is calculated using enrollment and attendance data. ADM decline may be related to illness-related absences or dropping enrollment as families move out of a division.

From 2018-19 to 2021-22, statewide public school membership went down about 3%. Over the same period, FCPS membership dropped about 10.5% and Radford City membership rose a staggering 64%.

Franklin Countys ADM was declining steadily before COVID-19, but there was an unprecedented drop during the 2020-21 school year. There was no recovery in 2021-22; instead, ADM went down again, although not as sharply. The same trend has occurred with fall membership which, unlike ADM, is not affected by absences. Numbers from a recent school board meeting indicate the divisions September membership was 6,280, down from a year before.

The division was down about 700 students from 2018-19 to 2021-22, based on the most recent data.

For context, statewide membership numbers dropped in 2020-21, but held relatively steady in 2021-22.

The largest school divisions in the Roanoke and New River valleys  the city of Roanoke, and Roanoke and Montgomery counties, all reported drops from 2018-19, and all involving 300 to 400 students.

Annual school-age population estimates from the University of Virginias Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service indicate some of Franklin Countys loss is from students moving out of the county. The estimated number of school-age people living in Franklin County dropped about 1,000 between 2011 and 2021.

One other thing that should be mentioned  is declining birth rates  and young adults moving away and not having children in the county, Weldon Coopers Hamilton Lombard said.

Franklin County families sending their children to other public school divisions could also be a factor, but its not tracked by the division or state.

However, data from the Virginia Department of Education and the National Center for Education Statistics support the conclusion that more families have opted to home-school their children or enroll them in private school. In the last decade, while the divisions membership declined, Franklin County private school enrollment and religious and home-school exemptions grew.

Franklin County Testing Coordinator Kara Bernard said it has been hard for students to return to in-person learning after the pandemic sent them home.

There is a lot of anxiety about transitioning back. They were home for a while, Bernard said.

The time at home also opened some families eyes to other schooling options, Bernard said, which some students and families simply prefer.

Even so, the division hopes more students will return and wants to be ready to help them adjust as they do.

Just like any student in our district, we provide appropriate supports, if needed, Franklin County Superintendent Bernice Cobbs wrote in an Oct. 21 email to The Roanoke Times. For example, when a family registers a student, they work with the school principal and or guidance counselor to build a schedule, give a tour of the school and/or meet the teacher(s). If the student has already attended the school, he or she may not need the tour again based on the comfort level of the student. As with any student, if the student needs academic support, then it is provided. Meeting the individual needs of the student is the goal.

In the meantime, dropping ADM is a problem for Franklin County because it affects how much state funding the division gets. Generally speaking, higher ADM means more money.

The state government has taken some steps to mitigate the impact of pandemic ADM losses on funding. Divisions like Franklin County have received hold harmless funds to supplement ADM-related funding losses.

Cobbs said school construction grants and federal pandemic relief funds have also helped the division weather recent issues.

Those measures have blunted the pandemics impact on the Franklin County division, but dont change the fact that COVID-19 has only exacerbated ADM losses. The division is now preparing for a future of continued ADM loss. To that end, Cobbs pointed to an upcoming efficiency study.

We think at this time we need to really focus on facilities: are we really efficient with the use of our facilities? What I mean by that ... is thinking about right-sized staffing, Cobbs said.

The study should provide feedback and strategies to help the division use its resources  including funding  as effectively as possible.

Elsewhere, at Bedford County Public Schools, enrollment as of late August was up by 85 students compared to year prior, said an email from Chief Operations Officer Mac Duis.

8,889 students, which is 102 students higher than projected, Duis said in an email. We attribute some of this increase in enrollment to students returning to our schools who withdrew from BCPS over the previous two years.

He said the division has analyzed that 179 of the 579 students who left for homeschooling within the past two years have since returned, while 49 of the 326 students who left for private schools during that same time are now re-enrolled.

Demand for virtual learning has bolstered student populations in some school divisions.

Educators drowned in their workloads, struggling to juggle the challenges of multiplatform teaching as the coronavirus surged from 2020 into 2021, said Radford Superintendent Robert Graham.

Some of the phrases Graham used to describe teachers pandemic schedules sound more like advanced swimming or diving techniques.

They were teaching synchronously, asynchronously, in-person, virtually, having to grade and provide lessons and assessments on all those different levels, Graham said during a phone call last week. It was just wearing them out.

At the same time, student numbers were on a continued decline, and homeschooling saw a pandemic surge in participants statewide.

The implications for a smaller school division such as Radfords were concerning, because average attendance affects state funding.

At least in Radford, if you lose 50 students that wanted to stay home and be home-schooled or choose another learning method, we have about a $7,000 cost per pupil, Graham said. So youre looking at $350,000 that we lost on those 50 students, which is hard to make up.

So public school divisions from the states region 7, which is Southwest Virginia, joined together to improve the online virtual learning experience for both teachers and students alike, he said. They contracted virtual learning providers to take over the online classrooms, and started the Region 7 Virtual Academy starting in fall 2021.

We started to see an increase in our enrollment there, Graham said. Some of our home-school students are coming back and taking advantage of that opportunity.

Meanwhile, plenty other students have returned to in-person learning, he said. This fall, there are 1,626 students roaming Radford school hallways, only about one classroom fewer than prepandemic, data shows.

An additional 2,057 students are enrolled virtually in Radford through partnerships with online providers, Graham said.

Students who are out-of-district and dont have a virtual platform to choose within their county can choose this option, and they enroll with us as our Radford virtual kids, Graham said. Thats why youve seen the huge increase, because those folks, even though they may be from Fairfax County or Charlottesville City or Virginia Beach  theyre enrolled as a Radford City student.

Those extra online students, wherever they might be, are taught Virginia curriculum by the virtual instructors, allowing Radford teachers to focus on their in-person classrooms, he said.

Its been a good partnership, those involved say.

In another Region 7 school division, enrollment at Giles County Schools jumped by 1,200 students between spring and fall of 2021, state data shows.

The region has really found this to be a very beneficial program for not just our students, but for our faculty as well, Graham said. Were hoping that itll be self-sustaining here in the very near future. It was close to being that way this year.

The extra virtual students can benefit state funding to Radford City Schools, which is among school divisions in Virginia that are more reliant on state money to fund education. Limited by state metrics, Radford has space to enroll about 200 additional virtual students, Graham said.

I dont see it going away for a while. I think virtual learning for some students is really good for them, and it gives parents the opportunity to have a choice, Graham said. Right now in these in these times, youve got to be innovative and creative, and understand that youve got to be flexible and patient as well.

Region 7 Virtual Academy is the first regional platform of its kind in the state, approved by the Virginia Department of Education. While most students learn better in a real classroom setting, the diversity of learning options provides some sense of resilience, on top of the hope for further growth, Graham said.

You never know what the environment is going to hold for you You keep hearing about COVID and the impact that it continues to have on the whole country and world, Graham said. We just try to do what we can to prepare for tomorrow, and make every opportunity available to students, parents and community members.
The median sale price for a home in Blacksburg this year has been approximately $400,000, up from $271,000 four years ago, according to data from the firm Montgomery County has long employed to perform its quadrennial reassessment.

The year-by-year sales price comparison was among the points the Daleville-based Wampler-Eanes Appraisal Group presented to the countys Board of Supervisors this past week.

Wampler-Eanes is performing the countys reassessment, a process the locality undertakes every four years to recalculate all its property values.

The assessment is what the county and its two towns use to calculate real estate tax amounts per property.

Across Montgomery County, one of the fastest-growing localities in western Virginia, the reassessment means most property owners can anticipate higher real estate tax bills due to the increases in values alone.

For the previous reassessment that went into effect in 2019, values for single-family homes across the county had gone up by an average range of 3% to 11% depending on the community, according to figures provided by the municipality at the time. Blacksburgs increases were on the higher end of that range, while Christiansburg and the remainder of the county were each on the lower end of that spectrum.

Gary Eanes, the owner of Wampler-Eanes, said the firm is still crunching numbers at this point. He said reassessment notices will likely be mailed out by the middle or end of November.

Sale prices, however, are a key factor in the assessments.

Throughout the process, neighborhood sales, land values and yearly appreciation trends, among other data, are analyzed, Eanes told supervisors this past week.

The median sale price in Christiansburg this year has been $283,000, up from $195,000 in 2018, according to Wampler-Eanes. Countywide, the median sale price went from $225,000 in 2018 to $317,000 in 2022.

The main thing is the real estate market itself, Eanes said in an interview several years ago. When values are going up or down, thats how we make adjustments. Location, location, location is the most important part of it.

While other factors such as structural improvements are taken into consideration, the thing that determines the most is the actual market itself, Eanes previously said.

If theyre listing houses for more than they were four years ago, that shows the market is increasing, he said in 2018. You dont have to do anything to your house, just maintain it and it should go up in value.

Another issue that helped boost area home prices more recently was the national housing boom that followed the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The average sales price in the county in 2021 was $315,680, up 8.8% from 2020, according to other figures previously provided by municipal officials.

Several supervisors said this past week they are bracing for a higher than usual number of taxpayer questions about the upcoming reassessment. Some asked Eanes about whether his firm would be able to accommodate in-person visits from taxpayers who might want to appeal their assessments.

Theres going to be a lot of people concerned, and I just want to give them enough time to do what they need to do, said Supervisor Todd King, who asked Eanes when he expected taxpayers to have their reassessments in hand.

In addition to backing away from face-to-face interactions due to concerns with COVID-19, Eanes said his office isnt set up for crowd capacity.

Eanes, however, said every property owner will have the right to appeal their assessments via mail, email and phone calls.

Well make sure their voices are heard, he said.
The Salem Civic Center came alive with shouts of amazement over the weekend, thanks to the return of the Kazim Shrine Circus.

Horses and camels walking on their hind legs, acrobats on motorcycles on tightropes, trained circus cats, elephants en pointe and even dancing bears  all that and more dazzled audiences

The 2022 Kazim Shrine Circus began Friday with its first show, followed by three Saturday and two Sunday performances.

Its been a few years since the Roanoke-based Kazim Shriners  the local arm of the fraternal Shriners International organization  has been able to let loose. The shrine had to call off its 2020 circus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while continued restrictions in 2021 reduced turnout.

This time, before each show and during half-time intermission, children were encouraged to get out on the floor and participate in a number of attractions, including face-painting and pony, elephant and camel rides.

A few lucky boys and girls even received free cotton candy and ice cream in return for assistance cleaning up the stands after the performance

This is probably our first full circus in two or three years. ... We have tried to go a little bit more with electronic payments  we used to not have credit card machines and now weve got little squares and all those things. ... Were also going through Ticketmaster now, were not selling tickets out of our temple ... so its a little bit less contact in some things, Kazim Shrine Potentate Matt Clarke said.

Clarke said the Kazim Shrine has about 1,200 members.

We go as far north as Alleghany, Bath, Highland County and we go down to Danville, Lynchburg, all the way to the Tennessee border  so were all of Southwest Virginia. ... Today here I probably have 100 people helping, Clarke said Saturday.

The 2022 circus was the 64th Kazim Shrine Circus in the Roanoke Valley since the shrines founding 106 years ago. Even without the return of the circus, 2022 is a big year for Shriners.

This is a year of birthdays, Clarke said.

He said it is the 150th year since the founding of Shriners International, and the 100th year since the first Shriners Hospitals for Children location was established in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Shriners are usually easy to identify thanks to the red fezzes they wear and they often participate as clowns in the circuses they host. Several Kazim Shrine members spent the weekend in full clown regalia, performing alongside other acts affiliated with the Carden International Circus.

Whats amazing is we dont get paid for this  were all volunteer, Clarke said of himself and the other Shriners.

Shriners are also well-known for the Shriner Childrens Hospitals but Clarke noted that the proceeds from the 2022 circus weekend will support the Kazim Shrine directly, rather than a philanthropic cause.

The money from this event goes to our operating budget ... which in turn helps us do the wonderful things we do. ... This keeps our lights on in our building, Clarke said.

The Shriners arent just about philanthropy, though; the circus act and clowning around serve another, equally important purpose. As a description in the weekends circus program explained, Shriners International is a fraternal organization based on fun and philanthropy.

Were here to help people and make sure they have fun, Clarke said.

And after the hardships of the last couple years, thats a message anyone can get behind.
Somalia's leader says at least 100 killed in Saturday attack

Somalias president says at least 100 people were killed in Saturdays two car bombings at a busy junction in the capital and the toll could rise
FLORENCE, S.C.  Harvest Hope Food Bank and Duke Energy Thursday will team up to strike a blow against hunger with a food collection and box packing party at Francis Marion Universitys Performing Arts Center in Florence.

Im very excited, said Harvest Hope CEO Erinn Rowe on the plan to pack 1,000 boxes. Thats the goal. A thousand is a big number but I have full faith we can do it.

This packing event, she said, will focus on Thanksgiving and the staples a family would need to make a great Thanksgiving dinner or augment what they already have.

Boxes will contain sweet potatoes, green beans, canned ham, stuffing, cranberries and other staples.

Anytime you think about the holidays I guarantee there is some memory of food, Rowe said. We wanted to create a box where they can create these memories with their families.

Desert, theres a cake in there. I knew I was forgetting something, Rowe said of the box.

Last year we started looking at what could we do to help these organizations, shining the light on what they do and the need. We started looking at Thanksgiving and November, said Ryan Mosier with Duke Energy.

We asked them what they needed. We saw where civic engagement brought people together, highlight the volunteerism, Mosier said of the plan to collect food and stuff boxes in the middle of Downtown Florence.

Duke Energy folks will be on the ground packing. Therell be representatives from downtown business as well, Mosier said.

This is a monthlong statewide program for us culminating with giving Tuesday  the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, Mosier said. Were kicking it off with Harvest Hope in Florence. Have another event in Greenville a couple weeks after that.

Were also focused on small organizations throughout the state, small food pantries and food closets that help communities get by when the times are tough, Mosier said.

Duke is a really great partner on ending hunger. This is our first really big South Carolina kickoff event, Rowe said.

To partner with the food bank to do this was a natural fit.

We live and work in the community beside everybody else. Were part of the lives of the communities we serve. We need to be a good corporate citizen and identify the needs of the community, Mosier said.

Mosier said the utility started this effort last year and had a good response.

Started this last year and had a good response.

More than 5400,000 South Carolinians dont know where their next good meal is going to come from. One in 7 of those is children, Mosier said. Want reduce that number and one day eliminate it.

Thursdays packing party will be a step along that journey  and will come with music and drinks.

This will be a more light-hearted event, Rowe said.
Two Florence County fire departments wrapped up Fire Prevention Month with open houses Friday and Saturday.

Sardis-Timmonsville Friday night played host to an open house/trunk or treat that included a dinner of hot dogs and chips, carnival games and plenty of chocolate.

They also had a chance to use a fire hose to knock two-liter bottles off traffic cones, learn about kitchen grease fires in a live fire demonstration and watch as the departments vehicle extrication team methodically dismantled a car one snip at a time.

The department used the open house as part of its outreach to the community to hand out applications to become volunteer firefighters, or schedule a smoke alarm installation from the fire department or even a home fire inspection.

Howe Springs Fire Rescue Saturday celebrated its open house with candy for the children and information for both children and their parents. The department also had a house fire that children could extinguish with a real fire hose and a smoke tunnel they could crawl through.

While Effingham Grill and Grocery served up a lot of hot dogs and hamburgers Howe Springs Fire Chief Billy Dillon and arson dog Piper put on a demonstration of Pipers skills at sniffing out accelerants.

In addition, Howe Springs firefighters cut up a car and tried  unsuccessfully  to deep fry a frozen turkey.

This years open house culminated with a live-fire demonstration that involved a sofa, loveseat and end table exposed to a trash can fire much like would happen if a cigarette discarded into the trash.

Much like Sardis-Timmonsville, the annual event was an outreach to the community that included applications to join and offers to install smoke detectors.
Accord cerealier: Washington accuse la Russie de se servir de "l'alimentation comme d'une arme"

La Russie, qui a annonce samedi suspendre sa participation a l'accord sur les exportations de cereales ukrainiennes, se sert de "l'alimentation comme d'une arme", a fustige la porte-parole du Conseil de securite nationale de la Maison Blanche.



"La Russie essaie encore une fois d'utiliser la guerre qu'elle a initiee comme pretexte pour se servir de l'alimentation comme d'une arme, ce qui affecte directement des pays dans le besoin et les prix des denrees alimentaires a travers le monde, et exacerbe des crises humanitaires deja graves et l'insecurite alimentaire", a declare Adrienne Watson dans un communique.
Meetings and events

The monthly Carmelite Board Meeting will be held Monday, Nov. 7, at the Carmelite Monastery, 2901 S. Cecelia Street with Mass at 7 a.m. followed by a large mailing and refreshments at 8 a.m. Our business meeting will begin at 8:30 a.m., the rosary will start at 9 a.m. and prayers with the Sisters at 9:15 a.m. Honorary members are always welcome.

Lions Club meetings are first and third Mondays of each month, excluding holidays, at 12 p.m. at Active Generations located at 313 Cook St Sioux City. If interested in a strong service club helping sight and hearing impaired individuals we are the people to join with.

Bruguiers Cabin Tours, the second Sunday of the month from June to October, from 2 to 4 p.m. Special group tours can be arranged by calling 712-490-6506.

Dakota County Historical Society meets at 7:30 p.m. on third Thursday of the month, Dakota City Library. Contact Dennis Reinert at 712-253-1609 for more information.

Top O Morning Toastmasters Club, Mondays, noon to 1 p.m. Contact LeAnn Blankenburg, 712-870-1120, for meeting information.

The Siouxland Ostomy Support Group, find us on Facebook. For more information and meeting times contact Dick Lindblom at 712-251-2453.

Southside South Bottoms former residents, 6 p.m. potluck, second Wednesday of the month at Goodwill Industries cafeteria, 3100 Fourth St. Gert, 258-2227.

Siouxland Metal Detecting and Archeology Club, 6:30 p.m., first Tuesday of the month in the Gleeson Room at 4510 Buckwalter Drive. Visitors welcome. Ray Turner, 712-899-2114.

American Legion Post 64, 7 p.m. last Thursday of the month at 4021 Floyd Blvd. 712-258-3986.

Marine Corps League, 6 p.m. second Tuesday of the month at Elks Club on TriView Ave. All marines welcome. For more information, call Cathy Moreno, 712-899-8441.

Sioux City Chapter of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), 7 p.m. fourth Tuesday of the month at Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church, 1421 Geneva St. 712-203-2052.

Sioux City Duplicate Bridge Club, 12:30 p.m. Mondays (open); at the Senior Center. Mary 605-670-9613.

Siouxland Fly-Fishing Club, 10 a.m. last Saturday of the month at the Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center on Hwy 12. All interested in fly fishing; beginners welcome. Monthly programs provided. For more information, call Bob Gillespie, 712-251-9463, or Diana, 402-987-3945.

Siouxland Coin Club, 7 p.m. first Tuesday of each month at First United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall, 1915 Nebraska St. Bob, 255-4829.

The Siouxland Pride Alliance, peer support group, 5:30 p.m. Fridays; Youth Pride group, 1:30 p.m. second Sunday of the month; potluck, 5:30 p.m. third Sunday of the month. First Unitarian Church, 2508 Jackson. Call 712-223-0931

Siouxland Samplers Quilt Guild, 7 p.m. second Monday of the month at the Redeemer Lutheran Church, 3204 S. Lakeport St, door #2. Visitors and new members welcome.

Siouxland Sewing Guild, 6:30-8 p.m. first Thursday of the month at South Sioux Public Library, 2121 Dakota Ave., South Sioux City. For anyone interested in sewing. Denise, 402-922-1822.

Sooland RC Modelers, 7 p.m. second Thursday of the month at Morningside Lutheran Church. Non-profit club that flies remote control aircraft. Anyone interested in RC is welcome.

Retired Educators, 10:30 a.m. third Tuesday of the month, at the Redeemer Lutheran Church, 3204 S. Lakeport St., door #6.

Mid-Step Services for Handicapped, meal at 5 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month, at the Redeemer Lutheran Church, 3204 S. Lakeport St., door #6.

Confirmation Instruction and Midweek Lessons, 5 p.m. on Wednesdays, at the Redeemer Lutheran Church, 3204 S. Lakeport St., door #6. Open to all kids 5 years old through 8th grade.

Primetime (Potluck), 12 p.m., second Thursday of each month, at Whitfield United Methodist Church, 1319 W 5th. For more information call 252-3261 Tuesday-Thursdays, 9 a.m.-12 p.m.

Abundant Life Fellowship, 809 S. Alice St., in Sioux City will distribute food boxes after their 11 a.m. Sunday services. For additional information contact Pastor Bob at 605-205-0718 or Donna at 605-205-0719.
Police investigating double murder

SIOUX CITY  Two people were killed in a shooting in the wee hours of Saturday morning on Sioux Citys west side, according to Sioux City Police.

According to a press release, officers say the shooting occurred in the 1400 block of West Fifth Street where they came across two victims: one who was pronounced dead at the scene and the other who was pronounced dead after arriving at a local hospital.

The names of the victims are not being released pending notification of next of kin.

The SCPD is not actively looking for a suspect at this time, the person of interest has been identified and is not a threat to the public, Sioux City Police said.

Police said since the investigation is still ongoing, no further details will be released at this time.

Sioux City jewelry store robbed by two suspects with sledgehammers, police saySIOUX CITY  Two male suspects, wearing masks and carrying sledgehammers, broke into a Sioux City jewelry store and made off with an untold amount of jewelry just before 1 p.m. on Saturday.

Thats according to Sioux City Police who say the suspects busted a glass jewelry case at Gundersons Jewelers and then left in a white pickup truck.

No persons were hurt during the robbery, Sioux City Police said. The investigation into the incident is ongoing
Crush kills at least 151 at Halloween festivities in Seoul

SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  A mass of mostly young people among tens of thousands who gathered to celebrate Halloween in Seoul became trapped and crushed as the crowd surged into a narrow alley, killing at least 151 people and injuring 82 others in South Koreas worst disaster in years. Emergency workers and pedestrians desperately performed CPR on people lying in the streets after the crush in the capitals nightlife district of Itaewon on Saturday night. Choi Seong-beom, chief of Seouls Yongsan fire department, said the death toll could rise further and that an unspecified number among the injured were in critical condition.

Russia suspends Ukraine grain deal over ship attack claim

KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  Russia says it will immediately suspend a U.N.-brokered grain export deal that has seen more than 9 million tons of grain exported from Ukraine and brought down global food prices. The Russian Defense Ministry cited an alleged Ukrainian drone attack Saturday against Russias Black Sea Fleet ships moored off occupied Crimea as the reason for the move. Ukraine has denied the attack and said the Russians just mishandled their own weapons. The Russian declaration came one day after U.N. chief Antonio Guterres urged Russia and Ukraine to renew the grain deal. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the Russian move predictable, saying Russian delays have already backed up 176 grain ships at sea. Another Ukrainian official said Russia was starting a new world hunger games.

Pelosi attack shocks country on edge about democracy threats

WASHINGTON (AP)  At times these days, it can feel like the United States is on edge about threats to American democracy. And now there's been a new jolt, less than two weeks before Election Day. The violent attack on the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in their San Francisco home was a particularly savage reminder of the extremism that has coursed through American politics in recent years. And it's adding to a sense of foreboding with the Nov. 8 election nearly at hand. A new domestic intelligence assessment from the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies says extremists, fueled by election falsehoods, pose a heightened threat to the upcoming midterms.

What is known about the attack on Speaker Pelosi's husband

SAN FRANCISCO (AP)  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says her husband Paul's condition continues to improve." Paul Pelosi is being treated for injuries he suffered after a man broke into their home in San Francisco and severely beat him with a hammer. Nancy Pelosi was in Washington at the time. Her office has said that 82-year-old Paul Pelosi is expected to make a full recovery after surgery to repair a skull fracture. He also suffered serious injuries to his right arm and hands. The 42-year-old suspect is expected to be charged next week. In a letter to congressional colleagues, Nancy Pelosi says the attack has traumatized her family.

Permitless carry laws raise new dilemmas for police officers

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP)  Permitless carry laws in states including Kentucky, Idaho and Texas are creating a dilemma for police officers working the streets: They now have to decide, sometimes in seconds, if someone with the right to carry a gun is a danger. Advocates of the laws say they make people safer, because the best way to stop a bad guy with a gun is to have a good guy with a gun. Opponents say that allowing anyone to carry a gun anywhere makes it more dangerous for ordinary people, and for police officers. The debate has unfolded as gun violence is on the rise nationwide.

Oz-Mastriano: An awkward pair atop Pennsylvania's GOP ticket

MALVERN, Pa. (AP)  Republicans have political winds at their back, but the party's nominees in Pennsylvania for governor and Senate are running dramatically different campaigns and targeting two very different types of voters. Campaign strategists say that dynamic is complicating a path to victory for Mehmet Oz, the heart surgeon-turned-TV celebrity, in the Senate race and Doug Mastriano in the governor's contest. Strategists say it makes sense for Oz to avoid Mastriano because Mastriano's running a far-right campaign and trailing Democrat Josh Shapiro in polls. Strategists also say Mastriano is driving away the moderate voters that Oz will need to beat Democrat John Fetterman in the closely contested Senate race.

Affirmative action under threat as high court hears UNC case

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP)  The University of North Carolina was once a bastion of segregation. Today, the school takes account of race to make up for that history and to increase the number of Black students and other underrepresented minorities on campus. Its affirmative action program, using race among many factors to build a diverse student body, is similar to plans in place at other selective public and private institutions. But a Supreme Court that's twice blessed race-conscious college admissions programs in the past 19 years now seems poised to restrict their use or outlaw them altogether. The court is hearing two such cases on Monday, involving UNC and Harvard. They're the nations oldest public and private universities, respectively.

Arizona AG gives county OK for full ballot hand counts

PHOENIX (AP)  Arizonas Republican attorney general says county officials can hand-count all ballots in at least five races from the Nov. 8 election. An opinion issued Friday from Mark Brnovich's office gives a green light to GOP officials in at least two counties who have been clamoring for hand counts. The efforts are driven by unfounded concerns among some Republicans that problems with vote-counting machines led to former President Donald Trumps 2020 defeat. The new opinion led the two Republicans on the three-member Cochise County board of supervisors to boost their plan to hand-count both early and Election Day ballots. They had pledged to pare back the effort on Wednesday after the secretary of state called it illegal.

US storm survivors: We need money faster, less red tape

MIDDLETOWN, N.J. (AP)  Survivors of storms that pounded several U.S. states say the nations disaster aid system is broken and they want less red tape to get relief money. People who went through Superstorm Sandy or hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria and Ida gathered Saturday, 10 years after Sandy made landfall at the Jersey Shore. The gathering included victim advocacy groups from New Jersey, Florida, Texas, Louisiana and Puerto Rico. The survivors and their advocates have listed five reforms they say will help avoid the delays, runarounds and financial desperation they experienced. A Federal Emergency Management Agency official says the agency has to get taxpayer money into the right hands and is looking for a way to provide quicker relief.

No. 1 Georgia pulls away late, wins 'Cocktail Party' 42-20

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP)  Daijun Edwards and Kenny McIntosh ran for two touchdowns each, and No. 1 Georgia pulled away from Florida following a second-half scare to win 42-20 in the rivalry dubbed the Worlds Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. The defending national champion Bulldogs looked to be in trouble when the Gators scored the first 17 points of the third quarter and turned a 28-3 deficit into a one-score game. But the Dawgs answered with consecutive touchdown drives to seal their 10th consecutive victory. Georgia beat Florida for the fifth time in six years.
In the wake of the pandemic, more students are missing school than ever before. But there are steps parents and schools can take to get kids back into class.

In 2019, before the pandemic began, nearly 6% of the nations students missed more than 15 days of school during the average year, for any reason or combination of reasons. Students who miss that amount of school are termed chronically absent.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, when school buildings were closed for a period of time, the number of chronically absent students has nearly doubled because of a number of factors, such as students not returning to school once schools reopened, students staying home with COVID-19 or in quarantine or family anxiety about coming back to school during the pandemic. Also, more schools reported increases in students missing classes or school altogether since the majority of schools have transitioned to back to face-to-face instruction.

Of course, some of these absences stem from pandemic-related policies, such as students who are asked to stay home if they show COVID-19 symptoms or have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive. And the more than 1 million U.S. deaths from the pandemic have also required many students to care for other family members, which may require them to miss school.

As a researcher who studies chronic absence, I see five ways that schools and districts can seek improvements in student attendance.

1. Collect, analyze and explain attendance data

Most schools collect overall attendance data on how many students are present on a given day. But many of them really care only about unexcused absences  ones for which parents or doctors havent sent a note. That can be a problem, because kids miss learning opportunities when theyre not in school, regardless of the reason theyre out.

Some schools  including those in San Francisco and Baltimore  look more closely at the reasons students miss class. They have found some problems schools can help solve, such as replacing unreliable transportation with carpools or providing information about local bus service.

Teachers and other school staff members who use data to further understand the reasons for their students absences can help encourage students who have missed school to return to class. For instance, in Illinois, students are allowed to take up to five mental health days and, when they return to school, are able to make up missed assignments.

It may also be useful for schools to examine absence data for trends of weeks or months when many students are absent, or even when particular students tend to miss school. With that information, they can take steps to reduce absenteeism.

For example, one San Francisco elementary school enters every kid who shows up on a Monday or a Friday into a raffle for a prize, encouraging more people to attend on days that are frequently skipped. A program in Pittsburgh high schools gives a scholarship to college to students who get good grades and have better than 90% attendance.

2. Use technology

Many schools already use text messaging to communicate with students and their families. Some schools use it to alert parents if their kids are absent without permission and help get them back to school.

Four Georgia school districts reduced chronic absence by 8% by simply texting parents when their children were absent and warning them that kids who miss school are less likely to graduate.

That might not sound like a lot, but it is a starting point. And when it is coupled with other efforts, more kids may spend even more time learning.

3. Pair chronically absent students with mentors

If students have a close contact at school  a teacher, another staff member or even a fellow student  that person can encourage them to stay in school. A mentoring program launched in New York City saw students who missed school frequently gain almost two weeks of instruction because of mentoring connections and creating relationships with adults.

If needed, a formal program can match chronically absent students with mentors who can help them connect with others at school, get help with missed work or even find staff who can provide mental and social services.

Evidence on mentorship programs has shown they help keep students in school through high school graduation. This includes regularly checking in on a students family, providing academic supports and helping students to navigate social dynamics within schools. A mentoring program in Nashville, Tennessee, that began in the wake of the pandemic is seeking to do just that, in concert with other efforts to reduce chronic absenteeism.

4. Connect students to mental and physical health services

Some of the leading reasons students miss school involve their mental or physical health. Dental cavities, asthma or other breathing conditions and stress from violence or hunger are all potential factors.

If students dont have health insurance or cant afford to go to the doctor, they may miss school because of illnesses or even untreated long-term conditions.

Research based in Pennsylvania has found that school nurses can play an important role in identifying and addressing health problems that cause students to miss school. They can help arrange for key services such as medical testing and exams, provide referrals to expert practitioners and regularly check on students when they are in school.

My own research, co-authored with social psychologist Chris Kearney, has found that school counselors can also be crucial to providing the support students need to stay in school. Often this help is not academic but rather involves connecting students with therapists to deal with trauma or food banks to reduce hunger, for example.

In California, local school districts that have launched student-retention efforts within the school and throughout the surrounding community have found attendance improves. These attendance review boards have shifted from being punitive to focusing on getting kids back in school by meeting the needs of students and families.

5. Create local partnerships

Research has shown that schools cannot address all attendance issues on their own. Pittsburgh, Detroit and Austin, Texas, are just a few of the cities whose schools have expanded attendance campaigns into the wider community. These cities have been able to bring together community-based organizations in order to rely on their expertise and support to improve attendance.

Such cities as Chicago and Long Beach, California, have sent district and school employees out to canvass their local neighborhoods about what might be affecting students attendance. This not only helped them identify potential barriers, such as unreliable transportation, but also provided solutions to overcome them such as changing bus routes or providing alternative transportation options. And it reinforced the importance of school to community members.

As in-person learning returns across the country, schools will play an important role in addressing the pandemics impact on student attendance. Deploying the right strategies can help to create learning environments in which students feel supported in attending school and want to stay.

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Joshua Childs does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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Indigenous groups in the U.S. and Canada are leading efforts to restore bison across North America more than a century after European settlers drove the species to near extinction. Tribes now have a collective 20,000 bison and thats been growing steadily along with a desire among many Native Americans to reclaim stewardship of an animal their predecessors lived alongside and depended upon for millennia. The long-term dream for many is to return bison, also known as buffalo, on a scale rivaling the tens of millions that once roamed the continent in thundering herds that shaped the landscape itself.
In the last month I have had the opportunity to see and hear former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo when he spoke at the Siouxland Chamber of Commerces annual dinner and former President George W. Bush in Cedar Rapids for the Herbert Hoover Presidential Foundation's annual dinner. Both of them kept their speeches non-political, and both talked about immigration and why people flee to the United States as it is on our minds for various reasons.

Born and raised in the U.S., we do not always remember how lucky we are to live here. Sometimes people may take their freedom for granted, most of us have not fortunately experienced political unrest, or strife. Most of us do not know and understand what horrible conditions many people including children endure everyday of their lives. People of the Ukraine are fighting with determination to keep their freedom and democracy, they demonstrate everyday how important it is to them.

When riding in a taxi in New York or Washington D.C., its an opportunity to engage the driver in conversation, I have not ridden with a driver that was born in the U.S. since the 70s. Most generally, I ask where they immigrated from to the U.S. Most of them are from the Middle East or some other African nation. Many times they express to me that those of us born in America do not appreciate our freedom and our constitutional rights. Many of those I speak with remind their children what it is like in their homeland, they do not want their children to forget why they fled to the U.S.

Having traveled to the Soviet Union, African countries and Cuba, I have witnessed some issues, nothing horrible because it is hidden from tourists. Traveling with a guide, one hears the governments story, not the whole truth. I recall visiting St. Petersburg of the then-Soviet Union, our guide made it her priority to let us know she disliked Americans. When in Cuba, our guide blamed us for all of their economic issues. The places they took us, the people were happy and loved their country, especially in Cuba. When Cubans stopped us on the street, they expressed how much they loved Americans and our country and wanted to come to the US.

Immigrants are important to our country for a lot of reasons, some major reasons are they have contributed to our prosperity, society, they have fought for us, they have made us who we are, they are the backbone of our land. Most of us have family members that immigrated to our nation starting with Pilgrims.

Former President George W. Bush wrote in his book, Out of Many, One, he quoted former President Ronald Reagan, This I believe, is one of the most important sources of Americas greatness. We lead the world because, unique among nations we draw our peopleour strengthfrom every country and every corner of the world. And by doing so, we continuously renew and enrich our nation. Our country is a beacon of hope in a world of heinous crimes against innocent people because of their political beliefs or gender.

In his book, Bush wrote about immigrants, as well as painted their portrait. One young man he captured on canvas and in print is Carlos Mendez, a Dreamer, he did not choose to come illegally to our country. His father was already in the U.S. and eventually he sent for Carlos and his mother. This is the only country he has really ever known.

Mendez is a very intelligent young man who got very upset if he got less than an A is his classes. After graduating from high school, he was accepted in an honors program at Northeast Texas Community College. He chose to write about then-San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros for a class assignment. Cisneros described the article as the best economic development strategy he had ever known. However, he did not want to write, he wanted to be an engineer. Carlos developed a plan as to how to become an engineer. He transferred to the University of Texas as a highly qualified student for engineering school.

President Bush spoke to the nation from the Oval Office in 2006 saying, Were a nation of laws, and we must enforce our laws, we are a nation of immigrants, and we must uphold that tradition, which has strengthened a lawful society and a welcoming society at the same time.

Over the years, we have welcomed immigrants while at the same time feared them because some were worried about loss of jobs, some have feared cultural degradation. My experience tells me we need the immigrants, most immigrants have contributed to our workforce. I would not have enough employees if it was not for them. They are more than that to me, they are our neighbors, friends, church goers, and fellow citizens. Our broken system needs to be fixed.

Charese Yanney of Sioux City is owner and managing partner of Guarantee Roofing, Siding and Insulation Co. She serves on the Siouxland Initiative Executive Committee, the Orpheum Theatre Preservation Board, the Orpheum Theatre Endowment Board and the Iowa Department of Transportation Commission.
Because I am a veteran (the only veteran on the Augustana faculty), students have asked me if I would volunteer to serve in the Ukrainian Army if I were in Ukraine. Absolutely. I probably would not be selected for front line duty since I am 77 years old and have arthritis  but I could drive a truck hauling munitions and other needed supplies to those who are on the front line.

But what if I was in Russia? I would be heading for the nearest border as quickly as possible, using the Russian I learned when I was in the Navy to talk my way out, if that was necessary.

The reason I would volunteer to serve in the Ukrainian Army is not because I like war. I do not. I hate war. Rather the reason I would volunteer is because I believe in justice.

Rarely in the course of human history has there been a war so blatantly immoral as Russian President Vladimir Putins invasion of Ukraine. (Lets be very clear about one thing  this is Putins war, not Russias war. The Russian people, whom I like very much, had nothing at all to do with this unconscionable invasion of a free country by a tyrant driven by greed and lust for power.)

Rarely in the course of human history has justice been so clearly on one side of a war. Ukrainians have every right to defend their homeland from a foreign invader attempting to take their land and end their independence.

Many of my friends  particularly those in academia  are pacifists. I respect their idealism and share their dislike of war. My pacifist friends are rather quiet these days. It does not take a military genius to know that if the Ukrainians had met the Russian invaders with peaceful protests and passive resistance, all of Ukraine would now be under Putins brutal control.

We share with all Ukrainians the fervent desire to see this horrible war end. But how might that be accomplished? That is far easier said than done.

Some on the left end of the political spectrum in this country are advocating negotiations to end the war. But what is there to negotiate? Ukrainian territory is not ours to give away. It is for Ukrainians to decide what should be done. An imposed diplomatic solution would have overtones of the 1938 Munich Agreement, in which Great Britain and France gave part of Czechoslovakia to Hitler with the people living in Czechoslovakia having no say in the matter  a concession made in the belief that it would prevent war, which it did not.

Some on the right end of the political spectrum in this country are raising the possibility of scaling back or ending financial and military support for Ukraine, instead going back to a policy of America First. What kind of people would we be if we abandoned a democratic country fighting for its survival in order to have more money to spend on ourselves?

It is the Ukrainian people who must decide when and how this horrible war should end. All that we can do is be supportive of them in their valiant struggle for freedom and independence.
The Sioux City Journal editorial board today begins its 2022 general election endorsements with two races for Iowa legislative districts in Sioux City and contests for Woodbury County Attorney and a Woodbury County Board of Supervisors seat.

Iowa House District 2

Steve Hansen (Democrat)

Bob Henderson (Republican)

Our endorsement: Hansen. In a year when so many candidates espouse what the party tells them to espouse, Hansen remains an independent voice. If it serves Siouxland, hes not afraid to reach across party lines and vote with Republicans. Henderson's platform sounds more like it comes from party officials.

Iowa Senate District 1

Rocky De Witt (Republican)

Jackie Smith (Democrat)

Our endorsement: Smith. Smith, the incumbent, has been a strong voice for public education and has experience addressing those issues on a statewide level. DeWitts platform reads like a rubberstamp for Kim Reynolds agenda. Iowa needs someone who is willing to question the way the state funds education and what students need. An educator for 34 years, Smith can be a strong advocate for Iowas students and teachers.

Woodbury County Attorney

P.J. Jennings (Democrat)

James Loomis (Republican)

Our endorsement: Loomis. An assistant Woodbury County attorney, Loomis, who has strong campaign support from local law enforcement officers, has a reputation for prosecuting tough cases during his 19 years in office. Jennings, a four-term incumbent, has proven to be a good steward of the office, but tough times could necessitate a shift.

Woodbury County Supervisor District 2

Dan Bittinger (Republican)

Jeremy Dumkrieger (Democrat)

Our endorsement: Bittinger. The lead pastor at CrossPointe Church, Bittinger has espoused fiscal prudency that we share and that closely match the views of the four other Republicans on the board, including outgoing District 2 Supervisor Justin Wright. Our support comes with a caveat, however. Dumkrieger has raised legitimate issues about the countys management of the new jail construction. We expect Bittinger, if elected, to ask tough questions about various aspects of the project, including the collapse of a half dozen walls in a recent wind storm.
I am writing in support of Steve Hansen's campaign for the Iowa House. Steve is working to put high quality, affordable health care within reach for all Siouxland families. He has crossed party lines to vote for a bi-partisan tax bill to save seniors money. He will continue to fight for proper funding for local schools. Steve Hansen is lifelong public servant and an independent voice for Siouxland. Steve always has and will continue to put the people of Siouxland over politics. I urge you to vote for Steve Hansen. -- Leon Koster, Sioux City
For decades, there had been no real medical game changers in Alzheimers researchuntil last year. The FDA approved a controversial drug, one with only mixed clinical results. At this point, even the manufacturer of this drug, called Aduhelm, has all but abandoned it. There might be another medication on the horizonlecanemabbut solely for people in the early stages of the disease. Why is it taking so long for Alzheimers patients and their families to get any relief? Damian Garde, a biotech reporter for Stat, says that a leading theory of disease may be to blame.

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On last Sundays episode of What Next: TBD, I spoke with Garde about the recent developments in Alzheimers drugs and what the future may hold for those suffering from the disease. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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Lizzie OLeary: When a patient is having cognitive trouble and doctors finally get to the point when they mention the A-wordAlzheimerstheres not actually that much that medicine can do.

Damian Garde: The spiel hasnt changed very much in decades. There are medicines that are approved that are now generic that can, in the short term, basically boost memory is what theyve been demonstrated to do, but they dont actually slow or arrest the progress of Alzheimers. Theres by no means a cure for the disease.

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For the past several decades, most of the research in defining a real cure for Alzheimers has focused on something called the amyloid hypothesis. The idea actually comes from the German doctor Alois Alzheimer, whom the disease is named for. He was investigating a 51-year-old woman who died with what he called pre-senile dementia in the early 1900s. In 1906 Alzheimer wrote that upon autopsy, the womans brain had severe disease process of the cerebral cortex. He found that her brain tissue was filled with plaques and neurofibrillary tangles.

And over the ensuing decades we have come to understand that those plaques and tangles are the result of a protein called amyloid, which in healthy function exists in the body for reasons we dont entirely understand. But in the brains of patients confirmed to have Alzheimers disease, it appears to tangle up and form these plaques in the brain, which are thought to be toxic, are thought to destroy neurons and synapses and thus drive the Alzheimers disease symptoms that we recognize.

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But this is where things get tricky. There isnt much debate that amyloid plaques are in the brains of people known to have Alzheimers. The question is: What role do they play?

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Theres a compelling theory that, as I said, these plaques are toxic and theyre destroying neurons. And thus if you could design a drug that would clear these plaques out, you would prolong the healthy function of a patients brain. Theres also a theory that actually whatevers causing Alzheimers disease is upstream of these plaques. And so the plaques themselves are more like scar tissue, or Ive heard people put it as, theyre the gravestones of the neurons, not the killers themselves. And so to clear them out of the brain, youre just doing some kind of custodial work that maybe doesnt have that much of an effect on patients brains.

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Name a drug company, and theres probably a failed Alzheimers medicine in its history. Elon, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, Pfizer, and Roche are just a few. But Biogen gave patients a glimmer of hope with Aduhelm, a drug that they began developing in 2014 along with Japanese company Eisai. Early clinical results in 2017 indicated that maybe they had finally refined the process for targeting amyloid.

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It appeared to not only clear amyloid from patients brains but also seemed to have a dose-dependent effect on how well they did on these scores of cognition and function. So, stock price booms, everybodys really excited. Biogen deciding not to waste time goes from, thats a phase 1 study immediately to a phase 3 study, which is where they were enrolling thousands of patients in two identical studies and basically saying, Lets just pedal to the metal. Well get these data. These will support FDA approval. Its a long process. Its an expensive process. So they skipped phase 2, which is usually what people call the proof-of-concept study, the point where you kind of test-drive a phase 3 trial before really investing in it.

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But phase 3 did not turn out like Biogen or the Alzheimers community had hoped. What happened?

So, cut to 2019: We learn from Biogen that theyre actually discontinuing these two studies. Their independent data monitors told Biogen, Weve looked at the data and weve conducted what they call a futility analysis. And weve concluded, based on lots of mathematics, that futility is the most likely outcome.

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It was crushing. But then something even more unusual happened. Biogen took another look at one of its studies and decided that it did work. Patients on Aduhelm outperformed the placebo by 20-odd percent on certain tests. The right people on the right dose at the right time was enough for the company to try to get approval from the FDA.

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The real shocking part came last year, when we learned that the FDA agreed with Biogen and decided that this drug did merit approval. But whats curious is, Biogen had filed for a full approval, which is, basically, they asked the FDA to weigh the evidence of whether taking Aduhelm is likely to delay the effects of Alzheimers compared to placebo.

But that is not what the FDA did. It granted Aduhelm accelerated approval, a program designed to get medications for serious diseases to patients based on whats called surrogate data, a sort of data breadcrumb trail. Can you explain that process?

So, for example, if it were a cancer drug, the hard data would be: Do patients who take the drug live longer than patients who dont? The surrogate data would be: Does it shrink tumors in the short term? So the FDA has often approved cancer drugs based on that, because its pretty reasonable to say if youre shrinking tumors, youre going to live longer. Doesnt always happen, but we can see the kind of breadcrumb trail there. Now, in this case, the FDA approved Aduhelm based on data that it cleared amyloid from the brain as a surrogate to that must mean that patients who get the drug will do better than those on placebo. But as we mentioned, the notion that clearing amyloid from the brain helps people remains a relatively controversial idea.

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Another big kind of wrench in all of this was when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services refused to cover Aduhelm under Medicare unless you were in a clinical trial. That, to me, seemed like the government saying, This drug isnt worth it.

Basically, yeah. And it was kind of shocking because traditionally, CMS defers to the FDA as to whether a drug is good. So, typically they will cover any FDA-approved medicine according to the label that the FDA agrees on, because thats just sort of the separation of powers in Health and Human Services. What was striking about CMSs decision with Aduhelm is that they implicitly and somewhat explicitly said, The FDA was wrong to approve this medicine. I mean, this was really the death blow for Aduhelm as a commercial entity. There had been arguments over the price of the drug.

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It cost a tremendous amount of money, right?

It was rolled out at a list price of $56,000 a year. The issue was, basically, Medicare looked at that number and said, We dont see a value proposition here. And that was particularly debilitating for Biogen because Alzheimers disease is a Medicare population in this country. It predominantly affects people who are elderly. And something like 75 percent of the potential Aduhelm customers would be covered by Medicare.

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What did all this mean for people who had been taking it or had been really excited about the potential for a new medication?

It was confusing and, in some cases, devastating. I talked to a couple people who were in the clinical trials who insisted that they felt like they had experienced a benefit being on the drug. I know there was disappointment with the price that Biogen chose to charge. I dont think anybody in the patient or physician community defended that. But also, yeah, its important to remember there is just such desperation for anything that might work here. And theres no waiting. Every day is a day that conceivably you are less yourself than you were yesterday if you have Alzheimers disease.

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After this huge drama, there is maybe a new contender on the horizon. Tell me about lecanemab.

There has been this backup molecule, for lack of a better termthis other amyloid-targeting medicine that Biogen and its partner, the Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai, had been developing simultaneously. Lecanemab had always been perceived as kind of the younger sibling with maybe a little less promise to Aduhelm, in part because Eisai did run a phase 2 study, the step that Biogen skipped with Aduhelm. And the data were a little confusing. They tested multiple doses. The datasomeone described them to me as uninterpretable because some doses seemed to do well. Higher doses seemed to do kind of less well. There were disparities between the placebo group and the treatment groups such that the observed benefit might have been statistical noise.

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Coming out of that, there was a prevailing sense of lecanemab was a less promising shot on goal than Aduhelm had been. And yet, earlier this year, we got the press release from Eisai, which is leading the development of lecanemab, saying that it succeeded in a phase 3 study of its own.

Patients who got lecanemab did 27 percent better on cognitive tests than those who got the placebo. But there are some important caveats. This trial focused on early-stage disease and all the patients had some degree of decline on whats called the clinical dementia rating: an 18-point scale that determines cognitive function. Zero means you have no signs of cognitive decline; 18 is severe dementia. In practical terms, the trial meant that patients who got the drug did about half a point better on the scale than those who didnt. What does all this mean in real life?

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The debate immediately among clinicians is, what is half a point on the CDR scale over the course of 18 months? Does that mean someone who might have had to give up driving doesnt or does so less quickly than someone else? Does it mean its easier to have longer conversations, recall the names of grandchildren? Its difficult to tie these sort of conceptual, numerical outcomes to the everyday lives of people with Alzheimers disease. There was a pretty good study published where researchers looked at thousands and thousands of patients medical records and talked to the physicians who administer these scores, basically asking them: What is the smallest difference on the CDR that you would classify as a clinically relevant difference for a patient? People generally said between 1 and 1.5 points, but the minimum was about 0.5 points. So that would suggest that this drug is kind of doing the bare minimum that clinicians would say actually makes an observable difference in someones life.

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And remembering the names of your grandchildren. God, thats a big deal.

Right, exactly. And thats the difficulty in extrapolating large clinical trials. It could be something as meaningful as that for one patient. It could be something totally imperceptible for another.

We really focused this conversation on these two drugs, but I wonder what else is out there. Is there anything else waiting in the wings that feels promising?

Lecanemab was really the initiation of a nine-month period that promises to transform how we think about Alzheimers disease. That phase 3 study, at least on the top line, was a success. Within weeks, we will learn the top-line results of another phase 3 study from another anti-amyloid antibody, this one from the company Roche. Were going to find out, basically, whether lecanemab does indeed herald a new era where people have figured out how to attack amyloid or whether it might be a one-off success.

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So, theres a situation in which, over the course of about 12 months, we find out that three anti-amyloid drugs worked to varying degrees, potentially. And that would truly change everything for patients and for physicians.

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A larger question raised by lecanemab and Aduhelm is whether focusing on the amyloid hypothesis in Alzheimers disease and pursuing drugs based on it has given researchers tunnel vision or crowded out other promising ideas.

I think its just inarguable that, if not for the fields dogmatic adherence to the amyloid hypothesis, we would be further along in Alzheimers research. We would have more to offer patients who have this disease. And so, keeping all of that in mind while looking at this drug, which is a product of the amyloid hypothesis, ostensibly a product of that dogmatic focus, its kind of bittersweet because we probably wouldnt have lecanemab if not for that. But what would we have? There are really promising theories about neuroinflammation playing a role in how Alzheimers disease works. Its been tied to different pathogens, including bacteria and viruses. And theres really interesting data showing that if you have, for example, gingivitis, you are more likely to develop Alzheimers disease, which people are still unpacking.

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Where does all of this leave patients and their families?

This medicine does appear to at least slow the decline of Alzheimers disease, which can only be good news for patients and their families, provided they can access the drug. But I think its important to keep in mind, the field and the drug industry has focused on early-stage Alzheimers disease because that is the population in which it seems like you can make a difference with, at least the interventions we know about. There are about 6 million people in the United States with Alzheimers; maybe 1 to 1.5 million fit into that early-stage category. So if you have even moderate dementia or severe dementia, science doesnt have anything to offer you right now.

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When you talk to people in neuroscience, quite often they are M.D. Ph.D.s, so they also spend a lot of their time in examination rooms with patients and their families explaining what the diagnosis means, what the prognosis is. Theyre very, very well in touch with the frustration and with just how devastating that moment can be. And I think they balance that in their minds when they talk about a potential new medicine that, even if lecanemab turns out to work as well as the company says it does, were still leaving behind the vast majority of patients with Alzheimers disease. There is still so much more work to do.
This article originally appeared in Zocalo Public Square.

Fear gets a bad rap. Its a so-called negative emotion, one that supposedly stands between us and our dreams. It is certainly true that pure fear doesnt feel good, but that is the whole point of the emotion. Fear tells us to get the hell out of Dodge because Dodge is a bad place. Fear evolved over millions of years to protect us from danger. So, yes, a feel-bad emotion, but also, and perhaps paradoxically, the engine in a whole range of pleasurable activities and behaviorswhich inspire what we can call recreational fear.

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Once you start looking for it, youll find recreational fear everywhere. From a very early age, humans love being jump-scared by caregivers in the form of peek-a-boo, and being hurtled into the air (and caught). They get older and take great pleasure in chase play and hide-and-seek. They are drawn to scary stories about monsters and witches and ghosts. They perform daredevil tricks on playgrounds and race their bikes toward what, from a parents perspective, is certain and violent death. A little older and they get together for horror movie nights, stand patiently in line for roller coasters, and play horror video games. Indeed, most of us never quite lose our peculiar attraction to recreational feareven if we eschew slasher flicks or dark crime shows brimming with murder, death, and gore.

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So even though Dodge may be a bad place, we still keep visiting it, at least from the safe distance of play and make-believe. How come?

One hypothesis is that recreational fear is a form of play behavior, which is widespread in the animal kingdom and ubiquitous among humans. When an organism plays, it learns important skills and develops strategies for survival. Playfighting kittens train their ability to hold their own in a hostile encounter, but with little risk and low cost, compared with the real thing. Same with humans. When we play, we learn important things about the physical and social world, and about our own inner world. When we engage in recreational fear activities specifically, from peek-a-boo to horror movie watching, we play with fear, challenge our limits, and learn about our own physiological and psychological responses to stress. In other words, recreational fear might actually be good for us.

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To investigate whether that is indeed the case and why, my colleagues and I have established the Recreational Fear Lab, a research center at Aarhus University, Denmark. We do lab studies, survey studies, and real-world empirical studies to understand this widespread but scientifically understudied psychological phenomenon.

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In one ambitious research project, led by my colleague Marc Malmdorf Andersen, we set out to investigate the experiences of guests at a very frightening haunted houseDystopia Haunted House in Denmark. We mounted surveillance cameras in the houses scariest rooms, strapped participants with heart rate monitors, and distributed a bunch of questionnaires. The surveillance footage allowed us to see how guests responded to frightening events, such as a chainsaw-wielding pig-man chasing them down a dark corridor. The heart rate monitors told us about their physiological responses to such events, and the questionnaires allowed us to understand how they felt about it all.

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They told us they perceived their experiences as a kind of play, supporting our notion of recreational horror as a medium for playing with fear. But we also wanted to go deeper into the relationship between fear and enjoyment. You might think that relationship is linearthe more fear, the better. But when we plotted the actual relationship between fear and enjoyment, it looked like an upside-down U. In other words, when people go to a haunted attraction, they dont want too little fear (which is boring), and they dont want too much fear (which is unpleasant). What they want is to hit what we call the sweet spot of fear. That doesnt just go for high-intensity haunted attractions, either. When you hurtle a kid into the air, you dont want it to be too tame or too wild; when teenagers joyride their bikes, they need just the right amount of tummy-tickling arousal; when you pick a horror movie on Netflix, you try to go for the one that sits just at the right point on the scare-o-meter.

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So, there is pleasure to be had from these vicarious visits to Dodge, but are there any other benefits? In several past and ongoing studies of the psychological and social effects of engagement with recreational fear, weve seen it improve peoples ability to cope with stress and anxiety. For instance, one studyled by my colleague Coltan Scrivnerfound that people who watch many horror movies exhibited better psychological resilience during the first COVID-19 lockdown than people who stay away from scary movies. Presumably, the horror hounds have trained their ability to regulate their own fear from playing with it. We know from another Dystopia Haunted House study that people actively use a range of coping strategies to regulate their fear levels in pursuit of the sweet spot, and it makes sense that we get better at using those strategies through practice.

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You can think of recreational fear as a kind of mental jungle gym where you prepare for the real thing, or as a kind of fear inoculation. A small dose of fear galvanizes the organism for the big dose that life throws at it sooner or later. So even though fear itself may be unpleasant, recreational fear is not only funit may be good for us. My colleagues and I even have preliminary results to suggest that some people with mental health issues, such as anxiety disorder and depression, get relief from recreational horror. Maybe its about escaping anhedoniaemotional flatliningmomentarily, and maybe its about playing with troublesome emotions in a controllable context. For fear to be fun, you need to feel not only that the levels are just-so, but that you are in relative control of the experience.

With research findings such as these in mind, we should maybe think twice about shielding kids and young people too zealously from playful forms of fear. Theyll end up in Dodge sooner or later, and they will be better equipped if theyve at least pretended to be there before.

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.
https://sputniknews.com/20221029/its-not-enough-to-release-him-netizens-rage-after-innocent-us-man-spends-38-years-in-prison--1102835132.html

Its Not Enough to Release Him: Netizens Rage After Innocent US Man Spends 38 Years in Prison

Its Not Enough to Release Him: Netizens Rage After Innocent US Man Spends 38 Years in Prison

Only a few weeks after the overturned conviction of Adnan Syed, who was jailed for decades without sufficient evidence, Maurice Hastings was released from... 29.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-29T22:12+0000

2022-10-29T22:12+0000

2022-10-30T03:58+0000

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The internet was flooded with outcry on Saturday as footage from the trial that vacated Hastings murder conviction circulated on social media, with some noting that his release alone is not enough to remedy the judicial wrongdoing.Video clips of the trial, which run just over a minute long, show a close-up of Hastings face as his conviction is vacated. Relief seems to wash over Hastings, as he closes his eyes in what appears to be a moment of emotional overwhelm  for the first time in over 38 years, he will walk as a free man.Many netizens cried out against the criminal justice system, with one Twitter user arguing that the state should heavily compensate Hastings for the losses and injuries incurred by the wrongful conviction. Others suggested Hastings be given the retirement funds from every cop for every year he spent in incarceration.Still, others used the opportunity to point out that Hastings, who is Black, is just one of many innocent Black people to have been wrongfully convicted.One of the primary points of criticism against the justice system was the fact that it took over two decades for Hastings request for DNA testing to be granted, with one user pointing out that Hastings would have been found innocent 22 years ago if the test had been done.Netizens also used the Hastings outcome as an argument against capital punishment, which is still practiced in half of US states and which the California district attorney originally tried to seek for Hastings. There was also a fair amount of ire for the District Attorneys Office which ignored Hastings 2000 request for DNA testing.In 1988, Hastings was convicted in California of murdering Roberta Wydermyer, who was killed by a gunshot wound to the head and then placed in the trunk of her own car. Though there was a semen sample found on her body at the time, the DNA was only tested in June 2021, when the specimen was found to belong to a different suspect, who died in jail after committing crimes similar to the one Hastings was wrongfully jailed for.Unlike his defenders on social media, Hastings doesnt appear to hold any grudges, telling reporters he wasnt bitter about the situation."I prayed for many years that this day would come," Mr Hastings said. "I am not pointing fingers; I am not standing up here a bitter man, but I just want to enjoy my life now while I have it."

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https://sputniknews.com/20221029/palestinian-gunman-opens-fire-in-hebron-injures-four-israelis---idf-1102835419.html

Palestinian Gunman Opens Fire in Hebron, Injures Four Israelis - IDF

Palestinian Gunman Opens Fire in Hebron, Injures Four Israelis - IDF

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Four Israelis were injured in the city of Hebron by a Palestinian gunman who was later neutralized by a security guard, the Israel Defense... 29.10.2022, Sputnik International

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"A terrorist shot live fire near the Tzion Barrier in Hebron earlier today. A security guard in the area neutralized the terrorist," the IDF said.IDF soldiers are searching the area for the perpetrator's accomplice, the statement said.The Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel's national emergency medical service, said that four Israelis were injured in the attack."MDA EMTs [emergency medical technicians] and Paramedics are treating and conveying 4 gunshot victims, 1 severe condition, 1 moderate, and 2 mild condition," the medical service tweeted.A Palestinian with minor injuries was handed over to the Red Crescent, MDA said.

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https://sputniknews.com/20221029/russian-prosecutor-generals-office-says-did-not-send-request-to-block-tme-domain-1102835317.html

Russian Prosecutor General's Office Says Did Not Send Request to Block t.me Domain

Russian Prosecutor General's Office Says Did Not Send Request to Block t.me Domain

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Prosecutor General's Office of Russia did not send a request to the countrys media watchdog, Roskomnadzor, to block the Telegram... 29.10.2022, Sputnik International

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On Saturday, the watchdog said it had restricted access to the t.me domain based on a request from the Russian Prosecutor General's Office. Later in the day, Roskomnadzor ruled out the restriction of access to the Telegram social network in Russia."The Russian Prosecutor General's Office did not send a request to block the t.me domain," a spokesperson said.According to a Sputnik correspondent, the t.me domain belonging to Telegram has disappeared from the registry of resources restricted by Roskomnadzor, but is still unavailable.

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https://sputniknews.com/20221030/calls-for-boycott-of-british-chocolate-giant-as-hindu-activist-claims-diwali-ad-targets-modi-1102839784.html

Calls for Boycott of British Chocolate Giant as Hindu Activist Claims Diwali Ad Targets Modi

Calls for Boycott of British Chocolate Giant as Hindu Activist Claims Diwali Ad Targets Modi

Last July, Cadbury landed in a controversy in India after several social media users shared a screenshot of the company's website, where the following was... 30.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-30T08:54+0000

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British multinational confectionery company Cadbury has found itself in hot water over a Diwali advertisement campaign. Social media erupted in outrage after Hindu political activist Sadhvi Prachi shared the ad on Twitter, claiming that the commercial is controversial because it features a poor lamp seller named "Damodar," who is allegedly modelled on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's father.Prachi went on to allege that the company had done this to show someone with PM Narendra Modis fathers name in poor light.Soon after she shared the tweet, #BoycottCadbury started to trend on the social media platform as users began posting a screenshot of the brand's website that surfaced last year where the company allegedly stated that it used gelatin "which is halal certified and derived from beef."At the time, Cadbury issued a clarification that all products manufactured and sold in India were vegetarian following the massive outrage. Further, the company appealed to its customers to verify facts about Cadbury's product before sharing them further.There were some users, however, who slammed Sadhvi Prachi, saying: This #BoycottCadbury is another level of stupidity.Some users also said that they will continue to buy and eat Cadbury products.

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https://sputniknews.com/20221030/elon-musk-to-reportedly-begin-axing-twitter-staff-starting-saturday-1102836447.html

Elon Musk to Reportedly Begin Axing Twitter Staff Starting Saturday

Elon Musk to Reportedly Begin Axing Twitter Staff Starting Saturday

Elon Musk successfully took over Twitter Thursday in what turned out to be a $44 billion deal; however, talk of layoffs have run rampant since Musk agreed to... 30.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-30T02:59+0000

2022-10-30T02:59+0000

2022-10-30T03:59+0000

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Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has reportedly already begun the process of laying off staffers, with the pink slip dispersal expected to start as soon as Saturday, anonymous insiders with knowledge of the developments have revealed to the the New York Times.Musk has reportedly asked some of the firms managers to draft lists of employees to trim from the company roster, which currently boasts around 7,500 employees.On Thursday, shortly after Musk arrived at Twitters San Francisco headquarters, he forced out Twitters top executives, including the chief executive and the chief financial officer, among others. He also made a public address to the companys advertisers in a series of image-texts that urged the company would not become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences.Ross Gerber, who leads Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, has revealed he was warned ahead of time that the Twitter layoffs were imminent. Gerbers company has invested just shy of $1 million to help finance Musk's take over of the social media platform. I was told to expect somewhere around 50% of people will be laid off, he said.The timing of the layoffs is convenient because it comes just before a November 1 payout of stock grants employees were scheduled to receive as part of their compensation packages.Though part of the merger agreement stipulates that Musk is supposed to pay the former employees cash instead of the stock they would receive if they stayed with the company, Musk may be able to avoid paying the grants.Report: Musk Takeover Saw 500% Spike in Use of N-Word on PlatformAs Musk earlier vowed to bolster protections for free speech on Twitter as part of his acquisition of the platform, it appears as though some of the platforms trolls are taking him at his word.A study conducted by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) found that the use of the N-word on Twitter went up nearly 500% in the first 12 hours of Musks ownership.The institute, which analyzes the content on social media platforms to predict potential and emerging threats, further determined that some trolling accounts implored others to adopt the racist language."Elon now controls twitter. Unleash the racial slurs. K---S AND N-----S," said one account, using slurs for Jewish and Black people, according to US media."I can freely express how much I hate n-----s  now, thank you elon," another said, the Post reported.One tweet, composed of a single racial slur, in all capital letters, was retweeted more than 700 times and liked more than 5,000 times since it was posted on Thursday, according to the report. Users with Nazi swastikas, montages glorifying Nazi Germany, and other racist propaganda was also posted by various accounts.Members of the LGBTQ community have also been under fire, with misogynistic and anti-LGBTQ messages becoming increasingly popular among accounts supporting harassment and the misnaming of transgender people.Legislative researcher Erin Reed said that the uptick in alarming content was noticeable almost immediately. Im seeing more people in comments with explicit threats, more misgendering, more harmful slurs. Ive gotten pictures of me getting shot by a shotgun. Its a pretty scary environment on Twitter right now.LGBTQ civil rights group The Human Rights Campaign echoed Reeds concern, raising concerns about Musks ownership in a statement on Friday. Twitter has a right, and a responsibility, to keep its platform from being exploited to fuel a dangerous media environment, the group said. This isnt about censorship or discrimination of ideas  it is about what kind of company they want to be and what kind of world they want to shape.

https://sputniknews.com/20221029/musk-ushers-in-new-era-for-twitter-what-is-next---1102815079.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20221030/franco-australian-hostage-in-chad-is-free-and-safe-chad-pm-says-1102848749.html

Franco-Australian Hostage in Chad is Free And Safe, Chad PM Says

Franco-Australian Hostage in Chad is Free And Safe, Chad PM Says

The Sahara Conservation Fund, where the kidnapped Franco-Australian activist worked, was established to protect the wildlife of the Sahara and neighboring... 30.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-30T15:43+0000

2022-10-30T15:43+0000

2022-11-23T11:36+0000

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Jerome Hugonnot, a dual citizen of France and Australia, was freed on Sunday, Chads Prime Minister Saleh Kebzabo stated.The Prime Minister also congratulated the defense and security forces of Chad on the successful operation. No additional details about the kidnapping were immediately revealed.Unknown kidnappers abducted the French and Australian citizen in northeastern Chad, the governments of both countries said Saturday.Jerome Hugonnot was working for the Sahara Conservation Fund in Wadi Fara province, which borders Sudan, when he was kidnapped on Friday, according to Chadian government spokesman Aziz Mahamat Saleh.Previously, Saleh noted that the Chadian government is doing everything possible to find Hugonnot.The incident took place amid the instability in the country which has taken place since Chadian Interim President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno backed out of his pledge to return the country to civilian rule 18 months after his fathers death.The president accused outside forces of endorsing raging demonstrations in the country, saying that protests were a carefully orchestrated insurgency to create chaos in the country.Deby did not name any specific foreign nation to blame for the protests, but it was immediately assumed that Paris was behind them.The French Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying, "France is not playing any part in these events, which are strictly in Chads domestic political domain."

https://sputniknews.com/20221025/chads-dby-accuses-foreign-powers-of-backing-anti-government-protests-as-paris-denies-involvement-1102651041.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20221030/haitian-ambassador-to-us-calls-for-armed-intervention-over-fears-of-takeover-by-gangs-1102851871.html

Haitian Ambassador to US Calls for Armed Intervention Over Fears of Takeover by Gangs

Haitian Ambassador to US Calls for Armed Intervention Over Fears of Takeover by Gangs

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Haiti's Ambassador to the United States Bocchit Edmond called on the international community to accelerate negotiations on a possible armed... 30.10.2022, Sputnik International

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"It is important to make sure that we take those armed gangs out of business, because if we don't do that urgently, it's a matter of time for them to take over the entire country," Edmond told the Guardian on Sunday.Earlier this month, the Haitian government urged the US to lift its arms embargo on the country. Edmond reasoned that the government sought to purchase equipment for the police and armed forces.Haiti has long experienced social, political, and financial instability. The woes only deepened after the devastating 2010 earthquake and the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in 2021. Since the assassination of Moise, the country's already understaffed law enforcement agencies have struggled to keep crime at bay as gangs continue to gain in strength.The UN Security Council agreed last week to impose a targeted arms embargo as well as travel bans and asset freezes on Haitian gang leaders and those who finance them. World powers called on all political actors in Haiti to engage in a meaningful dialogue to overcome the current political stalemate.

https://sputniknews.com/20221026/us-confident-un-may-adopt-measure-next-month-to-send-troops-to-haiti---senior-official-1102742556.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20221030/indian-pm-modi-greets-nation-on-occasion-of-chhath-puja-1102838619.html

Indian PM Modi Greets Nation on Occasion of Chhath Puja

Indian PM Modi Greets Nation on Occasion of Chhath Puja

The holy festival of Chhath is dedicated to the Sun God. During the four-day festival, people seek blessings from the Sun God to live a longer, healthier and... 30.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-30T06:19+0000

2022-10-30T06:19+0000

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended his greetings to the nation on the auspicious occasion of Chhath Puja on Sunday.In a tweet in Hindi, Modi wrote: Hearty greetings to all the countrymen on the auspicious occasion of Chhath, dedicated to the worship of the Sun God and nature. I wish that everyones life gets illuminated with the blessings of Lord Suns aura and Chhathi Maiya.Indian President Droupadi Murmu also extended her "hearty greetings to the people on the occasion of Chhath Puja." "It is a day to pray to the Sun God and a unique example of expressing gratitude towards nature. I pray to Chhathi Maiyya for happiness, peace, and prosperity in everyone's life, she tweeted.They were joined by Federal Home Minister Amit Shah, who also extended his greetings to the people:: May Chhath Maya bless everyone with happiness, peace, prosperity and health.Preparations for Chhath Puja begin a day after the festival of light, Diwali, as devotees start eating food without onion or garlic, prepare meals with utmost hygiene and eat only after taking a bath.During the four-day festival, women observe a rigorous fast and pray to the Sun God and Chhathi Maiya (Goddess Chhathi) for their families' and children's well-being and prosperity.This year the festival began with Nahay Khay on October 28, followed by Kharna on October 29, Chhath Puja on October 30 (Sunday) and Usha Arghya on October 31.On the first day of the festival, people who observe fast wake up early in the morning to worship the Sun God before eating anything. On the second day, people observing fast dont eat anything or drink water until they offer special sweets made of milk and jiggery to God in the evening.On the third day, people prepare a special meal and in the evening families accompany the devotees observing the fast to riverbank, pond or any water body to offer the special meal along with holy water of River Ganga to the setting sun.On the last day, the devotees offer holy water of River Ganga to the rising sun and seek protection of children, as well as peace and happiness for the entire family from the Sun God and Chhathi Maiya. Then, the devotees drink water and eat prasad, a devotional offering made to a god, in order to break fast.

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https://sputniknews.com/20221030/likely-signs-of-magmatic-processes-more-recent-volcanic-activity-discovered-on-mars-1102848142.html

Likely Signs of 'Magmatic Processes', 'More Recent' Volcanic Activity Discovered on Mars

Likely Signs of 'Magmatic Processes', 'More Recent' Volcanic Activity Discovered on Mars

The researchers behind the new study argue that low-frequency quakes detected on the Red Planet may point towards the presence of magma deep within the bowels... 30.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-30T15:05+0000

2022-10-30T15:05+0000

2022-10-30T15:05+0000

science & tech

mars

tremors

magma

study

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While no traces of life have been found on Mars so far, it seems that the Red Planet may be somewhat lively in terms of volcanic activity, an international team of researchers suggests.Using the data supplied by NASAs InSight lander regarding a series of low-frequency marsquakes, researchers led by Simon Stahler from the Institute of Geophysics at ETH Zurich postulate that seismic activity detected by the craft primarily originates from a series of fissures on the planets surface, known as Cerberus Fossae. The team also took note of the distinctly darker shade of the dust deposits in the area in question, with Stahler suggesting it signifies geological evidence of more recent volcanic activity  perhaps within the past 50,000 years - relatively young, in geological terms, according to a press release by ETH Zurich.Our findings confirm that the Cerberus Fossae represents a unique tectonic setting shaped by current day magmatic processes and locally elevated heat flow, the researchers write.Some tremors on Mars, however, occur due to outside influence rather than because of tectonic activity, as the cause of a magnitude 4 marsquake detected on December 24 last year was eventually traced to a meteoroid impact that left a huge crater on the surface of the Red Planet.

https://sputniknews.com/20220519/new-study-of-martian-meteorite-casts-doubt-on-life-existing-on-red-planet-in-distant-past-1095639441.html

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Istanbul Center Asks Turkey, UN to Provide 10 Teams to Inspect Ships as Part of Grain Deal

The Istanbul-based Joint Coordination Center (JCC) has proposed that Turkish and UN delegations create several inspection teams to inspect vessels as part of the Black Sea Grain Initiative.



On Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that Russia was suspending its participation in the grain deal following Ukraine's drone attack targeting vessels of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol. The ministry said that preparations for the attack were carried out under the guidance of UK specialists.



"In order to continue fulfilling the Initiative, it was proposed that the Turkish and United Nations delegations provide tomorrow 10 inspection teams aiming to inspect 40 outbound vessels. This inspection plan has been accepted by the delegation of Ukraine. The Russian Federation delegation has been informed," the JCC said in a Sunday statement.



According to the release, there are 97 loaded vessels and 15 inbound vessels registered for JCC inspection around Istanbul. An additional 89 ships have applied to join the Initiative.



"The Secretariat, in close cooperation with the Turkish delegation at the JCC, continues to engage all representatives to offer options on next steps regarding the JCC operations in accordance with the goals and provisions stated in the Initiative," the JCC said.
https://sputniknews.com/20221030/right-now-im-talking-obama-shuts-down-heckler-during-weekend-michigan-rally-1102836829.html

Right Now, Im Talking: Obama Shuts Down Heckler During Weekend Michigan Rally

Right Now, Im Talking: Obama Shuts Down Heckler During Weekend Michigan Rally

The former president has recently hit the campaign trail as part of an effort to throw public support behind Democratic candidates ahead of the looming midterm... 30.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-30T03:48+0000

2022-10-30T03:48+0000

2022-10-30T03:46+0000

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barack obama

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michigan

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us midterm elections

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Former US President Barack Obama shot back at a heckler during a speech he was making on Saturday while campaigning for Democratic candidate and Governor Gretchen Whitmer ahead of the November midterm elections.The crowd at a Michigan high school went wild, yelling Teach him, Barack! along with various shouts directing the heckler to get out after the former president scolded one of the hecklers for his lack of basic civility on Saturday evening.Obama had been in the middle of talking about the political environment, which he identifies as being full of heated rhetoric in the wake of Fridays attack on the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, when someone from the crowd attempted to interrupt him, yelling Mr. President loudly from the audience in a tone that appeared to be challenging the former commander-in-chief.The crowd responded to the heckler with a flurry of boos, prompting Obama to grab their attention again. Hey, so this is what Im saying! Whoa, said Obama over the noise. There is a process that weve set up in our democracy.The crowds shouting continued as Obama managed to say: Thats not a great way to do this. Its not, you wouldnt do that at a workplace. If you wouldnt just interrupt people in the middle of a conversation  Its not how we do things.The crowd continued to escalate after another heckler was escorted out of the crowd, with Obama eventually regaining the rooms attention.Not only is this an example of what Im talking about, its an example of how we get distracted, Obama said, going on to reference the dog character from the Disney film UP! to underscore how easily distracted one can become in politics. Thats us with politics. We get distracted instead of focusing on whats important!During his speech, Obama condemned negative rhetoric on both sides of the aisle, and the consequences of not doing so.If elected officials dont do more to explicitly reject that kind of rhetoric. If they tacitly support it or encourage their supporters to stand outside voting places armed with guns and dressed in tactical gear, more people can get hurt. And were going to be violating the basic spirit of this country, Obama warned.The former president remains one of the most popular members of the Democratic Party nearly six years after leaving the White House. On Tuesday, hell continue rallying for his party in Nevada.

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https://sputniknews.com/20221030/rwanda-regrets-expulsion-of-ambassador-from-drc-1102844185.html

Rwanda Regrets Expulsion of Ambassador From DRC

Rwanda Regrets Expulsion of Ambassador From DRC

The Democratic Republic of the Congo declared the Rwandan ambassador persona non grata, accusing Kigali of supporting rebels in the country's east. Rwanda, in... 30.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-30T12:23+0000

2022-10-30T12:23+0000

2022-11-23T14:17+0000

africa

rwanda

drc

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Rwanda on Sunday expressed regret over the decision of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to expel the Rwandan ambassador from the country."It is regrettable the Government of the DRC continues to scapegoat Rwanda to cover up and distract from their own governance and security failures," Kigali said in a statement, adding that Rwandan forces at its border with the DRC were on high alert.On Saturday, the DRC gave Rwandan ambassador Vincent Karenga 48 hours to leave the country, accusing Kigali of supporting the M23 rebels fighting against government forces in the DRC's eastern provinces.The same day, the M23, labeled by the Congolese government as a terrorist group, took the town of Kiwanja in eastern Congo, practically cutting North Kivu's capital Goma off from its upper half.The March 23 Movement (M23) is a rebel military group, established in 2012 and based in eastern areas of the DRC, primarily in the province of North Kivu. The M23 aims to protect the interests of Congolese Tutsis, and share their ethnicity with Rwandan President Paul Kagame.An official Communique of the DRC's Superior Council of Defense read that in recent days elements of the Rwandan army have arrived in large numbers to support the M23 rebels in preparation for a general offensive against the positions of the DRCs Armed Forces.Relations between the two countries worsened after the mass arrival in the eastern DRC of Rwandan Hutus accused of killing Tutsis during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.The DRC has repeatedly accused Rwanda of supporting armed groups on its territory, however, Kigali has rejected the allegations.

https://sputniknews.com/20221027/violence-climate-change-effects-in-sahel-region-displace-45mln-people-1102773285.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20221030/scandal-plagued-kanye-west-may-be-on-the-brink-of-financial-catastrophe-1102851577.html

Scandal-Plagued Kanye West May Be on The Brink of Financial Catastrophe

Scandal-Plagued Kanye West May Be on The Brink of Financial Catastrophe

While Kanye reportedly earns several million dollars a year through royalties and boasts a sizeable bank account, this wealth is not expected to last him long... 30.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-30T18:51+0000

2022-10-30T18:51+0000

2022-10-30T18:51+0000

kanye west

finances

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us

scandal

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American rap star Kanye West may be on the way to financial disaster as prominent brands sought to end their cooperation with him.While Kanye does possess considerable wealth, his expenses are also quite considerable, and now the US media is being told that the rapper has lost most of his sources of income.The rappers woes started after he made some rather controversial remarks this month about Jewish people, which were deemed anti-Semitic by some.Not long afterwards, prominent fashion house Balenciaga and sportswear giant Adidas, as well as retailer Gap Inc, Vogue magazine and talent agency CAA, sought to distance themselves from Kanye amid the ensuing scandal.With Ye now being effectively deprived of the income previously provided through his deals with Gap and Adidas, media claims that he is also unlikely to make money through concerts in the near future due to venues being reluctant to book him.Also, the rapper reportedly has no deal to distribute his upcoming album, and while he does earn about $5 million annually from royalties, one insider told media that this is about enough to pay his gas bill for his jet.With media estimating Kanyes wealth in the bank at over $100 million, sources reportedly suggest it would last him only months, with one of them saying that its all about cash flow and if slash when he can revive it.

https://sputniknews.com/20221009/kanye-wests-death-con-3-on-jewish-people-tweet-taken-down-1101649794.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20221030/south-korea-to-help-turkey-build-tanks-1102786341.html

South Korea to Help Turkey Build Tanks

South Korea to Help Turkey Build Tanks

South Korea will help Turkey build battle tanks. According to several media reports, after Germany refused to cooperate with Turkey on the Altay program... 30.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-30T05:00+0000

2022-10-30T05:00+0000

2022-10-30T05:00+0000

military

south korea

turkey

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BMC, one of the largest commercial and military vehicle manufacturers, has signed a contract with South Korean companies Doosan and S&T Dynamics to supply the engine and transmission they needed to assemble the Altay tank, a Turkish modern main battle tank.For a long time, Turkey, as a NATO member, used American M48 and M60 tanks, as well as German Leopard-1 and Leopard-2 tanks to meet its own military needs. But in the early 1990s Ankara realized that the country needed its own battle tank, which would meet modern requirements. It announced an internal tender, and Otokar was declared the winner. Turkeys Undersecretariat for Defense Industries (SSM, Savunma Sanayii Mustesarligi) signed a $400 million contract with the company to design the first national Turkish main battle tank, the Altay.The contract was signed in the presence of then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, representatives of contractor companies, and the Minister of National Defense of the Republic of Korea. Seoul, represented by Hyundai Rotem, provided technical support for the project from the beginning. The future Turkish Altay MBT was based on the recently-introduced prototype Korean K2 Black Panther. The contract provided for the full transfer of the K2 technology to the Turks.The stumbling block in the creation of the Altay was the power unit. At first, the Turks wanted to take the German one, but it did not work. However, no domestically-made units have been created, so they had to use the Korean ones. For testing, they brought the Hyundai Doosan DV27K turbo-diesel engine and EST15K transmission, all made by S&T Dynamics.In September 2022, Ismail Demir, president of Turkey's Defense Industries, confirmed that Turkey was testing Altay tanks equipped with Korean power units. Defense industry expert Anil Sahin said in an interview with Sputnik that importing from South Korea was the only possible option for Turkey to build a tank while lacking its own competencies.Alexei Leonkov, a Russian military expert, believes that Turkey has taken the optimal path, refining foreign weapons to meet its needs.The Russian expert separately noted that Kiev was asking the Turks to be partners and allies. It tried to entice them with the Yanychar tank, based on the T-64 tank that was manufactured in Ukraine.Originally, the Kharkov T-64 was an "advanced" tank, but very controversial from a technical point of view and picky in use. The Soviet Army did not like the T-64 much, which is why the reliable and "understandable" Ural T-72 was accepted "with flying colors."

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https://sputniknews.com/20221030/sudanese-demonstrate-against-foreign-interference-of-un-1102846530.html

Sudanese Demonstrate Against 'Foreign Interference' of UN

Sudanese Demonstrate Against 'Foreign Interference' of UN

The United Nations currently acts as a mediator between civilian leaders and the military rulers who came to power as a result of a coup on October 25, 2021. 30.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-30T14:00+0000

2022-10-30T14:00+0000

2022-11-23T11:36+0000

africa

sudan

demonstration

the united nations (un)

central africa

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Thousands of demonstrators in Sudan have flooded the streets of the African countrys capital Khartoum, opposing UN mediation between civilian and military rulers. The protesters condemned the UN for "foreign interference".The demonstration was held in front of the headquarters of the UN mission in Sudan.The crowd was reportedly waving banners saying "No to foreign interference" and "No to the UN."Furthermore, the protesters allegedly burned photos of UN envoy Volker Perthes, urging him to get out of the country."We are demonstrating for our dignity and our sovereignty. Volker has defiled our country," protester Hafez Joubouri reportedly said.The 2021 coup put an end to a transition to civilian rule, launched in 2019 with the overthrow of President Omar al-Bashir, who had ruled the country for 30 years.Since the coup, Sudan has been shaken by waves of demonstrations.

https://sputniknews.com/20221025/sudan-gripped-by-protests-after-us-warning-on-russia-ties-1102648148.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20221030/thief-in-india-leaves-apology-note-as-he-returns-valuables-stolen-from-temple-1102843786.html

Thief in India Leaves Apology Note as He Returns Valuables Stolen From Temple

Thief in India Leaves Apology Note as He Returns Valuables Stolen From Temple

In a similar incident last year, a thief stole valuables from a policemans home in the city of Bhind, the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, and left an apology... 30.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-30T11:29+0000

2022-10-30T11:29+0000

2022-10-30T11:30+0000

india

madhya pradesh

thief

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theft

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It is very rare that a thief returns the stolen item but a thief in Madhya Pradesh did it after feeling guilty about his deed.According to state police, a thief returned silver and brass items stolen from a temple and left an apology letter saying his act caused him sufferings.Search for the thief has been underway since then, he added.However, on October 28, members of a Jain family found a bag lying near the local administrative office. They informed the police and community members.The police reached the spot and found that the stolen goods were stacked in the bag along with the apology letter.According to police, the letter read: I am seeking an apology for my act. I made a mistake, forgive me. I have suffered a lot after the theft.The police have seized the stolen items and efforts are underway to arrest the thief.

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https://sputniknews.com/20221030/truss-spent-last-days-in-office-obsessed-with-weather-amid-russian-nuke-scare---reports-1102851429.html

Truss Spent Last Days in Office Obsessed With Weather Amid Russian Nuke Scare - Reports

Truss Spent Last Days in Office Obsessed With Weather Amid Russian Nuke Scare - Reports

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss reportedly became fixated with wind charts and weather forecasts during her last days in office amid... 30.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-30T18:15+0000

2022-10-30T18:15+0000

2022-10-30T18:16+0000

world

uk

liz truss

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russia

weather

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Truss, elected in September to replace Boris Johnson, spent only 44 days at the helm of the country. On October 20, she announced her resignation due to criticism over the government's new economic plan and the possibility of increasing public debt for its implementation.According to the British media, Truss grew "obsessed" with weather reports after the UK intelligence told her that Russia might explode a tactical nuclear weapon over the Black Sea following Ukraine's terrorist attack on the Kerch Strait Bridge, also known as the Crimean Bridge, to demonstrate Moscow's readiness for a firm response.On October 10, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia does not seek to engage in "nuclear rhetoric," which has been heated up in the West in recent weeks. A day after, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov expressed a similar sentiment, saying that Russia does not threaten anyone with nuclear weapons. On the contrary, according to the minister, the West is introducing this narrative, trying to make it look like Moscow is plotting to use weapons of mass destruction.

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Harness racings newest $2 million winner is the four-year-old trotting mare Bella Bellini, who overcame a flat tire before the race to capture the first of eight Breeders Crown finals at Woodbine Mohawk Park on a beautiful fall evening in Campbellville, Ont. on Saturday night (Oct. 29).

Eight of the best trotting mares faced the gate in the $472,500 contest, which saw Next Level Stuff and Tim Tetrick lead the parade by the opening quarter in :27. Atlanta, the richest performer in the race with $3.6 million on her card, came out from third to challenge for Yannick Gingras and was comfortably on top at the :55.3 half.

In the first-up position as they hit the 1:24.1 three-quarters was When Dovescry with Bella Bellini in tow. As they trotted for home, Dexter Dunn gave Bella Bellini open road and she responded with an impressive victory in 1:51.1.

Atlanta finished a brave second. Saturday's race was her final start on Canadian soil as she readies for retirement at the end of her 2022 campaign. The seven-year-old Chapter Seven mare won many of the top races during her illustrious career, but the Breeders Crown title eluded her. In a total of six appearances, her best finishes were a second on Saturday and in last years Crown final as well.

Doug McNair got Refined up for third while When Dovescry held on for fourth for Dave Miller and Next Level Stuff took fifth.

Owned by breeder David McDuffee of Florida, Bella Bellini is trained by Richard "Nifty" Norman, who admitted the flat tire on his mares race bike before the post parade had him a little rattled.

We didnt have the spare, which is my responsibility and Dexter gets a little nervous when he doesnt have his own bike, he said.

The setback obviously didnt bother Bella Bellini in the least.

She was picture perfect, just the way you want. Shes very special, shes a beautiful animal, so nice to be around, just a really, really nice horse, added Norman, who is quite familiar with Bella Bellinis family having also trained her dam, the top Kadabra mare Bella Dolce, who earned more than $750,000 during her career.

A daughter of Bar Hopping, Bella Bellini notched her second straight Crown title having won last year as a three-year-old at The Meadowlands. This was her 19th win overall and eighth from 17 tries this year. She has $925,268 earned in 2022 and just over $2-million lifetime.

To view Saturday's harness racing results, click the following link: Saturday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park.

For complete coverage of the 2022 Breeders Crown championships, click here.

(Woodbine)
Driver Doug McNair asserted Grace Hill to the fore and used every inch of her speed to keep the furious stretch kick of Test Of Faith at bay to steal the show in the $540,000 Breeders Crown Mare Pace on Saturday night (Oct. 29) at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

Amazing Dream and No Win No Feed battled through a :27.2 first quarter with Grace Hill gapping the pair from third into the backside. Once No Win No Feed abandoned her challenge to sit in the pocket, McNair launched Grace Hill for the front and seized control before a :54.3 half.

So Much More followed Grace Hills move and raced uncovered into the final turn, pressing the pacesetter. Mikala caught cover to race second-over with Test Of Faith, the 2-5 favourite, placed third-over in the sprint to three-quarters, timed in 1:21.3. Grace Hill spun for home still with a barrage at her back of So Much More and soon with Test Of Faith towering down the center. As Test Of Faith hit her best stride, the finish line came in time for Grace Hill, who had a head in front to stop the clock in a lifetime-best 1:48.4. So Much More survived her first-over blitz to take third and Amazing Dream finished fourth.

We had a pretty good post and I thought a lot of the better ones were to the inside of her, said McNair after the race. Leaving the gate, there wasnt a whole ton of speed right off the bat. I took advantage of that, but she did all of the work and she deserved to win.

The 1:48.4 mile matches the stakes record first set in 2009 by Hana Hanover, a time when the Breeders Crown final for aged pacing mares was contested before the fall. Kissin In The Sand matched that record when she won at Harrahs Hoosier Park in 2020.

Grace Hills victory gave McNair his second Breeders Crown trophy, with his first coming from Stay Hungry in the 2017 Two-Year-Old Colt Pace.

It feels great [to win a Breeders Crown], said McNair. These trophies are very tough to get for sure. Theyre tough to get into races and to win them is even tougher, so its a thrill.

Grace Hill, a four-year-old Always B Miki mare out of the Western Terror mare Western Silk, gave trainer Virgil Morgan Jr. his second Breeders Crown trophy to add to his win in the 2008 Open Pace with Mister Big.

Tom Hill owns Grace Hill, who was bred by White Birch Farm, and added a third Breeders Crown trophy to his record.

Her Breeders Crown win added an 18th victory to her 45 starts and pushed her bankroll into millionaire status at $1,174,790.

Sent off as the third choice, Grace Hill paid $13.30 to win.

To view Saturday's harness racing results, click the following link: Saturday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park.

For complete coverage of the 2022 Breeders Crown championships, click here.

(Woodbine)
Treacherous Dragon found room late and hauled down favourite Niki Hill in the final strides to take the $810,000 Breeders Crown final for three-year-old pacing fillies Saturday night (Oct. 29) at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

With Scott Zeron at the controls, Treacherous Dragon was on top at the quick :26 second opener. Niki Hill, parked from the start from post 10, came calling but Zeron was reluctant to give up the lead too quickly. Dexter Dunn and Niki Hill cleared by the :54.1 half.

Niki Hill, who was making just her fifth sophomore start, paced by the three-quarters in 1:22 but had company all around her down the stretch. In a close finish, Zeron threaded the needle to get Treacherous Dragon to the wire first in 1:49.1, a neck in front of a game Niki Hill, who won the Breeders Crown final last year at two. Boudoir Hanover was third for Todd McCarthy with the two stablemates from the Nick Gallucci barn, Silver Label and Prohibition Legal, next across.

The win was the ninth in 14 attempts this year for Treacherous Dragon, who came into the contest having swept the coveted Jugette last month at Delaware. A daughter of Captaintreacherous from the multiple Breeders Crown winner My Little Dragon, Treacherous Dragon earned millionaire status with the win. Nancy Taker trains for Hot Lead Farm of New Jersey.

I actually thought she was the filly to beat, said Nancy Takter. Shes been super since the Jugette. Since we put her on Lasix, shes been a different horse. Shes been on the bit and ready to go to work. I thought she had a very big shot tonight.

She likes to pass horses and it was just a matter of finding room down the stretch and I'm happy that Scotty found it. I was getting a little worried there, I didnt think we were going to win. I dont think Ive screamed that loud on a race, ever. Shes a nice big sized filly, shes going to race next year and hopefully shes got a bright future.

Zeron, a former regular on the Woodbine circuit, didnt even expect to be competing in this years Breeders Crown after suffering breaks in his pelvis and wrist following an accident at the end of July at Pocono.

Honestly, I didnt even think Id be here; when I was injured I kind of gave up the dream of making it to this years Breeders Crown. A couple of people pushed me to do it -- Mark MacDonald and Nancy -- and Im happy I did it and obviously its a great win, said Zeron, who just returned to the bike a few weeks ago.

As for the trip, he noted: I felt great, just to have the opportunity to race late in the mile. Looking on paper I dreamed of following Niki Hill and it came to fruition. I didnt have a lot of room and when I did shes an exceptional filly to sprint up into gear with 100 feet left.

Its not a bad phone call when they ask you to drive the current Jugette winner, he laughed.

Saturday's victory was the eighth Breeders Crown final for Takter and second for her in this division with a filly bred by White Birch Farm having won in 2020 with Peaky Sneaky.

To view Saturday's harness racing results, click the following link: Saturday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park.

For complete coverage of the 2022 Breeders Crown championships, click here.

(Woodbine)
Two candidates, Brian Harden and Don Lease, hope to represent western Nebraska, running to fill the District 48 seat being vacated by current Sen. John Stinner.

The Star-Herald interviewed candidates in local contested races via candidate survey and will run those responses throughout the upcoming days. Responses are run in order of submission.

 Brian Hardin

Q. Briefly introduce yourself. (Brief bio, any endorsements you would like to share, etc.)

A. I grew up on our family farm in Mitchell Valley. I graduated from Gering, then Chadron State, and then Denver Seminary. Ive been in business most of my years  predominantly insurance and business consulting.

Im conservative. That means Im in favor of limited government and personal liberty. When the power of government increases, the power of the individual decreases. Im for shrinking government and growing individuals.

I am thankful for endorsements from several organizations and individuals  some of those include the Nebraska State Republican Party, Speaker of the House Mike Hilgers and Sen. Steve Erdman.

Q. What experiences in your background do you feel makes you best qualified for a seat in the Unicameral?

A. I understand the farm and ranch world of western Nebraska. Our world is about water (or the lack of it). I get the pain of ridiculously priced inputs on agriculture.

I also understand the responsibilities of launching businesses, hiring and inspiring employees, consulting with diverse business startups from around the globe, and interfacing with state and federal government on issues ranging from unfunded liabilities to Obamacare. I understand the challenges of creating jobs, paying benefits  group health, retirement plans  and being involved in the ups and downs of the life of an organization and the lives of employees. I understand the dynamics of serving clients and the public while balancing the stewardship of working with investors money.

While Ive never run for public office before (Im not a politician by background), I worked behind the scenes on both state and federal races and interfaced for many years with government in my own work. I also invested a significant amount of time this year asking, listening and learning about the legislative process from several of our current legislators. Many were very unselfish with their time and extremely helpful in preparing me for the possibility of serving Kimball, Banner and Scotts Bluff counties in Lincoln.

Additionally, so many local people have shared insightful and hard-fought experiences and wisdom from their years of wrestling with the challenges we face here. I deeply appreciate the collective solutions and observations of our farmers, ranchers, teachers, pastors, business people, law enforcement, municipal leaders, retirees and students! You all make me so proud to be from here.

Q. If elected, what would be the first priority issue that you would bring before the Nebraska Legislature?

A. A transformation of our tax system in Nebraska. As a society, we tax what we intend to shrink. Compared to states around us, we in Nebraska (county by county) shrink property ownership (homes, businesses, farms and ranches) due to high property taxes; we shrink personal incomes with higher personal tax rates than states around us; we also currently shrink business with corporate tax rates higher than states around us; we also tax inheritance and Social Security benefits (the benefits we paid into the system in the first place).

Most states dont do these last two things at all. We must stop shrinking the parts of life we need to grow. Most business, and therefore most jobs, grow out of small business (more than 6 out of 10 jobs in the US are with companies with 50 or fewer employees). To attract business creators, we must be competitive in our approach to taxation  at least with the states around us.

Many of our young people leave for better paying opportunities elsewhere. Lets help business creators build those opportunities here. Lets keep our talented young people engaged in great paying careers here. Our property taxes are also driving many of our senior citizens away across Nebraska. Some cant afford to stay in their paid-off homes because annual property taxes are as high or higher than their original annual mortgage payments.

We also do not have the luxury of a decade or more to get to a transformational tax approach. Why is that? Because were losing too many of our seniors who are fleeing with a lifetime of wealth (retirement) while we simultaneously losing many of our graduates who would be the future of our workforce. We must transform our tax system in Nebraska now.

Q. Property taxes have long been an issue before the Nebraska Legislature, including this year. What approaches to addressing property tax issues do you favor? Why?

Sales tax. Currently, we tax a very narrow segment of Nebraska very deeply. Those who pursue the American Dream  (at least the home/land ownership part of it) are forced to carry an inordinate amount of the societal load.

We need to widen the tax base well beyond that current narrow focus. For example, Wyoming has lower property tax rates than Nebraska. But they also have vast natural resources we lack. Colorado has lower rates than Nebraska. But they also have tourism we lack. South Dakota has lower property tax rates. They are more similar to Nebraska in both (the lack of) natural resources (energy) and tourism. They also have a wider sales tax foundation  as do other states  like Texas, Florida, Tennessee.

Q. Some feel that western Nebraska gets overlooked by the state. What is an issue in the Panhandle that you see yourself advocating for to other senators and the governor?

A. Its hard to pick just one. So... here are four:

1) Mental health demands in western Nebraska vastly outpace the supply of mental health support

2) Law enforcement is in need of a supply of future law enforcement officers here  we need a training academy

3) We need Constitutional Carry. But we also need genuine Castle Doctrine and Stand Your Ground laws. In rural Nebraska, because of the distances involved, law enforcement can be many minutes (or in snowstorms) hours away.

Its lovely having law enforcement a few minutes away in Omaha. That may not be our reality in western Nebraska.

4) Barriers to fast and meaningful licensing reciprocity are more painful in rural areas where the lack of teachers or trades (OR....???) means that services are not just inconvenient but nonexistent.

Q. The Nebraska Legislature is a non-partisan entity. Do you think working across the aisle is important? Why or why not?

A. Yes, its important. If we divide the state in half geographically (west/east), youll see there are six senators in the western half of our state; youll also see there are 43 senators in the eastern half of the state. Anyone who wants to pass a bill into law, must typically have a filibuster-proof vote of 33 or more members to get it done. Assuming we have the six most rural senators on board out west, we need 27 more to join us from the eastern half of the state to get to 33.

Legislators (especially from out here) must be able to navigate the tricky balance of fiercely advocating for our unique interests here, while fostering an ongoing and approachable appreciation of the challenges 400 miles from here. Building consensus is vital.

Don Lease

Q. Briefly introduce yourself. (Brief bio, any endorsements you would like to share, etc.) *

A. I am a fourth generation Nebraskan who actively farms and ranches in Banner County. I graduated from Banner County High School and attended the University of Wyoming. I am married to Yvonne, who is a public school educator.

I served on the Banner County School Board for six years as well as the North Platte Natural Resources Districts Pumpkin Creek Water Advisory Committee which created the first ground water management plan in Nebraska. I recently worked for the Nebraska Strong Recovery Project as an outreach worker under the direction of Region 1 Behavioral Health Services to provide assistance to people who were adversely affected by the recent pandemic. My work with the NSRP brought me into close contact with county and city governments, schools, social services and mental health resources, health care, churches, and many businesses throughout the 11 Panhandle counties.

I have been endorsed by former District 48 Senator John N. Harms, former director of the Panhandle Research and Extension Center Jack Whittier, Nebraska Farm Bureau, the Nebraska Farmers Union and SMART Transportation Division.

Q. What experiences in your background do you feel makes you best qualified for a seat in the Unicameral?

A. I am not a career politician. My volunteer service on the Banner County School Board, NRD Pumpkin Creek Advisory Committee, Region 1 Health Advisory Committee, Camp ROCK, Monument Bible Church Board, Potters Wheel Ministries, 4-H Fair and First Responders Mental Health Advisory Committee demonstrate a strong commitment to community over the last forty plus years.

The Nebraska Strong Recovery Project refined and reinforced my ability to effectively communicate at many levels with individuals and groups about a variety of issues. It also created a desire to work to find solutions to issues that affect all people regardless of social class.

Yvonne and I have successfully navigated raising four children to adulthood, farming and ranching. These life experiences have given me knowledge of our local community, understanding of how the pieces of our society fit together and hopefully some wisdom about how to apply it to the betterment of Nebraska.

Q. If elected, what would be the first priority issue that you would bring before the Nebraska Legislature?

A. Educational support, which involves issues such as tax equity, teacher recruitment strategies, adding mental health and substance abuse support for families and youth. We should be working to develop an education and mental health system which works collaboratively to identify youth and families with high needs. We can then provide appropriate, directed services to help address these needs. We should evaluate and correct communications deficiencies within and between agencies to help better serve the needs of each community. Information sharing among agencies is key to more cost efficient and effective services. We could work to create well trained, peer mental health outreach workers to help support families and youth in education.

Q. Property taxes have long been an issue before the Nebraska Legislature this year. What approaches to addressing property tax issues do you favor? Why?*

A. Nebraska relies too heavily on property tax to fund public education. Property taxes are assessed regardless of ability to pay (owning property does not always create income). Limiting the total property tax levy and using sales or consumption taxes as a replacement funding source to fund schools is one possible solution. We should work to resolve the current property tax issue over several years with a common sense, realistic approach. An approach which doesnt leave mandated state services unfunded at the local level. The principal is to fund or remove the mandate. We should always work to make sure each agency delivers the best service for the least cost.

Q. Some feel that western Nebraska gets overlooked by the state. What is an issue in the Panhandle that you see yourself advocating for to other senators and the governor?

A. It is probably more accurate to think of the problem in Nebraska as a rural/urban divide. The distortion in essential services does increase with distance from the population centers.

We do not have adequate facilities to treat or house juveniles in western Nebraska who need treatment for mental health, substance abuse or juvenile justice issues. If our goal is community treatment we need these service to be regionally available. We also need increased access to in-patient substance abuse and mental health treatment for adults in our regional community. I will always work to see that the 48th District is well represented at all levels.

Q. The Nebraska Legislature is a non-partisan entity. Do you think working across the aisle is important? Why or why not?

A. It is absolutely important that we as legislators work together to create solutions for all Nebraskans. We need to be careful as legislators not to view issues as mine or theirs. We should view problems that arise as ours to solve for the greater good of Nebraska.

We must also remember that we have a document called the Constitution and the rights conveyed therein are not negotiable.
Domestic violence is a very serious matter in our community and in our county, said Pam Navey, as she spoke to the group gathered Oct. 25 on Main Street for the first ever Domestic Violence Walk to be held in Mooresville in observance of Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Navey, a community resource coordinator for the Statesville Police Department, a victims advocate and part of the Domestic Violence Task Force, noted that there may be few in number, but our goal is large, just the awareness that there is help in the community. There is help for the victims of domestic violence and the children.

Before the walk began, several, in addition to Navey, shared comments about their particular roles in helping those who in the midst of domestic violence, including Lori Carlson, who serves as the community resource coordinator for the Mooresville Police Department. She noted that her role is to connect victims with resources in the community and help others who may need those resources as well.

Ive been in this position for a little over a year and I never realized how much domestic violence impacts our community, she said, and I just want to thank our officers for being here and everyone else.

Emily Cowan, a victims advocate at My Sisters House, shared what is offered at the shelter, including a 24-hour crisis line, temporary shelter to victims who are fleeing domestic violence and are in immediate danger, both individual and group therapy, and a case manager.

She shared that they receive in excess to 1,000 crisis calls each year.

Cowan noted that Misty McGill, who is the victims advocate for My Sisters Houses newly opened office in Mooresville, is more accessible and more available to victims in Mooresville to assist with safety planning, filling protective orders and connecting them with resources in the community. It was also noted that a new support group was to begin the next day at this new Mooresville location.

McGill shared a few remarks with the group from a proclamation which had been given in Statesville telling that each year during the month of October, we acknowledge domestic violence as an ongoing issue and recommit ourselves to reducing domestic violence within our community.

She provided additional information from the proclamation as she noted the long-term effects that domestic violence can cause, such as putting individuals in danger of long term physical, psychological and emotional harm.

McGill concluded as she read that, the truth is that domestic violence can happen anywhere and to anyone regardless of who they are, what they do for a living or where they live.

Domestic doesnt discriminate, McGill said. Its here, its there, its everywhere.

Several members of the Mooresville Police Department were there to participate in the walk, and Sgt. Taylor echoed that comment as he said that it happens in every neighborhood. He also commented that its on both sides, male and female.

Two members of the district attorneys office, Robin Shea, legal assistant and Assistant District Attorney Chris Cleaveland, also joined in the event.

Shea told that some of her roles include reaching out to victims of domestic violence and assisting them by providing information, helping with the court process, and referring them to any type resource they might need such as My Sisters House and letting them know they have an advocate in the courtrooms to help them and make the process easier.

Cleaveland told the group that it was great to be here and be a part of this evening. We take domestic violence very serious. He pointed out that he has worked with Shea on some cases and in part with law enforcement.

We all work together from beginning to end, he said.

District Attorney Sarah Kirkman was unable to attend the walk; however, she did express in an email her thankfulness for the community coming together.

Navey concluded the comments as she told of the goal of the domestic violence task force. She said it was to protect children from domestic violence, to help educate, to help prevent domestic violence and to offer resources for the victims as well as for the perpetrator, because the goal is for everyone to break that cycle whether its the victims getting out of it or the perpetrators getting the help that they need for whatever behavior they have thats causing that violence.

Navey offered the opportunity for anyone else that wanted to share prior to her pointing out the various resources available on the table. She then pointed out the route they would take for the walk as each took their signs and made their way down Main Street.
Ukraine is currently detecting and intercepting nearly 90 percent of the Iranian-made Shahed 136 UAVs serving as cruise missiles. The 200 kg (440 pound) Shahed 136 has a flight endurance of four or five hour at about 180 kilometers an hour carrying explosive warheads with 25 kg (55 pounds) of explosives. Shahed 136s are believed to cost about $50,000 each, with most of that ($30,000) being their gasoline engine. Both versions of Shaded (one is a bit larger) use GPS navigation with a crude INS (inertial navigation system) backup. Russia replaced the GPS guidance with one dependent on Russian GLONAS satellite navigation in an effort to increase reliability and effectiveness. Shahed 136 operates at low (a few hundred meters at most) altitude to avoid radar detection. These missiles are launched either individually using a portable launch rail or from a truck mounted system carrying four or five missiles in a box type storage/launch container. A small rocket is attached to the bottom of the missile to get it airborne and the engine running. The rocket is then supposed to fall away. GPS locations have to be entered into the GPS system before launch.

The Ukrainians quickly developed tactics to defeat the Shahed 136s, especially those used against military targets. The low-flying Shahed 136 engine is so loud it can be heard several kilometers away and, while rifle and machine-gun bullets are effective against it, larger caliber weapons like 12.7mm machine-guns and 20mm or larger autocannon are much more lethal. Another vulnerability of the Shahed 136 is that its inexpensive components are often unreliable and a large portion of them fail before reaching a target. These usually crash-land intact, allowing detailed analysis of components and construction. Another vulnerability is to electronic AUD (Anti-UAV Defense) systems that employ jamming and other EW (Electronic Warfare) techniques to disable UAV guidance systems.

Israel has quietly provided Ukraine with details of how it defeated Shahed 136s launched from Lebanon. This includes details of AUDs Israel has developed. Ukraine has already received an American AUD (Anti UAV Defense) system called Vampire. This system is palletized, with all components attached to a shipping pallet that can be mounted in a light truck, and consists of a telescoping mast mounting a electro-optical/infrared modular sensor ball and laser designator, a generator for power and a launcher that carries four APKWS 70mm laser-guided rockets. These weigh only 15 kg (32 pounds) each and have a range of about a thousand meters when fired from the ground. Vampire can be used to detect and fire APKWS laser guided rockets at air and even ground targets. Any UAV, cruise missile or helicopter within range is vulnerable. Vampire is designed to be reconfigured, which is the kind of system Ukrainians prefer. Its launcher is also designed to use new, longer-range APKWS rockets. Ukrainians are expected to modify Vampire to better suit their needs or simply to obtain longer range while carrying more rockets ready to fire.

Ukraine has the people and manufacturing ability to quickly develop an AUD system that relies on jamming or disabling the guidance systems of UAVs like Shahed 136. Ukrainian countermeasures have already led Russia to use Shahed 136 against cities and other civilian targets. These large-area targets are more difficult to defend with AUDs. That means more Shahed 136s hit something, even if its a building. The small Shahed 136 warhead does not do a lot of damage but Russia is running out of larger guided missiles and has been depending more on large unguided rockets and old ASM (Surface to Air Missiles) modified for hitting ground targets. The larger and faster guided missiles are saved for important military targets while the smaller missiles, like Shahed 136 are used against infrastructure and civilians. Even with nearly 90 percent of Shahed 136s intercepted, enough get through to damage infrastructure, especially power plants.

The Shahed 136 launch sites are in portions of Crimea outside the 80-kilometer range of Ukrainian GMLRS guided rockets. The search for the launch sites also revealed that Iran had sent technical advisors to help the Russians use Shahed 136 effectively. In the past, Shahed 136 attacks were more successful because the target wasnt expecting them. Ukraine developed a cell-phone app that enables users, including those in Russian occupied areas, to report Russian activity. This now includes Shahed 136 sightings. Russia has not only lost the element of surprise but this network of civilian spotters enables Ukrainian air defense forces to quickly detect and track an incoming Shahed 136 attack.

Shahed 136 attacks are supposed to demoralize Ukrainian civilians and weaken the war effort but it has the opposite effect, making Ukrainians angrier at the Russians and more determined to drive them out of Ukraine. These attacks on civilians were going on before the Shahed 136s arrived. The Russians used guided missiles that were more difficult to intercept but were also in limited supply and Russia was unable to replace those used because of sanctions. Iran was one of the few nations supporting the Russian invasion and offered to sell Russia the cruise and ballistic missiles it manufactures. Iranian stocks of these missiles are limited and a current outbreak of nationwide protests against the Iranian religious dictatorship appears to have disrupted production. The many nations threatened or under attack by Iranian missiles appreciate the situation where Iran is reducing its stockpile of these weapons in order to supply Russia.
Cowlitz County child immunization rates have declined following the start of pandemic but remain above the state average.

Last week, the Washington State Department of Health released updated data for the 2021-2022 school year, showing mostly stable vaccination rates statewide.

The numbers include vaccinations required for school and child care  like Hepatitis B, DTaP, Hib, Polio, PCV, MMR, varicella  and not the COVID-19 vaccine, which the state does not require for students.

Statewide, the vaccination completion rate of 91.7% is about the same as before the pandemic, but the rate of students out-of-compliance increased from 3.4% to 4.5%.

Vaccines remain the single most important public health strategy for keeping communities safe from many communicable diseases that can lead to disability and death, said Jamilia Sherls-Jones, director of the state Office of Immunization, in a statement. We review vaccine data to monitor trends, identify opportunities for improving completion rates, and recognize gains.

Last year, Cowlitz Countys K-12 vaccination completion rate declined to 93% following a pre-pandemic peak at 94.6% in the 2019-2020 school year, according to the data reported by school districts to the state Department of Health. Certain school districts saw larger declines in vaccination completion and compliance than others.

Castle Rocks out-of-compliance rate jumped from 3.3% in 2019-2020 to 16.8% in 2020-2021 and 18.8% last year, which is 255 of 1,354 students.

Castle Rock Superintendent Ryan Greene said he does not know if the rate has changed because of the pandemic or other reasons. When new students enroll, they receive immunization paperwork, reviewed by the school nurse and nursing assistants, Greene said.

There are things we have to do as state agency, and immunization is one of those, he said. Our No. 1 goal is to protect all the kids in the district. ... Whether you are one side of fence or another, we still have to follow rules or guidelines.

Toutle Lake also saw a large increase in out-of-compliance students from a pre-pandemic rate of 7.3% up to more than 20%, 143 of 700 students, in the last two school years.

Longview recorded a small increase in out-of-compliance last year, from 0.3% in 2019-2020 to 1.4%, 92 of 6,454 students.

Cowlitz County Health Officer Alan Melnick previously said the school district data should be taken with a grain of salt because the numbers are only updated at the start of each school year and dont include homeschooled children.

A May 2022 report showed a statewide decline in routine vaccinations during the pandemic, particularly among children 19-months to 35-months-old. Cowlitz County followed a similar trend, with the largest decrease among babies and toddlers and a small bump in vaccination among teens.

To be enrolled in child care or preschool, children need certain vaccinations by 3 months, 5 months, 7 months, 16 months and 19 months, according to the Department of Health. Certain vaccines and boosters also are required before students enter kindergarten and before seventh grade. Students are not required to get a COVID-19 vaccine.

Parents can submit exemptions for medical, religious or personal/philosophical reasons. In 2019, the Legislature removed the personal or philosophical exemption for the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. Parents can still exempt their children from the MMR vaccine for medical or religious reasons. And all three exemptions apply for other vaccines.

Over the last five years, the amount of exemptions has decreased and the type has changed, following the 2019 law change. Statewide, the number of K-12 students with at least one personal exemption dropped from 3.7% in 2018-2019 to 2% last year. The number of religious exemptions increased during the same timeframe but remain below 1.5%.

Of the 3.5% of Washington students with exemptions last year, 2% were personal, 1.4% were religious, 0.7% were medical and 0.2% were religious membership.

A religious exemption is used when a parent or guardian has a religious belief against giving their child the vaccine. The religious membership exemption is is used when a parent or guardian belongs to a church or religious group that doesnt allow medical treatment by health care providers. All exemptions except religious membership require a health care practitioner signature.

Cowlitz Countys exemption rates were about the same as the states, with 3.5% of students exempt, and of those 1.9% personal, 1.2% religious, 0.8% medical and 0.2% religious membership.

The state Department of Health recommends families and health care providers focus on getting children up to date on their vaccinations as soon as possible.

Washington state provides all recommended childhood vaccines at no cost to children through the age of 18. Medicaid and most other insurance providers cover childrens checkups at no cost.
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A small yet potentially hazardous asteroid is hurtling towards Earth at a speed of 16272 kmph today. Know what NASA said.

Did you know, there are currently 1113527 known asteroids? One of which is rushing towards Earth today! NASA has confirmed that a potentially hazardous asteroid is all set to make its closest approach to Earth. NASA's JPL data has confirmed that the upcoming asteroid measures just 29 feet in diameter. Despite being small in size, this asteroid is dubbed as being potentially hazardous by scientists. Also, NASA's Planetary Defence Coordination Office has red-flagged Asteroid 2022 UU8, and the reason is its terrifyingly close proximity to Earth.

To know whether the upcoming asteroid poses any threat to Earth or not, NASA keeps a close eye on all the upcoming objects such as asteroids and comets. NASA's Asteroid Watch dashboard says the asteroid will approach within 4.6 million miles or 7.5 million kilometers of Earth. To be specific, the asteroid 2022 UU8 will make its terrifyingly close approach of 0.362 million miles! It is also moving at an astonishing pace - a velocity of 16272 kmph. But you should not worry!

Although NASA has red-flagged this small, yet hazardous asteroid, earthlings should not worry as it is most likely to fly by safely back into space.

Recently, NASA successfully tested its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) Mission. In order to test planetary defence, a NASA spacecraft struck a non-hazardous asteroid called Dimorphos to determine how an asteroid strike can be averted.

Apart from this, as mentioned before, NASA constantly keeps an eye on upcoming asteroids with the help of some of the best technologies. Such as, with the use of optical and radio telescopes, NASA determines the size, shape, rotation, and physical composition of asteroids. While, for detailed characterization data of the asteroids, NASA uses radio telescopes at Deep Space Network and the National Science Foundation's Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.
Hateful and racist rhetoric swelled on the network as some politicians rejoiced. Free speech. Liberal tears.

In the wake of Elon Musk buying Twitter Inc., a tide of slurs and racist memes swelled on the platform, sparking concern that the site is entering an era of hateful speech.

Twitter has long wrestled with how to enforce content policies fairly on its platform in order to appease the advertisers, users and powerful world leaders that use its service. But as Musk, a self-styled free speech absolutist, took over ownership of the company, some conservative officials, partisan extremists and conspiracy peddlers saw reason to celebrate the change.

It seems like this is a group of people who think the rules magically changed as soon as he signed on the dotted line, said Katie Harbath, the chief executive officer and founder of Anchor Change and former public policy director at Facebook.

Dr. Rebekah Tromble, director of the Institute for Data, Democracy, and Politics at George Washington University, said as soon as Musk took control of Twitter, online trolls began encouraging each other to push the boundaries on Twitter.

Unfortunately, this spike in hateful language is entirely predictable, said Tromble, who has studied Twitter for years. For most of these trolls, it's a game. But for others, including certain political influencers, saying hateful, outlandish things helps them increase their audience and make money. And they see this as a golden opportunity to gain even more attention.

The flood of speech underlines the difficulty Musk faces in fulfilling his promise to restore people's ability to speak freely while managing the palatability of the platform for advertisers, to whom he pledged in a letter Thursday that Twitter would not spiral into a free-for-all hellscape under his leadership. Musk has repeatedly opposed Twitter's enforcement strategies, such as banning some high-profile accounts permanently.Musk tweeted that Twitter will form a content-moderation council that includes widely diverse viewpoints. Major decisions on content and account reinstatement are on hold until the group is convened, he said.

Though Musk has already fired four Twitter executives, including Vijaya Gadde, the company's head of legal, policy and trust, who headed up a team that made decisions on permanently banning certain high-profile accounts, he has yet to make any concrete or substantial changes to Twitter's moderation policies. Still, on Friday, some conservative politicians and pundits saw the platform coming into his ownership as a symbolic win.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH!!!! posted Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, from her official Twitter account on Thursday evening, minutes after news of Musk's acquisition of Twitter broke. Greene's personal account was permanently banned by Twitter earlier this year for repeated violations of its Covid-19 misinformation policies. Just wait until tomorrow, she said in another tweet one minute later.

On Friday, Greene tweeted, simply: We are winning. The congresswoman gained at least 40,492 new followers in the hours since Musk took over Twitter, according to a Bloomberg analysis.

Rep. Jim Jordan, a Republican of Ohio, also cheered Musk's takeover of Twitter with a post on Friday morning: Free speech. Liberal tears. He gained at least 40,419 followers in the same timeframe, according to Bloomberg's analysis.

Other partisan accounts with records of repeatedly spreading false claims that the 2020 US presidential election was stolen tested the limits of speech under Twitter's Musk regime. Robby Starbuck, a former congressional candidate in Tennessee and a pro-Trump activist, published a transphobic and misinformation-laden tweet on Thursday night, prefacing the post with: Just testing the new Twitter out. The post collected 80,870 likes and shares on the platform.

An influential anonymous account with nearly 1 million followers, called @catturd2, complained that it had been shadowbanned on Twitter. On Friday morning, it was one of the few accounts that Twitter's new chief responded to: I will be digging in more today.

The Starbuck and @catturd2 accounts appeared on the list of repeat misinformation spreaders in a peer-reviewed report from the Election Integrity Partnership, a group of research organizations studying misinformation campaigns, including in the 2020 election.

Dozens of anonymous trolls signed up for Twitter in the past day according to an analysis by Bloomberg, broaching topics that had been heavily moderated by Twitter in the past  such as levying hate speech against protected groups and promoting falsehoods about Covid-19 and its vaccines.

Overnight and into Friday, racist slurs, anti-Semitic speech and offensive memes surged on the platform, with users egging each other on in far-right message boards such as The Donald, and on messaging apps like Telegram and on internet forums like 4chan.

For hours on Thursday afternoon, a racist slur remained at a low volume on Twitter, with less than a dozen or so mentions every five minutes across the entire platform, according to data from Dataminr, a social media analysis platform. After the news broke that Musk had closed the deal on Twitter, there was a 1,300% increase in the word appearing on the platform in various languages, including Spanish, Arabic and Portuguese. At its peak, the word appeared 170 times every five minutes, according to the data.

Mentions of ivermectin, the deworming drug popular among those seeking alternative treatments for Covid-19 in spite of a lack of strong research to back it up, also shot up 2,900% on Twitter, peaking at 358 mentions every five minutes, according to Dataminr.

And mentions of plandemic, a shorthand for a conspiracy in which a shadowy cabal of elites were using the coronavirus pandemic and a potential vaccine to profit and gain power, increased.

On Friday, the Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism said it had identified a coordinated effort to spread anti-Semitic content on Twitter, explicitly drawing inspiration from Elon Musk's takeover. Over the past day, the group said, it identified over 1,200 tweets and retweets on the platform that spread anti-Semitic memes.

Alex Stamos, director of the Stanford Internet Observatory, said in an interview that Musk publicly taking on the responsibility for content decisions for an entire social network, while having business interests in other parts of the world, was unprecedented.

He has another company that gets a quarter of its revenue from the People's Republic of China, Stamos said, referring to Musk's Tesla Inc. business in China. That is amazingly different than what has ever happened before.

The former Russia president Dmitry Medvedev welcomed Musk on the platform with his own post. Good luck @elonmusk in overcoming political bias and ideological dictatorship on Twitter, he said on Friday. He added an appeal: Quit that Starlink in Ukraine business.
Nolan Arenado is staying put.

The Associated Press reported Saturday that the St. Louis Cardinals third baseman has decided not to opt out of his long-term contract and test the free agent market this offseason.

The perennial All-Star is currently playing under an eight-year, $290 million contract he signed with the Colorado Rockies in 2019. That deal runs through 2027. Arenado, who was traded to St. Louis before the 2021 season, could have opted out of the remaining five years of that deal.

The 31-year-old Arenado enjoyed one of his best seasons in 2022 as the Cardinals won the NL Central. He hit 30 home runs and drove in 103 runs, with a career-high 154 OPS+. He topped National League position players with 7.9 WAR.

Hes also a finalist  and the presumed favorite  to win his 10th Gold Glove when the awards are announced. That would tie him with Mike Schmidt for the second-most Gold Gloves by a third baseman, behind only Brooks Robinson (16).

That kind of performance likely would have earned him a raise as a free agent, but Arenado has decided to stick around. There was enough concern in the Cardinals organization he might opt out that club president John Mozeliak flew to California earlier this week to meet with his star player.

Many fans felt Arenado walked away from a bigger potential payday to stay in a good situation with the Cardinals.

If you saw Nolan Arenado watching the Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina ceremony, you knew he wasnt going anywhere. https://t.co/82EKhsdKL8  Ben Frederickson (@Ben_Fred) October 29, 2022

Would love to have been a fly on the wall when Mozeliak and Arenado were discussing off-season plans for the team earlier in the week  Jordan Vass (@JVass23) October 29, 2022

Nolan Arenado having a Cardinals hat on his hall of fame plaque. pic.twitter.com/9heEr7HSR8  Prez John Mozeliak (@PrezJohnMo) October 29, 2022

Its funny when everyone thinks that its all about the money. Its not. He loves it in StL  SharxFN (@sharxfn) October 29, 2022

I just wanna say STL loves Nolan Arenado  nick Hudson (@cardsfan420) October 29, 2022

Nolan Arenado, St. Louis Cardinal. This years NL MVP candidate is staying in the Lou @FOX2now pic.twitter.com/PIxpCA36ht  Daniel Esteve (@DanielJEsteve) October 29, 2022

[New York Post]
As former Georgia Bulldogs star running back Herschel Walker continues his campaign for a Georgia Senate seat against incumbent Raphael Warnock, hes earned himself a few notable critics, including former United States President Barack Obama who blasted him in a speech last week. And now, Walker is responding.

During a speech last week, Obama questioned Walkers motives and ability to serve as a politician, calling him a celebrity who wants to be a politician. Herschel Walker responded to those comments this weekend, saying he is not a celebrity but a warrior for God.

President Obama was here last night. He said Im a celebrity. He got that one wrong, didnt he? Im not a celebrity. Im a warrior for God. He got something else wrong, too. Remember two years ago he told us to vote for Joe Biden, didnt he? He got that one wrong, did he not? Hes lost twice to Georgia already, hasnt he, so I think he probably needs to sit this one out, Walker said in a statement, according to the Washington Examiner.

Walker then said he was going to pray for Obama.

Im sorry to tell former President Obama, Im sorry, Im gonna pray for him Im gonna pray for him because he needs some help, Walker said. He needs some help because he got with the wrong horse. Senator Warnock is the wrong horse. You know he cant do the job, and its time for him to leave. So dont let the door hit your butt as you walk out of there.

As election day nears, Walker is a four-point favorite in some polls even though it was recently revealed that Walker pressured multiple women into getting abortions. Last week, President Joe Biden was told the going downhill for Warnock,

[Washington Examiner]
CAMDEN, S.C.  There is a tradition in my family of retreating to the woods when illness strikes.

One of my Revolutionary War forefathers, Tarleton Brown of Barnwell, South Carolina, had to abandon the siege of Augusta in 1781 when he contracted smallpox and returned home, such as it was.

The British, alas, had preceded him, reducing his familys home to ash and leaving both his father and little brother dead. His mother and sister miraculously escaped both the kings army and the Indians, as he put it in his 1862 memoir, Memoirs of Tarleton Brown: A Captain of the Revolutionary Army  a 28-page pamphlet published in New York and Written by Himself.

Because no one in his family had previously had smallpox, Brown entered the woods and stayed there for 40 days, lying beneath a large oak and tended only by a Tory woman, according to another account. Once recovered, Brown returned to battle until the wars end. (The British eventually surrendered Augusta.)

Similarly, if immeasurably more fortunately, Ive been hunkered down the past two weeks in what weve begun calling The COVID Cottage, tending the now-familiar symptoms that seem reluctant to abandon their temporary (I hope) tenancy.

The cottage acquired its name on account of having become sort of a hostel for the sick, my 8-year-old great-niece included. When she tested positive at camp last summer, she and her mother quarantined here until she was allowed to return.

Its not exactly Walden Pond, but itll do. Unlike Thoreau, I didnt build it with my own two hands. Far as I can tell, roaches did. Only they know all the secret places within.

Surrounded by woods, the cottage is accessed by dirt road and a wooden bridge. Though less remote than it sounds, its home to countless deer, rafts of geese, several hawks and at least one or two quite vocal owls, in addition to the usual backyard inhabitants. We probably have foxes and coyotes, too, but theyre too smart to be seen.

No telling what passes in the night, but morning reveals tracks of varying sizes and sorts that keep me mindful of why I tend to stay indoors once darkness settles so deep and black, only bats can see.

Other than a single, dim porch light, theres no illumination except for an occasional wink from the moon. The quiet is immense.

Maybe nothings out there. Maybe everything is. But Ill tell you whats everywhere  COVID-19  and it smells your fear.

Dont let anyone tell you otherwise, and dont deceive yourself into thinking were all done with it. Were not by a long shot. Despite our best efforts to thwart the virus that leads to COVID  and despite my own adherence to best practices  it got me again.

Thats two vaccinations, two boosters, and now, two COVIDs  appropriate for a Libra, I suppose.

This isnt to suggest that one shouldnt get shot and boosted. Im confident that my suffering would have been far greater had I not taken these precautions.

The bear of it is that the newest omicron variant doesnt care. The honey badger of infectious diseases, it will find a way to find you and gobble you up, if youre not careful. It also likes to linger, and its victims tend to test positive for longer periods, which translates into longer quarantines.

I will say that this time was worse than the previous round, even if experts say this newest version is supposedly mild.

Compared with what? Well, smallpox, Id reckon. I felt very sick for about four days, then slowly better. Also, Im still testing positive 10 days after symptoms began.

The virus is getting smarter with each new turn, and our bodies and medicines are slow to keep up. What does this mean?

Nobody wants to say this, but I think it means masks are back in order in public spaces and especially in crowded areas. My contagion point was probably a packed art gallery I visited on Saturday, Oct. 15. By Monday night, I had a sore throat; by Tuesday morning, I felt like a plank  immovable with aches, fever, a headache that lasted a week and all the rest.

Today is Oct. 28, and Im still positive, slightly stuffy, and wondering how much longer before the next variation swings through and isnt so mild.

If I were you, Id mask up and get all the shots.
With high feed costs and drought stressed pastures, cattle operators are looking to corn/soybean residue as a feed source this fall/winter season.

A concern this fall is the amount of eastern black nightshade present and how that will impact cattle grazing. This herbaceous plant is in the nightshade family with smooth stems, triangular leaves, and star-shaped flowers that develop into clusters of green berries which turn dark purple when mature.

Most of the time, this plant will be in clumps but sometimes it can be found throughout the field. Being that this plant is in the nightshade family, it contains alkaloids in all parts of the plant. Freezing temperatures will not reduce the toxicity and its difficult to determine how much nightshade is risky for cattle consumption.

Guidelines say that an average cow would need to consume three to four pounds of fresh black nightshade to be at risk for alkaloid poisoning. Most cattle do not normally seek out this plant when grazing. Cattle are selective grazers and so long as theres enough feed available, they will avoid consuming weed species and focus on residue instead.

However, as feed sources become more limited towards the end of the grazing period, they may start to seek out green plants, including eastern black nightshade. Scout your fields prior to turning out cattle and watch fields closely during the grazing period if you choose to graze. Strategic fencing can be used to avoid areas with higher nightshade densities, and it may be helpful to provide supplemental hay on that field before moving them to a new field.

Move cattle to a new field once their primary feed sources become limited to avoid eastern black nightshade ingestion.

Weed Science School

Nebraska Extension will host Weed Science School from 8:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 8, at the Eastern Nebraska Research Extension and Education Center near Mead.

Topics of interest include weed management surveys; the future of weed management; herbicide options and cover crops; spot herbicide application technology; spray quality and carrier rate for drift management; soybean response to 2,4-D and dicamba; and off target injury in specialty crops.

Speakers include faculty from University of Nebraska, University of Missouri, and research technicians from Greeneye Technology.

CCA credits are available for participants and registration begins at 8:30 a.m. There is no fee to attend and lunch will be provided. For meal planning purposes, please RSVP online at https://agronomy.unl.edu/weedscienceschool.

This link also includes an agenda and speakers for the day. Questions can be directed to Amit Jhala, Extension weed specialist, at 402-472-1534 or amit.jhala@unl.edu; or Jenny Rees, Extension educator, at 402-362-5508 or jenny.rees@unl.edu.

Central Nebraska Regenerative Ag Conference

A Regenerative Ag Conference is planned for 1 to 4:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 18, in Holdrege.

This event will feature Gabe Brown who owns and operates Browns Ranch east of Bismark, N.D. In addition to farming and ranching, Brown is an author and keynote speaker who shares his experiences in utilizing regenerative agricultural strategies.

This event is hosted by Green Cover, Central Community College, and Nebraska Extension at the Tassel Performing Arts Center. There is a small fee associated with the meeting which will increase after Nov. 14 so early registration is encouraged.

Registration is through the Central Community College in Holdrege. Participants can either register online or contact their office at 308-995-8133.
Danielle Helzer, a teacher-turned-nonprofit worker, is in the running for a seat on the Nebraska State Board of Education representing District 6.

Teaching is not a flexible job, Helzer said. My very first year of teaching, I had an insane number of preps. I had like nine preps and an eighth period day, so nine different classes to plan for.

Years after teaching in schools ranging from Class A (Omaha Burke) to Class C, I left the classroom feeling incredibly burnt out.

One of the things that I want to do on the State Board of Education is put in workload protections for early career teachers.

Helzer said the barrage of state assessments need to be refocused.

I think state assessments are necessary. Its a great way to gauge some progress. Its not the end-all (and) be-all. I think we really miss the mark when we assign ... labels to schools and students based on one test score.

According to Nebraska Department of Education, The Nebraska Student-Centered Assessment System (NSCAS), pronounced en-skass, is a new statewide assessment system that embodies Nebraskas holistic view of students and helps them prepare for success in postsecondary education, career, and civic life. It uses multiple measures throughout the year to provide educators and decision makers at all levels with the insights they need to support student learning.

Instead, Helzer contends, it adds unnecessary pressure to teachers, who some say have begun to teach for tests.

We put so much emphasis in assessments that it often takes a lot of the creativity and art out of teaching, she said. A lot of teachers leave because its so scripted and so heavily prescribed toward the test.

Alternative measures need to be considered, Helzer said. I would like to see us moving toward thinking about growth, like academic growth from one year to the next year, and thinking about, how can we measure success based on overall growth?

Still, Helzer said, What that looks like, I would like to work with state board members, teachers, stakeholders, superintendents, principals  to see what a more holistic method of accountability looks like.

Arguably, shifting the gravity and format of statewide assessments could help retain teachers.

There are ways to bring new experiences and work-lives to the classroom, including by making teaching more accessible to other professionals.

An example, Helzer said, is a shortage of agriculture teachers is some Nebraska communities.

I keep thinking about so many people who are farmers, maybe who dont have four-year degrees, but have incredible amount of technical expertise and knowledge.

Can we recruit people into teaching? Can we put them (on a) fast track ... so they gain the pedagogical experience and the child development experience, they gain some hands-on experience while we pay them?

Even so, state content area standards will still likely have to be considered  at least in the core subjects: reading, writing, mathematics, science and social studies.

These standards, among other things, are planned for review and subsequently updates by the State Board of Education.

This also includes standards that are frameworks, rather than requirements. According to NDE these include: fine arts, physical education, health education, and world languages, as well as course-based standards for Career and Technical Education.

These standards are not required by law, but Helzer still had something to say about the health education standards.

I supported it because it included the existence of different families, which represents my family. I also supported the first draft of the health standards, because research shows us that when we teach kids proper, especially age-appropriate body language, theyre able to disclose sexual abuse, theyre able to prevent some of that. Thats incredibly necessary.

The other thing that I support about the health standards is that they were never mandatory for districts. They were there as a template.

Helzer said she sees the value of maintaining local control.

Health standards  thats very localized. The thing thats really great about Nebraska is yes, we set the standards, but that doesnt mean that the state creates curriculum.

Every local school district is in the best position to choose the curriculum that best meets the standards and exceeds the standards and also meets the needs of their community.

Lets be honest: what a kid in Valentine might need is totally different than what a kid at Lincoln High might need. There needs to be some sort of local control over those standards.

To a lesser extent than content area standards, social emotional learning (SEL) has been a lightning rod for sometimes-heated debate.

Teachers have always been doing social emotional learning, Helzer said. Theyve always been helping kids regulate their emotions in the classroom, they have always been helping kids make smart choices. Theyve always been helping kids figure out time management and organization. It just wasnt necessarily a codified curriculum.

Parents should be a childs primary teachers, Helzer said, but It doesnt happen in all of our communities. Thats the dilemma: yes, we want parents to be involved. Unfortunately, that doesnt happen all the time.

Schools, families and communities should be represented by Nebraska State Board of Education representatives, Helzer said.

A State Board of Ed member is not just accountable to taxpayers. Theyre also accountable to staff and students.

Public schools are assets in our communities. When we have strong public schools, we have strong communities.
Sherry Jones, a retired Grand Island Public Schools teacher, is in the running for a seat on Nebraska State Board of Education representing District 6.

Part of her platform has been fueled by the debate about the power of State BOE versus the control of local school entities, exemplified by the Nebraska Department of Education Health Education Standards uproar beginning in March of 2021.

The first, arguably most controversial, of the drafts was revised; the entire process was temporarily halted in September 2021.

Jones has been vocal about her stance against the Health Education Standards, but told the Independent there are situations that call for standardization.

I believe we need math, reading, science and social studies (requirements), Jones said. I can appreciate those standards and I think schools leadership appreciate having those standards in place.

The other standards that are not of the core we should leave to local decision makers, such as the health education standards.

Core subject areas governed by the Nebraska Department of Education are: reading, writing, mathematics, science and social studies. These core standards teach measurable content.

Other course standards are not required by law, these content area standards provide a framework for quality teaching and learning for all content areas, according to NDE.

Still, Jones said, Who says that something unmandated currently couldnt become mandated in the future? I think we have to make sure that what we are putting out there is very solid.

Something Jones solidly believes in is local control, she said.

I really believe that local school districtsschool boards, parents, community members  they know (whats) best (for) their children and the needs of their community. I like to have as many decisions made at the local level as can be made.

Community members directly involved in the classroom  teachers  should have a say in what is taught, and not sacrifice their own values, including religion, Jones said.

Jones herself has walked that walk  and prayed those prayers, she said.

When she was teaching, she said: I did that before the school day started, at their desks. Thats not imparting my religious beliefs on them. Im going to pray for my students. You see the difference?

As a special education teacher, Jones said she has seen social emotional learning practiced for decades.

Working with special needs students sometimes lent itself to encountering behavior issues, something still happening today.

(Student behavior issues) have been present for a long time, she said. Theres just a lot of expectations on teachers, probably more so today, things that parents probably took care of.

Its important to look beyond labels, buzz words and jargon, Jones said.

Youve got to look at what it contains. There are many new terms these days, and things have changed. When I was a counselor, some of what I did was probably considered social emotional learning.

Most parents appreciated those efforts, she said.

Early childhood education has been arguably overlooked in the State Board of Education campaign landscape.

Ive spoken with preschool teachers, and theyre doing a lot of work just to get kids ready, Jones said. A year or so preschool, I will support that.

Jones said parameters of teacher certification in Nebraska are too limited. Teacher certification guidelines and requirements are regulated by the state board of education and NDE.

One element of teacher certification Jones said she isnt sold on is the Praxis test, which is a series of standardized tests based on different teaching specialties.

According to NDE, it requires a passing score on the appropriate Praxis Subject Assessment/Content Test to have an endorsement placed on a regular Nebraska teaching or administrative certificate.

Jones contested the requirement.

Not every individual is a test taker. They should be able to show competency in another way, she said. There is an art to teaching that we cannot capture on a written test, in my opinion. We need to have very qualified teachers, but to determine that I dont think we should just rely on a written test.

To help counter the teacher shortage, Jones said there needs to be reform in reciprocity requirements, when teachers with out-of-state credentials come teach in Nebraska.

This was driven home, Jones said, when she talked to a Nebraska teacher who had come to the state from Colorado.

She was a lead teacher for five years in the area of English language learners (ELL) program. She got to Grand Island and she was given by the state a two-year provisional certification. After this year, she cannot teach anymore (until other NDE requirements are fulfilled).

Thats not good enough for Nebraska, considering we have a teacher shortage, Jones said. Thats very concerning to me.

When decisions like those are to be made, Jones said taxpayers she represents are those she most considers  but the influence trickles from the top-down.

When youre serving parents, you end up serving children by way of the parents. The parents are the voters; parents are the decision makers in their family.

But at the end of the day, I am responsible for representing my constituency of District 6.
Paris, TX (75460)

Today

Mostly clear skies this evening. A few showers developing late. Low 52F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Mostly clear skies this evening. A few showers developing late. Low 52F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
A Charleston-based company is building a hemp research and production innovation center on 85 acres just outside of Orangeburg.

BrightMa Farms expects to invest between $25 million to $30 million and create 30 new jobs. It also plans to create internship opportunities for students at South Carolina State University and eventually Claflin University.

This will be an economic engine for the state of South Carolina, said Sherman Sherm Evans, who leads BrightMa Farms strategic partnerships and vision board strategy functions.

The company broke ground on April 29 for a facility on Farnum Road, located off of Columbia Road north of Orangeburg.

The company is currently partnering with S.C. States 1890 Research and Extension to make the project a reality.

Our relationship with BrightMa Farms represents the very best in strategic partnerships, 1890 Land Grant Programs Vice President and Executive Director Dr. Louis Whitesides said.

By combining expertise and resources, we are able to push through limitations with the expectation to innovate in an emerging crop industry and grow exponentially viable opportunities for the state's small minority farmers, he said.

The 85-acre tract will include multiple units that will revolve around a state-of-the-art breeding program, Evans said. He noted it will be the only such operation in the state.

The property will include both indoor and outdoor facilities, laboratories, greenhouses and processing and breeding facilities.

The center will use genetic mapping and sequencing to develop plants for various uses, such as medical products, clothing and gas. BrightMa is partnering with Switzerland-based Puregene.

The company is also utilizing artificial intelligence technology to change certain farming practices and is making automation easier, including monitoring carbon monoxide levels and watering plants with the tap of a phone.

The innovation center is expected to be completed and built out within 18 months, but research and development will be underway before then, Evans said.

We will immediately start the breeding process and putting genetics down there in the next few months, Evans said. We will be collecting data from the genomic sequencing and machine learning.

Having the opportunity to also work with Puregene AG, a Swiss-based hemp research pioneer, through our partnership with BrightMa Farms, will unlock untapped potential that will undoubtedly propel our research in industrial hemp, Whitesides said.

Company officials said funding will come from private, government and public equity sources. Officials said they do not want to forecast how much public money may be a part of the project.

Orangeburg County Development Commission Executive Director Gregg Robinson said, We welcome ag-related projects.

Hemp is a crop that has been overlooked and has significant health advantages as well as marketability with different types of products, he said.

Currently, the company is working with Ford auto company and replacing parts within cars with hemp products and is looking to partner with other end users, noting hemp could end up replacing plastics and paper packaging.

Hemp is a very diverse crop, Evans said.

While the company is now only engaging with SCSU's 1890 Research and Extension, Evans said eventually the company looks to engage all HBCUs.

Hemp has been demonized for so many years, Evans said. We truly have not bred hemp in this country.

Evans said HBCUs are the focus because, the Black farmer has been left out of these opportunities for the scalable vertical integration in farming.

We want to make sure they are in the forefront and to give them access, Evans said, noting the project is not just exclusive to HBCU students. He said others will also be involved in the process.

Evans said the 30 new jobs will be high-tech in terms of production, milling, research and breeding.

The pay scale will be diverse, he said.

BrightMa was founded four years ago by Johns Island farmer Harold Singletary.

But the company had its origins much further back.

In 1865, a 25-year-old slave field hand named Katie Heyward, later known as Bright Ma, was freed from the Balls Buck Hall Plantation in Cordesville, S.C.

Singletary is a fifth-generation descendant of Heyward.

Singletarys entrepreneurial spirit was passed down from generation to generation through his grandparents Ned and Katie Lee Simmons Roper (Bright Mas grandchildren).

They were farmers on James Island during the Jim Crow Era who understood their trade but lacked access to higher learning opportunities.

Bright Mas granddaughter Katie left the family land to Singletary to pursue the dream of creating generational wealth for their family.

Dr. Florence Anoruo, an S.C. State plant physiologist, environmental biologist and hemp researcher, said the S.C. State 1890 programs relationship with BrightMa began because Singletary is one of the farmers who participates in the university's hemp research program.

S.C. State has a 100-acre research farm in Olar in Bamberg County where it grows different varieties of hemp and tests the hemp for its usefulness in a variety of everyday products.

Anoruo said the partnership with BrightMa Farms will enable the university to test more seedling varieties.

So many varieties come up each year, Anoruo said. This gives us a larger room to test so many varieties. We can't do breeding in own facility.

She says the university will serve as a research center on the different varieties of hemp seedlings provided to it by BrightMa in an effort to provide farmers with research-based information on what hemp varieties are best grown in South Carolina.

Anoruo said the hemp plant performs differently based on where it is grown and can be impacted by soil, temperatures and humidity levels.

She said the research will also provide growers with insight and science on how the crop can be grown at the legal THC levels. Students at the university will help do the research and participate in the data presentation to farmers.

She also said a curriculum is currently being developed on hemp education that will cover hemp production, marketing and processing. She said the curriculum could be unveiled in the fall.

BrightMa Farms, which was founded in 2018, has its corporate offices in Charleston and a grow campus in Cordesville.

Farming hemp has been legal in South Carolina for the past four years.

Both hemp and marijuana stem from the same plant species, Cannabis sativa; however, they differ in concentrations of tetrahydrocannabinol.
Good Hope AME Church in Cope hosted a Telehealth Tech Talk event in partnership with Palmetto Care Connections at the church at 1040 Carver School Road.

Last months event was held in celebration of Telehealth Awareness Week.

Community members observed a telehealth demonstration with the help of PCC staff and learned about Lifeline and Affordable Connectivity programs, PCC's digital literacy classes and how to virtually connect with their medical providers for non-emergency care with telehealth equipment located at the church.

Good Hope AME members Cassandra Cleckley and Watson Cleckley are available to help with telehealth visits at the church from 9 to 11 a.m. on Mondays. Pearline and Nathaniel Stevenson are also available to help with telehealth visits from 1 to 4 p.m. on Wednesdays.

Prizes and free groceries were provided through the churchs food bank ministry at telehealth event.
The uproar between the government and farmers in the Netherlands is a shock to the system, with implications for politics far beyond this normally placid nation.

Its a head-on collision between the environment and agriculture.

Although the theater of protesting farmers is familiar across Europe, the Dutch crisis has gotten down to first principles in a rather drastic way. To meet environmental targets  specifically the nitrogen oxide and ammonia emissions caused by cattle and pigs  the authorities want to squeeze nearly half the nations livestock farmers out of business.

Permanently.

Finance Ministry proposals for buying out farmers or expropriating their land are threatened. At least 11,200 will have to close and an additional 17,600 will have to reduce their pollution levels by half.

Provincial governments have been given a year to develop detailed local plans to slash manure-caused nitrogen-oxide levels and ammonia by half within eight years.

The fury of the agriculture communities quickly showed itself in riots, roadblocks, fires on the highways and the defiant parking of tractors outside government offices in The Hague, the countrys administrative capital. The riot police, notorious for their unmannerly ways, have been in action  and remain on standby.

Could the coalition be obliged to hold a general election?

To appease the publics anger, the government has appointed the first Minister for Nature and Nitrogen. This post is in addition to a Minister for Climate Policy, so its hard to argue that the government is not taking the issue seriously, though not everyone is prepared to give ministers the benefit of the doubt.

No farmers, no food! bullhorns blasted, the protesters convinced that agricultures rich culture and history  as well as their incomes  were being destroyed.

The media have been fizzing with the controversy for weeks; almost certainly, it could take years for an inevitable compromise to be settled.

It might be said that the Netherlands is poorly designed, geographically speaking. Much of it is below sea level. In the west, its 17 million population is among the worlds top five most densely packed.

The colossal port of Rotterdam, which serves the whole continent, is replaced in the north and east by isolated villages and the endless sands of low-lying islands.

Perhaps the only surprising thing about the clash between the demands of a thoroughly modern, high-tech state and the cultural assumptions of its history is that the conflict has been so long in coming.

This proximity is striking in the image of cattle herds and sheep grazing untroubled in the shadows of high-rise apartment blocks and the gleaming metal superstructures of industry.

Fifty years ago, one in five families lived on a farm. These days, one in 50 does. The Dutch are patient people. However, the threat of evicting farmers and forcing the acquisition of agricultural land has struck a nerve and caused rare indignation across all sectors of this clean, well-ordered place.

Farmers are our nations heroes, some politicians bellow, while a Farmers Defense Force threatens blockades by more than 500 tractors.

Despite the passing of the generation whose elders were familiar with clogs and ornate bonnets for churchgoing and social occasions, farming traditions are as strong as ever. Redundancy among holdings that have passed father to son perhaps for centuries is seen as a profound abuse of a way of life.

Inevitably farmers and their supporters are broadening the targets of indignation, as shown by the recent demonstrations in Amsterdam that protested the World Economic Forums efforts to introduce environmentally friendly policies seen as hostile by farmers.

After the United States, the Netherlands remains the second-largest exporter of food in the world (mainly vegetables and pork), a status that provides profit and pride. Reducing fertilizers is all very well, farmers say, but being thrown off their valuable land is too much.
Today The Times and Democrat brings you our annual Fall Farm Edition. Today's 16-page D section puts the focus on the farming year at harvest-time in Orangeburg, Calhoun and Bamberg counties, which in many ways can be called the breadbasket of South Carolina agriculture.

Orangeburg County always ranks at or near the top in market value of crops sold. And for their geographic size, Calhoun and Bamberg are mega producers.

What happens to agriculture is of major importance to the local economies.

In todays section, youll read reports by T&D Staff Writer Gene Zaleski, who has won numerous awards for his reporting on agribusiness.

Using official sources and interviewing farmers, Zaleski reports that in general the farming year was a good one when it comes to weather, crop production and even commodity prices. But the problems associated with COVID-19 persist, notably difficulties in getting equipment, parts and products such as fertilizer, and a shortage of farm labor.

But the biggest problem is the cost of inputs from fertilizer to diesel fuel.

Holly Hill cattle farmer Buddy Felder told Zaleski, "They were the highest fertilizer and diesel fuel prices I have ever purchased."

With the harvest of key crops such as cotton and peanuts underway, farmers are optimistic. And when it comes to the challenges, they will be as resilient as always.

We are proud to have the S.C. Department of Agriculture and S.C. Farm Bureau as sponsorship partners in todays special section. Both the governmental agency and the primary organization representing agribusiness in the state are led by T&D Region farmers, Hugh Weathers of Orangeburg County at SCDA and Harry Ott of Calhoun County at SCFB.

Commissioner Weathers, in a column today, puts the focus on farming's future in South Carolina, noting that the average age of a farmer is 57.5 years.

"We have to develop an expanded agribusiness workforce and a stronger pipeline of agriculture talent. ... I hope that by inspiring more young people to farm, and helping out the ones who are starting or taking over farms, we can ensure a strong future for the states largest industry."

To do so, the SCDA's efforts are focusing on cooperation with high schools and colleges to expand interest in agriculture and further education of the farmers of the future. And Weathers is looking for support from the General Assembly for the efforts to grow farming's future by creating an agribusiness development fund to attract new investment to the state and build on whats here now.
(TBTCO) - Cuc Du tru Lien bang My (FED) co kha nang se tiep tuc ot tang lai suat lan tiep theo trong thang 12 toi, nhung voi muc o co the nhe hon. ieu nay se lai la mot trong nhung yeu to tac ong en thi truong tai chinh va tien te trong nuoc.
This voter guide provides information on the 2022 general election, proposed constitutional amendments, judges standing for retention, local tax renewals, and candidates for office. Election laws are specific and detailed. Where you live determines whats on your ballot. Planning makes voting easier. If you have questions, go to the Secretary of States web page or call your county clerk.

Changes this year

This is the first general election after the 2020 census and redistricting. Your polling place and your precinct may have changed. Your county clerk mailed you a notice in the early summer if that happened. You can also go to the Secretary of States web page where you can find your polling place and see a sample ballot (https://sos.wyo.gov/Elections/PollPlace). A new law requires voters to show a valid I.D. to vote. Find the list of acceptable IDs: https://sos.wyo.gov/Elections/State/RegisteringToVote.aspx .

Unchanged this year

Some election laws have not changed: You are still registered if you voted in the 2020 General Election. If you moved, changed your name, wish to change your party affiliation or didnt vote in 2020, you will need to reregister. If your address is incomplete, reregister. You will have to fill out a form, show your ID, and have the registration notarized. Plan on that taking some time on Election Day or reregister before Election Dayyou could vote early at the same time.

Military and overseas citizens

Here is information specifically for members of the military and citizen overseas: https://sos.wyo.gov/Elections/MOVE_Overview.aspx You know how fast the mail is between your home county and your deployment.

Plan how to vote

Your county website has sample ballots by precinct on them. Access varies by county. You may key in your address or put in your precinct. You can look at the races, measures, and judges up for retention, if any, and have time to think about who and how you wish to vote. That speeds up your voting on the day.

Planning when youll vote makes voting less stressful. You have several options:

People can register by mail by downloading the form, providing a copy of the required identification, and having the application notarized.

You can vote absentee by downloading and filling out the ballot request form from the Secretary of States website or calling your clerks office.

People can register and vote in person at the same time both before and on General Election Day.

Plan when to vote

You can vote early at your election office or wait until Nov. 8 and vote when the polls are open: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Some counties will have vote centers; others have polling places. Again use the Secretary of States webpage, call your clerk, or refer to Vote411, LWVs web site.

Ask your boss about having time to vote. Depending on the time of day, there may be a line  7 a.m., 12 noon, 1 p.m., 5 p.m., 7 p.m. can be crowded times. Can you leave work in the middle of the morning or afternoon? Come in late or leave early? If youre in line at 7 p.m., you can vote.

If you have mobility, dexterity, or sight problems, there are special voting machines for you. Handicapped parking is available outside polling places and the courthouse if you vote early. Curbside voting is also possible. Call your clerks office and plan what you want to do. A friend or family member may accompany you if you want assistance. Two judges of alternate parties can help you. Your employer or union representative cannot.

Write-ins

You can write in a persons name on a blank underneath the office. Print legibly and spell the name correctly. Be sure to fill in the oval next to that name. You can see a write-ins report after the election.

Election workers, poll watchers

Members of the community volunteer to serve as election judges. They are appointed and trained election officials. Their pay is minimal, their day is long. Both political parties may identify poll watchers who observe during the day and report back. They are not election officials and have no authority.

Last reminders

Remember your ID. Black pens will be provided if necessary. Fill in the oval completely by your candidates names. This guide helps you decide who youll vote for. Use a sample ballot or make notes as you read and take the notes with you to vote. Plan on voting taking longer than you hope. Enjoy seeing your neighbors.

The surveys

The Wyoming League of Women Voter s surveyed 137 candidate for six state-wide offices and 78 legislative offices. The Casper League surveyed 77 candidates for 20 offices. Their responses follow. LWV does not confirm the accuracy of candidates answers. The League uses Vote411 software to survey candidates, track responses, and provide information to voters. Go to Vote411.org and type in your address. You dont need to select your party for the general. You will get a list of the offices and candidates in your precinct, local and state-wide measures, and judges up for retention. You can compare two candidates side by side.

League members volunteered to write the questions, wanting to cover a variety of issues, giving the same opportunities to all candidates at no cost to them, and showing no favoritism. All candidates for an office received the same questions; all candidates were asked about their qualifications for office. There was a limit of 750 spaces for each question. Each office begins with brief information about term of office, salary, and qualifications if any.

The first surveys were emailed based on information from the Secretary of States or Natrona County Clerks list of filed candidates. They received background information, a list of questions, and a unique link, so they could input additional contact information, answer the questions online, and post a photograph. Candidates could also reply to an email if they wanted to avoid the online option. Candidates who did not supply an email address were not surveyed. The deadline for response for the printed guide was 5 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 20. Late responses will be available on Vote411.org, but not in the paper.

Candidates give up their privacy and free time. They are inundated with demands, invitations, and surveys. They have to attend meetings, speak in public, travel. Campaigning can be expensive and exhausting. Winning is not guaranteed. Compensation may not equal the time, energy, and hope invested. Yet these people seek your vote and want to serve. This is democracy in action. Thank you to all the candidates who put their names forward and stepped up to represent us in a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

About the League of Women Voters: The LWV is a nonpartisan grassroots organization with the mission of empowering voters and defending democracy. The League does not support candidates or political parties. It does take positions on issues after study and discussion, but does not survey candidates based on its positions. It is organized and active at national, state, and local levels. Educating voters is a primary goal. In addition to this guide, you will find videos of forums on League Facebook pages, YouTube channels, and Vote411. Local Leagues in Casper, Cheyenne, and Laramie surveyed local candidates and results are on Vote411. Fremont County did a separate survey which will be mailed to all county residents.

Suffragists founded the LWV just before the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920, so that women could be informed as they exercised their right to vote. League membership is open to all people age 16 and up. Further information is available at wyominglwv.org and lwv.org.
GILLETTE  Jonathan Monney was snorkeling in the clear waters of Hawaii, enjoying time spent with his new wife Diana.

After a couple of minutes underwater, a current took him farther outside of the reef and he had to make a long swim back to the shore.

I swam a lot to go back and then I see, I lost my ring, he said. I said, Oh, this is so bad.

The Swiss couple was in the midst of a three-week honeymoon after being married in July only a short time before.

At the moment, I was disappointed and for one hour we tried to find it underwater, Monney said. It was so hard trying to find it and it was not fun but life goes on.

In a stroke of luck, Monney put pictures of the missing ring on a Hawaii lost and found Facebook page.

I know Facebook can do some miracles, he said. I was confident that maybe one day someone would find it.

But what Monney wasnt expecting was the ring being found so soon, or ending up in, of all places, Gillette, Wyoming.

About two weeks ago, Randie Marshall, co-owner of CR Diamonds & Gems off Boxelder Road, came across a unique situation.

It began when a man who had vacationed with his family in Hawaii walked through the doors of the jewelry store.

He walked in and said his family found this ring between two lava rocks by a coral reef, she said. Hed tried to return it in Hawaii but they said essentially, finders keepers.

After coming back to Gillette, the family decided to bring what the children called pirate treasure into a jewelry store to see if other resources could be used to find the owners. But if the owners couldnt be found, the man would sell the ring as scrap jewelry.

In other circumstances, Marshall said reuniting a golden band with an owner would be next to impossible.

It would be like finding a needle in a haystack, she said.

But thankfully for Monney, his ring was unique.

The golden band was engraved with his and his wifes names along with the date they were married, 09.07.2022. In Europe, dates read the day of the month, the month then the year, meaning the wedding date was July 9.

Marshall soon put her contacts in the jewelry world to work. She made a post on a Facebook page that includes 26,000 members in the jewelry community from across the world.

One of those members happened to live in Hawaii and also was a member on the lost and found page Monney had posted in, while on his honeymoon.

She reached out and said, Hey, I think this has to be your guy, Marshall said.

Sure enough, all of the details checked out  the names, the wedding date and the golden band.

The woman in Hawaii shared Monneys contact information and Marshall reached out that day. In total, less than 24 hours had passed since shed been told about the missing ring.

I was a bit surprised that it was found so soon, Monney said. In two months, someone found it. Now its a very nice story and a bit funny and Im so happy that Randie took my contact. She was very fair to find the person who lost the ring.

Without her, Monney said he may never have seen his ring again.

Marshall said that the credit goes to the man who brought the ring in but also the helpful jeweler community that looks out for anything and everything on the Facebook page.

Some people think the jeweler community would be really competitive, but we really look out for each other, she said. I knew that if anyone could find where the ring went it would be that group.

Her husband Chris also took the time to shine the ring that had incurred some scrapes and bruises from its lengthy stay on the beach and its battle against the coral reef. When it reaches the Monneys, it will look like new once again.

Swiss customs messaged me asking why I was returning an item, Marshall said. That was kind of different.

She and Chris worked together to make sure all of the paperwork was in order to send the ring back overseas, which wasnt as easy as it sounds. As one can imagine, addresses in Europe look much different than they do in the United States and UPS doesnt normally have to ship things from Gillette to Switzerland.

The shipping label Monney sent over also had to be translated into English, since there are three common languages in Switzerland  German, French and Italian. And just as it was unique for the Marshalls to ship something to Switzerland, Monney could not believe the ring found its way to Wyoming.

I was surprised. We have never been to Wyoming, he said. All we knew was that it was near Canada.

This was definitely a unique experience, Randie said. Im just glad we were able to find him.

Chris chalked up the journey as another of the happy moments they get to experience in the jewelry business.

We get to experience a lot of the happy memories, he said. Its the marriages and anniversaries. Obviously the ring isnt the most important thing, its more that they were married and are happy, but finding the ring doesnt hurt.

The ring has yet to make it to the Monneys front door, but both Randie and Monney know it has made it past customs and into the country.

In its few months of life, the ring will have traveled more than 15,000 miles  more than 7,000 each way from Hawaii to its hometown about 20 miles from Bern, Switzerland.

And its definitely taken the route less traveled to get there.

In the next week, it will end up in the very same place it began its journey, dropped off on a doorstep where its arrival is eagerly anticipated. For everyone involved, the journey steeped in incredulity, hope and a little bit of luck turned into a happily ever after, after all.
After Rep. Liz Cheney and Trump-backed candidate Harriet Hagemans battle over Wyomings lone house seat in the primaries, the general elections promise to be quieter.

The primaries, which drew a record number of voters and an unprecedented amount of national attention, have essentially decided many of Wyomings political contests. There arent really any headline races for November.

Dr. Jim King, a University of Wyoming political science professor, said he expects turnout for the general election to still be bigger than turnout for the primaries, as it typically is. But he predicts that it will be smaller compared to general elections in recent years.

While there are a number of key races that are already pretty much decided, others, like school board elections, which didnt go through the primaries, are still up in the air. Some of the dynamics of the run-up to the general election are also highlighting the fractures within the Wyoming Republican Party.

Poised for victory

A number of key races in Wyoming  even the ones that are still contested  were already essentially decided in the primaries. Thats pretty normal in Wyoming, where Republicans usually dominate races or go unchallenged in the general elections.

Hageman defeated Cheney by roughly 40 percentage points in the primaries for Wyomings lone House seat. Shes backed off from the campaign trail a bit since then, most notably turning down an invitation to join a televised October debate against the three other House candidates. Moderators at the event kicked off the debate by asking candidates about their thoughts on Hagemans absence. Democratic nominee Lynnette Grey Bull and Constitution Party candidate Marissa Joy Selvig called her absence a disservice to Wyoming. Grey Bull said that Wyoming doesnt need a coward, but rather people who are able to stand up to anybody and anyone.

A group of Wyoming lawyers has also sent a couple letters to Hageman denouncing her claim at a Casper forum in August that the 2020 presidential election was rigged to make sure that President Trump could not get reelected. The lawyers asked Hageman to distance herself from 2020 election deniers and refrain from making similar public statements in the future. (Hagemans statement at the Casper forum has been her clearest public stance on election integrity.)

These denouncements, however, are unlikely to make much of a dent on her prospects for taking Wyomings lone House seat come November. More than 113,000 people voted for Hageman in the primaries. By comparison, 4,507 people cast their vote for Grey Bull, the Democratic nominee. (That disparity was inflated, however, by the high number of Democrats who crossed over to vote for Cheney due to her opposition to Trump.) As minor-party candidates, Selvig, the Constitution Party candidate, and Libertarian Richard Brubaker werent even on the primary ballot. On top of that, Wyoming hasnt elected a non-Republican representative for U.S. Congress since Democrat Teno Roncalio ended his House term in 1978. To put it simply, many already see Hageman as Wyomings next U.S. representative.

To a less dramatic extent, the same could be said of incumbent Gov. Mark Gordon, who will face two other candidates  a Democrat and a Libertarian  in the general election that will decide who will be Wyomings governor for the next four years.

Gordon easily took the Republican nomination in the primary race, beating out the second-place contender Brent Bien by roughly 30 percentage points, or 50,000 votes. Theres a concerted effort to get Bien back in the race as a write-in candidate. But its exceedingly rare for write-in campaigns to be successful, and voters tend to stick with incumbents. (That being said, a number of incumbents were kicked out of their posts in the primaries this year.)

Like the House race, there was a pretty big difference in the number of voters in the primaries who went for Gordon (101,140) compared to the number who went for Democratic nominee Theresa Livingston (4,993). Libertarian Jared Baldes wasnt on the primary ballot because hes a minor-party candidate.

Megan Degenfelder, the Republican nominee for state superintendent of public instruction, is also expected to glide to victory in November. Given how many people cast their votes for the two most hard-right candidates in the Republican primary race  Trump-backed candidate and incumbent Brian Schroeder and Schroeder ally Thomas Kelly, who collectively garnered more votes than Degenfelder  its unlikely any substantial number of them will swing over to Democratic nominee Sergio Maldonados camp in the general election.

There isnt too much to report on the secretary of state race since theres only one candidate on the general election ballot: Trump-backed Republican nominee Chuck Gray, whos currently the representative for House District 57.

Although the secretary of state fulfills a wide array of duties, Gray focused his primary campaign on election integrity. Hes called the 2020 presidential election fraudulent and advocates for banning ballot drop boxes, citing concerns about their security.

The Secretary of States Office will change quite a bit once the elected takes up the post in January. Three employees there  former Communications and Policy Director Monique Meese, Election Division Director Kai Schon and Deputy Secretary of State Karen Wheeler  have left or said they are planning to leave after the November elections. Wheeler said shes intentionally leaving Meeses position open for the new secretary of state to fill. The new secretary of state will also get to fill Schon and Wheelers positions.

Independent and write-in candidates

Different factions of the Wyoming Republican Party have gone in different directions when it comes to encouraging or quashing the prospects of independent and write-in candidates challenging Republican nominees.

At a September GOP State Central Committee meeting in Riverton, the panel voted in favor of no longer recognizing Republicans who run for political office as independents or under any other party. The committee didnt make any move to do something similar for write-ins, although Park County Committeeman Vince Vinata warned members of local efforts to oust more conservative Republican nominees with write-in candidates.

The situation around some of these independent and write-in candidates points to internal fractures within Wyomings Republican Party.

Take Patricia Junek as an example. Shes an independent candidate running for Senate District 23 against Speaker of the House and Republican nominee Rep. Eric Barlow. Even though Juneks on the November ballot as an independent, shes been, in her own words, a lifelong Republican. She actually ran a write-in campaign against Barlow during the primaries and decided only last minute to get on the November ballot as an independent after learning she wouldnt have to change her Republican party registration to do so. The GOP State Central Committees decision to no longer recognize candidates like her as Republicans was something Junek said was hard for her not to take personally.

Jeff Martin, another independent candidate and political newcomer who identifies as a staunch Republican, got on the November ballot to run against Republican nominee and incumbent Rep. Lloyd Larsen in House District 54. Like many people who are dissatisfied with the Republican nominees that came out of the primaries this year, Martin blames Larsens nomination on crossover voting. He told the Star-Tribune that the practice is shenanigans that needs to stop. He wasnt too bothered by the GOP State Central Committees decision to no longer recognize him as a Republican.

Theres also a Converse County GOP committeeman  Bruce Jones  running as an independent in House District 6 against Democratic nominee Hank Szramkowski and Republican nominee Tomi Strock. (He decided to jump into the race after the incumbent, Rep. Aaron Clausen, whom Jones supported, lost in the primaries.) Todd Petersen, the independent candidate in House District 5, also decided to run after the incumbent, Rep. Shelly Duncan, lost in the primaries to Scott Smith.

There are some independent candidates who are really just that  independents, people who dont really feel allegiance to any party. Those candidates would be Dan Brecht, running against incumbent Rep. Jeremy Haroldson in House District 4, and Brenda Lyttle, running against former lawmaker Dave Zwonitzer in House District 8.

House District 22, which is currently represented by Rep. Jim Roscoe, the lone independent in the Legislature, will also have independent candidate Bob Strobel on the November ballot. (Roscoe decided not to run again this year.)

Write-in candidates have also brought up some quandaries for the Wyoming Republican Party.

After learning earlier this month of a write-in effort to oust Republican nominee Sen. Ogden Driskill in Senate District 1, the Campbell County GOP sent out an email statement expressing frustration at Republican candidates re-inventing themselves to run again in the general election.

The write-in candidate, Roger Connett, told the Star-Tribune that he isnt directly involved in the campaign but has allowed the Roger is Right campaign organizers to use his name.

The Campbell County GOP decided to give two Republican nominees  Barlow and Rep. Christopher Knapp  money for their general election bids. Driskill, however, has run into trouble getting the Crook County GOP to do the same for him.

On the other side of the spectrum, theres the very unusual case of the Uinta County GOP endorsing write-in candidate Joe Webb for the general election over its own party nominee in House District 19.

Even though its unusual, the move makes some sense given the circumstances. Uinta County GOP leadership isnt exactly in the friendliest of relationships with House District 19 Republican nominee Jon Conrad, who decided to bring a lawsuit against the county party along with other plaintiffs for what they said were illegal practices in the county partys voting procedures. The lawsuit was dismissed in district court, but Conrad appealed the decision to the Wyoming Supreme Court in August.

In addition to independent and write-in candidates, there are seven Libertarian and three Constitution Party candidates running for seats in the Legislature. There arent any Constitution Party candidates in the Legislature right now. Theres one Libertarian  Green Rivers Rep. Marshall Burt.

School board elections

Theres a lot of attention on school board elections this year amid the controversy around school library books and some community members fears that kids are being sexualized in public schools.

With 15 candidates vying for four open seats, Natrona Countys school board race has a pretty crowded field this year. Two of those candidates  Debbie McCullar and Kianna Smith  are current school board members.

The candidates come with a slew of different priorities. Some of them  Lisa Taylor, Michael Stedillie and McCullar, to name a few  want to focus on better supporting educators and giving support to kids as a whole, rather than strictly sticking to academics. Smith wants to keep up the districts school choice options. Arthur Youngkin and Joseph Porambo said they would prioritize expanding trade education and giving more options for kids who are better at working with their hands. Ryan Landmann wants to maintain the quality of education in the district. Kevin Christopherson would push for focusing on kids at risk.

Theres also a lot of attention on library books and curricula some think are tied to gender ideology or critical race theory (the latter of which isnt taught in Wyoming schools). Politicians have weighed in on these topics. House District 57 Republican nominee Jeanette Ward, for example, endorsed a slate of school board candidates  Mary Schmidt, Jenifer Hopkins and Renea Redding  who want more parental control in public schools and have pushed to ban certain books from school libraries because of their depictions of sexuality.

The attention around school board races this year parallels other typically non-political and sleepy races that have garnered more eyes this election cycle. For example, its pretty out-of-the-ordinary for a former president to endorse a state superintendent candidate, as Trump endorsed Interim State Superintendent of Public Instruction Brian Schroeder in the primaries. (Schroeder ended up losing to Degenfelder.)

1-cent tax

Sixteen times, the voters of Natrona County have decided to tax themselves by a penny in order to pay for a variety of municipal services, from roads and sewers to police and parks. In a state with little appetite for taxes, the 1-cent has so far proven popular and resilient.

But the states recent turn farther to the right has municipal leaders wondering whether the 1-cent tax will be extended on Nov. 8 for a 17th time.

I think we all have a concern that based on what has happened in the election, what could happen to the 1-cent? Paul Bertoglio, chair of the Natrona County commission, told the Star-Tribune after the August primary.

Wyoming has a 4% sales tax. But counties have the ability to ask voters to adopt an additional 1%, which theyve done in Natrona County since 1974. According to an analysis performed by the city, the tax costs the average Natrona County family about $170 annually.

Proponents of the tax say it funds critical services and infrastructure while boosting the communitys quality of life by supporting recreation and nonprofits. Its main opposition has in the past come from anti-tax advocates or those who are wary of trusting local leaders to make sound fiscal decisions.

The tax enjoyed 75% support when it was last on the ballot in 2018. A survey in April found 62% of residents were very likely to back it again.
SHERIDAN  When Shan Foster helped start the Stray to Service program in Sheridan County a few years ago, the operation had two primary goals  to train dogs in a way that makes them more adoptable and to serve veterans by providing service and support animals.

Those who have benefited from the program are now seeking to repay the favor.

Morgan Shepardson is one individual who has received a Stray to Service dog trained by Foster. She moved to Sheridan about three years ago with her husband and daughter. While she isnt a veteran herself, her husband served in the military and was deployed.

Shepardson struggles with mental health issues, but long hated the way her medications made her feel as though she was in a fog. She had considered a service animal in the past, but cost prohibited her actually getting one. After moving to Sheridan, she was connected with the Stray to Service program.

They hooked me up with Annie and honestly shes been  mentally  the best thing thats ever happened, Shepardson said of her service dog.

Two and a half years after connecting with Annie, Shepardson is off all of her medications and doing great.

In an effort to repay the kindness shown to her, Shepardson has launched a fundraiser to support the Stray to Service program Foster still runs as well as the Sheridan Dog and Cat Shelter.

Shepardson is a local artist and she has created calendars highlighting the Dogs of Luminous Brewhouse.

The calendar features digitally drawn portraits of dogs that frequent the local brewery. The launch party for the calendar will take place Dec. 11 from 3-6 p.m. The event will include music, beer and likely a food truck or two alongside a silent auction and other opportunities to donate to the cause.

Training service dogs isnt always easy and good trainers put a lot of time and energy into training the dogs for specific tasks, whether its teaching them to track lost individuals, assist with mobility issues or alert an owner to a medical emergency.

Trainers also learn a lot of what they know by working with different breeds and many dogs.

For example, after earning a Master Canine Trainer Certification from the National K-9 Learning Center in Ohio and certifying a dual-purpose explosives detection and patrol dog with the Department of Defense, Foster deployed to Iraq as a private contractor to train and handle working canines.

He retired from a California police force as a K-9 officer and sheriff, during which time he also worked with a shelter to service organization.

With that acquired knowledge, Foster has said he has certain breeds and certain sizes that he looks for in service animals.

For example, breeds commonly thought of as intimidating usually arent ideal for service work. If that dog must be in a public setting with a lot of people, it can cause members of the public around it to become nervous.

Dogs also cannot be too big or too small. Ideally, they have calm temperaments and a willingness to learn, Foster said in 2020.

It does present a challenge, Foster said. You need a certain friendly look.

Foster acknowledged that all dogs, but especially shelter dogs, have idiosyncrasies. As long as they are willing to do the work, Foster said, they can usually be trained.

Shepardson said her dog, Annie, had to learn to ignore other dogs while out in public and working, know how to get into tight spaces and generally keep herself between Shepardson and other people.

Her biggest job is to make sure that people dont get too close to me, Shepardson said. Shes at the point now where she can tell  weve been together long enough  that if Im on the verge of needing help, shell start pulling and yanking me away from a situation. Shes smarter than I am.

Shepardson credited Foster with being patient and kind in training not only Annie, but Shepardson as well. She added that she remains in touch with Foster and will occasionally ask questions or share stories of her and Annies success.

They are just really wonderful people in the Stray to Service program, Shan has been amazing, Shepardson said. I dont think I can thank them enough.  My dog has saved my life in more ways than one.
CHEYENNE  This years strange elections, to be wrapped up soon, are unusual in the number of independent candidates running for state offices-Libertarians and the like.

It may also be one with the most write-in candidates  people who are running on their names with no stated political party alliance.

This trend could signify considerable voter dissatisfaction with the entrenched major political parties.

Wyomings law on write-in candidates is pretty loose.

The state is one of eight that have no requirements for write-in candidates.

The other seven states are Alabama, Delaware, Iowa, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon and Vermont.

Thirty-three states require that write-in candidates be registered to have their votes counted.

Nine states dont allow write-in votes at all, including neighbor South Dakota, according to internet source Ballotpedia.

In this state write-in candidates keep running and running.

More than 10,000 write-in votes were cast in this years primary election, said Laramie County Clerk Deborah Lee.

In all the counties the ballot must be configured to make room for the write-in votes, an addition that election machine vendors found surprising, being unused to Wyoming law.

This year we have couple of candidates who lost their party primary and who now have gone on to compete in the general election via the write-in campaign route.

In Senate District 1 in northeast Wyoming, incumbent Republican Sen. Ogden Driskill of Devils Tower won the primary election over two challengers, state Rep. Bill Fortner and Roger Connett.

Since then a write-in campaign on behalf of Connett has taken root in an effort to unseat Driskill, the Senate Majority leader most likely to be the next Senate President.

For some reason  probably a vote  Driskill is disfavored by the Republican hard right hierarchy and it does not support him.

In Cheyenne House District 44, state Rep. John Romero-Martinez, who lost the GOP primary to challenger Tamara Trujillo, his cousin, said he was considering another run for his seat again in the general election as a write-in candidate.

During the last legislative session Romero-Martinez was accused by a fellow woman legislator of threatening her and another former woman legislator from his district. Nothing came of the accusations.

Romero-Martinez did not respond to an e-mail asking whether he intended to proceed with the write-in plan.

The odds of success for write-ins are not good. In fact they are very, very bad.

Nevertheless I think it is unfair for candidates to seek a primary nomination of one political party, lose, and then run again the general election as a write-in candidate.

To borrow the lawyers phrase, they are getting two bites out of the apple.

Yet its legal.

Article 6, Section 11 of the Wyoming Constitution guarantees a voters right to write in the name of any individual for public office. As such, a candidate who is unsuccessful in a Primary Election may still be elected at a General Election if they receive enough write-in votes to be the outright winner, said an e-mail from Kodi Gerhold, reduction and outreach coordinator with the secretary of states office.

In regards to counting write-in votes, Section 2(b) of the Secretary of States Election Procedures Rules prescribes that, The Canvassing Board shall have sole discretion over what write-in names should be grouped and counted. she added.

The county clerks are the first ones who have the job of deciphering the written names which can have huge variations in spelling.

Then there are the whimsical entries  Donald Duck is a perennial favorite; Micky Mouse is another.

I doubt that many people paid much attention to write-in candidates. until the 2010 election That was when Dr. Taylor Haynes came along. A former Democrat turned tea party supporter he ran for governor in 2010. Surprisingly he racked up 14,000 votes, far too few to make much of a dent in the total, but unusual.

Mead won the election and went on to serve two terms as governor.

Haynes, a retired urologist, became the darling of the far right wing of the Republican Party for awhile.

At least Wyoming law does not allow the loser of a political party primary to run again in the general election under the same party label.

That would be two very deep bites of the apple.
Our aquifers, rivers and freshwater resources in Wyoming and the arid West are rapidly shrinking to the point where they may soon be more valuable than gold. Unfortunately, our Wyoming regulators and policymakers are treating our unpolluted streams, reservoirs and groundwater aquifers like they are expendable. For example, Wyoming regulators have approved permits that allow polluted oil and gas-produced water in the central Wyoming Moneta Divide field to be discharged untreated into freshwater streams and aquifers.

The Moneta Divide oil and gas field produces enormous quantities of polluted water as a byproduct of the natural gas extraction process. Although the oil and gas operator, Aethon, has the option of treating the produced water and discharging or reusing it, the industry is able to forego the cost of treatment because our Wyoming regulators allow them to discharge their untreated polluted water directly into our streams and aquifers.

In the Moneta Divide field, the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is currently allowing Aethon to discharge produced wastewater into streams that flow into Boysen Reservoir. Recently, Aethon and the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (WOGCC) have moved forward with actions to exempt the freshwater Madison Aquifer from protection as a groundwater resource to allow Aethon to dump their polluted wastewater into this valuable aquifer.

The Madison Aquifer is a critically important freshwater aquifer for both current and future water supplies. According to hydrogeologists, this aquifer is among the most prolific and reliable aquifers in the state of Wyoming.

The Paleozoic Aquifer System, which includes the Madison Aquifer, currently supplies reliable, good quality groundwater to the cities of Gillette, Newcastle, Laramie, Pine Haven, Vista West, Beulah, Moorcroft, Dayton, Lander, Laramie, Douglas and Glenrock, as well as most of the towns in the southeastern Bighorn Basin. In addition to serving as a sole source of groundwater for many Wyoming municipalities, the Madison Aquifer also supplies large quantities of groundwater to many ranching operations in the Bighorn Basin, Powder River Basin, and the Black Hills of eastern Wyoming.

The WOGCC recently forwarded their approval of Aethons request to exempt the Madison Aquifer from protection as a groundwater resource to Region 8 EPA, where the permit request is pending. If EPA agrees with the Wyoming regulators they will allow Aethon to dump trillions of gallons of toxic wastewater per year into this freshwater aquifer.

Water quality and yield data obtained to date from the proposed disposal well location indicate that the water quality in the Madison Aquifer is very good at this location and the aquifer is capable of yielding hundreds of gallons per minute. If the initial yields are sustainable, wise water resource management policy would preserve this aquifer as a future water supply. According to the WOGCC, there are no plans for monitoring potential impacts from the injected fluids on the Madison Aquifer. The permit would rely solely on the results of a groundwater model that was developed using little to no site-specific data.

With climate change and droughts becoming increasingly common in the western US, it is reasonable to assume that there will be a strong future demand for this water by towns, cities and agriculture in the region. Using the aquifer for disposal of millions of gallons of waste fluid is not wise water resource management policy.

While scientists and citizen conservation groups continue to fight to stop toxic wastewater from polluting our streams and aquifers, industry continues to seek and get permits from the DEQ and the WOGCC to dump their polluted wastewater into our freshwater streams and aquifers. Unfortunately, Wyoming regulators and politicians rarely say NO to the oil and gas industry  and only when citizens protest and present valid reasons to protect our freshwater resources.

Now is the time to protect all of our freshwater resources for current and future generations. It is time for industry to start paying their way and not relying on taxpayers to pay the ultimate cost of cleanup and/or loss of Wyomings valuable water resources. Get engaged and talk to your local, state and federal policymakers and tell them to protect our freshwater resources.
AN 89-year-old woman was found dead in Tunapuna yesterday morning after a fire at her home.

The deceased has been identified as Zubida Mohammed of Prescott Lane in Tunapuna.

Residents of the area told the Express that around 8.45 a.m. they heard a loud explosion, and then observed flames coming from one of the rooms of the bottom floor of the two-storey home.
There could be no doubt that the post-pandemic situation is fraught with many problems ranging from concerns for health, education, economy and personal situations.

Among these that may be prioritised according to our individual cares come the national concerns. Even then debate will range over which should be our priorities.

My view is that the greatest and most enduring problem will be our loss of effective teaching-learning time over well nigh two years.
The Tucson City Council has agreed to delay two of its road improvement projects built into the Regional Transportation Authoritys 20-year transit improvement plan amid a funding shortfall that has left 11 city projects without clear paths for completion.

Voters passed a half-cent sales tax in 2006 to fund $1.9 billion worth of infrastructure projects across Pima County. The RTA is now estimating its about $150 million short of being able to complete the projects it promised voters.

Only projects within Tucson are yet to be fully funded, and the onus is on the city to come up with about $150 million worth of projects to delay or fund itself without the regional dollars built into the transportation package.

Despite misgivings the city has expressed with the RTA, the City Council voted unanimously Oct. 18 to delay two road improvement projects: Houghton Road from Broadway to Tanque Verde Road and 22nd Street from I-10 to Kino Parkway.

The motion, proposed by Councilman Steve Kozachik, comes with the contingency the RTA Board ensures the citys remaining projects are completed with any regionally allocated funding the RTA receives through 2026, or as long as necessary to complete those projects.

The RTAs governing board  comprised of nine members representing Tucson, Pima County, tribal nations, the Arizona Department of Transportation and other local jurisdictions  have already moved two projects to RTA Next, the next 20-year-transportation plan that could be on the ballot as early as 2024.

The current consideration is to move the two city projects into the yet-to-be voter-approved plan along with North Silverbell Road from Grant to Ina roads and North First Avenue from Orange Grove to Ina roads, which the RTA board has already voted to delay.

At the boards next meeting on Nov. 3, RTA board members are expected to take a vote on moving the two city projects into the next RTA.

One of the things that we have to make sure we find answers for and find a strategy and a path forward are delivering the projects that were promised to voters back in 2006. (Delaying two projects) was a huge step on behalf of our jurisdiction, said Mayor Regina Romero, who represents the city on the RTA board.

Houghton, 22nd St. projects delayed

As of the latest funding analysis the RTA released in September, the total funding shortfall is somewhere between $130 million to $170 million based on projected sales tax revenues, state and federal funding. The RTAs using the $150 million figure for planning purposes.

City Manager Michael Ortega recommended five of Tucsons RTA projects for potential delay to alleviate the RTAs funding gap. According to Ortega, his recommendations were based on the scope of each project and priorities expressed by the City Council and their constituents. The two delayed projects total about $133 million worth of savings for the RTA and have the potential for scope changes going into RTA Next based on changing public infrastructure needs.

The Houghton Road project runs into unincorporated county land in Tanque Verde. The original RTA ballot language said the road corridor would be widened to a four- and six-lane desert parkway with new bridges, sidewalks and bike lanes.

According to the city, North Houghton Road has no apparent major congestion issues or pressing safety challenges. Tucsons exploring alternatives to reduce the projects scope, but changes require further outreach and analysis. The project has a current estimated cost of $55.3 million.

The project is in Councilman Paul Cunninghams Ward 2. He said he is working with constituents and there is an opportunity to make that project better if RTA Next is passed.

The second delayed project on 22nd Street from I-10 to Kino Parkway has a $78.3 million price tag to widen the corridor to a six-lane arterial. The stretch of road experiences high traffic congestion and is classified within the Pedestrian High-Injury Network, which comprises certain roads the city has identified as the most dangerous for pedestrians based on fatality and injury data.

According to Ortega, the project needs more public outreach on the impact it would have on the surrounding urban area, including neighborhoods and Santa Rita Park. The project is in Councilman Richard Fimbres Ward 5, and he has agreed the project needs more input from stakeholders.

Farhad Moghimi, the executive director of the RTA, said delaying the two projects really helps with the remaining four years to be able to identify that if those revenues don't come in as healthy as we hoped them to come in, then we have this option to move projects to the next plan and let the voters decide.

But the City Council has made clear it expects the delayed projects to be put at the front of the list in RTA Next and that they dont count against Tucsons next allotment of infrastructure improvements.

Moghimi said its very feasible to place the citys projects into the first period of RTA Next. However, each member jurisdiction of the RTA isnt allotted a certain amount of projects or funding when the new plan is developed, he said.

Instead, it's more driven on the need and the priorities for those projects, Moghimi said.

If RTA Next doesnt pass, Moghimi said, the RTA will have to use regional, state and federal funds to complete the projects promised to voters in the current RTA.

The City Council made sure to not tie the two delayed projects to RTA Next and said all remaining regional funding the RTA receives up to and past the expiration of the sales tax in 2026 should go toward completing Tucsons projects.

East-side projects

The bulk of the citys remaining projects are on Tucson's east side, causing frustration for the City Council members representing the citys eastern wards. But the projects locations have also given council members more say in which projects theyre willing to delay.

These projects have been a long time coming because folks voted on these in 2006 and they've really been looking forward to seeing this work completed, Ward 4 City Councilwoman Nikki Lee said. The risk of that not getting done is kind of sending shockwaves through the east side out here.

Lee has advocated for certain projects to remain in the current RTA based on feedback from constituents, including building a bridge over the Pantano Wash on Harrison Road, which experiences frequent flooding.

The project was one of the five Ortega put forth for possible delay. Another suggestion to rescope the project included delaying building the bridge and repackaging the project as a single four-lane road widening project in the new RTA.

Lee said after talking to constituents, There was not a single person that thought that we should take that risk.

Everyone wants to see the work get done. It was very clear that there's some uncertainty on the potential of a future RTA, and we need to do everything we can to get these projects delivered for the folks who are depending on that, she said.

RTA Next

The citys agreement to delay two of its projects isnt the first concession it has made with the RTA. At the beginning of the year, Tucson vowed to leave the RTA by Feb. 1 unless the city  which represents more than half of the RTAs tax base  had more of a say in the boards decision-making process, and changes were made to address a massive funding gap for the citys unfinished projects.

The city agreed to a compromise to increase city-designated members on some key RTA committees and come up with a plan to complete Tucsons remaining RTA projects. While Tucson didnt get its demand for a weighted voting mechanism where board members representing more of the regions population would have more say on key decisions, the city decided to stay at the table.

Kozachik said he was reluctant to propose the motion to delay two city projects over increasing concern about the RTAs ability to deliver the projects it promised to voters.

The RTA "is saying if we can't fund your current RTA projects, we'll push it to the front of the line next time around. That's still money that's coming out of the half-cent sales tax they're going to be asking people to support, he said. So it will come off the bottom or off the top of the money that they have left to spend.

As it currently stands, the council member doesnt support an RTA Next.

We are setting other mayors and councils up 15 years from now to have this exact same conversation. They're going to run out of money, Kozachik said.

Romero said shes content with the steps that have been taken but that it's also her priority to ensure there's a good return on investment of Tucsonans' tax dollars.

I have to be very clear that I highly value the idea of bringing together different jurisdictions and having a regional strategy for transportation and infrastructure investment, she said. I think it's a good idea, I think it is very strong when the region's jurisdictions come together, and we have a unified approach.

Other council members have expressed support for the next RTA despite the funding shortfalls that have put the citys projects into question. Cunningham said he sees the value in the regional approach to infrastructure but would support bringing back the idea of weighted voting.

Any initiatives that don't meet every single one of its deliverables, you're gonna have concerns about, Cunningham said. But let's look at the overall body of work and what we got.  If we're gonna sit around and point fingers right now, it's a little too late for that.

As part of the motion the City Council passed to approve the two projects delay, council members also asked for a 360 review of Moghimi, which is a thorough inspection of an employees performance partially based on feedback from colleagues, and in Moghimis case, the constituency of the regional projects he oversees.

The executive director said the council has no authority to call for a review of the leader of a separate government entity, and the RTA Board would have to approve a 360 review for it to be conducted.
SCOTTSDALE  Sonoran desert tortoises are built for the desert. With their short legs and tough shell, they slowly but skillfully traverse Arizonas rocky terrain and, like goats, can get to places humans cannot. And in our increasingly dry and hot climate, they just might have lessons about survival.

If theres anything thats built for long-term drought, its the Sonoran desert tortoise, Chad Rubke with the Arizona Game & Fish Department said. These guys are like little tanks of the Sonoran Desert.

Sonoran desert tortoises can hold water for up to a year, Rubke said. That matters given that Arizona is in a megadrought.

They hold all their water resources within their bladder; they have a really big bladder, Rubke said. That makes up a large portion of their body weight, and they get a lot of their moisture from the food that they eat.

The tortoises, unsurprisingly, are not fleet of foot, traveling 10 to 12 miles over a few years, Rubke said.

One of the ways researchers are able to monitor tortoise movement is through radio telemetry, Rubke said. He knows this because Arizona Game & Fish has monitored and tracked Sonoran desert tortoises since the 1980s.

The McDowell Sonoran Conservancy now is doing its own study using technology to track Sonoran desert tortoises to answer such questions as how urban expansion affects the species. The conservancy manages the 30,500-acre McDowell Sonoran Preserve, which is owned by Scottsdale.

Rubke said he helped get the conservancys three-year study up and running but has mostly been on the projects periphery.

The conservancy started the study in 2021, using telemetry devices that tracked the tortoises location once a week. This year, it added GPS units to collect location data every hour.

Were going out there every three weeks to swap out the GPS unit on the tortoise (so) that we can get that data back, said Jessie Dwyer, the biodiversity manager at the conservancy. We will use the telemetry equipment to actually track the location of the tortoise and then we get that data from the GPS for their fine-scale movements.

The conservancy attaches transmitters to the shells of 22 tortoises across the preserve, Dwyer said. The study is possible through special permits from Scottsdale and Arizona Game & Fish.

Researchers hope to get an idea of how human factors affect the tortoises.

So we have some tortoises that are right by trails or trailheads or roads, things like that, and some tortoises that are more internal to the preserve that we can get a comparison on how theyre moving in relation to human activity, Dwyer said.

Over the first year, Dwyer said, researchers found many tortoises by trailheads in the preserve. Near Thompson Trailhead, there is an active construction zone that tortoises have found their way into. Dwyer said these tortoises have been relocated back into the preserve.

Thats an area we are keeping a big eye on and we have a few tortoises that weve tracked in that area, Dwyer said. They do interact with humans on a frequent basis. These tortoises live a very long time, so they might have a typical route they usually go through and then all of a sudden there is construction there one year.

Although the study will continue for another year, Dwyer said they have learned the preserves tortoise population is almost cut in half by Rio Verde Drive, which separates the preserve.

Dwyer said they have not observed tortoises moving across Rio Verde Drive, so two populations exist, one on the north and the other on the south. They said that this, may be impactful in the future where those kind of populations of tortoises are cut off from each other, and how that might affect them genetically.

So far, they have found that each tortoise is individual in its movements, some travel a lot while others do not travel as much. Dwyer said they have also found the tortoises are variable in the way they use the landscape. Some have more complicated rock burrows and others dig shallow burrows.

One of the cool things that weve seen with this study is weve seen a lot of juveniles lately, and also some tortoise eggs as well, which is a really good sign of a healthy tortoise population, Dwyer said.

Sonoran desert tortoises are a keystone species in the Sonoran desert, meaning they are an important factor for the overall ecosystem. However, Dwyer said, the tortoise is easily affected by human disturbances.

Weve seen it with the kind of sister subspecies of Mojave desert tortoise with a lot of urban development has really been detrimental to the species, Dwyer said. Any sort of development or human recreation but also climate change as well.

Although Arizona is still in a drought, the states longest drought since the U.S. Drought Monitor started in 2000 occurred from Aug. 18, 2009, to June 4, 2019. Drought remains a concern, even though August 2022 was the 11th wettest in 128 years, according to the monitor.

In February, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service denied endangered species protection to the Sonoran desert tortoise, citing the species has adult populations in the hundreds of thousands currently in the wild.

Krista Kemppinen, senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity in Tucson, said while Sonoran desert tortoise populations are relatively stable, there is concern for the future.

The big concern is as droughts get more frequent, and more intense, that there will be declines in the future, Kemppinen said.

Kemppinen said Sonoran desert tortoises are intune with the desert environment, feeding on vegetation from monsoon rains, but habitat loss, cattle grazing and invasive plant species, she said, could harm their ability to thrive in the desert.
Ever since she burst into smoldering life in the pages of Prosper Merimees 1845 novella, the character of Carmen has exerted a unique hold on popular culture.

Her story has been told and retold in dozens of stage plays, dance works and films, as well as what is easily its most famous incarnation  Georges Bizets 1875 opera, which scandalized audiences at its premiere, but has gone on to become one of the most performed operas ever written.

So the prospect of creating a new version of this story presents one with a unique set of challenges, said Kenneth Tindall.

Tindall, the resident choreographer for Englands Northern Ballet, is creating a new Carmen for Tulsa Ballet. It is both his first work to be performed by the company, as well as the first full-length work he has created to be performed in the United States.

Of course, the first questions you have to ask yourself are, Why do Carmen, and why do it now? Tindall said. And the answer is a simple one. This story has stood the test of time because its themes of love and death are universal and eternal.

The challenge for me is to find where there might be room in this very familiar story for whatever vision I have for it, he said.

Tulsa Ballet Artistic Director Marcello Angelini said he has been closely following Tindalls career for many years, and has been greatly impressed at how Tindalls skills at choreography and storytelling have grown.

We had been talking about him doing a piece for one of our mixed-bill programs, Angelini said. But I knew that I really wanted to have him do a full-length story ballet for us. In my opinion, some of the greatest storytellers in the ballet have been English  people like McMillan, Ashton, Tudor. Its as if its part of their heritage.

Tindall said in most instances, he would not have agreed to creating a full-length ballet for a company with whom he had never worked.

But Ive been aware of Tulsa Ballet since I was in ballet school, Tindall said. Even then, it was a company known for featuring great choreographers and producing great dancers. In fact, if I had been a little more confident in myself as a young dancer, I might have auditioned for Tulsa Ballet. So the companys reputation more than preceded it.

And, personally, storytelling is really something I love to do, he said. I mean, one can only go so far with pure step-making. I also love all the aspects that go into making a full-length ballet, from working with the costume and set designers, the light designers, all the people and elements that go into realizing this vision I have. Theres so much more to being a choreographer than making up steps.

Tindalls Carmen follows the basic parameters of the original story. A soldier named Don Jose draws the attention of the factory girl Carmen because hes the only one of his company who does not respond to her flirtations.

When the soldiers have to break up a fight between Carmen and a fellow worker, Don Jose is tasked with taking her into custody. However, Carmen manages to seduce Don Jose into releasing her  an act that sends Don Jose into a downward spiral that leads to madness and murder.

One way that Tindall is putting his own stamp on the story is that the focal character is Don Jose, and how one fateful moment undoes what should have been a happy life.

Hes got a wife, hes got a good job, theres probably a family in the near future  and then he meets this woman who plants this seed of desire inside of him, Tindall said. Carmen is the prototypical free spirit, the kind of person you imagine would be wonderful to be around. Yet there is always a cost for such freedom  not for Carmen, but for all those who fall under her spell. And once that happens, once you open that particular door, there is no going back.

Tindalls Carmen will feature a score fashioned out of Bizets opera, as well as Rodion Shchedrins Carmen Suite, by British composer Alexandra Harwood, who also composed original music for the production.

All the music that people expect to hear in Carmen is there, Tindall said. We needed some original music to help link the various pieces together.

The ballet also gave Tindall the opportunity to experiment with various choreographic and storytelling elements. As much of the action of the ballet takes place in the mind of Don Jose, Tindall said he had to come up with some unusual strategies to get those ideas across.

There are a couple of things in the ballet where I would stage them, and then ask Marcello and others to come in to watch, he said. I wouldnt tell them anything, just have the dancers perform the scene, and then ask, Did that make sense?

Thats important, because youre wanting to create a piece that will satisfy the people who know the story of Carmen well, but you also want it to be accessible to people for whom this is the first time theyve encountered this story, he said. You want to create a visual feast for the audience that they can understand  or even better, get them talking and thinking about it. If you can leave people feeling entertained and challenged, I think youve done your job as best you can.

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Tulsa World Scene podcast: McRib au revoir? Halloween candy favorites?

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Broken Arrow police on Sunday identified the man and woman who were found dead in a murder-suicide investigation in which their six children also died.

Police identified the couple as Brian Nelson and Brittney Nelson. The names of children were not released Sunday.

But their grandfather  Brian Nelsons father, Danny  and Dannys wife, Marilyn, identified the children as Brian II, 13, granddaughter Brantley, 9, grandsons Vegeta, 7, Ragnar, 5, and Kurgan, 2, and granddaughter Britannica, 1.

Preliminary details into this investigation have determined this incident is likely a murder-suicide, police said in a news release.

About 4:05 p.m. Thursday, neighbors reported a house fire in the 400 block of Hickory Avenue, northwest of Houston (81st) Street and Elm Place (161st East Avenue).

The juvenile victims were found in one room of the house where the fire was contained, but none of the victims are believed to have died due to the fire, according to authorities.

Medical examiners will determine cause of death.

Investigators recovered firearms from inside the home.

When asked about any previous police response at the residence, BA Police Chief Brandon Berryhill said it had been numerous years since the last call, which he characterized as a very innocuous situation.

Authorities expect to continue the investigation for some time, according to BA Fire Chief Jeremy Moore.

The owner of the home told Tulsa World that the family has been renting there eight years, with third-party payments made through a subsidy program.

Understandably, this is a shock to Broken Arrow. Its a safe city. Broken Arrow doesnt have this kind of situation every day, said BAPD spokesman Ethan Hutchins.

The home is southwest of Broken Arrows Rose District and about 15 miles southeast of downtown Tulsa.

Were asking the community to please pray and come together because this is something that we dont experience as a city very often, Hutchins said.

BAPD says anyone experiencing distress related to the investigation is encouraged to call Mental Health Association Oklahomas hotline: 918-585-1213.
Golden arches: First District Congressman Kevin Hern has received $38,500 this year from his old friends and colleagues at McDonald's, according to watchdog opensecrets.com.

A former franchise owner who made millions selling Happy Meals and Big Macs, Hern received more political contributions from McDonald's-related sources than any individual or entity except the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Good word: U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe was and remains a harsh critic of the Obama administration's defense policies, but he had kind words for Obama Defense Secretary Ash Carter after Carter's death last week at 68.

"Even with such a robust career as his, he never failed to take on each challenge with honesty and grit," Inhofe said in a written statement. "Secretary Carter was a fearless advocate for our military men and women and his lifes work will live on as his insights and initiatives continue to serve as a part of the foundation of Americas defense strategy."

Dots and dashes: Fourth District Congressman Tom Cole condemned Friday's attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, calling it "a despicable act of violence."  U.S. Sen. James Lankford continued sparring with the Pentagon and Tri-Care over the implementation of a new pharmacy plan administered by Express Scripts, a subsidiary of health insurance giant Cigna, that cuts out some Oklahoma pharmacies.  At least three of Oklahoma's five Republican House members issued constituent emails critical of the Biden administration's energy policies.  The Center for Biological Diversity sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, alleging the agency has failed to adequately protect the lesser prairie chicken, whose remaining habitat includes western Oklahoma.  In response to a Republican inquiry, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency reported it came into contact on the southern border with 165 individuals in the agency's terrorist screening database  and with 313 along the northern border with Canada.

 Randy Krehbiel, Tulsa World
Early voting begins this week

Early in-person voting for the Nov. 8 general election begins Wednesday at county election boards across the state.

Early voting begins a day earlier because of changes this year to state law.

Early in-person voting will be available Wednesday-Friday at 8 a.m.-6 p.m. and on Saturday 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Oklahoma does not require a reason to vote early, but it does require proof of identity.

In Tulsa County, early voting is offered at the Tulsa County Election Board, 555 N. Denver Ave., and at Hardesty Regional Library, 8316 E. 93rd St.

In most counties, early voting is available only at the county election board offices.

Sample ballots are available through the OK Voter Portal on the State Election Board website.
Every election gives voters a chance for introspection on the shape of Oklahomas future and who is best to lead us there. Its a setting of priorities.

Four years ago, we endorsed Kevin Stitt with high hopes that a new voice  that of a business leader and a political outsider  might bring fresh perspectives on governance. The state was emerging from a teacher walkout, deep budget cuts and revenue failures, and an overall inability to tackle pressing issues.

We also endorsed Joy Hofmeister twice for state superintendent, impressed by her diplomatic, yet tough, approach and experience as a career educator and owner of a popular tutoring business. She took over a system thrown into chaos by a divisive leader in her own Republican Party.

Stitt and Hofmeister have different leadership and management styles rooted in conservatism. Hofmeister changed parties last year to challenge Stitt.

Oklahomans are emerging from a pandemic that devastated public health and the economy. It laid bare inequities in our community and ugly culture war divisions. We consider how each reacted in that time of trial, their accomplishments and vision for the state.

Stitt advanced the cause of criminal justice reform, using pardons and paroles to lessen prison overcrowding. He speaks of bolstering mental health services and put $2.8 billion in savings.

But the governor fell short in critical areas. Early on, he needlessly picked fights with tribes over gaming compacts that made any cooperation following the U.S. Supreme Courts McGirt decision near impossible.

During the pandemic, Stitt prided himself on rejecting mask and shutdown mandates. The Commonwealth Fund report ranks Oklahomas response 50th (out of 51) in the nation, and most sources say the state suffered one of the highest COVID death rates in the nation with an estimated 17,000 lives lost. The Oklahoma Health Department went through three directors and four state epidemiologists.

Financial scandals have plagued the administration: $1.8 million to buy PPE that never arrived, $31 million in federal emergency education funds questioned in an audit, an unnecessary move of the public health lab, a pandemic center that never opened, millions in alleged overspending at state parks by Swadleys B-B-Q and the Legislature taking over nearly $1 billion in American Rescue Plan Act funds due to Stitts inaction.

Political disagreements resulted in people removed from state commissions, including the state education board, Oklahoma Health Care Authority and veterans commission. The governor has criticized local school leaders and embraces private school voucher schemes.

Hofmeisters first term as state superintendent included writing new standards for math and reading, eliminating end-of-instruction tests, providing free college entrance ACT and SAT tests for 11th graders, seeking changes to the school A-F grade card, and outlining a new education plan under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act.

When the pandemic struck, she presented a plan for minimum safety guidelines for districts based on local transmission rates. The Stitt-appointed state education board did not approve the measure. She used federal pandemic funds for PPE, a counselor corps, summer enrichment program and other critical needs for districts.

She is against private school vouchers, has met with tribal leaders to mend fences and retains a conservative fiscal outlook.

Above all, this race is about how Oklahomans treat one another. The tone of leadership matters and relationship-building is paramount to success.

We believe Hofmeister is the best person for the job. In her public service, she ramped down division and welcomed differing opinions. She has a mind for details and policy, which is critical for effective governance.

In this moment, Oklahomans need Hofmeisters transcendence of bitter partisanship and embrace of inclusiveness.

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Da Nang City in central Vietnam on Friday welcomed back the first group of tourists from Taiwan following a long hiatus induced by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The visitors arrived on flight JX701 operated by Taiwans STARLUX Airlines, which departed from Taipei at 7:35 am and landed in Da Nang at 9:25 am.

The first visitors from Taiwan were warmly welcomed with flowers and souvenirs from Da Nangs tourism promotion center and Da Nang International Airport.

Miko, who was among the tourists from Taiwan, said she was surprised by the warm welcome by the city's tourism industry.

Tourists from Taiwan receive flowers and gifts following their arrival in Da Nang City, Vietnam, October 28, 2022. Photo: Tan Luc / Tuoi Tre

Da Nang is a new destination in Southeast Asia, Miko continued, adding that she and her group decided to travel to the Vietnamese city when Taiwan reopened international tourism after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The group of visitors was scheduled to stay in Da Nang for five days and visit famous landmarks such as Ba Na, Linh Ung Pagoda, My Khe Beach, and Dragon Bridge.

STARLUX Airlines will operate an average of three flights per week between Da Nang and Taipei in November, Roger Yen, the airlines chief representative in Vietnam, said, adding that the flight frequency may increase in the coming time.

According to Da Nangs tourism promotion center, the resumption of flights from Taiwan to Da Nang is a positive result from the centers efforts to reconnect traditional international tourist markets and boost the number of international visitors to Da Nang in the last months of 2022.

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On an autumn day on a lush green prairie, more than a dozen pregnant mares are waiting to be bled for the last time this year.

This "blood farm" near Selfoss in southern Iceland is collecting blood from pregnant horses raised for the sole purpose of extracting a special hormone used in the veterinary industry.

The practice has had animal welfare groups up in arms ever since a shocking video of horses in Iceland being maltreated emerged on YouTube a year ago.

People working in the industry now insist on anonymity when speaking to the media.

"There is no way we can make the public understand completely this kind of farming", says the 56-year-old owner of the farm near Selfoss.

"The public in general is too sensitive".

At farms like this one, several litres of blood are collected from each horse in order to extract the PMSG hormone (Pregnant mare serum gonadotropin), also known as eCG, produced naturally by pregnant mares.

Sold by the veterinary industry, farmers use the hormone to improve the fertility of other livestock like cows, ewes and sows around the world.

The foals are meanwhile usually sent to the slaughterhouse.

Iceland is one of the rare countries -- and the only one in Europe -- to carry out the controversial practice, along with Argentina and Uruguay, and to a lesser extent Russia, Mongolia and China.

The video published last year showed farmhands beating and prodding horses with sticks, dogs sometimes biting horses, and the horses weakened after giving blood.

Some of the horses could be seen collapsing from exhaustion after struggling against the restraints in their boxes.

The video caused a shockwave, both abroad and in Iceland.

Lucrative business

At the farm near Selfoss, the mares stand in single file in a special wooden structure, waiting patiently for their turn to enter a box.

Planks are placed around their legs to prevent them from moving and a halter is put on their head to hold it up.

"The horses ... can get stressed, agitated. All these restraints are basically to protect them" so they don't get hurt in the box, said a 29-year-old Polish veterinarian, also speaking on condition of anonymity.

A local anaesthetic is first administered, then a large needle is injected into the jugular vein. Only a certified veterinarian is authorised to carry out the procedure.

The halter "allows us to see the vein properly because we need to know exactly where it is", he added.

Up to five litres of blood are drawn from each mare in just a few minutes, in an operation they undergo weekly for eight weeks.

The blood collection, carried out from the end of July until early October, is profitable: the 56-year-old running the operation near Selfoss -- who also works as an attorney -- makes up to 10 million kronur ($70,000) a year from the business.

"In many cases, the mares show signs of short-term discomfort during the blood collection", says Sigridur Bjornsdottir, a horse specialist at the Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority (MAST).

But "this is not considered a serious change (of their condition) unless the symptoms are severe, extended, or the mare shows signs of chronic stress".

In 2021, Iceland had 119 blood farms and almost 5,400 mares raised for the sole purpose of giving blood, a figure that has more than tripled in the past decade.

The PMSG hormone is turned into a powder by Icelandic biotech group Isteka, the biggest producer in Europe handling around 170 tonnes of blood per year.

'Noble' cause?

The figure is likely to be lower this year, after the controversial video prompted some farmers to quit the business amid concerns about animal welfare activists.

"Farmers were severely hit and shocked by the video", said Isteka managing director Arnthor Gudlaugsson.

While he acknowledged there were problematic cases, Gudlaugsson said the video, filmed with a hidden camera, was designed "to give an overly negative description of the process".

The video did lead to a police investigation and the farms featured were identified.

MAST inspected all of Iceland's blood farms this summer and "no serious deviations" were observed, and none were ordered to shut down.

The scandal has also sparked debate in Iceland, where most inhabitants learned about the practice for the first time even though it has been going on since 1979.

"This makes us think about where we stand in our ethics", the vice chair of Animal Welfare Iceland, Rosa Lif Darradottir, told AFP.

"To make a fertility drug that is used on farm animals ... to enhance their fertility beyond their natural capacity, just so that we can have a stable flow of cheap pork ... The cause is not noble", she said.

Opponents also criticise the amount of blood collected.

"It's purely and simply maltreatment of animals and we have a word for that: animal cruelty", said opposition MP Inga Saeland, who has repeatedly proposed a ban on the practice, to no avail.

Stricter regulations did, however, enter into force in August, giving authorities more power to monitor the industry and "assess its future" over the next three years.
South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol declared a period of national mourning on Sunday after a Halloween crush killed some 151 people in a packed nightlife area in Seoul.

Yoon expressed condolences to the victims, mostly teenagers and people in their 20s, and his wishes for a speedy recovery to the many injured in one of the South Korea's worst disasters and the world's worst stampedes in decades.

"This is truly tragic," he said in a statement. "A tragedy and disaster that should not have happened took place in the heart of Seoul last night."

A huge crowd celebrating in the popular Itaewon district surged into an alley on Saturday night, emergency officials said, adding the death toll could rise.

A street in Itaewon district is pictured full of people before a stampede during Halloween festivities killed and injured many in Seoul, South Korea, in this image released by Yonhap on October 30, 2022. Photo: Yonhap via Reuters

Choi Sung-beom, head of the Yongsan Fire Station, said 151 deaths had been confirmed, including 22 foreigners. He told a briefing at the scene 82 people were injured, 19 of them seriously.

Families and friends desperately sought word of loved ones at community centres that had become makeshift facilities for missing persons.

As of midday, the Interior Ministry said at least 90% of the victims had been identified, with delays affecting some foreign nationals and teenagers who did not yet have identification cards.

South Korean tech and mobile game firms including Kakao and NCSOFT pulled their Halloween promotions after the tragedy, while amusement park Everland cancelled Halloween-themed events. Many regional governments and organisations have cancelled or reduced festivals and other celebrations.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol walks at the scene where many people died and were injured in a stampede during a Halloween festival in Seoul, South Korea, October 30, 2022. Photo: Reuters

It was the first Halloween event in Seoul in three years to be virtually free of COVID-19 restrictions and social distancing. Many of the partygoers were wearing masks and Halloween costumes.

Early on Sunday costumes and personal belongings mingled with blood spots in the narrow street. Survivors huddled under emergency blankets amid throngs of emergency workers, police, and media.

Many of those killed were near a nightclub, Choi said. Many of the victims were women in their 20s, while the foreigners killed included people from China, Iran, Uzbekistan and Norway, he said.

Family members of people missing after a stampede during Halloween festivities, gather at a community service center in Seoul, South Korea, October 30, 2022. Photo: Reuters

Witnesses described the crowd becoming increasingly unruly and agitated as the evening deepened. Chaos erupted just before the 10:20 p.m. (1320 GMT) stampede, with police on hand for the event at times struggling to control the crowds, witnesses said.

Moon Ju-young, 21, said there were clear signs of trouble in the alley before the incident. He told Reuters it was more than 10 times as crowded as usual.

Social media footage showed hundreds of people packed in the narrow, sloped alley crushed and immobile as emergency officials and police tried to pull them free.

Rescue workers work at the scene where a stampede during Halloween festivities killed an injured many people at the popular Itaewon district in Seoul, South Korea, October 30, 2022. Photo: Yonhap via Reuters

Packed alley on slope

Choi, the Yongsan district fire chief, said all the deaths were likely from the crush in the alley.

Fire officials and witnesses said people continued to pour into the alley after it was already packed wall-to-wall, when those at the top of the slope fell, sending people below them toppling over others.

One woman said her daughter, pulled from the crush of people, survived after being trapped for more than an hour.

A makeshift morgue was set up in a building next to the scene. About four dozen bodies were wheeled out on wheeled stretchers and moved to a government facility to identify the victims, according to a Reuters witness.

Partygoers walk by ambulances at the scene where dozens of people were injured in a stampede during a Halloween festival in Seoul, South Korea, October 30, 2022. Photo: Reuters

The Itaewon district is popular with young South Koreans and expatriates alike, its dozens of bars and restaurants packed on Saturday for Halloween after businesses had suffered a sharp decline over three years of the pandemic.

"You would see big crowds at Christmas and fireworks ... but this was several ten-folds bigger than any of that," Park Jung-hoon, 21, told Reuters from the scene.

International leaders offered condolences, including U.S. President Joe Biden and China's Xi Jinping, who noted that Chinese were among the dead and injured.

Rescue teams work at the scene where dozens of people were injured in a stampede during a Halloween festival in Seoul, South Korea, October 30, 2022. Photo: Reuters

With the easing of the COVID pandemic, curfews on bars and restaurants and a limit of 10 people for private gatherings were lifted in April. An outdoor mask mandate was dropped in May.

President Yoon held an emergency meeting with senior aides and ordered a task force be set up to secure resources to treat the injured and launch a thorough investigation into the cause of the disaster.

The disaster is among the country's deadliest since a 2014 ferry sinking that killed 304 people, mainly high school students.

The sinking of the Sewol, and criticism of the official response, sent shockwaves across South Korea, prompting widespread soul-searching over safety measures in the country that are likely to be renewed in the wake of Saturday's crush.
Vietnamese and Chinese academics have attributed great importance to the three-day visit to China, starting Sunday, by Vietnams Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, the first foreign leader to visit China after the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.

General Secretary Trong and his entourage left Hanoi for China on Sunday morning for an official visit lasting until November 1, at the invitation of Chinese Party General Secretary and President Xi Jinping, the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported.

Talking to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper about the visit, international relations experts agreed that the timing of the visit showed that China attaches special importance to its relationship with Vietnam.

Dr. Nguyen Thanh Trung, lecturer at Fulbright Vietnam University and a senior researcher on China, said that the visit is really meaningful for both China and Vietnam.

The fact that Beijing invited General Secretary Trong to visit immediately after the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China shows that China considers Vietnam an important country and wishes to further promote relations between the two Parties, Dr. Trung commented.

In the context of the complicated world developments and the consequences of the Russia-Ukraine military conflict, the cohesion between Hanoi and Beijing is expected to not only deepen the cooperation between the two Parties but also contribute to bringing stability to the region, the scholar noted.

Trung also believed that the visit by General Secretary Trong this time will help establish an important bilateral communication channel through which Vietnam can discuss with China not only cooperation issues but some points of disagreement, Trung said.

Vietnam is now a member of many international organizations and mechanisms. Therefore, having good relations with Vietnam can help China strengthen its international image as well as boost their mutual support at multilateral forums, Trung remarked.

Nguyen Tang Nghi, lecturer of the international relations department of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities under the Vietnam National University-Ho Chi Minh City, commented that the visit showed a close connection as well as personal affection between the leaders of the two Parties, particularly between the two general secretaries.

China has prepared the highest ceremonial level for the reception for General Secretary Trong, said Nghi, a former graduate student at the Renmin University of China.

Chinese leaders have been satisfied with the success of the recent National Party Congress, taking place from October 16 to 22, and they have shown goodwill to settle some external issues including the East Vietnam Sea, Nghi commented.

I also believe that the two sides will reach a common voice on issues having yet to be settled and achieve more positive outcomes in settling them than in previous years, Nghi said.

Chinese media and scholars have highlighted Trongs visit, with Global Times featuring him as the first foreign leader to visit China after the 20th National Party Congress.

General Secretary Trongs visit will serve as a continuation of the traditional friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and China and demonstrates the mutual trust between the two Parties and two states, Global Times said.

The Chinese daily also recalled that Chinese Party General Secretary and President Xi made his first foreign trip to Vietnam after Chinas 19th National Party Congress in 2017.

The three-day visit in the current context by General Secretary Trong has reflected the great importance of the relationship between the two nations and the two Parties, said the head of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Chinas Xiamen University.

Bai Ming, deputy director of the International Market Institute at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, also stressed that Trongs visit will certainly help strengthen the bilateral economic cooperation, bringing it to a new height, as this is one of the consistent points in Chinas policies toward Vietnam.

Bai noted that China has continued being Vietnams largest trading partner despite the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic over the past two years.

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Here are todays leading news stories:

Politics

-- Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired the governments monthly meeting in Hanoi on Saturday, during which he requested policy response be made in a more timely, precise, and effective manner, the Vietnam News Agency reported.

Society

-- Nalgae entered the East Vietnam Sea early on Sunday morning, becoming the seventh storm to hit Vietnam this year, the National Center for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting reported, adding that the storms wind speed will reach its highest level in the next two days.

-- Police confirmed on Saturday they had detained seven more people involved in the fatal shooting at a house on Phu Quoc Island off southern Kien Giang Province, raising the total number of arrested suspects to 36.

-- An 18-year-old boy died after failing to save his two friends, aged 16 and 19, when their homemade boat capsized along a stream in southern Dong Nai Province on Saturday.

-- The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport has proposed that the municipal Peoples Committee spend an additional VND72 trillion (US$2.89 billion) developing 88 traffic projects during the 2021-25 period.

-- Police in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai are dealing with a case where a female police officer in Dak Doa District allegedly caused a traffic accident while driving a car under the influence of alcohol on Friday night.

Business

-- Vietnams newly-registered capital, adjusted capital, and capital contribution and share purchase stood at $22.46 billion in the first 10 months of 2022, down 5.4 percent year on year, the Vietnam News Agency quoted the Ministry of Planning and Investment as saying.

-- More than 2.35 million international visitors arrived in Vietnam during the January-October period of this year, up 19 times year on year, according to the General Statistics Office.

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Police confirmed on Saturday they had detained seven more people involved in a fatal shooting on Phu Quoc Island off Kien Giang Province in southern Vietnam, raising the number of arrested suspects to 36.

A total of 36 suspects involved in the case were apprehended on Friday and Saturday, Diep Van The, deputy director of the Kien Giang Department of Public Security, said on Saturday afternoon.

Police had coordinated with border guard officers to patrol all streets, ports, and ferry stations on Phu Quoc Island to search for the suspects, The added.

The shooting took place in Cua Duong Commune at around 11:30 am on Thursday, according to preliminary information.

The incident arose from a land dispute between two groups led by V.V.L. and K.V.D..

L. and 50 other people traveled in different vans and buses, each having from seven to 16 seats, to a venue owned by K.V.D. that day to address their dispute.

Some people in L.s group used guns to chase and shoot D. and several other individuals.

Consequently, two people were killed by head and chest shootings, while four others were injured.

Aside from arresting the suspects, police officers have searched the houses of relevant individuals and confiscated two guns, 19 bullets, one fake seal, and a 16-seater automobile.

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Police in Gia Lai Provinces Pleiku City, located in Vietnams Central Highlands, are handling a traffic accident caused by a female police officer who admitted her driving under the influence of alcohol when asked by eyewitnesses.

The accident was caused by Major T.T.L. at 6:00 pm on Friday, when a five-seater car driven by L. collided with another car and a motorbike at a three-way junction in Pleiku, local police reported.

L. is managed by the police of Dak Doa District, which is adjacent to Pleiku.

The district police on Saturday confirmed they had been notified of the incident, which was shown in a video clip made and posted on social media by witnesses at the scene.

According to initial information, L.s car first hit the motorcycle and she then reversed the vehicle before colliding with the other car and stopping.

As seen in the clip, L., in a police uniform, showed signs of being drunk and vomited after causing the accident.

She was also found dropping her head to the steering wheel when being approached by a traffic police officer at the scene.

When a local asked her if she had been drunk, L. answered yes.

The accident caused no casualties but resulted in damage to the three vehicles, according to Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper.

The Dak Doa police said they would handle L.s violations after receiving a detailed investigation report from their colleagues in Pleiku.

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Many local travel companies have voiced their concern over possible difficulties in applying for visas to South Korea in the coming time.

At present, tours to South Koreas Gangwon Province are suspended, while those to other parts of the Northeast Asian country are operated as normal.

According to the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) in Vietnam, Vietnamese tourists can still fly to Gangwon Provinces Yangyang County without visas on charter flights.

However, to ensure that their tours are smooth, tourists should apply for visas.

More requirements for visa application

Tran Thanh Vu, general director of local travel firm Vinagroup, said the groups tours to South Korea are run as normal but visa application procedures are more complicated. Tourists are required to submit more documents.

Despite the smooth visa application of tourists taking tours to South Korea in October, Vu expressed his concern over the possibility of South Koreas visa policy tightening in the upcoming periods.

Required documents for the application of visas to South Korea include labor contracts and social insurance books. Tourists without household books registered in large cities need to prove their financial capacity through savings books worth at least VND100 million [US$4,031]," Vu said.

My groups staff will have to check customers documents carefully to detect their booking tours for other purposes."

A representative of TST Tourist Company said from October 21 to 25, the company ran a tour to South Korea and its customers followed the schedule.

In addition to developing a checking process, enterprises should refuse ineligible customers, the representative said.

According to Tran Phuong Linh, director of marketing and information technology at Benthanh Tourist, the companys tours to South Korea are being operated as planned.

Most of Benthanh Tourists customers have high incomes and are able to prove their financial capacity.

However, if South Korea tightens its visa policies, tourists may no longer be interested in tours to this country, Linh shared.

Revision of travel companies quality needed

According to the KTO in Vietnam, there are two visa-free tourism products for Vietnamese visitors entering South Korea through Yangyang International Airport.

While Vietnamese travelers registration for visa-free tours to Yangyang is suspended until October 31, Vietnamese visitors can fly to Yangyang on charter flights.

However, the KTO in Vietnam advised Vietnamese tourists to apply for visas.

Regarding the case in which more than 100 Vietnamese citizens could not be contacted after their entry into South Korea as tourists, a representative of a travel company whose more than 30 visitors took the same charter flight as the aforesaid citizens, said that the case has adversely affected the tourism cooperation between the two countries.

The case shows the poor quality of travel companies after the [COVID-19] pandemic. The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism should early review its licensing process and travel companies operation," the representative added.

Companies operating in line with the law have their own ways to minimize risks."

Travelers wishing to visit South Korea should buy tours from prestigious travel companies to avoid joining tourists with different purposes, according to local travel companies.

If they book the same tours as those with visa or immigration problems, their tour schedule may be changed continuously, not to mention other issues arising during the local polices investigations," said the director of a Vietnamese travel company.

More than 70,000 Vietnamese illegally enter South Korea As of 2021, Thai citizens accounted for the highest number of undocumented immigrants in South Korea with over 142,000 people, followed by Vietnamese with 70,000 people, according to the latest statistics from the South Korean Ministry of Justice. Weekly Chosun magazine on Thursday shared the view that many Vietnamese people are illegally staying in South Korea to earn their living. The case in which over 100 Vietnamese went missing after they entered Yangyang International Airport in South Koreas Gangwon Province has made headlines. This is not the first time foreigners, including Vietnamese, have enigmatically gone missing after entry into the Northeast Asian country. In December 2019, the Korea Immigration Service and the South Korean Ministry of Education launched an investigation into the missing for 15 days of 164 foreign students, including 160 Vietnamese students, of the Incheon National University. Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, an overseas Vietnamese student who has returned to Hanoi after two years of studying the Korean language at a university in Gyeonggi Province, told Weekly Chosun that many of her classmates dropped out of the university to find jobs. Although their initial purpose is to learn the language, many Vietnamese people give up their learning opportunities to seek jobs and earn money as incomes there are much higher than the levels in Vietnam, Ngan explained. B., a South Korean student in Ho Chi Minh City, said that the Vietnamese community is one of the largest expat communities in South Korea. Therefore, the control of their entry into the country is not easy.

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There are new shows hitting 9GO! tonight.

The US version of The Weakest Link with host Jane Lynch (Glee) premieres at 7:30pm. Two seasons have aired in America with a third approved.

Emmy winner Jane Lynch hosts a revival of the international phenomenon. Eight strangers work as a team to play a high-stakes game of trivia and then vote each other off one by one for a chance to win up to $1 million.

At 8:30pm is Dating No Filter UK, a dating show based on a US format.

Kyle and Aziza head on a fast-paced first date on the go kart track. Will they burn rubber or crash out? Hayler and Taylor head out on a foraging date. Will they find more than just mushrooms and berries in the woods?

Both screen ahead of Love Island Australias return.
Future mining projects could be in jeopardy, with the industry facing a severe shortage of workers as younger 'greener' generations are deterred by the problematic environmental reputation of the mining sector

Techforce Personnel

Techforce Personnel

PERTH, Australia, Oct. 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to labour hire agency Techforce Personnel, the mining industry is facing its worst skills crisis with Gen Z turning their backs on the sector due to environmental concerns.

A recent report released by the Australian Resources and Energy Employer Association (AREE) revealed that over the next five years, the mining industry would need 24,000 new workers to uphold projects across the country. Projects at risk include coal, gold and critical minerals.

Chief executive of the association Steve Knott says, "This is threatening the continuity of existing operations, resulting in temporary or permanent production downgrades and driving other workforce issues, including historic levels of staff turnover."

At present, the association is battling a staff shortage, making it difficult to maintain current operations at their full productivity level. Techforce explains one of the key roadblocks in recruiting new staff is appealing to young people who are deterred by the problematic environmental reputation of the mining industry.

With environmental sustainability a global focus, the mining industry has been forced to rebrand but Techforce says the sector is working hard to reposition itself and improve its environmental and social performance.

Programs are being launched targeting young talent, encouraging innovation and creative thinking in a pivoting sector. To appeal to potential candidates, the Perth labour hire company says the industry needs to work with government, unions and education providers.

As one of the leading labour hire companies, Techforce specialises in labour hire in Perth and throughout Australia, matching quality candidates with available positions across a variety of industries, including mining, helping to resolve staffing concerns.

Story continues

Beginning with labour hire Adelaide-wide in 2010, Techforce has now expanded into every Australian state. Partnering with clients to gain a solid understanding of their business and culture, Techforce ensures every worker employed is a perfect match.

Employers and job seekers can find out more by contacting Techforce.

Contact Information:

Techforce Personnel

Founder

recruitment@techforce.com.au

(08) 6363 7040



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PlusPlus Capital targets redemption waiver for 2022 Estonian notes  Investors express benevolence for vote on 18 November



The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

PlusPlus Capital targets redemption waiver for 2022 Estonian notes Investors express benevolence for vote on 18 November



Tallinn, Estonia, 30 October 2022. PlusPlus Capital (PPC), a leading Pan-Baltic and Finnish technology-driven receivables management group, called on holders of its 2022 Estonian notes (ISIN EE3300001726) to vote on a redemption waiver until 18 November 2022. The term is to be extended to June 2023. The total volume of EUR 15 million notes initially outstanding for repayment has been rolled over to the 2026 EUR bond (ISIN XS2502401552) only partially as a number of long-standing commitments from investors would not be renewed due to changed market conditions. The operational business development of PlusPlus shows continuing growth. Payments from customers are increasing, while performance metrics such as cash EBITDA (cash earnings less operational expenses) and ERC (estimated remaining collections) continue to rise. The operational cash inflow is more than sufficient to cover operational expenses and interest payments. Given the Company's successful business performance and the related growth prospects, particularly in the current high inflation and interest rate environment, first investors have already expressed their benevolence. PlusPlus Capital will publish its 2022 Nine-Month Report on 15 November 2023. The corresponding earnings call will be held on 17 November 2022.



Contact: PlusPlus Capital

Peeter Piho, Chairman of the Supervisory Board

Email: peeter.piho@plusplus.ee

Phone: +372 503 0130 Aalto Capital (Investor Relations)

Sven Pauly, Consultant

Email: sven.pauly@aaltocapital.com

Phone: +49 89 898 67 77 0



About PlusPlus Capital: PlusPlus is a pan-Baltic and Finnish technology-driven receivables management company with offices in Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius, and Helsinki. The Company acquires overdue loans and other non-performing exposures from financial institutions and non-financial sector merchants. With its core competence in handling claims against private individuals, PlusPlus prefers diversified portfolios balanced by geography, portfolio type, and other metrics. Since its inception in 2010, PlusPlus has bought over 100 thousand claims with nominal value of approximately EUR 274 million as at 30 June 2022. The Company offers its clients affordable recovery solutions and aims to avoid litigious scenarios. In doing so, PlusPlus pursues win-win solutions that allow sellers to focus on their core business, provide affordable solutions for borrowers, and ensure adequate returns for investors. PlusPlus is a transparent and socially responsible company set to assist people in resolving problems connected with their insufficient solvency. The ambition of PlusPlus is to increase its market share and further strengthen its position as a leading player in its regional market. pluspluscapital.eu

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David Leask: Scotland's green energy revolution threatened by lack of planners (Image: PA)

For years they have been maligned as pen-pushers, bureaucrats far from the front line of public service.

But since 2009 the number of planners has numbers have been cut by a third and their funding by even more, just as their workload exploded.

Local and national politicians have chosen to prioritise in other areas, but in doing so it is feared they may have, at the risk of sounding melodramatic, put at risk the planet itself.

Scotlands creaking and underfunded planning system is now unable to process the sheer volume of clean energy schemes needed to get the country to net zero, according to those involved in the process.

This week, scientists warned that global heating was out of control and that the climate crisis had reached a really bleak moment.

One, Prof Johan Rockstrom, said the world was very, very close to irreversible changes  time is really running out very, very fast. Bluntly, the planet needs to halve emissions by 2030 to limit the rise in average temperatures to 1.5c.

The Scottish Government says it is committed to getting to net Zero.

Scotland has a good record in renewable electricity, only narrowly missing its targets within net zero plans. But we lag peer nations on other uses for clean energy, like heat and transport.

To make this transition, experts reckon that by 2030 we need to install 12 gigawatts of wind turbines on land and another 10 gigawatts off shore, plus solar farms with a generating capacity of four gigawatts.

And that is not enough: we will also have to put in place batteries to store power for when the wind is not blowing or the sun not shining or for when everybody pops the kettle on at the same time. Which means, among other infrastructure, pumped storage hydro projects in our hills.

Basically, the country has to plan, fund and build twice as much renewables capacity by the end of the decade than has been put in place in the last 30 years.

This means a lot of what it is tempting to call paperwork, or red tape, but which in reality is the sensitive and complicated decision-making of the planning system.

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But nobody in the industry really thinks we have enough town and country planners to do this  bluntly, due to cuts  especially senior, specialist ones.

These are not easy calls. Big renewable schemes are decided by the government, smaller ones by councils. Insiders admit a lot of the most obvious sites for projects have been taken, or built out.

The Herald asked key stakeholders some simple questions. How do we boost capacity? And how do we deal with having few low planning resources while we do so?

Craig McLaren is a director at the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) and he said: Large renewable schemes are often complex, major applications.

They need the careful consideration of an effective and robust planning system to balance the needs of communities, nature and the green economy.

But planners cannot be expected to do more with less in perpetuity. Stakeholders, including the renewables industry, have been very clear about the need to reverse the chronic underfunding of the planning system in Scotland.

We will need to see adequate resources if were going to deliver the right renewables in the right places to help achieve net zero carbon targets in the places.

There are signs of progress. Developers, for example, increasingly say they are willing to pay for planning work. As things stand, fees cover about two-thirds of costs, on average. But Highland Council now offers a fast-track service for those who pay a premium.

And Mr McLaren stressed other initiatives designed to streamline the process, including digitisation.

There are particular concerns about the age profile of planning staff: 35% are over 50, while only 9% of them are under 30. Even if more money was thrown at the system, it would take time to educate new planners. The RTPI reckons it will need 500 new people in the next 15 years. It is looking at an apprenticeship scheme and pitching planning as a climate change career.

Councils do face resource challenges in planning, although this is an extension of wider pressure on local governments budget, said a very senior council source who asked not to be named.

My understanding is that there has not been a big drop in the overall number of planners employed by councils but, like a lot of professions, it has an ageing profile, which is a concern. We will need to see new planners enter the profession in the years to come.

The official stressed that the big energy projects are on top of all the little routine demands on the system. Its often the growth in smaller applications which have the biggest resources demands on councils, he said. There are ways that large-scale projects this can be managed locally through pre-application process and developer agreements, which set out timeframes and expectations, but this is not always possible.

Work is ongoing with Scottish Government and planners to look at full cost recovery on planning fees, but this is, again, not straightforward.

He added: The planning system is about balance around making places better. While the transition to a net zero economy is an important, it is just one of many considerations in the planning balance and cannot be seen as an over-riding.

Not everybodys views chimes with this last sentiment. Ministers will soon sign off a new national planning framework, the NPF4, a draft of which, rhetorically at least, focuses on the climate emergency.

As always, there are quibbles. But people in planning, both developers and civil servants, hope they will get guidelines that will help them make decisions faster, perhaps avoiding expensive and time-consuming public local inquiries, or PLAs.

Industry insiders are keen to stress they are not demanding that they always get their way. If it is going to be a no, fine, just let us know quickly, said one.

Scottish Renewables is the sectors umbrella organisation and it has said that planning snarl-ups are the number one gripe of its members.

Senior policy manager Mark Richardson stresses there needs to be a clear message to planning authorities from the top.

He said: To date, the planning system has moved far too slowly. Too many years can pass until a wind-farm developer, for instance, learns whether they can build their project  years in which clean energy and economic growth are being wasted.

This week, two Moray wind farms were consented which will deliver nearly 500MW, but only after a two-year wait following a public inquiry, meaning a total of almost four years in the planning system.

We are in the red zone of the climate emergency, and if we are to meet our climate change targets and create a healthier, safer, cleaner environment for our children and grandchildren this must change, and planning reforms which will shortly return to the Scottish Parliament must deliver that change.

Clear guidance and resource are needed from government to direct all planning decision-makers to radically reform their approach to the planning balance, placing climate change and nature recovery at the heart of all decisions  and at the top of their priorities when making decisions on renewable energy projects.

Carolyn Wilson, onshore consents team manager for SSE Renewables, has encountered capacity problems across the planning system, in national and local government and in the agencies who are sounded out about developments, such as NatureScot, Historic Environment Scotland and Scottish Environment Protection (Sepa).

But she added: The other blocker is the system itself and the inherent delays in transforming it. Obviously, the Covid pandemic over the last two years has withdrawn focus from change.

The SSE executive also cited frustrations with delays on small applications, like weather masts at wind farms. Barry Carruthers, the managing director for onshore at ScottishPower Renewables, shared those concerns.

Its not just about the volume of resources in local and central government departments, its about the right experience and knowledge and for the system to be agile enough to keep up with changes in everything from fast moving technology through to progress in environmental considerations, he said.

For example, the turbine technology going through planning stages could have changed by the time you get to construction with more efficient machines.

Mr Carruthers added that the fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4) must clearly support our ambitions to achieve net zero and must be unequivocal in terms of its approach to doing so. This direction, he suggested, should filter right through the system.

He added: Scotland has benefited greatly from early investment in renewables but many of those projects will be coming to the end of their existing lifespan. Currently, that could mean starting a new planning process from scratch when you have well designed and managed sites where you could have presumption in favour of consent to maximise land use and infrastructure efficiently.

David Bell, a veteran planner and planning consultant, is blunter still. Planning authorities are struggling, in terms of capacity, to determine applications. There needs to be action to address this or it will constrain, and threaten, our attainment of the net zero target.

The Scottish Government said that it "recognises the financial pressure and capacity challenge which planning authorities are experiencing. It put up fees earlier this year "to provide much needed additional resources.

A spokesman added: "The Scottish Government is working with Heads of Planning Scotland, the RTPI and universities to take forward proposals in the recent Future Planners report to help increase the number of people entering the planning profession."
Greenwich woman rescues litter of puppies found on streets of Greece (Image: Lauren Victoria)

A woman from Greenwich has teamed up with an online friend to help rescue a litter of puppies who were found on the streets in Greece.

Lauren Victoria was enjoying her sunny holiday on the Greek island of Zakynthos during the end of September when she noticed a Facebook post appealing for help.

The appeal was asking for help in taking care of a litter of puppies and their mum, who another woman called Emma had found on the streets.

READ MORE: Belvedere cat partially blind with pellet lodged in skull after air rifle shooting

Both Emma and Lauren were on separate holidays in the same area of Zakynthos where the pups were found, and are now looking for donations in bringing these pups to the UK to find their forever homes.

Lauren told the News Shopper: Before I stepped in to help, Emma and her partner went to feed the puppies and the rescue mission began.

News Shopper:

Due to the stray problem on the island, the shelters were full, and with no help from the government, Emma felt helpless and worried as her holiday was coming to an end.

After a dig around, Emma got in contact with the charity Greek Animal Rescue who were able to coordinate help.

Greek Animal Rescue is a small UK registered charity which is run by a handful of unpaid volunteers who are dedicated to helping the abused, abandoned, and neglected animals of Greece.

A pet taxi was arranged to pick the puppies up to take them to mainland Greece for vet care and a foster home four days after Emma made the call.

However, Emma was heading home, so there was no one to keep the pups safe in these four days, so she released an appeal out to which Lauren responded.

News Shopper:

Lauren told the News Shopper: I had already seen and fed the pups the day before.

We were able to flee and worm them - this is harder than it seems on wiggly pups - and gave them two lots of food and water each day.

Originally, we found four puppies, but a man who lived nearby gave one away and would not tell us where it was.

Story continues

This was incredibly sad, but we needed to focus on getting the three pups and mum safe.

Lauren says she woke up every morning on holiday feeling anxious and headed to the place they were sleeping every day, which was five minutes away from their hotel, in the hope they would be okay.

She explained: The puppies were not in a great state.

Covered in fleas, ticks, and with suspected mange on one pup, these tiny puppies were not getting the care they needed to survive.

News Shopper:

Unfortunately, many puppies born on the street in Greece do not make it as they are so susceptible to infection which their little bodies cant take.

Despite this, they were so playful, and mum was so amazing with the pups.

On the last night of the puppies being in Zakynthos, dog shelter Zante Strays was able to care for them and they were then shipped off to stay with a lovely foster carer in mainland Greece, Lauren says.

Lauren added: The mum and pups have had their first set of jabs but we need to get them to the UK so they can stay in their forever homes.

This is a very expensive process.

They have to have all their jabs, blood tests, pet passports, and the mum needs to be spayed.

News Shopper:

Lauren told the News Shopper that the puppies mum has already been adopted, but the three pups Aurora, Belle and Hercules are up for adoption.

She said We are asking for donations to help with the process.

This family never been on a sofa, played in a parks, had their own toys, their own bed, and thats what we want to give them.

We know times are tight at the moment, but every little helps.

You can donate to the Crowdfunding page here

Have you got a story for us? You can contact us here.

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Sign up to our newsletters to get updates sent straight to your inbox.
(Bloomberg) -- Brazilians are waiting for the results of a polarized runoff between incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in what has become the countrys most significant election since the return of democracy almost four decades ago.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Polling stations closed at 5 p.m. local time Sunday, and the governorships for 12 states including Sao Paulo, the most populous, will also be decided. Initial results are more likely to show Bolsonaro leading because votes in the southern regions where he has more of a following are usually counted faster. In the first round, Bolsonaro was ahead until about 70% of the ballots were tallied.

Over 156 million voters are choosing between two starkly different visions for their country.

Follow Brazil Elections Live Results Here

The man universally known as Lula, 77, who governed Brazil between 2003 and 2011, has stumped on memories of past prosperity, and touts his previous experience in office as a means to heal the nations deep divisions and end hunger.

Bolsonaro, 67, a God-fearing, former army captain whose style is frequently compared to Donald Trumps, draws on deep support from Brazils powerful agribusiness sector and evangelical community. He pledges to bring Christian values to the top levels of power while cutting bureaucratic red tape to spur growth.

Read more: Brazil Presidential Contenders in Final Push Before Vote

The clash between the countrys two largest political personalities has resulted in a bitter, and at times violent contest, thats raised concern among electoral authorities and international allies. Early indications suggest that tension may have spilled over to election day.

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During the day, local media reported that police stopped buses in some northeastern cities, leading to allegations that there was an attempt to prevent voters from reaching polling stations. There were more than 500 stoppages as of 12:35 p.m. Folha de S.Paulo newspaper reported, 70% more than in the first-round vote.

Alexandre de Moraes, the president of the countrys electoral court, ordered the head of Brazils roadway police to explain why hes conducting operations on public transportation, when the court had prohibited them on voting day. He later said nobody was prevented from casting a ballot and that he never considered extending the voting time.

Both candidates allege their opponent will do irreparable harm to Latin Americas largest economy. Bolsonaro claims his leftist rival will throw Brazil down a path like Venezuela or Nicaragua. Lula says the far-right president will hollow out democratic institutions if granted another four-year term.

Early Voters

Fernando Dante de Almeida, 67, a retired business owner, lined up at a polling station in Rio de Janeiros tony Ipanema neighborhood, wearing a homemade green-and-yellow shirt declaring his support for Bolsonaro.

I like the frankness of how he speaks. He may curse a lot, but what you get is real and he is surrounded by a team that has done the country good, he said. There was so much theft during Lulas reign. He claimed he was helping the poor, but what he really did was steal.

Across the divide, some voters said they were simply picking the least worst option.

Memories of corruption and excess when Lulas Workers Party was ruling weighed heavily on the minds of many. Others worried aloud about Bolsonaros authoritarian tact and constant clashes with institutions like the Supreme Court.

Lula was terrible, said Marcio Leon Nahon, a 45-year-old lawyer, out to vote with his wife and daughter. But I prefer the man who stole from me, rather than one who will steal my right to vote in the next election.

What Sundays Bolsonaro-Lula Runoff Means for Brazil: QuickTake

In Rios industrial north side, home to the citys aging factories and much of its working class, voters were quick to criticize the presidents economic track record. Many said they were stung hard by high prices of staples like rice and beef.

What has increased in these four years is hunger, misery and people living in the street, said Alessandra de Oliveira, 48, a homemaker. Lula is a president who actually cares for the poor.

Grenades

Polls leading into Sundays vote showed Lula holding a slim lead, but Bolsonaro surprised pollsters with a stronger-than-expected showing in the first-round vote on Oct. 2. Since then, hes tried to improve his standing by launching a slew of last-minute economic measures, and has been helped by an improving economic outlook.

But a series of campaign blunders, including a violent incident where a onetime lawmaker and staunch ally of the president fired a rifle and threw grenades at the police sapped Bolsonaros momentum in final week of the race.

Days before Sundays vote, Bolsonaro intensified attacks on electoral authorities, claiming his campaign was not getting equal access to the airwaves, stoking fears that he may be planning to contest the vote. He has previously said he wont step down if fraud impacts the results, setting up a potential repeat of what followed the 2020 US presidential election.

Yet on Friday night the president said he will respect the result and that whoever gets one more vote will win the election.

Both the current and former president finished their campaigns in heavily populated states of the Southeast. Lula and Bolsonaro voted early Sunday morning. The leftist cast his vote in Sao Bernardo do Campo, a suburb of Sao Paulo, where he launched his political career as a trade unionist. Bolsonaro voted at a military school in Rio.

--With assistance from Daniel Carvalho, Isadora Calumby and Simone Iglesias.

(Recasts story with closing of polling stations.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2022 Bloomberg L.P.
Louis Theroux interviews Dame Judi Dench Tuesday on BBC2 at 9.15pm

SHOULD you need a masterclass in how to handle a cheeky interviewer, go straight to Louis Theroux Interviews: Dame Judi Dench (BBC2, Tuesday, 9.15pm).

The filmmaker who has pulled the pigtails of everyone from gangster rappers to Neil and Christine Hamilton, has a laid- back style that belies a sharp journalistic eye.

But there is no need for his interviewee to be on their guard in this, the second of six sit-downs (last week was Stormzy; well worth a trip to iPlayer). Its Judi Dench for heavens sake, the original national treasure before the label was stuck on every celeb of a certain age.

Theroux wisely acts the part of devoted but occasionally impudent grandson when he visits the great Dame in her Surrey home, and she plays him right back. If the pair ever wish to appear on stage as Bertie Wooster and one of his terrifying aunts Id buy a ticket.

Dame Judi introduces Louis to one of her pets, a parrot called Sweetheart who talks like a robbers dog (if a robbers dog could speak), and requires to be addressed in similar style. Always loved animals, says Dame Judi. Had 17 cats during the war.

During which war? asks Theroux, which earns him the first of several theatrical points to the door by Dame Judi and a cry of Louis, OUT! Pups who have had an accident on the new carpet will know the tone.

Theroux makes his way through all the talking points of her career and her family life. She was married to her great love, fellow actor Michael Williams, for 30 years. Two decades on from his death she still struggles to talk about his passing.

She does not seem to have been out of work since leaving drama school. During lockdown her TikTok videos with grandson Sam had millions of views. Now she has macular degeneration and cant get around as much as she would like, but she is still working, as we see from a clip of her being interviewed on stage by Gyles Brandreth (another charmer).

Theroux has brought champagne and laughter, and as the pair make their way arm in arm through her orchard, with trees planted for pals and loves long gone, it looks like a beautiful friendship has begun.

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There is no mucking about with fancy titles for Scotlands Biggest Families (BBC One Scotland, Monday, 8pm), which delivers exactly what it says on the mega-sized tin. Filmed over a year, the three part documentary follows the lives of the Hanns from Dundee (13 children, plus grandchildren) and the Sullivans from Lossiemouth (11 and another on the way).

Lots of questions come to mind as we drop in on households where everything is complicated by numbers. If you think its tough getting out the door in under half an hour with one child, try 13 of them.

Then there is the noise. As one dad says, sometimes the hilarity and hyperactivity turns into fighting. What about the expense? How do they afford all that shopping, the clothes, Christmas presents? And regrets  do the parents, or their children, have any or is life a game of one big happy if chaotic family? Worth catching as they are a likeable bunch, and the silence when the hour is over is heavenly.

This week there is no better way to fill an hour than to drop in at The White Lotus (Sky Atlantic, Monday, 9pm). Created, written and directed by Mike White, the first series of this award-garlanded comedy/drama about filthy rich folk was set in Hawaii. Now we are in Sicily and the general gorgeousness of everything (bar most of the guests) is off the charts.

Jennifer Coolidge returns as Tanya, whose money can buy anything except love and the figure she wants. Two young couples have come on holiday with each other and are clashing nicely, while the grandfather-son-grandson trio who want to trace the old boys roots are a handful. Besides Coolidge the superb cast includes Michael Imperioli (Christopher from The Sopranos) as a Hollywood hot shot, F Murray Abraham as his father, and Aubrey Plaza as a fantastically bored by everything young wife. She doesnt even watch Ted Lasso. Thats the level of monster we are dealing with here. If you think no-one could do neurotic like the manager of the Hawaii resort you havent yet had the pleasure of meeting the hilariously tactless Valentina (Sabrina Impacciatore).

The three-part Alexander Armstrong in South Korea (Channel 5, Tuesday, 9pm) starts at warp speed with the Pointless presenters first evening in Seoul (population 26 million). Its a young, busy, buzzy place, a treat for (or assault on) all the senses. The always genial Armstrong immerses himself in K culture, which includes having a makeover to turn him into a K pop star. That outfit would never do on Pointless, Al.
NEWSPAPERMAN: Collector Nguyen Phi Dung in the northern province of Nam Dinh is locally called the 'keeper of the soul of newspapers' due to his massive collection of 20 tonnes of printed newspapers and journals. Photo courtesy of the collector

A passion for journalism and a love for news in Vietnam and throughout the world inspired a man in the northern province of Nam Dinh, to pour much of his life into collecting old newspapers.

Nguyen Phi Dung, 61, an information technology specialist, is known locally as the "keeper of the soul of newspapers" due to his massive collection of printed newspapers and journals.

With hundreds of thousands of issues, including the rarest and most precious publications in different Vietnamese historical times before 1945, such as Cuu Quoc (National Salvation), oc Lap (Independence), and Co Giai Phong (Liberation Flag), Dung's collection has gained much prestige for its quality and quantity.

He uses an entire 50 sq.m room to preserve and display newspapers and magazines. It looks like a small press museum.

Dung carefully stores the volumes on the shelves or places them on tables according to the date of each issue.

Along with popular national newspapers such as Nhan Dan (The People), Quan oi Nhan Dan (People's Army), The Thao Van Hoa (Sports and Culture), Thanh Nien (Young People) and Tien Phong (Vanguard), he also has some rare foreign newspapers such as a Newsweek published in 1962 and a French newspaper issued in Hai Phong in 1886.

He owns the Gia inh Bao (Gia inh Newspaper), which was issued in 1865 - the first Vietnamese romanised language newspaper. It is a precious and rare issue in his collection for which he has been offered VND20 million (US$700).

Father's inspiration

Dung said he was inspired by his father, who joined a social movement called "oc va Lam theo Bao chi (Read and Do as Newspapers Say) in 1960. Seeing his father keeping all the newspapers he bought to promote the movement and learn from the news, Dung found it interesting to follow him and help preserve the items.

However, life was very hard back then, and the father sold some old issues to support the children. Although he was very sad, Dung was still too young to help.

The march of time, war, and sometimes just moving house have caused losses and damage to the collection.

By the 1970s, Dung became an adult able to support the family and tried to convince his father not to sell anymore, saying he could buy more to enrich the collection.

Their hobby continued even after his father passed away. By 2016, the collection reached more than 100,000 issues and weighed more than 8 tonnes.

Several years later, it has increased to 20 tonnes as Dung has invested more money and time in hunting for old newspapers from across the country.

"It was information in the newspaper itself that also helped me boldly invest in the business of electronic game devices in Nam Dinh during the 1980s," he said.

PERSONAL LIBRARY: Dung uses a 50 sq.m room to preserve and displays the collected newspapers and magazines. It looks like a small press museum. Photos courtesy of the collector

The business became one of the city's leading computer repair and supply chains.

"I am ready to go and buy old newspapers whenever I get the news that some news desks or libraries want to sell them. Once, I paid for a truck to transport many newspaper issues from HCM City to Nam Dinh. It was a large quantity and took much time to arrange, but I was really satisfied to own them," Dung said.

Along with his love for newspapers, another goal of preserving and collecting old issues is to help young people know about the difficult time of Vietnamese revolutionary journalism before 1954.

In his collection, he especially loves the first issue of Co Giai Phong on October 10, 1942. The newspaper's main content was to publicize the anti-French and Japanese policies of the Communist Party, and expose the malicious plots and tricks of colonialism and fascism.

"This is one of the 'oldest' issues, which took me much effort and passion to own," Dung said.

According to Dung, collecting newspapers and magazines is also a form of investment.

"The longer it is preserved, the more valuable it becomes," he said.

Dung hopes his children will also have the same interests and passions, especially respect for old newspapers.

In his storehouse on the 4th floor of a big building, he has installed an air conditioner and dehumidifier to regularly maintain a room temperature of around 22 degrees Celsius.

HISTORIC ISSUE: The Newsweek issue of May 7, 1962, is one of the rare old printed magazines that Dung owns.

With special rare newspapers, he preserves them by wrapping each newspaper with plastic paper, or rolling them up, putting them in cartridges and carefully placing them in a glass cabinet.

"As they are all paper materials, it is very hard to preserve them, especially as the weather in the North is often wet and humid," Dung said.

Another big difficulty is coping with termites and bugs, so the collector has to keep newspapers on a high floor without using any wood furniture.

Private museum

Dung has a plan to build a museum of newspapers and cultural heritage in his hometown in Nam Dinh, which may become the first private one of its kind in the country.

The museum is expected to open in the next three years to welcome the 100th anniversary of Revolutionary Journalism Day on June 21, 2025.

NATIONAL NEWS: Dung's collection includes many issues of Viet Nam News of which the oldest is from 1996, five years after the first issue.

If the plan comes to fruition, Dung will use three floors of a five-story building with over 300sq.m area on Truong Chinh Street in Nam Dinh for the museum.

"The museum will spend more than 70 per cent of its space exhibiting its collection of newspapers and magazines. The remaining space will display my collected items about cultural and historical heritage, including some ancient sac phong (king's certificates to confer titles on people)," he said.

As an expert in IT, Dung will also apply technology to preserve the collection.

The display will focus on important national celebrations and anniversaries such as National Day and Vietnam Women's Day.

The collector said the aim of building the museum was to preserve the values of journalism, particularly printed newspapers, while at the same time helping boost the study and research of old journals and newspapers.

Source: Vietnam News
In an interview to Vietnam News Agency on the occasion of the upcoming Vietnam visit by Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary Elizabeth, the ambassador said that the Danish Crown Prince will be accompanied by 40 leading Danish companies. He will have meetings with Vietnamese leaders and attend trade and investment promotion activities.

Ambassador Luong Thanh Nghi (L) and Danish Crown Prince Frederik (Photo: VNA)

Along with the activities to mark the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam-Denmark diplomatic ties, the delegation will focus on fostering connections and cooperation between businesses of the two countries in the fields of wind power and efficient energy use and management.

Highlighting the significance of the visit, Ambassador Nghi held that it aims for substantial outcomes, including seeking and expanding cooperation in areas of strategic significance to both countries such as green transition and sustainable development, which are also important for Vietnam in realising its net-zero emission commitment.

The ambassador said that Vietnam and Denmark are enjoying growing partnership and mutual support at regional and multilateral forums and organisations.

Two-way trade reached 842.37 million USD in 2021, up 18 percent year on year, and 554.17 million USD in the first nine months of 2022, with Vietnam's exports rising 51.8 percent.

So far this year, Denmark has been the third biggest investor of Vietnam with capital amounting to 1.32 billion USD.

Pointing out similarities between the two countries, Nghi said that Denmark considers Vietnam as a model for green transition and pledges to accompany with and support Vietnam in realising green and sustainable development goals.

Vietnam and Denmark have also enjoyed effective cooperation in culture and people-to-people exchange, he said.

The diplomat held that the cooperation potential between the two countries is huge, especially in areas related to green transition and sustainable development, while the demand for collaboration in energy, agriculture, biotechnology and logistics is increasing.

Denmark has shown great interest in investing in Vietnam where the demand for high-quality investment inflows is high, he said.

Cooperating with Denmark, a leading country in green transition and sustainable development, also provides good conditions for Vietnam to fulfill its commitment to achieve net-zero emission target in 2050, the diplomat added.

Danish investors see large potential of VN agriculture sector The Vietnamese agricultural sector is on the radar of many Danish investors wishing to implement their fresh initiatives in the Southeast Asian market.

FPT Software expands in Europe with new office in Denmark FPT Software, Vietnams leading IT solutions provider, announced the opening of its first office in Denmark on September 5, increasing the number of its international offices to 59.
In an interview to the Vietnam News Agency in Hong Kong, Li highlighted the Vietnamese Party head is the first foreign leader to visit China after the recent 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), and this demonstrates the close friendship between the two countries.

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc (L), Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (R) at the ceremony to see off Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong for the visit to China on October 30 (Photo: VNA)

The traditional relationship, built by generations of leaders of the two countries, has become a valuable asset that the two Parties, countries and peoples are preserving and cultivating, importantly contributing to the fruitful and sustainable development of the bilateral relations, he stressed.

President Ho Chi Minh's unique diplomatic style and humane moral example were factors that contributed to boosting the friendly and close relationship between the leaders of the Parties and States, and peoples of the two countries.

In the context of complicated and unpredictable changes in the world, Vietnam and China have continued to strengthen solidarity and mutual assistance, find siminarities and put aside differences in order to further develop their bilateral relations, the scholar said.

Li said he believes that the Vietnamese Party leaders visit to China will create an important milestone, deepening the Vietnam-China friendship and the great causes of the two Parties and nations.
Neither candidate in the race to replace retiring Precinct 5 Justice of the Peace Fernando Villarreal is making much of the pending misdemeanor charge against one of them.

The matchup between the two Latinas with roots in South Waco is the first contested election for the seat in decades. Villarreal, a Democrat who has maintained a law practice during his 30 years on the bench, never drew a challenger.

Republican nominee Jessica Dominguez, a Waco businesswoman and Baylor University graduate, faces Democratic nominee LucyAnn Sanchez-Miramontez, who has served as Beverly Hills mayor since last year.

Sanchez-Miramontez was arrested and released on bond in February, shortly before winning her primary for the JP nomination, on a Class B misdemeanor charge of abuse of official capacity. Police allege she improperly spent about $517 in city funds around Feb. 10 for food and alcohol at The Baylor Club in Waco and a similar club in Irving. The last action on the case was a motion by her lawyer last month to receive information on the evidence from the district attorneys office.

Her arrest affidavit indicates Sanchez-Miramontez wrote the city a personal check for about $560 on Feb. 18, post-dated for Feb. 25, with a note on the check saying it was for personal spending at The Baylor Club, the Tribune-Herald reported at the time.

Dominguez said she would not speak against her opponent for the unresolved charge.

I told her when she received her nomination that I would not bash another Latina woman running for office, Dominguez said Tuesday.

Neither Sanchez-Miramontez, nor her personal attorney, nor the city secretary, nor the city attorney responded to the Tribune-Heralds requests for comment on the charge over the past 10 days.

McLennan County Democratic Party Chair Mark Hays said he does not find the charge particularly concerning.

Its been such a very long time since I heard anything about that charge, and she paid the city back, Hays said.

Sanchez-Miramontez said by phone Monday that her prior experience in city government qualifies her for the justice of the peace role.

During my time as mayor since May last year, and before that as a city council member since February 2013, I have worked with the municipal court and law enforcement and county officials, she said.

On her LinkedIn page, Sanchez-Miramontez indicates she worked in logistics, customer service and administration in the Waco area from February 2009 until February 2020. She lists her role as mayor as full-time. She also indicates an associates degree as a paralegal from Virginia College at Austin conferred in 2008.

On matters that often come before justices of the peace, such as student truancy, traffic citations and evictions, she said that after she receives training, all of her rulings and decisions would be according to Texas law.

I consider myself a South Wacoan, Sanchez-Miramontez said. Even though I have lived and worked in Beverly Hills, I grew up there, and I would be honored and proud to serve all the residents of Precinct 5.

Dominguez also has roots in Precinct 5, living there nearly her whole life, raising a son there, and working since 2019 as a manager in her familys restaurant, Jon Lillies Steakhouse.

She plans to complete a masters in business administration with a concentration in cybersecurity at Baylor University in December, adding to a bachelors in finance she completed there in 2004. She said she has received support from her family, including her fiance and her son.

Dominguez went to work for Cheddars Scratch Kitchen in August 2004 with the management team that brought the restaurant to Waco. She managed nearly every department in the restaurant, leaving in 2010 to work with Starbucks, then Potbelly Sandwich Shop.

McLennan County Republican Party Vice Chair Chris DeCluitt said he is confident in Dominguezs candidacy.

Were supremely lucky to have an accomplished Latina businesswoman like Jessica Dominguez running for justice of the peace in Precinct 5, DeCluitt said.

Dominguez said she hopes to work closely with the community to resolve root causes behind issues like evictions and traffic tickets for failure to maintain car insurance.

I want to have training in financial responsibility to teach people how to avoid these kinds of problems, Dominguez said.

She also wants to find a proactive approach to truancy.

My mother gave birth to me when she was a teenager, and I was with her when she graduated high school, Dominguez said.

She said her mother and stepfather worked and sacrificed so that first her mother and then she herself could finish high school, and then so that she could earn a bachelors degree.

I want find out why kids arent excited to go to class, and help them understand how important finishing high school is to their future and to their families, Dominguez said.

She said she wants to give presentations at middle schools and high schools on the importance of education and consequences on families for truancy, like fines and court appearances.

McLennan County voters can choose to vote at any of five vote centers for in-person early voting in the Nov. 8 election:

Robinson Community Center, 106 West Lyndale Ave.

Waco Multi-Purpose Community Center, 1020 Elm Ave.

First Assembly of God, 6701 Bosque Blvd. in Waco

Hewitt City Hall and Library, 200 Patriot Court

Records Building basement, 214 N. Fourth St., Suite 300.

Early voting hours for remaining days are as follows:

1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 30
Waco Republican Congressman Pete Sessions said an appropriations bill, defining the nations role in Ukraine and scrutiny of the 2020 presidential election are among the issues he expects to address in his second term representing Texas House District 17.

Sessions took almost 70% of the vote in the March primary to hold off three challengers, and he is expected to win reelection to his second District 17 term Nov. 8. He previously represented a Dallas-area district for 11 terms before he was unseated by a Democrat in 2018. His Democratic challenger in November, Mary Jo Woods, did not respond to interview requests for this article, and her campaigns online presence has become minimal since she went unopposed in the primary, with no Facebook posts since July and a website that appeared to be offline.

Sessions said if Republicans become the majority party in the House in January, and possibly the Senate, they will meet with Department of Defense officials and determine what the countrys role in Ukraine should be. The new Congress will be in place about 11 months after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Congress authorized lots of money, billions of dollars, Sessions said. We have yet to get a real assessment of Are we there to fight? What are we there to do?

The country has provided $13.5 billion in weapons, according to the DOD, and $1.5 billion in humanitarian aid, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Sessions said Armed Services Committee Chair Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., has reliably provided facts about U.S. involvement in Ukraine, but the administrations philosophy on Ukraine has been wrapped in secrecy.

We were kind of in there and kind of not, so the line has never been effectively communicated, he said. The line will be effectively communicated in January.

Sessions also said he is still in favor of investigating Dallas, Harris and Travis counties, along with counties in Arizona, for election tampering or fraud in the 2020 election.

I think whats amiss is that if you have nothing to hide  then come out in the open, he said.

Sessions, a member of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, said representatives from The Open Records Project got in contact with him about voting in Dallas County, where the organization is based.

Theres a political narrative that my friends, the Democrats, like to push, which is that these people are harassing or making life difficult for elected officials, Sessions said.

Back in District 17, Sessions said he will continue to support federal funding for replacement of a Speegleville Road bridge over the Bosque River, previously estimated at $8 million. He pushed to have the project included in the House version of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that passed late last year, but it was stripped before passing the Senate and returning to the House. Sessions voted against the bill.

It received the votes of 19 Republican senators in a 69-30 passage in August of last year, and the votes of 13 Republican House members in a 228-206 passage in November, with six Democrats opposed.

He said it is common for parties to vote down bills based on additions from the opposite party.

No one else has gotten what they need either, he said. Its not just this bridge, its all over the country.

Sessions said he requested $1.76 million for the bridge in a fiscal year 2023 transportation bill, but it may end up earmarked for the next year instead. He said he also has requested $5.76 million for improvements to Lake Wacos embankments, $3 million for the Bullhide Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant south of Waco, and $3 million for the city of Wacos proposed Bledsoe-Miller science, technology, engineering, arts and math center.

Sessions also said he opposes the Biden administrations decision to extend Title IX protections of equal educational opportunities for LGBTQ students, and universities embracing similar policies.






YMCA STEAM program

Novembers science, technology, engineering, arts and math program at the Greater Waco YMCA, 6800 Harvey Drive, will focus on slime of all kinds, including magnetic, glow-in-the-dark and more.

Registration ends Tuesday for ages 6-12, who will meet from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Nov. 7. Registration ends Nov. 7 for ages 3-6, who will meet from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Nov. 14.

Cost is $15 for YMCA members and $20 for nonmembers.

For more information, email chernandez@ymcactx.org.

Kids music program

Bledsoe-Miller Community Center, 300 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., will hold a new 12-week music program for kids ages 4-6, presented by Centex Music.

First Steps in Music: For Preschool and Beyond will start Nov. 2. Classes are from 10 to 11 a.m. Wednesdays through Feb. 7. Parents are welcome to stay for the classes or drop their children off. Cost is $150 per child.

Space is limited. To register, call 254-750-8684.

Library book sale

The Friends of the Waco-McLennan County Library Book Sale will run Thursday through Sunday at the Base at Extraco Events Center, 4601 Bosque Blvd.

Admission is $10 for Thursday, when the sale will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Admission is free for the rest of the sale. Hours will be 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.

Sunday will feature a $10 fill-a-bag special. Moonlight Madness from 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday costs $10, and attendees can take all the books they can haul away.

MCC registration open

Registration for McLennan Community Colleges winter minimester and spring semester will open at 7 a.m. Monday.

Students planning to take classes during the minimester should register by 2 p.m. Dec. 13. Classes run Dec. 13-28.

Spring semester registration continues through 6 p.m. Jan. 8, and classes will start Jan. 9.

Farm-to-table benefit

Abundance 2022, a farm-to-table dining experience and silent auction benefiting the World Hunger Relief farm, will start at 7 p.m. Saturday at Milo All Day, 1020 Franklin Ave. Sponsorships and donations support the mission of the farm to address food insecurity and hunger through sustainable agriculture, transformative education and community partnerships.

Tickets are $150 and can be purchased at worldhungerrelief.networkforgood.com.

For more information, email info@worldhungerrelief.org.
During my cordially contentious interview with Republican state Rep. Charles Doc Anderson this month, I noted that election administrators statewide have encountered difficulty in attracting and retaining staffers to man polling places, given the hostility members of his party have encouraged about alleged election mischief and the seeming lust for imposing stern penalties on those who err in increasingly complex citizen duties.

Theres a number of reasons for this, Anderson said after our debate over election-fraud claims and dozens of Trump-inspired lawsuits that failed in state and federal courts in 2020. Everything is so negative, its at DEFCON 2. People come in to vote and theyre hostile or at least theyre aggravated. Our folks are afraid if they do something, theyll be penalized. And so you have all that angst there.

He then suggested the infusion of poll watchers might help, something I doubted given theyre drawn from intensely partisan ranks and at least some arrive at polling places with plenty of attitude, determined to call out their neighbors or already harried election workers. A few years ago, one poll watcher enlisted by a local candidate created a polling-place disturbance at a Bellmead vote center sufficient to necessitate the summoning of police.

If voters and poll watchers come in spoiling for a fight, I advise them to remember their tasks pale alongside the enormous responsibilities of beleaguered election workers. As I learned in a class of such volunteers  and theyre the patriots around here, not the strutting sunshine patriots so prevalent in our midst  they have to negotiate complicated election laws, manage cumbersome, intricate election equipment and, oh, yes, leave their political biases at the polling-place door.

Most folks in my class were graying and had settled into lives as senior citizens interested in giving back to their community. Most were white women. About half were new to the business of staffing elections. One wore a STARS Book Clubs T-shirt, indicating that she likely volunteered for a school reading program. A young white woman wore a neatly pressed Harley-Davidson T-shirt. A young African American woman wore an Interfaith Heroes T-shirt. All struck me as quick learners.

During class I learned, for instance, how much time and staffing can go into dismantling an election booth to take part of it into the parking lot so a disabled voter can cast a ballot. Because theres a potential for mistakes or misunderstandings in curbside voting, whoever undertakes this is advised to take another staffer along, preferably someone from the other political party, to help facilitate all this, just so they can cover for one another if someones partisan sensibilities are bruised.

At that point, McLennan County Elections Administrator Jared Goldsmith quipped, you remind them about ballot by mail!

And there was understandable confusion about canceling the booth, an eight-step process that must be taken if someone, say, walks away from the voting booth with an active ballot up without pressing the Cast Ballot button. Some wondered if canceling the booth meant the booth had to be sidelined from use for the day. It isnt, but given allegations of election scheming that abound, one cant be faulted for assuming extreme measures are undertaken to allay suspicion.

Goldsmith encouraged polling-place officials to always treat voters with respect, to use neutral language and to think how ones words might come across to others. And while he didnt recommend this course to others, he volunteered that he doesnt vote in primary elections where one votes by party. Another point: No one in a polling place but the election judge is permitted to have a cellphone out. Recording and photography are forbidden to safeguard voter privacy.

And voters cannot wear T-shirts or caps emblazoned with candidates names.

Oh, and tedious paperwork can arise depending on what a voters particular problem is. Dont blame election staff for delays and red tape; its required by the state of Texas. And besides some profane oath one might utter in frustration, brace yourself for more oaths, both solemn and formal, including for people assisting voters or interpreting for them. Poll watchers are also required to take an oath, the better to remind them that their own behavior is rigorously regulated.

This spring Republicans at several precincts in McLennan County insisted that they should have the ability to use video surveillance (strictly prohibited under state law), that they should have no oath requirement (state law requires an oath to not disrupt polling places or harass voters) and that they should not have to undergo training in the law by the Texas Secretary of States Office (and state law wisely requires they not only understand election law but pass a state test in it).

For all his stubborn skepticism about the legitimacy of the 2020 election, Rep. Anderson drew a line in the sand about partisan poll watchers who want everyone and everything else to be regulated in electoral matters but themselves. They can ask for whatever the hell they want, he told me forcefully, but for the state to honor election integrity, it has to have strict deals with poll watchers. You have to maintain the integrity of the whole system and have confidence in all sides.

Andersons point is worth emphasizing. Election workers are challenged enough just trying to help voters while avoiding language that might betray their own biases. During a break in training, one veteran poll worker suggested to me electoral shenanigans were more likely in Harris County than locally. Possibly he said so because theres just more people there. But was this a right-wing leap to judgment about Harris Countys Democratic inclinations and racially diverse populations?

In these days of suspicion and paranoia, one must forever be on guard, especially when in a public capacity where its easy to be misunderstood.

Local Democrats are still smarting over a Republican election judge being installed at the Waco Multipurpose Center  the sole early vote center favored by Democrats and African Americans. However, aside from much ado by Republicans over a brief campaign stop by hoarse candidate Beto ORourke and a small, borrowed public-address system near the polling place last week, the Republican election judge and Democratic alternate judge seemed to be keeping the peace.

Even so, the latest flap involving Betos amplified voice near polling did nothing to repair hard feelings about the push by Republicans involving East Waco polling-place hierarchy. One progressive thus mocked: The Dems egregious attack on law and order at a polling place makes the Jan. 6 dustup at the U.S. Capitol look like a church picnic, doesnt it? Just another left-wing attempt to steal an election. Get the pitchforks out, McLennan GOP! For the Rapoport Academy kids present, it was a lesson in obsessively partisan America.

If the animosity percolating in the hearts of some of us isnt enough, theres the fact many of us cant get our facts straight on election law. During a conversation I had with Sam Taylor, accommodating spokesman for Texas Secretary of State John Scott, I recalled how a disabled voter in Waco inquired at a town-hall meeting about a new law requiring her to get a doctors signature to vote by mail. No such law actually exists; yet neither of two lawmakers in the hall could clarify the matter for her.

Taylor did me one better: Some Texas voters labor under the assumption its against state election law to hand someone in a long voting line a bottle of water. Thats actually a new Georgia election law and, to be honest, its intended to prevent electioneering near polling. However, a spokesman for Georgias Republican secretary of state says the voters themselves are more than welcome to bring their own food and refreshments to survive long waits in line.

All this underlines a failing I find more than I did a generation ago: Voters are increasingly ignorant of the issues that supposedly move them to civic expression and the candidates on whom they will decide. During my interview with Rep. Anderson, he wasnt even straight on his conspiracy theories about election fraud  no real surprise. He perfectly represents constituents, many of them friends of mine, similarly adrift in fuzzy, fleeting details about debunked claims of election skullduggery.

Part of my job is answering questions, Secretary of State Scott told Texas Monthly in a bracing interview published Oct. 10. But a lot of the people who have questions, its the misinformed and the uninformed. The misinformed people seem like they really dont care. They know something and theyre going to stick to it no matter what you tell them. You can talk until youre blue in the face. With the uninformed, we have to reach out and tell them the truth. Otherwise, there will only be bad information circling around.

Its relevant to note Scott was one of the Texas attorneys who helped steer a federal lawsuit to block Pennsylvania from certifying results of the 2020 presidential election, only to quietly and tactfully withdraw as Trumps flamboyant personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, assumed a greater role in the legal matters. The speculative suit was dismissed by a federal judge who marveled at its attempted disenfranchisement of 7 million Pennsylvania voters  the states entire electorate.

Its also relevant that even U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, a Trump loyalist, noted in his new book that the failure of dozens of Trump-inspired election lawsuits pivoted on the quality of attorneys in whom Trump placed his faith. Cruz writes that he informed Trump that he needed to assemble a far better legal team, and he needed to do so immediately. If election deniers want to blame anyone, I suggest they start with injudicious Trump celebrity attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell.

Yet election denialism is alive and well. Consider the grim experiences of Heider Garcia, elections administrator of Tarrant County, 90 minutes up the road. When Trump failed to prevail in the 2020 county vote, even as other Republicans won, conspiracy theorist and attorney Powell targeted Garcia, without evidence. Social media threats followed, including a proposal to hang him when convicted for fraud and let his lifeless body hang in public until maggots drip out of his mouth.

This may be why Secretary Scott  himself ambushed by a dozen unruly conspiracy theorists while helping the Hays County elections office conduct a public testing of voting machines last month  opted last week to join Garcia in Tarrant County in demonstrating the ease of in-person voting. Among other things, Garcia stressed that None of the machines that touch your ballot, or that count it, are connected to the internet  a claim Republican officials regularly and falsely refute.

All of which bolsters those who say our ongoing election and that of 2024 are ultimately about democracy in America and whether those whose ancestors benefited under it, even as it blossomed into Lincolns new birth of freedom, are willing to fiercely resist latter-day efforts to apportion who among us gets rights and who among us gets  well, fewer rights. How well we treat fellow voters  including those trying to run fair and honest elections  will determine the outcome.
When Brenton Tarrant, the Christchurch shooter, attacked two mosques in New Zealand, he styled himself part of a new knighthood fighting an existential threat. The emotional impact of that horrific 2019 attack still reverberates. The longer-term concern, however, should be the ideology that Tarrants 74-page manifesto, The Great Replacement, espouses. In his grand narrative, he warns darkly of assault on the European people [and] our civilization, and, consequently, of a Europe spiraling into death and decay.

Forty-six times he warns of a coming replacement; 65 times of invaders. Genocide is on the horizon. Not surprisingly, by invaders Tarrant means Muslim immigrants. But the enemy is not simply external. There is an enemy within the gates, those traitorous European leaders who allow this to happen or even promote the invasion through their immigration policies.

Hence, only the most dramatic steps can avert the existential crisis. And so this 28-year-old modern-day crusader felt morally warranted in riding forth to kill 51 people. The oldest victim was 77; the youngest, 3.

Since then, others have explicitly followed his example, in Europe and the United States, carrying out acts of terror and issuing their own manifestos. This includes the Buffalo, New York, shooting in May 2022 that killed 10 Black people.

The language of Tarrants manifesto is reprehensible, yet explicable. We have seen this language before: It is the language of the jihadists. While the vocabulary may differ, its import in The Great Replacement bears striking similarity to terrorist mastermind Osama bin Ladens 1998 fatwa; his subsequent declaration of triumph, Hypocrisy Rears its Head, after the 9/11 attacks; and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadis July 2014 Message to the Mujahidin and the Muslim Ummah.

In these and thousands of other declarations, attack claims, martyr eulogies and e-zines, the jihadists have presented a sprawling narrative. They describe the once glorious and vast extent of Islam, which stretched from modern-day Spain to India under the Umayyads. They lament its slow eclipse by the crusaders, Jews and imperialists, right up to the present. And they warn of the enemy within, those apostate Muslim leaders who no longer follow the true Islam but have abandoned its ideals.

Threat of the Other

But this jihadist narrative also features two doctrines of special note, doctrines which help illuminate the thinking of the violent white nationalism rampant in America: al-wala wal-bara and halal. The first translates as loyalty and disavowal; the second, permitted. The first indicates a categorical divide between the in group, to which true believers owe complete loyalty, and an Other which they should totally disavow. This is an Other from which one is absolved of any responsibility.

The second term, halal, is religious in nature and indicates what actions true believers are permitted to take. While the idea is implicit in Osamas 1998 fatwa, the militant Islamist group ISIS has given this a chilling application. As they would frame it, We face no less than an existential threat from the Crusaders, Jews and even internal apostates. We must reaffirm our exclusive loyalty to one another. We have no moral obligations to those who refuse Islam or apostatize. And because the threat is so egregious, we are legally permitted to shed the blood of our enemies, both external and internal, for it is halal. Thus, the atrocities from the 9/11 attack to the beheading of journalist James Foley to the Paris attacks in late 2014, attacks that continue, even if sporadically, to today. The West sees these as victims egregiously murdered by radicals, and so they are. But to the jihadists, they are the threatening Other. Shedding their blood is permitted. It is halal.

It is precisely this rationale we find in the Christchurch shooters manifesto. The in-group (white Europeans) faces an immediate, existential threat from an external enemy, invading Muslims. Additionally, there are the internal enemies: antifa, leftists and especially compromised political leaders. Together, these enemies have brought true Europeans to the precipice of civilizational disaster. Thus, for Tarrant, immediate, violent action is fully warranted. He is guiltless in the Christchurch attacks, for he is a lawful, uniformed combatant against an occupying force [that seeks to] destroy our nation.

He even justifies killing immigrant children, for they are but a vipers nest that will one day become the enemy of Europe. In Tarrants view, All methods are possible, in the face of ethnic genocide. And so for Tarrant, the blood of immigrants and leftist political leaders was halal, and in March 2019 he took the action necessary to secure the future of white children.

Their blood is halal. This is the same rationale we find on the American side of the Atlantic. It features in the manifesto of Dylann Roof, the Charleston shooter. Blacks and Hispanics are enemies. Thus, Roof writes, he had no choice but to brave[ly] take it to the real world. The rationale appears in Robert Bowers, the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter. Antifa poses a threat. Hispanic invaders at the Southwest border pose a threat. The Jews, however, are carrying out white genocide. Ergo, I cant sit by and see my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics. Im going in.

This is the rationale of John Earnest, the Poway, California, synagogue shooter directly inspired by Brenton Tarrant. He boasts of a magnificent bloodline that is white and warns that the vile anti-human Jews have meticulously planned the genocide of white Europeans. Hence, he calls on every white man and, especially, his brothers in Christ, to attack Jews, becoming martyrs if necessary. Such action is warranted  and here is halal reasoning  because the Jew has forced our hand, and our response is completely justified.

Halal. That line of reasoning appears in the Buffalo shooters manifesto, largely imitative of Tarrants. And in Norwegian shooter Anders Breiviks 1,500-page manifesto, 2083: A European Declaration of Independence. Its the reasoning of Patrick Crusius, the El Paso Walmart shooter. We can add others, less well known: Alexandre Bissonnette and Santino William Legan and Philip Manshaus and Thomas Mair. In each instance, there has been a threatening Other, one who was either an external enemy, an internal enemy or both. The attacker perceived the threat to be so great that he operationalized a halal-like rationale and went to war.

We saw it Jan. 6

Al-wala wal-bara. Halal. Let there be no doubt that this kind of rationale is precisely what our nation witnessed firsthand on Jan. 6, 2021. Some Americans styled themselves the true Constitution-affirming patriots among us. They declared the country in an existential crisis. Once called to action, they armed against other Americans whom they deemed the Deep State or antifa or disloyal RINOs  collectively the internal and implacable enemy.

Of course, halal can be non-lethal: intentional voter suppression, say, or purposely spreading disinformation about a stolen election. But on Jan. 6, armor-clad patriots with Gadsden Dont Tread on Me flags and zip ties and bear spray erected a gallows. They stormed the U.S. Capitol with vows to return. They shed blood. In truth, they assaulted the very foundations of our democratic republic, long the envy of the world.

Perhaps after so many months and after so many crises around the globe, the story of Jan. 6 now reads like a fiction. But this is not a novel, and this is not a drill. According to reporting in the Washington Post, almost 20 million Americans now believe violence is justified to reinstall their preferred candidate to the White House. What is unfolding in this perilous American moment is a looming tragedy, an ancient Greek tale writ anew for this generation. If we choose not to act, if we fail to rise up and act as a united people, if partisan politics prevails over the common good, then we ourselves will write the denouement. In that case, the members of the modern Greek chorus will be our own children and grandchildren. And amid the dust and rubble of a once noble, now crumbling democracy, one might hear the faint and keening cry, You failed us.

But we could have seen this coming. The jihadists warned us.
WATERLOO  Jim and Esther Marie Trask are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary with a family dinner and card shower.

They were married Nov. 3, 1962, in Waterloo.

The honorees are the parents of two children, Kim (Jay) Llewellyn and Kris (Jeff) Clements. There are seven grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.

Cards can be sent to 914 Blue Grass Circle, Unit 308, Cedar Falls, IA 50613. No gifts are requested.
WATERLOO  The popular, iconic Hickory House barbecue restaurant has burned down less than a week after celebrating seven decades in business after a car hit the building Sunday.

According to Troy Luck, Waterloo Fire Rescue batallion chief, firefighters were called at around 9 a.m. to reports of a car crashing into the D&K Hickory House at 315 Park Road downtown. The crash caused a gas leak, and as firefighters were addressing the leak, an explosion occurred in the old, wooden building.

One firefighter was reportedly evaluated for injuries, but he was cleared to return to duty.

Right now its minor, Luck said. Hes been released back to work.

Last Monday, the Hickory House celebrated 70 years of doing business. According to restaurant co-owner Lutricia Chilcote, the family is still waiting for the evaluation from their insurers, but suspects a total loss.

Well, the ceiling is all caved in, so Im assuming a total loss, Chilcote said.

The restaurant is well known to generations of Cedar Valley diners, and its smoked ribs were a customer favorite. Photos of celebrities who had stopped in lined a wall just inside the front door. The Waterloo Police Department is still investigating the circumstances behind the crash that led to the fire.
The Iowa Department of Public Safety's (DPS) Division of Criminal Investigations (DCI) investigated a fatal officer-involved shooting early Sunday in Davenport and identified the individual involved as 24-year-old resident Kenneth Jamel Carrol.

Three Davenport Police officers, two Iowa State Troopers and one Bettendorf Police officer discharged their weapons during the encounter with Carrol, and all six officers have been placed on Critical Incident Leave while the case is being investigated, according to a DPS news release.

An autopsy of Carrol will take place at the Office of the Iowa State Medical Examiner. No law enforcement personnel were injured. The release states: "Per protocol, their [law enforcement personnel] names will not be released prior to being interviewed by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation."

According to an earlier DPS news release, at 2:50 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 30, 2022, multiple agencies were patrolling in the area of 5200 Grand Avenue when officers initiated a traffic stop and the driver failed to stop, which resulted in a pursuit.

The pursuit ended after the vehicle became inoperable near Kimberly Road and Elmore Avenue  occupants then fled on foot. Officers exchanged gunfire with Carrol during the foot pursuit; as a result, Carrol was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the release.

This story is developing.
Republicans in contested races for the Legislature led in fundraising among Northeast Iowa candidates, according to the latest campaign finance filings.

However, none were close to the amount raised by Iowa House Speaker Pat Grassley, of New Hartford. Hes vying to represent Iowa House District 57, covering all of Butler County and a part of Bremer County, including Waverly, after redistricting pushed him out of the 50th District.

And he, like his opponent, spent very little of the money raised during the past three months.

Reports had to be filed earlier this month with the Iowa Ethics & Campaign Disclosure Board for the July 15 through Oct. 14 period. The election is Nov. 8.

The Republican reported raising $630,285 but only spending $1,804, largely on printing services. He received $598 of in-kind services for fundraiser food and a voter guide.

That left cash on hand of $1,096,800 for the campaign of U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassleys grandson. He ran unopposed in the Republican primary.

As speaker, my responsibility is to raise that much money. That comes with part of the role of being speaker, said Grassley. I always want to remind people that it isnt a self-serving use. If you look at any speaker from either party going back the last 16 years during my time in the Legislature, thats one of the key functions of being the leader of a caucus.

He noted that what I do with the money is ... I fund the most expensive parts of the House majority campaigns, which would be basically the last two weeks. While the filing did not reflect that, the moneys not going to be there after the campaign cycle is over, that money will be used to help support other candidates, from Sioux City to Davenport.

Republican Thomson, Democrat Lundberg face off in House District 58 The Iowa House District 58 race will feature a retired teacher, and an attorney.

Well over 250 people and organizations contributed to Citizens for Pat Grassley.

The big donors of $10,000 or more came from Iowa cities like Johnston, Ankeny, Lake Mills, Davenport, Des Moines, LeMars, Muscatine and West Des Moines. Those donations also came from outside the state, including Boca Raton, Florida; Manhattan Beach, California; and Dell Rapids, South Dakota.

That doesnt include the lengthy list of political action committees including Bankers Unite in Legislative Decisions of Johnston as well as Elite PAC, Iowa BEV PAC #6098, and Master Builders of Iowa P.A.C., all of Des Moines, to name a few. Iowa Health PAC had the largest donation at $45,000.

His Democratic opponent, Carissa Froyum, of Denver, took in $9,103 during that same period from 90 donors.

Froyum, a sociology professor, spent just $141 on fees for online fundraising software. But she said in a text message thats because shes a good steward of money. Her ending total was $14,779.

I have campaign materials from last time around after running for a state House seat in 2020.

I just sent a mailing and have ads going up this week. They wont appear until the next report. I have shot and made my own ads, and I have designed my own website, too. I know how to be effective, she said.

Her largest donors contributions range between $300 and $500, and came from cities like Waverly, Cedar Falls, Waterloo, and Iowa City. Another $1,400 came from the Butler County Democratic Central Committee. $250 came from the Plumbers and Pipe Fitters Local 125 Political Education Fund of Center Point, as well.

Bremer County Treasurer's race to feature Republican primary victor, longtime employee After the primary, the Bremer County Democratic Party nominated Erin Pratt, an 11-year clerk in the office, to run against Adam Hoffman.

House District 58

Republican Charley Thomson of Charles City and Democrat Dene Lundberg of Floyd raised $16,325 and $11,266, respectively, while campaigning to represent Chickasaw County and parts of Bremer and Floyd counties.

Thomsons campaign spent $9,100 primarily on signs, banners, mailers, consultant services and food for a meet-and-greet. But he also listed $24,429 in unpaid debt, the bulk being for advertising and consultant services fees. Another $850 was accrued for travel to an American Legislative event.

In addition, in-kind expenses were listed for hotel and food costs along with several hundred dollars for salary and gratuity for staffers time to canvass and put up signs  a total of $4,440.

Contributions came from close to 30 individuals and organizations, the largest being from his father ($7,500) and the Associated General Contractors of Iowa PAC out of Des Moines ($2,100).

Lundbergs contributions came from about 70 individual donors. Several were more than $100 with the top individual donations being $2,000 and $1,000. There was a $500 from the Chickasaw County Democratic Central Committee, as well.

DeJear, Mathis speak to Waverly Democrats during Tuesday rally Democratic candidates for governor, U.S. House seat make the case for their election over opponents in the race, the Republican incumbents.

She spent $6,849 of the money. Of that, $1,200 went to minivan access for the Iowa Democratic Party; $3,891 went to postcards, yard signs and barn signs; and $832 went to a radio ad. She also had $2,247 in unpaid debt for advertising and printing.

Senate District 29

Rep. Sandy Salmon of Janesville  the Republican nominee in Iowa Senate District 29 representing Butler, Bremer, Chickasaw and most of Floyd counties  raised $35,704 from about 150 individuals and organizations. She spent $11,531.

The largest donor gave $5,913, with the next highest being $500, to go along with sizable contributions from the various PACs including $10,000 from Justice For All Political Action Committee.

The largest buckets of her $11,531 in spending could be broken down into into $4,907 for newspaper advertising and $5,415 for campaign merchandise. In-kind contributions came to $11.76.

Her Democratic opponent Jennifer Wolff from Waverly raised $10,053 from about 100 donors. A few donations were upwards of $300 and $500. Some contributions came from county central committees and the Iowa Political Action for Candidate Election.

She spent $7,999, all on campaign signs and advertising.

Senate District 27

Annette Sweeney, a Republican from Buckeye, raised $61,404 from 182 separate donations.

Contributions reached as high as $7,500, including out-of-state donations of $1,000 from Archer Daniels Midland Company PAC, located in Decatur, Ill. and $1,000 from Syngenta Corporation Employee PAC based in Wilmington, Del.

She spent $15,260 on printing, postage, campaign signs and advertising. She received a few in-kind contributions from various people, as well as the National Federation of Independent Business Iowa.

Sam Cox, a Grinnell Democrat, raised $9,462 from 102 separate donations.

Contributions went as high as $1,500. Her campaign spent $4,899 on signs, ads, merchandise and postage, to name a few items. She also received an in-kind contribution from the Progressive Turnout Project of Chicago worth an estimated $2,500.

The district covers all of Hardin, Grundy, and Poweshiek counties, as well as a chunk of Tama County and a sliver of Black Hawk County.

House District 61

Democrat Timi Brown-Powers of Waterloo raised $6,207 from 23 separate donations in hopes of representing a district covering a part of Black Hawk County including southern Waterloo.

Contributions ranged as high as $1,000, including out of state contributions of $500 from North Central States Carpenter PAC based in St. Paul, Minn. and $750 from Deere & Company PAC in Moline, Ill.

Her campaign spent $550 on a room rental for a fundraiser and made a donation to Cedar Valley Pridefest.

Libertarian candidate John Bothwell of Waterloo raised $482 from four donations, the highest being $250. He spent a large portion of it on campaign signs.

DeJear, Mathis speak to Waverly Democrats during Tuesday rally Democratic candidates for governor, U.S. House seat make the case for their election over opponents in the race, the Republican incumbents.

House District 76

Derek Wulf, a Republican from Hudson, raised $22,680 from 87 separate donations. The range of contributions spanned from $25 to $4,000. His campaign spent $14,469 on fundraiser fees, printing materials and a political contribution to the Republican Party of Iowa.

Kate Wyatt, a Democrat from Hudson, raised $6,830 from 34 separate donations. Contributions came in as high as $2,000. Her campaign spent $4,571 on campaign signs, merchandise, office supplies and postage.

The district covers parts of Black Hawk, Tama, and Benton counties.

Black Hawk County

Tavis Hall, a Democrat, raised $8,645 from 60 separate donations. The range of contributions spanned from $25 to $1,500. His campaign spent $14,848 on website fees, campaign signs, fundraiser fees and postage.

Democrat Glen Keith raised $1,905 from 17 separate donations. The range of contributions spanned from $25 to $500. His campaign spent $1,762 on signs, website fees and advertising.

Republican Dan Trelka raised $700 from two donations, one was for $200 and the other for $500. He did not spend any money.

Dennis Halverson, a Republican, raised no money and reported no spending.

Bremer County

Republican treasurer candidate Adam Hoffman raised $750 from the Bremer County Central Committee and his father-in-law. He spent $802, nearly all on campaign signs and advertising.

His Democratic competitor, Erin Pratt, raised $895 from about 10 donors and spent $399.88 on newspaper advertising. She also accrued $770.34 in unpaid debt for campaign signs.

Democratic attorney candidate Jill Dashner raised $3,000. The only donor was her parents. She spent $1,254 on advertising, pamphlets and notepads.

Republican candidate Darius Robinson did not raise any funds, but accepted in-kind contributions valued at $763.39 for time, campaign merchandise and T-shirts.
CEDAR FALLS  The citys acting police chief has been recommended to permanently fill the job.

Mark Howard, with the Cedar Falls Police Department since 2007, was a captain before being named the acting chief in March after Craig Bertes promotion to interim public safety director.

If confirmed by the City Council at its Nov. 7 meeting, the two top public safety positions will have been filled by the internal candidates who were serving in those capacities in the interim upon the retirement of then-public safety director Jeff Olson in March.

DOT to begin reconstructing Highway 58 and Ridgeway Avenue corridor next spring Improvements will include the addition of a second turn lane at each of the four legs of the Highway 58 and Ridgeway Avenue intersection.

Howard was selected over Capt. Jeff Sitzmann, the other finalist, by Berte, Mayor Rob Green, and City Administrator Ron Gaines, according to a news release.

The candidates went through an extensive interview process after being named finalists. Seven applications were received for the job. A third candidate also had been an internal one, according to Berte.

Berte, the former police chief, was approved as Olsons permanent replacement by the council in a 5-2 vote in June. Howard also was a finalist.

Howard was a police chief finalist in 2020 when Berte got that job as well.

The police chief job pays $91,203-$148,218 annually depending on experience.

Howard has a masters degree in public policy from the University of Northern Iowa. He also went through the School of Police Staff and Command at the Northwestern University Center for Public Safety in Evanston, Illinois. Since joining the department in 2007, he had worked as a police officer, lieutenant, and public safety captain before becoming acting police chief.

Cedar Falls councilman questions mayor's appointment recommendations Councilor Daryl Kruse opposed the reappointment of commissioner to the Planning and Zoning Commission on Monday. He previously raised concern about the process.

Howard worked as an officer with the Waverly Police Department from 1997 to 2007.

He was a sergeant with the Iowa National Guard from 1986 to 1999.

Sitzmann has a bachelors degree in sociology and criminal justice from Iowa State University. Like Howard, he went through the School of Police Staff and Command.

He joined the department in 1996 and has been a police officer, lieutenant, and public safety captain before becoming an administrative captain. Previously, he served as a Woodbury County correctional officer during 1995 and 1996.
CEDAR FALLS  Beth Schildroth always wanted to own a business.

With the Cedar Falls resident close to being an empty nester and soon retiring her stay-at-home mom status, she thought now would be the perfect time to take on the challenge with her husband, Todd.

A week before Halloween, they opened up Big Acai Cedar Falls at 100 E. Second St., Suite 106. Its one of about a dozen Big Acai Bowl franchise operations in Iowa.

So, what is Ah-sigh-ee?

Originating in Brazil, the Acai bowl is a vegan sorbet topped with granola, bananas and other toppings. Acai fruit is one of a few bases offered  coconut and purple sweet potato (ube) being the others for now  thats accompanied by almonds, chia seeds, strawberry and peanut butter, to name a few of the many toppings to choose from.

Smoothies also are offered in various flavors including the Acai.

You really get addicted. Its just so good, and youre eating healthier, and overall just feeling better because of it, Schildroth said.

At the end of the day, theres a lot of different ways to customize the bright, vibrant snack thats almost all vegan, organic and plant-based with nutritious health benefits, and hosts superfoods with antioxidants and other nutrients.

She experienced her first bowl at the Ames location, but then got a fuller taste in Hawaii, where theyre really common, and her daughter happened to be going to school as part of an Iowa State University study abroad program.

We visited her during spring break and were like, how is there nothing like this here? Schildroth said. I wanted to bring healthy and delicious here to the Cedar Valley.

Franchise founders Lanette Byers and her son, Jake, perfected it to be very similar to whats offered in Hawaii, she said.

And Schildroth and her team of 12 staffers are now making bowls to the Cedar Valleys liking in their 600 to 800 square foot shop in the downtown from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday.

She picked the Second Street space because of it being a popular area for people to gather, especially with the River Place Plaza and its outdoor events venue right around the corner.

Playing a role: Volunteers help collect data, learn more about Dry Run Creek watershed Nearly 20 volunteers -- a mix of UNI students, Boy Scouts and community-minded residents in the watershed -- tackled 32 different sites over two to three hours.

I wasnt going to take this on if I didnt have the right location, Schildroth said.

She first looked into selling the product from a truck, which is how she experienced it in Hawaii. The franchise offered the opportunity, but she decided against it because of the additional challenges it would present.

Her aspirations became reality Oct. 21, a Friday, and the first two days, there was a line out the door, she said.

Schildroth credits being able to handle the immediate rush and popularity to two University of Northern Iowa students whove led the operation after working extensively at other locations.

Its fun to give people a new experience that no one else has to offer, said Macy Schulz, a student who spent approximately three years working at the Pella location. The culture is awesome. Its hard to explain the flavor, but no one says, I dont like it. Everyone likes something different and can change or manipulate it to fit their own taste buds or palate.

Schildroth says her location is offering the bowls and smoothies, but not at this time other offerings being sold at other sites like toast and coffee.

Its a good location, and its really cute. You can eat outside, and its just really tasty, healthy and delicious, said Sydney Owen of Cedar Falls, one of the newest customers to visit in the days to follow the grand opening.

Schildroth looks forward to new opportunities to build off the initial success and thrive alongside downtown events like Holiday Hoopla because it will offer the opportunity to get creative. One possibility is free hot chocolate with the purchase of a bowl.

Toppings Tuesday is already a special deal when customers purchase the base and get toppings free. The establishment also offers catering, as well as gift cards and e-cards too.

I like fruit and smoothies. This is like ice cream, but its good for you, said Julian Farber of Cedar Falls, another recent customer.
CEDAR FALLS  The lives and tribulations of women and girls living in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan were put in the spotlight during the Our Stories: Women of Afghanistan panel discussion at the University of Northern Iowa.

Five women sat down Thursday to give testimonies on their early lives under Taliban rule before the American invasion of the country in 2001, and how that nation went from giving women the vote a year before the United States passed the 19th Amendment, to girls being banned from receiving an education. This was the life that Hakima Afzaly, Roquiya Sayeq, Hasina Jalal, Zamira Saidi and Zuhal Salim found themselves living.

What is the difference between us and the guys in the neighborhood, or my cousins  the boys, Jalal said while looking back on her childhood. Why do they get to have all these rights and we do not? That was the first question I had as a child.

Jalal was set to return to Afghanistan to see her family after being delayed by the pandemic, only to be forced to cancel as the United States pulled out and the Taliban started taking back territory. Her parents were both temporarily jailed for dissenting against the regime, but were released through United Nations intervention.

Im sure that you have seen that in so many pictures coming out of Afghanistan; so basically long, burqa hijab with a few small holes in it, Salim said, linking womens dress code to the lives they live. Thats how they want women to see their world  just a few inches.

Each endured difficulty in gaining access to an education while Afzaly, who belongs to the predominantly Shiite Hazara people, was forced to flee with her family to Pakistan to escape ethnic cleansing. During the panel presentation, she spoke about the ongoing plight of her people, who are once again being targeted under the resurgent Taliban rule.

Currently, a genocide is happening towards the Hazara community, Afzaly said. We are being targeted in schools, in maternity hospitals, in mosques, in wedding halls, and in educational centers, just to name a few.

This hit home for Afzaly last month when a bomb went off at an education center in Kabul killing 50 people, most of them girls and young women from the Hazara community preparing for entrance into college. While no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, she stated that Taliban or ISIS were the most likely culprits.

Their families are still mourning the loss of their children, Afzaly said. To honor these innocent lives and their families, today Im sharing my story by focusing on just one part of my identity  which I share with all of them  and that is being a Hazara.

Salim also pressed the audience to not consider the plight of Afghan women just an issue in another country, but to act in solidarity, as its a human issue that could affect women even in the West.

If we are tolerating violence and injustice against women of Aghanistan, we are tolerating injustice against all women in the world, she said.
In my previous writing, I have tried to make it clear I believe there is a legitimate conservative political point of view out there. I dont agree with much of it, but I respect the right of conservatives and Republicans to subscribe to those beliefs.

But the Republican Party and its members are straying further and further from their traditional beliefs. Nowhere is this more evident than with Georgia U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. She epitomizes the current direction of the GOP toward more conspiracy mongering and lying. She has become the attack dog of the GOP. Rather than the party distancing itself from her inflammatory rhetoric, it has begun to embrace it. Her stature has increased in direct proportion to the lies she repeats or manufactures. Greene is a fanatic, as are many others in the rising New Right who are riding racism and hatred and fear, and even hint openly at the necessity for violence. Here are some examples of her quotes:

The Democrat Party is the party of child abuse. Grooming children and sexualizing them in school while teaching anti-white racism. They support genital mutilation of kids.

Democrats literally hate all police officers.

There are active members of the Communist Party in the Democratic House.

The California fires were started by lasers or blue beams of light shot down from space by Jewish Democrat supporters.

Bidens 5 million illegal aliens are on the verge of replacing you, your jobs, and your kids in school. Coming from all over the world, theyre also replacing your culture.

The climate has always changed, and no amount of taxes and no government can do anything to stop climate change.

And heres my favorite MTG quote: There was election fraud in the 2020 election, and my husband has the proof of it.

Its not unusual for politicians to have an unusual idea or two. But all of these? And more? Yet rather than distancing the party from her inflammatory lies, the GOP has moved in her direction. She has not changed. Defying all rational thought, the party is instead moving closer to her, a stunning development. Not that she is a leader in the party. Instead she has become its mouthpiece as it moves farther into the outer edges of sensibility. Over the past two years, Greene has gone from being seen in the far-right fringe of the GOP to representing the views of the party. And as evidenced by the above quotes, she has continued to find more and more extreme ways to express them.

I urge Republicans to return to their traditional values. As Lincoln put it, believe in government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Government is not a separate entity that dominates its citizens. Government is there to protect your rights, not to dictate what they are.

Most importantly, accept election outcomes and shut up about election fraud. No good comes from that.

In the next election, if Republicans want to vote Republican, I hope they cast aside the misdirection of the party and vote for those who tout traditional Republican values. The party needs to have its course corrected and only real Republicans can do that.
The serious registered voter is approaching the Nov. 8 midterm election by studying issues, candidate credentials and party platforms. A clear-headed voter will vote for the best-qualified candidate regardless of their political party affiliation.

Uninformed voters are those lemmings  many times blind and duped by party propaganda  who vote a straight ticket without giving it a second thought (and then they act dumbfounded when politicians and their party pull the wool over their eyes).

The 12 most pressing Nov. 8 election issues Americans face, as revealed by an Oct. 20 Pew Research Center report include: economy, education, election integrity, energy policy, foreign policy, future of democracy, gun policy, health care, immigration, reproductive rights, Supreme Court appointments and violent crime.

Eighty-six percent of the people surveyed by Pew noted the future of democracy is very important. Multiple media sources claim the results from the 2022 midterm election may give us a hint as to whether well remain a democracy or revert to authoritarian and fascist rule.

The Freedom in the World 2022 report states America is one of the top five countries in the world with the largest 10-year decline of democratic attributes; Global freedom faces a dire threat ... the enemies of liberal democracy ... are accelerating their attacks.

Two Brookings Institution articles (Oct. 7 and Oct. 22) note there are 345 people on the ballot  all Republicans  who are 2020 presidential election deniers. As noted in the Jan. 11, 2021, issue of Scientific American, scholars said the predominance of election deniers in the GOP bears alarming similarities to authoritarian movements in other countries.

On Sept. 8, ABC News reported Donald Trump, from the 2016 primary election through today, has made election denialism a central part of his campaigns and of Republican politics. Yet, in December 2020, Trump said to his staff  multiple times  I dont want people to know that we lost (Newsweek, Oct. 13).

Ruth Ben-Ghiat, author of Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present (2020), a scholar of authoritarianism and fascism at New York University, says election denialism is a form of corruption.

For the record, 100% of Americas 3,006 county auditors certified the 2020 vote, 63 court cases and GOP Attorney General Bill Barr also certified the election results, and there were only 16 charged cases of voting illegally out of 158,397,726 ballots cast.

Of concern to the Brookings authors are governors, secretaries of state and attorney generals who will have a great deal to say about how elections in their state will be run in the future (Oct. 7). And, denying the results of a fair election is threatening to the electoral process and American democracy (Oct. 20).

Even Rupert Murdochs (owner of Fox News) very own conservative-based Wall Street Journal discussed in the Oct. 18 and Oct. 20 issues the chaos the Nov. 8 election results may create for America. Races with Republican election deniers include Senate candidates in Arizona, Georgia, New Hampshire, Ohio and Pennsylvania plus governor candidates in Arizona and Pennsylvania. Lisa Lerer of The New York Times agrees with the Journals watch list but also says to note the outcome of GOP election deniers in the Nevada and Wisconsin Senate races (Oct. 20).

Keep tabs of the above-mentioned nine race results plus the other 336 election-deniers seeking state and federal office. The outcome may indeed be a precursor to America remaining a democracy or reverting to authoritarian and fascist rule.

On or before Nov. 8, will you vote with a serious, fact-based and clear-headed demeanor or get hoodwinked by the GOPs fraudulent election denialism scam?
British specialists helping the UK be a terrorist country. My my, seems to me that the USA is not alone and it is starting to look like the Collective West has become a terrorist organized system of countries

Shenanigans by the west have ended grain deal

Taking into account the act of terrorism committed by the Kiev regime with the participation of British specialists on 29 October this year against the ships of the Black Sea Fleet and civil vessels involved in the security of the grain corridor, Russia suspends its participation in the implementation of the agreements on the export of agricultural products from Ukraine.

@mod_russia_en

https://mid.ru/ru/foreign_policy/news/1835797/

 Statement above link by the Russian Foreign Ministry on the Black Sea initiative for the export of Ukrainian food

 On October 29, the Ukrainian armed forces, under the cover of a humanitarian corridor created as part of the implementation of the Black Sea Initiative for the export of Ukrainian agricultural products, launched massive air and sea strikes using unmanned aerial vehicles against ships and infrastructure of the Russian Black Sea Fleet at the naval base in Sevastopol.

In connection with the actions of the Ukrainian armed forces, led by British specialists, directed, among other things, against Russian ships that ensure the functioning of the specified humanitarian corridor (which cannot be qualified otherwise than as a terrorist attack), the Russian side cannot guarantee the safety of civilian dry cargo ships participating in the Black Sea Initiative , and suspends its implementation from today for an indefinite period.

Read full

The Armed Forces of Ukraine used nine air and seven sea drones in the attack on Sevastopol  the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.

The Russian ships of the Black Sea Fleet destroyed four naval drones on an external raid.

Three more were destroyed in an internal raid, according to the defense department.

All air targets are also destroyed.

Minor damage was sustained by the Ivan Golubets minesweeper and a boom barrier.

The preparation of the attack was conducted from Ochakov in the Mykolaiv region. The operation was led by British specialists.

Update

 After the repulsion of a terrorist attack on the ships of the Black Sea Fleet and civilian vessels involved in the security of the grain corridor on October 29 this year, the wreckage of the sea drones used by the Kiev regime under the leadership of representatives of Great Britain was found and lifted to the surface.

 Specialists The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, together with representatives of other government agencies, conducted an examination of the Canadian navigation modules installed on the unmanned aerial vehicles. According to the results of reconstruction of the information read from the memory of the navigation receiver, it was established that the sea drones were launched from the coast near Odessa.

 The sea drones moved along the grain corridor security zone, after which they changed their route in the direction of the Russian ship base point in Sevastopol. At the same time, the coordinates of movement of one of the sea drones indicate the starting point in the sea area of the grain corridor security zone in the Black Sea.

 According to experts, this may indicate a preliminary launch of this vehicle from one of the civilian vessels chartered by Kiev or its Western patrons to export agricultural products from Ukrainian seaports.

@mod_russia_en

WtR
Chechen fighters have much in common with the Donetsk battalion Sparta, hardened in many battles. From the first days of our fight against Satanists, they went through many hot spots of Donbass together. As a result, the fascists are shuddering just from simple intelligence that Chechen units began to work in their area along with Sparta. Acting in a coordinated manner, covering each other, the fighters of the detachments always achieve their tasks.

Therefore, we are pleased to support this Donetsk military unit. And now the Minister of the Chechen Republic for National Policy, Foreign Relations, Press and Information Akhmed Dudayev @akhmeddudaev and the Minister of the Chechen Republic for Youth Affairs Isa Ibragimov @Isa669 met with the famous commander of Sparta Artem Zhoga. Just like the Somalia battalion, here they handed over to the unit two UAZ Patriot cars, three UAZ-452s, copters with thermal imagers, and food purchased by the Regional Public Foundation named after the Hero of Russia Akhmat-Khadzhi Kadyrov.

We know Artem Zhogu as a very courageous, fearless and unbending warrior. This is a man who has gone through many ordeals. And I am glad that today we can provide assistance with equipment, equipment, supplies to brave fighters under the leadership of such selfless and noble people.

I sincerely thank my beloved MOM, President of the ROF Aimani Nesievna, for the invaluable support she gives us on this sacred path! May Allah Almighty reward her for her good deeds and deeds!

Kadyrov

WtR
Russias Defense Ministry said on Saturday that British specialists blew up the Nord Stream gas pipelines last month in a terrorist attack.

A unit of the British Navy took part in the planning, provision and implementation of a terrorist attack in the Baltic Sea on September 26 this year  blowing up the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines, the ministry said, accusing the UK of sabotaging critical Russian infrastructure.

 Commentary by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry M.V. Zakharova in connection with the involvement of Britain in the terrorist attack on Sevastopol

 The Russian Foreign Ministry, together with the Russian competent departments, is working on practical steps in connection with the involvement of British specialists in the preparation of the terrorist act in the Black Sea on October 29 and the training of the Ukrainian military, as the Russian Ministry of Defense announced.

At the same time, the Russian military reported that they had information about the involvement of the British special services also in a series of explosions on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea. Russia has repeatedly called for a joint investigation into these attacks. Relevant proposals were sent to the governments of Denmark, Sweden and Germany. The fact that the Western countries refused this proposal confirms that they have something to hide.

 Now we understand what exactly they are hiding.

WtR
De Beers names Lupita Nyong'o as global ambassador By



Jennifer Braun Published

Oct 28, 2022

Diamond mining giant announced on Thursday Academy Award-winning actor Lupita Nyongo as its first global ambassador.





De Beers names Lupita Nyong'o as global ambassador. - De Beers



As part of the partnership, she will star in the brands new campaign  'De Beers: Where It Begins'  which tells the story of the global luxury brand. Through the campaign, Nyongo is followed as she discovers a rough diamond and watches it magically transform into magnificent jewellery.



Shot by renowned Australian photographer and director Lachlan Bailey, the campaign will launch globally with integrated media activations across multiple touchpoints on November 3.

Likewise, through the partnership Nyongo will support De Beers' 'Building Forever' commitment, which aims to advance women and girls where its diamonds are discovered. In particular, De Beers will work with Nyong'o in pursuit of the brand's public goals to engage 10,000 girls in STEM, support 10,000 women entrepreneurs and invest at least $10 million across southern Africa to achieve these goals by 2030.



"With her rare magnetism and elegance, is a testament to the power of boundless possibilities. Embodying modern and responsible luxury, Lupita is an inspiration for all of us. De Beers is proud that Lupita has joined our Building Forever commitment to people and the planet and we stand with her as she embarks on an exciting chapter in her career," said Marc Jacheet, De Beers CEO, brands.



Nyongo added: Im honored to be the first global ambassador for De Beers. This campaign brings to life the transformative power that I feel when I wear De Beers' diamond creations, and the pride in knowing where they come from and the good they do. Even more importantly, my partnership with De Beers allows me to extend my advocacy for women and girls around the world.
Sandalwood movie Kantara has turned out to be a blockbuster hit in all languages. Mega producer Allu Aravind released the movie in Telugu on October 15, 2022.

As the film received an overwhelming response from Telugus, the movie unit organised a tour to meet the audience directly in the theatre. As a part of that, the team went to Tirupati Theater yesterday. The team also went to the Jagadamba Theater in Visakhapatnam.

Rishab Shetty addressed the audience in both locations, expressing his gratitude for the overwhelming support from the Telugu audience. I did not expect the Telugu audience to enjoy this film so much. Its exciting to see that the film has collected 45 crores in two weeks and is on its way to crossing the 50 crore mark. Thank you so much for your unconditional support. This film is also doing very well in India. I wish with all my heart that your love lasts forever.

Renowned producer Allu Aravind also spoke about the film. The film Kantara has proven that there is no language barrier for the film, only one emotion barrier for the film, he said. Bunny Vas came running to me after watching this movie in Kannada and told me that I needed to watch it right away. Why was Bunny Vas acting so excitedly, I wondered? I understood the emotion when I saw the movie. I felt connected to this emotion and thought it would be good to distribute it in Telugu, so we took the opportunity and released it in Telugu.

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...Cold Temperatures, Winds, and Snow Return This Week... After a quiet holiday weekend, a few storms are on track to bring back colder temperatures, periods of windy conditions, and the potential for snow in the Sierra and western Nevada the week ahead. A quick-hitting storm will pass through the region today with gusty winds, colder temperatures, and chances for snow showers. Highest snow potential will be in the Warner mountains, Surprise Valley and northern Washoe County (60% chance of 1 to 2 inches) with lesser potential as the storm slides southward across the Interstate 80 corridor (50% chance of a dusting). Winds will be more impactful than the snow with this early week storm. Widespread valley wind gusts 35 to 45 mph are forecast with Sierra crest winds gusting to 70+ mph. Plan on impacts to activities in the backcountry and on area lakes as well as turbulence for aviators. Latest guidance continues to point to a couple of more impactful storms Thursday through next weekend. These storms will be capable of producing strong winds and more significant snowfall accumulations, with some snow even down in the valleys. Stay tuned in to the latest forecasts this week as travel could become difficult, especially in the Sierra and northeast California.
Saturday, October 29, 2022 at 10:33PM

by Claudio Alves

"Holy Spider" |  UtopiaThe world's obsession with true crime is as old as crime itself. With every new format and possible presentation, another wave of such media arises, making us think, each time, that the collective obsession is a new phenomenon. Oh, how wrong we are, for as much as things change, they remain the same. One aspect constant with every iteration of the true-crime craze is the glorification of the killer. False equivalencies manifest, equating human monsters to criminal geniuses. Great purposes are projected unto them, ideas of grandeur and abstract magnetism. From popular podcasts to Netflix's Jeffrey Dahmer show, true-crime narratives make celebrities out of murderers and exploit truth into legend.

Ali Abbasi's latest film challenges this state of affairs. Reenacted violence and political commentary are at the center of Holy Spider's controversial reputation, but its demystification of the serial killer figure constitutes the picture's most radical provocation

Inspired by a real-life murder spree in Iran at the dawn of the 21st century, Holy Spider blends fact with fiction, using the latter as a conduit through which one can better grasp cinematic truth, paradoxical as that might sound. Because of its content, it was produced in Jordan, outside Iran and the grasp of state censorship. The action starts in 2001, on a night most dark in the holy city of Mashhad, the country's second most-populated metropolis, often described as its spiritual capital. It's been almost a year since the first body was found, and though the narrative will soon structure itself around two protagonists, this prologue follows neither. On the contrary, it focuses on Somayeh, who walks alone through streets so dark they appear to be rivers of ink.

Like the killer's preferred victims, this doomed woman is a sex worker made desperate by her unfortunate circumstances. At home, she has a child to feed and no one to lend a hand while the monster of addiction cries from within, eating away at her resolve, body and spirit. In such a supplicant state, it's hard to refuse the promise of cash from a stranger even though everyone knows there's a murderer at large. Like the remaining movie, this early passage is captured in a register close to realism, right down to explicit sexual acts performed in ways that make one second-guess their supposed simulation. However, there's also a heightened quality at hand, the night made nightmare of brutality unbound.

It goes beyond Nadim Carlsen's lensing, its dense darkness, encompassing a score full of metallic droning that makes one feel as if the story is unfolding under the belly of a giant beast. We sense its looming weight, a titan with its mouth open, ready to devour those unlucky enough to find themselves bathed in its shadow. Not that the killer himself is so larger than life as all that. Indeed, Abbasi makes the city, the state, the system, into the great evil rather than the individual whose monstrosity is presented as something banal rather than extraordinary, every human detail cutting away at the potential for myth.

Moreover, the director doesn't allow that malevolent entity to reside at the story's margins or in its shadows. Instead, Abbasi shines a spotlight on the man. He's Saeed Hanaei, a construction worker whose reality couldn't be more divorced from the avenging angel or demonic haunting one might feel inclined to associate with his serial killing reputation. Instead, the director and his actor, Mehdir Bajestani, invest in depicting the pathetic side of his nature, the physical fragility, a smallness of thought, the hateful insecurities of a middle-aged man living within a patriarchal environment, feeling impotent and entitled.

Amid a media landscape where real-life monsters are so often perceived as eeriely above notions of humanity, Hanaei comes off as a delusional but mundane person whose hideous actions don't ensconce him in grandeur, holiness, or majesty. That's one half of Holy Spider, a dramatization of evil that repudiates cliche even as it moves through the usual motions of true crime drama. Concurrently, Abbasi's film follows a fictional journalist whose efforts to find the killer's identity echo other similar stories littered throughout cinema history. There are hints of Zodiac here, as well as The Silence of the Lambs' Clarice Starling, among others.

That said, Zar Amir-Ebrahimi's Rahimi deserves to be considered within her own right as a phenomenal character that serves as a vessel through which the project takes aim at an unjust regime, depicting how conservative values twisted to authoritarian extremes trickle into the quotidian of citizens, infections of repression and sanctioned violence. Amir-Ebrahimi won the Best Actress prize at Cannes, and it's easy to see why Vincent Lindon's jury felt compelled to honor her. If Bajestani provides a tour de force of abhorrent behavior grounded in notions of masculine toxicity, she works within a milieu of perpetual outrage, nervous physicality, furious eyes.

In many ways, the lead actors embody the project's ultimate mission, its most apparent tonal wavelength. Like Rahimi's characterization, Holy Spider is brimming with anger, bubbling over in violent ways that sometimes can render its point in broad gestures that are no less effective though they lack finesse. Like Saeed's self-made hell, it's tough to watch and often frightening, a thriller cum neo-noir transitioning into procedural horror before it finally metamorphoses into outright morality war. The film is brash and bold, blunt and beastly. Its a provocation and a sociopolitical diagnosis, full of robust craft, raging conviction.

Now in theaters, Holy Spider is Denmark's official submission for the 95th Academy Awards. Considering Abbasi's international fame, a Cannes win, and the country's usual luck with the Academy, this feels like one of the titles bound for the Oscar shortlist. But can the film make it into the final five? Only time will tell.


Quarterly Activities Report

Perth, Oct 28, 2022 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Classic Minerals Limited ( ASX:CLZ ) ( 2I7:FRA ) ( CSMRF:OTCMKTS ) made good progress at Kat Gap during the quarter as it progresses to a gold producer.



Highlights of the quarter include:



- The Company received from DMIRS formal approvals for its Project Management Plan paving the way for Mining Operations to commence at Kat Gap.



- The Company entered into a binding terms sheet with Goldvalley Brown Stone Pty Ltd to provide $10 million in non-recourse funding.



- Infill RC drilling has returned high grade gold results north of the cross cutting Proterozoic dyke.



- Pilot run of the Gekko gravity gold treatment plant outperforms expectations.



- IGO carried out only minor desktop work on the Fraser Range Nickel project.



Kat Gap Mining Operations Approval



Classic has received formal approval of its Project Management Plan at its 100% owned Kat Gap Gold Project.



This approval clears Classic of the key regulatory requirements for advancement of the Project and the Company is continuing to work with DMIRS and other agencies to secure the necessary remaining approvals required to commence on-site processing operations. The Classic team continues to investigate the mining schedule to accommodate any potential resource increase and production increases.



Recent work has included a major infill drilling program to facilitate final pit design work, processing plant layout, TSF design and Metallurgical gold recoveries to update project modelling. Onsite development is well advanced with clearing completed for major infrastructure ahead of PMP approval including mine administration offices, workshop areas, laydown yards, main access roads, camp site, mine construction and all surface development.



Applications for related Works Approval regarding the processing facility and TSF licencing (with the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER) for approval pursuant to environmental legislation and regulations) have also been submitted and are pending departmental approvals. The processing submission includes installation and operations of a gold circuit, gold room, product sampling, dewatering, crushing circuit Gekko gravity circuit, tailings storage facility, fuel systems, processing control systems and high voltage power among others. Remaining required approvals to deliver the processing facility and remaining infrastructure are expected in November 2022.



Kat Gap Project Funding



Goldvalley has agreed to provide $10 million in non-recourse funding for the extraction and processing of ore in sequential parcels of 100,000 tonnes, with the revenues generated from processing being available to fund each following parcel. The initial funding will be provided over a 12-month period and the orebody will be mined under this arrangement until a production cap of 500,000 tonnes (with a minimum average grade of 2.85g/t) has been mined and processed. The funding will be provided by Goldvalley, and sourced from its other business operations, in a manageable and orderly manner.



Classic's due diligence and detailed discussions with Goldvalley have confirmed that this arrangement will be one where both parties can meet their commitments. The Board considers that Goldvalley, being part of the Gold Valley group of companies which has a number of successful businesses, has the demonstrated capacity to meet its funding obligations. Classic notes that the funding is unsecured and non-recourse to the extent that Goldvalley's funding can only be repaid out of revenues derived from processing Kat Gap ore, while the profits will be shared with Classic receiving 70% of the profits.



Classic anticipates that the mining and processing operations contemplated under the Terms Sheet will be completed by mid to late 2024.



Kat Gap Infill Drilling Program



During the quarter, Classic commenced an extensive program of infill RC drilling. The drilling program, consisting of 109 holes for 7,110m, is a direct result from the recent bulk sample mining operation completed in early May.



Classic drilled 67 holes for 3,975m (FKGRC390 - FKGRC456) at Kat Gap during the quarter as part of the 109-hole infill drilling campaign.



The need for closer spaced infill drilling has eventuated from the recent bulk sample mining operation.



The pit was centred on an area of the resource block model, drilled on a 10m x 10m and 10m x 5m drill pattern, which came closest to the surface. The ore zone exposed during the bulk sample mining showed strong evidence of pinching and swelling of the main quartz veins over relatively short wavelengths of around 10-15m. To gain a higher level of confidence in the overall status of the current resource block model and to ensure adequate intersection of the higher-grade components of the gold ore zone, drilling needs to be conducted on a minimum of 10m spaced sections and 10m spaced holes on the section. This spacing will permit an upgrade from the current inferred status to indicated, needed for final pit design work. The infill program will also dramatically reduce the number of grade control RC holes required in pit once operations are underway.



The infill holes have been drilled on a 10m x 10m and 10m x 5m grid spacings to hit further high-grade pinch and swell quartz veins which were observed during the mining of the bulk sample pit. The results have confirmed observations made while the bulk sample pit was mined and show that 10m x 10m and 10m x 5m drill spacing is adequate to hit these high-grade pinch and swell quartz zones. The total 109-hole infill RC drilling program mostly covers an area 100m to 300m along strike to the north of the Proterozoic dyke and 200m north along strike from the recent bulk sample mining operation.



Most of the infill drilling consist of relatively shallow holes down to depths of 40-80m. However deeper holes down to 100-160m will also be drilled early next quarter to extend the known gold mineralisation to greater depths down dip. This work will hopefully add additional mineable ounces and a potentially larger final open pit design.



Better results from the infill drilling include:



- 3m @ 13.23g/t Au from 32m including 1m @ 17.00g/t Au from 34m in FKGRC391.

- 5m @ 7.36g/t Au from 42m including 2m @ 14.20g/t Au from 42m in FKGRC397.

- 2m @ 17.20g/t Au from 53m including 1m @ 19.90g/t Au from 53m in FKGRC402

- 2m @ 21.07g/t Au from 33m in FKGRC407.

- 6m @ 5.55g/t Au from 49m including 1m @ 18.10g/t Au from 50m in FKGRC412.

- 12m @ 9.60g/t Au from 28m including 4m @ 25.34g/t Au from 36m in FKGRC416.

- 10m @ 15.34g/t Au from 29m including 2m @ 43.00g/t Au from 31m in FKGRC418.

- 10m @ 16.19g/t Au from 37m including 1m @ 45.00g/t Au from 46m in FKGRC422.

- 6m @ 4.08g/t Au from 48m including 1m @ 11.50g/t Au from 52m in FKGRC426.

- 2m @ 14.86g/t Au from 29m including 1m @ 25.50g/t Au from 29m in FKGRC436.

- 6m @ 3.10g/t Au from 60m including 1m @14.10g/t Au from 60m in FKGRC455.



*To view the full Quarterly Report, please visit:

https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/8IR7AJ78





About Classic Minerals Limited





Classic Minerals Limited (ASX:CLZ) is an exploration and development company focused on gold deposits in Western Australia's famous Goldfields region. In March 2017, Classic acquired the Forrestania Gold Project, with seven tenements stretching across 450km2. Strategically located in a very prospective region, the FGP is an underexplored package surrounded by multimillion ounce deposits such as Bounty (2Moz) and Yilgarn Star (1.5Moz).


Site Construction Commences Ahead Of Stage 1 Mining.

Perth, Oct 31, 2022 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Classic Minerals Limited ( ASX:CLZ ) ( 2I7:FRA ) ( CSMRF:OTCMKTS ) is pleased to advise that construction activities have commenced on site for the development of the Company's 100% owned Kat Gap gold mine as permitted by the approved Mining Proposal (MP), Mine Closure Plan (MCP) and Project Management Plan (PMP).



Having obtained all the requisite regulatory approvals, the stripping, and stockpiling of vegetation and topsoil commenced during the middle of October 2022. These earthwork activities are a required precursor to the commencement of mining.



We have engaged heavy machinery in building internal roads, bulldozing to clear areas for the waste rock dumps, clearing and preparing ROM pads, office, administrative and workshops areas. Site power is also being upgraded in readiness for Camp upgrade. Additional camp buildings will shortly be arriving onsite to complete the Camp upgrade.



Overall progress continues to remain on track with gold production planned towards the end of the first quarter of 2023. Classic is still awaiting processing approval. Once received, the Company will commence construction of the Tailing's Storage Facility (TSF) and reassemble the Gekko gold treatment plant.



The Company is looking to have the Kat Gap site ready for stage 1 open-pit mining before the end of 2022. Classic also expects to start dry crushing plant commissioning activities before the end of the year. The Company looks forward to providing regular updates to shareholders as the construction and commissioning program progresses over the next few months.



*To view photographs, please visit:

https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/0X9HT8RN





About Classic Minerals Limited





Classic Minerals Limited (ASX:CLZ) is an exploration and development company focused on gold deposits in Western Australia's famous Goldfields region. In March 2017, Classic acquired the Forrestania Gold Project, with seven tenements stretching across 450km2. Strategically located in a very prospective region, the FGP is an underexplored package surrounded by multimillion ounce deposits such as Bounty (2Moz) and Yilgarn Star (1.5Moz).


Quarterly Activities Report

Sydney, Oct 31, 2022 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Empire Energy Group Ltd ( ASX:EEG ) ( EEGUF:OTCMKTS ) provide the Quarterly Activities Report for the Q3 2022 period.



- Carpentaria-2H achieved a peak flow rate of > 11 mmcf per day, an initial production rate over 30 days of 2.4 mmcf per day (normalized to 2.6 mmcf per day per 1,000m of stimulated horizontal section), and an initial production rate over 51 days of 2.2 million cubic feet per day (normalized to 2.4 mmcf per day per 1,000m of stimulated horizontal section)



- Carpentaria-3H drilling commenced on 13 October 2022 targeting a 2,000 metre horizontal section that is to be hydraulically stimulated and placed on extended production testing. The well has been successfully landed in the Middle Velkerri B shale and is drilling ahead



- Carpentaria-4V drilling is planned to commence immediately following the completion of Carpentaria-3H



- Land Access and Compensation Agreements (LACA) have been executed with a number of pastoralists to allow for planned activity within the Gas Discovery Area (GDA) in EP167 and EP168



- Empire received Beetaloo Cooperative Drilling Program progress payments totaling $0.8 million in cash (ex-GST) during the Quarter



- Empire's US business operations continue to benefit from strong gas prices and reported a positive EBITDA for Q3 2022 of US$1.66 million



- Cash at the end of the Quarter was $32.6 million



Comments from Managing Director Alex Underwood:



"Empire has had another busy and successful Quarter, highlighted by an active Beetaloo field program with highly encouraging results from our Carpentaria-2H fracture stimulation and flow test, the largest stimulation executed in the basin to date with strong flow rates and relatively low decline rates compared to our peers.



This bodes well for future economic development scenarios. We are applying the learning from the Carpentaria-2H work into the design of Carpentaria-3H, our next horizontal well that is drilling now and will be stimulated and flow tested in the lead up to Christmas.



Crisis conditions in energy markets globally underscore the critical role of our position in the Beetaloo Basin to provide energy security to the people of Australia and the broader region. It has been exciting to engage actively with potential gas customers who recognize the role we are playing in Australia's future gas supply mix. We are firmly focused on entering into production as soon as possible.



Thank you to our teams in the US, where we had a strong financial performance this quarter, and Australia, and to our shareholders for your ongoing support. We are working hard to bring the Beetaloo into production".



*To view the full Quarterly Report, please visit:

https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/6J93A3C3





About Empire Energy Group Ltd





Empire Energy (ASX:EEG) (OTCMKTS:EEGUF) holds over 14.5 million acres of highly prospective exploration tenements in the McArthur and Beetaloo Basins, Northern Territory. Work undertaken by the Company since 2010 demonstrates that the Eastern depositional Trough of the McArthur Basin, of which the Company holds 80% has very considerable conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon potential. The Beetaloo sub-Basin, in which Empire holds a substantial position, has independently assessed world class hydrocarbon volumes in place with a major ramp up in industry activity underway to appraise substantial discoveries already made by major Australian oil and gas operators.

Empire Energy is an experienced conventional oil and gas producer with operations in the Appalachia region (New York and Pennsylvania). Empire has been successfully developing and producing oil and gas since 2006.
Its a question I hear a lot: Why take the time to report a scam, when the bad guys are rarely caught?

Granted, its easy to get discouraged while trying to recover your identity or your money, let alone taking the time to fill out law enforcement reports.

But there are lots of good reasons for doing so.

For one, a report serves as formal documentation that the crime occurred  (and) provides the opportunity for law enforcement agencies to investigate, if enough evidence exists, says Eva Velasquez, president and CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center.

Keeping a copy of the report will come in handy when you contact the bank, credit card company, credit bureau, business or government agency from which you are seeking help.

Also, notifying the authorities about what happened allows them to identify patterns and connect cases to one another, Velasquez says. It also helps to accurately measure the incident rate of these crime types.

In New Mexico, a police report is required for a victim to be listed on the Identity Theft Passport database, which is accessible to all law enforcement. This helps prevent confusion if a crime is committed in the victims name.

In addition, the Albuquerque Police Department is able to use victim reports to spot trends and issue timely warnings to the public, spokeswoman Rebecca Atkins says.

Unfortunately, it is usually very difficult to track the offender down on these scams, as the scammers use multiple ways to hide their identities and often are out of (the) country, she says. With that said, reporting these scams is very important.

When it comes to any kind of cybercrime incident, those should also be reported to the FBIs Internet Crime Complaint Center.

Thats because the information is distributed to all interested law enforcement agencies nationwide, FBI spokesman Frank Fisher says. (Note that this is an option only for victims of online or internet-enabled crimes. Go to IC3.gov and click on file a complaint at the top.)

The more complaints we receive, the more effective we can be in helping law enforcement gain a more accurate picture of the extent and nature of Internet-facilitated crimes  and in raising public awareness of these crimes, Fisher says.

The state Attorney Generals Office encourages victims to also report incidents to its staff at nmag.gov/contact-us/file-a-complaint/.

The office can provide immediate valuable resources and coordinate investigations with other law enforcement partners, spokeswoman Jerri Mares says.

And then there are, of course, the multitude of scams tailored to particular agencies, such as Social Security, the U.S. Postal Service and the IRS, for example. Those must be reported to the targeted agency.

If all this seems confusing, thats because it can be.

But if its not immediately obvious whom you should call, the AGs website offers a handy, and lengthy, list of recommendations on how to report different kinds of fraud. Go to nmag.gov/protect-yourself/scams-and-fraud/ and scroll toward the bottom.

The Identity Theft Resource Center is also a good place to get advice on reporting the crime and coming up with a recovery plan. Through a new partnership, the centers free live-chat services are available on the AGs website, at nmag.gov/protect-yourself/identity-theft/. A chat box will pop up at the right-hand bottom of the screen.

Contact Ellen Marks at emarks@abqjournal.com or (505) 823-3972 if you are aware of what sounds like a scam.
CYFD investigators should not be summarily faulted for the problems associated with repeat maltreatment in New Mexico. Conversely, CYFD investigators should be commended for doing a job that most people wont do, a job that is inherently difficult and sometimes dangerous. Should we fault CYFD for the monumental drug problems in our state, for the entrenched and generational poverty that afflicts many of our residents, for the family disintegration that surrounds us, or for the broken mental health system that cant keep up with the basic needs of our population?

Child maltreatment is a symptom of these service gaps. To expect CYFD alone to disentangle all of the risk associated with maltreatment from situations that have been festering for years because of institutional neglect and political indifference is incredibly misguided.

Child protective services is a complex system for dealing with maltreatment in ways that most people dont fully understand. In New Mexico, child maltreatment is not an emerging problem; it is a persistent problem, more recently exacerbated by unprecedented levels of drug abuse and addiction.

The CPS system is indeed broken  but mostly because it has been marginalized by both executive and legislative branches. Only now in the wake of recent high-profile cases has the Legislature come forth with a report that highlights system failures under the guise of repeat maltreatment without fully acknowledging the underlying CYFD issues of staff shortages, excessive caseloads, high turnover and inadequate community support for distressed families. Repeat maltreatment happens, not because investigators make the wrong decisions in most cases, but because the state has not committed the full array of services needed to break the cycle of abuse and neglect in high-risk families. Blaming state employees for tragic outcomes is punitive and unfair.
In the remote and tiny town of Mogollon, New Mexico, an impending disaster of broad proportions is underway.

Much like the lone prospector with gold fever of days gone by, Summa Silver Corporation, a foreign-owned exploration company, has begun drilling in the Mogollon area in hopes of finding high-grade ore that the miners of the past missed. And just like the old-time prospector motivated by the greed of striking it rich, Summa Silver has recently staked additional mining claims expanding deep into Forest Service land encompassing thousands of acres of private and public lands.

Many local residents are concerned what the future may hold. If Summa Silver gets its way, Mogollon will be transformed into an industrial mining site, or, as CEO Galen McNamara states: a classic American mining district. Gone will be the serenity, the wildlife, the days-gone-by feeling that visitors and locals alike cherish. Noise, dust and light pollution will rule the day. Oversized and overweight trucks utilizing Mogollons narrow mountain road will turn a once beautiful scenic drive into a nightmare commute for all.

In the 100 years since Mogollons mining heyday, the environment surrounding Mogollon has renewed itself. Ponderosa pine, Douglas fir and pinon pine once again cover the steep slopes, and wildlife abounds including several threatened and endangered species.

The town itself was added to the National Registry of Historic Places in 1987 and is recognized as having one of the best restored collection of historic buildings in New Mexico. The surrounding area is also rich in Native American culture and artifacts.

Within close proximity to Mogollon, the Cosmic Campground located within the Gila National Forest became an international dark sky designation in 2016 due to its special recognition of its darkest skies status within the southwest region.

Established as the first federally designated wilderness in 1924, the Gila Wilderness borders the Mogollon area. Mogollon is the western gateway to the wilderness and is host to avid hunters and increasing numbers of hikers, mountain bikers and equestrian enthusiasts traveling the Continental Trail.

Naturally, our local community and other stakeholders want to understand what the development of a classic American mining district means to Mogollon and its surrounding area. Will it lead to:

1) a lower quality of life

2) noise and dust pollution

3) degradation of our local environment

4) decimation of our thriving wildlife

5) disruption to our local tourism

6) cancellation of our dark sky status

7) a diminished wilderness experience

8) damage to our historical buildings and

9) desecration of Warm Springs Chiricahua Apache sacred ground?

Three watersheds surrounding Mogollon  Mineral, Silver and Whitewater creeks  could become depleted and contaminated, risking the water supply not only for Mogollon, but for the downstream towns of Alma, Glenwood and Pleasanton. The pain would be felt by local residents, ranchers and farmers alike. Water rights would become costly and hard to find while local wells would run dry as a classic water grab is exercised to service the classic American mining district.

As history shows, once again the prospector will abruptly leave town with all the riches in hand when the profitable ore runs out. Operations will shutter, leaving the local communities holding the bag.

What is the value of gold and silver when its extraction costs our environment and communities so dearly?
A new era will begin for Western Playland Amusement Park in Sunland Park.

On Saturday, Traders Village Marketplaces announced that it acquired the amusement park located in southern New Mexico.

Western Playland will join Traders Village Marketplaces three other entities in Texas  Grand Prairie, San Antonio and Houston.

Western Playland began in 1960 by Patrick Thomas family. It was located at Ascarate Park in El Paso through 2006, before moving to Sunland Park.

Since 1960, my family has made Western Playland a family tradition of bringing fun and smiles to El Pasoans of all ages said Thomson, retiring owner. Im honored to have Traders Village continue the Western Playland tradition of serving family fun to the El Paso area.

Future plans for expansion include new rides, additional food and beverage offerings, concerts, and events.

We are excited to expand upon the current success of Western Playland and look forward to entertaining families of the Borderplex and beyond, said Lee Ann Murray, senior marketing director for Traders Village Marketplaces.

Traders Village is a family-owned business since 1973 and attracts millions of guests each year.

Providing a memorable family experience has always been a top priority at Traders Village, said Tim Anderson, President of Traders Village Marketplaces. Western Playland with over 60 acres and 26 rides, complements our brand nicely.

According to officials, Western Playland is scheduled to reopen late February 2023 for the new season.
The Biden administrations approval of oil leases in a corner of New Mexico that has become a battleground over increased development and preservation of Native American sites has prompted a legal challenge.

Environmental groups are suing the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. They contend in a complaint filed Wednesday that the federal government is going back on its word by clearing the way for oil and gas development on federal lands near Chaco Culture National Historical Park.

At issue are leases that span more than 70 square miles in northwestern New Mexico. The groups say the federal government agreed in April to reconsider the Trump-era leases given their proximity to homes and an area held sacred by Navajos.

We are disappointed that the Bureau of Land Management decided to double down on fracking and ignore the cumulative impacts, inequities and injustices of oil and gas leasing and drilling in the Greater Chaco (area), Ally Beasley with the Western Environmental Law Center said in a statement.

The Bureau of Land Management said Thursday that the parcels in question are outside an informal 10-mile buffer zone around Chaco park that the agency has observed for years.

Under an initiative by Haaland, that buffer would be in effect for the next 20 years, prohibiting oil and gas development on federal land within that area.

Federal land managers are currently assessing the proposal, although Navajo Nation officials have argued for a smaller area to be protected because the tribe and its citizens benefit economically from oil and gas development.

Environmentalists have argued that the Bureau of Land Management has failed to consider the cumulative impacts of drilling in the area. Archaeologists and leaders of New Mexico pueblos with ancestral ties to the Chaco area also have concerns about damaging culturally significant sites that are outside the parks boundaries and the buffer zone.

A World Heritage site, Chaco park is thought to be the center of what was once a hub of Indigenous civilization with many Southwest tribes tracing their roots to the high desert outpost. Archaeologists have found evidence of great roads that stretched from Chaco across what is now New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado.

Haaland, who is from Laguna Pueblo, has talked about her own tribes connection to the area. She visited last November and announced her agencys intentions to develop a landscape-level plan to protect the regions cultural values.

The Bureau of Land Management, which is overseen by Haalands agency, on Thursday reiterated its commitment to updating the environmental analysis that governs leasing in the area and promised that there would be more opportunities for public comment.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

Mya Meredith, a junior at Cuba High School, had a harder freshman year than most.

For some time that year, she lived in a domestic violence shelter with her family, and there were times they had trouble paying bills and getting basic necessities like clothes and hygiene products.

We were struggling for a while and we were just kind of stuck, she said. With school, I was really falling behind.

Theyd soon find out they werent alone in their challenges.

Meredith participated in a pilot program giving $500 every month to 53 high school students who were homeless or experiencing some form of housing insecurity. The program was run by New Mexico Appleseed, a foundation dedicated to tackling poverty in the state.

The pilot was funded by the Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation which, according to an Appleseed report about the program, gave about $120,000 each to Cuba Independent School District and West Las Vegas School District to cover tutoring, family stipends and costs for district staff.

We really wanted to target those populations that we felt were suffering the most during the pandemic, LANL Foundation President and CEO Jenny Parks said.

Through the program, which ran about eight months in the 2020-21 school year, Meredith said she and her family were able to pay for their basic needs, which helped lift a burden from her and her mother.

Meredith has since left the shelter and now lives in the Ojo Encino chapter of the Navajo Nation. On top of the help she received to buy basic necessities, the program also helped her catch up in school.

That, in turn, had an ongoing positive effect, helping her academically in the years since the program ended.

I really caught up with my math, because that was one of the subjects that I was really struggling in, she said. It just helped me catch up a lot.

Ethical questions

The program attached several conditions to the cash. Those included requiring students to attend school 90% of the time and complete the same percentage of their class work, and requiring them to meet every week for check-ins and tutoring sessions.

Appleseed Founder Jenny Ramo said she and her team agonized over the ethics of holding students and their families to those conditions.

The ethics really weighed heavily on me, because people deserve to have their basic needs met, no matter what, period. They deserve housing, food, access to health care, she said. And so to add a condition to getting your basic needs met is problematic.

At the end of the day, she said students seemed to benefit from going to school, tutoring and emotional support, and having the money tied to participation in those things was the least problematic solution.

Students and their families all figured the conditions were fair as well.

Shilayia Antonio, another junior at Cuba High School, said she and her older sister both saw their grades soar back from failing as a result of their tutoring sessions  a recovery she said has stood the test of time, even after the program ended.

It was a really big help, she said.

And that was just the cherry on top of the cake of being able to pay for school supplies, clothes, utilities, rent and car payments with the monthly checks.

Continued support

The pilot brought a lot of good to students and their families.

According to a report about the program by Appleseed, all but one of the participating seniors graduated on time that year  though the foundation noted that outcome could not be attributed to the pilot alone.

They did say that students almost universally saw their grades improve by the end of the program and benefited from peace of mind from having their basic needs better taken care of.

But for all the good that the pilot program brought, it only ran during that one school year, and school staff, students and families just about universally said they wished it would have continued.

I really think that it was a working program, because it allowed the kids to not have to worry about adult situations, West Las Vegas School District Superintendent Christopher Gutierrez said. This program gave them a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel to where they could be kids and focus on them and what they need to do to maybe, eventually, get out there and be their own adults someday.

And while students and their families were helped by the program, that doesnt mean their struggles ended with the pilot.

School staff, including teachers, are still working with many of the students originally involved in the pilot  some of whom are still considered at risk and are experiencing housing instability.

After this program, honestly, they dont have the money, right? Cuba High School math teacher Mary Ann Ga said. After the program, they dont have a house to live (in), and it breaks my heart.

I hope this program will be continuous so that we can house the students and help them to survive.

Both Ramo and Parks agree. Still, on top of the fact that Parks said the program was expensive and couldnt be continued, both pointed out that it was originally intended as a pilot.

Nevertheless, Ramo said Appleseed found that the pilot was able to show that providing conditional cash to students in need did help their academic outcomes.

In general, people are not blowing it on things that dont matter. Theyre not blowing it on drugs, theyre not blowing it on alcohol, Ramo said. They really do just become better parents and better kids and less stressed when they have their basic needs met.

Ramo said she plans to make an appeal to New Mexico lawmakers in the coming years to implement and fund similar programs at a statewide level.

We are hoping the Legislature steps in, maybe for next year, and really puts aside money for cash transfers, she said. We would recommend the homeless population, inadequately housed population, because they are the most vulnerable of the vulnerable, and theyre the most likely to succeed with financial help.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  With Election Day rapidly approaching, Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham has maintained her lead over Republican Mark Ronchetti in New Mexicos race for governor despite a recent barrage of hard-hitting attacks on crime and integrity issues, a new Journal Poll found.

A total of 50% of likely voters surveyed last week said they would vote for Lujan Grisham, who is seeking reelection to a second four-year term, while 42% said they planned to vote for Ronchetti, a former television meteorologist who has portrayed himself as an outsider poised to bring change to New Mexico.

Of the remaining voters surveyed, 5% were undecided and 3% said they planned to vote for Libertarian candidate Karen Bedonie.

A previous Journal Poll conducted in August found Lujan Grisham with a seven-point lead over Ronchetti  47% to 40%  and that advantage has held despite shifting national political winds and some undecided voters having made up their minds, said Brian Sanderoff, the president of Research & Polling Inc., which conducted the poll.

We cant really say theres been no movement from August to October, but were basically back to where we started, Sanderoff said. The race is not over, but Id much rather be in her position than in his.

As in the previous poll, the new Journal Poll found Lujan Grishams advantage in the race was largely due to her broad support among two key blocs  female voters and Hispanics. She also had a lead among voters of all different ages, though voters under age 35 were more likely to support Lujan Grisham than older voters.

Digging into the poll, Hispanic women supported Lujan Grisham by an overwhelming margin, with 65% saying they planned to vote for the governor  or had already done so  and 29% saying they intended to support Ronchetti.

In contrast, Ronchetti had strong support among white men, with 56% expressing support for the GOP candidate and 35% saying they would back Lujan Grisham. White women were more narrowly split, but were slightly more likely to support the governor.

This years race is shaping up to be one of the most expensive in state history, as Lujan Grisham and Ronchetti have both raised large sums for their campaigns.

As of this month, Lujan Grisham had reported raising more than $11.1 million for her reelection bid, while spending about $9.8 million of that amount. Ronchetti, for his part, has received more than $7.8 million in contributions, while spending roughly $5.3 million. But Ronchetti outraised the governor during a recent monthlong period and had more unspent money in his campaign account than Lujan Grisham.

Meanwhile, political groups affiliated with national Democratic and Republican groups have also spent hefty sums of money to launch TV ads in New Mexico, with the race viewed as one of the most competitive of the 36 gubernatorial races nationwide.

During the final 12 days until Election Day, outside groups planned to spend more than $3 million on ads backing Lujan Grishams campaign, according to public television network filings. The filings show planned outside ad spending on Ronchettis behalf is set to hit at least $1.3 million.

President Joe Biden will also visit New Mexico this week for events with Lujan Grisham  just over one week after Vice President Kamala Harris stopped in Albuquerque to attend a fundraiser with the governor and take part in a moderated discussion on reproductive rights.

Regional differences

The Journal Poll found big regional differences when it came to New Mexicans preferred gubernatorial candidate.

Voters in the Albuquerque metro area, the north central region and the Las Cruces/southwest New Mexico area were more likely to support Lujan Grisham, while most voters surveyed in the traditionally conservative east side of the state backed Ronchetti.

The one part of the state where voters were evenly divided between the two candidates was in the northwest corner, where the GOP stronghold of San Juan County is partially offset by Democratic-leaning McKinley and Cibola counties, Sanderoff said.

As for political affiliation, the poll found Ronchetti with more support from registered Democrats  about 9% of Democratic voters said they supported him  than Lujan Grisham had among registered Republicans.

But Sanderoff said that level of support might not be enough for Ronchetti in a state in which registered Democrats far outnumber Republicans.

He needs to get more than that, he said.

Ronchettis path to victory could also be made difficult by the ballot presence of Bedonie, a former Republican, who received the support of 7% of independents surveyed.

While only 3% of overall voters surveyed said they planned to vote for Bedonie, her support was higher among Republicans than among Democrats.

Education

Educational levels were another difference-maker in the new Journal Poll, as voters who graduated from college and those with graduate degrees were much more likely to support Lujan Grisham than Ronchetti.

Voters with some college experience and those with high school degrees, in contrast, were almost evenly split between the two leading candidates.

That mirrors a recent national trend that has seen Democrats fare better among voters with higher educational attainment levels, Sanderoff said.

Overall, the new poll results show Lujan Grisham has reached the important 50% voter support mark, Sanderoff said, though not exceeded it.

Usually candidates and their consultants dont sleep well at night unless theyre over 50% of voter support, Sanderoff said.

This years race has seen Lujan Grisham face criticism for high violent crime rates, her executive order allowing more than 700 inmates to be released early due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a $150,000 settlement with a former campaign spokesman.

But the governor has defended her record by highlighting an improving state economy that has seen the state unemployment rate drop to 4.2% in September, the lowest in more than a decade but still among the highest in the nation.

The last time a sitting New Mexico governor was defeated was in 1994, when incumbent Democrat Bruce King was ousted by Republican Gary Johnson. Since then, Johnson, Democrat Bill Richardson and Republican Susana Martinez have all easily won reelection to second terms.

Methodology

The Journal Poll is based on a scientific, statewide sample of 1,254 voters who cast ballots in the 2018 and/or 2020 general election and who said they are likely to vote in the upcoming election. The sample also includes people who registered to vote since January 2021 who said they are likely to vote in the upcoming election.

The poll was conducted from Oct. 20 through Oct. 27. The voter sample has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points. The margin of error grows for subsamples.

All interviews were conducted by live, professional interviewers, with multiple callbacks to households that did not initially answer the phone.

Both cellphone numbers (83%) and landlines (17%) of proven general election voters were used.
Albuquerque MMA fighter Steve Garcia said in a pre-fight interview that he believed he had an edge in the striking department against Chase Hooper, his opponent Saturday on a UFC Fight Night Card in Las Vegas, Nevada.

That edge turned out to be a chasm. Garcia knocked Hooper down four times, then finished him with ground and pound, taking a victory by first-round TKO.

It was a much-needed win for Garcia (13-5), for whom this was the fourth fight of a four-fight contract, having lost two of the first three.

Pressure, man, he said in post-fight interviews. Its pressure financially, pressure of winning, making sure you have a job, have a good paycheck when you go home.

It was Garcias first UFC fight at the featherweight limit of 145 pounds, having contested his first three at lightweight (155). The lower weight obviously suited him.

Physically, I felt a whole lot more superior, he said. (Featherweight) is a good spot for me right now.

Pre-UFC, Garcia competed mostly at 145 pounds but also at the 135-pound bantamweight limit.

Hooper, of Washington state, is 11-3-1.

MEANS LOSES SPLIT: Moriarty MMA welterweight Tim Means lost to Max Griffin by split decision in the co-main event of Saturdays card.

Means is now 31-14-1 with one no contest.Griffin, of Sacramento, California, is 19-9.

All three judges scored the first round for Griffin, who dropped Means with a right hand. Rounds two and three were close, but two judges favored Griffin in the second, giving him the edge on the scorecards: 30-27 and 29-28 for Griffin, 29-28 for Means.

Means appeared to have no complaint about the decision as Griffins hand was raised.

Griffin is now 2-0 vs. New Mexico fighters, having defeated Carlos Condit in the Albuquerqueans final fight before announcing his retirement.
KYIV, Ukraine  Russia resumed its blockade of Ukrainian ports on Sunday, cutting off urgently needed grain exports to hungry parts of the world in what U.S. President Joe Biden called a really outrageous act.

Biden warned that global hunger could increase because of Russias suspension of a U.N.-brokered deal to allow safe passage of ships carrying grain from Ukraine, one of the worlds breadbaskets.

Its really outrageous, Biden said Saturday in Wilmington, Delaware. Theres no merit to what theyre doing. The U.N. negotiated that deal and that should be the end of it.

Biden spoke hours after Russia announced it would immediately halt participation in the grain deal, alleging that Ukraine staged a drone attack Saturday against Russias Black Sea Fleet off the coast of occupied Crimea. Ukraine has denied the attack, saying that Russia mishandled its own weapons.

Ukraines Infrastructure Ministry reported Sunday that 218 ships involved in grain exports have been blocked  22 loaded and stuck at ports, 95 loaded and departed from ports, and 101 awaiting inspections.

One of the blocked ships, carrying 40,000 tons of wheat for Ethiopia under a U.N. aid program, could not leave Ukraine on Sunday as a result of Russias blockage of the grain corridor, Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraines minister of infrastructure, said on Twitter. The ship, Ikaria Angel, was stuck in the Black Sea port of Chornomorsk.

The Istanbul-based UN center coordinating the ship passages later said the Ikaria Angel was among six vessels that began moving out but hadnt yet entered a humanitarian corridor. The center reported on plans to move and inspect other ships on Monday but it wasnt clear whether Russia would agree.

The grain initiative  an example of rare wartime cooperation between Ukraine and Russia  has allowed more than 9 million tons of grain in 397 ships to safely leave Ukrainian ports since it was signed in July. U.N. chief Antonio Guterres had urged Russia and Ukraine on Friday to renew the deal when it expires Nov. 19. The grain agreement has brought down global food prices about 15% from their peak in March, according to the U.N.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskky expressed outrage at Russias decision. Referring to the Ikaria Angel, he said in his nightly video address Sunday, This bulk ship with wheat for the U.N. food program and other vessels with agricultural products are forced to wait, because Russia is blackmailing the world with hunger.

Two initiatives to revive the grain deal were reported Sunday.

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar was in talks with his counterparts to solve the problem and to continue the grain initiative, his agency said, adding that no more grain ships would leave Ukraine but those already waiting near Istanbul would be inspected on Sunday or Monday.

At the United Nations in New York, Guterres delayed a trip by a day to engage in talks aimed at ending Russias suspension of the grain export deal. Russia also requested a meeting Monday of the U.N. Security Council to discuss the topic.

Analysts say Russias withdrawal shows that it sees the grain deal as another way to pressure Ukraine.

By leaving the deal now and putting the blame on Ukraine, it aims to slow Ukrainian attacks around the Black Sea, said Mario Bikarski, a Economist Intelligence Unit analyst. Russia could be hoping that Ukraines Western allies might ask it to focus its forces elsewhere to save the grain deal, he said.

More conflicting details emerged Sunday about the alleged attack on Russias Black Sea Fleet.

The city council of Mariupol, a Ukrainian port now controlled by Russia, claimed on Telegram that Ukrainian special services had destroyed at least three Russian warships near the city of Sevastopol on the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula.

But an adviser to Ukraines Interior Ministry claimed that the Russians careless handling of explosives had caused blasts on four Russian warships. Anton Gerashchenko wrote on Telegram that the vessels included a frigate, a landing ship and a ship that carried cruise missiles.

Reports have surfaced for months of Ukrainian sabotage of Russian warplanes and ammunition depots on Crimea and Zelenskky has vowed repeatedly to recapture the strategic Black Sea peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014.

Russias Defense Ministry claimed Sunday that one Ukrainian drone that reportedly attacked Sevastopol appeared to emanate from a civilian ship carrying agricultural products from Ukraine. The ministry claimed an inspection of the wreckage showed the drones used Canadian-made navigation and their launch point was the Ukrainian coast near the port of Odesa.

Independent verification of each sides claims was not possible.

Ukraine appears to have targeted the Black Sea Fleet and other Russian military infrastructure on Crimea  far from the front lines but a critical launching pad for attacks against Ukraine  since the spring, although it often doesnt confirm its responsibility.

On the battlefront, Russian missile attacks kept pounding key front-line hot spots in Ukraine. The Russians shelled seven Ukrainian regions over the past 24 hours, killing at least five civilians and wounding nine more, Ukraines presidential office said.

In the eastern Donetsk region, where the fighting is ongoing near the cities of Bakhmut and Avdiivka, eight cities and villages were shelled.

In areas that Ukraine has recaptured, residents are still recovering bodies of killed civilians, Donetsk Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said.

Over the past 24 hours alone, in three de-occupied towns and villages, we found abandoned bodies of Ukrainian civilians, Kyrylenko said.

Ukraines Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskiy said Sunday that Russian forces were mining territories they leave behind twice as densely as during the first months of the war.

Power outages were reported Sunday in the occupied Ukrainian city of Enerhodar, home to the closed Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europes largest. Ukrainian and Russian officials traded blame for the shelling that caused the blackout.

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PREDAPPIO, Italy  Several thousand black-clad fascist sympathizers chanted and sang in praise of the late Italian dictator Benito Mussolini on Sunday as they marched to his crypt, 100 years after Mussolini entered Rome and completed a bloodless coup that gave rise to two decades of fascist rule.

The crowd of 2,000 to 4,000 marchers, many sporting fascist symbols and singing hymns from Italys colonial era, was more numerous than in the recent past, as the fascist nostalgics celebrated the centenary of the March on Rome.

On Oct. 28, 1922, black-shirted fascists entered the Italian capital, launching a putsch that culminated two days later when Italys king handed Mussolini the mandate to start a new government.

The crowd in Predappio, Mussolinis birthplace and final resting place in the northern Emilia-Romagna region, also was apparently emboldened by the fact that a party with neo-fascist roots is heading an Italian government for the first time since World War II.

Organizers warned participants, who arrived from as far away as Rome, Belgium and the United States, not to flash the Roman salute used by the Fascists, or they would risk prosecution. Still, some couldnt resist as the crowd stopped outside the cemetery where Mussolini is laid to rest to listen to prayers and greetings from Mussolinis great-granddaughter, Orsola.

After 100 years, we are still here to pay homage to the man this state wanted, and who we will never stop admiring, Orsola Mussolini said, to cheers.

She listed her great-grandfathers accomplishments, citing an infrastructure boom that built schools, hospitals and public buildings, reclaimed malaria-infested swamps for cities, and the extension of a pension system to non-government workers. She was joined by her sister Vittoria, who led the crowd in a prayer.

The crowd gave a final shout of Duce, Duce, Duce! Mussolinis honorific as Italys dictator.

Anti-fascist campaigners held a march in Predappio on Friday, to mark the anniversary of the liberation of the town  and to prevent the fascists from marching on the exact anniversary of the March on Rome.

Inside the cemetery on Sunday, admirers lined up a handful at a time to enter his crypt, tucked away in a back corner. Each was given a memory card signed by his great-grandaughters with a photo of a smiling Mussolini holding his gloved hand high in a Roman salute. History will prove me right, the card reads.

Italys failure to fully come to terms with its fascist past has never been more stark than now, as Italys new Premier Giorgia Meloni seeks to distance her far-right Brothers of Italy party from its neo-fascist roots.

This week, she decried fascisms anti-democratic nature and called its racial laws, which sent thousands of Italian Jews to Nazi death camps, a low point. Historians would also add Mussolinis alliance with Nazi Germany and Japan in World War II and his disastrous colonial campaign in Africa to fascisms devastating legacies.

Now in power, Meloni is seeking a moderate course for a new center-right government that includes Matteo Salvinis League party and Silvio Berlusconis Forza Italia. But her victory gives far-right activists a sense of vindication.

I would have voted for Lucifer if he could beat the left, said organizer Mirko Santarelli, who heads the Ravenna chapter of the Arditi, an organization that began as a World War I veterans group and has evolved to include caretaking Mussolinis memory. I am happy there is a Meloni government, because there is nothing worse than the Italian left. It is not the government that reflects my ideas, but it is better than nothing.

He said he would like to see the new Italian government do away with laws that prosecute incitement to hatred and violence motivated by race, ethnicity, religion and nationality. It includes use of emblems and symbols  many of which were present in Sundays march.

Santarelli said the law punishes the crime of opinion.

It is used as castor oil by the left to make us keep quiet. When I am asked my opinion of Mussolini, and it is clear I speak well of him, I risk being denounced, Santarelli said.

Lawyer Francesco Minutillo, a far-right activist who represents the organizers, said Italys high court established that manifestations are permissible as long as they are commemorative and dont meet the criteria that risks the reconstitution of the fascist party.

Still, he said, magistrates in recent years have opened investigations into similar manifestations in Predappio and elsewhere to make sure they dont violate the law. One such case was closed without charges last week.

To avoid having their message misrepresented, Santarelli asked the rank and file present not to speak to journalists. Most complied.

A young American man wearing a T-shirt with a hand-drawn swastika inside a heart and the words Brand New Dream, and a fascist fez said he had timed his European vacation to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the March on Rome so he could participate in the march in Predappio. He declined to identify himself, other than to say he was from New Jersey, and lamented there was no fascist group back home to join.

Rachele Massimi traveled with a group four hours from Rome on Sunday to participate in the event, bringing her 3-year-old who watched from a stroller.

Its historic, Massimi said. Its a memory.
MEXICO CITY  During the Day of the Dead celebrations that take place in late October and early November in Mexico, the living remember and honor their dearly departed, but with celebration  not sorrow.

Marigolds decorate the streets as music blares from speakers. Adults and children alike dress as skeletons and take photos, capturing the annual joy-filled festivities. It is believed that during the Day of the Dead  or Dia de Muertos  they are able to commune with their deceased loved ones.

No one knows when the first observance took place, but it is rooted in agriculture-related beliefs from Mexicos pre-Hispanic era, said Andres Medina, a researcher at the Anthropological Research Institute of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Catholic traditions were incorporated into the celebration after the Spanish conquest in 1521.

In that mythology, the corn is buried when its planted and leads an underground life for a period to later reappear as a plant, Medina said. The grain of corn is seen as a seed, comparable to a bone, which is seen as the origin of life.

Today, skeletons are central to Day of the Dead celebrations, symbolizing a return of the bones to the living world. Like seeds planted under soil, the dead disappear temporarily only to return each year like the annual harvest.

Altars are core to the observance as well. Families place photographs of their ancestors on their home altars, which include decorations cut out of paper and candles. They also are adorned with offerings of items once beloved by those now gone. It could include cigars, a bottle of mezcal or a plate of mole, tortillas and chocolates.

Traditional altars can be adorned in a pattern representative of a Mesoamerican view that the world had levels, Medina said. But not everyone follows  or knows  this method.

To the extent that Indigenous languages have been lost, the meaning (of the altar) has been lost as well, so people do it intuitively, he said. Where the Indigenous languages have been maintained, the tradition is still alive.

The way Mexicans celebrate the Day of the Dead continues to evolve.

Typically, it is an intimate family tradition observed with home altars and visits to local cemeteries to decorate graves with flowers and sugar skulls. They bring their deceased loved ones favorite food and hire musicians to perform their favorite songs.

Nowadays theres an influence of American Halloween in the celebration, Medina said. These elements carry a new meaning in the context of the original meaning of the festival, which is to celebrate the dead. To celebrate life.

In 2016, the government started a popular annual parade in Mexico City that concludes in a main square featuring altars built by artisans from across the country. The roughly three-hour-long affair features one of the holidays most iconic characters, Catrinas. The female skeleton is dressed in elegant clothes inspired by the engravings of Jose Guadalupe Posada, a Mexican artist who drew satirical cartoons at the beginning of the 20th century.

On Friday afternoon in the capital city, Paola Valencia, 30, walked through the main square looking at some of the altars and explained her appreciation for the holiday: I love this tradition because it reminds me that they (the dead) are still among us.

Originally from the Mexican state of Oaxaca, she said the residents of her hometown, Santa Cruz Xoxocotlan, take a lot of time to build large altars each year. They are a source of pride for the whole community.

Sometimes I feel like crying. Our altars show who we are. We are very traditional and we love to feel that they (the dead) will be with us at least once a year, she said.

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the APs collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
WASHINGTON  President Joe Bidens administration is taking stock of a newly empowered Xi Jinping as the Chinese president begins a third, norm-breaking five-year term as Communist Party leader. With U.S.-Chinese relations already fraught, concerns are growing in Washington that more difficult days may be ahead.

Xi has amassed a measure of power over Chinas ruling party unseen since Mao Zedong, the leader from 1949 until his death in 1976. Xis consolidation of power comes as the United States has updated its defense and national security strategies to reflect that China is now Americas most potent military and economic adversary.

Biden takes pride in having built rapport with Xi since first meeting him more than a decade ago, when they served as their countries vice presidents. But Biden now faces, in Xi, a counterpart buoyed by a greater measure of power and determined to cement Chinas superpower status even while navigating strong economic and diplomatic headwinds.

Were not back in the Mao era. Xi Jinping is not Mao, said Jude Blanchette, chair of China studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. But we are definitely in new territory and unpredictable territory in terms of the stability and predictability of Chinas political system.

Biden and Xi are expected to hold talks on the sidelines of next months Group of 20 summit in Indonesia, a long-anticipated meeting that would come after nearly two years of tense relations. The leaders are dug into winning the upper hand in a competition that both believe will determine which country is the leading global economic and political force driving the next century.

Theres an awful lot of issues for us to talk to China about, said National Security Council spokesman John Kirby. He added that U.S. and Chinese officials have been working to arrange a meeting of the leaders, though one has yet to be confirmed. Some issues are fairly contentious and some should be collaborative, Kirby said.

Biden and Xi traveled together in the U.S. and China in 2011 and 2012, and they have held five phone or video calls since Biden became president in January 2021. But the U.S.-China relationship has become far more complicated since those getting-to-know-you talks over meals in Washington and on the Tibetan plateau a decade ago.

As president, Biden has repeatedly taken China to task for human rights abuses against the Uyghur people and other ethnic minorities, Beijings crackdowns on democracy activists in Hong Kong, coercive trade practices, military provocations against self-ruled Taiwan and differences over Russias prosecution of its war against Ukraine.

Xis government has criticized the Biden administrations posture toward Taiwan  which Beijing looks eventually to unify with the communist mainland  as undermining Chinas sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Chinese president also has suggested that Washington wants to stifle Beijings growing clout as it tries to overtake the U.S. as the worlds largest economy.

External attempts to suppress and contain China may escalate at any time, Xi warned in his address before the Communist Party congress. We must therefore be more mindful of potential dangers, be prepared to deal with worst-case scenarios, and be ready to withstand high winds, choppy waters and even dangerous storms.

Dali Yang, a political scientist at the University of Chicago who researches Chinese politics, said there are some potentially stabilizing developments emerging in the relationship after months of rancor.

Two of Chinas best-known diplomats in Washington were elevated at the Communist Party meeting. Foreign Minister Wang Yi was selected for the Communist Partys Politburo, the policymaking body made up of the 24 most senior officials. Chinas ambassador to the U.S., Qin Gang, is joining its central committee. Their elevation should bring a measure of continuity to the U.S.-China relationship, Yang said.

Yang noted there has also been an effort on the part of the Communist Party leadership to tone down its warm embrace of Russia. Last month, after meeting with Xi on the sidelines of a summit in Uzbekistan, Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged that Xi had expressed concern and questions about the war in Ukraine.

With his third term confirmed, in some ways, Xi is now freer to act and less encumbered in terms of no longer having to always watch what his rivals are doing, Yang said. I think that actually may affect his approach and may make him more comfortable in dealing with Biden.

White House officials have played down hopes that Xis new five-year hold on the Communist Party could give him breathing room to more fully engage on matters where China has some overlapping interests with the U.S.

Biden, during a meeting with Defense Department officials on Wednesday, stressed that the U.S. was not seeking conflict with China. Hours later, Chinese state television reported Xi told members of the national committee on U.S.-China relations that Beijing should find ways to work with Washington on issues of mutual concern.

The conciliatory moment was short-lived.

The following day, U.S. and Chinese officials were trading rhetorical shots about the U.S. move earlier this month to expand export controls on the sale of advanced semiconductor chips to China.

The U.S. has overstretched the national security concept and suppressed Chinas development, and normal business cooperation has been politicized and weaponized, Wang Hongxia, counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Washington, told reporters.

Her comments came not long after a top Commerce Department official, Undersecretary Alan Estevez, said at a Washington forum that if I was a betting person, I would put down money on the U.S. imposing additional export controls on China.

Chinas economy is slowing, with Beijing reporting this month that growth for the first nine months of the year was 3%, putting it on pace to fall well below its official full-year target of 5.5%. The countrys economy is also dragging from strict zero COVID rules, and Beijing is confronting a deceleration in exports and home prices that fell to a seven-year low in September.

It also faces increased competition from a U.S. and European Union that are investing tens of billions of dollars to compete on semiconductors and other technologies. All of this points to the possibility that China might not eclipse U.S. gross domestic product by 2030 as many economists have forecast.

Ruchir Sharma, chairman of Rockefeller International, recently concluded that with its likely growth trajectory China would exceed the U.S. economy by 2060, if it manages to do so at all.

At the same time, Secretary of State Antony Blinken as well as the U.S. chief naval operations officer, Adm. Mike Gilday, have recently expressed concern that Beijing may try to step up its timeline to seize Taiwan. Blinken said China had made a fundamental decision that the status quo was no longer acceptable.

China has largely refrained from criticizing Russias war in Ukraine, but also has held off on supplying Moscow with arms. Still, the conflict has raised concerns in Taiwan that China  which has never controlled the island  might be further emboldened to move on its long-stated plan for unification.

U.S.-China tensions have been further enflamed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosis August visit to Taiwan and Bidens remark in May that the U.S. military would defend Taiwan in case of an attack by China, comments the White House later played down.

Whats concerning now is that with Xis unlimited power and ambition, he may use Taiwan to distract from his internal problems, said Keith Krach, a former undersecretary of state during the Trump administration. I hope hes looked at the courage of the Ukrainians and reckoned that the people of Taiwan are just as courageous, perhaps even more so.

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Associated Press writer Josh Boak contributed to this report.

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The miscreants threatened Reddy that they would share morphed pictures of him with all his contacts if he didnt pay an extra amount. (DC Image)

NELLORE: The Balaji Nagar police arrested four people based in Karnataka and Telangana and representing a loan app firm for fleecing nearly Rs 40 lakh from a customer who repaid Rs 30,000 he borrowed, after threatening to morph his photos and send them to all his contacts.

The arrested have been identified as Jadev Yuvaraj, 21 from Adilabad district, P. Ajay Pavan Kalyan, 21, and R. Sai Kiran, 21 from Nirmal district of Telangana, and Abdul Layik from Karnataka.

According to superintendent of police Ch. Vijaya Rao, the victim, K. Vidya Sagar Reddy, from Aditya Nagar in Nellore city, had borrowed Rs 30,000 through the loan app and cleared the loan with interest this year.

However, the accused agents have started harassing him, claiming that they would project him as a loan fraudster to all his contacts.

The miscreants threatened Reddy that they would share morphed pictures of him with all his contacts if he didnt pay an extra amount.

Unable to bear the mental torture, he had paid Rs 40 lakh to the accused in installments, yet they continued to threaten him.

Vexed with the harassment, Reddy lodged a complaint with Balaji Nagar police in Nellore city on September 30 this year.

The cyber crime police, along with Balaji Nagar police, have launched an investigation.
Governments, international organizations, and multinational businesses increasingly advance elements of the Great Reset, including, DEI, ESG, and ending use of fossil fuels. The Biden administrations actions since January 2021 demonstrate significant support among U.S. elites for the Great Reset.

What can be done about it? Glenn Beck and Justin Haskins offer suggestions in Summary of the Great Reset. These include regulatory changes, a balanced budget amendment for Washington, educational choice, and defunding global institutions. They also recommend Community First, with economic, social, and political elements, like getting to know neighbors and supporting locally owned businesses. On politics, they recommend, If youre politically active, dont spend all your time and money on congressional and presidential elections. Building on this, I contend that a reinvigorated federalism offers protection against Great Reset policies.

(Source: World Eceonomic Forum)

We can hope for and welcome political pushback. The Trump administration took helpful measures, like enacting the Fair Access to Financial Services rule to prevent discrimination in lending. Many more Americans are now aware of the Great Reset thanks to the efforts of folks like Haskins, Donald Kendal, and the Heartland Institute. A successor can undo President Bidens executive orders.

Yet, improving policy through politics has limits. Given the balance between the parties nationally and the influence of globalist elites within the Democratic party, the result is likely to be enormous policy variation. Consider a future where Democratic presidents close gas stations and mandate lending exclusively based on ESG scores only for Republicans to reverse these. Now imagine operating an energy company or bank under such policy swings. We cannot plan and lead our lives or build functioning communities or economies under enormous policy swings.

Public choice and constitutional economics have long recognized the limits of electing better people as a solution for institutional problems. We need institutional changes to reduce progressive elites influence. Renewed federalism and a willingness of states to build their own policy and regulatory infrastructure offers a path for predictable, limited government.

Consider one industry in detail: higher education. The Trump administration took positive steps on higher education. These measures included rolling back the Obamas rules on sexual harassment and allowing colleges to pursue accreditation from any of the regional accrediting bodies, yet these changes have not endured. President Bidens initiatives include reimposing the Obama administrations due process changes and student loan forgiveness.

States operate most of Americas public universities with many independently governed institutions; higher eds governance structure is already federal. Funding creates problems: the U.S. Department of Education exercises influence over colleges only because of Title IV of the Higher Education Acts funding. Eligibility for federal financial aid is crucial to universities, who must adhere to the regulations and Dear Colleague letters issued under the Higher Education Act.

In addition to empowering progressive elites, federal financial aid contributes to rising tuition rates. The availability of federal dollars encourages state governments to cut appropriations and hike tuition. Subsidized student loans (and potential forgiveness) reduce students responsiveness to tuition hikes. The financial dependence of red states universities on Washington ensures vulnerability.

Yet states need not rely on Uncle Sam, as a new Martin Center report details. Hillsdale College created its own lending program when it stopped accepting federal support; being cut off from Title IV funding did not doom Hillsdale. State governments, in cooperation with banks and investors, could create their own student lending programs. Income Share Agreements could be strengthened. And states could even increase appropriations to lower tuition and reduce students borrowing.

State independence will reduce the influence of globalist elites on many different margins. Consider ESG. If the Federal Reserve, U.S. Treasury, FDIC, and SEC continue to push ESG mandates, states -- which already charter banks -- may need to assume more regulatory authority. State authority may be the only way to insulate banks from Washington.

Attaining financial independence will require state and local officials to act against their narrow electoral interest. Public choice economics models politicians as maximizing their reelection chances. They seek support and look to avoid opposition. Spending money generates support while raising taxes produces anger and opposition. Politicians choose spending when the support gained exceeds the opposition from taxes.

Letting Washington collect taxes for the states is a state legislators dream come true: they get the support from spending without the opposition from taxes. But money from Washington has always come with strings attached, from leveraging federal highway funds to make states raise the drinking age to 21 to the Affordable Care Acts attempted forced expansion of Medicaid. The Great Reset makes such dependence unacceptable.

Ultimately, Washington only recirculates money. Individuals and businesses across the country pay taxes. Laundering tax dollars through Washington is at best a zero-sum game. On the other hand, keeping taxes and spending local can limit the influence of national elites.

An invigorated federalism devolves taxation and programs to states, allowing significant federal tax cuts. If political forces in Washington later reversed the tax cuts, Americans could face crushingly high tax rates. Keeping state and local taxes as low as possible might normally be wise for fiscal conservatives with more influence in the state capital than in Washington. But true federalism must involve significant taxation by states, making some risk here unavoidable.

The forces backing the Great Reset nationally are unlikely to dissipate soon. We can hope that educating Americans about the Great Reset will improve policy, public choice economics recognizes limits to addressing structural problems by electing the right people. Having states assume more fiscal and regulatory authority will enable Americans to build stout defenses against the policies and policy uncertainty of the Great Reset.

Daniel Sutter (dsutter@troy.edu) is Affiliated Senior Scholar at the Mercatus Center and Professor of Economics at the Manuel H. Johnson Center for Political Economy at Troy University.
Launched in 1980, CNN, the countrys oldest cable news network, has been on ratings life support for years. Tonight, Oct. 30, 2022, at 10 PM ET/PT, promises to witness another of the Cable News Networks major low points  and possibly a potentially terminal blow  for this formerly influential and once passingly credible TV news outlet.

Tonights prime time offering is the final installment of a seven-part, seven-hour-long documentary series about the Murdochs  Rupert Murdoch and his family  who founded and control CNNs major competition and nemesis, the Fox News Channel. Fox News first appeared on the scene in October 1996. In 2001, Fox News first beat CNN and MSNBC (which also launched in 1996) in the ratings. If you cant beat em, then attack them has been the MO of CNN since then. For most of the next two decades, Fox News has been far and away the ratings leader in the highly competitive, and highly remunerative, cable television news landscape.

CNNs series on the Murdochs premiered last month. Its a sweeping, technically state-of-the-art examination into the lives of Rupert Murdoch, born in Australia and now a U.S. citizen, and three of his children, unsubtly subtitled Empire of Influence. Long-gone Yellow Journalism mogul William Randolph Hearst step aside: Its the Murdochs, according to CNN, who are the most influential  and the most problematic  media barons in world history.

And why is this so? Because, according to CNN, Rupert Murdoch and his family built, largely from the ground up, an impressive and successful international media business  including leading newspapers on three continents, the 4th U.S. broadcast television network, the #1 cable news channel, and later a major movie studio (20th Century Fox), and book publishing  based on serving its audience and making a profit. And, the ultimate coup de grace, reflecting a conservative point of view. OMG, perish the thought.

Promotional show card for CNNs series on the Murdochs, showing a rendering of Rupert Murdoch who is now 91.

As Fox Newss influence has grown, CNN has struggled without success to restore credibility and reassert its prominence. In the past five years, since President Donald Trump outed the mainstream media as fake news, CNN has gone bonkers. Not only its opinionated prime time hosts (Chris Cuomo, ignominiously fired last year; Don Lemon, demoted to co-hosting CNNs low rated morning show; and aging former new kid on the block Anderson Cooper) but its total news day has reflected a chronic anti-Trump, anti-MAGA bias. The Russia Collusion hoax and its purveyors (remember Michael Avenatti?) found a permanent home at CNN, even after the Mueller Report confirmed over four years ago that there was no there there. For the past two years, CNN has been unwilling to get beyond its hyped-up wall-to-wall coverage of the MAGA January 6, 2021 Insurrection and what it hopes is a troubled future for President Trump.

Earlier this year, CNNs top dog, Jeff Zucker, the one-time broadcast network TV wunderkind who ran CNN into the woke ground, was forced out (a.k.a. resigned) after admitting that he was engaging in a relationship with a female CNN executive that he failed to disclose. Meanwhile, ownership of CNN was shifting again to another large corporate entity, Warner Bros. Discovery. The latter installed Chris Licht as CNNs CEO. A veteran mainstream TV executive, Licht was fresh from executive producing leftist Trump-hating comedian Stephen Colberts late night CBS show.

When Licht took control last spring, media analysts claimed CNN would be returning to its roots of less ideological, and more fair and balanced, reporting  something it had never actually done. In the months since then, despite two opinionated on-air figures (John Harwood and Brian Stelter) being shown the door, there has been little if any evidence of anything approaching fair and balanced on the channel.

CNN had high hopes for its Sunday night prime time programs on the Murdochs. The series was based on How Rupert Murdochs Empire Remade the World, three articles totaling 20,000 words published in the New York Times Sunday Magazine in 2019. The on-camera experts in the CNN series included the authors of the Times pieces.

The Murdoch documentary series premiered on CNN last month to rave reviews in the MSM. It was originally scheduled to play on CNNs streaming platform, CNN+. But that effort went belly up before the Murdoch docs could complete their run there. And so, the series was given new life on CNN itself.

A summary of tonights seventh and final episode of The Murdochs: Empire of Influence promises to report As the Trump presidency creates fault lines between James and Lachlan Murdoch, Rupert worries about the future media landscape. Last Sundays episode, titled Planet Fox, focused on CNNs major competition, Fox News  including the 2017 departure of its #1 prime time host Bill OReilly and its co-founder Roger Ailes. CNN did not report that later in 2017 the Fox News Channel quickly righted itself, installing an impressive prime time lineup including veteran conservatives Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham, and quickly regained its ratings leadership which persists to this day.

Briefly, a few review points about parts 1-6 of CNNs Murdoch series:

The journalists who were interviewed had absolutely no access to Rupert Murdoch or his three adult children who have been or continue to be involved with the company. No one from the family, or currently employed with the company, agreed to cooperate. The talking heads about the Murdochs media businesses in the UK were mostly drawn from The Guardian  one of the most left-wing media outlets on the planet.

The series is a case history in unfair and unbalanced reportage. Perhaps thats one reason why its episodes have had relatively few viewers, only around 350,00 total or about one-half to one-third the number that Fox News is getting at that time of the day.

One of the series key talking heads is current CNN prime time host Alisyn Camerota. She was a prominent host at Fox News for over 16 years. Camerota left Fox in 2014 and almost immediately transitioned to CNN, adopting the woke persona that was increasingly required of the on-air talent there. Whenever I saw her disparaging comments about Fox News in the Murdoch doc series, I had to wonder why she spent 16+ years at Fox without a single complaint.

If broadcast journalism schools had any credibility left (they dont), CNNs Murdoch series would be required viewing to teach students how not to write and produce a documentary.

As noted, the mainstream media largely approved of the series, quite enthusiastically in some cases, with more than one review claiming it was fair and balanced. Vanity Fairs review of what it called CNNs long-awaited saga revealed its true colors when it described CNNs years of anti-Trump propaganda that had come to define it during the Trump years as righteous diatribes.

For all the hype, CNNs ratings challenges and other problems are finally starting to be reported by some of the mainstream media. For example, on October 26, a lengthy, largely positive CNBC article about CNN CEO Jeff Licht noted that he would soon be laying off a significant number of CNN employees. This looming cut in workers, according to the article, has resulted in uncertainty, low morale, and nervousness among an employee base thats been through several traumatic events in the past 18 months.

Despite the challenges and its chronically low ratings, according to CNBCs analysis CNN continues to make money. This year, however, its profits are expected to be considerably less than $1 billion for the first time in six years.

The major changes in CNNs programming so far under Licht have entailed moving uber left host Don Lemon from his prime-time program to co-hosting CNNs chronically failing, 3-hour morning show New Day. Instead of getting off work each night after his prime-time show ended at 12 midnight ET and hitting the citys hot spots, Lemon will now need to rise by 2 AM in order to get ready for the 6 AM start time of his new co-hosting assignment. He has insisted that his new co-hosting duties are not a demotion.

The recent replacement for fired host Chris Cuomo, who had the highest prime time ratings on CNN, is Jake Tapper. In his first weeks at 9 PM ET this month, however, Tappers ratings are flatlining: On Friday Oct. 21, Tappers show averaged its lowest-rated telecast among all viewers since its launch on October 11, down 40% from its first airing. That night the show also delivered its second lowest-rated telecast among the preferred demographic, viewers aged 25-54, since it started, down 46%. These numbers do not bode well for the programs future, which is uncertain in any case: Tappers new program as well as Camerotas from 10 PM-12 AM ET have commitments to run only until after the November 8 elections.

As more and more viewers cut the cord by dumping cable and satellite TV, streaming programming is where the future is at. On the streaming side of things, one of Lichts first actions after he took over CNN last spring was to shut down CNNs much ballyhooed new online streaming service, CNN+, after only 32 days online and an investment of $300 million. Eighteen months ago, the channel also shuttered CNN Airport, its service at major U.S. airports that had a captive audience of travelers  likely exceeding the number of viewers who subscribed to CNN on cable or satellite.

In contrast to CNNs disastrous CNN+ experiment, Fox News in 2018 launched its streaming video channel Fox Nation. Four years later, the service is thriving with a wide variety of original programming, documentaries, and replays on demand of Fox News Channel shows. Of particular note are the documentaries and long form interviews on Fox Nation hosted by Tucker Carlson, whose M-F 8 PM program on the Fox News Channel has become appointment viewing for conservatives and people interested in the unvarnished reality that surrounds us.

Peter Barry Chowka is a veteran journalist who has covered national politics, the politics and economics of health care, popular culture, and media for over five decades. His Web page with links to his work is http://peter.media. Peters extensive American Thinker archive: http://tinyurl.com/pcathinker Follow Peter on Twitter @pchowka
I remember a boast from Carl Sagan, many years ago, that it would only be a matter of time that science would have everything about the world explained. He considered spiritual explanations baloney (his word). Countless others who consider science the one and only path to ultimate enlightenment have obviously not been living in the same world that billions of other people have been living in since the dawn of time.

As for Sagans prediction, it is a conviction of many since the Age of Reason. Has the time of the ultimate enlightenment arrived? Looking around, we can see that those scientists, theologians, philosophers, and think-tank experts in every major field have not all come to the same conclusion. Far from it, in fact, which everyone who is not addicted to mainstream information knows. And who is able to trust experts like Klaus Schwab, Bill Gates, and associated masters of science (and wisdom?).

Why do millions vigorously protest a so-called Great Reset of the world based on ultimate scientific findings? Could it be that this vast assemblage of souls notices that plans for a Godless, essentially nonhuman world are as nutty as the globalists who make them and promote them  and, what is dictatorial, to say the least, making such a world mandatory?

What to make of such utter global disconnect with the minds, hearts, and loyalties of the worlds people? I think a good start to understanding this global conundrum is the awareness that manipulating science for nonscientific ends is not science but wisdom-defying scientism.

The disconnect in discourse and understanding among people due to scientism is highlighted by Phillip D. Collins in a 2006 piece titled Nothing Beyond the Flesh: The Theocracy of Prima Materia in which the author calls faith in science Promethean, connoting a daring leap of creativity. He writes:

[Perceptive observers] will identify the Promethean faiths inherent scientism. It was the Promethean revolutionarys religious conviction that science would facilitate humanitys salvation by [e]nsuring the survival of the species and guiding it along its alleged political evolution towards a global society. Astute readers [can] recognize this ideologys mythical character. Historically, myths have played an integral role in the maintenance of socialist totalitarian governments. For instance, Nazism was premised upon the religious conviction that Germanys eugenical regimentation would result in the reemergence of the mythical Aryan. Likewise, communism was underpinned by the myth of a workers paradise and a classless society.

The foregoing is only a hint regarding the consequences of leaping from fake science (scientism) to agenda creation, especially in human affairs. The abuse of science and attendant mythology can be expected to cause trouble, frequently big and deadly.

Whoever doesnt see anything wrong with scientized playing loose with human lives is on track for slavery under power-hungry authoritarians. The intelligence level of the top-ranking among them does not reach to an understanding of real people living in the real world. I refer to the multitudes who cannot get it in their heads that the likes of Bill Gates, who wants everyone in the world to be inoculated with an experimental non-vaccine with a poor safety and effectiveness score, is a friend of humanity. Or Klaus Schwab, whose desire to implant an electronic chip in every head, is about making life better for everyone. Or Anthony Fauci, whose non-stop lying about his role in the development of the Covid-19 virus goes beyond embarrassing. The "deplorables" of the world don't view the devastation to countless lives across the globe since the massive and aggressive meddling of experts like these as evidence that they are in fact interested in the welfare of humanity.

There can be no question that justification for such inhumane treatment of people rests on gall, not wisdom. And what can these self-appointed wardens of humanity and saviors of the world expect from such radical interference in peoples lives and the natural order of things? Well, their crystal ball is fogging up from the cracks in it caused by their folly and the pressure of real people living in the real world.

This glance at the real divide in this country and throughout the world, missed by all who remain locked in their partisan cages, points to what culture warriors have been fighting for at least five decades. The fight continues, as New World Order moguls shed their sheepskins and show their wolf faces. Knowing who are the enemies of humanity is essential in the fight against evil.

The past several decades of culture conflict should make it clear to all at this late date that the real division among us is not between liberals and conservatives, the haves and the have-nots, those with the correct skin color and those with the wrong skin color, the inclusivists and the racists, or whatever the political designation chosen for stirring contention among people. The real division is  as Dinesh DSouza has put it so well  between those who follow God and those who think they are God.

Some  George Soros, for example  are proud of this delusional appropriation of divinity, using it to mold the world into the shape they want. In this they expose not their wisdom but their hatred of humanity.

Anthony J. DeBlasi is a veteran and culture warrior.

Photo credit: Drew Tarvin CC BY 2.0 license
Those who dont know history are destined to repeat it, said George Santayana. He could well be describing modern leftists, careening back into the dark ages of post-Roman Britain.

At the end of the 2nd century AD, Britain was a fully developed province of the Roman Empire. It was as Roman as any city in the Empire. While still largely rural, Roman Britain developed towns and cities that mirrored those found in Italy or North Africa and connected them with a spectacular roadway. They had majestic villas, sprawling estates, baths, plumbing and, of course, aqueducts. The Romans brought industrial sophistication to mining, unprecedented architectural capabilities, and improved agriculture. The province was awash in imported goods from around the Empire: Wine from Gaul, olive oil from Hispania, pottery from North Africa, and philosophy teachers from Greece; all the while exporting precious metals, agricultural products, shellfish, and salt across the Empire.

One of the extraordinary things about the Roman Empire was the unprecedented, widespread prosperity it created from the Pillars of Hercules to the Levant and virtually everywhere in between. While there had always been a market for fine goods such as silk, porcelain, and exotic foods, the Romans brought those goods to the masses. By building roads, ports, and transportation hubs, and funding the trade necessary to support the Legions, the Romans drove economies of scale and created a mass market for goods that had formerly been available only to the rich. In doing so, they created a cosmopolitan empire so thoroughly Roman that people from what are today Morocco, Britain, Germany, and Israel likely spoke some version of the same language and would have found familiar products available wherever they were in the Empire.

In Britain, 300 years after Caesars first invasion in 55 BC, the province was a sophisticated, shining example of all the Empire had to offer. It was not to last, however. In less than a century after the Romans abandoned the island for good in 410, the population collapsed, the economy collapsed, cities became ghost towns or disappeared, and chaos reigned. Londinium, which had 60,000 people in the 2nd century, dropped below 20,000 and saw more than 75% of its buildings dismantled, with the materials carted off into the countryside.

In less than a century, Roman Britain went from a rich, flourishing cosmopolitan province with bustling urban centers and goods from across the known world to an economic and cultural backwater where modern architectural, plumbing, and farming techniques seemed to have disappeared along with most of the imported goods.

Most of the people living on the island in the middle of the 4th century probably assumed, as most 2022 Americans do, that civilizations advances move only in one directionupward. They expected to continue to enjoy inexpensive food and pottery and clothing from elsewhere while selling their wares in return. The government would continue to protect them and maintain the ports and roads that facilitated trade.

Image: Hadrians Wall by Johnnie Shannon. CC BY 2.0.

When those things didnt happen, life in Britain became a far darker experience. Cities disappeared, warlords set up fiefdoms, and invaders came from seemingly everywhere. Farming techniques were lost, building techniques were lost, trade collapsed, and citizens were forced to become self-sufficient as numerous petty would-be kings set up trade and travel barriers, and goods from the Continent became scarce. The opposite of economies of scale and free trade took hold, so Britain became far less prosperous as goods became more expensive, countless products and varieties of products simply disappeared, and staples had to be produced locally.

Its here where Santayanas warning becomes relevant. Given that the history of post-Roman Britain so clearly demonstrates the fragility of civilizations advances, we might want to pay attention. The reality is, our world, far more tenuously than the Britain of 1700 years ago, is but X bad decisions away from an agrarian, subsistence economy with no electricity, no gas, little trade, few economies of scale and, most certainly, no security or safety.

Go through a day and see how many things we rely on that we couldnt replace if a disaster occurred. Imagine a blackout. How many things would that loss of electricity affect? Not only the lighting in our homes but the refrigerators, phone chargerseverything. Outside our homes, theres even more: Elevators. Gas pumps. Plumbing. Street lamps and stop lights. Virtually everything in a hospital. Cell phone towers. Police switchboards and dispatches. Train signals and countless other things.

Then there are the social aspects of such a crisis. Rules and laws would go out the window very quickly. During the New York City blackout of 1977, crime surged, with looting, vandalism, and arson rampant (over 1,000 fires were set), while police arrested 3,776 people in the largest mass arrest in the citys history. The chaos cost over $1 billion in todays dollars, and the lights were off for less than 24 hours!

Now jump forward to the BLM/Antifa riots of 2020. With police under attack, not only was there chaos and mayhem, there were murders, assaults, and rapes nationwide. Communities literally burned to the ground. Then there is the mass looting and random violence that has occurred since 2020 and seems to be growing worse every dayand through all of this, we still had electricity!

Of course, electricity is only one element keeping our society civilized. Theres gasoline, trade, and what used to be widespread respect for the rule of law. Imagine no diesel fuel. Trucks wouldnt be able to deliver food and store shelves would go bare. You probably have enough food in your kitchen for your family to last a few days or maybe a week at most. Then what? Are you going to grow wheat on your windowsill or in your backyard? Is the neighborhood stray cat going to be your familys next meal? Do you have a cow for milk? Not to mention medicines, building materials, gasoline for your car The list of goods delivered via diesel is endless.

One of the downsides of trade, division of labor, and economies of scale is that most of us are dependent on others to provide for us those things we dont produce for ourselves, which is to say, almost everything. Our society is based on a trade system where we get paid to do some things, and we pay others to do the things we dont. Its a well-oiled machineuntil its not.

And thats the point. The climate alarmists who want to do away with fossil fuels have no concept of the ramifications of that folly. The equity cultists who want to eliminate the police and reform the justice system dont care about the consequences of that absurdity.

Just as the razor-thin layer of atmosphere surrounding the earth sustains life on earth, our modern society thrives thanks to plentiful, inexpensive energy and respect for the rule of law. Inexplicably, those are the two primary targets of the Democrats who are currently in charge of wide swaths of the United States. Indeed, Californians regularly endure the absurd manmade disaster of rolling blackouts while Illinois is about to essentially decriminalize crime.

When Americans step into their well-lit, safe, and private voting booths on November 8, theyd do well to think of those 5th-century Britains who were about to careen into a darkness from which it would take almost a millennia to emergeand then vote accordingly.
The Epoch Times reports on the continuing efforts by the FBI to hide the contents of Seth Richs computer, and while I am not sure why, the reasonable assumption is that to disclose this material would, as a number of experts have long contended, prove that Muellers claim that the DNC computer was hacked by Russians was of a piece with the entire nonsensical and disproven claims that Russia conspired to defeat Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Since it has been several years since focus was on the murder of Seth Rich and the publication by Julian Assange of the efforts inside the DNC to see that Hillary was the partys presidential candidate, a summary look at the details is warranted.

Seth Rich was a DNC staffer who was mysteriously murdered on July 10, 2016, in Washington, D.C. after having been shot twice in the back. None of the valuable items in his possession seem to have been stolen. That would seem to rule out robbery. He had no known enemies and the murder occurred early in the morning (4:20 a.m.) in a safe neighborhood of the city. No one was ever arrested or prosecuted for the crime. There were no known witnesses to the murder. Nor to my knowledge were any suspects ever named. Local law enforcement nevertheless suggested his murder was part of a botched robbery. Six days after the murder, Wikileaks published over 19,000 emails and 8,000 attachments from the DNC files. In November of that year, they published over 8,000 more emails from the files. The emails showed that party officials favored Clinton over rival Bernie Sanders.

Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, long embroiled in a lengthy effort to avoid extradition to the U.S. from the U.K., has refused steadfastly to name the source of this material but has hinted on Dutch television that it was Seth Rich. He has repeatedly said the Russian government was not the source.

Persons familiar with such things have examined the rate of data transmission, inter alia, and concluded the DNC system was not hacked by outsiders. Instead, they contend that the files were copied to a storage device like a thumb drive and transmitted to Assanges Wikileaks.

The usual MSM and lefty internet sites dismissed these claims as fake news and the claimants as conspiracy theorists. Robert Mueller seems to have played along with them by indicting a number of Russian intelligence agents for hacking these files. If this were intended to cover up the truth it would be a convenient way to do it, for it is extremely unlikely any of these agents would appear here to contest the allegations in the indictment. (This was not the first time the Russian Collusion fairytale was fanned by a Mueller stunt like this. Mueller indicted a number of Russian firms and individuals for attempting to influence the 2016 election. Only one showed up to contest the charges, Concord Management and Consulting, and the Department of Justice dropped the charges against it.)

After Richs murder, on March 15, 2018, a source provided to the FBI information and material extracted from the computer. The FBI originally claimed it never had possession of Richs laptop nor any information from it. Years later (in 2020) after receipt of this material, however, the agency backtracked and admitted it had thousands of files from Richs computer. Brian Huddleston sued under the Freedom of Information Act to obtain disclosure of those documents.

On September 29, U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant ordered the Bureau to produce them in 14 days, dismissing the argument that that to release them would present a clear invasion of the Rich family privacy interests. How weak was the Bureaus defense? Judge Mazzant noted Pointedly, the FBI cites no case law for the proposition that survivors of the deceased have a privacy interest in information related to the deceaseds favorite music or relationship history. He said that cases relating to autopsies, death scene photographs, and other materials from a persons final moments were inapplicable.

The FBI filed a new motion asking Judge Mazzant to reverse his order and argues that in the event he does not, it will need 66 years to produce that information.

Ty Clevenger, Huddlestons lawyer disputes the FBIs claims:

"If the court overrules the FBIs motion, the FBI wants to produce records at a rate of 500 pages per month. At that rate, it will take almost 67 years just to produce the documents, never mind the images and other files, Ty Clevenger, a lawyer representing Huddleston, told The Epoch Times in an email. After dealing with the FBI for five years, I now assume that the FBI is lying to me unless and until it proves otherwise. The FBI is desperately trying to hide records about Seth Rich, and that begs the question of why.

For certain, the FBI stall is not only to protect Mueller. The claim that the DNC was hacked was bruited about by then-President Obama, the FBI, the Department of Homeland security, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and it was done before it ever received a report from Crowd Strike on the DNC server images. Mueller claimed that the DNC hacks took place between May 25 and June 1, 2016. Crowd Strikes sensors were on the DNCs network beginning on May 1 of that year, and they report that there was no indication of any intrusion on the network after that May 1 date. This strongly suggests to me that the conspiracy theorists were right when they claimed the leak of the DNC network was an inside job. It may well not have been Seth Rich who did it, but, whether it was he or not, why is the FBI trying so hard to keep what has been in its possession for over four years a secret?
In covering the awful attack on Paul Pelosi is his own San Francisco mansion (the one with the $30,000 refrigerator/freezer full of ultra-expensive ice cream), the four writers of Pelosis Husband Is Gravely Injured in Hammer Attack by an Intruder and at least one editor who worked on experienced severe amnesia.

Check out the obligatory tut-tutting over the rise in political violence:

The assault came as threats and violence against political figures have surged in America, especially after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, which brought the Democratic speaker, other lawmakers and the Republican vice president within feet of rioters threatening their lives. In the five years since Mr. Trump was elected in 2016, the number of recorded threats against members of Congress increased more than tenfold, to 9,625 in 2021, according to the Capitol Police. Many lawmakers say they live with a sense of dread after experiencing their own horror stories, such as the time someone smashed a window at a politicians home or when an angry man showed up with a gun.

Not a word about Lee Zeldin, whose home not too far from the NYT HQ, experienced a drive-by shooting weeks ago, and who was attacked by a knife-wielding opponent while campaigning in New York State earlier this year.

Not a word about the attack on Rand Paul that broke ribs and injured his lung.

Not a word about the attack on the House GOP softball team, an attempted mass assassination that gravely injured minority whip Steve Scalise.

This is called lying by omission.

Hat tip: Lauri B. Regan
In an interview with The Washington Times, Ms. Harris said she has video evidence of paid ballot harvesters operating in Orlando neighborhoods in both 2014 and 2017, and that the scheme has been going on for decades, continuing through the 2020 election and the 2022 primary.

Cynthia Harris , a Democrat who ran unsuccessfully for District 6 commissioner in Orange County, which includes Orlando, provided a sworn complaint to the election crimes office , alleging left-leaning organizations have been perpetrating a scheme to encourage residents in black neighborhoods to apply for mail-in ballots and to fill out those ballots, which she said have been collected by paid canvassers, and sometimes altered, all in violation of state law.

The incident had every nightmare scenario that could happen with a ballot-harvesting operation run by leftist operatives.

According to Just The News:

Ballot brokers typically work up to a year in advance, [the whistleblower] stated. Ballot brokers visit individuals in their residences and assists the individual with filling out a request for a mail-in ballot. After the mail-in ballot arrives, the voter is instructed to wait for the ballot broker returns to the individuals residence. They are asked to not seal the certificate envelope. In rare circumstances, if the voter has filled out the ballot and sealed the envelope certificate, the ballot broker will take the ballot and then steam open the sealed envelope, the affidavit added. The ballot broker will either correct any votes, if necessary, that were not voted according to their wishes or just throw them out.

So this has been going on for years in the Orlando area and, up until now, nobody did anything about it. It's coercive, illegal, anti-democratic, widespread, and slimy.

According to a 2020 GOP congressional investigation of ballot harvesting, the kinds of problems this largely illegal (outside California) practice, which is growing, is all about this kind of activity:

The unlimited ballot harvesting process in use throughout California should be differentiated from what is known as absentee or mail-in voting in other states. Absentee and mail-in voting began as a means for a resident of a state, who would be absent on Election Day or who could not physically cast a ballot at a polling location, to cast their vote ahead of time  with some states requiring an excuse to qualify.5 This is a reasonable means to increase voter participation, unfortunately California has removed any means by which to reasonably supervise this process - leading to what we now know as ballot harvesting. This also gave rise to paid political operatives, known as ballot brokers, recruiting and pressuring voters to vote by mail. These ballot brokers identify specific locations, such as large apartment complexes or nursing homes, where voters have traditionally voted for their party and build relationships with the residents. Operatives encourage, and even assist, these unsuspecting voters in requesting a mailin ballot; weeks later when the ballot arrives in the mail the same ballot brokers are there to assist the voter in filling out and delivering their ballot. This behavior can result in undue influence in the voting process and destroys the secret ballot, a long-held essential principle of American elections intended to protect voters. These very scenarios are what anti-electioneering laws at polling locations are meant to protect against.6 A voter cannot wear a campaign button to a polling location, but a political operative can collect your ballot in your living room? Furthermore, it has been reported that these ballot brokers intercept and destroy mail-in ballots of voters who traditionally vote against the brokers preferred party. 7 These ballot brokers are the new Tammany Hall ward bosses, controlling the votes of their harvested area. Brokers are often added to campaign payrolls based purely on the number of ballots they promise to harvest

Coercive operatives with money on their minds thug up to people's doorsteps and make them fill out ballots to their liking, or the ballots get thrown away, and you can bet the voters go on some sort of list. If they hand over their ballots, they can get their votes changed, they can get them discarded, they can get silenced and intimidated into voting the political operatives' way or else. One wonders how many Republicans would have won in that Disney-happy area had there not been this ballot-harvesting operation going on with nobody saying anything. How many bad laws since passed would not have seen the light of day if the elections didn't have this kind of cheating? Would Rep. Val Demings of Orlando, a leftist Democrat, really be in office if the ballot harvesters were not so active in her district? Would the looney leftist Rep. Frederica Wilson be similarly ensconced if the same thing were going on in hers, further to the south? Here's a list of Florida's Democrats.

It definitely raises questions. As Neo of the Neo blog noted (Hat tip: Sarah Hoyt at Instapundit):

Of course, this Florida news should get big national coverage, but that certainly doesnt appear to be happening at the moment, and I wouldnt suggest sitting on a hot stove till it does.

Perhaps because there are cases of this all over now, not just legal ballot-harvesting, but nakedly illegal and bustable ballot harvesting, as if these vote thieves are perfectly confident that nothing will ever happen to them, not with Democrats alone benefiting and the mainstream media covering for them, constantly yawping about the "most secure elections ever."

No, these elections are full of holes and becoming a laughingstock to the third world, which knows all these tricks well. Ballot harvesting, for example, was pioneered by the PRI party in Mexico, which held power for 70 years as a one-party state, having maneuvered itself into this position precisely with this practice. It was not for nothing that writer Mario Vargas Llosa called this setup "the perfect dictatorship." Democrats, many of them with roots in the Mexican illegal alien community in California, brought this practice with them and adapted it to California's elections -- the point that real Mexican nationals are appalled. One told me that California's politics resemble Mexico's 40 years ago, Mexico having instituted more safeguards to prevent this rigging from happening.

What's scary here is that it's all over.

Ballot harvesting was busted in Arizona last summer, where a "sophisticated operation" was run in a southern border city to elect Democrats and two operatives got tried and jailed. A Democrat political operative was busted last year for running a ballot-harvesting operation in San Antonio. A case in Georgia in 2020 was referred for prosecution and then dismissed, and then like uncrushed campfire embers, another one flared up recently. In Minnesota, Project Veritas caught a ballot harvester admit for the cameras about his dirty deeds, done on behalf of Rep. Ilhan Omar. Once again, everything was dismissed as nothing, but one wonders about the legitimacy of Omar's election as such cases keep cropping up. It doesn't seem logical that anyone would want to vote for someone that anti-American, and steeped in the values of fourth-world elites, but somehow, they do.

Joe Biden, who's in office by fraud, is constantly comparing the U.S. to the rest of the world on the economy and telling Americans they don't know how good they have it compared to other countries with him at the helm.

Perhaps he can compare and contrast that to the fact that ballot harvesting is illegal in virtually every country in the world and certainly those that have clean and fair elections. We see it going on in California now, where it is legal, and we see it going on now in Florida where it isn't. This is so problematic it calls for a Constitutional amendment to ban the practice, and fund a well-equipped investigative team with enforcement teeth so that America can actually have clean and fair elections.

Florida's Gov. Ron DeSantis is to be praised for taking the matter seriously and catching these miscreants. In the absence of a Constitutional amendment, one can only hope that other governors follow.

Image: Screen shot, YouTube video
Ive been following the Paul Pelosi/David DePape story closely. I watched the left-wing narrative build up and am now witnessing its collapse, all while the facts on the ground remain bizarre and unexplained. But what is also inescapable about what happened, as Michael Shellenberger explains, is that DePape is the end point of Californias ideologically radical climate combined with the drug abuse the West Coast tolerates and even encourages.

First, the bizarre and inexplicable facts: Nancy Pelosi is third in line for the presidency, yet were being asked to believe that her house, in a super chichi neighborhood, had no 24-hour federal or city security. It also appears that Paul slipped into the bathroom to call the police, which implies that, whatever else DePape was doing, he gave Paul freedom of movement.

Ive read, too, that a third person voluntarily opened the door to the police. Two other apparent facts: The two men were struggling over a hammer, so we dont know who had it first. We do know, though, that the police witnessed DePape attack Pelosi at which time they intervened. Ive read, too, although I cannot find the link, that DePape had injuries even more serious than Pelosis. It remains a mystery whether he received them from Pelosi or the police.

Image: Marijuana by Wirestock.

Both sides have their theories. Democrats instantly blamed right-wing rhetoric, Donald Trump, and the January 6 insurrection. To help promote this theory, they pointed to two websites filled with tropes about censorship, big brother, and pedophiles, along with antisemitism and a call for violence. In other words, these sites perfectly embodied leftist stereotyping about conservatives. Both sites were fakes.

Meanwhile, based on emails Ive received, conservatives have been wondering whether Paul might have been partying in Nancys absence, including gay partying, a theory that aligns with long-standing rumors that Paul is gay. [This theory has since been revealed to come from a hoax website and is as discredited as the left's hoax websites.] Others speculated that bad actors, recognizing that DePape was crazy, weaponized him by feeding his madness to accord with stereotypes about the far right, and then pointed him at Nancys house.

Frankly, I dont know whether anyone needed to weaponize DePape. Michael Shellenberger points out that DePape lived in a world of crazy that seemed to have ties primarily to leftist conspiracy theories, along with a few recently-added conservative theories. Some of DePapes mental debilities seem organic, but much of it is apparently related to chronic drug use:

Neighbors described DePape as a homeless addict with a politics that was, until recently, left-wing, but of secondary importance to his psychotic and paranoid behavior. [snip] Not all of the news media missed DePapes history of drug use, psychosis, and homelessness. CNN reported that a woman named Laura Hayes, who said she worked with DePape 10 years ago making hemp bracelets, said he had been living in a storage shed. He talks to angels, she said, and told her that there will be a hard time coming. Another woman, Linda Schneider, told CNN and Bay Area NBC TV affiliate, KRON4, that she got to know DePape around 2014 and that he was still homeless, living in a storage unit, and using hard drugs. He (was) likely a mindless follower of something he saw on social media because I dont think he had the courage to be part of any political or terrorist group, said Schneider. His drug use began again and he went off his rocker. [snip] David DePape is not a microcosm of the political psychosis gripping America in general. Rather, hes a microcosm of the drug-induced psychosis gripping the West Coast in particular.

Speaking of the West Coast, I just visited one of Oregons smaller cities. The most obvious thing was that, wherever you went, the air was redolent of the (to me) revolting smell of marijuana, which is legal up and down the West Coast. We know that in pot-legal states, people are using marijuana at unprecedented rates and THC strength, and at much younger ages.

Alex Berenson compellingly argues that the facts are incontestable: Marijuana is a gateway to harder drugs, and it literally makes people crazy. DePape is Exhibit A for the results flowing from the West Coasts passive and active support for marijuana and harder drugs.

As for DePapes politics, crazy people have no politics. They reflect the zeitgeist. In the pre-modern era, they thought they were witches or devils. After WWII, they thought they were communing with Martians or had been abducted by space aliens.

In the internet age, with madness flowing from the heart of the Democrat party and the far fringes of the conservative movement, the crazy ones embrace it all. But the important thing is that theyre crazy and leftist policies helped drive society to this madness.
The BBC, a publicly-funded broadcaster implicitly entrusted with disseminating vital messages to the U.K. citizenry during times of national crisis, has allegedly already begun preparing emergency broadcasts designed to reassure the people of Britain should extensive winter blackouts be necessary in the coming months. These potential blackouts would inevitably cause disruptions to the Commonwealths banking systems, internet access, mobile phone networks, and traffic lights, among other things. And would, of course, cause significant hardshipor worsefor much of the populace.

Already, various media outlets are speculating about how many Europeans will freeze to death this coming winter. And how tragically ironic that this will, in large part, be because of a misguided attempt to stave off global warming?!

Eschewing fossil fuels and going green may lead to frostbite induced gangrene. Or death. But, to hell with oil and coal, to hell with fracking, say no to nuclear. Moreover, some elites say that the dearth of natural gas from Russia is a great opportunity to jumpstart the switch to renewable energy such as wind and solar power. (And butterfly farts, apparently. Or do those put more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere? I forget.)

And the United States will follow suit, sooner rather than later, unless Democrats are soundly routed in the 2022 and 2024 elections. If that doesnt happen, and the country goes green, the U.S. will have come full circle, from its rag-tag militia freezing at Valley Forge despite (General) Washingtons best efforts, to regular citizens freezing because of Washington (DC)s policies nearly 250 years later.

Globalist elites appear intent on achieving population reduction -- a stated goal of the Great Reset -- at least in the West. This is why they push for birth control, sterilization, abortion, assisted suicide, dangerous vaccine mandates that are almost certainly causing countless excess deaths and may degrade fertility, legalization of hallucinogenic drugs, defunding police, implementing policies that reward rather than punish crime, and gun-control. And soon, thousands may freeze to death because of green energy policies. (And, in the U.S., our open southern border has led to a staggering number of deaths due to fentanyl -- and other -- drug overdoses.)

This all ties together. We arent allowed to say, all lives matter. Why? Perhaps because those in positions of power dont believe that they do. Abortion is healthcare? Sure, you bet. Say, a nuclear exchange or two might speed up the process, right?

If our leaders had any shame, they would be red-faced. And not from the cold.

Ponder this: hundreds or thousands may have to freeze to death in order to help slow global warming. Huh?! Could there be a sadder and more preposterous statement than that?

Graphic credit: Cristian Ibarra Santillan CC BY 2.0 license
The United States began with our Founders having wealth similar to the gentry in Europe. However, the ordinary people comparable to ourselves were essentially paupers. We built our homes with wood and mud (log homes and adobe), same as people before us for thousands of years.

But by 1914, we were the wealthiest people on Earth. Why? The answer is capitalism  capitalism with no government cost or interference. We didnt even have an income tax until 1913.

By 1914, unfettered capitalism had brought prices down so low that one person, earning the average wage of only 32 cents per hour, could support a sizable family with no additional income.

Our incomes and standard of living continued to grow throughout the Roaring Twenties. The recently imposed low income tax was innocuous and there were almost no regulations to slow the rise in standard of living. Prices of food, clothing, autos, housing, and other usable goods were declining.

The quality of goods was increasing rapidly and became better than one might imagine. The average home was built on raised-wood decking with hand-laid and hand-finished floors, lath-and-plaster walls and ceilings, and more plumb wood structure than todays oft-called cracker boxes. Many appliances lasted a lifetime. Women wore hand-embroidered silk blouses, fine hats, and men with average wages often wore tailored wool suits, real leather shoes, and wing-collar shirts.

By 1926, the average monthly wage had increased to $1.24 per hour, an 11 percent annual growth rate from $0.32 per hour in 1914.

One person, earning the average wage of $1.24 per hour, could pay off their home in five years, purchase a vacation home, pay that off, and support a family of five all the way through college. Note that our vacation-home boom in resort towns occurred at that time.

Why is our standard of living so much lower today? One might aver that it is not, because we have more products and technology today.

That is true; however, had those inventions occurred during the Roaring Twenties, they most certainly would have been produced at a lower price and a more long-lasting quality. Our rising wage-to-price standard of living peaked in the Roaring Twenties and has since been declining because of socialism.

First, we must define socialism properly.

Socialism is the Robin Hood theory, take from the rich and give to the poor. They take from the rich by taxing them. Taxation is the sword and tool of socialism. The current definition is completely inaccurate.

After Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini destroyed the revered name of socialism, socialist historians and journalists changed the definition of socialism in an effort to dissimulate socialist activities. They eliminated the old Marxist definition of: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need, and settled upon a new definition, The governments takeover of the means of production.

The new definition concealed the ongoing socialist operation of taxing the rich. Taxation of the private sector could proceed; however, the operators could no longer be called socialists. This ruse persists today.

The kings and queens of Europe taxed their subjects heavily as did the Romans before that. By the Roaring Twenties, the United States had achieved the worlds highest standard of living because it was the only technological country that had grown without taxation.

So what happened? President Roosevelt eventually increased income taxes for the poor in the lowest income bracket from 4 to 24 percent, as well as for the richer, with those in the highest bracket raised to 94 percent (reducing what we could afford to pay). He also raised corporate taxes to 40 percent (increasing the price we must pay).

This is non-violent socialism at full throttle. We became a hybrid capitalist-socialist nation, like other nations.

James T. Moodey is a retired entrepreneur, author, and economic essayist. His recent book, The Ladder Out of Poverty, successfully determined why the poverty rate has not declined since the Great Society promised to end poverty.
Rescue operation underway after an old suspension bridge over the Machchhu river collapsed, in Morbi district, Sunday, Oct. 30, 2022. Several people have suffered injuries, according to officials. (PTI Photo)

Morbi: At least 60 people, many of them women and children, died after a century-old suspension bridge on the Machchhu river in Gujarat's Morbi city collapsed on Sunday evening, officials said.

The bridge, which reopened four days ago after extensive repairs and renovation, was crammed with people when it collapsed around 6.30 pm, officials said.

At least 60 persons have died in the tragedy, Gujarat minister Brijesh Merja told reporters.

Eyewitnesses said there were several women and children on the British era hanging bridge when it snapped, plunging them into the water below.

Some people were seen jumping on the bridge and pulling its big wires, an eyewitness said. The bridge may have collapsed due to the huge crowd on it, he added.

People fell over each other when the bridge collapsed, he said.

I had come to the river bank along with friends after my office hours when we heard the sound of the bridge snapping. We rushed there and jumped into the water to save people, an eyewitness said.

We rescued some children and women, he said.

A man who was injured in the incident, said the collapse was sudden and may have been due to too many people on the bridge.

Due to the Diwali vacation and being a Sunday, there was a rush of tourists on the bridge, a major tourist attraction.

A private operator had carried out the repair work of the bridge for nearly six months before it was reopened to the public on the Gujarati New Year day on October 26.

A fire department official said that boats were being used to rescue people from the river.

"We are carrying out rescue work using boats. There are around 40-50 people in the river," the official said.

The National Disaster Response Force rushed three teams to Morbi district.

Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel said he was saddened by the tragedy.

"Relief and rescue operations by the administration are going on. The administration has been instructed to arrange immediate treatment for the injured. I am in constant contact with the district administration in this regard," he said.

An isolation ward has also been set up in the civil hospital for treatment of those injured in the bridge collapse, the Chief Minister's Office said.

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said in a tweet that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is currently in Gujarat, spoke to Patel and officials.

Modi sought urgent mobilisation of teams for rescue ops, the PMO said, adding the PM has asked that the situation be closely and continuously monitored, and all possible help be extended to those affected.

President Droupadi Murmu and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar expressed grief over the bridge collapse and prayed for the safe rescue of others.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said he was deeply saddened by the bridge collapse and appealed to party workers in the state to extend every possible assistance in rescue work.

Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi also said the news of the bridge collapse accident was very saddening, and appealed to all Congress workers to extend all possible help to the injured.

CPI leader Binoy Viswam hit out at the BJP over the bridge collapse, claiming that it points to the "gross negligence" of the state government.
The Biden administration made a mess with the infant formula shortage earlier this year, and the problem is still ongoing, remaining at crisis levels in some parts of the country.

But don't ask them how thing are going now. After launching a high-profile investigation on why it happened last May 24, the shortages are still there, and now there's a coverup.

According to the Washington Examiner:

EXCLUSIVE  President Joe Biden's Federal Trade Commission is being sued for allegedly blocking the release of records related to its investigation of the nationwide baby formula shortage. The Functional Government Initiative, an ethics watchdog , sent a Freedom of Information Act request in August to the FTC for the records, noting their release is in the "public interest." But the watchdog has not received any records as of this writing and is now suing the FTC for "wrongfully withholding them," according to a Wednesday complaint obtained by the Washington Examiner. "FGI anticipates that officials and staff at FTC discussed and participated in making and implementing decisions about the investigation into the infant formula crisis," read the watchdog's lawsuit. "The public does not have an ability to easily evaluate the decision-making surrounding FTCs investigation."

The Functional Government Initiative smelled a rat on this probe, suspecting that the FTC was in bed with leftists in Congress, as well maybe taking orders from NGOs and Big Labor unions, and quite possibly making insulting remarks about all the moms with babies who were sending in the requested public comments to the agency as requested. There also was a legitimate question as to why it took the feds so long to investigate the baby formula shortage, given that it claimed a whistleblower complaint sent to it was "lost" in the mailroom for four months. Really?

They made a request for the public records on this, and got stonewalled.

The formula is still in shortage, with the Washington Examiner citing data showing that it's just 87% in stock, compared to around 90% before the pandemic. The Examiner also cited a newly released household survey from the Census bureau stating that 30% of households say they still can't get the formula they need, meaning, some places may have a surplus, and others may have way less. That's how averages go, assuming the data are correct, and given that this is the Biden administration, it might not be.

Bottom line here is that the Biden administration doesn't want us to know how it's investigating the baby formula crisis, probably because it played such a big role in making it happen. Midterms are on, after all, so the records request can wait. The Bidenites along with the Obamatons, have a history of failing to release what are and should be public records, because they would show some kind of disaster.

One can only hope that the moms who were probably disparaged by these sneaky officials take that into account on election day -- and vote accordingly.

Image: John Crowley, via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 2.0
Nothing could better symbolize the deflating bubble of green madness that gripped Germany than the following from Lawrence Richard of Fox Business:

A German energy company is dismantling a wind farm to allow for an adjacent coal mine to expand its operations, officials said. The German coal mine Garzweiler, operated by energy company RWE, admits the situation appears to be "paradoxical"  sacrificing one energy source for another  but defended the decision as necessary to strengthen supplies amid the ongoing energy crisis, Oilprice.com reported. "We realize this comes across as paradoxical," RWE spokesperson Guido Steffen said in a statement. "But that is as matters stand.

Its not paradoxical at all, it is practical. Germany needs reliable energy now that the comfortable reserve capacity supplied by massive Russian natural gas imports is no longer available to pick up the slack when the wind isnt blowing, or is blowing so hard that the windmills need to shut down.

The practical necessity of hydrocarbon-based power (I like to call it organic power, not fossil fuel because it is based on organic chemistry) is obvious now that freezing to death is in prospect for huge numbers of Europeans this winter. Dr. Johnsons immortal epigram could be updated to substitute freezing to death for hanging

Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to freeze to death in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.

Fox Business continues:

The expansion comes in tandem with a plan to temporarily return three of RWEs lignite-fired coal units to the market, a decision that was approved by Germanys cabinet. The units were previously on standby.

RWE (originally Rheinisch-Westfalisches Elektrizitatswerk) is a giant among public utilities, ranked as the 292nd largest publicly-owned company in the world in 2020. It serves the most populous and most densely-populated German state, Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine Westphalia), which includes Western Europes fourth-largest metropolitan area, the Rhine-Ruhr.

So far, no one has bothered to estimate how many birds' lives will be saved by taking down the bird blenders masquerading as somehow green. Wind farms are located on the path of the wind currents that migrating birds follow, making them especially deadly for our avian friends.

Owing to Germanys fanatical embrace of the green religion, RWE already is Europes third-largest producer of renewable power at least until more wind- and solar-powered installations are dismantled.

Reality bats last.
Ukraine: media, 'invasion' of Russians continues in Serbia Blic, more than 100,000 arrived since the beginning of conflict

(ANSA) - TRIESTE, 30 OTT - It would now be more than a hundred thousand Russians who have arrived in Serbia since the beginning of Moscow's military intervention in Ukraine. In breaking the news, the daily Blic reports that the protagonists of this peaceful 'invasion' are largely young professionals and entrepreneurs, many from the IT and IT sector, alone or with their families, who basically stop in Belgrade with the intention of founding new companies and continuing their work activities, which have become an obstacle course for so many in Russia due to heavy Western economic and financial sanctions.



Some 2,300 new companies have been set up in Serbia by Russians in recent months. The flow, writes the Belgrade newspaper, has intensified further after President Vladimir Putin proclaimed partial mobilization. It is hard to say whether these are genuine and convinced opponents, what is certain is that they want to avoid the call to arms, and let this warlike and tumultuous period pass, before perhaps returning home in better times.



And the choice of Serbia is motivated by several factors - it is a country traditionally friendly to Russia and the Russians, who are not viewed with suspicion or open hostility as is the case in so many other European countries (Putin himself enjoys great acclaim and admiration in Serbia, and T-shirts with his effigy remain for sale in tourist kiosks downtown); a unique country in Europe along with Belarus that has not joined Western sanctions, that is connected by direct flights from Moscow and St. Petersburg, and that Russians perceive as close in language (including Cyrillic), religion, traditions.



In practice, Russians feel almost at home here, although all this has caused a sharp rise in prices in the real estate market in recent months, both for rentals and apartment purchases. In fact, Russians arriving in Belgrade are mostly from the upper-middle classes with considerable money, accounts in foreign banks, credit cards, large cars and expensive SUVs, and designer clothing.



"As soon as they disembark, Russians go straight from the airport to real estate agencies to rent apartments, and prices have shot up in many cases by as much as 100 percent," writes Blic, according to which in central districts of the capital a one-room apartment that a year ago rented for 300 euros a month now costs 600 euros. Under current regulations, Russian citizens can stay in Serbia without a visa for 90 days; those who wish can later apply for an extended stay citing work and business reasons. From restaurants to supermarkets, from banks to cab stands, to posh fashion stores and downtown shopping streets - Russian is increasingly becoming a second language in Belgrade.



(ANSA).





 Copyright ANSA - All rights reserved
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that the Centre was working towards providing 10 lakh jobs to the youths, and the number could go up. He also said that the number of government jobs for the youth would rise.

The Central government is working on providing ten lakh jobs, the states and Union territories are also getting associated with the campaign. The number of government jobs given to the youth will rise significantly, he said.

This will hugely reinforce the campaigns for last mile delivery and saturation of coverage of the government schemes, he said.

He was addressing Gujarat's Rozgar Mela via video message. He said the state government had set a target to fill 35,000 posts in the next one year. The Prime Minister stated that Rozgar Melas would continue to be organised at national and state levels in coming months.

Modi said that he started the Rozgar Mela at national level on the auspicious day of Dhanteras last week where appointment letters were given to 75,000 candidates and said that similar Rozgar Melas would be organised in various states and Union Territories.

Underlining the critical role of these young people in Indias march to developed nation status by 2047, the Prime Minister asked them to fulfil their duty towards society and the country. He also asked them to continue learning and getting skilled and not consider finding a job at the end of their growth.

This opens many doors for you. Doing your job with dedication will give you untold satisfaction and will open the door of growth and progress, Modi added.

Gujarat has expeditiously moved and today 5,000 candidates are getting appointment letters from Gujarat Panchayat Service Board, 8,000 candidates are getting their appointment letters from Gujarat Sub Inspector Recruitment Board and Lokrakshak Recruitment Board, the Prime Minister said.

Modi praised digital platforms like Ojas and abolition of the interview process in class 3 and 4 posts. Anubandham mobile app and web portal employment is being made smooth in the state by connecting job seekers and job givers. Similarly, Gujarat Public Service Commissions rapid recruitment model has been appreciated nationally, he said.
Planned strikes by Royal Mail workers in the next two weeks have been called off following a challenge by the company.

Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) are involved in a long running dispute over pay and conditions.

A series of strikes have taken place in recent weeks and more action had been planned.

The union said that following a letter from Royal Mails legal team, it had decided to withdraw industrial action notices over the next two weeks.

It added that strikes will resume on Saturday November 12.

CWU general secretary Dave Ward said: We recognise the deep frustration felt by many members over this decision.

But the fact remains that the current direction of Royal Mail doesnt benefit the company, the community or the country.

We still need to secure a decent future of this industry, and no attempts to attack our union and our members will change our determination in fighting for that.

The current focus of the coming days will be negotiations that can hopefully achieve a sensible deal to end this dispute.

In the meantime, I appeal to our members to stand by their union  stay strong and dont be provoked.

CWU acting deputy general secretary Andy Furey said: We entirely understand the anger felt by many over the decision but we believe it is a necessary move to protect our dispute.

We want an agreement and Royal Mail Group now have 10 days of talks to prove they do too  or we will call further action. #StandByYourPost pic.twitter.com/JHenjywMgn  The CWU (@CWUnews) October 30, 2022

Our members have been facing down serious harassment from the highest levels of Royal Mail as they defend their industry and those communities they serve.

They will not be forced into submission so easily, and we will be reminding the company of their determination at Acas in the coming days.

Royal Mail said in a statement: The Communication Workers Union has announced it has withdrawn planned strike action in the next two weeks (November 2, 3, 4, 8, 9 and 10).

The CWU has withdrawn strike action following Royal Mail writing to CWU to highlight numerous material concerns with the formal notification of planned rolling strike action.

Royal Mail and CWU have planned talks at Acas tomorrow, Monday October 31.

We will continue to do all we can to keep business, companies and the country connected.
A Homes for Ukraine sponsor hoping to host a colleague from Kyiv has described the process as a giant sea of ineptitude and delays, as the Russian invasion passes the eight-month mark.

According to data up to October 24 from the Home Office, 101,200 Ukrainians have arrived in the UK under the scheme since its launch in March following various application approvals and checks.

But some have called for clarity on the future of the scheme, including groups who claim concern is growing that it is being quietly phased out.

Tom Hayes-Isaacs, 37, based in Haringey, north London, and his husband James, 33, began the process to house a friend who runs a youth HIV charity in Ukraines capital on August 23.

They have faced delays, including, they say, when the Home Office withdrew their friends visa application without telling her when she put an email address in the wrong box.

Mr Hayes-Isaacs, who works in marketing for an HIV charity, told the PA news agency: It was a really simple mistake. But instead of just calling her to correct it, they cancelled her visa and didnt tell her.

Tom and James Hayes-Isaacs started their Homes for Ukraine application at the end of August (Tom Hayes-Isaacs/PA)

So she had to start the application from scratch.

The whole thing has been just a giant sea of ineptitude and delays.

Mr Hayes-Isaacs said the application has finally been signed off now, and they hope to welcome their friend in the next couple of weeks.

But he said the process has been a nightmare for all involved and its just dragged on for no real reason.

He added: Shes obviously trying to get over, desperately Shes in Berlin now in emergency accommodation, but its still not ideal.

No one person is looking after the process.

Thousands fled Ukraine when Russia invaded in February (Victoria Jones/PA)

Shes done everything that was asked of her immediately, weve done everything asked of us as soon as weve been contacted, and its just dragged on for no real reason, as far as I can tell.

Its supposed to be a 10-day process, isnt it?

He described feeling frustrated and impatient as the delays, including weeks-long silence from Haringey Council, have disrupted the timeframe they had in mind.

When we started this in August, we thought shed be over and she might be here until the new year and move on or find a home for herself, or she was talking about becoming a student in the UK, Mr Hayes-Isaacs explained.

Were probably getting her just before Christmas and its a weird time for someone to try and settle into a new home over Christmas.

It just seems like something that should be so joined up has been so deliberately disjointed.

While he added that councils are very stretched financially, Mr Hayes-Isaacs stated what he believes to be the problem.

As of October 24, 101,200 people have arrived in the UK under the Homes for Ukraine scheme (Victoria Jones/PA)

Our main problem is all the different departments dont talk to each other, he said.

They have no real link to the Home Office either.

If there were people overseeing the process, from the Home Office (and) through the councils various departments, I think it would just make things so much easier for everyone concerned.

Mr Hayes-Isaacs maintained it is incredibly important that both the Government and the British public continue to provide safe homes for those fleeing Ukraine, especially heading into winter.

As weve seen in recent days, the destruction of Ukraines energy grid the war is still intensifying, he said.

Its not a safe country people live in and we should be providing homes for our European neighbours to escape to, just as generations before us have done.

Were very privileged to have spare rooms in our homes, why not provide a safe place to live?

A spokesperson for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: We have now welcomed 101,200 Ukrainians to the UK through our Homes for Ukraine scheme and issued 138,900 visas, making it one of the biggest UK visa schemes in history.

Our work to streamline the visa process, including simplifying the forms and boosting staff numbers, is working and visas continue to be processed as a priority.
The immigration minister has visited a migrant processing centre in Kent amid growing concerns about its poor conditions, as Government figures showed nearly 1,000 people arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel on Saturday.

Robert Jenrick visited the Manston facility after an immigration watchdog said he was left speechless by safety problems at the allegedly overcrowded site.

Mr Jenrick tweeted on Sunday: Today I visited Manston to thank Home Office teams who continue to process migrants securely in challenging conditions.

He said the number of migrants who crossed the Channel on Saturday creates immense pressure, adding: I was hugely impressed by the staff I met, managing this intolerable situation.

Huge lines of people thought to be migrants could be seen waiting to be processed at the Border Force compound in Dover, Kent, as a total of 990 arrived.

Nearly 40,000 have arrived in the UK so far this year after making the treacherous journey from France, crossing the worlds busiest shipping lanes in dinghies and other small boats, provisional figures show.

(PA Graphics)

It is the highest number of arrivals in one day for a number of weeks, with more crossings taking place on Sunday morning.

The highest number in a single day was on August 22 when 1,295 people arrived.

It comes after an immigration watchdog said he was astonished by conditions at Manston, and warned the site has already passed the point of being unsafe.

Chief inspector of borders and immigration David Neal told MPs earlier this week that Manston was originally meant to hold between 1,000 and 1,600 people, but there were 2,800 at the site when he visited on Monday, with more arriving.

Almost 40,000 people have arrived in the UK so far this year (Gareth Fuller/PA)

The disclosures prompted the Refugee Council to call for urgent action and request a meeting with ministers to discuss proposals for tackling the problems.

Migrants are meant to stay at the short-term holding facility, which opened in January, for 24 hours, while they undergo checks before being moved into immigration detention centres or asylum accommodation  currently hotels.

The Sunday Times reported Home Secretary Suella Braverman has been accused of failing to act on legal advice received at least three weeks ago which warned migrants were being detained for unlawfully long periods.

A Home Office spokesman said: The Home Secretary has taken urgent decisions to alleviate issues at Manston and source alternative accommodation. Claims advice was deliberately ignored are completely baseless.

Conditions at the Manston site are unsafe, MPs heard this week (Gareth Fuller/PA)

It is right we look at all available options so decisions can be made based on the latest operational and legal advice.

The number of people arriving in the UK via small boats has reached record levels, which has put our asylum system under incredible pressure and costs the British taxpayer millions of pounds a day.

Cabinet minister Michael Gove said the situation at Manston is deeply concerning, but he denied the Home Secretary ignored or dismissed legal advice.

The situation in Manston is not what it should be, he told Sky Newss Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme.

Everyone acknowledges that. We have more than 2,000 people there at the moment.

The Liberal Democrats have called on the Government to publish the legal advice reportedly ignored by Ms Braverman.
As a dual citizen of the U.S. and Brazil, Monica Ferrari will be going on Sunday to the Latin American Association in Atlanta to cast her ballot in her home country's highly contested runoff election.

The 59-year-old teacher said she would be voting for leftist former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva because Bolsonaro represents all the worst that we can have in terms of politics  he is against women, against gays, against LGBTQ [people], he is against Blacks. He said once that he would kill his sons if they would say they were homosexuals. ... I normally say Bolsonaro is a Trump that speaks Portuguese, Ferrari said.

The second round of voting in the race between far-right populist President Jair Bolsonaro and his challenger, Lula, has divided the nation as well as Brazilian nationals living abroad. It has drawn record numbers of voters abroad to the polls.

U.S. Brazilians face two polarizing elections  Sunday's runoff followed by U.S. midterms 10 days later on Nov. 8, bringing millions to the polls in the two largest democracies in the Americas.

Bolsonaro, who has drawn repeated comparisons to former President Donald Trump throughout the leaders overlapping presidencies, lost the first round of voting earlier this month while still outperforming nearly every major poll. While Lula beat Bolsonaro by about 4 percentage points, he came shy of the 50% threshold needed to avoid a runoff.

Honestly I never thought I would be voting for Lula again  I was quite disappointed in how corrupt his government was, said Ferrari. But I think that despite everything that went wrong in his period in power, what Bolsonaro represents, and is doing, is even worse.

In Orlando, Florida, Vitor Spier is still very much invested in what happens in his home country, though he's been in the U.S. for 30 years.

Spier, 56, will be casting a ballot to re-elect Bolsonaro.

While some people dont sympathize with Bolsonaro because he has a big mouth" and a peculiar way of doing things, you have to look at the results," said Spier, originally from Porto Alegre.

We had [many] years with the other candidate and I would say those ... were the worst years of Brazil, with the corruption and money being taken out of the country illegally, he said. Bolsonaro, his economy is working, as far as I can see."

While it's difficult to pin down the number of Brazilian immigrants living in the U.S., it could be up to 1 million, according to Maxine L. Margolis, professor emerita of anthropology at the University of Florida.

Many of them are undocumented  but the other reason is that the Brazilian ethnicity is sort of complex, and they are often confused with Hispanics, which they are not," she said, referring to the fact that Brazilians speak Portuguese, not Spanish. "So there is a huge range of estimates."

Margolis said the largest concentration of Brazilians is probably in Massachusetts, followed by Florida and then New York.

There are growing fears the competitive election results may be contested by Bolsonaro if he loses. Bolsonaro has repeatedly cast doubts on Lula's current narrow lead.

One of Bolsonaro's sons, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, said on social media that his father was a victim of the biggest electoral fraud ever seen.

Another son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, a member of the Chamber of Deputies, suggested postponing the elections in order to address the issue properly.

Bolsonaro has said in the past that the "system is completely vulnerable, referring to the country's electronic voting machines, even though they have been used in elections for nearly three decades.

Implications for the U.S.

The election, could profoundly impact the relationship with the United States, said Eric Farnsworth vice president of the Council of the Americas, and a former senior U.S. government official.

He said the election would affect global climate issues and Brazils place or position in the world.

Bolsonaro has been widely criticized for encouraging more farming and mining in the Amazon, as well as cutting back the budgets of government agencies that protect the jungle.

Farnsworth said that although there was deforestation during Lula's previous term as president, the rate would likely decrease if he wins on Sunday.

There will be more of a willingness on the Brazilian side to dialogue with the United States, Europeans and others on the global climate change agenda, Farnsworth said.

Bolsonaro had a warmer relationship with Trump than with Biden. Bolsonaro has cast doubt on the 2020 U.S. election results, echoing false claims that there was widespread fraud.

If Lula is elected, the relationship with Russia will continue, although it wont increase dramatically, but there will be a lot more of a receptivity to China  Bolsonaro has meaningfully tried to downgrade that relationship," Farnsworth said. "But that will impact U.S. relations.

For some Brazilians, the choice between the two polarizing men with complicated political histories has required weighing the flaws of each candidate.

Elizabeta Stacishin, a retired architect in Colorado, is not voting in the election. While both candidates "are not great"  she cited Lulas stint in prison on corruption charges and Bolsonaros track record of inflammatory comments toward homosexuals and other minority groups  she said she would vote for Lula if she were going to vote.

Lula has his problems  his criminal past  But I think that Lula understands people and the working class, and I really do think that he wants to help them, as opposed to Bolsonaro, who is an opportunist," she said. "I think that the imperfections on the Bolsonaro side are just unneglectable.

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Cal Fire crews knocked down a residential structure fire Saturday in Nipomo.

The blaze was seen at 9:16 a.m. at the rear of the home on the 1800 block of Vieja Road.

No one was injured in the blaze, according to Toni Davis, Cal Fire public information officer. The residents were not home at the time of the fire.

About 25% of the rear of the home was extensively damaged and the interior sustained major smoke damage, Davis said.







Six engines responded to the fire that was knocked down and contained within an hour, Davis said.

Additional firefighting equipment, medical response, Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Gas Co. also were at the scene, according to the Pulse Point App.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, Davis said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with her husband, Paul, at a Vatican Mass in June. (Stefano Costantino / SOPA Images)

For the record:

9:55 p.m. Oct. 29, 2022: A previous version of this article misspelled the last name of 911 dispatcher Heather Grives as Grimes.



In her first public statement about the brutal attack on her husband  in which she was the intended target  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told her congressional colleagues that she and her family were "heartbroken and traumatized" by Friday's events.

"Our children, our grandchildren and I are heartbroken and traumatized by the life-threatening attack on our Pop," Pelosi said in the statement, which was addressed to members of the U.S. House of Representatives. "We are grateful for the quick response of law enforcement and emergency services, and for the lifesaving medical care he is receiving."

Early Friday, an intruder broke into the Pelosis' hillside home in San Franciscos exclusive Pacific Heights neighborhood.

Authorities said David DePape, 42, attacked 82-year-old Paul Pelosi with a hammer after shouting, "Where is Nancy?" multiple times. Police arrived on the scene after being alerted by a call from Paul Pelosi, who managed to conceal the call from his attacker.

Nancy Pelosi was in Washington at the time but has since returned to California to be with her husband, according to news reports.

The House speaker referred briefly to the attacker in her statement.

"Yesterday morning, a violent man broke into our family home, demanded to confront me and brutally attacked my husband, Paul," Pelosi said.

Pelosi also thanked those who expressed concern and sympathy.

"Please know that the outpouring of prayers and warm wishes from so many in the Congress is a comfort to our family and is helping Paul make progress with his recovery," she said. "His condition continues to improve."

In her statement, Pelosi quoted from the Bible:

"We are also comforted by the words of the Book of Isaiah: 'Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.'"

According to official accounts, Paul Pelosi told the intruder he had to use the bathroom, then made a surreptitious 911 call on his cellphone and left the line open. Dispatcher Heather Grives could hear Pelosi talking to his attacker and alerted officers to the scene.



At a news conference Friday, San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott praised Grives quick thinking, given that Pelosi was unable to describe the gravity of the situation because the intruder was close at hand.

She had to interpret what she was being told, Scott said at the news conference. And based on her experience and intuition, she basically figured out that there was something more to this incident than what she was being told.

Police arrived at the Pelosi residence about two minutes after being alerted by the dispatcher.

When officers knocked on the front door, Scott said, someone inside opened it. The officers saw Paul Pelosi struggling with his attacker, each with one hand on a single hammer, he said.

After officers ordered both men to drop the hammer, the attacker immediately pulled the tool from Pelosi and violently attacked him with the hammer, Scott said.

Police tackled the assailant, grabbed the hammer and took him into custody before calling for backup and beginning first aid.

A source who was briefed on the attack said the assailant confronted Paul Pelosi and shouted, Where is Nancy? Where is Nancy? before the assault occurred.

DePape was booked Friday afternoon on suspicion of attempted murder, first-degree burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, threatening a family member of a public official, elder abuse, battery with serious bodily injury, dissuading a witness and injuring a wireless device.

The attack is being viewed as evidence that the rising tide of harsh political rhetoric is escalating into violence.

A Times review of DePape's online accounts indicates he had been drifting into the world of far-right conspiracies, antisemitism and hate.

In a personal blog that DePape maintained, posts include such topics as Manipulation of History, Holohoax and Its OK to be white. He mentioned 4chan, a favorite message board of the far right. He posted videos about conspiracies involving COVID-19 vaccines and about baseless claims that the war in Ukraine is a ploy for Jewish people to buy land.

Among DePapes screeds were posts about QAnon, an unfounded theory that former President Trump is at war with a cabal of Satan-worshipping elites who run a child sex ring and control the world.

Paul Pelosi is recovering from surgery at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital to repair a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands, said Drew Hammill, a spokesperson for Nancy Pelosis office. He is expected to make a full recovery.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
NEW YORK (AP)  The city of New York is settling lawsuits filed on behalf of two men who were exonerated last year for the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X, agreeing to pay $26 million for the wrongful convictions which led to both men spending decades behind bars.

The state of New York will pay an additional $10 million. David Shanies, an attorney representing the men, confirmed the settlements on Sunday.

Muhammad Aziz, Khalil Islam, and their families suffered because of these unjust convictions for more than 50 years, said Shanies said in an email. The City recognized the grave injustices done here, and I commend the sincerity and speed with which the Comptrollers Office and the Corporation Counsel moved to resolve the lawsuits.

Shanies said the settlements send a message that police and prosecutorial misconduct cause tremendous damage, and we must remain vigilant to identify and correct injustices.

Last year, a Manhattan judge dismissed the convictions of Aziz, now 84, and Islam, who died in 2009, after prosecutors said new evidence of witness intimidation and suppression of exculpatory evidence had undermined the case against the men. Then-District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. apologized for law enforcements serious, unacceptable violations of law and the public trust.

The New York City Law Department, through a spokesperson, said Sunday it "stands by" Vance's opinion that the men were wrongfully convicted and the financial agreement brings some measure of justice to individuals who spent decades in prison and bore the stigma of being falsely accused of murdering an iconic figure."

Shanies said over the next few weeks the settlement documents will be signed and the New York court that handles probate matters will have to approve the settlement for Islam's estate. The total $36 million will be divided equally between Aziz and the estate of Islam.

Aziz and Islam, who maintained their innocence from the start in the 1965 killing at Upper Manhattans Audubon Ballroom, were paroled in the 1980s.

Malcolm X gained national prominence as the voice of the Nation of Islam, exhorting Black people to claim their civil rights by any means necessary. His autobiography, written with Alex Haley, remains a classic work of modern American literature.

Near the end of Malcolm Xs life, he split with the Black Muslim organization and, after a trip to Mecca, started speaking about the potential for racial unity. It earned him the ire of some in the Nation of Islam, who saw him as a traitor.

He was shot to death while beginning a speech Feb. 21, 1965. He was 39.

Aziz and Islam, then known as Norman 3X Butler and Thomas 15X Johnson, and a third man were convicted of murder in March 1966. They were sentenced to life in prison.

The third man, Mujahid Abdul Halim  also known as Talmadge Hayer and Thomas Hagan  admitted to shooting Malcolm X but said neither Aziz nor Islam was involved. The two offered alibis, and no physical evidence linked them to the crime. The case hinged on eyewitnesses, although there were inconsistencies in their testimony.

Attorneys for Aziz and Islam said in complaints that both Aziz and Islam were at their homes in the Bronx when Malcolm X was killed. They said Aziz spent 20 years in prison and more than 55 years living with the hardship and indignity attendant to being unjustly branded as a convicted murderer of one of the most important civil rights leaders in history.

Islam spent 22 years in prison and died still hoping to clear his name.
Authorities issued a missing and endangered person alert Sunday for a 58-year-old man with a traumatic brain injury in Kansas City.

Steven H. Kump was last seen around 7:45 a.m. Sunday leaving the area of 27th Street and Quincy Avenue, Kansas City police said.

He is 63 and weighs 170 pounds. Kump was last seen wearing a black jacket and blue jeans.

Because of his brain injury, Kump needs a walker to move.

Police ask anyone who locates him to call 911 immediately.
Republican New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu on Sunday said there was no need for attack ads against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) ahead of the midterms and in the wake of a violent assault on her husband, Paul Pelosi.

I dont think theres any need for the attack ads, and, again, you know, right now, all our thoughts and prayers and sympathy have to go out to Nancy Pelosi, her entire family, her husband, of course, Sununu said on NBCs Meet the Press.

Officials said Paul Pelosi was violently assaulted in the familys California home on Friday by an intruder who broke into the residence reportedly looking for the Speaker.

Put all the politics aside. Ignore the elections. Shes gonna get reelected fine. I mean, lets just make sure that that she and her family are safe, theyre taking the right steps to make sure that not just theyre safe but hopefully extend that safety out to the other members of Congress and the Senate, Sununu said.

Meet the Press host Chuck Todd noted that a number of attack ads targeting Pelosi are still on the air.

The Republican party has been mixed in its response to the incident, and some Democrats have called out members of the GOP for stoking the violence with calls to oust Pelosi and take back control of Congress in the midterms.

Former President Trump has been notably silent on the matter.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Saturday set aside the order of the special judge of the additional ACB court, who had refused to remand the three accused in the alleged poaching of TRS legislators and had released them.

Justice Chillakur Sumalatha of Telangana High Court directed the three accused  Ramachandra Bharathi, Kore Nandu Kumar and D.P.S.K.V.N. Simhayaji  to surrender before the Cyberabad police commissioner. In case they failed to do so, the police will be granted the liberty to arrest them.

On such surrender or arrest, they shall be produced before the magistrate concerned for remanding them to judicial custody, the court said.

The judge said the police must follow all formalities and suggested that the magistrate of the concerned court verify compliance of requirements under the CrPC.

Justice Sumalatha passed the orders in the criminal revision case filed by Telangana police, challenging the rejection of remand application by the ACB court.

On Saturday, senior counsel Veduala Srinivas and Immaneni Rama Rao, representing the accused, submitted that the revision petition filed by the police was not maintainable, as there were no final orders passed by the ACB court. Further, mentioning Supreme Court guidelines in the Arnesh Kumar case, which says that issuing a notice under Section 41-A of the CrPC is mandatory before any arrest.

They said the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act would not be attracted as the case was registered by the law and order police.

Rejecting these contentions, Justice Sumalatha passed a lengthy order, explaining the circumstances under which the police could arrest a person without issuing a warrant. The court opined that it was not humiliation of the accused.

When the accused were present at the alleged scene of offence and the police had received a complaint about the offence, they could arrest the accused, the court observed.
For years, renowned artist Peter Williams was a fixture at Keeneland and Churchill Downs, capturing the beauty of the tracks and the excitement of racing in oil paintings that came to life as onlookers gathered around.

This week, fans of his work will have an opportunity to purchase an original.

More than 400 paintings by Williams will be auctioned by Biederman Real Estate & Auctioneers at Fasig-Tipton on Newtown Pike in Lexington Nov. 1.

Biedermans website says these are the remaining paintings from his personal collection and archives.

Williams, a native of New Zealand, died in 2018 at his home in Goshen, Ky., after struggling with Lyme disease and dementia. He was 84.

While there are plenty of equestrian-themed paintings  including scenes from Keeneland, Churchill Downs and the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event  among the paintings to be sold Tuesday, the estate auction also includes subjects including landscapes and seascapes, nudes, florals, classic cars and studies of animals.

Paintings by Peter Williams will be auctioned by Biederman Real Estate & Auctioneers at Fasig-Tipton Nov. 1.

Over the years, Williams held more than 50 one-man exhibitions and traveled throughout the world, painting what he saw.

Fran Taylor, former executive director of the Keeneland Foundation who wrote and produced Williams book, Peter Williams Retrospective: Paintings and People Dear to Me, in 2012, said in an email that Williams was a prolific artist who sold many paintings but often kept for himself the best that didnt sell.

The ones he didnt like, he destroyed or painted over, she wrote. He didnt throw them away because he had once seen someone carting one away that had been thrown in the trash.

She said Williams loved to chat with the people he met while painting.

If he really liked someone he would hand them a paintbrush and tell them to add something to his painting, she wrote. Of course they would be flattered and quite often would purchase one of his paintings. Ill never forget seeing him hand the paintbrush to a little boy, telling him to paint a little mousie in the corner. The little boy painted a mouse that was about 3 inches high on an all-but-finished painting and Peter just laughed.

He loved to include funny details in his paintings  a sunbathing girl up in the tree tops or a jockey and bicycle in the saddling paddock. He was a character.

The auction begins at 1 p.m. and will be conducted both online and in person. The auctions website says the works will be available for inspection from 3 to 7 p.m. Sunday and Monday.
The Northern Ireland Secretary is to hold talks with the Stormont parties following the collapse of the Assembly.

Chris Heaton-Harris had been expected to call a fresh election on Friday after the deadline for the parties to form a new executive passed.

According to current legislation he must call an election within the next 12 weeks.

Earlier Sinn Fein Stormont leader Michelle ONeill and DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson gave opposing viewpoints in separate interviews.

Sinn Fein vice president Michelle ONeill has criticised the DUP (David Young/PA)

Ms ONeill blamed the DUP for refusing to work with the other parties, and said they do not want to re-enter the executive with the first non-unionist First Minister.

Sinn Fein emerged as the largest party at Stormont for the first time following the last Assembly election in May.

But Sir Jeffrey defended his position and urged the UK Government to address unionist issues with the Northern Ireland Protocol, which he said would allow his party to re-enter government.

He denied Ms ONeills claim and said that for his party, it is about the union, rather than who will be the next First Minister and deputy First Minister.

Meanwhile, talks continue between the UK Government and the European Commission to address issues around the protocol.

In a statement on Sunday evening, Mr Heaton-Harris confirmed he will meet Ms ONeill and Sir Jeffrey as well as Alliance leader Naomi Long and UUP leader Doug Beattie on Tuesday.

He described these meetings as being planned to discuss next steps, including how he will ensure public services continue to run, protect the public finances and consider options on MLA pay.

Mr Heaton-Harris is also to meet the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney, later in the week.

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris is meeting party leaders (Brian Lawless/PA)

He reiterated his disappointment that an executive was not formed.

The duty to call an election is not one I bear lightly, and I will be outlining to the parties that the people of Northern Ireland deserve a strong and accountable government, he said.

In the meantime, I will work tirelessly to protect the interests of the citizens of Northern Ireland.

There are a number of things I could do, including taking action on MLA pay, which I know many people feel is deeply unfair while the Assembly is unable to function fully.

I am also concerned by the issues within the Stormont budget and will address these urgently with my officials and those from the Northern Ireland Civil Service.
The UK Government has been urged to focus on resolving issues around the Northern Ireland Protocol rather than calling a fresh Assembly election.

Devolved government in Northern Ireland has been in flux since February when the DUP withdrew ministers in protest against the post-Brexit arrangements.

The six-month deadline for a new executive to be formed following Assembly elections in May passed on Friday, however Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris has not yet called a fresh election.

He must do so in the next 12 weeks, according to legislation.

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris is yet to call a fresh election (Brian Lawless/PA)

Mr Heaton-Harris is expected to start meetings with the Stormont parties on Tuesday.

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said he wants to see the Stormont Assembly restored as soon as possible, but he does not see a fresh election bringing a solution closer.

He urged that the new few weeks are used to double down on getting either a negotiated solution with the EU to issues around the protocol or bringing forward legislation through Parliament.

He told Sky: Weve had three prime ministers, Westminster at times has been in chaos, theres been little focus on getting a solution to the protocol. The talks with the EU only started again a couple of weeks ago, and even then only at a tactical level, not at a political level.

We tried for over two years to get a solution on the protocol, we worked with the other parties, we pressed the government to take action, and the EU simply said no, there will be no renegotiation of the protocol.

It reached a point where our ministers in Stormont were required to impose measures on the people of Northern Ireland as a result of the protocol that every single day was harming our economy, our businesses, driving up the cost of living for households.

I welcome the fact that the EU is now at the negotiating table. Why is that? Its because of the pressure we have put on, its because of the steps the DUP has taken that finally were getting a negotiation, a proper negotiation on finding a solution to this problem.

Sinn Fein vice-president Michelle ONeill said the DUP has not respected the last election (PA)

Lets get on with it, lets get this solution, lets see the negotiations and the tempo of those negotiations increased so that we get to an outcome that unionists can support.

However Sinn Fein Stormont leader Michelle ONeill said she believes the real motivation is that the DUP is not comfortable entering an executive led by her party for the first time.

The election in May saw Sinn Fein overtake the DUP to become the first nationalist party to be the biggest at Stormont. This entitles Sinn Fein to nominate a first minister for the first time.

She told Sky: I dont think its lost on the wider public that the DUP dont like the May election result, I dont think its lost on the wider public that they have difficulty in forming a government to be a deputy first minister to my mandate which is to be the first minister given the recent election results.

I think its not lost on people that thats the real motivation here. The DUP hide behind the issues of the protocol.

What I want to see in the time ahead is very mature, sensible political discussion between both the British Government and the EU side.

Lets find an agreed way to solve the issues around the protocol, and I would make this case again to disagree with Jeffrey Donaldson and the DUP  the protocol is a necessity and it is here to stay.

There are things that can be smoothed out, there are things that can be made to work better, and Im up for that and hope thats what we achieve in the coming weeks and months.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson denied that the DUP is reluctant to enter powersharing with a Sinn Fein first minister (PA)

Ms ONeill also urged for efforts to be ramped up to find an agreed way forward, saying that will provide certainty and stability as well as remove any pretence by the DUP in terms of forming an executive with Sinn Fein.

Sir Jeffrey denied his party is reluctant to enter a new executive with a Sinn Fein first minister.

He said he withdrew his ministers in February, before that election outcome in May.

This is not to do with who is the first or deputy first minister this is about the union. It is about unionists feeling they have been made second-class citizens as a result of a protocol that diminishes and undermines our place in the United Kingdom, he said.

Ms ONeill said she does not want to see another election but it is necessary because the result of the last poll in May has not been respected.

She blamed the DUP: They have failed to accept the outcome of that election, they have failed to form a government, and they failed to work with the rest of us to get people through these times.

We shouldnt have to have an election but unfortunately that election result is being disrespected.

What we have at this current moment in time is six months post that election, we have a state of limbo, we have no government in place, we have no ministers in post, we have nobody taking decisions in the interests of the people and its just not acceptable. Its just not good enough.
FILE - A relative adjusts the oxygen mask of a tuberculosis patient at a TB hospital on World Tuberculosis Day in Hyderabad, India, March 24, 2018. The number of people infected with tuberculosis, including the kind resistant to drugs, rose globally for the first time in years, according to a report issued Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022 by the World Health Organization. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A., File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

GENEVA (AP)  The number of people infected with tuberculosis, including the kind resistant to drugs, rose globally for the first time in years, according to a report Thursday by the World Health Organization.

The U.N. health agency said more than 10 million people worldwide were sickened by tuberculosis in 2021, a 4.5% rise from the year before. About 1.6 million people died, it said. WHO said about 450,000 cases involved people infected with drug-resistant TB, 3% more than in 2020.

Dr. Mel Spigelman, president of the non-profit TB Alliance, said more than a decade of progress was lost when COVID-19 emerged in 2020.

Despite gains in areas like preventative therapy, we are still behind in just about every pledge and goal regarding TB, Spigelman said.

WHO also blamed COVID-19 for much of the rise in TB, saying the pandemic continues to have a damaging impact on access to TB diagnosis and treatment. It said progress made before 2019 has since slowed, stalled or reversed.

With fewer people being diagnosed with the highly infectious disease, more patients unknowingly spread tuberculosis to others in outbreaks that may not have been spotted in countries with weak health systems.

WHO reported that the number of people newly identified with TB fell from 7 million in 2019 to 5.8 million in 2020.

WHO also said COVID-19 restrictions, including lockdowns and physical distancing protocols, also hampered TB treatment services and may have prompted some people to skip going to health facilities for fear of catching coronavirus. Officials added that the downturn in the global economy was also a factor, saying that about half of all TB patients and their families face catastrophic total costs due to their treatment. WHO called for more countries to cover all TB diagnosis and treatment expenses.

After COVID-19, TB is the worlds deadliest infectious disease. It is caused by bacteria that typically affects the lungs. The germs are mostly spread from person to person in the air, such as when an infected individual coughs or sneezes.

TB mostly affects adults, particularly those who are malnourished or have other conditions like HIV; more than 95% of cases are in developing countries.

According to the WHO report, only one in three people with drug-resistant TB are receiving treatment.

Drug-resistant TB is curable, but alarmingly, cases are on the rise for the first time in years, said Dr. Hannah Spencer, who is with Doctors Without Borders in South Africa. Its urgent that shorter, safer and more effective treatments are scaled up now.

Spencer called for lowering the prices of TB treatment so a complete treatment course costs no more than $500.

WHO also said ongoing conflicts in eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East have worsened the options for patients seeking TB diagnosis and treatment.

Ukraine had one of the worlds worst TB epidemics even before Russia invaded the country in February. Health experts fear the inability of patients to get treated could fuel the rise of more drug-resistant TB across the region.

While TB patients displaced by the war can seek care in Ukraine, the country has seen a shortage of key medicines and authorities face challenges in keeping track of patients.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Kishwar Desai, is the chair of the Arts and Cultural Heritage Trust, which is setting up the Partition Museum at Town Hall, Amritsar.

It has been a complete reversal of fortune for Rishi who had so recently lost the race to Ms Truss

In fact, the appointment of Rishi Sunak (in picture) has been appreciated by many, especially due to his Indian origin, and the Tory Party has been praised for being much more accommodating of the minority communities than Labour.  AP

As always the weather reflected the storms that were battering Westminster in the last few weeks. At that time, as it rained ceaselessly, the Tory Party went through endless upheavals. However, though we did not know it immediately, there was to be a clear silver lining for all of us. As the former Prime Minister Liz Truss fell on her sword, and the prime ministerial race was opened once again, everyone feared there may be another long-drawn leadership battle while the country suffered its worst economic crisis in recent times.

Fortunately, there was a quick decision on how to select the next Prime Minister, and befittingly enough, on Diwali day, Rishi Sunak was appointed the countrys next leader. The sun came out and has been shining ever since...

It has been a complete reversal of fortune for Rishi who had so recently lost the race to Ms Truss. But today he holds the proud distinction of being the countrys first non-White Prime Minister, and a Hindu at that. So the media gleefully has reported the appearance of diyas and rangoli at 10, Downing Street last week.

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Despite most of the television anchors from India enquiring about any racism experienced by Rishi during the leadership race, we have to say, as we told Indian media robustly, we saw none. In fact, there was a warm welcome for him from the Leader of the Opposition, Sir Keir Starmer, when he won, and there is an undoubted bounce in the opinion polls which indicate that Rishi is leading ahead of Labour on the economic handling of the country. But overall it does appear that the Opposition party has the lead and people would prefer a change from the Tories.

However, Rishi has two years to change that perception. And in the meanwhile lets rejoice that one of ours is leading the country. However, never forget, that he is British born and made in the UK.

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Meanwhile, there has been a lot written about Rishi and his family in the last week, and now there is little we do not know about the MP from Richmond. Every day we see a nugget of information  including his life as a hedge fund manager. The problem with the British press is that it is ruthless in digging out information  so we sure this is an ongoing exercise. Fortunately, Rishi also has his own PR arsenal, and we are now being shown behind-the-scenes videos of how he entered No. 10 and the enthusiastic reception he received. This PR machinery is not new  and David Cameron, when he was Prime Minister, used to also give us vignettes of him and his family for some time. However, one suspects that there is so much media scrutiny anyway that maintaining this PR exercise may be irrelevant.

But let us see!

Right now UK is ready for Rishi and we breathlessly await the announcement of the November statement on the countrys economy.

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Meanwhile, it was just the right time to see a play based on the book, To Kill A Mockingbird. This complex book, dealing with apartheid in America is a painful return to a past - which we have forgotten post Obama in the US. And now post Rishi Sunak in the UK.

The multi-layered play is running at the Gielgud theatre in London and reprises a deeply divided society, when innocents were hanged for crimes they had not committed only due to the colour of their skins. Though the play is nowhere as powerful as the book, it was particularly touching to watch it with a multiracial audience. Many in the audience may have remembered their own ancestors as they watched the humiliation of those who were Black  denigrated once upon a time in America.

Of course, things have changed dramatically both in America and the UK. In fact, the appointment of Rishi Sunak has been appreciated by many, especially due to his Indian origin, and the Tory Party has been praised for being much more accommodating of the minority communities than Labour.

#

As the political environment settles down in the UK, many are also appreciating the quietness and dignity with which the Indian community has forged ahead in Britain. Usually, whether they migrated from the African countries or from India, or any other part of the world, they have integrated themselves into the majority community and worked hard.

It is this which is being talked about today with the rise of Rishi Sunak.

And one wonders now if he will be the chief guest for next years Republic Day in India? What a compelling moment that will be with the Indian Prime Minister and UK Prime Minister  both of Indian origin! Who could have imagined that  75 years ago when India got its Independence?
The Tatas entered the top 100 list for the first time in 2020 and in 2022 are placed at 78th place

Five years later, in 2022, the United States continues to dominate the global brands list, with Apple (in picture) at the very top, followed by Amazon and Google, and still accounts for 48 of the top 100 global brands.  AFP

Earlier this year the publication Brand Directory, an annual report of the worlds top 500 brands published by Brand Finance, reported only two Indian names at the top of the pile. Tata was the only Indian company to make it to the top 100, placed at 78, while Microsofts Satya Nadella made it to the very top of the list of 250 global CEOs for his contribution to Brand Guardianship. Thats about it.

Since 2007, Brand Finance has published this global brand directory (brandirectory.com/download-report/brand-finance-global-500-2022-preview.pdf), an annual report of the worlds most valuable and strongest brands. In that inaugural year the United States and member countries of the European Union accounted for 82 per cent of the worlds top brands, with Japan, South Korea and Australia making up for most of the remaining 18 per cent.

A decade later, by 2017, several Chinese firms entered the top 100 list, with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) making it to the top 10, and China Mobile placed at 11th place. Meanwhile, the Tata Group had climbed the 500 ladder, but was placed 103, missing by a whisker a slot in the top 100.

Five years later, in 2022, the United States continues to dominate the global brands list, with Apple at the very top, followed by Amazon and Google, and still accounts for 48 of the top 100 global brands. But, heres the change. China displaced the European Union as the second ranking geography for top brands, with 23 of its brands among the top 100. The EU, mostly Germany (7 out of 10), accounted for 10 of the top 100. The global country ranking of top 100 brands this year shows the US at the top, followed by China, Germany, Japan and South Korea.

The Tatas entered the top 100 list for the first time in 2020 and in 2022 are placed at 78th place.

If the dominance of the United States remains an important part of the story, with tech, retail and services contributing to American brand leadership, the headline story is the rise of Chinese brands and the decline of European ones. TikTok, for example, was named the worlds fastest rising brand in 2021. Names like Huawei and Alibaba have become household names around the world. The 2022 report states that: Over two-thirds of the total brand value in the ranking is attributable to the two countries, with the US accounting for 49 per cent ($3.9 trillion) and China for 19 per cent ($1.6 trillion).

Recognising the importance of developing national brands and promoting their global presence, the government of Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao set up the India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) towards the end of its tenure in 1996. While it was located in the Union ministry of commerce and industry, it hired a private sector CEO. The IBEF claims that its primary objective is to promote and create international awareness of the Made in India label in markets overseas and to facilitate the dissemination of knowledge about Indian products and services. Towards this objective, the IBEF works closely with stakeholders across government and industry. A quarter century later, IBEF has little to show in terms of promoting Indian brands overseas.

While Tata is the only Indian brand in the top 100, other Indian brands listed among the top 500 include telecom firms Airtel and Jio; IT firms Infosys, Wipro and HCL; financial sector firms SBI, HDFC and LIC; and, oil major Indian Oil and infrastructure firm L&T. An major reason why the Narasimha Rao government created the IBEF was the recognition at the time that a countrys global image is enhanced by the power of its brands. A small island like Cuba is known for many things but is valued for its Cohiba cigars!

At the global level, tech firms dominate global brands with a cumulative brand value of $1.3 trillion. While 50 technology and tech firms are listed in the top 500, three have an overwhelming global presence -- Apple, Microsoft and Samsung. A close fourth is Huawei. The report adds: Huaweis smartphone business was hit hard by US sanctions, but it reacted positively by heavily stepping up investment in both domestic technology companies and R&D, as well as turning its focus to cloud services.

An interesting story that I first reported as a journalist about the national value of a brand goes all the way back to the early 1990s. On a visit to South Korea in 1993, on the eve of the historic first-ever visit of an Indian Prime Minister to that country, I was told a delightful tale of Korean branding at the Hyundai headquarters.

When Iraqs dictator Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, over a hundred South Korean nationals were stuck in Kuwait and eventually holed up at the countrys embassy. A South Korean aircraft had landed there with the intention of flying all its nationals out and home to safety.

By the time the flight had landed in Kuwait, the city had been overrun by Saddams troops. The diplomats at the South Korean embassy did not know what to do. A Hyundai executive came up with an idea. The Hyundai brand, he told his countrys diplomats, was very popular in Iraq. All hundred of us can get into a couple of buses flying the Hyundai company flag and drive from the embassy to the airport. No Iraqi soldier would stop the vehicle, he assured. That is precisely what the embassy officials did. Iraqi troops smiled at the Koreans and let them pass, saying Hyundai, Hyundai! All South Korean nationals flew back home to safety.

TikTok has done for China what Hyundai did for South Korea, Honda does for Japan or Apple does for America and Mercedes-Benz does for Germany. Popular brands create favourable impression about the country they belong to. India too needs its brands of global quality and global appeal. It is not a coincidence that in the Western media Britains new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is often referred to as the son-in-law of the man who created Infosys. Rather than Mr Sunak brand Infosys, Infosys brands Mr Sunak. Clearly, till last week, more people around the world had heard of Infosys than Rishi Sunak.
At the Angelus his thoughts for the young people killed by the stampede in the Korean capital, associated with the victims of terrorist violence in Mogadishu. Among the 153 deaths so far confirmed in Seoul were also citizens of several other countries including China, Iran, Russia and the United States. Commenting before the prayer on the passage of the encounter between Jesus and Zacchaeus, the pontiff said, "It is permissible to look down on a person only to help him rise."

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - "We pray for those - especially young people - who died tonight in Seoul, from the tragic consequences of a sudden crowd crush." With these words Pope Francis today at the Angelus wanted to immediately express his closeness to South Korea in shock over tonight's tragedy when in the crush of Halloween celebrations in the Itaweon district, the one most frequented by young people.

The pontiff wished to express his condolences at the end of the Angelus prayer, recited as usual addressing the faithful present in St. Peter's Square. Francis associated the prayer for these broken lives with those taken away by terrorist violence in Mogadishu, in an attack that claimed more than 100 lives including many children. "May God convert the hearts of the violent," he commented.

In Seoul meanwhile, the death toll has risen to 153 confirmed dead, but among the dozens of injured are 19 in serious condition. For the vast majority, these are girls in their 20s and 30s who had been concentrated in clubs in this area of the Korean capital. The victims also include foreign nationals: according to Korean police reports, they are from China, Iran, Russia, the United States, France, Australia, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, Norway, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Austria.

Before the Angelus prayer, Pope Francis had commented on the passage of Jesus' encounter with Zacchaeus, proposed by the liturgy today. "God's gaze," Pope Francis noted, referring to the 'lowliness even within' of the tax collector on behalf of the Romans, "never stops at our past full of mistakes, but looks with infinite confidence at what we can become. And if at times we feel we are people of low stature, not up to the challenges of life let alone the Gospel, mired in problems and sins, Jesus always looks at us with love; as with Zacchaeus he comes to us, calls us by name and, if we welcome him, he comes to our home."

Hence the invitation to ask ourselves, "How do we look at ourselves? Do we feel inadequate and resign ourselves, or is it right there, when we feel down, that we seek an encounter with Jesus? And then: what gaze do we have toward those who have erred and are struggling to rise from the dust of their mistakes? Is it a gaze from above, judging, despising, excluding?"

"Let us remember," the pope concluded, "that it is permissible to look down on a person only to help him rise up. But we Christians must have the gaze of Christ, embracing from below, looking for those who are lost, with compassion. This is, and must always be, the gaze of the Church, the gaze of Christ."
HYDERABAD: TRS working president K.T. Rama Rao called the Rozgar Mela inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide jobs to 10 lakh people as yet another 'drama'. He said it was 'cruel' by the PM to betray youth and the unemployed only for gains in the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh elections.

In an open letter to the PM on Tuesday, Rama Rao alleged that it had become a practice for PM to indulge in such acts of betrayal before elections. Rama Rao reminded Modi of his promise to provide 2 crore jobs to youth every year, made during the 2014 Lok Sabha poll campaign, and dared Modi to release a white paper on the jobs provided in the last eight years.

He said the TS government had 2.24 lakh jobs in the government sector and 16.5 lakh jobs in the private sector in eight years.

"The BJP government could not fill even 50,000 posts per year. But now you claiming that you will provide employment to 75,000 youths through Rozgar Mela. I am sure unemployed and youth in the country are keenly watching your false claims on jobs," Rao noted.

He alleged that due to privatisation and clsoure of PSUs (public sector undertakings) in the last eight years, over 2 lakh regular employees have lost jobs.

Rama Rao demanded that the PM take concrete steps to issue notifications immediately to fill all the vacancies in various central government departments first instead of indulging in 'cheap publicity stunts' in the name of rozgar melas.
by Giorgio Bernardelli

Msgr. Peter Chung Soon-taick wants to bring World Youth Day to Asia: "It would be an extraordinary opportunity to revive youth ministry in a country struggling with a demographic winter and an education system dominated by competitiveness." An announcement that in these hours is intertwined with the dramatic news about the hundreds killed and injured in the stampede for the Hallowen festivities in the Itaewon district.

Bangkok (AsiaNews) - "We want to bring World Youth Day to Seoul in 2027. We are presenting our candidacy to be the diocese that will host the World Youth Gathering with the pope in the edition following next year's one in Lisbon."

We first learned of this announcement two days ago from Msgr. Peter Chung Soon-taick, the 61-year-old prelate who just a year ago was called by Pope Francis to lead the archdiocese of Seoul. He is in Bangkok for the General Conference of the Catholic Churches of Asia. We had recorded his great attention to everything that moves around the Korean youth world, along with the willingness of this local Church to take up the challenge of a qualitative leap in its presence alongside young people. The dramatic news coming out of Seoul tonight-with the hundreds dead and injured in the stampede for the Hallowen festivities in the neighborhood of Itaewon-now gives a somewhat different flavor to the educational challenge underlying this desire of the Church in one of the world's largest metropolises.

A Carmelite religious, former auxiliary bishop of his predecessor - Card. Andrew Yeom Soo-jung - Msgr. Chung precisely by being accompanied by young people on Dec. 8, 2021 made his entrance into Myeongdong Cathedral. And in telling AsiaNews about the dream he hopes to make a reality he spoke to us precisely about how the intention to bring World Youth Day to Seoul has at its root the intention to revive youth ministry in the Korean Church, which after the boom years crosses less and less with the under-30 generation. Without ignoring the appeal of Korean youth culture today to new generations around the world; but with the ambition to bring it together with the values that the Gospel and Korean tradition itself have to transmit.

In its history WYD has been celebrated only once so far has in Asia: in Manila in 1995 with John Paul II. In 2027 it would gather those who were not yet born then, offering an extraordinary opportunity for young Catholics from all over Asia. Msgr. Chung is keen to point out that "nothing is decided yet," because as usual "it will be the pope who will make the choice" on the city that will pick up Lisbon's legacy.

But Seoul is hopeful, not only for the event itself but for what it could represent in the moment its Church is experiencing. "In Korea we are facing a great challenge," explains the Archbishop of Seoul, "because the total number of young people is shrinking sharply. Compared to 20 years ago, young people have decreased by a quarter. Our country's birth rate is the lowest in the world: according to official statistics only 0.8 children per couple, lower even than Japan. As a result, the number of young people attending our churches is also decreasing."

But population decline is not the only reason for the rising average age of Korean Catholic communities. "Another reason," Msgr. Chung continues, "is related to the fact that today so many students, even as early as elementary school, end up sucked into the vortex of competition to win a place in the best universities, the gateway to the most skilled jobs. Even among Catholic parents there are those who discourage them from attending church activities and instead go to extracurricular courses to study even more." This competition is a very heavy burden on the shoulders of young people, to which the Covid-19 pandemic has also been added in the last three years.

"This is why," the prelate continued, "we need a turning point for youth ministry in Seoul, and the WYD is an auspicious occasion. We have presented the project to the other bishops of Korea who have given their support. Nothing is decided yet. But we are preparing the dossier to send to the Holy See with our candidacy."

What contribution could come from a World Youth Day in Seoul? "A WYD," replied Msgr. Chung, "is not born and over in the space of a handful of days; it is a journey. Its preparation could become an excellent opportunity to bring young people together around a project by making them protagonists. Urge them to invite their peers to experience it together. It would set a process in motion. And even once it is over, it would be nice to share with everyone what we have experienced, it would become a missionary occasion to share the values of the Gospel in our society. That's why I think of the WYD as a turning point for Seoul."

All this just as from one side of the world to the other there is a fascination for Korea among young people: from K-pop music to TV series stories, many girls and boys from the global village feel on Seoul's wavelength. "It is true," replied the archbishop, "K-culture today attracts many young people, and if we have the opportunity to host the WYD it will be an interesting card for us. Someone might be encouraged by this very thing to participate. Of course, the values of K-culture are not the Catholic ones, but it is a face of this country of ours; it will be up to us to know how to use it to make known the Gospel of Jesus, what we really care about."

With the understanding that Korea's history and traditions also have much more to communicate to new generations. "I think for example of respect for other people, respect for the elderly," Msgr. Chung added, "attitudes that have been deeply rooted in our mentality for thousands of years. Even before my country knew Christianity, it was said here that man is heaven: every life is as precious as the divine. Here: we would like to be able to share this too in 2027 with young people around the world."

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ABS

The Diavel was always one of those motorcycles that made people on the street look at them and say that they wanted one of those, even if they were not into bikes at all. The same design style was applied to the new model, albeit with a new lighting system, and with elements that would not match the previous model.The result is a muscular bike that is 13 kilograms (28 lbs.) lighter than before, which may not be that much, but we do appreciate the effort. The weight difference is in comparison to the Diavel 1260 S, and the bike has been made lighter by eight kilograms (17 lbs.), while the V4 engine is five kilograms (11 lbs.) lighter than the old V2.All the weight savings result in a weight without fuel of 223 kilograms (ca. 491 lbs.), which is still plenty, but almost reasonable for a 1.2-liter muscle cruiser.As Ducati notes, the inspiration for the Diavel V4 has two main origins: muscle cars, and the aesthetics of superheroes. The bike then mimics the image of an athlete ready to sprint to the starting blocks, as it has most of its features concentrated on the front, while the tail is streamlined.The lights have a double-C profile for the daytime running lights in the front, which are an evolution of the previous generation's units, while the rear cluster is still positioned under the tail and comes with a matrix of punctiform LEDs. The dynamic turn signals have been integrated into the handlebars, right in front of the clutch and brake fluid reservoirs, for a cleaner look.While the V2 has been replaced with a V4, the 1,158-cc unit (ca. 70 cui) comes with 168 horsepower and 12.8 kgm (125 Nm or 92 lb.-ft.) of torque, which is just a bit more than the Multistrada's V4.The values are described as ideal for a muscle cruiser, and the manufacturer also promises linearity at low revs, as well as vigorous torque throughout the entire range. It can sprint from naught to 62 mph (100 kph) in less than three seconds, mind you.Even with a 240/45 rear tire, the latter aspect is still important, as you do not want a quick burst of torque to surprise you upon gently rolling on the throttle on a wet road. With modern traction control systems, as well as fuel injection, the rider should not get more than what they asked for.The V4 engine itself has a counter-rotating crankshaft and comes with a special exhaust system made to make the most of its character without breaking any laws. It only requires major maintenance at 60,000 km (about 37,282 mile) intervals  a record value in the world scene, as Ducati announces.What is surprising is its Twin Pulse firing order and a cylinder deactivation system. The latter works with the rear cylinders, which get deactivated imperceptibly at idle, and even at low revs to reduce emissions and save fuel, turning the V4 into a twin-cylinder bike at certain moments. There is a change of exhaust note when the modes shift, as the V4 goes from a deeper sound to one with higher frequencies as the shift is completed.The Diavel has four riding modes: Sport, Touring, Urban, and Wet. The latter is entirely new, and it comes with the latest and greatest versions of the Ducati Traction Control in Cornering,Cornering, and Ducati Wheelie control.Those interested in getting the most out of the new engine will be happy to learn that the bike even has Launch Control and Ducati Quick Shift, but there is also a Cruise Control system for more relaxed highway riding.On the technology side, the dashboard consists of a five-inch TFT color unit that includes Bluetooth connectivity, and can provide Turn-by-turn navigation (as an optional accessory) with the Ducati Link App . In standard form, it can be used to make and receive calls, see text message notifications, and change the music that you are listening to through your Bluetooth headset.Ducati fitted supersport-like brakes on the Diavel, with 330-mm discs mated to Brembo Stylema calipers, which come with a very refined calibration of the ABS, as well as with a peak deceleration of up to 11.5 m/s2 (ca. 37.7 ft/s2).The Italian manufacturer notes that said value is close to what racing motorcycles can achieve, and we suggest you ride in a manner that will never make you have to try to use it  while also being capable of making the best emergency stop that your bike can deliver.Again, regardless of the bike that you are riding, do not bet your body's integrity on a top-of-the-line braking system or even premium tires, just ride well within your limits while on the street.Coming back to the Diavel V4, it comes with an inverted 50-mm fork that has a cantilever-pattern shock absorber, and both are fully adjustable, while the rear suspension has increased travel by 15 mm (about 0.59 in), which is claimed to provide improved comfort on long rides.The seat has also been improved, while the riding position should be more accessible as the seat height is rather low, at 790 mm (about 2.59 ft) off the ground, while the handlebars are set 20 mm (about 0.79 in) closer to the rider than what is found on the Diavel 1260. The changes should position the rider even closer to the center of the bike, which will improve both the ease of maneuvering it, and the feeling of control and self-confidence.The Italians have integrated a seat of a pillion, as well, and it can be concealed with a dedicated cover, while the foot pegs and grab bar for the passenger can also be out of sight or ready to use with just a few gestures.Ducati's new Diavel will arrive in the Italian marque's dealerships starting January 2023, but American customers will have to wait until February.Initially, it will be available in the Ducati Red or Thrilling Black body colors, but the Ducati Performance catalog will have plenty of options to customize the bike, including carbon fiber elements, billet aluminum parts, and so on.Pricing will be revealed later, but this category of bikes is not for those who look at the digits after the comma, so do not expect this to be the cheapest motorcycle in the showroom.
The hatchback variant, known as a four-door saloon, is arguably the most popular, but Citroen made sure that the 2CV would become a high-selling all-rounder and also built a panel van and even a pickup variant. All told, the 2CV is impressively versatile for an economy car that's less than four meters (157.5 inches) long.But none of the factory-built iterations compare to the 2CV "Doluggs," a semi-style conversion that hauls a stylish camper built from scratch. Built by a man from Switzerland, it's perhaps the most intriguing 2CV-based vehicle ever built.This project started out as Bernd's childhood dream. Following decades of plans and drawings, the semi-camper combo was transferred from paper into reality beginning in 1996, when Bernd started working on the car. But there's a catch here because, while it may look like a 2CV , it's actually an Acadiane underneath.If you're not familiar with the latter, it's a panel van version of the Citroen Dyane. It was introduced in 1977 as a replacement for the 2CV utility model.A bit more modern, it also had a bigger payload of 500 kg (1,100 pounds). So why did the owner choose to rework the Acadiane into a 2CV? Well, he's a big fan of the 2CV but needed the enhanced capability of the Acadiane to haul the camper.And the revised bodywork isn't the only major change behind this semi-style 2CV. The car also features a 4x4 system activated with a switch between the seats, two gas tanks for extended mileage, and a slightly more modern engine from the Citroen Visa.But the latter is still related to the engines that Citroen offered in the 2CV because Bernd went with the 652cc two-cylinder boxer found in the base model. It's only slightly larger than the final 602cc iteration fitted in the 2CV and cranks out 34 horsepower. That's only five horses more, but enough to haul a trailer at reasonable speeds.Speaking of which, Bernd says the 2CV is not impressively fast but can safely travel at up to 90 kph (56 mph) when hauling the trailer. By itself, the 2CV reaches 105 kph (65 mph).Unlike the car, the trailer was built from scratch, and it took Bernd about two years to put it together. With an aluminum chassis and structure with Dibond composite panels, the camper is spacious enough to accommodate a double bed, a toilet, a kitchen area with a fridge and a stove, and even a small office section.Bernd also installed an expanding roof, which allows him to stand inside the camper in order to cook. The camper is completely off the grid when it comes to electricity, as it relies on batteries stored in a cupboard and solar panels mounted on the roof. Bernd says the camper needs gas to operate the stove, the fridge, and the heating system, though.While not particularly fancy on the inside, the camper is more than suited for long trips and week-long off-the-grid living.Bernd says he used the 2CV camper to travel from Greece to Sweden, a 5,000-km (3,107-mile) journey he completed in about three weeks. He also traveled from Portugal close to the eastern Russian border, so the 2CV camper's reliability is not an issue.How much money did Bernd put into this project? Well, he says he didn't keep count, but he thinks he could have bought a well-equipped Volkswagen California with everything he spent from R&D to materials. But he doesn't regret taking this route.And he doesn't plan on stopping here either because he also wants to build a mini camper based on another Citroen 2CV. Until that happens, check out the super awesome "Doluggs" motorhome in the video below.
Palomino RV was founded in 1968 by a tent trailer distributor who wanted to create a better product for his clients. The company kept growing until it became one of the top 5 RV manufacturers in North America, with over 300 dealers representing, selling, and servicing its vehicles. Innovation and design are the primary keys to its success  not only does the company offer practical RVs, but it also adds a touch of elegance to them.Palomino RV has many products, such as travel trailers, truck campers , and others. Revolve is one of the six trailers on offer. According to the company, this camper allows for more travel flexibility than any other product on the market. Why? It prides itself on being 100% powered by solar energy. So, wherever you need to go, you won't have to worry about running out of power. It has three ways to charge  solar, shore power, or from the tow vehicle. Read on, and I'll analyze how it manages to reach this feat.Revolve comes in three configurations  EV1, which sleeps two and has a larger bathroom; EV3, which comes with bunk beds, and the newly-announced EV5, which has double bunks. I'll discuss the EV1 because I'm all about having more space.First, I'd like to start by mentioning its base price. According to RV Trader , a 2022 Revolve EV1 ranges from $40,000 (40,142 at current exchange rates) to $44,000 (44,156). Let's see what you'll get for it.The trailer has a length of 21'9" (6.6 meters) and a height of 10'3" (3.1 meters). Even though its body is built out of fiberglass , Revolve has a UVW (Unloaded Vehicle Weight) of 4,250 lbs. (1,928 kg.). It's equipped with a single torsion axle, so each wheel acts independently by moving and absorbing shocks.The body has an Azdel construction  Azden Onboard composite panels are produced by blending polypropylene and fiberglass - the strong and lightweight material has good weather and temperature isolation properties.The EV1 has some useful exterior features  as you'd expect, you can find some water and energy ports. There's also a 14' (4.3-meter) power awning covering most of the trailer's side and a storage space located toward the front. Surprisingly, Palomino RV didn't opt for the storage box you'd typically find in other similar campers. Another notable detail is that there's an outside shower.Some of you might want to take the RV on off-road adventures. Although it's not specifically built for off-roading , it'll probably be able to tackle some light terrains. You can prepare it even more by opting for the extra Off-Road Package  it provides 15" aluminum wheels with 28" mud tires, flared fenders, and an assist rail.Moving on to the interior  walk up the foldable entry step, and a pleasant and spacious interior will greet you. The large windows help create this open space feeling and let a bunch of light inside. You'll discover a couch on your right which can be converted into a bedroom. There are plenty of storage spaces above and beside the bed in the form of wardrobes and cabinets.The dinette and kitchen sit across from one another. To create enough space to walk inside the trailer and not feel cramped, the manufacturer chose to add the option of sliding out the dinette area.The kitchen boasts an electric stove, a large sink, and a microwave. You can store your utilities and food in the numerous storage spaces or the dedicated pantry. I couldn't find any information on the exact size of the fridge/freezer, but it looks massive from the pictures, so you'll probably be able to store at least a few days' worth of food there.Lastly, the en-suite bathroom provides all the necessary elements to care for your daily hygienic needs. The shower offers plenty of room, and there's a large skylight above it. You'll also notice a toilet and a small sink with a mirror.I mentioned the trailer's off-grid capabilities earlier. Here's what it uses to keep you comfortable wherever you're going  the camper comes with four 100 W solar panels, four lithium batteries, an onboard battery charger and monitor panel, and a tow vehicle power adapter. You can also choose an additional 300 W portable solar. If your destination is the middle of nowhere, you're covered. Check out Palomino's RV website for more information about its products.
SUV

I said impressed because a lot of people belittle SsangYong, and for a weird reason, everyone believes they are a Chinese brand that creates shitty cars. Of course, this toxic mentality was implemented in my brain without even driving one. Besides, SsangYong is the oldest automaker from South Korea, the country that gave us KIA and Hyundai, which are so popular today.At the moment, SsangYong has five models for sale. We are talking about both Tivoli versions (the classic one and the Grand), Korando, Musso, and Rexton. Korando is in the same category as a Nissan Qashqai or a KIA Sportage. Musso is the pick-up truck from the lineup. At the same time, the Rexton is the most premium model and has the most optionals you can find on any premium, but at half the price you'd spend on a Land Cruiser, for example.The Tivoli name comes from a region in Lazio, Italy, but it has one more meaning. Read it from right to left, and you will find the words "I lov it," which I think is pretty nice. The SsangYong logo depicts an image of two wings forming an open ring that symbolizes the dragon. It is a symbol of freedom and growth, while at the same time being simple and elegant.The design is quite stylish, especially in the front, where it has a modern look. However, the car is less beautiful from the back, and sometimes the transition from the front to the rear could be quite weird.While it's true that the XLV is expensive by Tivoli standards, it isn't compared with its closest rivals. It undercuts similarly powerful and well-equipped versions of the Nissan Qashqai or Volkswagen T-Roc. Tivoli Grand used to come with a 1.6-liter diesel engine that had a power output of 113 hp (115 PS). However, in some places, the only engine available is the one designed by Mahindra, which is a 1.5-liter petrol turbo engine that produces 163 hp (165 PS). You can choose the manual transmission or the six-speed AISIN automatic one, which is more than decent for a car with a start price of only 17,400.The base model comes with some generous standard equipment and safety features. Still, if you want to have it all on your Tivoli Grand, you can opt for the Tech pack, which comes with a digital dashboard, blind spot monitoring, and other features. The top-level package will make you pay around 22,000-23,000, which is still highly affordable. The interior is more than decent for a low-cost car. The driving position could be weird when you get in the Tivoli Grand for the first time because you will sit pretty high, even in the lowest chair setting. As a result, you have a commanding view of everything ahead. In contrast, the rear visibility is not ideal due to the thick backward pillars.The front seats are comfortable enough, and they are heated. If you want to go a little crazy in corners, the lateral support is there. The steering wheel is heated as well and offers you plenty of adjustment. It has some soft-feeling plastic here and there, plus gloss-black finishes, so the Tivoli has more of a quality feel than a Dacia Duster, which is the closest competitor in this price range.A seven-inch screen is a standard in the Tivoli, and while the graphics look like an Android phone from the early 2010s, the display is responsive and simple enough to use. It's compatible with Android Auto and Apple Car Play, which you will use 95% of the time.In the back, there's plenty of space for your legs and head, and you can sit well enough, even in the middle seat. You don't have seat pockets; instead, you have some elastic ropes that could be used in the luggage compartment. Still, it's pretty weird, and when you are driving, it's impossible to search for something in those so-called pockets.The official boot measurement says 720 liters, but this is different from reality because that figure is measured from the boot's base right to the roof, when it should have been taken from the boot floor to the tonneau cover, as in the case of most rival cars.Still, the luggage compartment might not be enough for most families' needs. There is also a reasonably big lip at the entrance, but when the 60/40 split-folding rear seats are folded down, and the standard height-adjustable boot floor is set accordingly, a virtually flat extended load bay is created. The floor in the compartment has no grip, so your luggage will probably fly around in the trunk. This may explain the presence of those elastic bands - to use them to anchor your travel bag.Now, let's get to arguably the most important part, which is the driving test. I used the Tivoli Grand in the city most of the time. However, I also took a 400-kilometer trip (249 miles) on country roads. The 163 hp engine is quite noisy but powerful enough for everyday use. The fuel consumption is between seven and eight liters per 100 km (40.3-35.1 mpg) outside the city, while in urban areas, it hovers around the ten liters per 100 km (28.2 mpg) mark.The automatic transmission is lazy sometimes, and I found a significant nonlinearity between the pressure applied to the gas pedal and the power transmitted to the wheels. For example, I was barely touching the gas pedal, and nothing happened, but then the car just snapped. Still, you will get used to that after some hours of driving in the city. The steering is quite far from a precise one, and there were a lot of moments when I needed to correct the car in the middle of the corner. But don't get me wrong, the Tivoli is not in the same category as a Mazda Miata. In the city, and for normal driving, the steering is heavy enough to give you enough feeling. Because you can get the Tivoli only as a front wheel drive car, the torque steer will have a significant influence when you accelerate hard.While it's not the best car to drive, it is impossible not to take into consideration the fact that the Tivoli Grand is many thousands of euros cheaper than any close rival. When you think about what you get for such an accessible price, this car will definitely be on the short list of your shortlist.Oh, and did I mention that all SsangYong models had incredible results in crash tests? For example, the Tivoli Grand had four out of five stars at Euro NCAP (European New Car Assessment Programme). The maintenance costs are super affordable, and we should get over this mentality that it has to be a super popular car brand so we can look like someone important.The SsangYong Tivoli Grand will offer you the same things as a Nissan or a Volkswagen at almost half the price, but people need to be more curious to read about this car or brand. So, go on a test drive with a Tivoli because it will surprise you.
A file picture of the C-295MW transport aircraft that the Tata-Airbus consortium will manufacture for the Indian Air Force, at a facility in Vadodara, Gujarat. (Image: AFP)

MUMBAI: The Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government has come under fire following the Centre's announcement that Tata-Airbus C-295 transport aircraft project would be set up in Gujarat, with the opposition seeking to know why the project that was supposed to come up in Maharashtra went to the neighbouring state.

Former Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray on Thursday accused the Shinde government of not being serious about the state's progress and criticised it for failing to protect the state's interests.

Leader of Opposition in the state Legislative Council Ambadas Danve, a loyalist of former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, claimed that the shifting of the project was an effort by the Shinde-Bharatiya Janata Party government to ensure the victory of the BJP in the upcoming Gujarat Assembly polls.

The BJP, however, countered the allegations, saying that the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government did not do anything to follow up on the proposed project.

A consortium of Airbus and the Tata group will manufacture C-295 transport aircraft for the Indian Air Force (IAF) in Vadodara in Gujarat, the Defence ministry said on Thursday, announcing the Rs 22,000 crore project where a military plane will be produced in India for the first time by a private company.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Sunday lay the foundation stone for the manufacturing facility of the European defence major and the Indian conglomerate, in what is billed as a major boost to the domestic aerospace sector.

In September this year, CM Shinde's loyalist Uday Samant, who is currently the Industries Minister, had said that the Tata-Airbus aircraft manufacturing project would come up near Nagpur in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra.

Last month, a blame-game had erupted in Maharashtra following the announcement that a joint venture semiconductor project of the Indian conglomerate Vedanta and Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn, proposed to be set up near Pune city earlier, would come up in Gujarat.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led faction of the Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress, all constituents of the MVA, have sought to corner the Shinde-BJP government over the Rs 1.54 lakh crore plant going to Gujarat.

Speaking to reporters in Shirur tehsil in Pune district, Aaditya Thackeray on Thursday asked, Will the state government give answers to why these projects are going out? This (Tata-Airbus) is the fourth project which has gone away from Maharashtra since the traitor government has come to power in the state. They always boast that they have a double-engine government, but although one engine of the central government is working, the state government's engine has failed.

Thackeray was in Shirur to inspect the losses that farmers have suffered due to heavy rains.

He added that the previous MVA government led by his father Uddhav Thackeray had managed to bring investment to the state even during the pandemic, but this government has failed to do so.

CM Shinde goes to Delhi on a regular basis. But he goes there for himself and not for Maharashtra. I never heard him saying that the Tata-Airbus project should come to Maharashtra. Projects including Vedanta Foxconn, Bulk Drug Park, Medical Device Park, and now Tata Airbus have gone to Gujarat, he alleged.

He said he was not sad because the project was going to some other state. The question is why is it not coming to our state. Why this new government is not able to bring projects to the state? In the last few days, CMs from other states are coming to Maharashtra and interacting with the local industrialists here to seek investments, but our CM goes to Delhi, and he does so for himself, he said.

The Worli MLA said that big and small projects used to come to Maharashtra because of merit. But today, despite having the merit, these projects are going to the other state, he said.

Due to the current state government, Maharashtra has lost one more project. The state government is not at all serious about Maharashtra's progress, Thackeray alleged.

He also asked the state government to immediately announce a wet drought in the state and provide help to farmers.

He visited farmers in Malthan village area in Shirur tehsil and inspected the crops that suffered due to the heavy rains. We have given a slogan - 'Give or leave', which means the state government should either provide help to farmers or step down, he said.

Ambadas Danve criticised the state government over the project moving to Gujarat. Does this ED (Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis) government belong to Maharashtra or Gujarat? This government shouted that the Vedanta-Foxconn project went to Gujarat due to the earlier MVA government. Now because of whom did this project (Tata Airbus) go to Gujarat? he asked in a tweet.

They (Shinde-Fadnavis) should stop raising the slogan 'Jai Maharashtra'. Instead, the government should start saying 'Jai Jai Garvi Gujarat', he added.

Danve claimed that it was an effort by the Shinde-BJP.
HYDERABAD: The Telangana police on Friday challenged in the High Court, the ACB courts rejection of its remand application and release of three persons accused of allegedly offering bribes to four TRS MLAs.

The police, represented by DCP Shamshabad, requested the High Court to direct the accused persons- Ramachandra Bharati, Kore Nandu Kumar and D.P.S.K.V.N. Simhayaji  to surrender before the ACB court at Hyderabad, to enable it to accept the remand and send the accused to judicial custody.

Justice Chillakur Sumalatha heard the petition and adjourned the case to Saturday to hear the accused. She said that no further time will be given and the case will be disposed of on Saturday.

She directed the accused not to leave the city for the next 24 hours and that they should furnish their residential addresses to the Cyberabad police commissioner by 6 pm on Friday. The judge said that the three would not contact the de-facto complainant, Tandur MLA P. Rohit Reddy, or try to influence the witnesses.

Advocate-General B.S. Prasad, representing the police, said the ACB court had erred in considering the case. It dealt with the offer of bribes to MLAs, who are public servants, he said.

There was a conspiracy by the accused and criminal intimidation to destabilise the state government, Prasad said.

He said the MLAs were threatened with raids by central agencies. It was a case for punishment of up to seven years under Prevention of Corruption Act.

He submitted a remand copy, which included photocopies of SMS and Whatsapp messages which were sent and received by the accused to third persons.

Justice Sumalatha asked him whether the episode at the farmhouse was a trap or it was incidental. The judge also inquired about spy cameras and other electronic devices arranged in the farmhouse.

In the report, the police said that the gadgets had captured around three-and-a-half hours of conversation of four TRS MLAs with the accused.

Vedula Srinivas, representing the accused, argued that as per Supreme Court guidelines, notices were mandatory before any arrest. He said that as the police had not seized any money, it would not come under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Bennington, VT (05201)

Today

Cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low 23F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low 23F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.
How 'dark money' influences political elections and why it is difficult to track its origins down
Voting-age population data collected and organized by the United States Elections Project based on the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey, November Voting and Registration Supplement.
PITTSFIELD  Hundreds of employees and community members say they are against a new addition to the Berkshire Health Systems medical mandates for staff: the COVID-19 bivalent booster shot.

Nearly 700 people had signed a letter to the hospital system by press time Saturday opposing the new vaccine requirements announced last week.

On Monday, the more than 3,000 staff members of the Berkshire Health System received a memo from BHS Vice President Patrick Borek alerting them that the new bivalent booster was being added to the systems previous coronavirus vaccine mandate.

That memo, leaked to and first reported on by WAMC, told all employees, caregivers, contractors, volunteers, and students working and learning within BHS that they had until Dec. 15 to receive the booster and report their vaccination status to the health system.

Berkshire Health Systems puts unvaccinated employees on leave, as system hits 98 percent vaccination rate Two weeks after an Oct. 1 deadline for employees to be vaccinated, Berkshire Health Systems is pulling its unvaccinated employees from in-person work and preparing to terminate some workers.

It is now clear that adding the most recent bivalent booster will provide better protection against newer strains of the COVID-19 virus, the statement to employees reads.

At this time, we are confident that our supply of the bivalent vaccine will be sufficient to provide for bivalent booster doses for all BHS staff, and we are joining healthcare providers across the state in adding the bivalent booster to our employee health requirements.

The memo continues to say that while employees can apply for medical or religious exemptions, anyone without an exemption or booster shot by the deadline will not be cleared to work and will therefore be suspended from employment without pay.

Employees may be fired if they dont receive the booster.

What is the new shot?The bivalent booster, an updated version of the previous Pfizer and Moderna booster shots, goes after multiple strains of the coronavirus. The new booster shot is designed to create an immune response to help fight off the omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 as well as the original strains of the virus.

The BA.5 subvariant made up about 54 percent of all coronavirus cases reported in the last week in New England according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It remains the dominant strain of the virus throughout the United States.

State data shows that between Oct. 9 and Oct. 22, Berkshire County had a case rate of 23.3 cases per 100,000 people. During that period, 420 new coronavirus cases and six coronavirus deaths were reported.

In early September, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added the bivalent booster shot to its vaccination recommendations for anyone 5 years old and older. The CDC recommends that the bivalent booster be received at least two months after a persons last COVID vaccine or booster.

To date the CDC is reporting that only about 14 percent of the eligible population in Massachusetts has received the bivalent booster.

Just another jabStaff backing a new petition for the health care system to step back from its booster requirement and end all future covid vaccine mandates, call the expanded vaccination mandate nothing more than bullying by an employer for profit.

One Berkshire Medical Center nurse, speaking anonymously with The Eagle on Friday for fear of retaliation, said that shes actively looking for other places to work because of the mandate.

Im willing to leave this place of employment because of the way theyve treated us and the way they say get this booster or get terminated, she said.

The nurse said when the hospital first announced its original vaccination mandate in the summer of 2021, the health care landscape was different. She and her coworkers got the initial vaccines understanding that the vaccination requirement was the norm for their industry.

BHS reports that more than 98 percent of their employees were vaccinated by October 1, 2021, during the primary series vaccine mandate.

That rate is on par with other regional hospital systems.

Albany (N.Y.) Medical Center reported that 96 percent of its approximately 10,000 staff have met its mandate to receive the primary coronavirus vaccine series. BayState Health reported that 99 percent of its nearly 13,000 employees received the primary vaccine series.

Those hospitals have not announced that the bivalent booster will be added to their vaccine requirements for staff. A spokesperson for Albany Medical said that we do not require boosters for employees, however we offer and encourage them.

The BMC nurse who spoke with the Eagle said she has her doubts about the boosters effectiveness. She and many of the co-signers to the letter say theyre asking BHS to grant them the same autonomy over their health care decisions they grant their own patients.

She said the timing of the booster deadline stings as well.

I think for them to present it as a mandate and say that we will be terminated 10 days before the holidays is just another way to show us all that they really do not care about us, the nurse said. I think everyones upset because its just another jab, its just another thing after three years of the pandemic.

Existing health requirementsIn a statement provided to The Berkshire Eagle on Friday, a spokesperson for BHS said that the decision to expand the vaccination requirements for employees was based on its responsibility to create the safest possible care environment for our patients, visitors, and employees.

Berkshire Health Systems to mandate COVID vaccination by Oct. 1 With COVID fears rising, and the virus spreading again, hospital officials say mandated shots for employees is the only way to curb infections. They say the patients they've treated who've been inoculated aren't getting as sick as those who haven't been jabbed.

Masking and other protocols have been good tools for reducing the risk of COVID-19 spread over the past two and a half years, the statement said. The effectiveness of those preventive measures is further enhanced by both the initial vaccination and the current bivalent booster, which covers the majority of the COVID cases and COVID transmission thats happening locally and across the country.

The spokesperson for the health system said that vaccine requirements as a condition of employment are nothing new to BHS employees.

The coronavirus vaccination regimen joins BHSs requirement that all staff also receive the flu, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella and Tdap vaccines.